11 posts tagged “politics”

me: hey guess what mom
mom: what
me: according to sarah palin, homosexuality is a choice.
mom: okay
me: so, you know, there's that
me: also can't think of a name of a newspaper
me: so
me: could be heartbeat away from the presidency, folks
mom: or magazine
mom: and supreme court decisions
mom: like ahhh
mom: roe vs
mom: ahh
mom: who is scott
mom: or brown vs board of what
me: heheheh
mom: i get back to you
mom: hey guys you didn't tell me i needed to know history
me: i'll get back to you on that
me: brown versus bored students!
mom: watch katie couric tomorrow'
me: heyoooo!
mom: she doesn't know if man caused global warming or global warming caused man
mom: ahhh
mom: ya hey
me: nice
me: also, you didn't bring me up to hunt, so i'm not a feminist
mom: ah shucks, you blew the surprise, your dad was gonna buy you a shot gun for christmas
me: aw, dangit
mom: think you could gut a deer
me: maybe
mom: well golly, i could if it keeps eating my raspberry bushes
me: i could if economic armageddon really takes place
mom: hey, what day are you betting on Peanut's birth?
me: lemme look
mom: gimme a day
mom: any day between now and end of oct
mom: I am sending a note to your brother
me: october... 11th
me: 11 is my lucky number
mom: whoa- I am betting much sooner as are others
me: pineapple says 9th
me: what do you say?
mom: tomorrow
me: why tomorrow?
mom: cause that will be the day Sarah Pallin becomes full timemom and gov of Alaska
me: huh?
mom: and Peanut will overshadow
mom: mommy rationale
me: i don't get it
mom: I predicted SP would be stepping away from the plate tomorrow. Actually no relationship to birth, it just happens to be the same day
me: i dunno
me: who would they replace her with?
me: mitt romney? everybody hates that dude
mom: Lieberman
me: ooooooooooooh
mom: turn coat joe
me: did you hear something about this
mom: no
me: or is this mommy speculation
mom: just hunch
me: day before the debate, replace her?
mom: why would turn coat joe stay so close to his shoulder during all the interviews
mom: he is always inthe background
mom: turn coat joe has done debates b/4
me: maybe joe will start dressing in a skirt and a sassy up-doo
mom: at least he is aware of what is happening in the world and washington

me: i saw a bumper sticker today
me: that said, "Smile, your mom was PRO-LIFE"
me: and i didn't know that you were almost forced at gunpoint to abort all three of us
mom: well actually
mom: late term abortion, all three

(Note:  Both my parents are extremely pro-choice, so I guess this means the bumper sticker I would have on my car would be along the lines of, "I'M SMILING - because my parents had access to birth control and were able to decide when they were financially and emotionally ready for children."  Only catchier.. )

I have a total boner for Pandagon's Jesse Taylor.  He says more eloquently what I tried to say a few days ago:

You are perfectly free to hold those beliefs.  You are not free to practice them in a way that unjustly interferes with others’ lives. This is not difficult. 

In this country, faith is something that is so incredibly diverse that we have to separate church and state to accomodate all these religions.  I live in a city where several times a day I see women wearing headscarves, cars with Jesus-fish on them , cars with parodies of Jesus-fish on the (my favorite being a rocket ship that says SCIENCE).  I bike down Summit and pass about eight different churches and a synagogue.  I have friends in the city who go to Buddhist temples, I used to drive past a mosque on my way to work, and a lot of my old students had family members who practiced Hmong rituals.  Every couple of weeks, at my workplace, a customer invites me to check out their church (I don't know, maybe there's a special place in heaven for one who saves the soul of a bra girl), and all these churches are different. 

I believe that everyone should be able to practice their religion in as much as it enriches their lives and does not detract or interfere unjustly with the lives of others.  I have no problem if a president has faith and explains how this faith enriches his or her life.  I do have a problem with this being a mandatory part of the process, however.  I have no problem with someone voting influenced by their religious beliefs.  I have a problem with this being the only thing people use to caste their vote, and that this vote often interferes negatively in the lives of those who don't practice this faith. I get it's the nature of the game, but I wish it weren't. 

Pineapple (my seminary-student BFF) said it best when we were talking about the ridiculousness of the "Obama is a secret muslim!" rumors.  She said his response should have been angry -- a "So what if I am? If I am a Muslim, does that make me automatically a bad leader?  Why should this be a huge deal?"  Why, indeed?  I don't believe all Christians are wrong-headed homophobes -- I know they aren't, because I live with Pineapple -- so why should we believe all Muslims are terrorists-in-training?  What makes a moderate Muslim, or a moderate Jewish person, or a moderate Atheist, or a moderate Buddhist, less fit to lead?  Nothing, actually.  Keith Ellison is doing a pretty good job, from what I hear -- though I'm not in his constituency. 

