dykey goodness

now here’s a cocktail group … rachel maddow, sarah palin, andrea mitchell and greta van susteren

hooly dooly.

found at Ms Snarker Regrets.

been thinking over this whole osama bin laden thing

… and i’ll be honest with you … it makes me uncomfortable.

yay, he’s dead. he killed a lot of people. a lot of innocent people. i understand how his death gives closure to a lot of hurt people. end of an era, etc etc. i have no argument with the fact that the world is a better place without him. i have no doubt he deserved to die for his crimes.

however.

a small, elite team of professional killers entered another sovereign nation’s space, without their knowledge or permission. that team enters a building, finds the man they’re looking for, who is, by their admission, unarmed. they kill him on the spot, no doubt none too prettily. they then take his body to another sovereign nation, where presumably they take materiel for dna testing. then they dump his body in the ocean.

no trial, no ‘loose ends’ if that’s what you want to call it. an execution, leaving no trace.

here’s what Noam Chomsky had to say about this week:

We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush’s compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic. Uncontroversially, his crimes vastly exceed bin Laden’s, and he is not a “suspect” but uncontroversially the “decider” who gave the orders …

… There’s more to say about [Cuban airline bomber Orlando] Bosch, who just died peacefully in Florida, including reference to the “Bush doctrine” that societies that harbor terrorists are as guilty as the terrorists themselves and should be treated accordingly.

… Same with the name, Operation Geronimo. The imperial mentality is so profound, throughout western society, that no one can perceive that they are glorifying bin Laden by identifying him with courageous resistance against genocidal invaders. It’s like naming our murder weapons after victims of our crimes: Apache, Tomahawk… It’s as if the Luftwaffe were to call its fighter planes “Jew” and “Gypsy.”

it makes me uncomfortable that liberal commentators like Rachel Maddow, for example, not only can’t seem to see that the jingoistic celebrations on the streets of young Americans chanting ‘USA USA USA’ and ‘Obama got Osama’ and holding posters of the Statue of Liberty holding aloft bin Laden’s severed head have their exact parallels in the celebrations on the streets of the Middle East on September 12, 2001. Not only can Maddow — just to choose the one liberal i’ve followed all week — not see that parallel (or at least chooses not to draw it) but she took part in the celebrations herself.

there has been no critical commentary on the execution of bin Laden from Maddow at all, and that disappoints me, because, sadly, it deserves some objective analysis from someone other than the Glen Becks of the world, god help us.

the USA is about ‘justice for all’, right? i don’t have an argument with bringing bin Laden to justice — and if that means execution at the end of the judicial process, then yippee.

but shot down by, presumably, multiple assailants, in his own bedroom in front of his wife, and for all we know, his kids?

strikes me that the USA just sank to Al Qaeda’s standards. and it’s double standards, no question.

no doubt this will bring the hate to this blog, but i’m going to say it out loud …. I EXPECTED MORE FROM THE COUNTRY THAT CLAIMS TO BE THE MOST POWERFUL AND THE MOST ENLIGHTENED IN THE WORLD.

bin Laden didn’t deserve to be treated like a human being — god knows he didn’t treat his enemies with anything other than evil contempt. but how much more enlightened would the USA look today if they had treated him with the respect he DIDN’T deserve?

come on, bring it on.

My top 10 women of 2010

in the news for whatever reason, these 10 made me sit up and take notice in 2010:

10. Kristen Stewart

uh-oh, did i lose you already? no, no, come back, it’s not going to be that kind of a list.

i’m no Twihard, believe me.

i just think Ms Stewart is one smart cookie, who is growing into her beauty and her craft, really well.

i first noticed her in Panic Room with jodie foster. she was mesmerising.

in public she’s surly and awkward and kinda rude, but, oddly, i don’t mind that. just shows she’s way too smart to be playing the hollywood bullshit, don’t you think?

and it’s been a huge year for her coming off the release of New Moon late last year, then Eclipse and The Runaways.

whatever you think of the character of Bella Swan (and personally, i LOATHE her), you can’t argue with the way stewart has brought her to life. top notch, and y’know, hot. and half-australian, so what’s not to like.

9. Jennifer Aniston

once again i have managed to get through an entire year without seeing a Jennifer Aniston film.

which doesn’t say a lot for Ms Aniston’s choices as an actor.

so why is she so ubiquitous?

this pic is her GQ cover shot from late in the year. it’s hard to argue with that kind of sexy, really, isn’t it?

but she also seems like a genuinely nice person. and she must be smart and good at what she does, because people keep paying her to do it, and clearly plenty of people keep going to see her stuff. not me, though.

i’m happy and content to just keep looking at the photos and watching the occasional episode of Friends.

and probably, that’s the key right there. watch Friends, fall in love with Rachel, argument over.

