Wow. Just Wow. McCain Adviser Lies Openly And Belligerently

So apparently, Barack Obama is not only a socialist and a domestic terrorist, but is surrounded by anti-Semites. Who are these anti-Semites? Watch and learn. (Hint: Michael Goldfarb can't manage to come up with another name, and when pressed states simply that "I think we all know who number two is".)

When W was elected, one of the pundits made the observation that "in four years, that little blue dress is going to be a happy memory"; referencing, of course, the Lewinski scandal that almost brought down Bill Clinton. Eight years later, it's likely that everyone could go for a cigar, and I have a feeling that if McCain were to somehow be elected, Iraq, Katrina, the economy, and Cheneyesque transparency in government will also all be happy memories.

While you can argue that the actions and rhetoric spilling over from the McCain camp in the past few weeks is the result of a campaign in it's death throes, it's more believable that this is a preview of how they will choose to govern. The Bush administration has proven that it's not necessary to rely on facts or truth to advance a self serving and damaging agenda, and at this point in the campaign, McCain is proving that he, and the people he chooses to have in his employ, are much more similar to the farce of the last eight years than we ever would have thought. The Straight Talk Express is proving itself to be anything but, as we are faced with another round of easily disproved lies and recriminations; from William Ayers to "socialism", to Joe the not-quite-a-Plumber. We all know that the bar for political discourse was irreparably lowered by the employ of Rovian campaigning, but did we know that it would become the absolute train wreck of a limbo competition that it has become? How low can we go indeed. Six more days and we will likely have an answer.

Proposition 8 Supported By Thoughtful Reason

The below video clip (via Towleroad) is an example of the fair minded and well reasoned arguments being employed by anti gay marriage supporters in California.



Too busy too watch? The verbatim quote is: "There was another time in history when people, when the bell tolled. And the question was whether or not they were going to hear it. The time was during Nazi Germany with Adolf Hitler. You see he brought crowds of clergy together to assure them that he was going to look after the church..."

To one Mr. Brad Dacus, I have this to say: Really? Are you going to go there, of all places? Comparing pro equality supporters to Nazis? Or are you merely inferring that supporting marriage equality is akin to kowtowing to an amoral and ultimately murderous government? Ironic, really, that what Nazi Germany did to Jews, Gypsies, Catholics, and, yup, Gays, is pretty much exactly what the Pro 8 crowd wants to do the Gays. (In so much as restricting rights and freedoms, to be clear -- there's really no need for any more incendiary rhetoric.) Bad analogy, Mr Dacus, bad analogy.

Broken record time! Donate, donate, donate!! Can't donate? Vote! Can't vote? Raise your voice and be heard!

Write To Marry Day

Today is Write To Marry Day, a day where bloggers are posting their pleas for the defeat of proposition 8 in California. I've been incredibly busy, and, sadly, have not had a chance to say (yet) as much as I would like to on this topic. Following is a post that I had begun some time ago, but had to put down due to time. So, in honor of the occasion, I've spiffed it up a bit and hopefully it will suffice; also appended are some fantastic "No On 8" youtube spots, which are clever and wonderful (and hello, gay speakeasies!), but also make some brilliant points.

If you are unable to vote "no" on 8, please, please, please donate here. The campaign needs to raise another $3 million in the days leading up to the election to compete with the influx of money going into the pro 8 camp. This is a matter of massive historic significance, so please, please, do whatever you can to help -- whether it's donating, voting, or educating. There is a tremendous amount that we take for granted with little or no thought to those who fought before us; this is our chance to make them proud.

Recently on Towleroad, I happened across an incredibly well thought out and impassioned argument regarding the important and historic nature of Proposition 8, how it's all about civil rights and not marriage, and exactly why it's imperative that it not pass. I touched on this issue somewhat myself in my post from 10/12, though my arguments focused on drawing a parallel between gay marriage and interracial marriage. What my argument lacked, and what Prince Gomolvilas tackled (and tackled well) is the human factor.

In short, this issue is about civil rights. It is about me. It is about you. It is about your children, your grandchildren, your nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and parents. It is not about religion. It is not about "tolerance". It's about changing the world for the better and taking one more step in ensuring that every citizen of this country shares the same set of rights. And it's not unreasonable. Below is a particularly poignant excerpt from the article.

There are people out there who want to change the law to designate an entire class of people as unequal to, as less than, every other class of people. If we lose this battle, I don't care that we're losing marriage; I care that you and I will, in the eyes of the law, be inferior to everyone else. And when our opponents see that our inferiority is validated by the government, it will allow them to continue on their path of dehumanizing us. That's what denying a class of people an equal right does. It dehumanizes them. And it is the dehumanization of a group that creates a culture in which people feel that it is okay to yell "fag" at me when I'm walking down the street; that it is okay for kids to be bullied and beaten at school; that it is okay for a jeering mob to incite a gay 17-year-old to commit suicide by jumping off a building. These things happen because gays are demonized. And gays are demonized when they're made out to be an inferior class of people. And they are made out to be an inferior class of people when they are not allowed the same rights as everyone else.

