Saturday, June 07, 2008

Friday, June 06, 2008

Your Government- Epic Fail

The email address I am supposed to use to report cyberstalking to the FBI (Hi Matthew! You're getting reported!) is broken.

Fuckles.

But I do still have a working telephone number.



Persuasion- NOT

This is how Obamabots will not be getting Clinton voters to change their mind:

Stalking, impersonating, or lying

Racism or Classism

Misogyny, misogyny and more misogyny

Bullying and astonishingly bad sportsmanship

Race baiting

Hypocrisy- seriously you cannot pretend to love democracy and respect the vote if you also claim that what happened to Michigan and Florida was just and fair. I'm way to lazy right now to go pull out the mountains of quotes from Obama supporters at the RBC meeting that said the same thing "We respect the right to vote above all else, but the rules!"

No - there is little that can be done to change my mind. But I do promise that if you boyz can chill with some of the above, I promise not to perpetuate ratfucking rumors. And maybe not rub it in too hard in November when you lose.

Really, right now it is much better that you bully types leave me be. I am trying to decide if I am just going to ignore the election and vote Green or if I am going to actively campaign AGAINST Obama. The more you fuckers bug me, the more I want to undermine you.

Friday Music- Singular.



I've had this song stuck in my head for weeks.

I bet you all can guess why.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

The Difference Between Scale Balancing and Equality

This is a thing that has been heavy on my mind lately. This idea. This question. How do we get equality for everyone?

I know what we shouldn't do. We don't do the scale balancing act where we take from one group to give to another, or as with the civil unions and gay marriage, where we give the almost but not quite version of equality to balance the scales. Those are the actions that will keep us fighting forever. Even if the scales are in balance, you still had to take more from one side or give more to the other, and all that does is create resentment.

Real equality doesn't work like that. It either is or isn't. It isn't partial equality, half equality, some equality.It either exists or it doesn't.

And real equality doesn't take from one group to make another group better. That is scale balancing. Real equality makes everyone better off.

Let's look at feminism for example. The argument against is that it takes from men the "right" to control women. Actually a lot of the arguments I hear are from boyz who think that feminism is code for misandry and what we really want is a horde of slave men doing all the work while we eat bon bons and steal their money and have hairy legged, fat, prudish, lesbian orgies.

But that's not what feminism actually does. Feminism relives men of some of those stressful things they have been forced to carry alone for generations. They no longer have to be the sole support of their families. They have more choice in careers because they can choose what they want over what pays better. They have better relationships with their kids and wives. They have a support system instead of being the sole support. They can choose not to have kids or to marry. They aren't going to get stuck married to the first girl they sleep with because of faulty (or no) birth control and a shot gun wedding.

And rights for LGBT people is one I really can't understand people having a problem with. It really doesn't impact anyone except LGBT people. Gays marrying doesn't mean straight people can't. Trans people being treated like humans doesn't mean cisgendered people are going to be treated like animals.

Now racism, well that's a tough one. We've built an entire economy on racism (and the unpaid labor of women, but that goes under feminism). Seriously- take a look at the prison system. One entire industry fueled by the incarceration of mostly poor people of color.

So how do we get equality for everyone when we have an economic system based on inequality? We don't get it by taking money and resources from one group of people to give to another group. That's scale balancing. All it does is create resentment. We need to come up with a way to increase the resources for everyone.

Universal opportunities is one way to start. If everyone had access to universal pre-k, universal higher ed, universal health care, that would o a long way towards equality.

Universal- for every one, that's the important part. I can guarantee that if you took the most racist cracker you could find and said "I am going to promise you the opportunity for a secure job with enough money to live on, a pension, universal health care and the chance for your children to improve their lot in life with free college- but I'm also giving that opportunity to every black person" the cracker would not turn it down. Actually, they haven't. Social Security is one of those universal programs and I haven't heard of anyone sending back their social security check because their worst enemy gets one too. That is equality, not scale balancing.

My new political party is..............


the PUMA party (that would be Party Unity My Ass)

You can see the fab new logo here

Teaching Kids Hard Lessons

After seeing an Army recruitment commercial tonight the conversation went like this:

Me: Dude, McCain is going to be the next president so you HAVE to do well enough in school to get a scholarship and go to college or you will be fighting in whatever war he starts next.

Ms. J: Really, you think McCain is going to win?

Me; Yeah, that's a given. The only person who consistently beats McCain is Hillary. Obama occasionally beats him, but that's before the Republicans and media start tearing him to shreds. Obama's toast. But Kid, I'm serious. If you don't have perfect grades you are going to get drafted into a war. Do you understand?

Kid: Yes Mom. But is there any chance Hillary could be the president?

Me: Realistically, only 1 in a thousand. But we'll keep fighting for her.

A McCain presidency is going to cost me way more than it will cost most of you. We are already at the bottom of poverty. And I have a child who will graduate high school in 2013. He is prime war fodder.

I don't want things to get worse for us, but i am willing to sacrifice in the short term (hell, what's another 4 years of struggle after 8)in order to have real improvement. Real democracy. Real equality. Real opportunity. Not some dog and unity pony show without a chance of winning the White House of of making things better if they do win. The Democratic party is starting to remind me of the pigs in Animal farm. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, but they were blue instead of red.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Dear Senator Hillary Clinton

Photobucket

Thank-you.

