Weepy Wednesday

Oh, reader. The political shit show in this country rolls on, so my love of Twitter was in full flower last night as I caught the developing hashtag #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement.

Does this phrase ring a bell? No? Allow me to enlighten: it's the response given by his office when idiot Senator Jon Kyl was called out on his Senate floor claim that abortion is "well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does," when it's really 3%.

REALLY? Lying and then avoiding responsibility for lying is behavior a nursery school wouldn't tolerate. What choice did Stephen Colbert have but to launch a Twitter attack, which naturally the Twitterverse picked up gleefully?

Some of my favorites from Colbert:
Jon Kyl was sent from the future to kill Sarah Conner.
Jon Kyl developed his own line of hair care products just so he could test them on bunnies.
Jon Kyl can unhinge his jaw like a python to swallow small rodents whole.

Wait, there's more!! Some dingalings on Fox and Friends tried to convince their audience that the services offered at Planned Parenthood like breast exams and pap smears could be obtained at your neighborhood Walgreens. The normally poker-faced Colbert could barely keep it together for this absurd turn of reality:



Jesus wept. Here's a balm for your weary soul: Cute Roulette! Like Chat Roulette without the penises!

Oy and Then ...

Reader, preeminent African-American scholar and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested on his own front porch for allegedly breaking into his own house last week. NOT GOOD. Then James Hannaham from Salon writes that the incident has made him "proud of America" because Gates was only arrested and not actually lynched by the police? Umm ... hooray? You can read more about this fiasco here and here.

Let's take a break from racial profiling and cancer to watch a clip from 30 Rock. This particular segment has got to be one of the damn funniest moments of this show and one of the many times I am absolutely mesmerized by Alec Baldwin:

Sexual Violence in the Congo and That Thing Attached to Your Ear

Reader, I'm not sure of the sequence of events that led me from watching episodes of Alice on YouTube to this clip from Raise Hope for Congo:



I've heard of conflict diamonds, sat through the not-so-stellar Blood Diamond, but never conflict minerals. I couldn't connect the dots between the Congo, cell phones and rape. It's like this: three critical minerals used to make cell phones (and computers) are tin, tungsten and tantalum. (That last one I had never heard of until today. Yay for the humanities!) Which are all mined in the Congo. And to maintain control of natural resources in the area, the militia uses rape. Vile.

Raise Hope for Congo is packed with interesting stuff, but check out some nifty learning resources here.

What can you do, short of embracing your inner Luddite?

1. Urge manufacturers to sign the Conflict Minerals Pledge here.
2. Tell a friend.
3. Tell all your friends.
4. Check on the current policies of companies you buy products from. Apple addresses this in their corporate site, which you can see here. Way at the bottom, "In addition, we require Apple suppliers using Tantalum or Tungsten, metals used in a small number of components, to declare that the metals are not sourced from illegal mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo."


Not sure what mineral this is, but it sure looks dramatic, doesn't it?

Cuteness Tuesday, Kind Of

Jesus God, check out this picture of a cougar at the Nicaraguan National Zoo posted on Jezebel today.



Anyone that has a cat will recognize those ears = danger. Girlfriend will kill you for the sport of it.

Because the commenters are so insanely wonderful over at Jezebel, I had to share a couple:

From Shamrockette is stickin' to it:



This is without a doubt the best Bish Plz face ever.

From JessicaLovejoy: Laughing, riding, cornholing!:



And then I died laughing.

Sex Sling or Beach Chair? It's in the Eye of the Beholder.

Reader, I came home from work early today with what I hope is a garden-variety cold and not the beginning of swine flu. Regardless, I feel like doody and am rapidly expanding my carbon footprint as I plow through boxes of Kleenex.

As I listlessly wandered through interwebs, this New York Times article caught my eye. It profiles a pair of Pakistani brothers that have created a flourishing business in Karachi, manufacturing fetish and bondage wear for pervy Westerners.

The business brought in $1 million last year so the fact that most of the employees don't know what they're making doesn't seem to be a barrier. You should absolutely watch the entire five minute video but pay close attention to their female designer Asifa at 3:49. She rules.

But an epic FAIL goes to the NYT reporter describing a sex sling as "a hammock-like device." I expect Fox news to cluelessly crow on about teabagging, but you guys, get with the program! Sheesh.

Check out the website for their business AQTH here, where you can learn that "We are on top of some of the most exciting and exotic SM scenes world wide."

You cannot make this stuff up, reader.