Tuesday Has No Phones

You know, I haven't been very vocal about politics since Obama got elected, but lately I'm finding it difficult to stay on the sidelines. I watch the news and I get so frustrated. I mean when did we turn into a country where people who don't understand proper use of a freaking metaphor have the microphone? To say nothing of political discourse via thrown objects which... no, just no.

And this is saying nothing about feminism in politics. Which, yanno, is often not spoken about in politics due to the lack of women in power.

I feel like there's a lack of respect for history. Not in a "let's make sure only white, male, landowners have the vote" kind of way, but in a way where we remember what the foundation of this country was really all about. It reminds me of the Church, in a way. Not that I want anything to do with THOSE ritualistic freaks, but in the sense that it started with a good idea and got totally screwed up by all the human beings who put their fingerprints on it along the way.

So yeah, I guess you could say my politics are changing. Though maybe not so much for those who've known me for a while and remember when I voted for Bush the first on purpose. Really what it boils down to is that I've got to go with my gut.

And my gut says I really need to support Sarah Palin.

Today has been a nice fall day, with rain and relaxing. My week was insanely busy with post-election squee and a HUGE project that had me staying late on Thursday. So do a whole bunch of nothing today has been nice.

I'm sure by now you've seen Change.gov, which is oh so shiny and reminds me of things like yes, we are going to have a president who doesn't try to define birth control as abortion. (It's a slow process of realizing all the awesome, lemme tell you. I'll be walking along, doing my thing, and then go "Oh my GOD he had an entire mention of SUPPORTING THE ARTS!" There's just too much awesome to take in at once.)

Apparently some Republicans got together and did their reply to Change.gov, which is Rebuild the Party. Based on the list of people working on this it doesn't seem to be an official Republican Party thing so much as a thing made by Republicans. Which is good because if this was an official reply to Change.gov I think my suggestion to them would be "You can start rebuiilding your party by understanding how what you have here is in NO WAY a real response to what Change.gov represents. And until you get that you will be going nowhere fast."

Semi-related to this, I have an honest question though it may sound rhetorical. You know all the folks who said it was unAmerican to criticize Dubya and the current administration because that's the office of the President and "real" Americans do not disrespect it? What are they going to do when Obama's in charge? I mean it's safe to say he'll be doing things they don't agree with, since they didn't vote for him. Will they not say anything? Will they finally understand our point of view? Or will they find some way of saying that Obama's not the real president without ever understanding how their reactions relate to ouros?

Again: I'm not being rhetorical or snarky with this. I'm actually curious to see how that pans out as the years go on.

Woke up at 6am with an incoming migraine. Took some Excedrin, reset my alarm for 7:30, and went back to sleep.

Woke up again not great but at least well enough that I could have breakfast and head on over to the polls. The line was definitely longer than the one for 2004. Luckily they were pretty good about trying to streamline the process so while there was a wait it wasn't as bad of a wait as it could have been. (I was there maybe an hour all told, including trying to find a parking spot)

I thanked all the people working the polls (or at least the ones I encountered) and I thanked the folks who were out front working for the democratic ticket and asking people to vote no on question 1 (which is an anti-gay measure in my state).

I did, in fact, get a little choked up when I filled in my vote for Obama.

Now I am at work, still headachy, and waiting to see how it all turns out.

*HUGS YOU ALL*

I just had far too much fun sending book samples to my Kindle. Why is this defined as too much fun? Because my Kindle hasn't been delivered yet, that's why. (Though as of yesterday it has been shipped! EEEEEEEEEE!)

I am also looking forward to Election Day like a kid on Christmas Eve. Yes, as a child I would look forward to Election Day on Christmas Eve. I was a very nerdy and prescient youngster. Did I mention how the other day I had a nightmare that I slept through the election? Obama won but I was all "I didn't get to vote!! WAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

Though it's worth remembering that there are things going onto the ballot that have nothing to do with the presidential race. Senate seats are up for grabs, local political positions may be open, and of course there are the various propositions and referendums and what have you. If you haven't voted yet it's worth it to check out what's on the menu. Ballotpedia is one place where you can get a rundown. Take a lesson from me, because I only recently found out about Question 1 which is a sneaky attempt to try to set things in motion to overturn the CT ruling that allows gay marriage. (And if anyone is reading this who can vote in CT, please vote no on question 1).

I point this out not just to advocate against question 1, but also to demonstrate that it just goes to show that you could be a political news, gay-rights info junkie like I am and still have stuff sneak by you.

And while I'm on the subject, if anybody out there can vote in California or knows someone who can vote in California, please vote/ask them to vote no on prop 8. To all reports the anti-gay marriage "Yes" voters are putting out a killer campaign and it's going to be a close one. Making things potentially worse is the concern that if Obama has a significant lead as election day wears on, there could be people in CA who decide not to bother to vote and thus not vote on prop 8 either. So please please please get the word out that we need all the No on 8 voters we can get.