Now, if you don't mind, Maggie and Bauer are up in my grill, begging for attention.  Did I mention I'm in Wisconsin right now?  

Query:  If you were to plan an election night party, and you wanted to serve themed drinks for each of the candidates, what would these drinks be?  What about rules?

Some Ideas:

 McCain: A slow gin fizz with a shot of Metamucil

Obama: An Obamojito, with a shot of distilled hope.

McCain supporters have to "straight-talk express" any beer they open, which means any and all beers must be shotgunned.

Obama supporters must stick to beers served in "yes we" cans.

Third party candidate supporters must take a shot for every state they win, which is why we should make sure they are our designated drivers. 

Anyone who declares that he or she is a "Libertarian" must distill their own moonshine and cannot use public roads to come to the party.

Hmmm... what else can we add to this list?

(context: talking about my paper about sex, sexuality education in US public schools.

Tigi: This seems to be the loudest rallying cry - that Christian students are left feeling uncomfortable in a school system that adopts what is deemed a more politically-correct approach. There is, of course, a common sense problem with this.  Public schools cannot discriminate against students of any religions - this is why they cannot force a Muslim student to eat carnitas burritos at school lunch.  But is hearing separate ideology from what they may hear at home always discrimination?

Pineapple: EXCELLENT. I feel like this is a new development in the history of discrimination rhetoric.  because never before was it available to people to claim this was anti-discrimination for its own sake.  You know, it's always been more like about the dignity of all people and hippie dippie crap like that. But now, they can say, "YOU'RE BEING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST?!  TELL ME ABOUT IT!"  It's like men who are uncomfortable with feminism.
 

Tigi: Yeah. They can suck my dick.

Here's the deal.

I don't plan on voting for John McCain, but that doesn't mean I think he's the devil.  Quite the opposite -- eight years ago, when I actually WAS young and naive, I would have voted for him.  Seriously -- I thought he was like "Republican Light."  I didn't know much about politics then -- I know more now. Now, he's demonstrated that he would support policies that I don't support (overturning roe v wade, action against iran, staying in iraq), I don't want to give him my vote.  Same as four years ago, I would be voting for whoever was ideologically opposed to the incumbant party.  I would be voting democrat no matter what.

That in mind, I refuse to be "negative" this campaign.  I may get angry when the GOP invates the STP for their conference in September, but I promise to avoid unnecessary negativity re: John McCain.  Because again, I won't vote for him, but he's not the devil.  I will avoid reading blatantly negative and one-sided things about him.  I will only concentrate on why I want to vote FOR someone, not AGAINST someone else.

And I suggest you do the same, my fellow Americans.  And if the answer isn't Obama or McCain for you, find your third party candidate.  Let's just be a democracy here. 

I, for one, am voting FOR Obama because he his pro-choice, because he wants to develop a plan to get us out of Iraq, because he believes in National Service and so do I.  Because he says he wants to work across the aisle, and stop the bipartisan insanity that has been our nation since before I was born.

Does this mean he will do all these things?  I don't know, but I trust he can and I hope he will so he has my vote. 

Now, these rules won't apply to Project Runway.  I plan to be fucking VIRULENT about those who I hate on the new season.  When it begins.  In twelve days.

NYT has findings on a recent poll, saying that 81% of Americans are disatisfied with the way the nation is going, literally that it has gotten "on the wrong track."  Normally, I wouldn't remark on this, but guess what?  I'm one of that 81%! 

The survey was conducted between March 28th-April 2nd, and I was called on April 1st.  (What important thing was I doing when I was called?  Um... I was playing Sims2.  To be fair, I'd just driven back from my parents, and also just finished packing for my service trip in Red Lake. )

It was a weird experience -- basically, a computerized voice asked me questions, and I hit corresponding buttons on my phone.  I specifically remember the "Do you feel the country is on the right track or wrong track" question, and that I said "Wrong track."  They also asked if I defined myself as a Dem or a Republican (Dem), how I felt about John McCain (Somewhat Positive), whether I would vote for John McCain (Very Unlikely), how I felt about the two Democratic options (Very Positive), and other questions about the state of the country.  I said I wanted out of the Iraq war, that I felt apprehensive about the economy, and that I would vote for a Democratic candidate.  I rated congress fairly and Bush very low.  So, no surprises there.

My demographic breakdown:

Caucasian, female, between the ages of 21-35, single, college graduate with a graduate degree, living in an urban area. 

So, now you know one of the 81%!  I always wonder who they polled in those things.  It makes me feel like a real, live citizen.  Next up:  Jury Duty! 

