Good Morning
Who needs strange headlines when the news of the past week has been crazy enough?
This morning I want to stay away from links about the Shutdown and stick with things that don’t deal with DC assholes. It does not mean I will not post an article about rich misogynistic, anti-Semitic assholes…have you seen the latest crap out of Hobby Lobby? Hobby Lobby Boycotts Jewish Hanukkah And Passover (UPDATE)
Hanukkah comes early this year. But it apparently never comes to Hobby Lobby.
The national craft store owned by conservative billionaire Steve Green seemingly refuses to carry merchandise related to Hanukkah because of Green’s “Christian values,” and some Jews are taking offense.
“I will never set foot in a Hobby Lobby. Ever.” wrote Ken Berwitz, the New Jersey blogger who brought the Hobby Lobby Hanukkah flap to light in a Friday (Sept. 27) blog post.
Berwitz’s outrage has spread to other bloggers who are taking Hobby Lobby to task as a store that courts the general public, but refuses to stock anything related to Judaism — even in communities with significant Jewish populations.
It really should not come as a surprise, I mean if Hobby Lobby won’t provide birth control for its women employees, of course it goes without saying they would have a “fuck the Jews” attitude.
Green owns more than 550 Hobby Lobby stores nationwide, all of which are closed on Sunday, the Christian Sabbath. He is also known for his lawsuit against President Obama’s health care law, which he says tramples on his religious liberty by forcing him to insure employees for medical services he objects to on religious grounds. Many legal experts agree the case has a good chance of landing at the Supreme Court.He’s also known for holding one of the country’s largest collections of ancient biblical artifacts, including what’s believed to be the oldest known copy of a Hebrew prayer book. In unveiling the book on Thursday, Green dated the item to 840 C.E., declining to use the more Christian-sounding 840 A.D. so as not to offend Jews.
The Hobby Lobby Hanukkah controversy began when Berwitz learned that on a recent shopping trip his wife’s friends could not find anything related to Hanukkah at their local Hobby Lobby store in Marlboro, N.J., though it was stocked with Christmas items.
According to Berwitz, one of the women asked about bar mitzvah cards, and a Hobby Lobby salesperson replied: “We don’t cater to you people.”
That story prompted Berwitz, who own a market research company and writes the “Hopelessly Partisan” blog, to call the Marlboro store and ask why it seemed to be ignoring Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights, which begins on Nov. 27 this year. He wrote that he received the following response:
“Because Mr. Green is the owner of the company, he’s a Christian, and those are his values.”
Berwitz told Religion News Service that he then called Hobby Lobby’s corporate headquarters in Oklahoma City, and the company confirmed that it does not stock items for Hanukkah, and did not give a reason. When he asked whether the company carries Passover merchandise, he was again told no.
Well, I guess the backlash from this bad anti-Jewish PR made Mr. Green reconsider his “fuck the Jews” stance on carrying Hanukkah items in his stores:
UPDATE: 10/4 6:20pm
Hobby Lobby has promised to begin to sell Jewish holiday items in areas near large Jewish populations.
UPDATE 10/4/13 10:15am: Hobby Lobby President Steve Green has issued the following statement on behalf of the company:
We sincerely apologize for any employee comments that may have offended anyone, especially our Jewish customers and friends. Comments like these do not reflect the feelings of our family or Hobby Lobby. Our family has a deep respect for the Jewish faith and those who hold its traditions dear. We’re proud contributors to Yad Vashem, as well as to other museums and synagogues in Israel and the United States. We are investigating this matter and absolutely do not tolerate discrimination at our company or our stores. We do not have any policies that discriminate; in fact, we have policies that specifically prohibit discrimination. We have previously carried merchandise in our stores related to Jewish holidays. We select the items we sell in our stores based on customer demand. We are working with our buyers to re-evaluate our holiday items and what we will carry in the future.
So the only group of people getting discriminated against at Hobby Lobby now is Women! Yeah, lets say it loud…
at Hobby Lobby, we value our customers and employees and are committed to:
Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with biblical principles.
Offering our customers exceptional selection and value in the crafts and home decor market.
