Ego! Ego! Ego!: Political Schtuff Archives
January 13, 2010
Linkage: New CommandmentsMan, I've been quiet. Things are crazybusy in meatspace, and Twitter relieves my frequent urge to share stupid little crap, so... yeah. Quiet. But that's why we have RSS, right?
I do, however, want to log on here briefly to share this: Irshad Manji's blog and specifically her entry on Dana Gallagher's new version of the Ten Commandments. They are:
I: Love yourself unconditionally.II: Love others unconditionally.
III: Don’t confuse loving with shoving.
IV: Corruption happens.
V: Keep your laws on your own naughty bits.
VI: Challenge the “bros before hoes” approach to religion.
VII: Be not afraid of scientists.
VIII: Polar bears are God’s creatures, too.
IX: Keep your candle lit.
X: Know when to be humble.
Read the full entry for commentary on each one. Good stuff.
Thanks to Dad for the link!
File under: Political Schtuff, Pure Ego!
Posted at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)November 11, 2008
Olberman on Prop 8I know this is making the rounds, but on the off chance any of my readers haven't seen it, here's what Keith Olberman had to say about Prop 8. I found it incredibly moving to see how upset he was, especially given that, as he says, he has no personal stake in this. He really gets it.
Transcript below the fold, for them as don't have headphones.
Please feel free to pass this around. Anyone who voted Yes on 8 needs to see this.
November 05, 2008
Day afterWe did it! Anyone really can be president.
I am so incredibly proud to have been a part of the campaign in my own small way.
It's looking like prop 8 will pass, which make me incredibly aggravated at my state. I am starting to think we need a Loving v. Virginia sort of ruling on the subject.
But you know what?
If we can elect a black man president, anything is possible. Gay rights will come, it is only a matter of time. We just have to keep fighting.
Volunteering for Obama kind of kicked my ass, but knowing I helped make a difference makes it all worthwhile. I look forward to volunteering for the Equality for All campaign or its equivalent in the next election cycle.
I am so hopeful for the nation today, I think I might have sprained my cynicism.
November 04, 2008
PoliticsWell, I had a whole little entry written up here, but it got eaten by my browser (stupid plugins trying to protect me from the javascript in Movable Type, grr). It basically said: I was going to post earlier today about the election and urge everyone to vote, but I'm too tired. I'm sick of this damn election and want it to be over.
I gave mad props to my fellow Americans who voted, and extra props to those who voted Obama.
Then I politely suggested that anybody who voted for McCain, Prop 4, or Prop 8 do us both a favor and not tell me. Not for a while, at least. Especially not if any of those three actually win. Because my Deal With Douchebaggery meter is in the flashing red, and I consider a vote for any of those three a vote against pretty much everything I stand for. And if any of those three win, I am going to be pretty fucking pissed off. (For one of the best skewerings of McCain in a while, check out The Daily Show's segment on his use of air quotes. His use of scare quotes around the "health" of women makes me ill. The man has no respect for women at all. Also, there's a great No on 8 ad here. And another here.)
Tonight I'm sacking out with Antwon and watching feelgood TV interspersed with election coverage (hopefully the Stewart/Colbert coverage. I've heard rumors it's tape-delayed tonight, but I've also heard it will be live, so we'll see). And drinking. And praying.
October 28, 2008
Rant: Abortion as a state's rights issueSo I was listening to an episode of Speaking of Faith recently, where a conservative was discussing religion and politics (it was a sequel to an episode with a liberal doing the same thing), and the guy was all on about being pro-forced-birth (or "pro-life" as he put it) and saying abortion should be regulated by the states.
I'm used to hearing that, but this time it made me do a double-take.
I mean, let me get this straight. This guy thinks that abortion is murder, but thinks that states should be able to decide if they punish it or not.
File under: Feminism, Political Schtuff, Rantings
Posted at 07:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)October 13, 2008
Drive for Change: Post-MortemWell, I survived!
Did some actual canvassing Sunday morning, then went back to the main office to do more data entry. Canvassing wasn't too bad, but it was kind of like playing Russian roulette: every time I knocked on a door, I didn't know whether to hope the person wouldn't be home so I could avoid talking to them or would be home so I could feel like I was contributing by collecting information.
By the end of the day I was punchy as hell -- I am just not cut out for the combination of exhaustion and people-fatigue inherent to that kind of work, I think. I made it home okay, though I missed the I-680 interchange completely and wound up going over the bridge into Martinez. Fail.
I really admire the people who work campaigns like that seven days a week for months in the lead-up to elections. They make all the difference in the world, and do amazing work. I don't think I could do that. Just the one weekend sort of destroyed me. I got ten hours of sleep last night and am still tired and cranky. I feel sort of bad that I'm not doing more, but I have already done more than a lot of people have, and that counts for something. At least I acted rather than sitting on the sidelines and crossing my fingers.
October 11, 2008
Drive for Change: Day Two
Day Two of my Drive for Change weekend went well! A little chaotic, but that's to be expected when an all-volunteer organization gets 500 new people.
I got up early and showed up way early for the orientation event (several people told me yesterday that it was a good idea to do so). I was so early that I got put to work manning the sign in table! It was really crazy -- loads of people and I had to check them off their list and give them their assignments for the day. My poor little quasi-introvert brain nearly fried. I got spelled by another volunteer, though, so it all turned out all right.
Then I was hoping to do some office work, but after waiting around to see who needed what, it turned out that they didn't have anything, and wanted me to canvass. So I headed out -- only to find (along with another carload of people) that our assigned location was out of packets because so many volunteers had come today! Which was awesome, cos yay volunteers, but kind of a drag since it meant we'd driven out there for nothing. I considered going to see a movie as a way to kill time until the afternoon data-entry shift at HQ, but the only movie with a convenient start time was one I'd already seen. D'oh. So, after taking some pix in downtown Reno, I went back to the office and hung out until they had some work for me to do. I spent the next ten hours doing data entry, except for a break to go to a potluck.
I met a really interesting woman at the potluck -- she has done loads of canvassing, including canvassing in Salt Lake City for the Equal Rights Amendment! -- and she told me that in her experience, the campaign with the best lists wins and canvassing (and the associated data entry) is all about lists. So it's a very, very important activity for a campaign! It lets the campaign figure out which voters to concentrate on to make sure they get out to the polls and vote. She got me pretty pumped up, and I'm going to see if I can get out tomorrow to canvass for the morning shift instead of waiting around to see if there's office work.
One last thing: I now have my first-ever piece of presidential campaign schwag. I've never been much of a fan of presidential bumper stickers or anything like that, but I saw a guy with this awesome Obama button, and when I complimented it, he gave me one! And I figured I might as well wear one since I'm working on the campaign and am a supporter, right?
October 10, 2008
Drive for Change: Day One
Survived the drive to Reno. It started snowing just before I reached Donner Pass, and kept snowing all the way to Reno.
But I made it to the campaign office in spite of the weather AND in spite of a big chunk of downtown being closed off, forcing me to divert from the directions I had and go bushwhacking. Huzzah. I arrived a little after 1pm and spent the day doing lots of stuff. I called volunteers about tomorrow night's potluck. I helped sort through some data entry sheets that had gotten mixed up. I drove a bunch of boxes down to the Carson City campaign office. Then I did a bunch of data entry.
Tomorrow I will be going canvassing, chatting with local voters about Obama. Then I get to do a ton more data entry. Woo hoo!
Off to bed with me. G'night, y'all!
October 08, 2008
Putting my money (or at least my time) where my mouth isThis weekend, I'm going to Nevada with the Barack Obama Drive for Change. All day Saturday and most of Sunday, I'll be volunteering at one of the campaign offices in Reno, NV -- registering voters and/or canvassing for Obama.
Why?
A bunch of reasons. I believe in Obama. He's smart and he's on board with the things I care about (reproductive rights, ending the war in Iraq, regulation, lowering taxes on the middle class while raising 'em on the wealthy... I could go on and on). I'm terrified of what this country might look like under a McCain/Palin administration. I want to help, but feel like there isn't much I can do here in California, where Obama is up by over ten points in every poll I see. Nevada is a swing state, though, and it's only a few hours' drive away. It's just a bonus that now when people start opining about their candidate I can say, "oh, I gave three days of my time and spent X hours sweating in the desert for my candidate. What'd you do?"
