Women Born Transsexual

From Alternet:   http://www.alternet.org/economy/153656/austerity_plans_are_based_on_the_wrong_diagnosis_of_the_wrong_problem_–_and_may_plunge_europe_into_depression/

Governments must be able to spend strategically to encourage growth, or the crisis will only get worse.

By Mariana Mazzucato
January 4, 2012

Even if European politicians ‘get their acts together,’ the eurozone crisis will not be solved by a new ‘Fiscal Compact’ obsessed with austerity, i.e. tight rules for all member states on their spending. The agreement, which is intended to save the single currency, is not a “fiscal” anything, since that word usually refers to government spending. The plan is really an Austerity Compact – an attempt address economic malaise based on upside-down thinking.

And it won’t work. Because as John Maynard Keynes revealed, the worst thing that a government can do during a recession is to lower spending. And yes, all of Europe is in a recession, and probably a depression soon. Private investment spending is cyclical in nature — too much during up-boom periods and too little during down periods. That’s why government spending must act as a counter-balance. Instead, what we have seen is government actions fueling private sector spending (with lower interest rates and lower taxes) in boom periods (like the 1990s), and now withdrawing spending during the recessionary period when there is not enough private investment.

This is exactly the opposite of what should happen.

But the main problem with the ‘Austerity/Fiscal Compact’ solution is not just that it won’t work for Keynesian reasons, but that it is based on exactly the wrong diagnosis of the problem. The austerity solution assumes that the problem with countries like Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain (PIIGS) that are peripheral to the eurozone (and the list is growing) is that they ‘spent too much.’ As I have now argued endlessly in various media outlets, this idea is completely false. In fact, the pre-crisis deficits of all EU countries (except Greece) were in line with the target rates of 3-4%. Deficits started to rise in 2007 after government spending rose to fund stimulus packages and bailouts. If you look at Spain, currently one of the most problematic countries, you will find that it had one of the lowest deficits before the crisis, and even one of the lowest ratios of debt to economic output (debt-to-GDP).

Growth and Speculation are the True Culprits

Instead, the real problem has been two-fold: a growth crisis and a speculation crisis.

Continue reading at:   http://www.alternet.org/economy/153656/austerity_plans_are_based_on_the_wrong_diagnosis_of_the_wrong_problem_–_and_may_plunge_europe_into_depression/

Say Bye-bye to the Skiing, Snowboarding and Snow Mobile Industries.  They are going to go away along with polar bears, glaciers and arctic ice caps.

But there is no such thing as climate change.  Lalalala. 

From Think Progress: http://thinkprogress.org/green/2012/01/06/399386/record-heat-floods-america-with-temperatures-40-degrees-above-normal/?mobile=nc

By Brad Johnson
Jan 6, 2012

Fueled by billions of tons of greenhouse pollution, a surge of record warmth has flooded the United States, shattering records from southern California to North Dakota. “Temperatures have reached up to 40 degrees above early January averages in North Dakota,” the Weather Channel reports. Cities are seeing late-April temperatures at the start of January — Minot, ND hit 61 degrees, Aberdeen, SD hit 63 degrees, and Williston, ND hit 58 degrees, all-time record highs for the month of January.

Daily record highs have been set in Des Moines, Iowa (65 degrees), Rapid City, S.D. (73 degrees), International Falls, Minn. (46 degrees), St. Louis, Mo. (66 degrees) and Fargo, N.D. (55 degrees), to name a few locations. Although the record warmth subsides on Friday for the Plains, the mild air mass will bully its way eastward. We’re talking temperatures in cities such as Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Detroit and Cincinnati enjoying highs on the order of 10-to-20 degrees above average. High temperatures around 5-to-15 degrees above average will make it all the way to the East Coast including New York City, Washington, D.C. and Charlotte, N.C.

“There has never been a 60 degree temperature recorded during the first week of January in Minnesota’s modern climate record.” Southwestern Minnesota reached the lower 60s.

Continue reading at:   http://thinkprogress.org/green/2012/01/06/399386/record-heat-floods-america-with-temperatures-40-degrees-above-normal/?mobile=nc

In many parts of US, it’s a winterless wonderland

From Ocala:  http://www.ocala.com/article/20120106/WIRE/120109820?tc=ar

The Associated Press
Published: Friday, January 6, 2012

A continuing dearth of snow in many U.S. spots usually buried by this time of year has turned life upside down. The weather pattern that left many northern states with a brown Christmas is still sticking around, and the outlook for at least the next week is bleak for winter recreation enthusiasts.

Nationwide, the lack of snow is costing tens of millions of dollars in winter recreation, restaurant, lodging and sporting goods sales, experts said.

“It’s Mother Nature. She’s playing tricks on us, or something. Now it’s getting nerve-racking,” said Terry Hill, whose cash flow is nonexistent because her rental cabins are empty at Shin Pond Village, north of Maine’s Baxter State Park, normally alive this time of year with the buzz of snowmobiles.

