Look, Kitten

     Got this from GB. Don't know where he got it.

     Years ago, I'd call myself a feminist, 'cuz I believed in equal pay for equal work, the ERA, etc., but I kept running into women who objected mightily to any man (or just me?) self-labelling himself thus. I think the idea was that you have to pass some special test (involving humiliation and self-flaggelation) to have permission to call yourself that (but only when accompanied by the appropriate female handler).      

     "OK," I thought. "But you gals sure are prickly."

     I still consider myself a feminist, but I keep it to myself.

     OK, Kitten?

     But, in all seriousness, I can see a point in distinguishing between two divisions in an army such as feminists. There are, first, the malficiaries© (you know, opposite of beneficiaries) of sexism and the like. They do have a special moral authority by virtue of being women—i.e., the damaged party. The corresponding point about moral authority was made, long ago, by black abolitionists. But the latter crowd was generally friendly to and even grateful for non-black supporters. 

     It's certainly true that non-malficiary supporters are vulnerable to unconscious condescension, and it makes sense for the army to maintain mechanisms to identify and correct such attitudes among supporters. 

     But generosity, too, is a virtue; and meanness is a vice.

     Re black abolitionists: Quoting Frederick Douglass:

From Abraham I. Melden's Rights and Persons. Melden was among my mentors.

Hotel Laguna, 1920s

(Photo courtesy Orange County Archives)

Since the modern Hotel Laguna was built immediately north of the Cafe Las Ondas c. 1930 (above: on the spot to the right), this photo must have been taken earlier. Note the pier. It was built in 1896. By the early 30s, it was very rickety, and the city contemplated removing it. A large storm finally took it completely away in 1939. See "detail" photos below

Detail #1 - The ground appears to be covered with gravel (sawdust?)

Detail #2

Detail #3

1932 (compare with above)

(Photo courtesy Orange County Archives) Hotel Laguna, c. 1930. 
This looks "south" more or less to the same spot as the top photo above looks "north."

OC schools: just saying "nope" to the NRA

"Poof"

NRA stance too simplistic, O.C. school officials say (OC Register)

     Local school districts call the National Rifle Association’s position on protecting students from gun violence impractical.

"Yup"

     …[However,] Anna Bryson, a trustee for Capistrano Unified [and past recipient of Education Alliance* campaign contributions], the county's second-largest school district, said she examined the NRA's stance Friday with great interest. She's an NRA member and grew up in a household of gun owners.
     "We have made schools gun-free zones, weapons-free zones, and all of the people who have evil intent are aware of it," Bryson said. "I don't think that people with evil intent should have that comfort level. If they walk through our doors, they should be wondering, 'Is there someone there who could harm me first?'"....

     *Education Alliance: you remember them! Don Wagner is on their governing board! EA received their start-up money from loony Howard Ahmanson, Jr., the late Tom Fuentes' old pal. Executing gay people is OK with Howie, it seems.

Scenes from a Xmas Day

Niece Catherine, age 5
Catherine is an interesting kid, very sweet, very shy. She seems to specialize in a kind of hyper-sensitivity, which resembles the curious reputed sensitivities of well-to-do Victorian women (a sort with which young Cat is wholly unfamiliar). She had received a Furby as a gift, and the dang thing commenced saying slightly snippy things to her, and so she started to cry. Mom and dad explained that the critter meant no harm. She seemed to accept that. You can reason with this little girl.

Reggie, the SuperPup, age 5 months
At one point, young Reg was segregated from all the other kids, owing to a play they were presenting to the adults, but poor Reg felt left out and thus, after one or two minutes, emitted plaintive woofs from underneath the dining table. Poor little guy.
I gave 'em three pork bones for Xmas. He loved 'em.

The twins: Catherine and Natalie (age 5)
Actually, Natalie is two inches taller

Nephew Adam (8), his cousin Liliana (9), and Reggie

The twins, their dad, grandpa

Young Reggie: just one of the kids

Niece Sarah
I watched her, then told her, "You've got big sister ways, Little Girl." "Waddya mean?" she asked. "Well, you're bossy, like your Aunt Fannie." She really thought about that. I don't think she liked being noticed like that.
But she's a great kid, kinda my fave.