I've never worked on a political campaign for anything, so this ought to be an adventure.
September 30, 2008
Hit the nail on the head!
September 18, 2008
Big shock here, I know...Obama and McCain's tax plans stack up interestingly, especially given McCain's campaign's statements that Obama wants to raise everyone's taxes. Unless everyone makes a couple million a year, that's a total lie. Obama is making his biggest cuts for the lowest 60%, the people McCain cuts taxes the least for. Grr.
September 11, 2008
WHAT?! This is why politics makes me FROTH AT THE MOUTHPalin's home town charged rape victims for evidence kits. It was the only town in Alaska to complain when the state government passed a law mandating that police departments pay for the kits (which cost $1,200 each).
Palin now claims she's against the practice of charging victims, but the police chief who spoke out against the new law (and for charging victims) was the one she handpicked when she fired the old police chief upon taking office.
One more reason to be apoplectically against Palin. WTF. "Oh, sorry you were raped. Please pay us $1,200 for the evidence kit needed to convict your assailant."
*headdesk*
August 25, 2008
Oh no they *didn't*! Actually, yes, they did.Naamah sums it up. I am reprinting everything she posted to make sure y'all see it. PLEASE ACT. My own actions are below the cut.
I'm really tired of making this post.
For all y'all who thought, "Well, I'll do something when it becomes official," it has become official, and it is time to get off your fucking ass:
The Bush administration officially proposes conscience rule for doctors who don't want to do their fucking jobs.
Not just doctors, but anyone from the anesthesiologist to the scalpel-scrubber, could also opt out. Anyone could walk away at any time from a woman who is simply trying to live her life the way she thinks most wise.
Clinics that receive government funds would have to abide by this rule, and could not fire someone for not doing their job, even if they are the only person in a hundred miles who could do it. Even if it is the only abortion-providing facility in the state.
There are no provisions for assisting women who have been denied -- none. No statement that a doctor must help the woman find another doctor who will help her. No offers to help with transportation, should a woman need to go to a different city to get help. Nothing. We get nothing. We are their patients and we are not only being put behind our employees' consciences, we are being left with nothing as recourse.
"Nothing in the new regulation in any way changes a patient's right to any legal procedure," [Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt] said, noting that a patient could go to another provider.
No, you fucking idiot, it doesn't change my right to do it, but it is going to mean that thousands upon thousands of women are not going to be able to do it.
You don't have to make a thing illegal to make it impossible to fucking get, and that is the effect this is going to have. That should scare the shit out of every single one of you who values their ability to do as they wish with their bodies.
This is the rule. Not the draft, the actual rule that will go into effect if we do not act to stop it and act now.
The rule goes into effect in 30 days.
We have one month to stop this.
Do something.
Planned Parenthood is fighting this as hard as they can. Make a donation here.
Write to your legislator, telling them you oppose the rule, and asking them to fight it.
The public is encouraged to comment on this. You can send your comments to consciencecomment@hhs.gov. Make sure to use “provider conscience regulation" as the subject line. All comments will be published for public viewing. So, maybe don't swear or include personal information you don't want available to the public. There are other ways to contact them as well. They are listed
on page two of this document.
It does not matter how articulate you are. It does not matter that you are a man, or not political, or too busy, or whatever. What matters is that we speak out now so that our voices, the voice of reason, is heard. If they pass this abominable rule, do not let it be because you sat by and said nothing. Now is the time to go dig up all the comments you left on his blog and send them in.
Go and do something. Goddammit. Go!
This is me on my knees, begging. Please, even if every other woman you know means nothing to you, do it for me.July 21, 2008
GRAH.OK, I've been letting this sit until I could write a coherent post about it. I am still not at that point.
So.
Please read this and this (both by the marvelous Naamah) and then take action here. The feds are trying to classify hormonal birth control methods as abortifactants -- which would make them illegal in the event that Roe v. Wade got overturned. Neve rmind that some women take the Pill for reasons other than contraception, never mind that hormonal birth control prevents implantation and without implantation there is no abortion possible because without implantation you are not pregnant. Worse, it sounds like this rule would let "crisis pregnancy centers" (which will bully, lie, and generally mess with you to prevent you from getting contraception or abortion services or information) get federal funds to operate! GRR. SUCH BULLSHIT! EALASAID SMASH!
I am still a fervent Obama supporter in spite of his bullshit comments on abortion (also linked by Naamah in her posts). Even with his "oh, mental health isn't a real reason to get a late-term abortion" schtick he is still way better on the subject than McCain. Obama is smart enough to know that "mental health" issues around pregnancy are why Andrea Yates killed her five children, for example (postpartum psychosis is real, people. Look into it). I think Obama was pandering to the Christian magazine he was being interviewed by when he said that shit. Yes pandering sucks, but I knew when I first became a supporter of the man that he was a politician. I'm not so much of an idealist to believe that one can get elected without at least a little pandering.
ETA: Naamah has a wonderful para-by-para analysis of the HHS memo thingie here. Go. Read. Your blood will boil. I know mine did. I think it's time to bust out the stationary and write a few handwritten letters to various representatives.
File under: Feminism, Political Schtuff
Posted at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)May 16, 2008
Yay!Gay people can get married in California! Yay! Our state supremes said it's unconstitutional to deny gay couples the civil rights of marriage. WOO HOO!
But don't get too relieved -- there's an amendment to the state constitution on the ballot which would limit marriage to het couples. WEAK.
Though, as Mark Morford points out, the court that made the ruling is hardly a hippy-dippy bastion of liberalism:
it was one thing for an uppity and slick San Francisco mayor to try and make a name for himself and enter the gay history books by allowing all those happy gay people to stand in the rain back in 2004 and get married in City Hall, only to have it all annuled by the courts.But it is quite another when a powerhouse seven-member Supreme Court -- six of whom are moderate Repubicans -- of the largest and most potent state in the union says, hey, you know what? It appears we've had it wrong all along. It appears there is actually nothing the slightest bit wrong or unlawful or even dangerous about allowing people of the same gender to buy overpriced formalwear and drink way too much champagne and dance to crappy '80s power ballads in the Chardonnay Room of a low-rent winery up in Napa, and call it a wedding.
Who can argue with that? Hell, to this very day, cultural conservatives still have no idea exactly why they hate gay marriage. There is still zero articulation. There is a complete lack of fact or understanding and I have yet to meet a single person of any political stripe who can adequately explain exactly why gay marriage is so dangerous, or who's threatened, or how. Same as it ever was? Yes. Only now, their misunderstanding feels quite a bit less dangerous, and far more pathetic.
But regardless, we need to trounce that amendment at the polls this fall. If you aren't already registered to vote, go register and mark your calendar to vote!!
If you are registered, be sure to vote in November! Sure, California pretty much always goes Dem in the presidential race, but when it comes to the state measures, every single vote matters. There are enough right-wingers out in the central valley and down in Orange County to give us liberals a run for our money.
Vote early, vote often!
I'm somewhat blithely assuming all my readers are in favor of gay marriage. If you're not and you're a reader here, um, you are really weird. Please comment so I can marvel at your weirdness more directly. Thanks!
April 09, 2008
Whoa.A pro-forced-birth candidate for Senate has legally changed his name to Pro-Life and says he will run for Senate in every race until he's elected. His platform is basically that he wants to get into Congress so he can introduce bills calling for murder charges against abortion providers and their patients.
At least he's consistent. The PFB's who advocate murder charges for the doc and not the patient get my hackles up over sexism as well as reproductive rights.
March 10, 2008
Obama = Muad'DibVia Hedtke, The Dune Theory of Democratic Politics, Revised posits: Barack Obama is the the Democratic Party’s Kwisatz Haderach. He is the shortening of the way, the one who shall give meaning to our lives and make our planet anew.. I'm not convinced Hilary Clinton is equivalent to a Bene Gesserit witch, but otherwise I like the analogy. :D
Abortion Providers are AwesomeToday is both The International Day of Awesomeness and the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers.
Coincidence?
I think not.
Abortion providers are freakin' awesome:
- Unlike their pro-forced-birth opposite numbers, they give information on your options if you don't want their services.
- They save women's lives.
- In many places, they brave nasty opposition (up to and including death threats and physical attacks) to do their jobs.
In honor of IDoA, here's a list of some other things/people I think are freakin' awesome:
And those are just off the top of my head!
