Two female assistant professors, one white, one black

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Wednesday March 12, 2008 · 8:25 PM PDT

2008/03/12 · 20:25

In the 90s I was hired as an assistant professor in an English department at a state university in the south. I am a white female, and a black female was hired the same year in the same department. We were both introduced to the department at a reception at the beginning of the year, and I remember one of the older male professors whispering to me that the other woman was hired only because she was black.

And you know what, he was right, because if he had his way, she would never have been hired at all. There was a push to recruit minorities, and she benefited from that. But here's the thing. She had graduated from Harvard, and I had graduated from a small state school. She had published two books, and I had published two articles. She was far more qualified for an assistant professor position than I was, and yet she was going to have to work harder than me to prove herself to that old fart in order to get tenure.

Katydid

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Monday February 04, 2008 · 6:29 AM PST

2008/02/04 · 06:29

I can't believe all this wrangling regarding different health care plans, whether candidate X or Y will give driver's licenses to immigrants or not, etc. etc.

Since when does a president's plans become law?

Since never, that's when.

Presidents don't make law, they sign bills into law, or they veto bills. That's about it. They beg and plead, and they sign or not, but that's the limit of their power.

Look, if the president could do anything, Bill would have gotten Hillary's healthcare plan into law in 1993. He couldn't.

So why on earth would you argue about such nonsense? The president is not the legislator-in-chief, far from it.

If you're going to vote, vote based on approach, way of thinking, factors considered by the candidate, ways of explaining the factors, but NOT on whether you want a specific plan turned into law. Ain't gonna happen.

I'm really sick of these arguments about who is going to get arrested at the hospital or have their wages garnished, depending on who we elect as president. ARE YOU CRAZY?

Katydid

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Tuesday January 29, 2008 · 6:42 AM PST

2008/01/29 · 06:42

There's another side to "it's not about rich vs. poor."

Obama was criticized on dailykos for being naive, for not standing up for the poor, for not realizing that the rich find the poor irrelevant and aren't about to help them.

No, it's about rich + poor.

Obama is explicitly calling for everyone in America to unite (E Pluribus Unum). He's calling for the abolishment of VS. as a defining characteristic of this country.

rich vs. poor OR rich + poor
black vs. white OR black + white
men vs. women OR men + women

This doesn't mean that Obama discounts the poor and ignores their needs. It means that he counts the rich. He wants everyone to be included in all calculations.

Obama doesn't accept the premise that it's an adversarial relationship. The rich aren't entitled to win, it's not even going to be a bout. There's no VS. allowed.

(more below)

Katydid

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Saturday January 19, 2008 · 3:06 PM PST

2008/01/19 · 15:06

Lots of arguments are floating around how Obama is triangulating a lot like two previous presidents who won crossover votes: Reagan and Clinton I. Not only that, I would contend that Bush II was a triangulator in his first election too ("compassionate conservatism; I worked with the Democrats in Texas"). He came out of the closet shortly thereafter, however. Clinton II is not being accused of triangulation - she is clearly a strong partisan Democrat.

However, there is a big difference between what these triangulating guys said and what they did, and the issue is which way will Obama go - will he operate like Reagan (talk centrist, yet push a partisan agenda), or will he operate like Clinton I (talk centrist, and give a lot of ground to the opposition)?

Here's the thing ... I voted for both Reagan and Clinton I, and I have something to say about why I did and about what each chose to do with my vote. And it's relevant to Obama.

Katydid

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Monday November 19, 2007 · 5:53 AM PST

2007/11/19 · 05:53

This is a fight, folks. The democratic candidates are trying to win the nomination, they are NOT trying to get along. These guys want to beat each other and win.

The same goes for us, the supporters. If you support one person, and detest another, now is the time to say so. So cut the crap about how we all need to get along.

(More...)

Katydid

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Thursday November 09, 2006 · 8:00 AM PST

2006/11/09 · 08:00

It just occurred to me that Bush is going to be happier with a Democratic congress. Really.

Bush went into 2000 truly thinking that he was a uniter, based on his ability to work with a Democratic legislature in Texas. The problem for him was that he hired back all his Daddy's ideologues, plus he had a Republican senate and house who wanted to dominate, not compromise. Bush was steamrolled by the far more powerful Republicans who allowed no room for compromise with Democrats. He wished the Democrats would agree with him, but he had no mechanism in place to bring Democrats into the fold, when the fold was a neocon point of view that engulfed him.

I think that Bush is actually relieved .... (more below) Read More

Howard Dean, the new moral Democrats, and us

Katydid

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Wednesday November 08, 2006 · 8:54 AM PST

2006/11/08 · 08:54

Three really important things FOR US happened yesterday:

1. The democrats won control of the house and senate.

2. The new democrats who won are exceptionally moral people.

3. The democrats who won owe their success to the grassroots and netroots, and they know it.

This intersection of factors means that it's possible that the very nature of politics in America will change drastically for the better in January...

