Atheist Adverts

There was some article somewhere, that I am too lazy to look up right now and link to because I have a headache. But the gist of it was that some group of atheists (freedom from religious thought? something like that? GAH I HATE EFFORT) are all getting together to fund billboards and bus adverts to get their message out there. Things like "Reason's Greetings" (around xmas) and "reject religious Dogma" and "Don't believe in god? You're not alone."

Anywho, I'm just gonna come out and say that I'm not totally cool with this concept of "organized" atheism. My thinking is that I really fucking hate those stupid Christian billboards (there's one on the drive down to my parents' house that says "Keep using my name in vain, and I'll make rush hour longer. -God." WTF? That doesn't even say anything. What retarded monkey was allowed to pick that message?). So I can't see how the atheist billboards are any better than that. Honestly, I don't want any advert telling me what to believe in, or attempting to guilt me or whatever. So even though I may agree with the messages on the atheist billboards, I can't say that I believe in any great gain from their existence. If anything, it makes us look as obnoxious and insecure as the fundies. Isn't the idea that we don't need to get on a soapbox or have rallies or be fuck-ass CrAzY to be secure in our beliefs?

I imagine it looks like we're being pushy in those ads. And to the average fundie, I imagine that it looks like we're WAGING A FUCKING WAR on Christmas/god/America/little Debbie snack cakes. I don't think we need to feed into their bizarre martyr complex/delusions of grandeur anymore.

But there is a flip side. Because even if I disapprove of this "in-your-face" movement from organized atheism, it is doing things for us that are helpful, and which wouldn't be possible without group cohesiveness. For instance, this atheist group managed to hire its first lobbyist to speak for us in DC. That's a pretty big deal, because we're a pretty disenfranchised group in this country (can I refer you to the 14 states that don't officially let atheists hold office? Or the theistic chant that public school teach our children?) And I do sort of like the idea of letting people know that we do exist and we do matter. Seriously. Because some people actually believe that our numbers are so small that we don't matter. Or that we don't exist at all. So that makes it sort of hard to live, and I'm glad that a group is trying to ameliorate that for us.

My feelings on organized atheism also make me feel apathetic about blogging my non-belief. I'm not really interested in arguing it, or hashing it out, etc. There are plenty of good atheist blogs that do that already, and they're interesting to read...to a point. But at some point, I'm not interested in watching a reasonable, logical atheist hash it out against some infuriated barely-literate fundie. It's a one-sided argument, it's not going to get resolved, and it's only re-stating what I already know. Preachin' to the choir, yo. So that's why I probably won't post on atheism as much as, say, queef jokes that Boyfriend makes. That's right, I said QUEEF. Don't act like I didn't make you CRINGE.

Anywhoodle, I know I was just absent from blogging for a bit, but I'm actually not done being absent. We're spending Thanksgiving with Boyfriend's family out-of-state, so I probably won't be blogging in a house where my online musings might be discovered (I guess I could blog and if someone asks what I'm doing, I could say that I'm looking at hardcore sadomasochist goat-cheese porn, but I don't know if I wanna risk it). So Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I'll be back next week!

Why I Love New York, Reason #1,233,434

Because sometimes, when you step on the subway after a 4 hour bus ride from your mom's house dragging 60 pounds of luggage with a new cold and hungry as fuck, a young man with a pleasant voice and an acoustic guitar is standing across from you singing a Beatles song. And that just makes it all okay.

That was weird

You know all of those fake-ass warning stories they tell to women, like "once a woman heard a baby cry on her porch but she thought it was weird so she called the cops and the cops were all DON'T A RAPIST HAS BEEN IMPERSONATING A CRYING BABY TO LURE FOOLISH BABY-LOVING WOMEN LIKE YOU RIGHT INTO HIS CLUTCHES and the woman is all PHEW I could have been raped"???

Yeah. I hate those urban-legends-passed-as-true stories. Oh, but one of them sort of happened to me tonight.