Thank-you for all of the amazing things you have accomplished in your life.  Thank-you for being a wonderfully strong and confident woman to whom my daughter can look for inspiration.

Thank-you for being a champion for women's rights.

Thank-you for your fight for health care.

Thank-you for smashing through the glass ceilings that you have and most of all, thank-you for running for the Democratic nomination.

Thank-you for staying in the race this long and giving as many people as possible a choice.

I am awaiting your next move, for I know that it will break ground and pave ways for future generations of women.  I know that whatever you choose to pursue next it will make my life better, and it will make the future better for my daughter, and everyone with whom she will share that future.

I know that you will not let me down, for you haven't done so yet.  I know you are not perfect and that you have made mistakes, but being that you are human, I know you have learned from those mistakes and will use them to better prepare to forge ahead. 

I hold you to the highest of standards, and wait anxiously for the great things I expect to see from you in the future.  

Our Future.

Thank-you.

Warmest Regards and Endless Admiration,

Chang'e

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

It ain't over till the lady in the pansuit says so

You create your own reality

is what one of my students said today.

That's not true for most of us. The student happens to have hit the privilege lotto, he's an able bodied white male. He can create his own reality. He doesn't have to see racism, sexism, homophobia, abelism, and since he's still young, ageism, or classism.

But for a large portion of us, we don't get that option. Regardless of whether I am a feminist or fundy Christian housewife, if I forget that my reality is that I am a woman, I can be hurt. Killed even. I don't get to make sexism not part of my reality. When I try- something will happen to throw my femaleness back in my face as if I am less than, other, outside. I'll be chased and threatened when I don't respond to cat calls. I'll be stalked and harassed when I try to have my own political opinion.

That is my reality. I put myself in peril to imagine otherwise.

But I do imagine it can get better. That's why i fight. Thats why I will turn and confront the cat callers. That's why I don't shut up even when stalkers get close.
That's why I end up in repetitive arguments with people to get them to someday come around to the idea that sexism is bad. And in tiny amounts, it works.

I can't create my own reality, but someday maybe I won't have to imagine a world where a walk to work or the grocery store isn't fraught with peril.

It's two separate issues

There seems to be some misconception that pro-Hillary means anti-Obama by default.

They are two separate issues. If I was JUST pro Hillary, I would do what I do every time my preferred candidate loses a primary election (see Jerry Brown, John Edwards, etc) and vote for the Dem in the GE, even if they weren't my first choice.

But this is beyond all that. This has become a fight for what the meaning of the Democratic party is. Are we the party of inclusiveness, of voting rights, of level playing fields and equal opportunity.

Or are we the party of snobbery. of vote hijacking, of back room deals and hate of those who are less (women, the poor).

I believe that Hillary represents the best of the Democratic party. She is inclusive. She is Roosevelt. She is the promise of better days ahead for everyone.

I believe that Obama will do more than just ignore people like me. I believe that faction of the Democratic party will work to silence the one way that I have any kind of political power - my vote. My state already has the problem of an undemocratic caucus that gets all the delegates and a democratic primary that gets none. I don't want to see that kind of problem spread. I don't want to see other states disenfranchised like Florida and Michigan. I don't want our only protection from political forces to be silenced.

And that is why I will not vote Dem. if Obama is the nominee. Not because of the way my candidate has been treated, but because it means that the party has become something that I can no longer support.

Two different issues.



Hey Montana and South Dakota




Go vote already.

Write Your Super Ds

Here's what my letter to Gov. Gregoire and Rep. Jim McDermott said:

I urge you to switch your Convention voting pledge from Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton.

I have been a yellow dog Democrat my entire life, but the sexism and classism coming from both the DNC and Obama are forcing me to support Cynthia McKinney instead. I refuse to support a party or a candidate that does not have my best interests at heart, and as a working class, single mother, the party has shown that people like me don't matter at all. Only Hillary has shown concern and real plans for fixing the state of the poor (of all colors), of women and of the economy.

I also will not be voting for any candidate that supports sexism, and that includes super delegates that vote for Obama. While this may mean little to Rep. McDermott, Gov. Gregoire is going to be in another tight race with Dino Rossi and needs every vote she can get. Mine won't be one of them.

Some people say that I am betraying my party by refusing to vote for Obama, but a Democratic party that uses sexism and exclusion of the working class and ALL other races besides black and white (sorry Latinos- you may be that fastest growing demographic in the country, but the Dems don't want you) is no longer the Big Tent party. If there is no room for me in the tent, then you don't get my votes.

Sincerely,
RQ

Links Here to write your own Super D's
.

Monday, June 02, 2008

Grab the tissues

Via Hoyden About Town comes these graphic novel type drawings of the earthquake in China.

I was sobbing at my desk. Fair warning.

The sleep of a nation breeds monsters (a musing on democracy)

Ok, I am scared. I seriously am.
I knew for months now that the fix was in for Barack Obama to become the nominee . I articulated some of that here, but I guess I never really believe that it would actually happen in such a brazen way. What we witnessed last Saturday was the ugly truth setting aside its mask and revealing what it is.