- My husband
- Rock Band
- ScoreHero
- Knitting
- My fellow bloggers
- Living in a nation where free speech is protected in the Constitution
- My cousin Keith, who is serving his country in Afghanistan.
Who do you think is freakin' awesome?
January 22, 2008
Blog for Choice!Today is
Blog for Choice day. I'm late posting, but couldn't let the anniversary of Roe v. Wade go by without posting. Women's reproductive rights are under siege in this country -- even my home state of California was a target in the 40 Days of Forced Birth. Even the supposedly libertarian-minded Ron Paul is an "unshakeable foe of abortion" (read: thinks pregnant women should be forced to bear unwanted children to term) who has tried to define life as beginning at conception in federal law.
A few of the many reasons I am pro-choice, and vote accordingly:
- The government shouldn't be able to force anyone to have a particular roommate, let alone a particular person inside her body.
- The government shouldn't be able to have a say in anyone's medical decisions. Whether to have an abortion or not, and what kind to have, is between a woman and those she chooses to include.
- Pro-forced-birth folks aren't actually about saving babies, most of the time, they're about controlling women's sexuality. You can tell by the way they react to questions about how to punish women who get abortions in places where it's illegal (and another great link: here).
- If abortion is made illegal, the next thing on the chopping block is contraception. Plenty of pro-forced-birth movement folks are trying to get rid of contraception -- look at the hoo-hah over emergency contraception and the pharmacists who won't fill prescriptions for it. Or the doctors who won't give birth control pills to unmarried women.
- Nobody should be able to force a woman to bear a child she doesn't want. Full stop.
A note: Safe abortions will always be available to women with enough money, like myself. We can always go out of the country or wherever we have to.. But women who can't afford safe abortions will be likely to die if abortion is made illegal. I'm fighting less for myself and more for the women who don't have the advantages I do.
For more on what a nation where abortion is illegal is like, read this article on El Salvador. I've linked it a zillion times, but it's worth reading.
December 03, 2007
Mark Morford on the Golden CompassMark Morford's column on the Golden Compass hits the nail right on the head. Be sure to follow his links, there is a lot of good reading in there.
November 30, 2007
Vote, vote, who's got my vote?The subject of who folks are going to vote for came up on a board recently, and I realized I hadn't taken a hard look at Democratic candidates voting records.
Why do I vote Democratic? I am a hardcore reproductive rights advocate, so any candidate that is pro-forced-birth gets an instant thumbs down from me. I'm also pro gay rights, environmentalism, peace, separation of church and state, civil rights, and social programs to help folks help themselves. I also want to vote for a candidate who has a chance to actually win. So, I vote Democratic in races for major offices.
So, let's see how the major Democratic candidates do for me.
October 31, 2007
HAH! Take that, Fred Phelps!The Westboro Baptist Church lost a lawsuit brought by the father of a fallen soldier whose funeral they picketed.
I support the First Amendment 100%, but the WBC are not behaving in a way that is protected by it. They are actively seeking to cause emotional distress, not just to express their opinions. I hope this lawsuit sets a precedent which enables other people they target to sue their asses off. Phelps is savvy enough that he will probably stop picketing funerals after one or two suits like this go against him.
'course, now I have to wonder what he'll come up with next. That man is a disgrace to Christians everywhere. I really think that Christian churches who are opposed to what he's doing need to stand up to him and other fundamentalists. Christianity can be an awesome religion, but the awful, nasty churches are the ones that get all the press. The good churches ought to do something about it rather than letting people like Phelps crap all over the mission of their Christ. Even just publicizing the good work churches do would be a start. Counter-protests would be even better.
October 01, 2007
Got a LiveJournal? It'll get you $30 to spend on charity!LJ is giving away money to DonorsChoose! Here's how to be part of it:
- Email donorschoose@sixapart.com by 5pm Pacific today, October 1, to request your certificate.
- Wait for your certificate to show up in your email.
- Go to doonorschoose.org and decide where you want the money to go.
It's that easy! Please pass the word, this is a great organization and deserves loads of support. I'm glad to see LJ/SixApart doing something good.
September 27, 2007
Read a Banned Book Next WeekNext week is Banned Books Week! Read a banned book!
Just When I Thought I'd Found a Republican Candidate I Could RespectI was all fond of Ron Paul until today. Turns out he's so pro-forced-birth that he doesn't seem to think abortion is ever necessary to save the life of the mother. To that I say: how about ectopic pregnancy? In El Salvador, where all abortion of any kind is illegal, a woman has to wait until the fetus dies or her fallopian tube ruptures (which is a life-threatening event) before doctors are allowed to remove it. Allowing the fallopian tube to rupture can impair the woman's fertility, cause serious internal damage, and even kill her.
I am so disappointed in Mr. Paul. I love the way he stands up to the other Republican candidates on issues like the war in Iraq, but because of his pro-forced-birth views I cannot in good conscience support him.
September 25, 2007
Here they comeThe forced-birthers (aka the pro-coathanger brigade!) are at it again... and this time in my home state!
Forty Days for Life Sacramento, among others, will be protesting 24/7 outside Planned Parenthood clinics in Sacramento, Fresno, and other places. Stand with Planned Parenthood by donating a set amount per day or protesters, or by volunteering as a clinic escort (I just emailed to see if I can do the latter; I've always wanted to do that and now I have an opportunity).
Planned Parenthood is so much more than abortion. They also provide information, health services, and birth control to folks of all income levels. The pro-coathanger brigade protest will make obtaining all these services more difficult.
My current favorite link on abortion protests: this video of protesters outside a clinic being asked what the punishment for a woman who gets an abortion should be. These people are not rational, and we need to stand with Planned Parenthood during this attack.
ETA (and later cleaned up for grammatical issues): Followup - videos like this really show that pro-coathanger folks don't consider women to be entirely capable of controlling their destinies. They think women who have abortions are victims and not perpetrators. WTF? Women are rational creatures who can make their own decisions, thank you very much.
September 13, 2007
Wow.Brilliant YouTube Video of Interviews with Pro-Forced-Birth Protesters.
They all think abortion should be illegal, but most of them haven't thought about what the punishment for having an abortion should be if they were illegal. Most of them say that nothing should be done to the woman, because her conscience will be enough, or it's between her and God.
I find it fascinating that these people, who say they've been protesting abortion for years have never thought about what should happen to women who get an abortion once it's made illegal. This tells me that the pro-forced-birth folks are not acting out of a rational, logical determination but are acting from the gut. It also tells me that they are not thinking critically about the possible ramifications of the things they are demanding.
Good stuff. I would love to see more interviews in this style, asking questions that push folks to think about their stances from a logical, critical point of view.
EDITED TO ADD: Here's an interesting article about the video from Newsweek. A great snippet:
"They never connect the dots," says Jill June, president of Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa. But her organization urged voters to do just that in the last gubernatorial election, in which the Republican contender believed abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape and incest. "We wanted him to tell the women of Iowa exactly how much time he expected them to serve in jail if they had an abortion," June recalled. Chet Culver, the Democrat who unabashedly favors legal abortion, won that race, proving that choice can be a winning issue if you force people to stop evading the hard facts. "How have we come this far in the debate and been oblivious to the logical ramifications of making abortion illegal?" June says.Perhaps by ignoring or infantilizing women, turning them into "victims" of their own free will. State statutes that propose punishing only a physician suggest the woman was merely some addled bystander who happened to find herself in the wrong stirrups at the wrong time.
August 09, 2007
Yecccch.Crap like this is why I am a huge supporter of the right of homosexuals to marry.
It reminds me of a conversation I had shortly before marrying Antwon:
Me: Well, getting married isn't going to change anything between me and him.
Coworker: Then why get married?
Me: The same reasons gay couples want to get married - it simplifies legal paperwork and grants all sorts of rights you have trouble getting otherwise - hospital visitation rights, that sort of thing.
Coworker: Oh! I had never thought of that.Sigh.
July 17, 2007
OMGWTFBBQGood grief. Good on the Senate for having a Hindu do the invocation (though I'm against the invocation on principle, I'm glad to see diversity in who does it). Shame on those extremists who embarrassed themselves and their faith by being disruptive.
Nicely sarcastic coverage here. Normal coverage here, including the identity of the protesters.
April 27, 2007
Sigh.Naamah pretty much sums it up. The Supreme Court thinks they know more about medicine than doctors and us dumb womenfolk.