At around 10 tonight, Boyfriend and I are on the couch. The buzzer rings. Now, we live on a second floor apartment facing the street, and we can look out the window and see people at the door. But sometimes I think it's better to not look out the window and reveal yourself to whoever is at the door. 'Cause if it's some cute kids selling candy for school you look like a big scrooge when you drop the curtain and walk away. Anyway, for this reason, I asked who it was over the intercom before I looked out the window.

"Package for apartment two."

Um, okay. It's 10 pm, and we are not expecting a package. There's one other apartment on my floor, so I ask which apartment it's for.

"It just says two."

Okay. This is shady. Now I ask who's name is on it.

"It doesn't say."

Now I'm definitely not buzzing them in. Boyfriend glances out the window, and goes across the hall to see if our neighbor is perhaps expecting something. I push the "talk" button once more, and tell the person to hold on for a minute.

Silence on the other end.

I cross the room and look out the window. No one is at our gate.

The neighbor doesn't answer and Boyfriend comes back. I ask him if he saw someone standing at the gate when he looked. He had. Did they have a package? No. Were they in a uniform? No. What was he wearing? It was someone in a dark blue hoodie, with the hood up.

Nice. My night almost turned into a cautionary tale, doomed to eternal circulation in emails from well-meaning aunts.

So, at this point the guy was gone, but I felt unsettled knowing that some guy is in our neighborhood ringing buzzers and trying to get into apartments. His motive could be anything, really. It's cold out tonight, so maybe he's just trying to find a warm place to sleep. Or maybe he's trying to rob the shit out of someone. Honestly, I'm not much of a gambling woman, so I'd rather not try my luck. We called the cops, and made a report. The cops can't do anything, but it will ease my conscience if I read in the paper tomorrow that a guy in a dark blue hoodie killed a family of five by ringing their buzzers and pretending to have a package. At least I let someone know.

The best part of all this was that the cops who stopped by were waaaaay more interested in our house bunny than in making a report. They didn't even write anything down. Which I get, because legally speaking, nothing happened. But when I apologized for bothering them they were very sincere in assuring us that we had done the right thing.

All the-call-is-coming-from-inside-the-house stories aside, I will be out of town for a few days, so no bloggity bloggin'. But don't try to rob me if you've been stalking me, because my fierce attack bunny will be holding down the fort. Hell, he nibbled on one of the cop's shoes. He's that hard.

An Underdog Undergnu Story

I was going to post something femininsty tonight, but then Boyfriend and I watched the following video and I decided that I just really had to share this. It's eight minutes, but I promise that if you watch every minute of it you will NOT be sorry.

Let's just say, Gnus ain't nothin' to fuck with

Protest H8

Boyfriend and I are going to City Hall as part of the Join the Impact national protests against Prop 8 today. If you have free time, please please please show your support for equality at your local city hall. The website lists where a protest is near you today. The more bodies, the better.

We will win this.

Update: The demonstration was so energizing and inspiring. I haven't heard official numbers yet, but they announced that they had it at over 5,000 in NYC (we could hear the roar of the crowd as soon as we got off the subway). And I heard that San Diego had 15,000. It took us some time to make our way over to a speaker so we could hear the speeches, but they were wonderful. One man talked about how he married his husband in California in October, and he was still married no matter what the government told him. Another person spoke about how he doesn't want to raise his son in a country where the government sees his father as a second-class citizen. And when everyone started chanting "Yes, we can," I may or may not have choked up a bit. Sentimental fool.

We didn't bring a camera, but someone posted a pic that caught our sign. It's the one that says "Gays aren't second-class citizens." My hand is holding it on the left side, Boyfriend's is on the right.

The other side said "Focus on your own family."

Jesus Truck

The Yellow Jesus Truck is out again.

Boyfriend and I occasionally see YJT on our way home from the subway. It's a yellow truck, think like a mid-size U-Haul truck, and the side of it folds out into a stage. They park the truck on the sidewalk outside one of the housing projects, and spread blankets on the sidewalk for kids to sit on. Then whoever it is who owns the YJT holds a noisy Jesus rally for the kiddies.

I fucking hate YJT. Seriously. I seethe with anger when I walk by.

"But why, Phoebe! Why do you hate Jesus!"

