rhiannonmr | Recent Entries

Ya know it's been a bit over a year since my sister passed away from the cancer. Next month it will be a year since my mother died from the Alzheimers and other complications. And yesterday when Robin Williams suicide was announced I cried just as hard for him as I did for C and Mom. I didn't personally know him, but I loved his comedy and I loved several of his movies, less said about 'Popeye' the better. He was a part of my word from his early TV work, to videos of his comedy specials, to seeing 'Good Morning Vietnam' in a theater on a military instalation in Germany back when it first came out. The laughs came constant throughout the movie and yeah I've no doubt there were Vietnam vets in that theater laughing with those of us who had not been there. I found myself wondering why his suicide is affecting me. As I said he wasn't a personal friend. I never raved about his acting per se, I'd comment that this or that movie he was in was good and boy he got robbed at Oscar time when he either did not win, or did not get nominated. He won one, for 'Good Will Hunting'. It was nice they finally saw what others had seen for years: he could act, and do it well. I think it may well be affecting me here because I know depression, know it too well. I've been in therapy, been on antidepressants, and still depression dogs me at times. I know depression. I know how it feels to want to die, I planned my suicide once, the one thing I could not figure out, was who would take care of my two cats at the time, so I didn't go through with it. I couldn't abandon my kittehs who've since gone over the rainbow bridge to kitteh heaven. So, I get how he felt. I wish he hadn't done it, but I get it. My sympathies to his family and friends who lost way more than the rest of us when he exited stage left.

Another who has passed is Lauren Bacall. A very classy lady who I only knew through her autobiography. She died yesterday at age 89. I don't feel sad over her departure into the next great adventure. She had a good long life. Nothing lost with her.

As I said in my first para, my sister passed away a little over a year ago at the age of 55(just shy of her 56th birthday). Pancreatic cancer got her in the end, though she made it farther and longer than her prognosis. We fought like cats and dogs sometimes, but someone pick on her, or do the same to me, and it was ON. We'd stand together against any comers. I miss her. I miss Mom who really has been gone mentally much longer than the physical. She had a seizure(stroke?) in 2012 and after that she was bedbound. Before that though she lived in her memories. My mother always, always, always had a book or two going that she was reading, in the last years she couldn't remember from one day to the next what she'd read. A dreadful thing for someone who respected the written word so much. I miss what she was, I miss her and I have for a good while now. Mom was 81 when she moved on, and I tell myself she's with Da, and C, and 9 of her 12 sibs(she came from a family of 13 kids, 3 are still living) and the party must be loud with the Irish music and dancing. It's been a rough year living with the loss of them.

And Robin's death just hit me. C and I saw him at the Boardinghouse in San Francisco back in 1977 before Mork and Mindy. We laughed so hard we had tears coming down our faces. The man was astounding in a live show, and he only got better. His movie career was a revelation in that the dramatic roles were better to me than the comedy. Oh comedy paid his bills, no doubt about that but 'Awakenings'? That was acting. And good acting at that. He will be missed.

Current Mood: Sad
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Deniece Williams-Silly

May 2014 be a much better year for everyone. 2013 was a tough one. That's all I can say. I hope everyone has much better fortune in the new one.

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Counting Stars

So in the US of A we have a massive government shutdown, ongoing since the 1st of the month. Now if you do any surfing of the Internets you can't escape the bloody thing. Just cannot if you hit any of the news sites, unless you are hitting extremely local and specialised sites. And why is it happening? Believe me a lot of Americans from the US are asking the same damned question. And the mainstream media(I'm looking at you CNN) is too damned timid to call it like it is. False equivalency is the name of the game here and that's to put it bluntly horse shit. The people who are holding the US of A's federal government hostage are approximately 81 extremely extremist republicans who were elected from districts so gerrymandered that had proper districting happened, very few of them could get elected to anything better than dog catcher. These are people who were elected to dismantle the government, to shrink it down to nothing at all, except what benefits them and theirs. In other words: Traitors.

These are people who don't give a rat's ass about anyone but themselves, anything but what they believe in or want to have. Selfish assholes who for the most part would flunk the most basic civics class required in the state of California to graduate from high school. One of them said something today that had me shaking my head and just ... oh hell no, he didn't just say the US government has 4 branches did he? I'm not a lawyer, did not get an Interwebs law degree, but I had to take ConLaw as a core class for my criminal justice degree back in the very early 90s. I actually went out looking for a copy of the US constitution today(it's easy to find online), and no where in that very clear document does it describe 4 branches of federal government. It describes three, executive(the president, cabinet, et al), legislative(the senate, house of representatives(bozos!)), and the judicial(starting w/the supreme court and down through the federal circuit courts). All this is accessible online. I am sure Apple has an app for it and Android probably does to. If they don't maybe some smart programming type with a poly sci minor could write one.

So, now we are hitting phase II of this thing, as if phase I didn't suck enough here ... Having put a whole lot of US Americans in financial pain by shutting down the federal government, these bozos are doing all they can to ensure that the US of A defaults on it's debt payments, by refusing to raise the 'debt ceiling'(whatever that is). Without raising that ceiling, we default on debt payments. Hello economic collapse world edition. It won't just tank the US of A's economy, it will severely hurt everyone else's economy. So the bozos are playing chicken and guess what? The stakes went up and not in a good way. Whoever thought shutting down the government to get their way was a good idea? Shoot yourselves, NOW. What kills me is this is over a law that has gone into effect as of 1 October, the day they shut down government because 41+ attempts to defund it didn't work, a Supreme Court challenge didn't work and it is the law of the land already. Can we arrest these treasonous fools now? Can we lock them up and try them for gross stupidity? And for anyone who doesn't know what they want gone? It's easily that very socialist piece of legislation that many didn't think went far enough: the Affordable Care Act(AKA Obamacare). I personally believe it to be flawed as I really thought we should've gone single provider, like other countries have.