(I'm) Particularly Partial To The Potter Puppet Pals

Remember when I used to write about music and personal reflection and things instead of just dialing it in and posting videos of random interweb ephemera with a little verbal slap and tickle preceding them? No? Neither do I.

In keeping with this great tradition (like turkey at Thanksgiving!) I submit to you, dear reader(s?) the Absolute Best Thing On The Internet (Today). Behold: "The Potter Puppet Pals And The Mysterious Ticking Noise"!

It's Saturday night, woo hoo.

A Palin Presidency

Wow. I just found my favorite website for the next three weeks (ok, the next five days; my attention span has been a little shot lately)! It's PalinAsPresident, and it's a virtual advent calendar counting us down to the election. Every day there is a little change made to the site; doors that open, objects that move, countless predictions of imminent catastrophe made. Curious to know just how a Palin Presidency might go down were something to happen to (a somehow bafflingly elected) McCain? Well, this pretty much lays it all out. Don't scoff though, remember all of those things that the "Bleeding Heart Liberals" predicted from Dubya? Yeah, that "I told you so" is somehow just as gratifying as I thought it would be -- which is to say, not at all.

You know, I would love to get into it all, but really? You should just check it out for yourselves because I don't want to spoil a single surprise. Ok, the baby names "Cashew", "Carport", "Rake", and "Purple" posted on the wall made me howl the first time I saw them, but that's all that I'll tell you. Maverick!

Thanks CNN!

First of all, I refuse to get on my soapbox and talk about how irresponsible it is for the media to be running with a string of Depression features over the past couple of weeks. It's inappropriate, not necessarily accurate, and frankly, I find it somewhat disturbing the amount of glee editors seem to take in fueling fear. Things have been frightening enough over the past few weeks without reading articles about stealing chickens and eating squirrels.

The end all be all of Depression reporting comes to us today, however, via CNN:

"It was a uniquely disgusting thing ... to see my grandfather take a stewed, skinned squirrel's head, smack the skull's dome with a heavy silver tablespoon, and dine on the brains," LeBlanc said.

Not nearly, I'm sure, as "uniquely disgusting" as reading about it over your lunch. However, I see your tale of squirrel brains, and I raise you a video of how to prepare "squirrel melts". Actually, don't bother watching this one. Really. I mean, of course you will, but I would advise against it, so don't say that you weren't warned. You may never want to eat anything again. Ever.

Matthew Shepard Ten Years Later And The Fight For Marriage Equality

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard, the 21 year old University of Wyoming student who was brutally beaten and left for dead in a field because he was gay. (The initial motive was likely robbery, however, the long and the short of it is that Matt Shepard was beaten, pistol whipped, and tied to a fence post by people who ultimately decided to brutalize him based on his sexuality.)

In the past ten years, admittedly, a lot has changed. As of this past Friday, Connecticut became the third state to legalize gay marriage at the judicial level, reasoning eloquently that “Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same-sex partner of their choice." Still though, as the fight for equal rights (yes, equal, not "special") is advancing, we are still experiencing set backs, as states pass amendments to their state constitutions declaring that marriage is to be defined as "between a man and a woman". During the 2004 election cycle, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Utah and Oregon have passed amendments to their constitutions doing just this, and this year Arizona, California, and Florida have measures on the November ballot to do the same.

It is important that voters in these three districts stand up and fight for equality, but it is of utmost importance that the marriage ban in California, Proposition 8, not pass. Currently California allows gay couples to marry after the recent Supreme Court decision, so a constitutional amendment would be a massive set back for marriage equality. The rights afforded to same sex couples through marriage are essential to legitimizing relationships, and extend much further than any proposed domestic partnership legislation ever could. Without marriage rights, same sex couples lack visitation rights for hospital stays, are exempt from tax protected inheritance rights, and are disallowed equitable ownership of property. (The last alludes to the manner in which a married couple may hold title to a property, as contrasted to two unrelated persons, and the subsequent tax liability when ownership in the property is transferred or dissolved.)

It is preposterous to imagine that we can somehow legitimize one consenting couple's committed relationship while delegitimizing another, and justifying this requires a baffling amount of logical acrobatics. It wasn't so long ago that the same arguments were made in favor of disallowing mixed race marriages, and the same arguments made in favor of prohibiting miscegenation fell when confronted with basic and inalienable human rights. The conceit that the will of the majority can restrict the rights of a minority is wrong headed and purely unConstitutional.

It's not possible to stress the importance of, if you are in California, being sure that you vote, and vote "no" on Prop 8; if you're not in California, it's still possible to affect change by donating to the cause here. This is an historic time in American politics, on all fronts, and I can only hope that when we look back in the next ten years, we have accomplishments for which we can be proud, as a people, and as an equal, unified nation.

Sarah Palin Secessionist?

There's been a great deal of fuss lately from the McCain/Palin camp regarding Barack Obama's association with one William Ayers, who had been a member of the Weather Underground -- a domestic terrorist group active in the 1960s, and responsible for bombing the pentagon in 1972. (The Pentagon sustained minimal damage, and no one was injured or killed in the incident.) Ayers later became a legitimate figure in the Chicago educational system, also working closely with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, and helped to secure a $49.2m grant from the Annenberg Foundation to reform the public education system in Chicago. He was also awarded Citizen of the Year in 1997 by the city of Chicago for his work in education. As you can see, a dangerous character indeed; someone existing entirely on the fringes of Chicago's political scene, a Kaczynski of the brownstones.