Mom and the grandkids: Adam (8), Sarah (10), the twins (5)
Annie and I had given Adam a cool & pricey RC dune buggy, but he showed zero interest in that, devoting his entire attention to some goofy little blob of a doll based on an "Angry Bird." What? In mock peevishness, I commenced referring to all those dang "Angry Turds." I got ahold of one of the kids' Furbies, which (I was told) can learn a name if you yammer it at it long enough. I grabbed the thing and told it "Angry Turd, Angry Turd, Angry Turd." Susan, the kid's mom, caught me doing it. Dang. 

Sister Annie (aka Aunt Fannie) with Catherine.
Sister Annie is into kid tossing, not so much kid catching

Busy, busy little girls

Passing

     Yesterday, the OC Reg’s Martin Wisckol gave us his take on O.C.'s top political stories of 2012.
     Wisckol’s story #1, of course, was the rise of the county Democrats--or at least the continued decline of the county Repubs:

1. GOP advantage narrows. Democrats' share of the county electorate has remained around 32 percent since 1996, but Republicans' share has continued its steady decline from 56 percent in 1990 to 41 percent for the November election. Unaffiliated voters now account for 23 percent of the county's voters. Six of the county's 34 cities are now Democratic – Republicans lost two more this year – and Irvine is on the verge of becoming the seventh.

Story #2 is the further unfolding of the inevitable:

2. Latinos, Asians vote Democrat. Helping fuel the narrowing gap between parties is the growing Latino and Asian electorate. Nationwide, 73 percent of Asians and 71 percent of Latinos voted for Barack Obama. In the state, 79 percent of Asians and 72 percent of Latinos voted for Obama. In the county, there were no extensive exit polls but the five most heavily Latino cities, including one with more Republicans than Democrats, voted for Obama. And the four most Asian cities favored Obama despite all having more Republicans than Democrats.

Story #6 was the death of Trustee Tom Fuentes, a man associated with both the dominance of the GOP in OC and the party's failures (e.g., persistent alienation of Latino voters), leading to its decline:

6. Fuentes dies. Tom Fuentes, chairman of the county GOP from 1985 to 2004, saw the party's dominance rise and fall during his reign. Beloved by some, detested by others, Fuentes stepped down amid shrinking voter share and increasing criticism. He died May 18 of cancer at age 63.

Typical of the kinds of looks Fuentes

shot my way over the years.

     It is interesting that some of Fuentes' supporters, including some family members, speak of Tom's capacity for love. I do not doubt that he had that capacity, but he is one of the few people I have known about whom it cannot be doubted that he carried with him always a list of those people and kinds that he hated. (I suspect that, for him, I was not among the latter group; it always seemed to me that I amused him more than bothered him. But who knows.)

     CONDOLENCES. DtB wishes to join others in expressing condolences to Nancy Padberg and family over the passing of her husband, Tom.

Who are the gun nuts?

Above graphic from yesterday's Political profile of gun owners in the OC Register.

     Thirty years ago—at about the end of the Carter administration—Republican, Democratic, and Independent households owned guns at essentially the same rate: about 50%. Since then (according to an article in yesterday's OC Reg), things have changed dramatically.
     Not among Republicans: a slightly smaller proportion of Republican households now own guns (still about 50%)—but the rate has essentially remained flat. Meanwhile, among Independent and especially Democratic households, gun ownership (per household) has plummeted to under 30%. Among Democrats, it has declined to just over 20%.
     I draw two conclusions. First, that gun ownership is in rapid decline in the U.S.
     Given the large number of guns sold, it appears that gun owners buy more guns than they once did. There's fewer people buying more guns.
     That brings me to my second conclusion: that lots of members of the G.O.P. are fuckin' nuts.

If you haven't seen this, you should. (Pratt is the Ex. Director of Gun Owners of America. Evidently, Morgan is no fan of the organization.)
 

From the Washington Post