Serving our employees and their families by establishing a work environment and company policies that build character, strengthen individuals and nurture families.
Providing a return on the owner’s investment, sharing the Lord’s blessings with our employees, and investing in our community.
Unless you are a woman…than…fuck you!
Alright, enough with that Hobby Lobby dick.
I am going to stick articles about with women….and add the all important subject of poverty and domestic violence for just a moment.
You are well aware that the Shutdown pretty much is the GOP giving the “fuck you” to poor women and children on the WIC program: Colbert on the Government Slimdown | BobCesca.com | Liberal Politics Blog and Podcast | We Cover the World
Fox News is calling it a slimdown, which is a great name ’cause you know who’s really going to slim down? The 9 million women and children who will lose supplemental nutrition from the government.
Put that quote from Colbert into perspective: Women and Poverty, State by State | National Women’s Law Center
More than one in seven women, nearly 17.8 million, lived in poverty last year. Poverty rates were particularly high for families headed by single mothers – more than four in ten (40.9 percent) were poor. More than half (56.1 percent) of poor children lived in female-headed families in 2012.
With women as primary breadwinners in more than 40 percent of families today, women and their families simply cannot afford to make do with less.
Click on a state below to see how many female-headed families are living in poverty, plus:
The share of all women living in poverty
The share of Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American women living in poverty
The share of children and of women 65 and older living in poverty
You can also download the data for every state, and see more of NWLC’s analyses of the latest data on women and poverty.
Go to the link to see all the info from each state. Mississippi has the highest poverty levels across the board.
Here is another map for you, States With The Most Natives – Business Insider
Are the people who live in your state predominantly people who were born in that state, or did they come from somewhere else?
Seth Kadish at the brilliant Vizual Statistix Tumblr has come up with this great visualization which answers just this question, using Census data.
The redder an area is, the more likely it is that residents of that county were born in that state. The whiter an area is, the more likely it is that residents came from somewhere else.
Not surprisingly, parts of Florida, Nevada, Arizona and around DC are filled with people who came from somewhere else. Parts of Texas, Louisiana, and the upper-Midwest are among those places inhabited by original residents.
Click the image to see it larger!
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month: AAEC – Political Cartoon by Terry Wise, Ratland Ink Press – 10/02/2013
How to Tell if Someone You Love is in an Abusive Relationship – and What to do About It | Care2 Causes
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, so today we wanted to do our part to spread a little information about a topic that, despite being incredibly common, too often ends up getting swept under the rug. While most of us want to help victims of domestic violence (Republican politicians notwithstanding), one of the major reasons this important issue often goes ignored is that friends and family simply may not know how to spot an abusive relationship. Even if you have doubts about your loved one’s home life, you may not know how to bring up the issue or the best way to help out.
Remember, while most domestic violence situations involve women being abused by men, it can happen to anyone, gay or straight. Don’t assume that just because your friend doesn’t fit the “typical” mold of an abuse victim that nothing is wrong.
Be sure to read the rest of that article at the link above and forward it to some of your friends.
Now for some fun links.
Hey, the twin panda cubs are getting ready to be named! Check it out:
Voting begins soon to name the giant panda twins
Zoo Atlanta has partnered with Good Morning America on an official voting contest to name the twin male giant pandas born to Lun Lun on July 15, 2013. The contenders for the five sets of names for the 2-month-old duo were announced by Good Morning America on October 3, 2013. Voting will begin online through Good Morning America on Wednesday, October 9, 2013. The winning names will be revealed during the cubs’ 100 Day Naming Celebration on October 23, 2013.
Name options for Zoo Atlanta panda cubs announced | www.wsbtv.com
The twin giant panda cubs at Zoo Atlanta, the only twins ever to survive in the U.S., are hitting all of their developmental milestones as they approach 100 days since their birth.
Like all giant pandas, they were born nearly hairless, pink, blind and not much larger than a cell phone. Now, they have developed their characteristic black-and-white coats and weigh nearly 30 times their birth weights, tipping the scales at around 7 pounds. Their eyes have opened and they are responding more to their environment and to one another, the zoo said. Plus, the cubs are slowly starting to show off their personalities to keepers.