I guess we all knew in 2000 that America was no longer a democracy, but preferred to think that it would go away. How naive we were to think that once the powers that be got their hands on something they would just let it go willingly. How stupid of us. We actually thought it would be over in 2004. Boy were we wrong.



After that night in 2004, I knew. I heard people say "it's just 4 years" and realized they.didn't.get.it.

Why would they?

Most Americans have lived all their lives under democracy. Some if not most believed it to be the natural state of things. I am pretty sure none thought that their democracy was in any way at stake.



"The sleep of reason breeds monsters"



The sleep of a nation breeds them too.

The lack of rioting in the streets in 2000 showed the powers that be that the Americans weren't THAT worried about their democracy. 2004 was just the logical following. And people took it.



However, someone stood in the way. The DNC. The people who were regarded as having integrity and not stooping that low.



But they had their weaknesses. The DNC had stopped being a progressive and people party a long time ago.

Their urge to elect one of their own, which I would call an elitist jerk should that not be an insult to the rather useful elitistjerks.com has made them get exactly 2 presidents in the past 40 years. One of them is Jimmy Carter, who left America in a mess of Bushian proportions. The otehr one was a hick from Arlansas who won the presidency twice despite not being one of said elitist jerks ( the bad ones not the WoW ones).

The term "liberal" always evoked that to me, the attitude of a kind yet superior someone who deems to help those lower on the societary ladder (poor people) out of the goodness of his heart. It is the school of thought that says "If poor people knew what's good for them, they'd do it", where "good for them" = "what we think it's good for them".

Of course, that also implies that said poor people whould be fuckign grateful for being even considered worthy of interest and damned if they dare to have their own opinions about their own lives.

Me, I grew up under communism. I know what it's like to be poor, and I know a bit what happens when you don't have democracy.

People who lived their li9ves under dmeocracy have no idea what a frail thing it is, that it is not set in stone but has to be permanently protected. They also have no idea of the many pre requisites for a functional democracy... like economic stability amongst other things.

And thus we come to the matter at hand, namely what happened last Sunday and its context within the current situation of the American primaries.

I see a lot of people, Obama supporters, peole who think of themselves as progressive, who have no problem with the fact that their candidate stole the nomination.

They feel the"rules are rules" and that it is for the greater good of getting Barack elected.

This scares the shit out of me. If Democracy is not important enough for Barack Obama, what else isn't important enough?

I'm very scared.


Why are the worst movies in the world all set in Venice

Insomnia is fun! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

So I've just been tortured by the worst movie in the world, maybe second worst. Hard to tell. They are both ridiculous "thrillers" set in Venice starring very distinguished actors. The plots blow, the direction sucks, the dialog is stifled and horrid, and there is always some stupid supernatural element and lots of soft focus love scenes.

So the movie tonight was Night Train To Venice with Hugh Grant and Malcolm fricken McDowell. Something about neonazis and dead wives and cross dressers singing Ma Vie En Rose.

I have no idea what the point of this movie was.

The previous most sucky movie in history is Don't Look Now with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. We spent the whole movie going "Don't look now- it really is that bad". I'm pretty sure the entire movie was made so that Sutherland could get a free vacation to Venice and spend a few days rolling around naked with Julie Christie. In the end, a homicidal dwarf did it. No one knows why.

There ya go peeps. News you can use.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Blegging for some one else- for a change

If you haven't read Dr. Violet Socks over at Reclusive Leftist, you totally should.

If you're not reading Reclusive Leftist now, it's probably because she's been torn from the intertubes by a satellite disaster.

She's got a fabulous brain, dead or alive, and we really need to do what we can to get that brain back online.

So head on over, show her some love.

Update Puerto Rico

Looks like Hillary took Puerto Rico by about 70% to BO's 30.We're still waiting for final counts, but she kicked ass.

And in honor of her outstanding win, here's Red State Updates' Rat Boat!

This Ones For the Ladies

Senator McCain shows how to be gracious and respectful to the opposition. And probably picks up more than a few disgruntled Hillary voters in the process.

Hey Puerto Rico

Go Vote! This is your only chance to have a voice in the presidential elections. Use it.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

So I am trying very hard not to be freaked out and paranoid.

But someone ripped the downspout off the front of my house.

Like they were trying to climb it.

I don't know when. I do know it was in the last 2 days. My neighbor pointed it out to me when we were talking earlier.

And now every single noise is freaking me out.

RQ goes where journalists and blogger boyz fear to tread

And actually talks to black people.

Tonight's conversation with my African American Neighbor:

Me: Hey Kare can I ask you something?

Karen: Sure Lizbeth

Me: What do you think about Hillary/Obama?

Karen: Well, we're split. I like them both. But my problem with Obama is that he ain't never lived in no ghetto. He don't get how hard it is for people like me.

Me: True enough. But hey Karen, I keep hearing from white guys that if we don't give Obama the nomination, black people are are gonna rise up and riot violently.

Karen: You know us. You live here. It ain't gonna happen.

Me; That's what I thought.