Grrrr.
Edited to add: this is an eloquent post inspired by Naamah's. It's about abortion, written by a woman who is in the early stages of labor. Powerful stuff.
April 24, 2007
Yay!April 17, 2007
YES YES YES!No, that's not me channeling Sally in that restaurant scene. That's me responding to the excerpt my Dad sent me from Lee Iacocca's new book, "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?"
Here it is, saved for posterity.
I'm thinking I should read this book.
My question for Mr. Iacocca is this: yes, I'm outraged! But I live in a state whose congressfolks are pretty damn good (did you see Boxer ripping that jerk Inhofe a new one? YEAH!). I vote for 'em every election, and have even been known to write 'em when I have a strong opinion. What else can I do? I want to do something! But what?
April 16, 2007
Weld AngelMan. things like this make me want to get off my ass and do some actual protesting. So beautiful.
February 06, 2007
Sigh.I can't decide if I would prefer this confession video to be real or faked.
OK, that's not quite true.
Obviously, I would prefer that this man is lying about US troops raping prisoners, including one 15 year old girl who was 'pimped out' by her guard until she killed herself. I would prefer that he is making this up in an attempt to sound cool - although who on earth thinks this kind of thing is "cool?" That's almost as bad as actually doing it.
But on the other hand, I am perfectly willing to believe that there are evil things being done by men in US troop uniforms just as I am perfectly willing to believe that there are good things being done by men in US troop uniforms. The armed services isn't very good at rooting out the psychos because, face it, they want people who will kill when told to. There are lots of good men and women in uniform and no doubt plenty of mediocre ones, and I'm starting to think there's a very high percentage of really horrible ones. Yes, it sucks to be over there. But that is not an excuse for what is being done to the Iraqis. I don't care whether they are guilty or innocent prisoners; nobody should be raped like that. The US is supposed to be better than this. We are supposed to be the good guys.
Good guys don't rape. Good guys don't go for payback on an entire race for what men from another country entirely did. Good guys don't do this.
Good guys don't do this.
*deep breaths*
I hate this news. But I am glad it's out, if it's true. I hope they investigate and that at least one newspaper in our country doesn't let it get swept under the rug. There are too many "bad apples" being played off as rarities. We need to clean house in the military. I know it's hard when recruiting is down and we need feet on the ground, but this sort of thing only makes the job in Iraq harder.
I don't really have anything coherent to say about this, do I? I'm just too sad and angry.
January 22, 2007
Blog for Choice Day
It's Blog for Choice Day, people, so here I am.Choice is one of the topics guaranteed to set me off. Hell, over the weekend I was in a car with two people who completely agree with me on the topic and I could still feel my blood pressure skyrocket when it came up.
The reasons for this are very, very simple:
- No method of birth control is 100% effective (even abstinence - penetrative rape often involves ejaculation).
- I am adamantly unwilling to have a child - just being around babies gives me the creeps.
- The thought of becoming pregant and being unable to procure a safe, legal abortion makes me want to throw up. No, I am not exaggerating for comedic effect. Just thinking about it while I type this makes me feel queasy.
There are a bajillion arguments on both sides about why women should or shouldn't be able to get abortions safely and legally, but it all boils down to this: is it right to try to force a woman to carry and birth a child she does not want?
I believe the answer is no.
Therefore, I am pro-choice.
December 20, 2006
Abortion debateThere's an absolutely fascinating abortion debate here. It's between a pro-choice atheist and... a pro-forced-birth atheist!
Crazy.
It was pointed out to me by a friend, and I read it with great interest. I have a significant disagreement with the pro-choice guy, but I liked how he defined "person" and I like how he dismantled the pro-forced-birther's arguments.
File under: Feminism, Political Schtuff
Posted at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)November 09, 2006
Whee!Bottle of Blog sums it up: "It wasn’t just Republican Congressmen who took a “thumping” yesterday. Apparently, the few remaining grown-ups in the modern Republican party grabbed the Oedipal Boy King by his hair and dragged him out behind the woodshed, pulled down his short pants and gave him The Spanking That Was Six Years In The Making."
Woo!
Now, there's a lot of work to be done, but I am so pleased by so many of the results from this week's election (Dems take back the House and maybe the Senate too! Arizona rejects anti-Gay-Marriage amendment! South Dakota rejects "only raped Christian virgins excepted" forced-birth law! The first ever Muslim is elected to Congress! We voted down the forced-birther's bill here in CA! AGAIN!) that it's hard for me to be too bummed out by the bad things (The Gubernator is back, California is about to be in a shitload of debt, and we can't even tax oil or smokers to bring in some cash. Crap. And Bush is prez for 2 more years).
November 07, 2006
Vote! ... if you want.I've been reading this LJ post and its comments for a while, and I now have a lot to say.
The gist of it seems to be: There are people who hate the current political system so much that they refuse to vote. Bully for them. I think that is stupid and short-sighted, but I am also a firm believer that if you don't want to vote, you don't have to.
Here's where I stand on voting.
I would love it if everyone in the country took the time and effort to really learn about measures on the ballot, the candidates, and so on, and then thought about where they stood on each issue and voted. That would be awesome.
However, it is also not at all a practical ideal. People are busy. People are apathetic. People are idiots. Not all people, certainly, but enough. I prefer that the the idiots not vote. I prefer that the uninformed not vote. That's not a way to choose good people and good laws. But here's the thing: the apathetic need to vote. I read recently, though I have not done the research to back it up, that had the moderate middle-class voters who stayed home in Germany when Hitler ran for Chancellor actually voted, he would not have been elected. But they didn't think their vote was important, so they stayed home.
Even if that's not true, imagine this:
Imagine for a moment that every disaffected 18-30 year old took the trouble to vote. I know there are a lot of us out there. We could swing the vote.
Voting is really an act of faith, when it comes down to it. There's no way to know if enough of your like-minded fellows will vote with you for your cause/candidate to be victorious. You have to hope that they will. You have to have faith, or at least feel that it's worth trying.
Some people say that voting supports the system. I say, maybe so, but that isn't necessarily bad. The system does lots of good things. It builds roads for us to drive on. It funds schools for children to attend. It builds levies and bridges, it funds museums and observatories. Now, like all powerful things, the system can be misused. If we vote people into power who will misuse it, they can do a lot of damage (for example: President Bush has effectively hamstrung the checks and balances system we learned about in high school so that he has near unlimited power in some areas). Lots of damage has been done, is being done right now by the system because we keep electing people who misuse it.
The guys who are most likely to misuse the system are not idealists. They will do anything, anything to get elected. Bush made nice with the evangelicals to get them to the poles, then turned around and ignored them. He is not really a conservative, but he snowed over the conservatives into voting him into office.
Those who are least likely to abuse the system are idealists. They talk about issues, they don't oversimplify things, and they do their best to be honest. This is a hard sell. Nobody wants to vote for the smartypants who says "well, yes, I will raise taxes a little because we are so far in debt that I will have to." People want to vote for "No new taxes!" That's a much catchier rallying cry, isn't it? It's really, really hard to be a good person and a politician at the same time. Especially when people keep voting against you.
A lie can be crafted to sound more appealing than the truth can.
But I will tell you this: I vote because I have hope. I vote because I believe that if enough people like me voted, we could change this country and make it better. I'm lazy (and don't completely trust electronic voting machines), so I vote absentee, but I vote, and I do a lot of thinking and research and discussion before I vote.
If you don't want to, fine. But if you are sick of the way this country is going and want a change, I hope you vote. If enough of us do it, we can make a difference. I'm willing to try. Are you?
October 24, 2006
No on Prop 85!I really hope that all my California-based readers are planning to vote against Prop 85. It amends California's constitution to mandate a waiting period and parental approval for teenagers' abortions - even if the parents are abusive or if it was her father who got her pregnant. Sure, there's an option for the girl to visit a judge and get an exception - but anybody who knows how overworked the judicial system here is knows that's not a good option
More importantly: look at who's for 85 vs. who's against it. Evangelical, right-wing, pro-forced birth organizations that want to get rid of abortion entirely are for 85; doctors, the ACLU, NOW, and medical organizations are against it.
Planned Parenthood has put together a great ad against 85 and needs donations to get it on the air. I gave $15. What can you give? See the ad and donate
October 19, 2006
*headdesk*Two women each want not to be in their driver's license photos. One is Christian, one is Muslim. Guess who won her court case and who lost.
GODDAMMIT stuff like this pisses me off.
September 01, 2006
Good readingI was recently led back to Elroy.net by this post over at Dark_Christian. I seem to remember reading Elroy's stuff a while back, but reading it again it really hit home. Between the gradual erosion of abortion rights and the recent surge of born-again Christians in federal government, his essays seem very timely.
One of the very most useful is
How to Fight the Religious Right, which also serves as a useful way to navigate many of his other essays. He used to be a fundamentalist Christian, so he has plenty of Biblical citations to support his claims. For example, he points out that the only mention of abortion in the Bible is Exodus 21:22-25, where a miscarriage caused by a man striking a woman is clearly considered of little importance except as the loss of a commodity (the eventual child). Plus, elsewhere in the Bible, (Leviticus 27:6 and Numbers 3:15) infants less than a month old don't count as human, let alone fetuses! I also appreciated his essays on his gradual loss of faith and eventual relationship with the Christian church. I'm still struggling with my own opinions on that front, and reading the experiences someone so rational is utterly fascinating.
August 31, 2006
Any literalist Christians among my readers?I would really love to hear a literalist (someone who believes every word in the Bible is literally true) explain the following two verses:
Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?Exodus 32:14
Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.Check it out in different versions, if you like. BibleGateway.com is awesome for this stuff. Seriously. Even in context, these two verses are in direct conflict.
August 07, 2006
OMGI thought the "Girls Gone Wild" videos were sickening already, and that the guy behind 'em was a dirtbag.
Well, now I know he is. He's disgusting. I hope justice catches up with him big time. He should be in jail. What a horrible, misogynistic man.
I think it says something very unflattering about our society that he's roaming around making money off of debasing, humiliating, and essentially assaulting women - and that the women aren't standing up and screaming about it. I mean, if
July 27, 2006
Please giveI don't know how to say it better than they already have:
In its 1972 debut issue, Ms. magazine ran a bold petition in which 53 well-known U.S. women declared that they had undergone abortions - despite state laws rendering the procedure illegal. These women were following the example of a 1971 manifesto signed by 343 prominent French women, who also declared they had abortions....
We are now starting a new petition, beginning with the names of some of the original 1972 signers. They signed “to save lives and to spare other women the pain of socially imposed guilt.” Their purpose was “to repeal archaic and inhuman [anti-abortion] laws.”
We recognize that, still, not every woman will be able to sign today - 33 years after Roe - even though abortion is a very common, necessary and important procedure for millions of women in the U.S. But if a multitude of women would step forward publicly - and more and more would continue to join them - we would change the public debate.
We know that women who have had abortions have spoken out many times during the last 33 years … and millions of women and men have marched in countless rallies and demonstrations.
It is time to speak out again– in even larger numbers - and to make politicians face their neighbors, influential movers and shakers, and yes, their family members. We cannot, must not - for U.S. women and the women of the world - lose the right to safe, legal, and accessible abortion or access to birth control. Just as in 1972, Ms. will send the signed petitions to the White House, members of Congress and state legislators. We will also place the petition online. And we ask signers to make a contribution so Ms. can promote the petition and provide needed funds to fight abortion bans and support targeted abortion providers, such as the sole remaining women’s clinic in Mississippi.
Your name and your voice will make a difference.
Please sign... or donate... or both. I have not had an abortion, but as a woman who would have one in a heartbeat if a pregnancy test came up positive, I am determined to defend my reproductive rights. I donated. Please go and sign or donate.
Please. This is important.
July 19, 2006
Eek! No! Not more feminism! And a rant, too, nooooooooooo!Dammit. Why must anti-porn/anti-prostitution feminists lump all porn and prostitution together???
*sigh*
I was going to comment there, but realized I had too much to say, and that most of it had little to do with the actual entry.
[Begin rant]
A woman brought here under false pretenses and forced into prostitution has a world of problems. I am against that, hands down. Why? Not because I'm against men paying for sex, but because I'm against slavery. Women forced into prostitution don't see a dime of the money the men hand over. That's abuse, sure. That's wrong. Wrong.
July 07, 2006
Nice to know Anti-Semitism is alive and well. Not.Dr. Bitch says it better than I will in describing how she felt upon reading about a Jewish family driven out of town by self-proclaimed Christians in Delaware. Euccccch. {{shudder}} I hate that this kind of thing can still happen.
I'm also tempted to print out the full story and personally take it to every Christian pastor I can reach and dare them to write a letter to the editor of the major local paper condemning those asshat's actions. Seriously. How am I supposed to respect organized Christianity when its leaders don't speak out about this kind of thing? I can respect individual Christians and respect the teachings of Jesus (who, as Gandhi observed was awesome but infrequently followed by those who claim his name). The organized religion, though, consistently disappoints me.
May 25, 2006
Liberty vs. ToleranceYesterday I had the "privilege" of listening to Michael Farris, the founder of Patrick Henry College discussing his institution on an episode of Fresh Air. He gave me the creeps. PHC is an institution for "Christian home-schooled" kids. 7% of the White House interns last year came from this school.
May 19, 2006
In case you were wondering...... why conservative Islamic governments like the one in Iran (and the one developing in Iraq) are so bad, consider the case of Nazanin, an 18-year-old Iranian girl who is facing the death sentence.
Her crime?
Fatally stabbing one of the men who tried to rape her and her neice.
She is facing the death sentence for defending herself and her neice!
I've emailed one of my senators. Honestly I'm not sure what else I can do. But something should be done. This is wrong. Governments like the one in Iran are wrong. I am not in favor of the US going in with guns blazing like they did in Iraq (where women had more rights under Saddam than they do now!) but there must be something that can be done to help women in Iran. Something.
May 17, 2006
Women = females = walking incubators?Well, there's been a lot of hoo-hah about a CDC report saying that all "females" should be treated as "pre-pregnant" (started by this article in the Washington Post. One of the better early responses came from Bitch, Ph.D.. She has since updated it with information that the report the original article was talking about does not, in fact, say what the Post says it does. It says, rather, it's about promoting the health of women and couples in general. Good grief. I'm glad the good folks over at Pandagon did their homework and got the info out. Now we know to be mad at the Post, not at the CDC. Props to the CDC, even. Meanwhile, I'd like to point this out as a classic example of our "liberal media" at work. Thpft.
May 02, 2006
I <3 Stephen ColbertWow. I am watching Stephen Colbert's address to the White House Press Corps, and it is brilliant. Go watch it. I can't believe they had him speak. It's like the conservatives who appear on his show and say things like "guys like us" as if he's one of them.
He's mocking you, Republicans! Helloooooooo!
And mocking you cleverly.
May 01, 2006
ImmigrationIt seems that today is a good day to blog about illegal immigration. Reading this piece about undocumented college students (linked to by Caliboy) and then reading Nate's thoughts on the subject, it seemed like I should try articulating my opinion.
My opinion is this: Entering the US illegally is breaking the law. Granting permission to illegal immigrants with some kind of guest worker program is an insult to all those who went to the trouble to follow the rules.
However, the children of illegal immigrants shouldn't be lumped in, I think. The kids described in the LA Times article had no say in whether they were brought here and many of them wouldn't be able to leave if they wanted to, and they're trying to be productive members of society. I like the idea of granting conditional status to undocumented kids who graduate high school and giving a green card to the ones who then graduate college or serve in the military. (Although I think there ought to be a couple more options, what with how dangerous the military is nowadays. Maybe some other form of community service?) I hope that bill makes it through and becomes law.
Clearly, of course, there is a huge problem with illegal immigration, as the protests today may well show. But that doesn't mean we should give all illegals a pass to be here. They broke the law. Period. They could've stayed in their home countries and tried to improve things there but instead they came here illegally. Immigration needs to be reformed, sure, and I think that deporting illegals is a good idea, but I also think we need to take away the incentive - people who hire illegals need to be cracked down on a lot harder. That's the place to go. If word gets out that jobs in the US aren't so easy to get, maybe the rish of illegal entries will slow a bit. Sure, it will make things here more expensive, but that's what they should cost. Anything that's currently cheaper than it should be due to illegal immigration is basically passing a savings on to us at the expense of the workers, who are grossly underpaid.
Maybe the solution is to find a way to make it okay to have menial jobs again? Cleaning, harvesting, and other gigs like that which so often go to illegals need to be jobs a citizen can have without feeling bad about that.
Of course, it's easy for me to say all this, being a white, highly-educated, American citizen. I realize I'm speaking from a position of privilege. But like Nate says, you shouldn't be trying to change the law because the people getting in trouble for breaking it are complaining. You have to show the injustice of it, and frankly, I don't think immigration law as it stands is all that unjust to people who choose to come here illegally.
April 07, 2006
Wow.This is a great idea.
According to Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services Director Dwayne Pielech, his organization is looking into the possibility of paying women not to get pregnant. ... Pielech said certain community groups may be able to offer a stipend to the women for each year they do not get pregnant. Each woman would have to meet certain requirements, and the program would be on an entirely voluntary basis.If they can figure out a good way to make sure the women are honest, I say go for it!March 30, 2006
The Shaving FeministI am a feminist.
I shave various areas of my body on a weekly basis.
To many, these two facts would seem to be incompatible. Isn't shaving giving in to The Will Of The Patriarchy(tm)? Doesn't it remove evidence that I've reached puberty by returning my skin to a girlish, hairless state? There are plenty of articles about how awful shaving is and how terrible it is that society pressures women to shave.
Now, I do agree that it is stupid that society pressures women to shave. Surely that should be up to us women, right? Feminism is about women being able to control their own bodies, yes? So if a woman doesn't want to shave, she shouldn't be made to feel bad or unattractive. Men don't shave their legs or pits (well, some do but the overwhelming mainstream attitude toward that appears to be that they are therefore effeminate and not real men), so we women shouldn't either, right?
March 23, 2006
Poem: Male PrivilegeI ran across this poem today in my blog reading, and had to save it for posterity.
Note: I strongly suspect that most of my male readers are aware of male privilege and are not misogynist assholes. This poem is not aimed at them. This poem is aimed at men who cannot understand why feminism is still around, who think that men and women are truly equal in this society because sexual harrassment and sexual discrimination are illegal.
March 22, 2006
Bumper stickers for liberalsI like these.
Here. Favorite: "If you want your religion taken seriously, stop treating it like fandom."
and here. Favorite: "The next person to ask 'so when are you having kids?' gets strangled with a tampon"File under: Linkage, Political Schtuff
Posted at 07:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)Spread the word!Native American tribal leader tells SD governor where to stick his forced-birth law
I am definitely making a donation toward this. Go Ms. Fire Thunder!!!
File under: Linkage, Political Schtuff
Posted at 07:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)March 21, 2006
GahI started reading this article on Salon about the anti-contraception movement and had to stop. Things like this scare the crap out of me.
Seriously.
These people want to codify their religious beliefs as law. I am sure that if they met me, they would not regard me as an actual person - I strongly suspect that most forced-birth, anti-contraception proponents are borderline sociopaths. They must be - either that or they are hopelessly ignorant.
March 15, 2006
QuestionsSo, I was reading Molly Saves the Day and I got to her post Twenty Questions: Baby-killer edition in which she posts twenty questions aimed at the forced-birth contingent who've been posting "abortion is murder of little babies!" comments on her blog lately. I found the post very interesting, but thought some of the questions were a bit too... harsh? biased? I'm not sure what the right word is. Basically, some of them seemed like they were destined to put up the hackles of the forced-birth contingent readers.
I think for questions like these to work as discussion starters, they have to be genuine, honest, and not constructed to start an argument. I hereby offer my own twenty questions as an exercise in promoting discussion. The idea is to get people thinking about what extending human rights to the unborn could lead to.
The ones with *s are lifted from Molly's with some adjustments.
File under: Linkage, Political Schtuff
Posted at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)January 16, 2006
Blogging for ChoiceBlog for Choice Day is coming up. I am probably going to participate. I found out about it via Bitch, PhD. She has a great post about why choice is so important, and it boils down to this: pragnancy is a life threatening condition. It is wrong to force women to risk their bodies, health, and lives. Period. Bitch linked to this awesome list of the effects of pregnancy, which range from morning sickness (temporary) to loss of bone/dental calcium (permanent) to severe physical and mental disorders (anemia, post-partum psychosis) to death. It's really scary to see it laid out like that.
November 15, 2005
Drat that PandagonI'm catching up on my Pandagon reading (it's a feminist/liberal politics/music/stuff blog), and keep seeing things I should blog. But I think it'd be faster to just say "go read Pandagon, it is awesome" and leave it at that.
The only exception is this essay by Redneck Mother, which is a FANTASTIC discussion of why pro-lifers just don't get it.
August 08, 2005
Damn, I want to be President.Presumably by now y'all have heard about our President's most recent vacation.
This is the longest vacation in presidential history he's taking.
Oh, and he already holds the record for number of vacation days taken.
Ricky says it better than I would. I just want to add that if you can have that much paid vacation with the gig, I totally want to be president. None of my jobs (I have four, you may recall) offer paid vacation, but the President has (so far) taken about 20% of his time in office as vacations. Damn. That's what, 10 weeks a year? Sounds like a sweet deal to me.
July 01, 2005
So.So Justice O'Connor has resigned.
There are people who are kind of freaked out over this. I would just like to point out that of the nine justices who were seated there as of yesterday, seven of them were appointed by conservative presidents. 's true.
Rehnquist Reagan Stevens Ford O'Connor Reagan Scalia Reagan Kennedy Reagan Souter Bush Thomas Bush Ginsburg Clinton Breyer Clinton So. Let's try not to panic. I think the most important thing at this point is for concerned folks to write their Congresspeople and say, "hey, make sure Dubya doesn't sneak a total loon in there, okay? And please don't make the litmus test Roe v. Wade, because that's asking for trouble. How about the right to privacy? That's a HUGE issue right now, isn't it?"
I'm considering doing the handwritten letter routine to my congressfolk. Packs more punch than email, after all. But I'm not panicking.
June 24, 2005
Damn straightJust a reminder: Ricky over at Bottle of Blog is The Man when it comes to harshing on the liars up in Washington. His posts over the last few days have just been killer.
June 22, 2005
Wow.Apparently Dr. David Hager repeatedly sodomized his ex-wife against her will when they were married. He also apparently paid her for certain sexual acts as a way of getting her to perform them (he kept a very tight rein on the family finances, after all). Or, when she hassled him too much about the anal stuff, he'd wait until she was unconcious and go after her then. What a despicable man.
And here I thought he was a horrible person when all I knew about him was that he was a fundie crackpot.
If her allegations are true, he needs to be in a courthouse right damn quick and on trial. Sure, maybe she's nuts like he claims... but I think it's a lot more likely that she's telling the truth. Please don't forget, people, that the good Dr. Kinsey found high correlations between being a fundie and being into things like bestiality and sodomy. (OK, I'm typing from memory and am hunting down a citation for this even now.)
I have to go take a shower now. And rinse with bleach. Why is this man on the FDA panel for reproductive health drugs? Ew.
June 06, 2005
Heh.This article makes a good point: Prez. Bush is using God in a way that other Presidents haven't had the nerve to. Plus, he's not much of a Christian. I'm glad to read that plenty of others, including a bunch of Evangelicals, think so too.
April 26, 2005
What a mess.Really, this post says it all. Microsoft withdrew its support from a gay rights bill, which then lost by one vote.
One vote. Burningbird says it way better than I could, so go read there. (thanks for the link, dad)
February 17, 2005
Wholly CowThe Treaty of Tripoli (1797) says:
Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.(italics mine)
Wow. How awesome is that? And this is from right after the founding, too - within a generation of the founding, so one assumes that the author of the treaty knew what he was talking about. Even if it was written by some random guy, it was signed with the authority of the US government. How awesome is that? More ammo for future arguments!
November 19, 2004
Mark Morford says it!Seriously.
He makes some excellent points here, including the amazing hypocrisy of people who think that abortion is Wrong (tm) but that fertility clinics, which result in WAY more dead embryos, are Just Fine (tm). Rock on.
School VouchersI am debating the issue of school vouchers with someone from a list I'm on, and have come to a couple of conclusions.
- People in favor of school vouchers have no idea about the actual costs of running a school and how they are related to student headcount.
- Discussions devolve pretty quickly when one person is unable to answer the other person's questions/arguments.
It hasn't turned into a flame war yet, but I will not be surprised if it does.