8. Ruby Rose

a late entry in the 2010 stakes.

if you have not yet bought this month’s FHM with Ruby Rose on the cover, then (a) shame on you and (b) what the hell are you doing sitting in front of a computer, get out there and spend some money.

it’s been a busy year for the MTV vj/dj.

engaged, unengaged, time in the US trying to break into the flickers. it’s been all go.

thank god she’s gone back to the black rather than the blonde — when will people learn that peroxide blonde just washes you out?

i agree with Ms Rose about many things, not the least being that love-making starts at dinner. gorgeous.

7. Dawn French

a perennial favourite with Stringer, dear readers. apart from the fact she and hubby Lenny Henry broke up, there was the release of her first novel, Tiny Bit Marvellous, which was a tiny bit hilarious, actually. frankly, Ms French doesn’t have to do much to make me take notice. situation normal.

6. Betty White

the last surviving Golden Girl following the deaths of both Rue McClanahan and Bea Arthur in recent times, Betty White’s career at 88 is hotter than it ever was.

A Superbowl commercial for Snickers started the year out with a bang, there there was a hosting gig on American comedy institution Saturday Night Live, and now she has a full-time gig in sitcom Hot in Cleveland, which has just been renewed for a second season.

There’s been no stopping her.

she is the geriatric equivalent of justin bieber right now.

fiesty as hell, and horny to boot, by her own admission.

she’s a pistol and here’s hoping she has plenty more in her.

5. Nancy Pelosi

Picture it. 2012, washington DC.

barack obama has been hamstrung since he lost Congress in 2010 and made that ridiculous tax-cut deal with the republicans.

Nancy Pelosi primaries him from the left and gets named as the Dems’ nomination for the ’12 presidential election.

she kicks mitt romney’s ass from arlington to california and bingo, a president who’s not only female, but can ACTUALLY GET SHIT DONE.

4. Julia Gillard

say what you like about the way JG came to power (hilarious), and say what you like about her handling of Wikileaks (appalling), but the fact is as Australia’s first female prime minister she’s coping way more bullshit scrutiny than a male PM has ever had to.

ranga, enormous earlobes, terrible dress sense — she’s had to endure bullshit commentary on all of the above, most of it, sadly, from right-wing female commentators with less sense of feminism than your average pro-wrestler.

JG’s smart, savvy, and i suspect, would be a lot better off if the blokes just quit getting in her ear.

she’s had my vote from the beginning and i suspect i’ll be hanging in there because, i swear, if one more left-wing leader disappoints me this year (are you listening Anna Bligh?) i am fair dinkum going to neck myself.

3. Penny Wong

it’s been a big year for Australia’s openly gay Finance Minister.

after the disaster of Copenhagen this time last year when she was Climate Change Minister, she’s seen a change in portfolio and a bucketload of pressure from the gay community to start talking publicly about opposing her party’s policy on same-sex marriage.

she steadfastly refused to go against the party line until she felt there was an appropriate venue for it, namely the labor party conference in Adelaide, late in the year.

all power to her, say i.

principled and determined. smart and frankly, has hotness potential in spades.

but she does take 50 words to say something where 5 would do. that takes real skill.

2. Sandra Bullock

big year for another Stringer perennial favourite.

an oscar early in the year for The Blind Side and then a few days later, the arseclown she married admits he cheated and pisses a very good thing up against the wall.

we kind of all knew it was coming too, didn’t we?

but sandy’s so nice and she seemed so happy, none of us wanted to say so.

and then she went ahead and adopted a little boy and seems to be really doing well, so hooray!

and, just quietly, she is still smokin’ hot.

1. Rachel Maddow

yes, predictable, i know. i can’t help it.

apart from my partner, my mother, and my therapist, maddow has been a female constant for me this year.

smart, funny, liberal, and jesus god, all kinds of hot.

i’m attracted when she’s in t-shirt, glasses and boots up to her ankles in oilspill, and i’m attracted when she’s wearing makeup and some ludicrously too-girly shirt while she mixes a cocktail.

so what does that say?

probably more about me than her, i suspect.

nevertheless, her ability to explain the miasma of awesome crappitude that is US politics has me fascinated day after day.

now, if she’d only run for president.

daily maddow

this and eight other screengrabs were just added over at All Rachel Maddow, All the Time.

daily maddow

so adorkable i just want to run her bath and put her in her jammies. this and five other screengrabs from tuesday night’s show over at All Rachel Maddow, All the Time.

daily maddow

a southside view of a northbound maddow. who could complain about that? this and five others just posted over at All Rachel Maddow, All the Time.

teh daily maddow … JOHN BOLTON!

come on, admit it. you want to kiss that neck as much as i do. this and five other new ones from Monday night’s show, are over at All Rachel Maddow, All the Time.

daily maddow … sneaky grin

this and two others just added to All Rachel Maddow, All the Time.

daily maddow … glenn beck impersonation

this and five other new ones, are over at All Rachel Maddow, All the Time.