President Obama's healthcare proposal doesn't have a public option! Tell Congress that you support the public health insurance option, even if it'll only take 51 Democratic Senators to pass it.
CPAC, the Conservative Political Action -- [looks at hand] Convention -- strike that -- Conference, is taking place this week in Washington, D.C. I think it's a week. I normally wouldn't care about these things, but there are a couple of funny videos from the event. First is some guy who decries the presence of a conservative gay organization at the convention. A conservative gay organization? Outside of the Catholic church? You're kidding me! He rationalizes his outrage by saying that civil rights are rooted in natural rights and natural rights are rooted in nature and nature is Wee-Wees + Foo-Foos = Baby. During his rant, something pretty amazing happens
He gets booed! Maybe it's because the crowd respects conservatives of the gay variety. Maybe it's because the absence of tie around his neck automatically makes him Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's BFF. But then this guy launches probably the best insult in history:
The lesbians at Smith protest better than you do!
That's probably because lesbians have always had plenty to protest about, even in super-duper gay Northampton (Hey, Diana & Tori!). Conservatives discovered protesting when Glenn Beck told them to discover it.
Next, Rachel Maddow attended CPAC, mostly to laugh at people. I really have nothing to add here. It's just plain funny.
Keith Olbermann called his Worst Person in the World segment last night "unusual," and ended it with this:
All I have to say about Ann Coulter is this: If this guy wants to live his life as a woman, I'm gonna back his choice up 100 percent.
Calling Ann Coulter a man? Real unusual, Keith. And so not funny.
I know what you're thinking, because it wasn't long ago when my cis brain might have accepted this train of thought. "But Ann Coulter made a litany of gender-variant-phobic jokes in the column Keith quoted. She dissed cross-dressing! She dissed androgyny! She dissed butch lesbians! Why aren't you holding her accountable? Coulter is worse than Olbermann!" Maybe she is worse than he is, but not today. Or last night when Keith made that comment. I would really like the whole world to be above this, but I think the best hope the world has of becoming above this is if our progressive media figures become above this. Conservatives aren't going to call Coulter out on her trans hate. If anything, they might praise her for it. Progressives don't seem to be calling Olbermann out either. One woman on Twitter actually said it was the best part of her day. How's that for praise? But I still believe there are some people in the progressive movement that will tell him that his comments were offensive.
So that's why I e-mailed Keith Olbermann at Countdown@msnbc.com and told him that his comments were hurtful and possibly deadly. I mean, as long as mainstream media figures and the rest of the world are going to frame trans people as the outliers of humanity, then it doesn't make much of a difference if they were to die, right? (h/t @lilithvf1998). Making a joke about someone's gender identity does this extremely well. I think he needs to make himself tonight's Worst Person in the World. And never make a trans joke again.
Happy Presidents' Day! Many schools have off on Presidents' Day, which is a total wasted opportunity for kids to learn about presidents and other government whatnot. Oh, well.
I haven't had a funny poll in a very, very long time. But it was Glenn Beck's birthday the other day, and this is my way of celebrating. In other words, I recognized the day by taking a few minutes to make fun of him. So . . . .
What do you think Glenn Beck wished for when blowing out the candles?
More chalk to illustrate his insane conspiracy theories
So CBS ended up airing the Focus on the Family ads during the Super Bowl anyway. When I saw one of them on YouTube, I commented that Focus on the Family is an extreme right-wing hate group that works to roll back the rights of women and LBGTs, meager as they already are. A loser then replied saying this: "Focus on the Family is not an extreme right-wing hate group. They believe in the love of family - every member of the family - the pregnant and the preborn. 64% of all abortions are coerced making abortion the ultimate exploitation of women. Focus on the Family is there for the family, the pregnant, and the preborn. There is no hateful propaganda on their website only love and compassion." Anti-choicers say that darndest things, don't they?
Demand maternal healthcare in Burkina Faso. Five women died of pregnancy and childbirth-related deaths in Burikna Faso ALONE on the day CBS aired ads for Focus on a Family, an organization that supports women dying as long as it aligns with their political beliefs.