I didn't get a chance to hear Obama's speech, so I read the full text of it this morning.  And tears are running down my face if only because it's a moving speech from the first presidential candidate I've ever really believed in before the election (my respect for Al Gore came years after I actually voted for him, but that's another story -- besides, I was only 18 when he ran).  And while I truly believe that any of the three candidates would do well by the country (I may not agree with McCain, but that doesn't mean I don't respect him, and of course I'll vote for Hilary if she gets the nomiation), I believe Obama is the best choice.  I make this decision, one, because I'm in sync with him on the issues (incidentally, I'm also in sync with Hilary, which is why I'd vote for her, too) and two,I think he is ready, far more ready than a former governor/ failed businessman ever was. 

And three, I'm a young American skeptical of the old and eager for the new.  I won't deny it.  But I grew up in an era of political divisiveness and insanity.  I watched the 24-hr news cycle explode into this endless three-ring-circus of pundits and melodrama.  I sat in my mom's car at the age of 16, listening as the reports of Bill Clinton's impeachement came in, wondering still why his private, marital issue needed to exploded into a federal offense when there very clearly was so much more going on in the world right about then.  I watched from a hill in Athens, Greece, as hundreds of thousands of Europeans stormed the streets angrily, mad at my country because it was invading another country -- something else I didn't understand.   And I've watched overzealous protesters crowd a Planned Parenthood in St. Paul while ignoring the very real, very difficult lives of actual children in North East Minneapolis, where I work everyday.  And I've wondered if my country has gone apeshit.

And then I hear Obama speak, and I think, no.  It hasn't gone insane, because people like him live here.

For we have a choice in this country.  We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism.  We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news.  We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words.  We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.
 
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction.  And then another one.  And then another one.  And nothing will change. 

That is one option.  Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.”  This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children.  This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem.  The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy.  Not this time.  

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together. 

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life.  This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit. 

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag.  We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned. 

I would not be running for President if I didn’t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country.  This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected.  And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election. 

Pineapple and I spent about an hour-and-a-half yesterday in a long line that extended from NE Minneapolis (not even a mile from my school) to the Target center, waiting to get in to hear Barack Obama speak.  I can't think of any other situation in which I would actually get in a line a mile long besides this one.  But we had tickets, and though we froze, we got in (along with every other liberal in the greater metro area).  Some people were moody and crabby about it, but we waited cheerfully.  Once or twice I joked about making a scene, screaming, "FUCK THIS!  I'm voting for Ron Paul!" and storming out of the line -- hilarious because never in my life would I vote for Ron Paul.  Sorry, dude. 

Nonetheless, it was all worth it, I thought.  The Target center was packed, and Obama talked for a good hour about his platform, thanked everyone for their support, invoked the name of Paul Wellstone often, and basically got 50,000 people into a great, screaming, joyful frenzy the likes of which I only see at really good concerts.  It was nothing I didn't already know about his platform, nothing I didn't already believe in and hope for my country, but it was still excellent.  He's funny (he made a crack about his cousin, Dick Cheney - "You always hope when you investigate your genealogy that you're related to someone cool, like Paul Wellstone or Willy Mays or... Paul Revere.  Dick Cheney?  That was a disappointment) and engaging and smart, and the crowd was fired up.  A few rows in front of us was a tiny, indignant old lady who stood up and pumped her fists and cheered with such enthusiasm at everything he said, and when i wasn't cheering for Barack, I was cheering for her, and everyone else in the Target center.

When it was over, Pineapple's friend Justin remarked, "Holy crap, I was going to go home and take a nap, but my veins are coursing with more hope than I thought humanly possible!"  Heeee.

As we head into the election season... or, um, I guess I should say NOW that we are smack-dab in the middle of an 18-month Custard-Fluck to the White House... I'm thinking over my own personal requirements for president.  I really have only two large criteria, and everything else gets sorta lumped into "various issues i care about."

1) "Want to have a beer with" does not equate "Want to run my country."  I know a lot of people I enjoy having beers with, and I probably wouldn't want them as president (Pineapple being the sole exception, but that's because I'd probably be VP or Secretary of Being Awesome).  The Dwarf Star, for instance  -- good roommie, great drinking buddy, but it'd be like the worst idea ever to make him president.  He'd get angry and bomb the shit out of someone in the first month.  Seriously, though -- I get the idea of wanting a president who has her or his finger on the pulse of the country, but I also want to have a beer with Carl Newman... actually, I'd probably also vote for Carl Newman if he weren't, um, Canadian.  Then we'd be the rockingest country ever. 

Seriously, though.  I don't give a shit if someone would have a beer with Mike Huckabee.  Tell me something you like about his record.  You know, his political record, not the spoken word album he may or may not be recording with Chuck Norris (I have no idea if this is true.  I think I just dreamed it one night). 

