Sunday Open Thread [6.8.14]

I LOVE this story — a British WWII vet busts out of his retirement home to go to Normandy for the D-Day celebrations.

An 89-year-old British World War II veteran who went missing from his retirement home was found in France enjoying a D-Day anniversary get-together with former comrades, police said Friday.

Bernard Jordan slipped out of The Pines care home in the seaside town of Hove in southern England on Thursday wearing his medals under his raincoat.

The former Royal Navy officer then joined a coach party heading for events marking the 70th anniversary of the landings at Ouistreham in Normandy, northern France.

More in the story of the 495 bridge — apparently another person called in a report that the bridge seemed to be separating on May 15. We still would have had the brutal traffic issues, but how can it take so long to respond to this kind of report?

Gerrymandering is the result of letting politicians draw the lines of their own districts. Several states have implemented a process that puts the drawing of district lines in the hands of an independent commission — what if there was a Federal law that puts all Congressional District drawing in the hands of pre-defined independent commissions?

And now U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), who was behind the effort to bring an independent redistricting commission to his state, has introduced legislation in the House that would do the same for the rest of the states. I spoke with him recently about the process of getting the bill passed in California, and the likelihood of doing the same nationwide.
Lowenthal’s “Let the People Draw the Lines Act” would create independent panels consisting of five Democrats, five Republicans and four Independents.

“These would be people who haven’t run for office, who aren’t paid by either party, and who haven’t contributed to either party,” Lowenthal says. “That group would follow set criteria for drawing maps, and would hold public hearings throughout the state. The commission would approve the maps, and would not require legislative or governor’s approval. If there was a legal challenge it would immediately go to federal district court.”

Congress has tried to tackle the redistricting issue previously, without much success. Democrat Bruce Braley of Iowa currently has a bill out that would establish redistricting commissions as independent agencies of state legislative branches, but keeps authority for approval of the plans with the legislatures. Since politicians would still be very much in the driver’s seat, it’s hard to see how this would be much of an improvement over the current situation.

I’m all for a more neutral process of drawing congressional districts — but I think that they key is in what “Independent” means.

Your Daily Misogyny — A high school girl in Richmond, VA was kicked out of her own prom because her dress was causing “impure thoughts” among some of the Dads chaperoning the event. She complied with the prom’s dress code, passed an inspection (really? REALLY?) for this prom’s dress code, but the grown men who couldn’t manage their own behavior were the ones who were allowed to stay.

Upon being kicked out of her own prom, Clare decided to fight back. After all, her dress met all the requirements. It wasn’t her fault that a few grown men couldn’t control their own perverted minds.

“I was told that the way I dressed and moved my body was causing men to think inappropriately about me, implying that it is my responsibility to control other people’s thoughts and drives,” Clare wrote on her sister’s blog. “I’m not responsible for some perverted 45 year old dad lusting after me because I have a sparkly dress on and a big ass for a teenager. And if you think I am, then maybe you’re part of the problem… I am so tired of people who abuse their power to make women feel violated and ashamed because she has an ass, or has breasts, or has long legs.”

This is a case of men blaming women instead of themselves for the dirty thoughts happening inside their own sick minds. It’s like blaming women for being raped because they dressed a certain way. Just like women aren’t asking to be raped, Clare Ettinger wasn’t asking to be thought about in a sexual way by the so-called “men” who had a bird’s eye view of every girl in the place from the balcony. It seems to me these creepy guys wanted to look at more than the girl’s hemline lengths, so they picked the perfect spot to do that from.

Yes. Instead of banning this young woman from her own prom, these organizers should have sent these men home. And called their wives before they got there to tell them that their husbands shouldn’t be trusted around young women. Or at least thrown the contents of the punch bowl on them.

What interests you today?