valarltd: (politics)
1) It's terrific they've built a successful franchise.
2) It's fine they have principles and beliefs.
3) Freedom of speech and religion gives them the right to financially express those beliefs.

4) When those beliefs include sponsoring groups that support laws to kill people like me, I see no need to give them MY money to pass along to arm my would-be executioners.

chikfila
valarltd: (politics--gilead)
On May 11, I asked "How long before the disenfranchisement of women becomes a talking point on the right?" http://valarltd.livejournal.com/1554472.html

This week, Rush Limbaugh, Voice of The Right, announced that everything started going downhill when women got the vote. http://www.examiner.com/article/rush-limbaugh-when-women-got-the-right-to-vote-is-when-it-all-went-downhill

Damn. I thought we had one more election cycle, maybe two before this battle had to be fought.
I guess we get to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Women's Sufferage with a renewed battle for our votes.


Sometimes, I really hate being precognitive
valarltd: (politics--gilead)

First a couple of links:

20 Ways Being Liberal has made my life better.
1)  Since 1932, Democratic Presidents have created 73.4 million new jobs, Republicans have created only 34.8 million. Thus, Democrats created more jobs, lifting my standard of living. (Source: International Business Times | Bloomberg)

Cultural Antietam
"I’m sure Pat is aware that Antietam was not some one-sided Civil War battle, but a bloody nightmare that led to the end of the war only because the Yankees could better afford shocking casualities."

Yeah, that's what worries me. 75% of the country is Christian and 40% is Republican. 10% (tops) is gay. There are those who fence-sit between those three categories, but in the end, they'll end up under the 3 story high pile of rocks with the rest of us.  (in The Eight Thrones universe, all the gays in Memphis are taken to Cooper-Young, herded into a corral at gunpoint and dumptrucks bury them under tons of rock. The Cleansing Monument is considered one of Memphis' cultural achievements)


Fringe to Mainstream:

In the mid-late 80s and early 90s, Mudd and I were involved in a certain church.
They were early homeschoolers, early quiverfull. And a book went around among the ladies.
The Way Home: Beyond Feminism and Back to Reality.  And it changed everything.

I gave my pastor's wife her copy back, a bit dented from being hurled at the wall. And I felt dented and judged and inferior. The way i feel around nuns or the Amish. As if my faith was not strong enough, or I was just a weak, bad person who wasn't a Christian at all, because I couldn't indulge in Christian Brand Behavior. (I know now, that no matter how many prayers I sent up, regardless of my salvation experience, the latter was the truth.)

This book fed the idea that not only is abortion bad, birth control is bad too.

Even Operation Rescue wasn't anti-birth control in the late 80s. Even they realized more BC meant fewer abortions.
Then came abstinence-only sex ed. And talk about the failures of birth control.
I sounded the alert that Roe was teetering and Griswold was in the crosshairs. Everyone said I was nuts, I was overdramatizing.

This year, ALL the major Republican candidates came out AGAINST BIRTH CONTROL!

Twenty years from lunatic fringe to mainstream political endorsement.
Think about that.
And think too, there are lunatic fringe voices now calling for the disenfranchisement of women. They want to take my VOTE!

Twenty years from lunatic fringe to mainstream....



Yet we seem to be moving away from sanity on the other side of the aisle, letting the Rightists pull us farther to the right. Pull us so far, in fact, that they are able to call a health insurance plan PROPOSED BY REPUBLICANS in 1992 "Socialism" with a straight face, because no one will remember. So far to the right that a center-rightist corporate schill can be considered a commie-socialist and called the worst president ever for business, even with the bail-out to Wall Street in plain view.

We are trailing the rest of the industrialized world in every measure.

Our manufacturing and infrastructure are in sorry shape.

Our public educational system is under systematic attack by those who wish to destroy it.

Our elected officials take bread from the mouths of hungry children, because it will make them develop a work-ethic.