Channel 2′s Wendy Corona visited the cubs at Zoo Atlanta to see how they’re developing.
The pandas are affectionately known as “Cub A” and “Cub B” until their 100-day birthday, a milestone date in the Chinese tradition, when pandas are named.
“Cub A has been kind of the more vocal cub,” said Zoo Atlanta’s Curator of Mammals Dr. Rebecca Snyder. “Especially when he’s with Lun Lun.”
During our visit, he was sound asleep. Then there was his brother, the more awake Cub “B”.
“I think he’s momma’s boy. He just wants to be with Mom,” said Dr. Snyder. The calmer, more quiet one. Knowing this about their personalities might help you help Zoo Atlanta in deciding their names.
Since their July 15 birth, the adorable duo has charmed zoo staffers, who have been nursing the pandas around the clock when they are not with their mother, 15-year-old Lun Lun. In the wild, a giant panda mother would typically rear only one offspring at a time, which is why the zoo staff has been swapping the cubs between Lun Lun and a specially designed box.
Five sets of names were provided by the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China’s Sichuan province, and Zoo Atlanta is teaming up with “Good Morning America” to put it to a public vote, which kicks off Oct. 9.
Watch “GMA” for more panda news and check back here to vote for your names on Oct. 9 on GoodMorningAmerica.com.
There is video at the wbtv link, here are the names, I like number 5 the best:
1. Mei Lun and Mei Hua
(Pronounced May Loon and May Hwaa)
In English, the names mean Lun Lun’s twin cubs born in the USA.
2. Mei Lun and Mei Huan
(Pronounced May Loon and May Hwaan)
These names stem from an ancient Chinese idiom, “Mei Lun Mei Huan,” which was used to describe constructed buildings that are tall and magnificent. It has come to mean something indescribably beautiful and magnificent.
3. Tian Lun and Tian Le
(Pronounced Tee-an loon and Tee-an luh)
These names come from the Chinese idiom, “Tian Lun Zhi Le,” which means the joy of family life or family happiness. In this context, the cubs’ names would mean, “Lun Lun and her twin cubs are enjoying heavenly gifted family happiness,” according to the staff at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
4. Lan Tian and Bi Shui
(Pronounced Lan tee-an and Bee Shway)
The names, meaning blue sky and clear water, are derived from another the Chinese idiom, “Lan Tian Bi Shui,” which is used to describe beautiful scenery.
5. Da Lan and Xiao Lan
(Pronounced Dah Lan and Sheow Lan)
The literal meaning of these names is bigger one (“Cub B”) and smaller one (“Cub A”) of the Atlanta-born twins.
Sting is putting together a Broadway show: Sting’s ‘The Last Ship’ Concert Series at the Public Theater
Andrew Spear for The Wall Street JournalAt the Public Theater, Sting aims to stir interest in ‘The Last Ship’ with a series of 10 concerts featuring songs and characters from the show.
With a run of concerts at the Public Theater, Sting is putting more pieces in place for the launch of a Broadway musical called “The Last Ship.” To compose the score, the former Police frontman drew on characters and imagery from the doomed shipyard in his hometown of Wallsend, England. The musical, which Sting is developing with a squad of theater elite, starts a tryout run this summer in Chicago before opening on Broadway next fall.
Sting is hoping to prime interest in the musical with his 10-concert series at the Public, which ends on Wednesday. During the intimate show, which also features vocalists such as cast member Jimmy Nail, Sting plays acoustic guitar and sings in a thick brogue, voicing various characters. He is accompanied by a small band that includes fiddle and accordion players. Between songs that blend Broadway anthems with folk sounds from the British Isles, he tells anecdotes from his childhood and the process of creating a musical.
This week, after the release of the companion album “The Last Ship,” Sting’s first set of original material in eight years, the singer paused to discuss songwriting, his accent and the spotty track record of rock stars on Broadway.
Read the interview at the link.
Oh, now for some cool pictures…real old pictures. Photographs Taken With Kodak’s First Commercial Camera Are Now 125 Years Old
Remember when Kodak created its first commercial camera, a nifty invention that boasted the slogan “You Press the Button, We Do the Rest“?
