how do you live so happily while i am sad and broken down?

 Ok, officially staying off of Facebook today so that I don't have a meltdown at any of my Republican relatives.

Also, trying to wait til at least 8pm before I start watching election coverage.  

Argh.  Longest day.  Please, please, please let Obama win.

ERMAGHERD U GUISE.

Vast quantities of people are wrong on the internet today, and it is sapping my will to live.  

You may have heard of a little thing called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which today was held up as constitutional by the US Supreme Court.

I start this by acknowledging that I am a liberal, and a Democrat, and that overall I am a pretty big fan of Obama.  I don't think he's perfect, I don't think he's a saint, and he really could be doing a whole lot better on the whole 'protecting our civil liberties' front, but by and large, he represents a huge step in the right direction.  

Now, I am a liberal who grew up in a conservative area, went to an even more conservative college, and then chose to live in a different yet also conservative part of the country.  I am used to disagreeing with friends, family, and neighbors about many, many things.  Today was bad.  Mostly on Facebook, which is the only part of the internet where I tend to collide with their opinions in such a blatant, inflammatory way.  I have decided I'm not going back there for a few days, because it's not worth what it's doing to my blood pressure.  I caved twice and remarked on posts; my general policy is to scroll past, because I don't actually believe my arguments will change their positions.  I think only you can change your mind.  I put the things I believe on my facebook, and then if you choose to look at them and think about them, and maybe do a little bit of independent research, then yay.  Otherwise, I don't play in your yard.  I broke that twice today, once to chastise someone for an Osama/Obama joke (because trying to provide decent healthcare for millions of Americans =/= being a terrorist) and once for someone who posted something that said the government would take your house away and garnish your wages if you didn't get insurance, because that is actually NOT TRUE.  From KaiserPermanente:  "For individuals, the penalty would start at $95 a year, or up to 1 percent of income, whichever is greater, and rise to $695, or 2.5 percent of income, by 2016.  For families the penalty would be $2,085 or 2.5 percent of household income, whichever is greater by 2016 and beyond. The requirement to have coverage can be waived for several reasons, including financial hardship or religious beliefs."

If you'd like to learn more about what the PPACA really does, there is a great post on reddit here.  With like, citations from the actual bill, and a link to Kaiser that says all the same things.  It's really kind of beautiful.  And it helped me craft my new rebuttal to anyone who brings this up to me from this point on:  "You don't like this?  Fantastic!  You can get out of it, it's no problem.  You only have to do one simple thing.  Come up with a better plan.  Any state that can provide a plan that gives as much value to its citizens can opt out.  So go for it."


In the meantime, I've decided to stick to the parts of the internet that are filled with British boy bands and kittens.  So that is where I'll be if you need me.

So... last night, my state decided to elect a man who is a hair's-breadth away from bankruptcy and who left Washington under threat of investigation for ethical violations. Awesome. (ETA: He's our new governor.)

We also voted on 5 state constitutional amendments, only two of which were worded to show what was truly being proposed. One of those was a $10 increase on car registration which was meant to go directly to build trauma centers in Georgia. Yeah, that failed. Because apparently America is allergic to all health care.

I'm not really surprised by any of the results in the elected offices. I live in a conservative state. Most people in Georgia identify either as Republican or Libertarian. We had mostly Republican politicians before yesterday, and we have mostly Republican politicians today. I am happy that our two strongest Democratic US Representatives both got re-elected in landslides.

I've been thinking a lot about my own political beliefs lately, since Jon Stewart's Rally for Sanity. I'm not sure I'm still sane about this. I don't understand why people are on the other side. I mean, I get it intellectually.

If you or your spouse is in the military, I get why you vote Republican: they're never gonna cut your job.
If you are a religious fundamentalist, I get why you vote Republican: pro-life, and they will accept your crazy as long as it comes with a donation.

The rest of them? I'm not sure. Financially conservative? Okay, I get that. But how has the Republican party done anything but give you lip service as they blew through a budget surplus and embroiled us in expensive wars? Wanting a slimmed-down government? Again, I know this is something they say they stand for, but when have they ever voted that way?

I think it may boil down to two things:

1) Your party isn't perfect, but you think they're better than the other guys. I could maybe understand that - trust me, I am not super thrilled with all the Democrats right now. So maybe you have one hot-button issue and you're sticking by them for that.

2) You're listening to the news media (Fox AND CNN - CNN is just as bad, just in another direction) instead of seeking out more impartial sources of news.

I don't know. Any thoughts, flist?

The military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is an unfair, outdated measure that violates the civil rights of some of our bravest, most heroic men and women.

That’s why I am so proud to support Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who has been working with her colleagues in the Senate and activists across the country to overturn this unfair policy. Today, there is great news: We have convinced Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, to hold the first Senate hearings on repealing DADT this Fall.

We have to prepare for these hearings, so Sen. Gillibrand has launched a nationwide call to action. I was eager to stand with her to show that this country is ready to repeal DADT. Please join us.

Click here to help end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
http://www.kirstengillibrand.com/DADT



From elucreh

Stolen shamelessly from zillah975, who got it from HRC:

The Senate is poised to vote on the Matthew Shepard Act THIS WEEK. But our allies are reporting an avalanche of 300,000 letters and calls from right-wing groups trying to stop it.

Anti-LGBT leaders like Focus on the Family's James Dobson are now calling the bill "utter evil." They're even referring to it as the "Pedophile Protection Act."

With a vote on hate crimes coming any day, we desperately need senators to hear from fair-minded people like you.