So now they sit and stubbornly refuse to do anything to make this right. They will not vote on anything that doesn't defund ACA, they stubbornly refuse to believe how catastrophic defaulting US debt would be worldwide. They are acting like toddlers on a sugar rampage and doing all they can to ensure their rampage hurts everyone, continuously blaming everyone but themselves for the shit storm they started, and will not give in so saner folk can try to salvage the mess. I want to punch them all in the throat hard enough to severely hurt them. Dreams of firing squads have hit me and I don't even agree with the death penalty. They are still trying shenanigans with birth control coverage and such. Their politics are garbage, unless you are a white male who votes for them. The rest of us do not count.

So yeah, this ... just has me enraged. I get disability through VA. I got paid this month. I might get paid next month. I might not though. My son in the Army? Got his end of month September check, he will not get his mid-month October check. And he is one of many serving in the military who will not get paid who's creditors could frankly care less. They need to be paid now, not when the government opens up again. And here's a kick in the face of all those federal employees who are furloughed and not getting paid on time. The people who did this to all of us? Well, they are getting paid.

So seriously folks, why isn't someone over at the Attorney General's office not making a case for arresting them for treason? Because I think you could show probable cause and you might just make it stick on some of them. Let's start with Ted Cruz(junior senator from TX, Republican(Tea Party)). A man who would dearly love to be on the party ticket for the presidency in 2016(not eligible, born in Canada(pity Canada probably won't take his ass back)). He's been all over the place bleating that it's the Dems fault when he's also egging the worst of the House on in their refusal to negotiate or surrender to logic. Hell someone has a list of these people who's goal has been all along to shut down the US. Arrest them, try them and then? Put them in Leavenworth or a nasty supermax. No club fed for these bozos. Give them the diet a person on food stamps has to endure. Show them how the rest of us who aren't taking lobby money from everyone and not making congress person's pay live. Let them join the 99%.

Current Mood: angry
Current Location: Home
Current Music: None

Well I've been away again. Unfortunately not for any good things. My mother died on September 27, so I had to go out to San Francisco for the funeral and the only computer I took was my iPad which sucks for any real use as a computer. Not sure how it is supposed to replace a laptop or a desktop but it makes a good eReader and I was able to surf the web a bit with it. It is not kept up to date on bookmarks and such so I had a very outdated bookmark list. I dislike the no keyboard option and have not purchased the plug in keyboard for it. The battery life was frankly worse than my phone. So we had a funeral and a good crowd showed up. Surprising since she was 81, and a good portion of her generation has passed on. This has been a shit yr death wise in my family. In January and March, we lost two of Mom's older sisters, in June we lost my sister, and now Mom is gone. As my older sister said, 'there's been too many damned funerals this yr.'

For Mom though I really do think it was a blessing. She has been having the Alzheimers for years, and last year she had a stroke that she never came back from. After the stroke she never said another word and never got out of bed again. It's sad because for years this was someone who if she was awake, she was doing something.

Seeing my siblings was good. Oddly enough I have the least grey hair of all of them. All of us with one exception quit smoking. All of us left have children, my sister and I have grandchildren. My sister's third grandchild was born last saturday, nice reminder of the circle of life that. Two of us are divorced, the other two are married the one time, one for over 36 years! We are all heavy readers, and we all have iPhones. That last surprised me.

San Francisco has changed and not changed at the same time. It had been some time since I had been out there. So some changes have happened. Inevitable, time passes things change. But it was so recognisably San Francisco and so damned familiar even if the bus numbers have changed in some routes, that it felt like I'd not left at all. I wasn't in the neighborhood I grew up in, that house is rented with tenants in it. I was in a neighborhood I knew real well because my bff from HS lived there. The 'hood I grew up in has changed a great deal. When I lived there in the 70s it was Irish/Italian/Jewish immigrants, now it is almost entirely Asian, with a side of little old Irish/Italian/Jewish lady who live in the houses they raised their kids in. It's a good place to raise kids and the Asians are doing just that. Pretty much following the pattern set before our wave moved in.

I DID get to do a very little touristing. I went down to the Embarcadero, snooped around a bit. Hit downtown and Union Square. Wandered into Barney's. Got some Sees candy for my roommate. Walked my bloody feet off and had a ball doing it. Had that absolutely fabulous fall weather the entire time I was there. I am sure they are in for the usual fog soon. I would've liked to get to Fisherman's wharf but ... it didn't happen. Maybe next time.

So I'm home now. I doubt I will be back to San Francisco any time soon. I didn't want to make this trip. The reason for going was the reason I didn't want to go. Anyways, I worry about my sister who caught the brunt of the care giving duties with Mom, she was burned out and now, she has all that time that was dedicated to Mom and what does she do now? Fortunately she has a great spouse who will be there for her, but I worry because it was so hard on her. And she still has stuff to do as the executor of the estate. Not fun. She was joking last week that since the Federal Govt shutdown she can't even notify them of her death(Mom was retired from the Postal Service and got Social Security). So yeah it aint over, but it is somehow.

So yeah I'm back and I'm actually okay with this. Mom's last years were not good ones. She's moved on to 'the next great adventure' as it were. There is a sense of closure when one attends a funeral mass and burial. The closure being whatever unfinished business was left? Well it's done now. So pull up the socks and get on with it. She'd want you to do that.

Current Mood: okay
Current Location: Home
Current Music: None

Well I have a really good friend I went to college with who pretty much hits every movie showing. It's her thing, she likes movies and she can afford to go for the most part. So she called me about a week ago and mentioned the Mortal Instruments and asked if I wanted to go. I was more than a bit negative. I want to see The Butler myself and my funds are limited so I'm not spending a dime on an adaptation of anything written by Cassandra Clare. I'm afraid I was a bit snarky about it and she wanted the story. I told her hit the movie and call me later.

