Day: January 23, 2012

Children of Single Mothers

~ Clarissa ~ 35 Comments

What do people mean by this weird expression “children of single mothers”? That their fathers are all married? Or that they were conceived by the Holy Spirit?

See this article, for example. It talks about “the percentage of children born to unmarried women.” OK, the article in itself is beyond silly but forget about that for the moment. How come these children are born just to women? Aren’t they supposed to be born to women and men, married or unmarried? Or does a father only count if he is officially married to the child’s mother? That can’t make sense.

The only child that we know of who was born to a woman with no male participation was Jesus. And even he had two fathers.

And then we start asking ourselves why men are less involved in parenting than women. Might that be because they are constantly and stubbornly erased from their children’s existence?

On Joe Paterno and the Wisdom of My Blogroll

~ Clarissa ~ 5 Comments

Every single blog post and article I have ever read about Joe Paterno was unapologetically critical of his failure to take action and stop a pedophile. I read in those article that some people still defend him and that accolades are heaped on him by fans. I, however, haven’t seen a single piece of writing, tweet or comment trying to excuse him.

This tells us that it’s crucial to pay attention to the quality of sources one adds to one’s blogroll and the kind of people one follows on Twitter. It seems like my blogroll and my Twitter account are populated by people who don’t think that child abuse is an insignificant matter.

And that is very good.

And For the Especially Clueless: Ron Paul Is NOT a Libertarian

~ Clarissa ~ 39 Comments

He is a fake Libertarian who is supported by Fundamentalist Evangelicals and is interested in nothing but promoting their savage and barbaric beliefs:

When GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul was asked today about Tuesday’s federal court ruling upholding an aggressive new sonogram law in his home state of Texas, the congressman said the requirement that women seeking an abortion first get a sonogram “should always have been a Texas state position.’’

What are the chances that the guy who supports the governmental intrusion into your body will be opposed to the governmental intrusion into your bed, your bank account, your smoking, drinking and reading matter, etc.? Seriously, how clueless do you have to be not to notice that this Ron Paul character supports an extremely powerful state apparatus that will police your body parts like there is no tomorrow?

Yes, he pretends he will legalize pot. And that makes him yet another candidate who lies through his teeth to get elected. Just think about it: how likely are his Fundamentalist backers to allow him to move even an inch in that direction? And if he is in favor of the government controlling what happens inside of your body, how can he possibly be against, say, mandatory drug tests? It isn’t logical, folks. You want to mandate sonograms, you can’t oppose mandating drug tests. Nobody would be able to make an argument supporting the former but opposing the latter.

It is so annoying to see smart, well-read, politically conscious people swallow Ron Paul’s lies and not see that he is in no way different from the fanatical Huckabee, to give just one example.

So whenever you are tempted to take this Evangelical clown seriously, ask yourself the following: Ron Paul wants the government to rummage in women’s vaginas. What does this tell us about his general attitude to an extremely powerful and intrusive government?

Don’t start typing out a response immediately. Just think about it for a moment. And now consider the following question:

Brian Williams should ask him tonight at the debate whether he would agree that a state government has the right to demand pat-downs at its airports. I’d be curious to hear the answer.

If Ron Paul says no, he is a hypocrite of enormous proportions. If he says yes, then he recognizes he favors an all-powerful government whose right to police your body is inviolate.

It makes a lot more sense to support a candidate who is both pro-sonogram and pro-drug tests because such a candidate is at least trying to be consistent.

I just had a grad student offer me a long rant on how Ron Paul is a good candidate because he supports withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. I agree that Ron Paul may attempt to stop waging a war in Afghanistan. (And we all know that he will fail completely in that effort, don’t we?) I also know, however, that he will wage a war against his own people. Women, you know, are people, too. And I consider invading women’s uteri an act of aggression.

Truck Nutz

~ Clarissa ~ 6 Comments

I will never become truly American, I’m afraid. I’ve been living on this continent since 1998, and yet, there are realities that I am completely unaware of. Blogger P. rhoeas acquainted me with the phenomenon of truck nutz today.

Here is what they look like:

I don’t know what it says about me, but I’m totally into the pink ones. And to the professor who ridiculed me when I said, “In American roadtrip literature a car symbolizes a penis,” what can you say now?

From the following comment on Amazon, I discovered that the truck nutz are supposed to bring good luck:

These balls are a bit large when hung from the rearview mirror of my Prius. They obstruct vision a bit when they swing back and forth. Otherwise they work great. I’ve had quite a bit of luck since I swapped out the ole lucky rabbits foot.

You can find a great selection of them here.

Blog Searches

~ Clarissa ~ 10 Comments

I haven’t done this for a while, so a new collection of funny searches that have brought people to this blog has accumulated. here are the best ones:

what is poverty like – Good for you that you have to ask. I can just imagine that sheltered lifestyle.

I kept my husband last name when he divorce me now he is collecting some my social security if i change my name can i stop him from collecting my money. – I have no idea. Can anybody help? To me, it sounds like if somebody is stealing your money, the best way to go is to contact the police. This cannot possibly have anything to do with the shared last name, can it?

is vulva nice – Yes, it is. If only they were all so easy.

gaystyle enterprises cock whistle – I’m clueless. Anybody?

how to understand men – Start by understanding that all men are different and there is no algorithm that you can follow to interact successfully with all of them.

why are russians so different – From what? I hope the question is why they are all so different from each other. The answer is: because they are human.

why women worked in the 70s – Just note how many searches are based on mindless generalizations. Is it not obvious that the reasons why women worked in any decade would be influenced by their social class, financial status, family situation, etc.?

how to enjoy giving oral sex to a woman – You want instruction on how to enjoy something? Enjoyment is not a learned skill, buddy. If you have to seek instructions on how to enjoy a certain sexual activity, that probably means this activity is not for you.

has the good men project become anti feminist – Yes, it has. Its founder is heavily into tired old gender stereotypes that he delivers with the glee of a 3-year-old who has just learned to turn on an iPad.

childfree why do people care – They don’t. Until the child-free start descending on their blogs in droves throwing infantile tantrums.

do you like san francisco – Love it. But only for the purposes of tourism. I wouldn;t want to live in a city where housing prices are so inflated. That’s a disaster waiting to happen.

greatest achievement of civilisation – You are online and you have to ask?

anti gender stereotype blog – And you, my friend, are in the right place. We do this a lot  around here.

klubnikis technology site – “Klubnikis” is a name I invented for my little niece. And no, you can’t have it for your technology site or whatever.

kindle+fire+useless – And you, Kindle-hater, should stay away from my blog. You will find no sympathy here.

murakami 1q84 feminism – There is no feminism in this novel. However, it is the first book by Murakami that I have read that is not actively anti-feminist.

“david bellamy” atheist – If this is about the David Bellamy we all know and love on this blog, he isn’t an atheist.

how often do teachers think about sex with students – Teachers don’t. Quacks who went into teaching in spite of being signally unsuited to it do.

why do men like to chase – And this is somebody whose personal life is hopeless.

oral sex feminism – Oral sex and feminism are not related. Just like oral sex and pizza. Or feminism and pizza.

clarissa’s blog not autistic – Very true. Clarissa’s Blog is not autistic. Clarissa is.

professor montreal spanish peninsular literature clarissa – Yes. All true.