No, no, I don't hate your precious lamb of god. I just hate the YJT. Because the weird Jesus rallies they have send fucked-up messages, and those messages remind me of the Jesus Camp that I attended for two summers in my early teens. The sick fucking Jesus Camp that played sick fucking mind games, except we were too young to know better so we just accepted the brainwashing. I don't like watching other children accepting the brainwashing from the YJT.

Today when I walked past YJT, two staffers (ministers? missionaries? crazeballs?) Were doing a little call-and-repeat. They were holding up a sign with the messages that they wanted the kids to shout. The first sign item was "Jesus loves me." That's cool. I sort of like that message. It's cute to hear them all shout that someone loves them.

The second message is what makes me clench my teeth and fists: "I am a sinner." UGH. I HATE IT. Making little kids say that they sin, that they're sinners, that they're unworthy, etc. It's so FUCKED UP. Do you know how much guilt I had as a kid over messages like that? No wonder I had such low self-esteem my whole life. No kid should have to go through life having extreme guilt over that stupid fucking shit. What sort of "loving" religion makes little kids chant that they're "sinners"? Fucking FUCKED UP.

The third message wasn't much better: "Jesus died for me." I triple hate that one. Now, on top of making a kid feel like a sinner, you're making them feel responsible for some dude's grisly death 2000 years ago.

"Hey Billy! I just want you to know that there is this guy who REALLY loves you, with all of his heart and soul. But also, I want you to know that you're the reason he died. Oh, and the things that you do everyday make him sad and unhappy."

Yeah, that's religion in a nutshell for me. I just really hate the way it's taught to kids. I mean, it's great to teach kids right from wrong, like don't steal. But really, I think it's better to teach them to not do those things for their logical reasons (like, stealing will hurt the owners' business and you can go to jail); rather than just saying "it's a sin and sinners go to Hell." And I don't like how lessons of "right and wrong" snowball into telling kids that they are sinners. Because whatever they're doing that's "wrong" in religions' eye shouldn't really define the whole person. Especially not a kid.

WANT

I MUST have this child. Right now. Someone find her and mail her to me.



Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

Note to self: Have children, and raise them to speak French. It is way fucking cuter in French.

I shake my fist at you, Mormons

Everyone knows by now what an asshole the Mormon Church is when it comes to The Gay. But now, it seems that they've also been disrespecting another group.....(wait for it)....Jews!!! And not just any Jew, oh no. Turns out that the Mormons have decided to specifically hate on DEAD HOLOCAUST JEWS.

Yeah. Apparently they believe that Mormons can only be reunited in the afterlife with other Mormons. They also believe that it's not too late for your dead relatives to become Mormons, too, so that you can see them again. So they have a church member "stand in" for your dead relative during a baptism. They believe that by doing this, the stiff can then choose Mormonism and go to heaven for punch and cookies for all eternity.

The Mormons are also crazy for genealogy records. So they have a big-ass database with a bunch of names. In this database are the names of a bunch of dead Jewish Holocaust victims. So, it turns out, they've been taking the names of the dead Jews and baptizing them in the name of the Mormon Church.

So let's get this straight. You're a Jew. You are taken to a death camp, tortured, and killed because you are a Jew. Then, 70 years after you die, some self-righteous Christians ignore your religion, ignore the suffering that you endured for your religion, and claim your soul as a member of their religious group??

This is a huge insult to Holocaust victims, survivors, and their relatives. Basically, the Mormon Church is saying "We're right and Jews are wrong. So we're going to just go ahead and make them Mormons." It trivializes the entire Jewish religion. It's disgusting.

As it turns out, in 1995 the Mormon Church had agreed to stop this practice, and removed a number of names from the database. But someone who was keeping tabs on them discovered that Jewish names have been continually resubmitted and added to the database since that time.
The Church's defense for this blatant violation is a kicker. A spokesman said that the names were added by a small-group of "well-meaning" Mormons. Oh, fuck you. Fuck your intentions. That doesn't make any of this okay. Your intentions may have been good but the effect is horribly offensive. And the effect is the only thing that matters here.

