George W Bush did not heart Harry Potter

Check this out, via my google reader:

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Think Progress » Bush Officials Objected To Awarding Medal To J.K. Rowling Because Harry Potter Books Promote Witchcraft: "

In his new book, Speechless: Tales of a White House Survivor, former Bush speechwriter Matt Latimer reveals how politicized the revered Presidential Medal of Freedom became during the Bush administration.

Latimer writes that administration officials objected to giving author J.K. Rowling the Presidential Medal of Freedom because her writing “encouraged witchcraft” (p. 201):

This was the same sort of narrow thinking that led people in the White House to actually object to giving the author J.K. Rowling a presidential medal because the Harry Potter books encouraged witchcraft.

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Not exactly shocking, but appalling nonetheless, no?

Sarah Palin Book Deal...

"Is it a picture book?" quoth my h-l-p.

He is referring, of course, to the forthcoming memoir from everyone's favorite veep candidate.

A few follow-up posts on #amazonfail

For some perspectives on where we're at now that this scandal is "dying down""

• From Mediabistro's Galleycat, a discussion with a LGBT publisher on how this impacts the future.
• Amanda sums it up and offers her thoughts at Pandagon. And a follow-up.
• A great final post on the issue from Jacket Copy's Carolyn Kellog, who did a great job covering it.

A revolt against Amazon.com

My friend Zach points me to a scandal brewing on the interwebs. Apparently Amazon.com is censoring LGBT and sexually explicit books by removing them from their "ranking" system. Among the books affected are Brokeback Mountain and Lady Chatterley's Lover which is rather ironic. Anyway, here are links to three blog posts around the book-o-sphere (plus the first paragraphs) explaining the phenomenon:

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An Open Letter to Amazon by Kassia Krozser from Booksquare

Dear Amazon, Happy Easter (or if it’s Monday morning, happy belated Easter!). It seems the Easter Bunny, while hopping down the bunny trail, left some rotten eggs all over the Amazon site while we were sleeping. Suddenly, many books lost their sales ranking and levels of searchability on the Amazon site.

#Amazonfail and the politics of anti-corporate cyber-activism from Net Effect by Evgeny Morozov

It must be really tough being a stupid company on the Internet. Once you make a silly decision and it's out there, travelling via the Interwebs, you'll pay for it very dearly - and probably forever, as it would probably the first thing that customers discover about you on Google.

Amazon Rank by SB Sarah from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books • Sunday, April 12, 2009 at 11:22 AM

Dampening my snickering glee at being ranked among Movements and Periods is the news that Amazon seems to be stripping the sales figures and accompanying rankings from GLBTQ books, erotica, and romance novels, particularly those with what they term “adult content.”

In short: someone in Amazon has utter shit for brains.

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Of course, if you want to see the action in real-time, watch the #amazonfail hashtag on twitter. It will be interesting to see how the company responds to the firestorm. Anyway, just thought I'd keep my fellow bookworms informed!

Respect for All life?

Wait a second. I am so confused. I thought that anti-abortion leaders, when looking at women, felt only sorrow for the poor little fetusbabies, and that their policies and actions had absolutely nothing to do with hating uppity women? At least that's what liberal men like John Stewart and Bill Maher (and our president) tell me. My world is turning upside down here.

[x-posted at my new tumblr]

A Great Great Day

I will resume my Wuthering Heights and book-blogging tomorrow. But today is a day to celebrate!

Four Novembers ago, my (then new) boyfriend and I were dashing through Harvard Square on our way home to NYC to vote. We picked up a pair of hawked T-shirts that said "Bush is over" on them, but we couldn't wear the shirts the next day. I'll never forget how devastated we were.  But today we're both wearing them. Finally. I will post a picture later.

After weeks, months, years of despair, being convinced that our democracy was irrevocably damaged, I've learned to hope again.

This day is obviously so much more than the end of the Bush nightmare: today symbolizes so many things. It's a new benchmark in American race relations, a new direction for the US's image abroad, and the culmination of the most positive, inclusive, wide-ranging grassroots movement in decades. I was so proud to be a part of that movement, and I'm proud to be a part of this moment.

Here are some links: 

Obama's speech.

Bruce Springsteen and the great Pete Seeger singing "This Land is Your Land."

Bruce and Pete remind me that tomorrow, it's back to work fighting for reproductive justice and education reform and peace. But the road will seem a lot less dark.

My Thoughts on Obama's Choice of Reverend Rick Warren

...expressed, once more, through chats with my brother (we are both procrastinating).

For those who don't know the background, woman-hating, gay-bashing, creepy pastor Rick Warren is giving an invocation at the inauguration. ERGO my away message: "WTF barack??"

[bro]: why wtf barack?

me: rick warren is delivering the invocation at the inauguration

37 minutes

5:52 PM [bro]: saddleback boy?

me: yeah!

