Category Archives: rhetoric

The Face of the War on Women

politics, rhetoric, sex, toledo 2013.06.14 Sean Shannon Leave a comment

Before I get to the usual links, let’s start with a video from earlier this week of Michael Ellis, the President of the Wisconsin Senate, totally flipping his lid as he tries to push through another of those forced-ultrasound bills in his chamber (and succeeds): Okay, now for the usual article links: Ohio abortion clinic closes its doors, foreshadowing state budget impact (Salon.com) Ohio Republicans Introduce One of the Nation’s All-Time Worst Abortion Bills (nationofchange.com) I opened with the video of Ellis for two reasons.…

Don’t Get Punchy

freespeech, politics, rhetoric 2013.05.28 Sean Shannon Leave a comment

Fox News’ Andrea Tantaros Tells Listeners to Punch Obama Voters In the Face (Yahoo!) Lost amidst the coverage of the devastating tornado in Oklahoma last week was news that, in addition to spying on Associated Press reporters, the Justice Department also spied on Fox News Channel on-screen personality James Rosen, tracking his movements and phone calls, seizing his e-mails, and even accusing him of committing a crime in their affidavit. Coming on the heels of the AP scandal, this story likely would have exploded were…

Republicans: Do Your ****ing Jobs

politics, rhetoric 2013.05.17 Sean Shannon Leave a comment

Conservative Advice To GOP: Don’t Legislate, Focus On Scandals (NPR.org) In the autumn of 2010 I decided to stop following politics so closely, in part to focus on my fiction writing, but also because I was getting sick and tired of all the Tea Party nonsense and could see the handwriting on the wall in terms of how the midterm elections would turn out. I still kept half an ear on the news, though, since I needed to know what was going on for my…

Screw the “Silly Season”

politics, rhetoric 2013.05.11 Sean Shannon Leave a comment

Benghazi Schools Obama In The Politics Of Scandal (npr.org) The beginning of May is the start of what’s known as the “silly season” of American politics. Most states have held their primaries, and until we get closer to the election — around September or October — there’s a sense that there won’t be much in the way of “serious” politics done until then. (This isn’t so much the case in presidential election years, thanks to the increased importance of the parties’ annual conventions and vice-presidential…

Women Deserve Better from Facebook

freespeech, internet, rhetoric 2013.04.24 Sean Shannon Leave a comment

What Facebook Continues To Tell Us About Violence Against Women (Fem 2.0) Earlier this year, my Facebook timeline was flooded with my friends reposting an image of a breast cancer survivor’s chest tattoo that Facebook repeatedly deleted because the image of a woman’s naked chest technically violated their nudity policy. Facebook eventually relented, but it reminded me of an episode of that Comedy Central atrocity known as The Man Show, in which a man who’d gotten breast implants on a dare came on and showed off…