2) "There shall be no religious test for office."  Do I care which church, if any, my world leader goes to?  Not really, because we are a wildly diverse country with many different belief systems all of which have their own domains and none of which should have control of the government.  I want a president who will consider this with every decision she or he makes.  I agree that this is difficult for a lot of people -- putting aside their religious and spiritual beliefs to do their job.  But you know, I think it's something of a requirement in a country with as many avenues of worship as we have.  I also think pharmacists and doctors and teachers need to eschew religious (and in their cases, political) judgment in favor of professionalism.  I can't walk around my school stumping for Obama even though I'd like to and even though I consider my political side a very important part of who I am, and I couldn't walk around my school spreading gospel even if I considered that an important part of who I was.  I'm contractually obliged to not do these things, and I didn't have to take the job.  I could very well have looked for another job that didn't require these things.  In this case, it's not discrimination because it's the same for anyone regardless of faith.  Same goes for political office -- the president's religious background may have shaped her or his character, but it should not shape our policies, because these are large universal things that affect people of all belief systems. 

As for issues:

1) Does she or he have a plan for the following messes:

a) Iraq
b) Health Care, i.e. is it possible to make it affordable and not such a nightmare so I don't live in terror of breaking my arm?
c) Education and systematic racism -- right now, I'm in a school that is overfull, underfunded, and struggling to keep up with the white middle class.  No Child Left Behind is leaving a lot of these kids behind.  Teachers are exhausted because they keep getting shuffled and given new curricula that are supposed to "solve" the problem by teaching kids how to take exams.  It's so frustrating to watch this.

2) I am prochoice.  This doesn't mean I run around demanding abortions for everyone.  It just means I think they should be safe, legal and rare.  I'm for any candidate who pulls away from the focus on abortion and emphasizes the importance of comprehensive sex education, access to family planning, and doesn't seem to have some crazy ass hangup about sexuality.

3) Governmental Accountability.  You know something?  I'm happy to pay taxes on things.  I'm happy to have decent roads and bridges that don't fall (oops!) and a postal service that functions.  That's fine.  Hooray.  But I would like to see a breakdown of where the money goes.  I mean, hell, even NPR says "Your $150 donation helps us buy enough bandwidth to give you three free This American Life podcasts."  I'd be happy with the occasional fireside chat, wherein the president says not platitudinous statements about hope and staying the course, but says, you know, "Hey, America, this is how we are being your representative.  This is how we are serving you.  This is how we are going to help you out.  This is what we are doing with your money.  Keep telling your house and senate reps what concerns you, and I'll listen to what they have to say, and let's do this again sometime."  Maybe it's naive of me, I don't know.

4) Diplomacy.  On the one hand, I want a strong, confident leader who will keep the country's best interests at the forefront of her or his mind.  On the other hand, I want someone who, you know, understands that our place in the world is a controversial one and that we are not always well-loved and, you know, perhaps we ought to mend some bridges and compromise and also take a few language classes and learn how to say names that have a lot of consonants in them.  I'm just saying, you know, it's unlikely that all the countries of the world are going to unite against a common foe -- let's say robot overlords -- at least in the foreseeable future.  And as a large country with a ridonkulous amount of wealth, it might be in our best interests to not bully anyone around for awhile, because who knows how long that could last.  Go ahead, ask anyone.  I'm just saying, look at the historical record:  Germany in the 20th century, England in the 19th, Napoleon, the Spanish Armada, Rome, Athens... Xerxes, Cambyses, Croesus, Cyrus.*  Before we find ourselves up to our ears in a wineskin full of blood, perhaps we should pause and say, "Perhaps there is such a thing as crossing one line too far." 

* Bonus requirement:  Candidate has read Herodotus.

My darlingest Lyz-o has been lately pointing out the media and market's general disdain for what they term "Millenials.".  As far as I can tell, we fall in the oldest group of the millenials, having been born in the early-to-mid eighties and come of age right at the year 2000.  The youngest millenials are in high school and college now.  What's unique about our era growing up is that we were essentially the first group of Americans to have advertisements aimed directly at us.  We were born at the same time as Nickleodeon and MTV, and those of us "millenials" who grew up in a middle-class or higher status do not know life without advertisment.  Lyz is mostly annoyed that lately the trend is for marketers and media to regard with loathing the beast they've created, because apparently younger millenials are baffling, and what is with those baggy pants? 

She addresses this all far better than I could because it's something closer to her day-to-day existence.  My objection is that the article she cites falls into the trap, the ol' recurrent meme, that people our age get our news from The Daily Show. 

 I started watching the Daily Show when I was 16, but it wasn't where I got my news.  It's what taught me to READ the news.  I wanted to know what was going on so I could better understand it.  It was and is genuinely funny and not at all condescending to its audience, which does tend to skew younger.  And in the past seven years, it's become more popular not just for the humor, but being smart and generally "spin-free" -- by which I mean it makes fun of democrats and republicans alike.  I read the news and I watch The Daily Show to interpret that news in a satirical way. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm in the middle of a poking war on Facebook.