Man On Fire: 10/27/13

27 Oct 2013

Namaste Bitches

By Dr. Tara J. Palmatier: It’s day 27 of Domestic Violence Awareness Month for Men and Boys, the invisible victims of domestic violence. “Luke” thought he had met the love of his life — a mother of two, a writer and a yoga instructor. On the surface, she seemed to have it altogether. Then, on a once in a lifetime holiday to Asia, she went from Sun Salutation to Downward Facing Crazy Bitch.

Namaste Bitches
I met her in 2011 when I came to her yoga class. Yes, you read that correctly: she is a yoga teacher. Someone who is supposed to be an example of peace, serenity, and kindness.
In any case, I was fresh off of a breakup that was mostly a fling; I had made the mistake of dating a “party girl” – that is: totally benign, but the heavy-drinking, thrill-seeking type that never wanted to settle down – so I was intrigued by this woman, someone who seemed like she had it all together. I was single. She was divorced with two children.
Our first couple meetings were somewhat plutonic, but I felt almost manic around her. Our conversation sparkled, we finished each other’s sentences. She was electric: funny, intelligent, beautiful. Finally, late one night sitting in the hammock, she asked why I hadn’t kissed her yet.

RT: Human Rights Watch has called on the Apartheid Israeli military regime to stop harassing Addammeer, an advocacy group for Palestinian prisoners. The NGO has complained about the military targeting the group and imposing restrictions on it without evidence.
Addameer’s main functions are to provide legal aid to prisoners held by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, conduct research and empower prisoners and their lawyers with knowledge in international law. But the organization is being routinely prosecuted for its stance without much substantiation of claims, HRW reported.

Following a whole string of such cases, Joe Stork, HRW’s deputy director for the Middle East, said that “the Israeli military’s apparent persecution of a prisoners rights group, especially without allowing the individuals to defend themselves, is a prime example of the injustices the group seeks to counter… The military should stop harassing Addameer’s employees on the basis of vague or secret evidence.”

Feminist Union Blues

Billy Clement: The wording of these documents is astonishing- change 'male' and 'female' around to see what I mean. Basically, if the majority of employees in any given job are female, it doesn't matter about profitability, they have to be paid the same as an equivalent mainly male job. The trick is finding that job. They actively discourage looking at jobs where the mix of genders is equal? I almost couldn't believe how blatant the gender bias is in them. Almost....

By Janet Bloomfield: The US cosmetics market is the biggest market in the world, worth an astonishing $55 billion in 2012, and forecasted to just keep on growing.
http://www.statista.com/topics/1008/cosmetics-industry/
If you eliminate all women under the age of 14, the female population in the US is around 124 million, suggesting that each and every woman in the US spends $443 per year on cosmetics.
http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdf
Okay, men buy a few cosmetics, principally in the category of “skin care” products (which includes sunscreen), but jesus that is a lot of money.
I wonder why $50 billion dollars is being pocketed by the makers of lady face spackle and prettification? Why would women do that? Ask a feminist and she’ll say PATRIARCHY OPPRESSION UNREASONABLE BEAUTY STANDARDS OBJECTIFICATION MISOGYNY, but ask a scientist, and you’ll get a different answer.
“As women, we don’t have the choice to engage with the beauty industrial complex: it’s so ever-present in our lives that women who don’t wear makeup are commonly taken as defining themselves against it. To not wear makeup, for many women, is to invite misunderstanding or, worse, judgment.”
Oh, good heavens, no! Not judgement! Women are judged on their appearances? Appearances convey information about who you are and what you value?

By Dr. Tara J. Palmatier: It’s day 27 of Domestic Violence Awareness Month for Men and Boys, the invisible victims of domestic violence. Have you ever wondered why we view men’s violence as criminal behavior and women’s violence as mental illness? Have you ever considered the ramifications of doing so?
Male abusers are seen as bad men that women and children would do well to avoid. Female abusers are seen as “troubled,” and in need of our compassion and help. Female abuse victims are told to end their relationship with their male abusers. Male abuse victims are often told they need to learn how not to trigger their female abuser and be more sensitive, understanding and accepting of her feelings. Male abusers often go to jail. Female abusers typically go to counseling.
This is especially evident in the way a large percentage of the mental health field approaches women with Borderline Personality Disorder and their victims, which often include the spouses/partners and children of the BPD. It is one of the worst double standards in the mental health profession. These therapists are culpable for enabling domestic violence and child abuse.
I suspect many men who fit the classic male batterer/emotional abuser archetype likely have borderline, narcissistic and/or sociopathic traits, just like their female abuser counterparts. Yet, the mental health field has compassion for disordered female abusers and treats disordered male abusers as criminals. Benevolent sexism?

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: “We are rolling toward a collapse of the dollar, and with it will collapse American power. The reason a country is a superpower is because it can pay its bills in its own currency. That’s what it means to be the world’s reserve currency....

“When you lose that ability but you have massive bills, how do you pay them? You can’t. That’s the dilemma. I think it’s just so dishonest that the (mainstream) media hides the real problems from people, and that the government policymakers either hide them or haven’t the wits to understand them.

And I think it’s dishonest when the Federal Reserve, instead of stating the real problem, pretends that it’s working on a solution. The banks should have been allowed to fail. It would not have been very costly. The FDIC would have saved the deposits. The amount of money they needed to print to save the deposits was miniscule compared to what they’ve spent trying to save the banks -- and to the damage they’ve done to the dollar, and to the economy. They should have let them fail and be reorganized.

An Open Letter to Russell Brand - Let's Start a Revolution!

Stefan Molyneux: Russell Brand recently spoke with Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman about economic inequality, how voting doesn't change anything, political apathy and revolution. Stefan Molyneux doesn't think he went far enough. Let's continue that conversation.

ENGLAND IN SHOCK AS CLOCKS GO BACK TO 1379 + Rigid neoliberal faith is becoming a cross between mediaeval Catholic theology and Soviet truth-bending

Serfs stunned by uninvention of Talent Shows

In yet another completely unforeseen event, last night in England the clocks went back 634 years. Astonished subjects found themselves under the benign rule of Good King Jeremy I, and his main enforcer The Sheriff of Camerlot.

The Slog: Royal tax collector and Viking nobleman Bloodaxe Oddspawn insisted that this unexpected change would not affect the post Plague recovery “as Scotland is nought to us, and so we’ll save a bloody fortune”. He noted in particular that there had been a satisfying 0.8% growth in rook exports, bringing the year’s MAT to 9 birds. He further rubbished “Left Wing poppycock about rats carrying plague, for they have not the room for such things in the bodie as any foole can see”.

And jolly Court Jester Danny Loosecannon told all subjects to “rejoice now that there are only 600 years to go before Magwitch Handbag comes forth to slay the socialist serpent by using the magic potions of Milton Notkeynes”.

Press TV: The UK government has reluctantly, but without opposition, endorsed a European Union (EU) statement in which the member states voiced “deep concern” over Washington’s illegal spying activities on its allies and adversaries alike.

The common EU statement was drafted by Germany and France to demand the White House sign a “code of conduct” with Europe to make it impossible for the US spying apparatus to conduct surveillance into all members of the European Union.

The German and French governments were also seeking to isolate Britain due to its close cooperation with the US in global spying operations exposed by former CIA contractor and fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden in leaks to the London-based The Guardian newspaper.

The statement came after fresh revelations showed that a US listening post in Berlin had been tapping into German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone.