Politics
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Year of the
RatTurdWoke up 3 times last night. Twice by small earthquakes, then a phone call that said mom fell last night on the way back to bed from the bathroom, and hurt her neck. They’re sending her back to the hospital. Sigh. (And another grumpy thought…I haven’t even spoken to a single woman who could bring herself to vote for Hillary (besides a few family members) so what’s this stupid talk about Obama needs to heal rift with women? Idiot press. Most people I’ve talked to say, they’re so similar on the issues, they would vote either way. And then the campaign turned a lot of people off to her. So…
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TANSTAAFL
(picture found here) That stands for “There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch”, and when I was growing up as a Libertarian in Fairbanks, Alaska, it was a term that I heard from time to time. If you’re not familiar with the phrase, ‘no such thing as a free lunch’, the concept is that you don’t get something for nothing. For everything you get in life, you give something up, and it’s important to make decisions wisely, and make sure that what you are receiving is worth what you are foregoing. I was reminded of TANSTAAFL the other day in the car, when I was listening to Forum…
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Quagmire
quagmire (plural quagmires) 1. A swampy, soggy area of ground. 2. (figuratively) A mixed up and troubled situation; a hopeless tangle; a predicament. The paperwork got lost in a quagmire of bureaucracy. The invasion of the country went smoothly, but the subsequent occupation became a quagmire. Growing up, I remember hearing how the war in Viet Nam was a quagmire, how leaving was bad, but staying would have been worse. How it was very much a situation to be avoided, and only a fool enters a war without a decent exit strategy. And yet, here we are again. Perhaps partially because the Chickenhawks in charge weren’t in Viet Nam, and…
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Angry Black Bitch wins the Perfect Post Award
I haven’t awarded a ‘perfect post’ in a long time…to be honest, I forget about it every month, until I get an email from Petroville, who dutifully sends the code for the badge, and reminds me of the award. But by then, I’ve forgotten what wonderful stuff is out there, and so no awards go out. But in a perfect example of synchronicity, I received the email, and then went and checked out an amazing post written by Shark Fu, aka, Angry Black Bitch. What makes this post award worthy? I love the way she dives right and and tells it like it is, reminding us what being a patriotic…
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Are you talking about yourself, Asshole?
“Any government that presumes to represent the majority of people must confront criminal elements or people who think they can live outside the law.” ~ G.W. Bush 3/28/08
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This Is What a Feminist Looks Like
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YA13GNT8Mc[/youtube] I saw this over at Salon, and thought it was worth sharing.
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Do Over?
I’m kind of curious to know what you all think of this story, where the Democratic National Committee is considering having a second primary in Florida and Michigan, probably via mail-in votes. See, the DNC decided not to allow states to move their primaries to before Super Tuesday, and when Florida and Michigan did so anyway, the DNC decided to punish them by not allowing their delegates to count toward election totals. But now that the race between Clinton and Obama has turned out to be so close, they’re suddenly wanting those votes to count. And it wouldn’t even be fair to count the votes as they were cast the…
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I Voted
We just got back from voting…It felt ridiculously good to see the names of a woman and a minority on that ballot. No matter which way it goes, today was a good day. I can honestly say that I have never, NEVER felt this way about voting before. We took Maya into the ballot with us, so she could watch history being made. A good day. Updated to add, I have not forgotten that Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton ran last time. He’s a bit of a freak, and neither of them had much of a chance. This is the first time things have gotten so far as to…
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Dang.
First Kucinich, now Edwards. The candidates who had the most to say to the more progressive elements in the Democratic party have dropped out. I can only hope that their influence lives on, and that both Obama and Clinton take some of it to heart, and do more than ‘talk the talk’. Getting tired of politics already. I mean, so few people have voted, and this is indicative of the entire country? Bah. Stupid primaries.
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Blog for Choice Day
Today is the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and the 3rd annual ‘Blog for Choice Day’. I participated last year, when the writing prompt was, “Why you’re pro choice“, as well as in 2006, when I declared that I think that the rights of the pregnant woman supersede those of the unborn child, and that the answer to the abortion question shouldn’t be to outlaw it, but rather, to improve medical care, education, and family planning access so that fewer and fewer women find themselves having to make this difficult decision. The writing prompt this year is ‘why it’s important to vote pro-choice’. In an election year, especially an…
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Right Here, Right Now
A woman on the radio talked about revolution When it’s already passed her by Bob Dylan didn’t have this to sing about you You know it feels good to be alive I was alive and I waited, waited I was alive and I waited for this Right here, right now There is no other place I want to be Right here, right now Watching the world wake up from history I saw the decade in, when it seemed The world could change at the blink of an eye And if anything Then there’s your sign… of the times I was alive and I waited, waited I was alive and I…
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Subprime Woes
I heard something on the radio yesterday that ticked me off. That’s nothing new, really, I listen to a lot of NPR, and there’s often news and politics involved, which often ticks me off. So of course yesterday the big news was the subprime ‘bailout’, a move by the Bush Administration to help a few of the folks out there who are destined to lose their homes because they will not be able to afford the higher payments once their mortgages reset into a higher interest rate. There’s an assumption among many that these people deserve to lose their homes, because they were gambling anyway, and took on more debt than they…
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I suspect they think you have to be Redneck* to be truly ‘American’. Me no likey that…
You Are 51% American Most times you are proud to be an American. Though sometimes the good ole US of A makes you cringe Still, you know there’s no place better suited to be your home. You love your freedom and no one’s going to take it away from you! How American Are You? I mean, really, isn’t it our job as Americans to disagree sometimes with the decisions made by our leaders, to continually want our country to live up to its ideals, to try to make it the best country on earth? I know this is a silly blogthing, but I suspect I lost American points for not…
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Wordless Wednesday?
Click to enlarge
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Kool Thing
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=0OdSoKfTP1k[/youtube] Some song on the radio reminded me for a brief moment of this song, from way back in 1990, Kool Thing, by Sonic Youth. There’s a bit in the middle when they get all political, and Kim asks Chuck D what he’s going to do for the ladies…is he going to free them from white-male-corporate-oppression? He’s all supportive and kool, saying things like “Yeah…tell it like it is”, that kind of thing. I always liked that song, but here’s the thing. I don’t want a big strong man to save women from white-male-corporate-oppression. I want us to save ourselves. Men can work along with us, but not as our…