[bro]: fatty?*

me: abortion=holocaust boy

no on prop 8 boy

FATTY MCFAT*

5:53 PM [bro]: that is disgusting

screw obama

dawkins is right

why do religious people get a pass on everything

hate is hate

whether the hater wears a collar or not
***
[bro]: god i'm reading some stuff

warren is despicable

hopefully a haggard scandal breaks

where he's doing meth with some gigolo

9:57 AM me: yeah he believes wives should submit to their husbands!

nice man, that
me: atrios says people should turn their backs when warren prays

[bro]: nice

10:02 AM god hates bigots

10:09 AM [bro]: im researching hate speech

warren is an idiot

*UPDATE. We are referring, of course, to his fatty bulbous SOUL gorged on self-importance and not loving his neighbor. Making fun of people's appearances is never okay unless I feel like it their ugly souls happen to be reflected externally. Which I believe qualifies in this case.

Election Night Celebration in Harlem

I've never seen so many people on the steets, save when the Yankees used to regularly win the world series. Except this time, it was like TEAM HUMANITY won the world series of LIFE.

125th street celebrates the victory of Barack Obama.

The whole street was closed off. (note the Apollo in the distance)

Barack on the big screen.

The sidewalks were crammed.

People watching CNN.

[more photos of canvassing in Philly, Halloween and election night towards the end of this facebook album for those who are my virtual amies]

YES WE DID!

I Voted, Did You?

I was so proud to cast my ballot/pull my lever for Barack Obama today.

I boarded the Obama-train early (my college buds and I were obsessed with his 2004 speech. We smoked out of our homemade water-pipe, barack obong-a, and then listened to the speech on repeat. We were real cool), but was an Edwards girl in this race at first as a healthcare/poverty issues, coif-loving thing. I was initially disappointed by how cagey and stolid Obama seemed. Then I was enamored with Clinton when the media started beating up on her, and then... her camp started race-baiting and I voted for Obama a bit unenthusiastically.

I don't know when I started to love him so much. But I sure do now!

I think that looking back on the primary, Obama has adopted some of both his opponents best qualities. He's become more populist and his healthcare plan is more progressive, thanks in part to Edwards. He's become tougher, calmer, lost a little of his snarky edge, thanks to Hillary. And he's built an incredible ground game and gained experience thanks to the long, hard-fought primary.

I just love him so much these days, for his grace, his somewhat dorky sense of humor, his human side which he's shown more recently, his obvious intelligence and thoughtfulness, and his strong, unabashedly smarty-pants wife. I'm proud of our party for nominating him and proud of our country (fingers crossed) for embracing him. I won't agree with much of what he does, but I will agree with the choice. He is a huge step forward for our country.

This has been more than an election: it's a movement. I've never seen my politically wonky family and friends more involved: my mom and brother have gone to Ohio. My brother took his fifteen year old mentee to knock on doors in NH. I've been to NH and Pennsylvania with my partner and our close friends. My dad organized a massive fundraiser for the organized labor/legal community in NYC. My boyfriend's family have been manning the compu-phonebanks nonstop and connecting with voters everywhere. It's incredible! This campaign has inspired and moved so many of us... I hope it's enough. I've got my fingers crossed while I obsessively putter around the house for the few hours until we KNOW something.

YES WE CAN!!!

feel free to share your vote/campaign stories if you too want to kill time.

Me as Sarah Palin

Those are my companions, Joe the Plumber and Russia, whom I can see from my doorstep.

doing my foreign policy hw so I can be ready next time Katie Couric tries to zing me.

Joe sure hates taxes!
(Ignore the sign behind him, we were at the house of some un-American folks. They were of the Hebrew persuasion, if you know what I mean.)

with my field-dressed moose at the Halloween Parade in Fake America, the bastion of the gotcha liberal media. You betcha!

Funny thang. There were 9 other Sarah Palins there, and 11 other Joes-the-plumbers! I also saw my daughter Bristol with my son-in-law Levi and my adorable disabled anti-choice prop son Trig.

There Is No Chance of Taking A Walk Today, So Donate Your Money to Some Good Causes

It's a rainy day and windy, too, here on the Eastern Seaboard.

The election is coming up fast. A lot of things hang in the balance, like the fate of our nation, and our rights and such.

And you know what? All fall, I've been craving a new pair of flat, slouchy suede boots. Yeah, I really want those boots.

But reader, I didn't buy them and I won't until this election is over. Instead, I've been giving my equivalent money and time in trickles, so I can have as big an impact as I can 'afore the election.

Here are some ideas for where to donate YOUR shoe-money this fall.

• Two awful ballot initiatives in Florida California (ha. I initally said Florida cause I was calling Jewish seniors there as I blogged): Prop 4 and Prop 8, that take away civil rights for women and BGLT citizens, need to be stopped.
• Give your money or phone-calling prowess to the Obama campaign.
• Support progressive downticket candidates.
• Planned Parenthood.
• South Dakota Campaign for Healthy families (super important, fighting an abortion ban)
  

That is all. Enjoy your Saturdays, and hope you don't run into Cousin John Reed whilst you're endeavoring to read your book behind the red curtains.

John McCain--Voldemortesque and Gollumnish?