Continue reading at:  http://www.ocala.com/article/20120106/WIRE/120109820?tc=ar

Of course I’m supposed to respect this guy because since he does drag he is my “sister”. And Kumba- fucking- yaa we are all members of the “Transgender Community”.

Well it looks like he just told off a bunch of offended transgender and transsexual activists.

I have news for him.  He is just as offensive in his own way as any man.

I’m tired of people portraying us as fembot strereotypes and exploiting how none of us are “real women”.

That one goes not only for my post-transsexual sisters but for my transgender activist sisters who are out there fighting the good fight for equal rights and dignity.

It’s enough of a struggle without have drag queens and self-labeled “she-male” porn actresses undermining our efforts to get these laws passed.

Those of us who want ordinary lives with ordinary jobs that don’t entail working in drag bars or the sex industry have to deal with the consequences of these stereotypes being perpetuated.

From The New Zealand Herald:  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10776879

By Matthew Backhouse
Thursday Jan 5, 2012

The drag queen star of a controversial tampon advertisement, pulled amid backlash from the transgender community, has defended the campaign and has hit out against “dragphobia”.

The Libra ad features a blonde woman and a drag queen in a bathroom seemingly competing against one another as they apply make-up and adjust their bras.

When the woman produces a tampon, the drag queen walks out defeated.

Transgender advocates slammed the ad as transphobic, by implying people could only be women if they got their periods.

Libra yesterday apologised for any offence the ad had caused, and pulled it from New Zealand television.

The Melbourne drag queen who stars in the ad, Sandee Crack, has defended his involvement in the ad.

Continue reading at:  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10776879

From The ACLU:   http://www.aclu.org/blog/reproductive-freedom/another-pharmacy-refuses-sell-emergency-contraception-man

Posted by Lisa Graybill, ACLU of Texas & Brigitte Amiri
Jan 6th, 2012

It happened again. Another pharmacy in Texas — this time a CVS — refused to sell emergency contraception to a man who sought to purchase the product for his wife. Jason Melbourne sought the medication at a Mesquite, Texas CVS, only to be confronted by a pharmacist, and her supervisor, who refused to sell him the medication because he is a man. The pharmacist demanded that Melbourne’s wife accompany him to the store, despite the fact that she was home with their two young children. Luckily, he was able to eventually purchase the medication from a nearby store without incident.

In 2010 and 2011, we saw a wave of discrimination like this at pharmacies in Texas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. We thought that this unfortunate trend was over, and that pharmacies heard our earlier message loud and clear: men and women who make healthy family planning decisions should be supported, and unnecessary obstacles to accessing emergency contraception cannot be tolerated given that time is of the essence to avoid an unintended pregnancy. Emergency contraception is most effective the sooner a woman takes it, and its effectiveness decreases every 12 hours. It is therefore crucial that a customer access emergency contraception as soon as it is needed.

So we’ve sent a letter to CVS, reminding them that FDA guidelines specifically say that both men and women who are over 17 years old may purchase emergency contraception without a prescription, and asking that CVS ensure that this doesn’t happen again. We hope that CVS does the right thing, and we hope we see an end to this disturbing trend in 2012.

I am not a PETA supporter due to their extreme misogyny.  However I absolute abhor the abuse of animals in the modern industrial farming process.

We generally think of women as being the sex most associated with serious body image issues, and yet there are all sorts of stories about teenage male athletes taking steroids to bulk up so they will have that ideal action movie male body.

Eating disorders including anorexia and bulimia are common among gay men due to body image issues as well.

Perhaps instead of making the discussion of media induced body image dysphoria an issue of only female and female identified people we need look at how it impacts both genders.

From Pink News UK:  http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/01/06/half-of-gay-men-would-die-a-year-early-for-the-perfect-body/

by Stephen Gray
6 January 2012

A study released today says 48% of gay men would sacrifice a year or more of their lives in exchange for a perfect body.

The research also said 10% of gay men would agree to die more than 11 years earlier if they could have their ideal body now.

Nine in ten gay men admit they enforce “unrealistic” images of lean and muscular men in conversation.

In comparison, only a third of straight men said they would give a year or more for an ideal body shape, and 77% admitted buying into the body image ideal.

The research was part of a study commissioned by Central YMCA, the Succeed Foundation and the Centre for Appearance Research at UWE Bristol into how men talk about their bodies.

Gay respondents were consistently more affected by body concerns and more likely to make body comparisons than straight men.

They were also significantly more likely to use what the study authors called “body talk”: speech that implicitly or explicitly reinforces or endorses the traditional western standard of male attractiveness: tall, lean, muscular, toned body with clear skin and a full head of hair.