The even sadder part of the story is that the Jewish people who have been decrying the Mormons' actions are basically giving up. The initial agreement has been violated for 13 years, so simply removing names from the database obviously isn't enough. So the Jews are tired and aren't negotiating with the Mormons anymore. It's basically like this:

Mormons: *Punches Jew in the face*
Jews: Ow! Quit it!
Mormons: Oh, sorry, I thought that it would be good for you. *punches Jew again*
Jews: That hurts! Please stop!
Mormons: Ok, I'll stop. *Punches Jew in balls*
Jews: Fine. I'm walking away.
Mormons: *Follows Jew, repeatedly punches Jew in back of head*

It kills me that Mormons are so nice to your face, and then they turn around and do shit-head things like this. No regard whatsoever for any group but themselves. They will cry all night about respect for their rights and their religion, but they don't give a flying fuck about gay rights or respect for other religions. I don't know how anyone who believes in being a loving person could EVER support an organization like LDS.

My only consolation is that I think this whole thing is ridiculous because A) I don't believe in souls, so the fact that the Mormons take this whole posthumous baptism thing seriously is fucking laughable and B) it's funny to see people waste so much energy and life because they think they're going to go somewhere after they die. Hey, Mormons: Just enjoy your fucking life and quit wasting your time making other people miserable. Because I bet you dollars to donuts that when you die, you ain't going nowhere but six feet under. And you won't hear your relatives' damn baptisms down there, either. So just abstain from your coffee and tea and leave the rest of us the fuck alone.

Amish Country

I met someone new at work today, and we started talking about a trip that she had just returned from to Amish country in PA. I got retardedly excited about this topic, because I grew up in that area. So when I get to the Big City and the City-folk want to discuss things like this, I'm all LET'S TALK ABOUT RUMSPRINGA AND FASNACHTS.

Man, the Amish piss me off. I know, it's not nice to say. But I can't help myself. They make me really angry. And it's not because they're Christians and I'm a godless heathen. It's because they are a FUCKING BRAINWASHED CULT and yet, they are revered for it.

The Amish live in isolated communities (no shit). They rear their children with little to no exposure to the English world. They stop educating their kids at an eighth grade level (and prior to that, the quality of education that they give is questionable). And then, at fucking 16 years old, they give their kids a couple of years to go crazy and experience the English world (Rumspringa). Eventually, the kids have to decide whether they want the English life or the Amish life.

Okay, so let's think of another scenario for a second. Imagine that for your whole life, you were only allowed to eat wheat bread. Your parents tell you that eating anything other than wheat bread is bad for you, will fill you with cholesterol, and kill you.. Your teachers say the same thing. They point to non-wheat-breaders and tell you how sick they are and how they are going to die. Suddenly, at 16, your parents say that you can try bacon. You try it. It tastes good, and you sort of like it, but you're uncomfortable. Isn't wheat bread the only thing that is good to eat? Won't eating bacon kill me? Then, to top it off, your family makes you choose: wheat bread or bacon? If you want to keep eating bacon, you can't have your old life. You have to leave your family and go out into the world. If you pick wheat bread, you can go back home. So: health, home, and wheat bread; or sickness, strangeness, and bacon?

It doesn't seem like much of a choice. That's what the Amish kids basically get. They aren't educated outside of their community, so when they have to choose what life they want, they almost always pick Amish.

Furthermore, some kids do pick the English life. But guess what happens to them? They have to go out into the world WITH AN EIGHTH GRADE EDUCATION. You can imagine how successful they will be.

So I don't really have much respect for the Amish, because they brainwash their children and deny them a lot of opportunities. Also, they have a lot of genetic problems from inbreeding (bilirubin problems in particular), and that's not cool either. Oh, and did I mention how they treat their women? LIKE SHIT. Amish women can't do shit except cook and clean and squeeze out more Amish babies. Because they have vaginas. Oh, and because some bitch named Eve gave some dude named Adam an apple. So, you know, if you have a vagina you should really just stay in the kitchen and cover up, for god's sake.