Canvassing

I spent this Saturday knocking on doors along winding country roads, neath the glorious autumnal foliage of New Hampshire. Nary a sound disturbed the tranquility there, save the occasional roaring of pickup trucks and epithets hurled at me and my fellow canvassers. JK, there were no epithets, only a few scary dogs, and a lot of polite, salt'o'the earth New Hampsherites.

This is my third election canvassing, and it's frustrating work, but it feels good do actually do something rather than just obsess over polls and cable bloviators.

I'm looking forward to next season, when I can enjoy the reds, oranges and yellows of New England as they blend in with the dark green fir trees--all sans the election-related pit in my stomach :)

Justin Timberlake Hearts Obama, and Choice!

Via E! Truly amazing.

I'm not here as some dude who writes goofy songs," said the pop stud, in town to helm the PGA's Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, which teed off today. "Me and Jess, we're here as Americans. We're here as humans because this is something we had to do."

Pointing out that our next president could have a huge say in who sits on the U.S. Supreme Court for generations to come, and therefore play a role in the future legality of abortions, Biel added: "Nobody should be able to say what you can do with your body."

"I give Jess the right to choose where we go to eat all the time," Timberlake joked. "The funny thing is, what the woman chooses is usually right."

Well said, JT. Bringing reproductive justice BACK.

If Charlotte Bronte's Words Were Used to Smack Down Sarah Palin

Bitter Girl tells it like it is. Go to her blog for the full taste. (h/t bronteblog)

Here's the most deliciously Charlottey bit:

Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last.

And yes, I did bring LOLCharlotte back. She never gets old, just like her damn fine novel-writin'. Heck. You betcha.

Bruce Rocks for Change, 10.2.08

So almost exactly a year ago, I wrote about a Springsteen concert I attended at MSG, during the kickoff leg of the Magic tour. I saw the Boss again at Giants stadium this July, and the E-Street Band's show had changed a bit in the ensuing months, gotten looser, longer, and more hopeful. This led me to anticipate that once the E-Street band hung up its amps, guitars, and so on, the Boss might hit the trail for Obama.

I was right! Today my man and I went all the way down to Philly to volunteer for Obama and to see the Boss headline an awesome rally for Change. It was truly spectacular, moving and inspirational. when Bruce goes acoustic, the poetry of his words is so apparent, and he picked really hauntingly poetic songs: "The Ghost of Tom Joad," "No Surrender," "Thunder Road," among them. Then he finished off with "This Land Is Your Land," a tribute to Woodie Guthrie, which I found so moving in its simplicity and given the history of the song as a "people's national anthem."

The only downside is that now I am so fatigued that I can barely move, and I still have my long list of assignments to work on before the Day of Atonement hits my Jewy ass. Oy. But it was so worth it.


Enjoy this clip taken today of Bruce's long, long, long, but really great speech followed by "The Rising."

AND REGISTER TO VOTE.

Sarah Palin Flowchart

funny cuz it's true.

She's a gosh darnit, gee, say it ain't so Joe, hockey mom, Joe six-pack, shucks, darn tootin' right, rufflin' feathers maverick!*

*you betcha

Stephen Colbert, Egalitarian Bookworm, Compares the Candidates to Shakespeare

With special guest Stephen Greenblatt, my former professor! He compared McCain to Macbeth and Prospero (with Bush and Lieberman as Banquo and Caliban, respectively) and he compared Obama to Hamlet (with Rev Wright as the Ghost, amazin') and to Puck cause he casts a spell on us foolish mortals, over hill and over dale.


Egalitarian Bookworm Stephen is so back!

YA for Obama

Apparently the world is coming to an end or something, what with markets crashing and campaigns being suspended and all manner of hijinks ensuing. 

But egalitarian bookworms fight on... in the form of YA for Obama, a new 'ning social networking site where awesomely popular and beloved YA writers like Judy Blume, Meg Cabot and Libba Bray rally to the cause.

Right on, EBCs. Right on.

Glenn Greenwald's "Great American Hypocrites."

Hey bookworms! Are you frustrated with the way our media acts like all Republicans are "manly manly men" and pegs all liberals--even war heroes--effete guys and emasculating women? Do the gender-norm assumptions and miscalculations by columnists like Maureen Dowd make your head spin?

Read this book. In fact, read it even if you are totally apolitical because it's a brilliant combination of culture and politics that sheds so much light on the absurdity of the election season.


It's about the "John Wayne" myth of Republican politics, the contrast between their facade of cowboy courage and morality and the reality of their double-talking, philandering, ways.

Glenn is a badass and the most brilliant pro-civil liberties blogger
out there. He's indispensable to the current left-wing movement, and this book concisely encapsulates so much about what's wrong with the American way of looking at politics--gender sterotypes, bankrupt media et al. He includes some particularly apt takedowns of Rush Limbaugh and Jonah Goldberg.

That being said, from a literary standpoint he does overuses the phrase "Scurrilous Dirtmongers" (and variations such as "scurrilous filthmongers").

But who wouldn't, if they had such a phrase in their verbal arsenal?