She lasted 20 minutes. She walked out, got a refund and hit me on speed dial in the parking lot with her cell. What the hell was that, she asked. We arranged to meet at a place with wifi and I brought the iPad so she could see the Bad_Penny stories about CC's plagiarism. There is NOT enough booze on the planet to tell this story to someone who has no interest in fandom. My friend was flabbergasted that this woman got picked up by publishers who read a live journal where she ripped off Bridget Jone's Diary and made it about the freakin hobbits in LOTR. She was further amazed when I explained another claim to fame was teh Draco trilogy where she basically invented Draco in leather pants. The whole thing about her bullying people in fandom online? The laptop thing? The iPod thing? Heidi patrol and the Inner Circle? Well that was a bit too involved for her and even a bit much for me since while I enjoy fanfiction and fandom? I wasn't that involved that I got noticed by the BNFs of the day and quite frankly I am glad their day is DONE.

My friend who has absolutely NO fandom involvement was amazed that someone like her got published. I pretty much said CC was real good at networking and advancing her cause which is CC. She used people left right and center and for some reason got away with it. I wonder what Heidi Tandy might say about her now that CC has her books and such but Heidi got nothing in the way of thanks for any of it. Heidi had to be one of CC's biggest boosters in HP for the longest time. Didn't she organise the whiparound to get CC a new laptop when her apt in New York got burglarised? Oh and her roommate and boyfriend too? Wasn't she the one who set up the 501(c)3 to get Fiction Alley up so CC's fiction would be online AFTER ff.net booted her for the plagiarism in the Draco Trilogy? Wasn't she one of CC's BFFs???

Ah well guess the intellectual property lawyer from FL didn't make the cut, when CC went bigtime published writer. Too bad. I suspect Aja might sympathise....NOT!!!

Anyways it's always fun to see a nonfandom person's reaction to this. And my friend did not disappoint. She was like this was more drama than my divorce. I was like and it was safer than my divorce too. We had a good laugh and we might catch The Mortal Instruments on cable, but I doubt it.

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: Home
Current Music: None

Years ago, back in the stone age according to my daughter, but actually when disco was a trend, when I was in high school I was in the choir. I was in choir all through high school and junior high school. I loved to sing, just loved to. Loved to perform. I don't think I ever had a moment of stage fright or fear of it. And I WAS GOOD. I won a scholarship to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and I turned it down. There were reasons, always there were reasons. And yes there were over the yrs regrets, but not many. It was right at that time and I refuse to cry in my beer over it. I won the music awards that the school awarded and one from the Bank of America. I don't have those awards now, since I left them with my mother(along with the HS diploma) and God only knows where they are today and yes I am proud that I was that good.

Anyways I've had what some refer to as an earworm lately. Just cannot get this song out of my head and it's a piece I performed last in 1976 in A Capella choir called "Movin' On". Now I know damned well it's still performed and youtube brought up some excellent, good and not so good performances of it. The absolute best version was a mens chorus in Colorado. They had a soloist that gave me goosebumps here. He was that good.

The song is one commonly used in choirs, but it isn't as trite or as superficial as a lot of modern choral music can be. I wonder what the writer was thinking when he wrote it. I know it really hit me where I was living in 1974 when I first learned it and I was dealing with grief over the death of a first cousin I was close to who drowned at the beach one Saturday one week into the yr. I'm going to post the lyrics as I found them on the Internet because they still speak to me. Even almost 40yrs later they speak. And yeah there's been loss since then and gains but oh .... I wonder what the composer was thinking when he wrote this.

there is a voice that has no name
it comes with evening or behind the rain
i have no time now to stop and explain
i just keep moving
cause it helps to ease the pain

the night has music that calls to me
across the shadows of an endless sea
i seek the shadows of yesterday
today has hold me and i must be on my way

speak to me softly but tell me no lies
i see tomorrow shinning in your eyes
i have no time now to stop and explain
i just keep moving
cause it helps to ease the pain

Oh and for anyone wondering, my sister who was diagnosed in 2005 with pancreatic cancer has beat the odds. She's still here 8yrs later when they only gave her at most 3yrs.

Current Mood: melancholy
Current Location: Home
Current Music: moving on

in hell with your good bud Ronald Reagan. Yeah that sounds cold, especially since I am not British, nor did I live there during her time in office. Her and Reagan defined a decade that was the coldest nastiest of ages since WWII and gloried in it. I guarantee when Bush Sr and Jr die I will buy the champagne and get totaled. I will do the same when Rick Perry goes. Hell we need him out of the governor's office NOW. He's been governor of TX since Bush got the presidency in 2000!

I lived through Reagan. I lived through the belicosity that was that final chapter of the "cold war" where we spent the USSR into the dirt and pretty much did the same here except they had no money and we had a dime left. We are still paying the price of 'trickle down economics' what a load of horse shit that was and the exceptional person. Load of tosh that. I got totaled the day Reagan passed. He destroyed California and then moved up to the rest of the US. For all his folksy image the man was dangerous. And they've practically sainted him here in the US. That really frosts the cake here.

The telling of the character of a person or government is what they will do for the less privileged or weaker of their people. In that Reagan and Maggie offered the oft offered, 'pull up by your bootstraps' option. Works if you have bootstraps in the first place. Lotta folk didn't even have shoes metaphorically speaking. I will really party when the bankrupt ideology of Thatcherism and Reaganomics finally sail off into the political sunset. That will be a day to celebrate.

Current Location: Home
Current Music: None

Guess who's back? In yet another fandom. Now making an appearance in Supernatural fandom, everyone's favorite con artist(?), Andy Blake who was known as all those other names listed in the title. Now I'm not in Supernatural as a fandom, but this person is notorious throughout fandom for his antics. He currently uses the name Andythanfiction on tumblr and is writing meta about Supernatural. Honestly, did he not do enough damage back in the day?

Andy started small. In the 90's it was Voyager fandom and Due South. At the time he identified as female and wrote some het fic. Check out Trekiverse for the Voyager stuff, if it was posted there, it's still there. That's one monstrous huge archive and it's still maintained. IIRC correctly VoyagerBabe was on several Paris/Torres mail lists, not really crazy there. That came later. I was in Voyager fandom but pretty quiet in that I didn't belong to a lot of mail lists(didn't have time; grad school and nuclear divorce were also happening then) so I didn't know him then.