Our few remaining advances from the Great Society and New Deal are on the chopping block. (Vouchers for Medicare? Really, Paul Ryan, you zombie-eyed granny-starver?)

The idea of a Guaranteed Annual Income, floated by NIXON, a Republican in the early 70s, seems ludicrous to consider now.

The Theocrats and Corporatists have been very effective in getting their message out.
We've become "Who would Jesus downsize and then yell at about bootstraps?" rather than "As you do for the least of these."


We're too far gone, I think.
Reality is supposed to be less evil than my dystopias.
Yet, I can see, even in the 5.5 years since I wrote NIKOLAI, the seeds of everything I wrote sprouting and putting out leaves.
It's going to be a poisonous harvest our kids and grandkids reap.

valarltd: (politics--gilead)
The Republicans hate women. Misogyny is a FEATURE, not a bug, and has been for 30 years.

Now they're after contraception. Why is anyone surprised? This has been a target for the religious right/hardcore fetus fetishers since at least the late 80s.

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/how-the-gop-went-back-to-the-1950s-in-just-one-day.php This says it all.

The State of Virginia and Oklahoma passed Personhood Amendments. Hello, jail time for miscarriages! Oh, wait, we already have that. http://rt.com/usa/news/women-shuai-pregnant-life/

Virginia also made it mandatory to rape a woman who is seeking an abortion, by forcing her into a transvaginal ultrasound, whether she wants one or not.

One of the main candidates for office is anti-contraception, anti-abortion, anti-medicaid, anti-food assistance, and anti-public education. WTF kind of country does he think we will get out of those positions? Dead women, medically fragile babies, malnourished, intellectually and physically stunted children who grow to be unemployable adults. Is that the future YOU want for America?

But notice, even conservative women, the kind who are happy to make laws for OTHER women (aka those sluts), are being slut-shamed for their choices of clothing at CPAC.

Some conservative commentators have even called for a repeal of our right to vote.

Wake up Aunt Lydia! Wake up, you colluders, you fifth columnists to your own freedom!
98% of you will use birth control, about half for reasons NOT related to fertility.
40% of you will have abortions. But it's okay if you're Republican
And most of you will miscarry, some at stages so early you'll never even know you were pregnant.

Let's be blunt, the dems use women's rights as a bargaining chip. The repubs have decided to double down on taking them ALL away.

Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket
valarltd: (politics)
The 1% say any time we talk about income inequality or unfairness, we're just envious.

Envious? Hell yeah, I'm envious.

I got up at 1:30 this morning.

I dressed in darkness, packed my breakfast and lunch, and went to work.

I worked from 2 AM to 12:30 PM. I drove 350 miles and moved freight weighing between 3 oz and 250 lbs per piece. Without mechanical aid.

I will spend my afternoon writing a novel to increase my family's income, or working on my fledgling publishing company, also to increase my income, or crocheting stuff for my etsy shop.

I'll make dinner for my family and go to bed hours before any of them even think of it, for about 6 hours of sleep, if I am very lucky.

And by three o'clock this afternoon, Mittens Romney, simply by breathing in and out (and by virtue of the fact his daddy left him a pile from AMC), will have made as much money as I will make all year.

DAMN RIGHT I'M ENVIOUS!
valarltd: (collect lives)

Quote of the day: There is no such thing as just a job. Anything that takes up your time takes up your life. What if you never do anything that you think is important? Sometimes I wonder if you're a musician who works in a cereal bar, or just a cereal guy who makes a little music. --Flakes

~~~
The "Bracing for the Zombie Apocalypse" department:

Parasite zombifies honeybees. This may be the cause of the colony collapse that has been happening for a while.
~~~
Happy birthday to Charles Addams. Check the http://www.google.com tribute.
~~~
Today in Misogyny:

Brazil requires women to register pregnancy. Ostensibly, this is to help with maternal mortality rates. Most suspect it will be used by the Church to prosecute miscarriages as induced abortions (illegal in Brazil)
~~~
Out and about:

TSA moves to ground transportation...Doom.
~~~
This is why we can't have nice things:

Why lasers don't work as ray guns. I do love The Straight Dope.

Brands that may disappear in 2012. Some old ones, some speciality ones. Kodak, Sears and Saab.

MIT offers free online education. Non accredited.
~~~
Politics, politics politics

Busy week. Michelle Bachmann dropped out of the race, sparking a temper tantrum when marcus learned he would not be First Lady. Rick Perry went home to Texas, rethought his life and came to the wrong conclusion. He shoulda bought the deathsticks. it'll be less painful in the long run.  Santorum said something anti-gay/anti-woman/anti-sex. Just google it. Newt and Romney said racist crap. These are not news.

As we know, Newt is an amatuer historian. However, he doesn't let the facts get in the way of doctrine when he says the founding fathers would have been anti-marijuana. “I think Jefferson or George Washington would have rather strongly discouraged you from growing marijuana and their techniques with dealing with it would have been rather more violent than our current government,” he responded.  Except for the part where BOTH OF THEM GREW IT!
~~~
Crime and Punishment:

The FBI redefined rape. This is good. The new definition, which includes men, is "“The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”
~~~
Kitchen Witchery

Jedi and sith burgers now available. In Belgium.  Oh belgium!

Tonight's dinner:
Ham & Swiss casserole

  • 2 1/2 cups uncooked egg noodles
  • 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 cups chopped cooked ham
  • 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
  • 1 cup seasoned stuffing mix (coarse-crumb style)
Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  1. Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, stir in the egg noodles, and return to a boil. Cook the pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 5 minutes. Drain well in a colander set in the sink.
  2. Combine the cream of mushroom soup, white wine, and water in a large bowl. Stir in the cooked egg noodles, ham, and Swiss cheese. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the dry stuffing mix over the dish. Bake uncovered until the casserole is bubbling and browned, about 30 minutes.
 

~~~
Pride Corner

Washington State introduced legislatuion to legalize same sex marriage.   "I have always been uncomfortable with the position that I have taken publicly. And then I came to realize the religions can decide what they want to do, but it is not OK for the state to discriminate." says Governor Chris Gregoire
~~~
Stupid movies recast as Oscar Bait. I like William and Theodore's Adventure of a LIfetime myself. Also the recaas Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
~~~
Health!

Tis the seasoin, but if your child has these symptoms. it's time to see the dr.
~~~
Youtubery:

I love the sound of this song

valarltd: (collect lives)
Quote of the Day:
"We've all heard that we have to learn from our mistakes, but I think it's more important to learn from successes. If you learn only from your mistakes, you are inclined to learn only errors."
---Norman Vincent Peale

~~~
The best news I got all day:
My mother's blood work for December shows her white blood cells at near normal levels. She hasn't had that in YEARS. She said she though her normally staid dr was going to bounce up and down.

~~~
The Writer's Aid Department:

25 things Writers should stop doing. RIGHT NOW! We all do some of them. Some of us do all of them. I'm particularly guilty of 22: overpromising and overshooting. (I don't chase trends, I tend to run a year early)

~~~
The "Shape it Up" department:

9 Best fitness moves. Give it a try.

~~~
From the Political Desk:

We all know that Romney beat Santorum by 8 votes in Iowa and Ron "The Demented Little Terry Brooks Character With a Gold Card" Paul made a strong third place. And I will maintain my dignity and not get myself into a froth of puns about Santorum surging from behind in Iowa to come out number two. I'm a better person than that. Apparently not.

Alabama considering personhood legislation. These forced birthers will not be happy until 70% of women are in jail for miscarriage, and 40% are on death row for abortions.

Obama appoints Richard Cordray to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Plutocrat Republicans howl. If we're protected from their predation, their profits will be lower!

Republican Pro-Life plank mates with States Rights and takes next logical step: Let states ban birth control!

~~~
The "Hard At Work" department:

8 Jobs with Bright Outlooks. Nanoengineering technlogist? It's fun living in the future!