Not so much. While Ayers indeed has a checkered past, he is by no definition currently a "domestic terrorist".

Sarah Palin, on the other hand apparently is very legitimately and recently linked to a very real group of secessionists in Alaska. As a matter of fact, she has addressed their national conference (this group so anti American that they literally want to remove themselves physically from the Union) as recently as 2008. The group is the Alaskan Independence Party, and while I don't see any record of violent activity, I can't help but think that involvement with a group that includes amongst it's goals separation from the United States (and taking with them all of those natural resources that we seem to need so badly right now) is not only unpatriotic, but the height of treason.

The real question is: Why aren't we talking about this on the national stage??

The video below should be of great interest; in it Sarah Palin expresses her support of the party alongside video and audio recordings of party members.



update: apparently this issue is beginning to attract the attention of the press... (via jed report)


Read the referenced Salon.com article here.

Betty White on Sarah Palin "She's a crazy bitch!"

Oh Betty White, America's wonderful, racy, saucy, and delightful grandmother! During a recent appearance on the Craig Ferguson show, Betty proclaimed Sarah Palin a "crazy bitch" and expressed her appreciation of Barrack Obama. God love her. Watch and be amazed. (As a side note, it makes me sad that both Rose and Dorothy have been looking a little Baby Jane lately.)



And this is a perfect segway into some political talk! Huzzah!

via Fey Friends

Time Lapse Kitteh

Things have been, in general, kind of a bummer lately. Not on a whole by any means, but every one is likely a little stressed of late. For that reason alone, I think that it's time for a cuddly kitten video... Time lapse footage of someone sharing the bed with their cat, and the tossing and turning that ensues. While this does, in truth, make me miss my last cat, it also makes me happy that I do not currently share the bed with a pet; especially around the end of the clip when the cat is obviously bored and acting out.



As an added bonus (or not, depending on your view of vicious ear worm songs), please enjoy "The Kitty Dance", and yes, enjoy it for days and days, because it will never leave your head. Creepy or fabulous? Both? Yup, you got it.

Ruminations On The Eve Of 33

Well, it is the night before my 33rd year; my birthday eve. I've been thinking about a year end recap for some time now -- forming my thoughts for an end of December post. Mainly I've been looking forward to a chance to kick 2008 in the ass on it's way out the door. On many counts -- both for myself and for those near me it has been, in short, a thoroughly rotten year. There have been deaths in the families of many of my closest friends (as well as myself), some overtly tragic and meaningless, and others while not so sudden, still inhabited by the sense of loss that we feel when separated from those we love, those who've known us all of our lives, those who, deep down, we're not really sure how to get along without. There has been hardship, be it economic or personal, and there have been growing pains, as we all lurch awkwardly further into adulthood.

In the past year, I've moved across an ocean, leaving behind someone that I loved very much; I've made new friends that I couldn't imagine living my life without; left behind others that, while I do care about, we just haven't been good for each other; I've met and faced challenges both personally and professionally that I hope never to wrestle with again; my goals for myself, for my life, have changed -- crystallized. There are babies born (a godson!) and others on the way, marriages (and likely a divorce or two); endings, and beginnings. It's far from hyperbolic to say that we live in wondrous and terrifying times; we have an african american man (from Kansas and Hawaii!) running for the highest office in the nation (a nation that teeters ever so precipitously on the potential of absolute collapse), gay marriage is on the ballot in California, the economy is stuttering and threatening the stability of this entire global spiderweb in which we are all entangled; Lindsay Lohan is a lesbian! Ellen married Portia! We stand at a precipice, and know that we absolutely must jump -- we just don't know whether it's going to be for the better or for the worse. Personally, I hope and believe that it will all be for the best; change is good, the good guy always wins, and massive change is what we need to right the wrongs of (let's face it) the past eight years.

In short, it's been a year, and I have some new grey hairs to show for my efforts. While there may be, at times, a near crippling fear, there is also, at heart, a deep hope and a belief that things will always be better and always look up. A willingness to remind myself of what I have and what I've gained, even in the face of all that I feel that I've lost. For everyone in my life, I love you, and treasure you, and hope that you forgive me my maudlin impulses.

In lighter news, as this is a birthday post, while no one is obligated to get me anything, I have just the thing if you're looking for the ideal gift (barring, of course, cash gifts in large, non sequential bills); a two plus foot porcelain statue of Chairman Mao. While he is a bit dear ($285!), I'm sure that our friends at the West Seattle Antique Mall may be willing to come down a bit, and if you pool your resources, it's really not all that much, is it? Of course, if blatant consumerism ironically celebrating a Communist leader isn't quite your thing, I would also be more than happy to accept the gift of a baby muntjac deer.


The chairman in his luminous glory; and he would look fabulous on a sideboard.


Oh.Em.Gee. Look at his teeny little hooves!!!