I totally missed the LOTR fandom and all I can say is "whew! Dodged that wanky mess!" From everything I hear after the fact, it was one hell of a ride as a fandom, but it did flame out for the most part after the last movie. Of course by then 'Tentmoot' had happened and that truly is Andy's claim to fame in many ways.

turimel has written the book on that one, literally. And of course fandom wank had plenty to say about it. Short story, Andy met Orangeblossom online, moved in with her(moving cross country to do so) aided in imploding OB(Orangeblossom's) marriage and then decided to throw a convention. Around that time Andy changed her name from Victoria Bitter(her LOTR name) to Jordan Wood and started identifying as male. And of course there were problems. Lots of problems. Seems like Andy is quite charismatic and really does know how to lay on the charm and all that. Thing is, throwing a con takes a lot of work and organisation and I don't think Andy had a fucking clue how much it took at that time. So of course it imploded, and of course some folks lost money. And hard feelings were had by all. And Andy? When it fell apart, Andy took a handful of pills(this according to Orangeblossom who has posted extensively about this on her own blog) passed out and got 48hrs in the hospital for a failed suicide attempt.

turimel being one of the burned wrote a book about it and published it. It's still available on Amazon. I haven't read it, and yes this is no where near the detail she had here, this is the VERY short version. And nowhere near ALL teh crazy that surrounded Andy at this time. Orangeblossom was with Andy for yrs and it took some serious intervention to break away. I will link to her blog at the end of this entry. I ripped through it last night because my best bud called at 0230 back from China, still on China time and woke my ass up, so, I've been catching up on this and refamiarising myself with the tale, because I couldn't get back to sleep. God when I crash it will be epic!

Anyways

turimel wrote her book and kept a wary eye out on Andy. Smart move that, Andy wasn't done by a longshot. Sometime in the middle of the decade, Orangeblossom hit the fucking wall with the crazy and called her mother and got rescued. Kudos to her mother for NOT letting Andy drive her away. It had to be so damned hard to watch her daughter go through this and I doubt she knew the half of it at the time it was going on. Not much was being heard about Andy in fandom, the occasional fandom wank appearance where people were like '

turimel get a life!'

Then,

thanfiction showed up and started posting over on ff.net, "Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness"(DAYD). And it hit rec lists and it was talked about. It spawned an LJ community, and other people started writing short one shots in his universe and he got fans. Lots of them. And the stories about his life, his miserable fucked up abused child soldier fleeing the IRA life. Wait! Unpack that last sentence. Child soldier? Fleeing the IRA? Abused? Where do you start with this stew of crazy??? All I can say is NONE of this is or was true. Andy Blake was born Amy Player in the USA and grew up here. AFAIK he has NEVER been to Northern Ireland. Rumor has it he spoke with an Irish accent(I would've dearly loved to have heard it, just so I could call bullshit on it), and claimed to have been in the IRA. IIRC correctly, Amy/Andy was born in 1983, the Peace Accords were signed in 1998 when he was 15yrs old. I rather doubt the IRA story for those reasons. As for being a child soldier? When? Andy's life has been pretty well documented by his Internet presence and the people who know him.

And of course

turimel has kept her eye out for him. She outed him as

thanfiction in 2009 when the DAYD fans decided to throw a convention. She smelled scam and it might have become one, but Andy was NOT the organiser. But it hit fandom wank then and the reaction? Pretty much to be expected. This person is never ever going away and maybe

turimel should just let go. And ya know I do understand that feeling, except ...

thanfiction HAS hurt people and in 2011 three people died. Brittany Quinn who was involved in the DAYDverse and his group of fans was killed by her estranged SO, along with a roommate and the SO(who suicided). Andy was shot in the ankle. That right there pretty much changed how I view

turimel and her watching this character. It gets worse. Much worse in that

thanfiction milked this into donations so he could do some long assed hike in memorium to Brittany and used her story as the basis of an anti-domestic violence website to get more fans or minions to follow the sunshining out of his ass. He also got a tumblr account where he writing meta about Supernatural. The fen there are getting the msg about this guy and hopefully he won't be involved in other deaths. The mental damage he has done in the past is considerable. I personally would not trust a word out of his lying mouth. And I feel real sorry for his parents.

Now some links. Orangeblossom/AKA Abbey blogs over on Wordpress as KumquatWriter. She has tagged all the Andy stuff under The Crazy Train. Very informative and yes it explained a hell of a lot. URL=http://kumquatwriter.wordpress.com/

Flutiebear at tumblr has put out the word and has plenty of links over on tumblr. Have a link=
http://flutiebear.tumblr.com/post/43988347092/a-con-artist-in-our-midst

And of course Journalfen at Clairvoyantwank has a report. http://www.journalfen.net/community/clairvoyantwank/

I'd post a link the FW wiki but it's been down for months which is a real pain in the neck since there is so much there concerning Andy Blake under all his identities.

Current Mood: Tired
Current Location: Home
Current Music: The Lumineers-Ho Hey

I've been away for well over 3yrs now. Looking around I was surprised at how many are still here. Anyways, the election just happened and I voted and my guy at the top won. Not so much on the state level and well TX put a Tea Party Rethug(if it's Tea Party, it's thug!) in. I became a Grandmother in December 2009, when my dearest daughter gave birth to a boy and a girl. Go Baby! She had a harsh pregnancy, with twins and all that. My son has been to Iraq twice and Afghanistan looms large in his future. For some reason that bothers me much more than Iraq ever did. Could it be that the history of fighting against Afghanis is so damned nasty for the non-Afghani? No one has ever really been able to conquer them ... see USSR(1979), Great Britain(mid19th Century) and others of course.