But what kills me is that for some reason, people fucking WORSHIP the Amish. They take special trips to Amish country. They go crazy over photographing buggies and hitching posts. They buy books that paint the Amish as a noble and admirable people. They lose their fucking minds over quilts. Enough with the fucking quilts. Boyfriend's mother makes quilts and you don't see a bunch of people acting like jackasses to get one.

I'm not saying that the Amish aren't nice or whatever. The Amish people that I've met are so damn sweet they'll make your teeth rot and fall out. But I don't think any group of people that purposefully denies its children educational opportunities or keeps its women so subservient deserves that sort of hero-worship.
I realize, of course, that the elder Amish are themselves lacking in educational opportunities, and don't know any better themselves. But it's still not okay that they shame and guilt their kids into following their religion. Or that they keep their kids stupid so that they don't know any better. Or deprives their women of choices and careers (A documentary on the Amish called Devil's Playground profiles a 42 year old woman who uses anorexia as her only means of birth control; she didn't want more than eight kids). For crying out loud, they don't even want their people to get treatment for mental disorders.

That's just how I see the Amish. They aren't monsters or anything, but they aren't much more than a group of people whose religion keeps them ignorant. So I don't get the reverence.

But, to be fair, I do enjoy Fasnachts, so I guess I have the Amish to thank for that.

Spare the rod

When I ride the subway to and from work everyday, it's generally pretty deserted since I'm going the opposite direction of most of the NY workforce. This leaves me a lot of time to sit and people-watch. Today, I was in a car with maybe 6 or 7 people, all spread out. To my left and across the aisle, in line with my peripheral vision, was a mother and son.

They were pretty ordinary, except that the son was whining for something or other. He looked like he was roughly 8 or 9 years old. I'm not sure what he was whining for, but he kept doing that "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" thing over and over again.

I know how super frustrating that constant whining is from kids. They don't know when to stop, and it really grates the nerves. This mom felt that way too, apparently. Because she was FUCKING LOSING HER SHIT. Conversation sample:

Child: Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!
Mom: Shut up! SHUT UP! You sound STUPID! You shut up NOW.
Child: Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!
Mom: I WILL PUT MY FIST IN YOUR MOUTH. SHUT UP.
Child: Mommy!!!! MOMMY!

At this point, the mom started slapping him. She started on the leg, with quick swats. When the kid didn't relent, she graduated to slapping him on the side of the head and face. I guess the kid is pretty used to this by now, because he was still pestering her. She did the old "cheek squeeze," where you grab the kid's cheeks between your fingers and squeeze their mouths into a fish face (My mom used to pull that one. That shit hurts). Between the bouts of physical violence, she threw in a bunch of physical threats (YOU WANT THIS HAND IN YOUR FACE?) and generally nasty comments (YOU SOUND STUPID, ARE YOU STUPID?)

I think it's safe to say that most of the people in the car were watching this peripherally. At one point, a guy on my side of the car made eye contact with me in a can-you-believe-this sort of way. But no one said anything, and eventually my stop came and I left the car.

I don't have anything too profound to say about the incident. I got hit a lot as a kid, and it's not like I never see parents being physically rough with their children in public. But it just made me sad. It made me think about the things that this mother inflicts on her child in the privacy of their home. It made me think about how I was witnessing a kid's life unravel, because his parent doesn't know how to properly respond to a nagging child.

I don't believe in spanking or using intimidation to raise kids. And I'm adamant about not using violence to raise my own potential offspring. Resorting to spanking/slapping is a quick fix, and it's a terrible example to set for your children. I think it breeds a lot of resentment between parent and child, and kills the potential for teaching moments and open dialogue. It fails to teach long-term consequences. And if you have a kid like I was, eventually it doesn't work. Eventually, you get a kid who doesn't give a shit how hard or how often you hit. So you hit harder and more often. And then your kid fucking hates you. So, you know, I just don't think it's a good idea.