~~~
The "Bracing for the Zombie Apocalypse" department:

Top 10 Survival Manuals to Download. Everything from dentistry and field surgery to canning and knitting.

Gardening in January. Come the apoc, we'll have to grow our own, and the Pagan Soccer Mom has some awesome links for everything from planning to containers to seed starting.

10 Survival Skills for a post Collapse world.

~~~
The "I totally stole that for my book" department:

8 Gratuitously Violent Horror Movie Scenes (From the Bible). It's Cracked.com, so appropriate warnings. And I used Numero Uno in Power in the Blood.

~~~
The Sacred Circle department:
January Correspondences. Two of my goddesses are listed. Also, it's National Hobby Month.

~~~
National Hobby Month:

I am making this shawl in an ocean blue. I've finished the middle back triangle.

~~~
Youtubery:
Today's piece was number one the week I was born

valarltd: (collect lives)
Welcome to 2012.

Quote of the day: "I've written through parenting crisis, emotional disasters, mental stress and distress including anxiety and depression, busy times at work, illness, you name it. In the eleven years since I became a pro, chemotherapy and surgery are the only things that have been able to stop me cold, and believe me, if I could find a way around that, I would." [livejournal.com profile] jaylake Read the whole thing, it's well worth it.

~~~
We all resolved to lose weight this year, right?

7 foods that help I like apples and pumpkin...

And Breakfast is still the most important meal of the day

~~~
As a fair few of you are writers, we also resolved to write more.

"Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.” ~ T. S. Eliot And other Advice to writers from the greats.

~~~

Politics, politrics, politics.

Rick Santorum announces forced annullments This is the source video. For an assessment of it, Michaelangelo Signorile has it

More Santorum surging over the news: "I don't want to help black people with someone else's money." This is an article with embedded video.

Cindy Jacobs, who looks remarkably like Dolores Umbridge, right down the pink, has called for a war on the lie of separation of church and state. and Newt Gingrich takes up arms in the battle.

Obama, on the other hand, is talking up the good. (skip the comments)

~~~

Arctic ice melting faster than thought. I had to poke around to get a general source, but USA Today and the LA Times are using the same article as Huffington Post.

~~~
We tend to think of misogyny as a function of Islamic and Christian fundamentalists. Apparently none of the Abrahamics are immune. We've had stories of beatings on buses and "female-free billboard" campaigns. Now,the Haredi are hassling a little girl and the news is out, sparking protests. Israel sees this as a battle over the future shape of the nation. The link is from Haaretz, an Israeli paper.

~~~
Money Money Money Money, give a little, get a little...

The Rich aren't like the rest of us. Fancy First class airline amenities. Think about those next time you're scraping sleep out of your eyes after 15 hours of driving...