Work was INSANE today. But luckily I got everything done by the time I had to leave so I didn't have to stay late like yesterday. I am totally burnt out though so right now I'm just catching up on my reading and watching TV.

I did want to share this, though: Obama talking to Joe the Plumber. Here's the awesome thing: Obama spends over five minutes talking with this guy and giving him a thoughtful answer to his questions. Also, Obama doesn't do the politician thing and try to say things to make it sound like what Joe wants to hear. He basically says "Yes, there is a chance that you might be paying higher taxes under my plan. That is frustrating. However I feel too strongly about tax cuts to the $250,000 and under people to change my plan." Which... when has a politician done that? Ever? Outside of Jed Bartlett? And for McCain to have taken this moment and turned it into "Obama is picking on poor Joe the Plumber and everyone like him!!!" just misses the point by several extremely wide country miles.

(And, because it bears repeating: "Health" of the mother! In AIR QUOTES!! WTF???)

Today's wildlife count: 2 deer, 3 turkeys. This kind of thing never stops making me squee.

( Now on to links n such )

Not a huge chunk of links but too much to combine with my mutterings on the debate.
( As always, tags indicate topics to be found within )

Is McCain fucking kidding? Though how much do I love Obama?

"It's my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess," Obama said at a news conference in Clearwater, Fla. "It's going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once."

THIS MUCH. With extra props to Harry Reid for the whole "No, really, we're good." thing.

Here's the thing. There is some urgency to figuring out what the frak to do. It's fraked up the whole credit industry because nobody wants to do anything until they know what laws are going to change. Some of the companies themselves can't get credit and they need credit for pesky things like payroll (which applies from the executives all the way down to the person living paycheck to paycheck down in the mailroom.)

So it's not total bullshit to say that faster would be better than slow.

What is bullshit is hopping on the latest version of "DO THIS OR THE TERRORISTS WILL WIN" to say that we should basically give a $700B check which he could then use to bail out the economy or load himself up on all the Hummel figurines his Ebay searches can find. (I believe option #2 was the cornerstone of Reganomics.)

And damn near everyone with a brain is aware of this, and in addition to those with brains even Congress is aware of this (zing!) Also anyone with a brain would know that two extra senators, neither of whom are strong on economics, are not going to be the ones to walk in and find the solution after they also team up to solve crime.

My guess is that what McCain is actually doing - other than flushing his campaign down the toilet like a meth user hearing a police siren - is trying to do a Bush-style binary equation. He knows if anybody sat him down and asked for his economic views he'd flounder worse than a Filet-O-Fish. But if he can grab the mike and go "Hey, I could speechify on the subject but I'm too busy CARING ABOUT AMERICA." At which point he tries to push Obama into a corner where either he suspends his campaign too or he admits to using the American flag for toilet paper. Unfortunately for McCain Obama picked option C which was to call McCain on his bullshit. Which is why we love him.

I also suspect that McCain's move is a Republican party move - or at least Dubya's corner of the party - because it's an attempt to hold the presidential campaign hostage until the bill passes. A key quote stood out to me here: "It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the administration's proposal." In other words, McCain thinks the best route is to back Bush. He's not even addressing the Hummel figure aspects of the plan, he just thinks we should back the plan. And if we don't back that plan we should back one that's only slightly modified, such as one that's the same thing but restricts Paulson from making ICanHasDiamondDickWiperNau as his Ebay username.

So what it really boils down to is that McCain's trying to pull a Dubya move and it is backfiring on him. Thank God.

For those of you out there who aren't registered to vote yet, here's one-stop shopping to do so. According to the site it should only take you about three minutes.

Like Pres. Bartlett says, decisions are made by those who show up. And even if you think your vote won't matter in the presidential election (due to your state being too blue or red for a vote in the opposite direction to stand out) don't forget about more local elections. There'll be more happening in November than just the White House, and if you can you should have a say.

So register to vote!

I've been reading a lot of commentary about Sarah Palin and, based on some trends I'm seeing elsewhere, I wanted to make sure to establish ground rules for the overall discussion in my journal.

Misogyny sucks for all women. Misogynistic attacks do not become acceptable simply because we disagree with a woman's viewpoints.

There is plenty to talk about with regards to Gov. Palin on a political level. There is absolutely no reason to attack her simply because she is female. It wasn't appopropriate aimed at Sen. Clinton, it's not appropriate aimed at Michelle Obama, it's still not appropriate aimed at Gov. Palin.

Obviously I can't control what people do elsewhere, but here in my journal misogyny is not allowed. If I see misogynistic comments crop up in any of the posts I will warn/screen and/or ban as necessary.

(Note: As of me posting this, so far it hasn't happened. There was one comment I wasn't comfortable with, I said so, and the poster clarified. So I don't want anyone thinking I'm slamming someone in particular. I'm just making a pre-emptive stand against what I'm seeing creep into the overall discussion already.)

If you're against misogyny you're against it for all women, not just the ones you like. It's not welcome in my journal, and hopefully it's not welcome in yours either.

Thanks.