I realize that alternative disciplinary tactics (I am thinking specifically of time-outs, reward systems, etc) take time. They take more patience than the average person possesses. They take more time to kick in. But when they do, they kick-in for the long haul. They create an environment in which the child can understand the ramifications of their behavior (rather than "because I said so"). And they teach the child to evaluate their actions beyond "will I get caught?" But let's get one thing straight: they don't "spoil" the child. If you are a grown-ass person and you think that failing to HIT a CHILD will spoil them, then do us all a favor and stay the fuck away from children. You fucking bully.

Once, in a college class, we were debating this very topic. One particular student made the claim that she had been spanked, and had turned out "okay." I would counter that her anecdote is not something that we can generalize to a larger population. I would also counter that her definition of "okay" is not the same as my definition of "okay." I would further counter that perhaps she could have "turned out better," had she not been hit. But we can't know that for sure, can we? So, the argument isn't valid.

I hope that mother somehow receives the help that she needs. Unfortunately, that kid is pretty much damaged goods already. It's likely that he'll grow up to treat his kids in the same way.
Cycle of abuse, blah blah.

Anyway, it just made me sad.

Post-election blah

Don't get me wrong, I'm still elated at the outcome of the election. Every time I think about it, I pee my pants a little (in excitement, not in fear). But as much as the election brought out the worst in some people, the outcome brought out even more.

Here's a good example. This was on the facebook status of a friend's high school friend:

I NEVER want to hear about African Americans complaining about anything being unfair to them ever again. if that makes me a racist, so be it.

Oh, I'm sorry, is racism extinct? I hadn't heard that. I didn't know that putting a black person in a position of power automatically ended all institutionalized racism in this country. I didn't know that Obama's presidency immediately got blacks equal pay, equal educational opportunities, better neighborhoods, and better treatment from white people. I didn't know that putting Obama in the white house would ensure that cops didn't unnecessarily arrest or shoot innocent black people. Phew. What a fucking relief. Racism and dinosaurs: You don't have to worry about them anymore!

I don't know who that bitch is who wrote that. Coincidentally, Macon D covered this topic today, so I sent the link to my friend, who posted it so that the waste-of-life who wrote that status could see it. Like always, Macon D said it better than I can.

So as much as I am ecstatic with Obama's presidency, I am deeply saddened and troubled by the attitudes and ideals of my own peers. For some reason, I can only see some 80 year old southern grandma saying awful, awful things like that. But to hear it from the mouth of someone young and supposedly educated makes me feel so sick. To think that people like that are representing part of my demographic brings the taste of bile into my mouth.

On a related note, let's not forget about Prop 8. Unbe-fucking-lievable. There are hardly words. When will people see the discrimination? The unconstitutionality? The perverted sense of right and wrong? As an atheist, I don't believe in hell. But if I'm wrong, and there is a hell, I'm POSITIVE that there are spots reserved for people who would actively discriminate against their fellow man in such a manner. And I know that no benevolent god would save a place in heaven for bigots assholes trash shitmotherfuckerdouchedicks. My only consolation in this is that the ACLU and a few other groups are bringing lawsuits in an attempt to claim that the proposition would alter the state constitution and warrants more consideration than a popular vote. So maybe something will come of that. I've said it before and I'll say it again: GAYS ARE PEOPLE AND CITIZENS TOO. THEIR MARRIAGE WILL NEVER HURT YOURS. THEIR MARRIAGES WILL NOT BE "TAUGHT" TO YOUR CHILDREN. YOUR PRIESTS WILL NOT HAVE TO PERFORM THEIR MARRIAGES. GAY MARRIAGE IS NOT BAD FOR CHILDREN. YOU CAN'T "CATCH" GAY. But apparently stupid is genetic, so stop having kids and raising them to post facebook statuses like the one above.

Racism and homophobia will never die. But I wish the pieces of shit who keep trying to make those things legal and commonplace would keel the fuck over right now.

I get my first paycheck in two weeks. The first think I'm doing is writing a check to both the NAACP, GLAAD, and Planned Parenthood. Those links go to the donation pages, and so I encourage you to do the same.

Update: I just read Melissa Etheridge's brilliant fucking plan: California won't give equal rights to gays? Then gays won't pay California taxes. Too bad, could have done a lot with Ellen's tax money.