November 15, 2004
Jon Stewart is a god.I just watched Jon Stewart on Crossfire.
In case you live in a hole or something, Jon Stewart anchors "The Daily Show," a comedy news show. "Crossfire" is a 'debate' politics news show thingie.
Stewart went on there and told them just what I wish someone would tell them! YAY! He told them they were doing a disservice to America and pretending to present debate when really they're partisan hacks. He called them that! ROCK!
Jon Stewart even appeared on the O'Reilly Factor! (transcript). SO COOL. And then O'Reilly appeared on the Daily Show, even. And tried to be funny. Yikes.
I must write him fanmail.
November 05, 2004
The G-Word. Or the GM-words. Whatever.I've been trying to boil my stance on gay marriage down to a few pithy paragraphs. Let's see if I got it right.
The word "marriage" has two versions. There's Marriage, the religious sacrament, and marriage, the legal act. Marriage (religious) is already available to gay people in some religions (heck, I was a flower girl for a gay wedding back in the day). The government has no right to alter whether a particular religion offers it.
Marriage (legal) is a civil rights issue, involving next-of-kin status, health insurance, inheritance, child custody, financial rights, and so on. It should be available to all couples dedicated to spending their lives together, regardless of gender, race, etc.
I think the real problem is that people say "marriage" (legal) and religious folks think of "Marriage" (religious). Plus, saying that gay people want to be married reminds homophobes that (a) gays exist and (b) gays want the same things they do, both of which are frightening.
My solution: the government needs to come up with a new name for marriage (legal), and make it available to all couples which have dedicated themselves to spending their lives together, regardless of gender. It's a civil rights issue, not a religious one, and if you change the wording, maybe people will be less frightened.
Sars rocks.I knew I could count on Sars to come up with something to make me feel good after that election. It's at the bottom of this page. Or read it here, where I copied it in case (gods forbid) something happens to her site. :)
November 04, 2004
OMFGWTFThis Livejournal user was visited by Secret Service.
This is scary, people. Read more .
November 03, 2004
Roy Said It BestY'know, Roy Zimmerman has two songs that really sum up the way I feel about my country.
America is an apple pie
with a few bad apples
right toward the top
America is a homeless Jesus
being held at gun point
by King JamesAnd I'd just like to say that, as Roy puts it, it's still my TV and while Dubya may have it now, he won't have it forever. I believe America is worth fighting for. I'm not going to let him take it away from me.
Moving to Canada would be like going home and getting another toy after the bully stole the one I was playing with. I'm looking forward to kicking the bully in the allegorical nuts and taking my toy back, dammit.
Also: OMFG. Eminem made a video I really, really like. Crap. Why'd that bigoted, misogynistic, homphobic freak have to do something cool?
Thank you, Mark Morford.Mark hits the nail on the head again, and this time without too much embarassingly stylized hyperbole.
And this election, it might be all be very amusing, in a Mel Gibson-y, blood-drenched hamburger-of-Christ sorta way, were it not so sad and dangerous. It might all be tolerable and cute, in a violence-engorged, sexist, video-game-y sorta way, were it not so lopsided and wrong.This election's outcome, this heartbreaking proof of a nation split more deeply and decisively than ever, it simply reinforces the feeling among much of the educated populace: It is a weirdly embarrassing time to be an American. It is jarring and oddly shattering and makes you rethink what it really means to be a part of this country. The answer: It doesn't mean much at all. Not really. Not anymore.
Whoa.Well, I read online this morning that Kerry has conceded.
This is a sobering moment.
Mark Morford wrote some time ago that maybe we need another four years of Bush to show us what a shitty president can really do to this country. Maybe he's right.
I also read that 10 more states have chosen to ban gay marriage.
This is a difficult morning for me, a morning where it is driven home that at least half of the country cares more about how scared they are of terrorists than about my rights as a woman or my friends' rights as homosexuals. At least half of the country isn't worried about what more conservative judges will do to the Supreme Court or what Bush might drag us into given another four years to lie to us and manipulate our fears.
But it has also been driven home to me that almost half the country voted for Kerry. We voted for our rights, our friends' rights, for an America the world will stop laughing at, and not because they're scared of us, either. Almost half the country voted for a man who follows his conscience, even when its dictates are against those of his church. We voted for a man who's not afraid to change his mind about something when it's proven that he was wrong. We voted for a man who actually served his country in a time of war by going to the front, unlike a single person on Bush's staff.
So I will try to have hope. If Bush sucks enough in the next four years, maybe those undecided and swing voters will realize what horrors they've brought upon us all and get their shit together.
I'd say "let's move to Canada" but somehow I think if Bush can screw up my life here in CA that badly, Canada won't be all that much safer.
October 22, 2004
PoliticsI can never decide if I love it or hate it more when someone else says something in their blog/LJ/whatever that I really, really wish I'd said.
Here are excerpts and links.
Epicyclical sez: being silent when hateful, or even just really wrongheaded, things are being said, feels like cowardice. But then everyone else gets upset, and people are all, "Well, you claim to be tolerant, but here you are jumping on me for disagreeing. What about my right to free speech? What about respecting all opinions as equally valid?"
She led me to Clio, who sez: If someone said in 1964 that they felt that beating back Khrushchev was more important than the civil rights situation in the south and therefore they were voting for Goldwater, they would have been within their rights to do so. However, they shouldn't have been surprised that any Black friends they might have had would take it personally, wondering that a friend of theirs would actually put something ahead of their right to vote/go to school/even exist. and then goes on to relate that to the present day election.
I agree, on both counts.
Edited to add: and the award for best gay rights / slash fiction fandom rant goes to: TheBratQueen
September 30, 2004
Debates and the Daily ShowI will not be watching the debates tonight.
There are two reasons for this.
- I think they'll make me angry (well, angrier).
- I have to work.
Fortunately, I will be home in time for the Daily Show, which will no doubt cover them and give me a good feeling for what went down without taking a ton of time to do so.
I don't think this is going to be bad for me as an informed voter. After all, studies have shown that viewers of The Daily Show tend to be well-informed (take that, O'Reilly! We "stoned slackers" are smarter than your audience!) while, say, Fox News actively misinforms its viewers. Plus I already know who I'm going to vote for, so the debates will serve only to inflict more agonizing Bush stupidity and painful Kerry circumlocution on me.
September 22, 2004
Indecision? Hah!Question: do my readers kjnow anybody who hasn't already decided who they're voting for on Nov. 2?
I don't know a single person who can't tell me exactly who they're voting for. I don't know a single person who hasn't made up their mind.
So why the hell are those two clowns still slinging mud at each other? It's just embarassing. They should be trying to get out the vote in swing states, telling the people who are already supporters to be sure to actually vote.
Do I just live in a really politically charged environment? Are there undecided folks out there?
September 08, 2004
Goooooo Jimmy!President Carter takes Zell Miller to task for his speech at the RNC. Apparently it's a private letter which was leaked, not sure where TalkingPointsMemo got it, but hey, it's a good letter.
And it makes a good point - a few years ago, Zell Miller was all over John Kerry, calling him a great man and a good friend. Now he's turning around and calling him some terrible things. What a flip-flopper. ;)
September 07, 2004
Camps for Citizens?Holy hell. Ashcroft wants the right to detain citizens arrested in the US indefinitely without charging them.
As long as he says they're terrorists, this is supposed to be OK.
I want to protest. I want to go wave a sign. I want to punch him in the face. Where do I sign up?
September 05, 2004
*sigh*Y'know, politics really is like religion. People hold beliefs, justify them with irrational arguments, and lose all ability to be objective when politics comes up.
Politics can make an otherwise cool person suddenly someone I know I shouldn't hang out with because they will hate me. In the online version of this, some people have blogs which I think are cool until I hit a part where I know I should stop reading.
In the case of AngryHamster.com, that part was when Michael Moore was described in an entry as an "obscenely obese and vile creature." I was disappointed because up until then I'd been enjoying this person's blog.
*sigh*
I just can't respect someone who flings names like that. I'm not exactly a huge fan of Moore myself (I think he gives us liberals a bad name and that his extremism clouds the water and keeps him from properly and rationally expressing the points he's trying to make... points I agree with, for pete's sake! ARGH!)
August 23, 2004
Preach it, Tat.Sinfest rules.
