Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Welcome Senator Specter

As a resident of PA, I always thought that Arlen Specter was not that bad for a Republican, but maybe that was because PA's other senator was that wacko Rick Santorum - thank goodness he's gone! Anyway, welcome to the left, Senator Specter!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

New Relative

My cousins Gail and Mike have videos and pictures of their new son Adam on their Facebook pages, so hopefully that means they won't mind if I post a photo of the little guy here on my blog:



What a cutie he is and how exciting it is to have a new addition to the (extended) family! Our family is pretty small, and Gail is the first one in our generation to have a kid, so even though Adam is technically "only" my first-cousin-once-removed (right?) I think it's a big deal! I feel like an aunt (but Alicia, feel free to make me a real aunt anytime!). Yay babies!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Selfish Thief

In my previous post I sort of rhetorically threw out there the idea of calling Sarah Palin a "heartless thief" for her political desire to take away a woman's right to choose. However, after reading this column, I think "selfish thief" is a better description. As Marcus writes "Abortion is a personal issue and a personal choice. The government has no business taking that difficult decision away from those who must live with the consequences." How dare Palin assume that the choices she made are the right ones for every woman out there, or that we don't deserve to have available to us the choices that were available to her. But maybe, just maybe, she'll reflect further on how fortunate she was to have such choices, and Sarah Palin the Politican will see the light. More broadly, I hope everyone with the political power and desire to one day govern my uterus will see the light and finally understand.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Strong Words for the World

Given the comments on my last post, I need to get some things straight here. I am afraid I am coming across as someone who is brash, thoughtless, and full of liberal anger to spew. Although I am a liberal and I am angry at times (who wouldn't be?) the rest of this could not be further from the truth.

I am an intelligent, thoughtful, and fair woman who tries to stay informed as best she can. Of course I do not know Sarah Palin or any politician personally. All I know is how she portrays herself as a political figure through her words and actions. I try not to let the "spin" of the "liberal media" influence my interpretation of those words and actions. I try to think for myself before I form an opinion, and especially before I post that opinion for the entire world to read. Yes, CG, you're right when you say "for all we know, Barak Obama is a homophobe asshole while Palin enjoys the friendship of homosexuals". But we don't know that. What we do know is that Sarah Palin expressed her support to amend the United States Constitution to unjustifiably single out one group of Americans and put them at a disadvantage (and Obama has made it clear that his administration DOES NOT support such an amendment). To me, the idea of such an amendment is scary almost beyond words, and thus, in my attempt to come up with strong words to express my strong opinion, I arrived at "homophobic bitch". Again, these words are not describing Sarah Palin the mother/wife/daughter/grandmother/person, as I do not know that Sarah Palin - they are describing Sarah Palin, the former candidate for Vice President of the U.S. Maybe "bitch" is inaccurate, as I use it to describe exceedingly mean people, and what she had given support for is more scary than it is mean. So maybe I should have said "homophobic monster" to describe a powerful (or potentially powerful) politician who seeks to amend our U.S. CONSTITUTION to put same-sex couples at a permanent disadvantage throughout the supposed "Land of the Free". Are you going to attack me with silly comments if I use "ignorant clod" to describe Palin's denigration of and desire to cut funding for the biological sciences? Or "heartless thief" to describe her desire to take away my right to choose abortion? Would it make you feel better if I called Obama an ignorant greenie-wannabe for supporting ethanol as an alternative fuel (his advisors aren't ignorant, and hopefully they'll change his mind)?

I shouldn't go on and on about Palin, because, thank goodness, she's back in Alaska for now, so her damage is relatively confined and we have other things to worry about. But I think the media's portrayal of her and my response to that portrayal provides a good example of what I'm talking about here - how some of us liberals can, indeed, think for ourselves:

~ Attack on Palin #1 - the Katie Couric interview and other gaffes. Yes, it was fun to make fun of, and yes, some of us took it as an indication that Palin doesn't know what she's talking about. But I think she completely redeemed herself by later speeches, especially in the VP debate, in which I thought she was very well-spoken. I just disagreed with everything she spoke about!
~ Attack on Palin #2 - her daughter is a teen mother. So? Our nation has the highest teen pregnancy rate of any developed nation, so it's to be expected that this happens even to families like Palin's. Yes, I disagree with the way that Palin wants to spend my tax dollars educating America's youth about sex, but this is based on data, not Palin's daughter.
~ Attack on Palin #3 - the expensive clothes. If I was her, I would do the same thing - allowing the RNC to fund my campaign wardrobe. When in the spotlight so much, it's important for politicians to look nice, especially when their platform is so horrible that they may need to rely on their good looks to get votes :)

Although here's an attack I kind of agreed with:

~ Attack on Palin #4 - on a visit to NC (and maybe there were others too?) she said something like (I'm not getting this exactly right) "It's nice to be here among REAL Americans, folks who care about our country". The point was, it seemed like she was implying that Obama supporters were not "real" Americans and do not care about our country. This is one case where I can understand why people initially called her a "bitch". It was a bitchy thing to imply, and I don't think her follow up statement (not really an apology) really cleared this up. Still, though, there were lots of bitchy things flying around during this campaign, by both sides.

