Where are the men-haters?

What, exactly, is a "man-hater"? Why are women accused of being "man-haters"? What women are accused of it?

Do any of my readers hate men, either as a group or particular individuals?

I used to think that there was no corollary misogyny, but I'm not sure any more. Does "Man-hating" count?

On reflection, I don't think it does. Misogyny exists at such a broad and low level we don't see it. It's the mycelium of the occasional toadstool of sexism in the lawn of a woman's life. You aren't going to get rid of the toadstool until you kill the mycelium.

"Man-hating", on the other hand, is something that women are accused of when they don't accept the status quo of male privilege.

The operative word here is "accused". You see, women are accused of causing rape--by doing things they have a right to do, such as wearing "skimpy clothes", having a few drinks in public, or walking alone at night. Women are also accused of being "bitches" when they say no--not only to sex, but to other things as well, like ordering pizza on a cell phone for a drunk classmate.

Man-hating? Frankly, hating is something that saps the life out of me, and no asshole, male or female is worth bleeding away my life for.

I think I've got my answer...

( Doonesbury on war funding )

5 rugs for $5 is progress?

I really hope this is an April Fools Day joke:

From Think Progress:

Today, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) held a press conference in Iraq. Both McCain and Graham charged that the media are not giving the American people “the full picture of what’s happening here.” As evidence of progress, they spoke of the time they were able to spend in the Bab al-Sharqi market, at which 88 people died in suicide bomber attack on Jan. 22. “We went to the market and were just really warmly welcomed. I bought five rugs for five bucks. And people were engaging,” said Graham.

What McCain and Graham didn’t mention: CNN’s Bob Franken noted today that the senators’ press conference was “held in the very, very, very heavily secured Green Zone, the center city area of Baghdad.” Additionally, the “delegation was accompanied by heavily armed U.S. troops when they were not in the Green Zone, site of the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government. They traveled in armored military vehicles under heavy guard.”

Just last week, McCain told CNN that President Bush’s escalation is working so well, “Gen. Petraeus goes out there [in Baghdad] almost every day in an unarmed humvee.” CNN’s Iraq correspondent Michael Ware said the reaction to McCain’s claim among military sources was “laughter down the line.”

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Originally uploaded by Ambitious Wench.

It's hard to choose one picture to entice my readers to view my latest set on Flickr. Hetch-Hetchy Reservoir is a wild place, tamed forcibly and yet it retains a terrible beauty.

John Muir described this valley as a second Yosemite, even drawing analogies between the various falls and peaks of the two.

The O'Shaughnasey Dam turned this valley into a water supply for the city of San Fransisco, and some would say that the passage of the bill to create the dam broke Muir's heart.

We have become dependent on the pureness of these waters; A ranger told me last week that it is so pure that they make computer chips using it. If it were restored, a new source of pure water would have to be created using a filtration system that would cost billions, billions with a B.

I've drunk from the source of these waters. I've collected water from the streams flowing into this reservoir. It was cold, sharp, wild, and as of yet, I've experienced no ill effects.

It's a terrible, wild beauty up there.