SHAZAAAAAAM

YES. WE. DID.

Can it be votez time now pleez?

Ok, we voted. Took about 10 minutes. No problems, no one asked us for ID, no one told us we weren't in the books. Nice and simple. And the machines were those old lever machines!! The last three elections I voted in (2004, 2006 mid-terms, and 2008 primaries) were all the fancy-shmancy computer touch-screens. I liked the lever machine because it made me remember going to vote with my mom, and how she let me flip the switch (I'm sure it was for a Republican candidate, but it was a nice memory anyhow). AND it makes that satisfying mechanical sound.

We celebrated at IHOP with strawberry milkshakes and bacon. Mmmm. Election-day bacon.

And now enjoy my favorite Barack Obama viral video:

Innnnnerestin'

I have the day off of work today to vote, although I don't need it because I'm waiting for Boyfriend's work-day to end so we can vote together. I'm all antsy about it. CNN is on in the background, and Palin just cast her vote and is getting interviewed. Someone asked her who she voted for. Her response:

"I am also exercising my right to privacy! I don't have to tell anybody who I vote for, nobody does, and that's really cool about America."

Do I doubt that Palin voted for McCain? Not really. But wtf? Sarah, aren't you supposed to ENDORSE your OWN ticket? Also, the line about how the right to privacy is "really cool about America" slays me. Is she implying that other countries don't have secret ballots? Because here's a list of them...

I may be reading into that statement too much, but I get really sick of the constant implications that America is somehow more civilized, or socially advanced, or "the best country in the world." Sure, there are worse places to live. But I don't think this country can hold a candle to certain other countries in terms of infant mortality rates, health care, civil rights, education, and foreign policy. And I think that constantly denying our problems through rhetoric only negates and undermines the efforts of people who want to fix those problems.

Go vote to fix those problems today. If you encounter any problems, call the ACLU Voting Rights Project at 1-877-523-2792. You can even call if there are too few machines that cause discouragingly long lines (this happened to me when I voted in the 2004 election. I had to wait for a few hours, miss work, and miss class. A lot of people didn't vote because they didn't have hours to stand in line. I wish I knew that I could have called someone about that).

Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow

So sad that Obama's grandmother died the day before her grandson was (most likely) elected president.

First day of work today. I'm so fucking exhausted. But it was good, and most of all I'm pleased that everyone was a fervent Obama supporter. So I think I'll fit in.

Tomorrow is the day that everything changes.

Live from New York, it's a last-minute attempt to endear yourself to voters!

If there's anything to say about McCain's last-minute SNL appearance tonight, it's that this was the only time that I have ever felt like he was kind of a cute old codger. I especially enjoyed the line about being a Maverick republican, because other republicans have money.

How come Daisy, Daisy Adair (yay obscure reference to obsolete premium channel show!) didn't speak? I have a feeling that there is a strict "keep your goddamn fool mouth shut, woman" clause in her wedding vows. I know that she does speak, I just hardly ever hear it. She knows that rogues get the back hand in McCain-land.

Man, SNL sucks since Tina Fey left as head writer. I mean, the skits just fucking draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag. Like they did before Tina Fey was head writer. Sl-o-o-o-o-w. It's sad when McCain is actually the comedy highlight of the show.

Okay, just a few more hours of Fallout 3 and then bed. If anyone is looking for a good gift for a nerd in your life, I and Boyfriend highly recommend it. I don't even normally like first-person shooters, but this one is off the chain, as the kids are saying.

Wicked, wicked wabbit

We went to a showing of Wicked last night for our anniversary. We had good seats, not nose-bleed or anything. It was a good show, by the way, but I think I rank it below Young Frankenstein and Avenue Q.

But upon our return that night, the first thing I noticed was that clumps of something were all over our area rug. Clumps of something blue, brown, and tan. All over our blue, brown, and tan rug. And in the midst of these yarn-y, colorful clumps, was our house-bunny. Our bored house-bunny. Our bored house-bunny who decided to occupy his time by pulling up chunks of our rug.



Bastard.



Glad we figured this out now before I went to work on Monday and left him loose all day.