The point is, there are people of both political parties who do indeed think for themselves (and there are way too many who don't). I try to look at an issue or a political candidate as a whole package - everything or everyone has positives and negatives. The only positive I could think of for Palin was her interest in supporting "special needs" children, but even this "positive" was negated by her stance against genetic research that could potentially help special needs people (which I understand is a result of her ignorance, so is partially excusable) and her running mate's stance against improved family leave and childcare policies. We liberals were angry and frustrated after the last 8 years, and the thought of at least 4 more years of the same was, at times, terrifying and depressing. Let me call Sarah Palin a homophobic, right-wing bitch in peace, and I'll let you call Obama a tax-and-spend, baby-killing terrorist. We'll both feel better! :)

Thursday, April 09, 2009

More on Gay Rights

CG, your ignorance on GLBT issues is showing through your comments. It sounds like you need to educate yourself. My blog is not enough - check out Pam's House Blend (link on the left sidebar) and http://www.hrc.org.

Keep in mind, CG, that the Human Rights Campaign endorsed Obama because even though he doesn't support federal gay marriage, at least he supports civil unions and other pro-gay issues (anti-discrimination legislation, etc - see here). Obama was the only Presidential candiate I know of who specifically referenced his concern for his "gay brothers and sisters" in his speeches. I don't know about McCain, but Palin is indeed a homophobic bitch...remember this? And this? Those right-wing, Christian conservative, Jerry Fawell types are all alike - to them homosexuality is still a sickness, a disease, and God doesn't love them because of it! WTF? This attitude has got to stop, and I would think even YOU would agree with this since I assume you want your precious Republican party to make a comeback! A platform based on "anti-gay" will no longer be sustainable - you GOPs will have to find another way to bring your voters to the polls. I'm sure this is what the Log Cabin republicans have been trying to say for years.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

D.C. to Recognize Gay Marriage

I have GOT to stop reading the newspaper & blogging and GET BACK TO WORK, but there is just so much exciting news. From the Washington Post:

D.C. Council Votes to Recognize Other States' Gay Marriages

The decision was unanimous. Focus on the Family, your agenda is going DOWN like the Titanic! Take THAT, Christian Right!

From the New York Times...

"Vice President Joe Biden, who threw the ceremonial first pitch, had better control" than C.C. Sebathia! Great article.

One State at a Time

I told you (April 3 post)! Vermont Legalizes Gay Marriage.

Orioles Home Opener

Baseball season has begun! The Phillies fell to the Braves on Sunday, but the Orioles figured out CC Sebathia:

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Visitor

Today's an absolutely gorgeous day, and so I let Madeline outside where she and Pudding (the cat next door) are sitting in their respective yards having a nice, peaceful staring contest. But I am keeping a careful eye on them and the backyards just in case our furry visitor from yesterday decides to return. So when I got home from work on Friday afternoon, Madeline was yowling to go outside, but because it was windy, she was yowling to come back inside after just a few minutes (wind makes her undecided). I was in a good mood, so I indulged her, letting her in and out, in and out. I was grading a paper in the living room and heard her meowing on the deck, but I wanted to reach a stopping point, so I didn't come right away. When I did, I saw that she wasn't meowing to come back inside, but rather she was fixated on something in the yard. I was expected a neighborhood cat, but instead it was a possum with at least three babies! Luckily I grabbed Madeline just as she was making a move to bolt into the yard. I think possums are rather icky, but the possum was just ambling along in no hurry to leave my yard, so I went in and grabbed my camera. By the time I returned, it wasn't as close, but I still got some decent pictures.



This Canon PowerShot has a nice zoom for the money! See the babies?





The possum left my yard momentarily, slipping under the fence and actually leaving behind a baby in the process (who wandered just a bit before it finally scrambled under the fence after its mother). But then she came back, this time with the babies on her underside instead of back. They hung out by the fence for a while, before crossing my yard and heading over to Rachel's yard.



Friday, April 03, 2009

Progress!

How exciting! This just in:

Iowa Court Says Gay Marriage Ban Is Unconstitutional

If this had happened yesterday I would have sworn it was an April Fool's joke. And it's a unanimous decision! In Iowa! Equality is indeed happening, even in the Midwest - one state at a time.