And Howard Dean's role in this goes deeper than you think.
Read More

NPR: we're in another Iran-related oil crisis (!)

Katydid

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Tuesday May 23, 2006 · 12:53 PM PDT

2006/05/23 · 12:53

I just heard a report on NPR as I was coming to work that really disturbed me. They were interviewing a guy in Utah who invented a way to get oil from the oil shale in the Rocky Mountains. Now that barrels of oil are so expensive, it is feasible to pursue this technology. This guy started working on it 25 years ago, when, as the interviewer said, "the nation was in the grips of another Iran-related oil crisis." My jaw dropped.

So now the high price of oil is Iran's fault?

Furthermore, it takes 1 ton of oil shale to make 1 barrel of oil. ONE TON. And it costs about $30 to make, which is now economically feasible given the cost of oil. The process works by extracting vaporized oil from pulverized rock.

So now it's ok to pulverize the Rocky Mountains for oil?

This is just wrong on so many levels: blaming Iran for our oil crisis; blasting the rocky mountains to smithereens in the pursuit of oil; and increasing the effects of global warming because of our insistence on burning fossil fuels.

More below...
Read More

Why Libby Lied to the Grand Jury

Katydid

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Tuesday October 25, 2005 · 2:26 PM PDT

2005/10/25 · 14:26

Think about it. Let's assume a) that you were part of a conspiracy with the VP to create intelligence in order to sell the Iraq war, b) that you were part of a conspiracy with the VP to discredit Joe Wilson via leaks about his wife, and c) a CIA agent died as a result of your leak (something Libby would know if it happened). If all of these things were true, and I am sure of a and b at least, if I were Libby I would try to get away with lying about it. Because these three things taken together are clearly treasonous. Far better to take a chance and lie and possibly get away with it, or even accept a perjury indictment. But no way would you want to admit anything that indicated you were part of a treasonous conspiracy like this. It's more than trying to cover up for the VP, he has to cover up for himself.

I think someone died as a result of this. If so, wouldn't you lie if you were Libby? How could you possibly tell the truth about your role in this? Just think about it.

Looming Financial Crisis: What I Did Because of DailyKos

Katydid

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Saturday September 10, 2005 · 12:21 AM PDT

2005/09/10 · 00:21

I've been reading bonddad, jerome a paris and others at dailykos for quite some time now, including all the articles they refer to, and this summer I decided to take action. I owned a condo in Hawaii that I had bought in 1995, that had declined in value quite a bit through 2002, but recently climbed much higher than I originally paid. I sold it and became a renter.

Before learning about the economic crisis we face on dailykos, I did what many people have done, and took out a second mortgage as my condo value started to rise. I used that money to pay off some credit card debt, but then charged more stuff after that. Net result: more debt, more payments. I don't think I would have had the guts to sell and get out of this treadmill without knowing what I learned here.

More on living without debt, how I feel about renting, and what I learned on dailykos below ... Read More

Only white people being evacuated at airport!

Katydid

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Thursday September 01, 2005 · 1:09 PM PDT

2005/09/01 · 13:09

I was just watching CNN, and the racial inequity in this country is striking. They showed people on stretchers and in wheelchairs being evacuated from the airport, and every single one of them is white. They may be from a local hospital, which just underscores who has money for health care. It is such a contrast to the pictures of people at the superdome, who are almost entirely black. The two Americas has never been so obvious.

Need to find brain fucking gif from Cheers n Jeers

Katydid

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday August 01, 2005 · 1:03 PM PDT

2005/08/01 · 13:03

Back in May, I saw a gif in a Cheers n Jeers comment that showed a brain pulsing with couples fucking. I was traveling and in an internet cafe, so I couldn't save it. Now I would like to find that gif, but a google search yielded nothing. I just tried looking up all the Cheers n Jeers stories from that week but they are deleted for some reason. Anyway, I'm sure one of you saw it, saved it, knows what I'm talking about!

Plus the rest of you who missed it can now have the pleasure of adding it to your collection ...

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Two female assistant professors, one white, one black

Candidate plans, like healthcare, mean squat

It's about rich + poor

Reagan, Clinton, Obama: Will the Real Triangulator(s) Stand Up

I don't detest candidate-bashing diaries

Bush WILL go along with Congress

Howard Dean, the new moral Democrats, and us

NPR: we're in another Iran-related oil crisis (!)

Why Libby Lied to the Grand Jury

Looming Financial Crisis: What I Did Because of DailyKos

Only white people being evacuated at airport!

Need to find brain fucking gif from Cheers n Jeers