Some things will cost less in 2012. Unfortunately, nothing vital, like bread or milk or gas.

~~~
Youtubery!

Adam Lambert has a new single (no video yet) and I kind of love it.

This one is for Mudd.
valarltd: (politics--gilead)
I am not paranoid.
I am not delusional.
I was there when this stuff was starting 25 years ago. Why do you THINK I have 4 kids?

Read it. Read all of it.
http://www.politicususa.com/en/radical-dominionists

"The goal of Christian Dominionism is to abolish Separation of Church and State and to establish the United States as a distinctively Christian Nation based upon Old Testament Mosaic Law. Dominionism is an umbrella term that harbors many divergent groups claiming a foundation in Christianity. You must be “born again”…accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour…and profess your personal relationship with Christ.” All Christians are not Dominionist, but all Dominionists claim Christianity." (emphasis mine)

"[Dominionists] do not recognize any other version of Christian faith that does not comply strictly to their definition of Christianity. You must be born again; accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and saviour; and profess a personal relationship with Him – period. All others who are considered mainline Christians are considered by these Dominonists as the “wrong kind of Christian”.



These people are tied to secessionists, to militias and now have high level capitalists bankrolling them. They're getting elected, at local, state and Federal levels. This is why we're seeing crap like "death penalty for miscarriages" laws.

Have I not been yelling about this for years? Wake up an VOTE, dammit. And watch out for those mouthing "family values" or "patriotic" or "constitutional" rhetoric. If you aren't female, queer or "non-Christian" (by their standards), you love people who are.
valarltd: (politics--gilead)
1) Thinking on abortion. longish )

Hearing McCain so blithely dismiss "health" of the mother with air quotes and a sneer wracked me.

Let me explain:
If I catch pregnant at this late date, I will abort.
I will have no choice since it will be ectopic.
I would prefer to do this while it's still a matter of my health and not a matter of life and death when my fallopian tube ruptures.


2) In a related tangent, Health Care: mathy )

3) Obama and Biden STILL suck on talking about GLBT rights. But at least the platform is inclusive.

4) Had an interesting conversation with an older man. He spewed every lie about Obama. I finally got to use my "Because I went to a Mennonite school during that same period, does that make me a Mennonite?" analogy. When he used "nigger" I knew the real reason. He may or may not believe the other stuff, but by God, he is a white southern man and he is still better than a coloured any day. I called him on his usage and his presumption of shared attitude based on skin color.

5) The debate was so boring Jonner and I both fell asleep.

6) Let me tell you about Joe the Plumber. Good man. Served in Korea. Came home, married, had two daughters. He had a good job and good insurance, until his wife got cancer in the 80s. He ended up selling everything--house, all his life-savings, everything--to pay for her treatment. She died anyway.

He spent the 90s working as a plumber, until arthritis and general age took his agility. In the early 00s, he worked at Harrah's casino and plumbed on the side. When he left Harrah's, he worked as a Wal-Mart greeter. Until prostate cancer came for him. The VA falsified records, lost records and failed to treat him when his blood count was 300 (10 is indicative of a need for chemo).

He spent the last six months of his life at home, in a rented house, heavily addicted to morphine, living on his pension and his second wife's nursing paychecks. He died in a borrowed hospital bed in his own living room, attended by his wife and a pallative care nurse. He left nothing behind.

Mom's having an estate sale this weekend to raise the money to move. Joe made her very happy for four years and very sad for one that they had together.

Hard work is no guarantee of success.
valarltd: (Default)
I think of that poor kid every time I hear this:


Since I listen to a classic country station, I hear it a LOT.

*headdesk*

Oct. 5th, 2008 02:39 pm
valarltd: (special hell)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/05/palin-misquotes-albright_n_131967.html

At a rally on Saturday in California, Sarah Palin offered up a rather jarring argument for supporting the Republican ticket. "There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women," the Alaska Governor said, claiming she was quoting former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.


Governor Palin?
Let's see:
Allowed rape-victims to be charged for rape-kits
Is against allowing raped incest victims abortions
IgnoranceAbstinance-Only teaching
Cut funding for services to families of special needs kids
In bed with CWA and the Eagle Forum

We have your seat in The Special Hell reserved.
valarltd: (Default)
You know what I want?
Tina Fey to do Sarah Palin in the debate bursting into the Moose Song to derail the topic.

For those who don't know it, the Moose Song is under the cut:
and it's moose, moose, I likes a moose )

On Palin

Oct. 2nd, 2008 10:14 pm
valarltd: (politics--gilead)