Anyways in time things have changed quite a bit here.
( Read more... )
Obamacare got me health coverage through my SO(who I've called Roomie here). Of course VA has taken up a lot of slack for quite some time here. I have a dear friend who voted against Obama last time but voted for based on Obamacare this time. It actually benefited her and her kids and it was enough for her to go pro and vote Dem for the first time like ever. Nah, she voted for Bill Clinton, which considering she's evangelical, shocked me. Bill's main claim to fame aside from Monica, is that he WAS one damned effective politician. I can totally believe Obama's jokes about making him the Secretary of 'Splaining things. Bill got it done. Bill could walk into a room of folk who LOATHED him and walk out besties when he was done. Don't know how he did it, but he did.

Anyways TX elected a Tea Party dude to the senate. Now, I loathe Cornyn, but he's a business as usual TX pol. He's been around the State Agency block here in Austin as it were. I know nothing about this dude Cruz, other than he's Tea Party. I voted against based on the Tea Party thing. They DO NOT speak for me or to my needs as a constituent of the US. So I voted for the other guy who got shellacked by 17% points. It happens, but I suspect in 2016 TX will shock the hell outta the folk who think it's in the bag as a red state. Five of the 6 most populous counties went blue this time and did the same last time. Our Latino population is growing, and they don't care for 'self-deportation'? Good God, some of the Latino families here in TX have been in the US longer than my WHITE family!

I told a friend of mine the other night that I was getting a mite upset with the term used to 'splain the result here: demographics. Seemed like it was a way for the white male talking heads to describe 'the other' who voted; the female, the nonwhite, the non-Christian. Kinda like a buzzword to say ... NOT us. Guess what white guy Protestant? There are more of US, than you! Yeppers! Women are 53% of the population and no we are NOT the 'little women' who vote lockstep with our spouses, fathers, brothers. Latinos will outnumber Anglo Texans in the near future, Asians are a growing population in the US. And blacks are pretty much saying, try to supress us and we WILL respond, and YOU will NOT like it.

Yeah, threaten our bodily autonomy and burn ... Most of Team Rape as Jezebel called 'em are gone. Shows what it means to piss of women. The idiots who talked of 'legitimate rape' lost big. As for that guy in Indiana who said that rape babies are a gift from God and went on about how abortion was adding violence against an already violated woman? Okay, warning here, I will discuss my OWN personal business here since I CAN address him here. I am pro-choice. I don't remember a time when I wasn't, and that includes the yr 1981, when I was raped and became pregnant as a result. I gave birth to that child and raised him. He is my son, who I love dearly for who HE is, not who his father was. He has grown to be a man I am proud to call my son. But having him, and raising him was MY CHOICE. No one else s. I was in California when it happened, abortion WAS an option, I chose NOT. I CHOSE. Not some asshole politician who's never been there. I CHOSE. I was violated, I was impregnated and I chose to bring that life into being by continuing the joint occupancy of my body. My choice and yes I don't think I have ANY right to tell another woman how to control her reproduction. I've been on the pill, I've had the tubal ligation and all of that was MY choice. Not my pastor's, not my ex-spouses, and not anyone else s but mine. And I want that for my daughter and my granddaughter. I don't want anyone to hear a doctor question them about their spouses approval when they go for a tubal ligation. That happened to me, and I ended up in front of my ex's commanding officer when I slapped the doctor down verbally stating it was my choice and my body. Believe it or not, the CDR was on MY side. When I met his wife I got it. She was a feminist who made an impact on him.

So that last para explains a bit about me. Pro-life in my own dealings, pro-choice for everyone else. And the reason? I don't have the right to judge another, and I truly believe this. It is not my place to police others or tell them how to live. I am not with out sin. And I am no great example of how to live. I made my mistakes and I own them. And I DO NOT think a predominately male institution, Church or otherwise has the right to govern female bodies and reproduction. Just sayin' here. I may have been baptised Catholic but until the Church sees the light on contraception and reproduction(and they won't as long as men are in charge) I'm out. And honestly, one thing that totally pisses me off on the pro-life side of things? It's all good til that fetus is born! Then well... there is NO support for that child or it's mother. Sorry if you want them to give birth, better support the pregnancy and the result.

Which brings me to the real bugaboo here. Some of these pro-life folk would have NO problem with aborting minority children. Black, Latino, Asian... whatever. It aint white, so yeah get rid of it. And before ANYONE calls ME out? I am WHITE 1st gen American from Europe and IF anyone CAN say this, it's me. I've worked in the welfare office(food stamps, AFDC, & Medicaid), I saw women who were stuck, having kids they may have chosen not to had the option been there(which it hasn't since 1978). I saw generational welfare(I left BEFORE welfare reform). It still exists, I am sure. Racism exists and has consequences which I am sure the WASP(white anglo-saxon protestant) male will reap.

Ya know I'd have little problem with the pro-life agenda if it would support the mother and the child, it does not, so I cannot get behind it. And honestly? I don't think any person who cannot experience pregnancy because their gender doesn't? Well they need to shut up.

Current Mood: pensive
Current Location: Home
Current Music: None

It's been one hell of a week here. I grew up with Michael's music as background in my life. I remember Farrah and her incredible hair. My sister actually had that hair cut, I was lower maintenance myself. So where to start with my thoughts here.

You see I remember the Jackson Five appearing on the Ed Sullivan show and being riveted. I owned their first three albums on vinyl. I played them and I loved their music. I followed the Jacksons and listened to them pretty much on the radio but I always remembered their first releases as being something special. When Michael released 'Off the Wall' I was in the military and I heard it played at just about every damned party I went to and every club I hit in those days. Someone said on TV in an interview clip that Michael was the soundtrack of our lives and that makes sense. His presence was felt by all of us who came of age in the 70s and 80s.

Farrah had that TV show and tried to get a movie career going. The movie career never seemed to happen but her TV movies were definitely worth watching. 'The Burning Bed' was probably the movie that showed people she really was more than a pretty blonde. She really did get that role and it resonated. Another she did in the late 80s was 'Small Sacrifices' and it was awesomely done. I admired her as an actress taking those parts and delivering performances that still haunt. She took important parts and made them work.