August 12, 2004
Yikes.Wow, sometimes our President's inability to express himself takes a turn for the ironic. Unless he's really quite intelligent, just pretending to be an idiot, and takes a sick pleasure in telling it like it is:
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." (Source)He needs to get some new speechwriters who can write clearly so he can quit being the butt of jokes around the world. Seriously. Dan Quayle was at least VP, so he had an excuse (who's gonna spend money on the VP's scriptwriters and coaches?). I mean, come on.
May 18, 2004
Land of the What?Hard lessons from poetry class: Speech is free unless it's critical
In March 2003, a teenage girl named Courtney presented one of her poems before an audience at Barnes & Noble bookstore in Albuquerque, then read the poem live on the school's closed-circuit television channel.A school military liaison and the high school principal accused the girl of being "un-American" because she criticized the war in Iraq and the Bush administration's failure to give substance to its "No child left behind" education policy.
The girl's mother, also a teacher, was ordered by the principal to destroy the child's poetry. The mother refused and may lose her job.
It gets worse. Go read. I am rooting for the ACLU here. Kick their asses, man. How can a center of learning do this kind of thing?
April 06, 2004
HorrifyingPresident Bush should be made to answer for this:
American intelligence sent an innocent man to Syria to be tortured.
March 24, 2004
Click Back!Check this out: MoveOn has organized a nifty petition for college students to tell Prez Bush that his request for a loan is DENIED! He's racked up a hell of a deficit we're gonna have to pay off... and he's just frozen student aid.
So he won't give students loans, but he wants them to give HIM one. He can go to hell.
March 11, 2004
Oh. My. God. Alternately, "well no duh!"Special Pentagon office was created to distort facts about Iraq and WMDs. Read it and weep, my friends. And this was written by someone who was there, to boot. Yikes.
I witnessed neoconservative agenda bearers within OSP usurp measured and carefully considered assessments, and through suppression and distortion of intelligence analysis promulgate what were in fact falsehoods to both Congress and the executive office of the president.February 29, 2004
w00t! Yes, more on gay marriage.Wil Wheaton said it really well so I won't reiterate. Basically, Bush is a liar. His whole "I'm a uniter, not a divider" spiel has been shown to be a big lie by his determination to amend the Constitution to actively discriminate against a minority. Hurray for the Southern Strategy.
Consider: this proposed amendment is already causing disagreement among Conservative Christians, who are the target audience! So much for not dividing people.
February 25, 2004
Neat toolWanna write to all your local newspapers?
Well, georgewbush.com has a neat tool that lets you write a letter and click which of your local papers to send it to.
Handy, that. Even for non-Bush-supports, eh?
(found via this article from talkleft.com)
Wow.I am so disappointed in Orson Scott Card. Not because he's against gay marriage, he has the right to have whatever opinion he wants. No, I'm disappointed because his article is so irrational. I'd do a long, detailed refutation of his arguments, but Dylan has already done a really fantastic one here.
Oh, and this list of reasons why gays mustn't be allowed to marry is brilliant. I am tempted to print it out and post it everywhere I go.
Sample: Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and it hasn't changed at all: women are property, Blacks can't marry Whites, and divorce is illegal.
February 17, 2004
Best. President's Day Post. Evar!Disclaimer: Yes, Democratic presidents in the past have sucked too. But dayumm is Dubya making some bad stuff happen. Worse, the so-called "liberal" media isn't calling him on it. I wish there were more hardcore investigative reporters out there, and editors who were willing to back 'em up.
Marriage is Love
Marriage is love. Thank you. That is all.
February 11, 2004
Snake in the GrassBe vigilant, my friends. Columns like this make me glad I live in the San Francisco area. And I'm straight, for heaven's sake!
Romeo and Romeo in Hell: Where teen sex meets the Dark Ages, and why you never, ever want to live in Kansas (Mark Morford, Morford, SFGate Columnist)
February 09, 2004
Why?Dammit, why do I read political news? Honestly, 90% of it is almost guaranteed to raise my blood pressure and make me want to move to Canada.
I try, as a rule, not to rant too much about politics in my blog, but I really feel the need to shake my head ruefully in a public way. I mean, come on - a 2002 column by Hunter S. Thompson I read tonight made me go "right ON! YEAH!" more than any other thing I've read about politics in a couple of years.
He called us a nation of whores, compared Bush to Nixon (although he admitted that was an insult to Nixon), and used other similarly inflammatory rhetoric.
*sigh*
I'll say this for Bush: he knows what to say to make stupid people get behind him. I wish that there were fewer stupid people in this great nation of ours.
February 04, 2004
Oooo, busted!There's a petition being circulated by moveon.org to pressure Congress to censure the President for leading the citizens of the US to believe Saddam posed more of a threat than he did.
I signed it.
If you agree, you should too.
Remind me never to move to Ohio.Ohio Moves to Prohibit Gay Unions (Mercury News)
The Ohio measure, which also would bar state agencies from giving benefits to gay and heterosexual domestic partners, would make Ohio the 38th state to prohibit the recognition of same-sex unions.January 24, 2004
Argh.Does it make me a bad person that reading about Republicans stealing Democrats' files made me roll my eyes rather than filling me with outrage? I mean, dood, all I could think was, "wow, I bet the Dems have done something bad, too."
As it turns out, the memos and files stolen (by breaking in to their computers regularly for over a year) concerned, in part, which nominees for various positions the Dems were gonna filibuster over in order to please special interest groups.
So the Reps stole files about bad things the Dems were plotting.
And people wonder why my generation is so cynical and apathetic about politicians. Hey, Washington! You guys want us to care? You want us to give a rat's ass? Stop acting like seventh graders and try acting like leaders! Dipshits. God, I hate politics. When the bf wins the lottery, maybe he and I can buy an island and declare it our own country or something.
January 23, 2004
Mad PropsThe Boondocks totally kicks ass. I love this strip.
January 05, 2004
Yikes.Quarantining dissent: How the Secret Service protects Bush from free speech
In case you're too lazy to click the link, the gist of the article is this: if you want to hold up an anti-Bush sign (even ones without profanity, such as "The Bush family must surely love the poor, they made so many of us.") along a motorcade route or at a speech Bush is giving, you will be directed to a "free speech zone" which is out of view of the event. If you refuse to go to the area (even if you refuse politely and are non-violent), you will be arrested, taken to jail, and face (depending on the area) up to six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.
If you are carrying a pro-Bush sign, you can stand wherever you want.
December 09, 2003
NewsWell, looks like we can expect some federal spam legislation. Unfortunatley, from what I've read, it sounds like this legislation would replace any state laws (like the tough ones California had set to go into effect in January), and this new bill isn't tough enough on spammers. Plus, it looks damn hard to enforce.
Spammers have to provide a mechanism for people to remove themselves from lists. Spammers can't harvest addys from websites. Great, but how on EARTH would you every enforce those? Last I checked, actually using one of the "remove" instructions in a spam usually resulted in being marked as a legit email addy and flooded with even more spam. SHEESH!
But on the bright side, if you live in Seattle, Elvis can be your cabbie.
August 10, 2003
What a surprise.The Bush administration is targeting progressive non-profit groups, but giving special exemptions to conservative ones. I'm stunned, I tell you. Utterly surprised and amazed.
Not.
How long is it until the next election, again?
Recall elections suck. We hates them!July 30, 2003
Words fail me.There's this thing called "Separation of Church and State," Dubya. Look into it.
"I am mindful that we're all sinners... that does not mean that somebody like me needs to compromise on issues such as marriage. That's really where the issue is headed here in Washington, and that is the definition of marriage. I believe in the sanctity of marriage. I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman. And I think we ought to codify that one way or the other. And we've got lawyers looking at the best way to do that."
--The President of this "inclusive" nation, in a recent news conferenceI am so infuriated I can't find the words to express it. I feel nauseous. I really, really hope the ACLU stays on top of this one.
May 07, 2003
Whoa. Scary stuff, here.Jesus Plus Nothing, Undercover Among America's Secret Theocrats.
This is one creepy article.
March 07, 2003
Update on the Peacenik Tshirt ThangThe mall dropped the charges after a zillion email messages and a small group of protesters landed in their laps.
February 07, 2003
(Sad-)damn ItNext time someone asks me why I oppose the war in Iraq, I will send them this article. I'm a low-key fan of Morford, and this article just makes me dig him more.
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