[livejournal.com profile] nebris has an article on how Palin is Aunt Lydia.
http://nebris.livejournal.com/3341642.html

I don't want to hear her "tell her story." That drilling nasal voice with the thick accent just makes my head hurt. How in the world was this woman a sportscaster when she doesn't even have a trained voice?

I know her story.
She was the cheerleader in high school, the queen bee that everyone jumped for. The one the rest of us loathed, but knew if we crossed her, she would make out lives miserable. (in short: Cordelia Chase)
She was a beauty queen. With all that implies.
She went to five different colleges and finished with a degree in broadcast journalism without moderating that voice. (I'd rather listen to Phyllis Diller, once described as "80 decibels of tonsils and adenoids.")

What does she need to tell? Anecdotes about fucking hunting moose or raising kids? What does she think this is, the Wasilla PTA?

Her narrative doesn't interest me. She has coasted on her looks and male goodwill and sheer conniving for 44 years. Oh yeah, I know the type. I grew up around them.
valarltd: (I seem to have died)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4837644.ece

In an election campaign notable for its surprises, Sarah Palin, the Republican vice- presidential candidate, may be about to spring a new one — the wedding of her pregnant teenage daughter to her ice-hockey-playing fiancé before the November 4 election.

Inside John McCain’s campaign the expectation is growing that there will be a popularity boosting pre-election wedding in Alaska between Bristol Palin, 17, and Levi Johnston, 18, her schoolmate and father of her baby. “It would be fantastic,” said a McCain insider. “You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week.”


That's the idea: eat news cycles. Give a happy pretty picture to the voters.


I feel like I'm in a second-string production of La Cage aux Folles.
"My co-founder was found dead in bed with an underage black whore? hold a wedding!"
valarltd: (annoyed Han)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upvZdVK913I for those who don't like embeds

We're the people of Rock Ridge. Wall-Street is holding a gun to its own head, saying "give me money or I blow us right back to 1930." And if we do? We are soooo dumb.

President Ford knew the value of doing nothing. He inherited a nation in chaos, with riots in major cities. He knew this, too, would pass. I say we wait it out.

I heard it said "Economics is a confidence game." Yep. And it's looking not unlike the glim-drop or the hydrophoby lay right now.
valarltd: (politics--gilead)
Why am I a liberal?

My positions are pragmatic:

1) I have 2 mentally ill children and 1 with pre-existing conditions. I have pre-existing ear conditions and we're watching cervical abnormalities. McCain wants to tax my health insurance policy. He wants to toss us into the free market with a $5000 voucher and a pat on the head.

2) We are a queer family. Republicans introduce and pass bad legislation on that front. A man they seriously considered for president, Judge Roy Moore, said the state should "use all its power, including the power of the sword, to discourage such lifestyles."

3) We are a pagan family. Palin keeps company with a witch-hunter. Don't think for a minute Africa wouldn't export their current Burning Times if we let them. Don't think there aren't Christians in this country working to encourage that.

4) There are female members of the family. Birth control is not an optional afterthought in this household. The end goal of the larger pro-life movement is Griswold, since bodily autonomy is the key to all of women's advancement. Hard to advance when you've got kids. Trust me on that point. And forcing someone to carry a rapist's baby (whether the rapist is related or not) is just sheer cruelty. Pro-life policies kill women. We knew this in the 50s and 60s. We see it now in South America. My daughters must have all the options I had, if not more.



For us, voting democrat is literally a matter of life and death.
In those who squee over Palin, all I hear in their cheers is "You should die now, kthxbai. Oh, and we'll help."

Brilliance

Sep. 26th, 2008 07:17 am
valarltd: (bushback mountain)
http://plaidder.livejournal.com/285606.html

Of course the Plaidder is always brilliant. But go read her fictional debate.

She sums it all up:
"I know how you govern: you're a delegator, a starter of projects you can't finish, you're an absentee. You surround yourself with your childhood friends because you know they're loyal and at least as dumb as you are; they don't know what they're doing either but you like it that way cause they'll never be a threat to you. You're obsessed with personal loyalty, you govern like it's recess and you're still in eighth grade, you savage anyone who criticizes you and you use an insane, warped, Apocalyptic form of Christianity as a replacement for the brain you've wasted."

Figures

Sep. 22nd, 2008 04:56 pm
valarltd: (politics--gilead)
Sarah Palin received the blessing of Kenyan witch-hunter and exorcist, Thomas Muthee.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8twqZpUT2NQ

She apparently forgot, and Muthee never told her, was that to witch-hunters there are only two types of women: Witches. And those who don't yet know they are witches.

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