I remember 'Thriller'. I remember wearing out two copies of the vinyl album. One I bought in Georgia, the other purchased in Germany. I had that last one until about 2002 when my son took one look at the vinyl collection and decided unilaterally that he could sell it. You can imagine I was not happy about that. I remember watching the premiere of the 'Thriller' video in San Francisco, in my Mom's livingroom with my parents, my sibs, their spouses and kids along with my own at the time. Same with 'We Are the World' where we all picked out the celebs we recognised.

I remember the tabloid stories about both Michael and Farrah. It seemed like their careers got overshadowed by those stories. I remember Michael's trial. I remember the drug busts of both Ryan O'Neil and Farah's son. I remember the bad things. I remember Michael's marriages to Lisa Marie and Debbie, and the divorces. And his kids. And the rumors of money issues for Jackson. A man who earned more money than most but couldn't seem to manage it.

What I want to remember is the talent of both of them. I want to remember how Michael owned any stage he appeared on. I want to remember that pretty blonde actress who could act. I want to remember the music of Michael and his brothers. I want that soundtrack in my life without remembering the odd stories about him and the selfmutilation by way of surgery that Michael did to himself.

Current Mood: sad
Current Music: Maybe Tomorrow-Jackson Five

Well life has been interesting lately. I upgraded from a PC to a Mac G5 in the last few days and I'm getting used to the differences. There IS a learning curve, even if it is relatively gentle. Certain moves I could and DID do on the Windows system don't fly on a Mac. The good thing is the Mac is pretty damned forgiving. I swore last summer my next computer would be a Mac, and well here it is. A new to me Mac. It's actually Roomie's G5, he went to an Intel MacPro. So I got the older machine and yes I am liking it. I wasn't looking forward to changing from XP to a newer flavor of Windows, lately Windows has been agravating the hell out of me.

My daughter's pregnancy goes well, except the poor girl can't seem to gain weight. The morning sickness has been kicking her butt. And of course having twins they are all over her to put on some poundage here. I told her to enjoy that part of it, she won't be hearing it again after the kids come. Of course being multiples and in vitro this pregnancy is going to be difficult. She also has the misfortune of sharing my blood type and that's rh negative so she'll be doing LOTS of bloodwork.

I've been avoiding lots of LJs lately because of the squee over the new Trek movie because I haven't seen it yet. I know it's been out for a month but I rarely hit movies in the theatre even though I should. I plan on going soon to see it and of course HBP will be out next month and I definitely plan on seeing it also.

Definitely revisiting the Trek roots fanfiction wise and of course keeping up on the HP fanfiction. But I always do that.

Not much else happening here, summer is definitely here in TX and I anticipate the normal higher than hell electric bills. Roomie is traveling alot more than I like but hell at least he still has a job, and that's no small thing in this economy.

Of course I am keeping up with the news. I was so mad last sunday I could spit hearing about the murder of Dr. Tiller by that fricking terrorist. And hearing that Stanek published names and addresses of other late term abortion providers had me livid. I totally agree with the late George Carlin that pro-life is anti-woman. I've been pregnant, had the kids too, but I would never tell another what she can or cannot do with her body. And quite honestly it offends the hell out of me that people think they have the right to impose their values and judgement on others. And late term abortion? I can guarandamntee ya that anyone going through that needs those pro-life loonies protesting in front them like I need another piercing(which means not at all),

I was flabbergasted when I ported my music files to this computer at how much I actually have. I knew I was torrenting a lot of music but damn! One folder that was all individual songs had over 1000 songs on it. And then there is all the torrents I've dowloaded. Much more than I thought. And it's real eclectic here. I go from classical all the way into trance. I knew I had a varied collection but putting it all into iTunes surprised the hell out of me.

Not much else going on with me here. Been doing my usual thing. I'm probably traveling more this summer than usual for me. With my sister not doing too well, I know I will be in the San Francisco area sometime this summer and in August well, I'll be in MN and MT visiting friends again. Roomie needs to take vacation this yr also, he's hitting the use it or lose it point with accrued vacation time.

Current Mood: content
Current Location: Home

Okay a week ago I posted that my daughter is pregnant with twins. Good news right? Well I had bad news or not so good news concerning my sister the same day. But yeah I am happy for my daughter. Now if anyone has some morning sickness remedies I would be very appreciative as morning sickness just did NOT hit me the way it hits her.

American Idol is running and very close to finale time. Right now there is 1 contestant that I want gone and dialidol.com is showing that he may well be gone. Goodie. I think that out of the final 3 we got 2 really talented guys who will sell.

On the political front as a Texan I am ashamed of the current governor. He's an asshole. I find myself heartened by the decisions in Iowa and the actions in New England extending the right of marriage. Make no mistake, here, I accept the religious meaning, but religion isn't the only forum that uses the term of marriage. I believe that civil marriage SHOULD be extended. Religions will do as they will. And if marriage is too loaded a term then take it out of the legal lexicon! Make all civil unions or legal unions, domestic partnerships. I was married in front of a judge many yrs ago, and divorced in front of a judge not so long ago. My Church had nothing to do with it really. And I am of an age where Loving v. Virginia had an impact. My ex is NOT white. But he is male and I am female. So we fit the accepted norms of the time. I don't think my norms are necessarily others, and I don't think I have the right to judge so yeah I approve the extension of marriage to same sex couples because love should be encouraged, not discouraged.

I'll probably be traveling again this summer. Sister not doing well and friend in MN who is needing support. I like travel but know that this will kill my acclimation to TX weather. Not liking that.