Continue reading at:   http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/01/06/half-of-gay-men-would-die-a-year-early-for-the-perfect-body/

Anyone who thinks Mainstream Media has a liberal bias should consider how many years we have been subjected to the rantings of Nazi Sympathizer Pat Buchanan.

Before anyone invokes the onesided Godwin rule that lets right wingers call lefties and progressives communists while shielding neo-Nazis from being called on their Nazism should be aware of how several times Buchanan has defended former Nazi death camp guards fighting extradition to places where they would face trial for their crimes.

I have never understood why this Nazi Symp has been accorded a single shred of credibility.  Perhaps it has something to do with his being a typical Republican Douche nozzle.

From Raw Story:  http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/07/pat-buchanan-out-indefinitely-at-msnbc/

Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan has been suspended indefinitely from MSNBC, according to a statement from that network’s President Phil Griffin. An Associated Press article on CBSNews.com blames reaction to Buchanan’s latest book Suicide of a Superpower for his ouster from the cable network, as well as a campaign by the advocacy group, Color of Change.

The former Nixon aide has long courted controversy. In April of this year he said that President Obama’s path to the White House was the result of “Affirmative Action all the way.” In 2009, he asserted that the U.S. “has been a country built, basically, by white folks.”

MSNBC’s Griffin apparently believes, however, that Buchanan’s newest work has crossed a line. Suicide of a Superpower came out in October and features chapters with titles like “The End of White America” and “The Death of Christian America.”

Complete article at:  http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/07/pat-buchanan-out-indefinitely-at-msnbc/

From Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/05/walmart-blacklist-abp-pension-fund_n_1186384.html

Lila Shapiro
1/5/12

A major pension fund and longtime investor in Walmart has blacklisted the retailing behemoth, citing poor labor practices and the company’s anti-union stance as the driving force behind its rejection.

Walmart typically shrugs off criticism of its labor practices as union-driven propaganda and insists that its employees are happy and well-managed, but investing experts say that when one of the largest pension funds in the world divests, the company would be wise to listen to the message. It’s the same message the American labor movement has been pushing for decades.

On Tuesday, the Netherlands’ biggest pension fund, Algemeen Burgerlijk Pensioenfonds, with more than $300 billion in assets, announced that it was blacklisting the largest retailer in the world for noncompliance with the United Nations’ Global Compact principles. The Global Compact presents a set of core values relating to human rights, labor standards, the environment and anti-corruption efforts. Sixteen other companies were blacklisted along with Walmart, nearly all of them excluded for producing chemical or nuclear weapons that violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

ABP said on Wednesday that the decision to pull its investment from Walmart was not hasty. The fund declined to say how much money is involved, but according to ABP records, it had invested some 95 million euros, worth $121 million today, in U.S. Walmart stores as of June 30, 2011. The fund first sent a letter to Walmart executives in 2008, a year after ABP formalized its responsible-investing policy. Four years later, after many meetings with employees and all levels of management, ABP concluded the retail giant was still falling short.

Continue reading at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/05/walmart-blacklist-abp-pension-fund_n_1186384.html

From Yes Magazine:  http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/brooke-jarvis/how-cities-and-states-are-sticking-it-to-citizens-united

From courthouses to statehouses, the pro-corporate ruling is under pressure.

by Brooke Jarvis
posted Jan 05, 2012

The Supreme Court may have declared in Citizens United v. the FEC that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections, but that doesn’t mean cities and states have to be happy about it.

They’re expressing their disagreement on an increasing number of battlegrounds, with Citizens United under challenge in courts, in city council meetings, in state legislatures, on ballots, and in the streets.

Dissension in the Courts

Some of the most interesting recent action has been in the courts, with lower courts—including a state Supreme Court and a federal appeals court—taking on Citizens United.

In Montana, the state Supreme Court upheld a longstanding law limiting corporate spending in politics. A lower court had held that Citizens United invalidated the Corrupt Practices Act, a law passed by citizens’ ballot initiative in 1912, when it was common practice for the copper industry to bribe state politicians. Unwilling to lose a basic, century-old protection against corruption, the state appealed the issue to the Montana Supreme Court, which on Dec. 30 allowed the law to stand.

For over 100 years, Montana has had an electoral system that preserves the integrity of the political process, encourages full participation, and safeguards against corruption,” said Attorney General Steve Bullock, who argued the state’s case. “The Supreme Court’s decision upholds that system and is truly a victory for all Montanans.”

The decision holds that Montana—for a host of reasons, from its history of corrupt industries to its thinly spread population—has a compelling interest in keeping the law. “If the statute has worked to preserve a degree of political and social autonomy, is the State required to throw away its protections?” asked Chief Justice Mike McGrath, writing for the majority.

Continue reading at:   http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/brooke-jarvis/how-cities-and-states-are-sticking-it-to-citizens-united

From Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/07-0

The Challenge of the Era of Technological Abundance