Woman in a rowing boat, about 1890. Collection of National Media Museum/Kodak MuseumYou probably don’t, because this feat happened 125 years ago when George Eastman introduced the second Kodak camera ever made. The contraption looked almost nothing like the devices we’re used to, but it brought photography into the homes of everyday people with, well, the press of a button. And a fairly reasonable price of $25 — a cost that amounts to around $600 today, according to Design Taxi.
Thanks to a little UK-based institution known as the National Media Museum, we’re able to look back on history and peruse some of the very first amateur photographs ever taken. Snapped with the Kodak No. 1 (the first Kodak camera was simply named “Kodak”), the images provide a striking, black-and-white glimpse into life in the 1890s.
There are some amazing pictures in that Huffpo link…look at them and enjoy them.
Now for the last few articles of this morning’s post. Halloween is later this month, with the crazy things going on this week, it seems like it has come early. Anyway, this first link is a bit on werewolves.
How the Byzantines dealt with Werewolves
A new article explores how Byzantine doctors treated people those suffering from lycanthropy, a mental disorder where a patient believes he or she is, or has transformed into, a wolf and behaves like one. This disease is the basis for the legendary werewolves.
In “Lycanthropy in Byzantine times (AD 330–1453),” four scholars from the University of Athens examine the writings of six Byzantine physicians to see what they believed lycanthropy was and how it should be treated.
More at the link, go and read it.
Engraved Penises Reveal Birth of Italian City : Discovery News
Two penises engraved on a 2,000 year old stone may shed light on the foundation of the city of Aosta in northern Italy, revealing its deep connection with the Roman emperor Augustus.
Named Augusta Praetoria Salassorum by the Romans — who captured it from the local Salassi people in 25 B.C. to control strategic mountain passes — Aosta boasts several monuments dedicated to Augustus.
“But the newly discovered stone tells even more about Aosta’s connection with the Roman emperor. It reveals the city was built under Augustus’ sign during the winter solstice,” Giulio Magli, professor of archaeoastronomy at Milan’s Polytechnic University, told Discovery News.
[...]
Carved on both sides, the block features two very clear figures on one side — a phallus and, over it, a spade — and some partly damaged reliefs on the other. There, a phallus is again represented. Over it, a plough and a partly eroded character which appears to be a Capricorn.
The plough and the spade openly hint to the sulcus primigenius, the original trench plowed to mark the perimeter of a new city in the Roman foundation ceremony. Related to the god Priapus, the phallic effigies most likely had an “apotropaic” function, evoking some sort of protection from evil forces.
“The chunk of mud has certainly preserved the stone from damage and censorship,” Bertarione said. “In medieval times the evident phallic figures would have been erased since they were regarded as obscene pagan symbols.”
And finally, ‘Breaking Bad’ anti-hero Walter White gets spoiler-filled obituary in Albuquerque newspaper
A group of die-hard “Breaking Bad” fans have posted an obituary notice for the show’s anti-hero Walter White in a local paper in New Mexico, made famous by the cult series.
David Layman, coincidentally a science teacher like White, was among 10.3 million viewers who tuned in to last weekend’s final episode of the series about the central character’s transformation into a drug lord, after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.
“I’ve been a humongous ‘Breaking Bad’ fan since the beginning,” Layman told the Albuquerque Journal, which published the obituary on page 4, with a small photo.
“I was actually in the pilot, and putting the obit in the paper was fitting, because the series was based in Albuquerque and it provides some of us some closure.”
[...]
The short obituary reads:
“White, Walter, aka ‘Heisenberg,’ 52, of Albuquerque, died Sunday after a long battle with lung cancer, and a gunshot wound.
“A co-founder of Gray Matter, White was a research chemist, who taught high school chemistry, and later founded a meth manufacturing empire.
“He is survived by his wife, Skyler Lambert; son Walter ‘Flynn’ Jr; and daughter Holly. A private memorial was held by his family. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to a drug abuse prevention charity of your choice. He will be greatly missed.”
Innit great?
Well, that is it for this Sunday’s reads. Y’all have a good day and take it easy…see you in the comments later on, until then…ciao!