Got a new Coach handbag for Mother's Day and I figure this is my 'IT' bag here. Coach is nowhere near as expensive as other designers such as Louis Vuitton(got a fake of that) or Gucci(yet another fake!). But it's an American designer and the style is classic so yeah I am happy with it.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Home

Okay, so I got an openID on this thing and wango bango, acct code given. This should be interesting and now I gotta hunt down all the folk I read on LJ who got accts here also. The good thing is, I am on the ground floor as it were. I had a Vox acct but that was mainly to reserve my name. Never used the damned thing. I have a JF acct so I could comment on fandom_wank and other comms over there w/out being anonymous. And of course LJ so I could follow the HP fandom. This entry is dorky. But it explains why I am here. Fandom is migrating, so I follow.

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Home

Just broke away from the tube here, I must say I cried. Totally lost it when he took the oath. As an old fart just one month shy of 50 I remember how it was, and I wonder if the generation behind me really gets how important this was and is to our history. Right now I have the MSNBC feed going and they are discussing the 'nuts and bolts' but damn that crowd on the mall and the joy you could feel through the TV screen ... it just lifts my soul.

The music was beautiful. Aretha was great singing 'My Country tis of The' and the quartet of instruments doing 'Simple Gifts' was a tear inducer here. The crowd singing along with the Navy chorus was quite nice. Gotta say it, this inauguration was pure pleasure for me to watch. I hated Bush as a president and governor, but as a private citizen I wish him well. I just hope I never see him in politics again. Otherwise, live long dude.

The media have made much of Obama's race in this and I don't think they've overstated it. I recall a very emotional entry the night of the election concerning this. I remember saying that I NEVER told my children that the presidency was something they could aspire to because of their color. Well they can tell their children that it is an office they can aspire to. History has happened here. I wish Obama well, I voted for him, but I wouldn't want his job. The challenges facing him are huge. I hope he can do it, I hope we can do it. And yes I think we can do it.

Current Mood: ecstatic
Current Music: MSNBC feed

Yeah, sorry I am late with that, but on the first I was traveling. When I got home I just crashed. I spent most of December in MN freezing my tush off. That white stuff on the ground? Looks pretty but is hellishly cold. Anyways the genesis of this trip was the news that my son was going to Iraq(he's there right now). My friend T is married to an airline pilot so she can and does score free tickets on the airline. She and I have been close friends for over 20yrs now, and she got this wild hair that I should spend Christmas with her and her family and having the airline connection she made it so. So three weeks outside of St Paul MN later I return to temps above freezing and my own bed. Make no mistake I had a ball in MN, meeting all of her extended family and freezing my tush off and I might have even managed to lose some poundage up there, but yeah I am glad to be home in my own space with my own computer and not the laptop I was carrying. I came back with much more than I left with and I have to mail back a suitcase to T that held the overage. But for ending what was an eventful yr, this trip was a good one.

One thing we did do was see movies. She gets DVDs from China so we did a Tudors marathon, she loves the show and I've wanted to see it for a while but I don't have premium cable and I won't have it because no one watches much TV here. We also went to see Twilight, twice. I'm kinda meh about the series and the movie was okay, but she loves it so we saw it. The music is good, so I downloaded the soundtrack. I've not read the books and I doubt I will. I need a new fandom like I need another ear piercing ... NOT! RPattz was good as Edward, the chick who played Bella was a tad bit annoying but I think that's more the character she was playing. Sorry, I never got the whole 'I define myself by the man I attract' thing.

I also came back with the makings of an epic cold. I smoke but her house is nonsmoking. No biggie, smoke outside right? I smoked less up there because it was colder than I'm used to but none the less I smoked. Outside in subzero temps. Now I got the cold that goes with that. My bad, I'll get over it.

I've been keeping up with the flist there, but not commenting much and certainly not making entries of my own. I was also helping T adjust to a gluten free diet(she has the celliac thing going on) and learning more about gluten free than I thought was possible. She still had some incidents with gluten and I wouldn't wish that kind of pain on anyone I like or dislike(damned nasty reactions). The good thing about such a diagnosis now is there are lots of resources out there for her and for anyone looking at a gluten free diet. We found tons of resources both on the web and in the book stores and grocery stores. The key thing of course is reading ingredients and knowing what is and isn't kosher as it were. But this diagnosis has cleared up so many misdiagnoses over the yrs for her, it's a true blessing to KNOW what the problem actually IS. Fortunately for her there are two grocery chains in her area that HAVE gluten free stuff right there on the shelves.

Anyways the son is in Iraq for now, and I am concerned because it's still messy over there. My daughter had a good Xmas, spent it with her in-laws. I had a great Xmas cooking the Xmas dinner for the hoard of guests up there(I enjoyed that immensely, hadn't done cooking like that in yrs!). Roomie had himself a quiet one here with out any fuss which he tells me he enjoyed. He grilled steaks and watched the entire Die Hard series on DVD that day. I hope everyone on my list and off it had a good holiday.

And my devout hope is that we all have a great 2009!

Current Mood: content
Current Location: Home

You know everyone has those moments in their lives when they can remember exactly what they were doing when something important went down. If you are of a certain age, you know exactly where you were and what you were doing when JFK was assassinated or the Challenger shuttle went up in flames. If you lived in San Francisco in the 70s you knew exactly what you were doing when the news went around that George Moscone and Harvey Milk were killed in their offices in City Hall or a week earlier when the announcement came about the People's Temple massacre.

I knew people in the People's Temple. I had worked with them on political campaigns in the past, and attended school with some of them. I'd met Moscone and had worked on one of Milk's many political campaigns. Like many in SF I boycotted FL orange juice because Anita Bryant was the public face of it while she campaigned against gay rights. I was 19yrs old when Dan White killed Moscone and Milk and it flashed accross the TV while my best friend from HS and I were watching a soap opera. I remember seeing Dianne Feinstein, a woman who'd been in politics for yrs, crying as she announced they were both dead. I found out later, she'd found the bodies. I remember looking at L and saying 'oh shit!' We really thought it was one of Jim Jones's assassination teams(the ones he'd bragged about). It turned out to be Mr. White who had no connection to the Temple, but had connections to the Board of Sups. It was a horrible event, and believe me, the entire City mourned it. We were already mourning the people who'd died in Guyana, and now this came at us.