It takes about 45 seconds to call each one of your senators – and each one of them needs to hear from you today. It's just as important for supportive senators to hear from us – they've promised to pass this bill, and they need to know we're counting on them to keep fighting.

So set yourself a reminder on your computer. Make the call on your way to lunch. Or stop reading this and do it right now. Whatever you do, make sure to CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY.

If you've never called Congress, let me assure you, it's incredibly easy.

Before 5 p.m. ET, find your senators' phone numbers here:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm


Most likely, one of your senator's interns will answer and ask where you're calling from and why. You're calling to urge the Senator to vote for the Matthew Shepard Act (S. 909). Most calls end right there. But if you like, you can add:

Hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are on the rise.
One out of every six hate crimes is because of the victim's sexual orientation.
Hate crimes have more than one victim. They are intended to create an atmosphere of fear and terrorize entire communities.

After you hang up, you can click here and enter your info so that the HRC Action Center can keep track of how many calls were made.

Sacremento Morning Radio show describes transgender kids as freaks who should be beaten.


GLAAD call to action



I wrote an email to the two people listed below, urging them to fire these two men.


John Geary
Vice President & General Manager
KRXQ-FM
(916) 339-4209
jgeary@entercom.com
Jim Fox, Station Manager: jfox@entercom.com.

Ok, for years I've been talking about this book that I read a review on in Cosmo and really wanted to read, and I think maybe I finally found it. Either I had the title wrong, or it's not the same book, but it's definitely the same subject matter. I thought it was called Anarchy of the Rat, which honestly is a better title than Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World, but it's the same idea. Now to see if the library has it!

I just called the White House.

:) Okay, the White House comment line, but still, it was a little nerve-wracking. Anyway, I've said my peace about how I feel about the removal of the Medicaid Family Planning option. If you are interested in learning more, click here.

If not, that's okay. I'll still be your friend :)

I feel like I haven't really updated in a while, other than twitter posts and the occasional 'hey, look at this' link. I'm doing good, just focused elsewhere, I guess. I've been playing a lot of tennis, although our league wrapped up on Saturday for the winter season. I had my best game so far, so that was awesome. I saw My Bloody Valentine with some fellow Supernatural enthusiasts on opening day. I enjoyed it a lot, mostly because I was in a theater full of people intent on having a good time. It was cheesy but fun, and I wish the theater had had the 3D stuff because that would have been awesome.

I watched the inauguration, of course, and twittered through it - which kind of cracks me up, but anyway. I thought his speech was good, and I hope that the rest of the nation takes it the way I took it, that it's great he got elected, but that our duty didn't end there and now we have to help turn things around by volunteering, by staying involved in local, state and federal politics, and by holding our elected officials accountable for their voting.

I'm of two minds about the whole closing of Gitmo thing. On the one hand, I am happy that Obama is moving to close the torture 'loophole' - that goes against everything we sell ourselves as as Americans, and you cannot say we stand for liberty and justice and freedom for all, but we have to do this horrible thing because everybody else does it and the ends justify the means. No. On the other hand, it opens up a whole host of really uncomfortable questions, and I hope that this is step one, and step two is a really clever plan to address them. Where do these detainees go? What should the legal process for indicting/prosecuting/imprisoning terrorists be? Should there be degrees of terrorism like there are degrees of murder? There's a lot of hard questions there that I don't have the answers for, and am frankly glad that I don't personally have to come up with them. Like it says in this video, I'm glad we've elected the smart guy, because decades of going for the charismatic guy that doesn't make us feel stupid had gotten us in this mess. My understanding is that the Obama administration is asking for a 30 day suspension on everything, and I hope they come back with a plan at that point.

In other less political news, I came home on Sunday and started putting away my groceries only to notice that something was amiss in the kitchen. On further inspection, I discovered that my cabinets, which are ONLY TWO YEARS OLD are coming un-nailed from the back of the cabinet (which is mounted onto the wall). So now they're crooked and I'm trying to find a good handyman to put them back. To add to the unfairness, it's not even like I put that much food into them. Argh, I say, argh!

And that's about it. Most of my focus these days is on my diet (which is going well), making a blanket, figuring out what I'm doing with my vacation time this year (trips to Denver, home, Savannah, home), and fighting off a cold.

have your privacy invaded be counted?

I got a survey this week from the Census Bureau called The American Community Survey. The envelope helpfully let me know that my response was required by law, and that if I didn't fill it out, I could be fined. My first thought was "This has to be a scam." But no, it's actually real. I found a blog that explains it way more amusingly than I could, so I quote:

"Here are some of the highlights. Keep in mind that all these questions are mandatory:

• How much do you make?
• Are you using food stamps?
• Do you bathe yourself, or does someone have to help you?
• Are you having sex with any of the people in your house?
• If so, are you two married, or are you living in sin?
• Did you get her pregnant this year?
• Is she also a grandmother?
• Did she graduate from high school, or is she still in elementary school?
• Is she “ethnic”?
• Is she an illegal alien?
• How’s her English?
• Dude, are you screwing a blind chick?
• Is she a shut-in?
• How many wars has your sex partner fought in?
• Where does she work?
• Does your sex buddy take a ferryboat to work?
• How hard does she work?
• Is the government giving her money?"

It asks things like, how much money did you spend on water/sewer in the last year, so I spent a lot of time looking things up, but I have filled it all in so that I can't get fined, because apparently they can fine up to $5k if you don't do it. Ah, the government. Wonder how much money they wasted mailing out forms? Especially given that this oversteps the bounds of the Census Bureau as defined by the Constitution.