Harvey Milk was one of those people who made an impression. God the man had charisma to burn. I worked one of the campaigns that he lost in the mid 70s as a HS student. And I remember the energy he had.

There is a movie out about his life now, with Sean Penn and the trailer looks good. I haven't seen it yet but I intend to. From what I see in the trailer Penn nailed the character. The 30th anniversary of his death was yesterday, and yeah I was remembering, partly because the movie is out. I find myself wondering what would he have been if he'd lived past that day in 1978. How would he have handled the AIDS epidemic that decimated the community in the 80s, the fight for the right to marriage in this decade, the Bush and Reagan presidencies. He'd be 78 now if he'd lived through all that.

I find myself missing that time. The 70s for all the cynicism and disco were good times. There was an energy in the air that has been gone for a long time. I think it's coming back with the new administration. We can see change coming that was promised all that time ago.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Location: Home

Okay, it's done. Barack Obama will be sworn in on 20 January 2009. We elected a majority of Dems in the House and with some Senate races still in holding pattern or vote counting, we still have a majority. We won on the pro-choice front also. Two rather destructive pro-life propositions in two different states failed. That's the good news. The bad news? Gay marriage failed. In CA prop 8 actually removed the right to marry from gay people in that state.

There is a lot of rage in the gay community in CA, and even accross the country at this action. Some are blaming black voters. Wrong answer. Black people only make up 6.2% of the total population in CA. Not all of them are voters. The majority that defeated prop 8 are not black. They range throughout the entire color line in CA as it exists today. Some are rightly looking at where the pro 8 money came from and finding that most of it came from religious groups, like the Mormons and the Knights of Columbus and other conservative religious groups. That's good, follow the money, and then show them why they should maybe think twice about flexing their cash dollars in elections. Elections, as Rachel Maddow says, have consequences. Boycotting Mormon owned businesses and Utah's tourist industry is not a bad idea(even if the industry is NOT Mormon run, they can effect some leverage on the Church when revenue goes down). Picketing those nice Mormon Temples and other Churches will show the membership that perhaps voting against one group's civil rights and marriage IS a civil right, has consequences.

Where to go from here? After the demonstrating is done? Back to court for starters. And if the proponents of prop 8 think they've nullified 18,000 marriages retroactively? That makes it federal. The US Constitution prohibits the passage of ex poste facto laws. That means retroactive laws folks, and that makes it federal.

Taking it back to the ballot is also another approach and will probably be attempted. The good news is the defeat was a fairly narrow one. The bad news? It was still a defeat. And if it goes back to the ballot, the people who want gay marriage are going to have to do it better than the other side did. They are going to have to counter every single smear about teaching it in school and forcing Churches to marry gays or lose their exemptions. They are going to have to define what marriage really is legally. And separate the legal from the religious. A good starting point is Loving v. Virginia. Even after it went through, there were quite a few clergy who refused to perform interracial marriages. They weren't punished for it either. Their churches did NOT lose their tax free status and boy they really fear the very idea of that. So yeah that must be countered by the pro gay marriage side of it.

CA is but one state though and quite honestly I want this to hit the Supreme Court after Obama has a chance to get some good young center-left activist judges appointed. If it goes like Loving v. Virginia it will toss out every state's amendments and DOMA laws, and legalise it accross all 50 states. I think it could happen and if it is decided that prop 8 invalidates those 18,000 marriages performed between June and November, it will end up on the docket after it winds through the courts.

We have a new president who will inherit some really crushing issues from the old president. He has our goodwill and a good percentage of the worlds, but he will have to act to alleviate. It won't solve overnight, took longer than that to make the mess, but it will solve. As for the idea that the US is a center-right country? I call bullshit on that. We want a government that works for us. And the neocons and company failed so miserably that they may never return to power in my lifetime. The rightwing needs to recognise, they failed, and they failed badly. Trickle down economics never worked. It was a con, a massive con job. Under the conservatives we got massive deficits, and bigger governemt that was far less effective than it should've been. We got Homeland Security and the Patriot act, which were both con jobs that took and took and took and gave nothing back.

President-elect Obama, go bold, get creative. We'll back you.

A word to the congress here. If the republicans threaten filibuster? LET THEM. And then put it on the air, on the news and C-Span. Then give interviews about how we can't get things done because they fill the chambers with filibuster hot air. Show the obstructionism. Bet ya they get an earful from their constituents and it will not be all supportive. They're hurting too and they want health care and the economic cures. Believe me, I can use email and so can many others in red states who will tell them to STFU and pass the bill. Don't cave on em. Just let them hang themselves. Oh and Senator Reid? Toss Lieberman out of the Dem caucus, he's a ratbastard who betrayed the party, and he deserves nothing from you, no consideration or respect.

Current Mood: energetic

I am white American woman. I was married to a black man. I have biracial children that I never dared tell could become president if they did their best. Tonight I saw what I never expected to see. A man of color will place his hand on a Bible held by his wife who is also of color and swear to uphold and defend the constitution of the US that once defined his and those of his 'kind' as 3/5ths of a human being. I as a white European ancestry female am blown away. I told my biracial children that I NEVER expected this to happen. And I cried like a baby when it did. There is too much about the civil rights movement I remember. My exhusband was born in Birmingham AL when the bus strike was on in a police car because they picked up his mom to get her to the hospital. She gave her son, my ex husband names after the white cops who delivered him, his names.

Now we have passed the torch. To the next generation. To our children. And yes we the elder generations need to support the choices made this night. I won't lie, I've had a taste of the wine and all that, but no doubt in my mind he needs all of us. I want him to succeed fro all of our sakes. I want the future. And my kids will have it.

Current Mood: jubilant

It's election day here in the US. I urge everyone who is registered in this country to vote if you have not done so with early voting. This election is truly history in the making. No matter which ticket wins.

I am nervous about this since the differences between the tickets are so obvious and I am hoping so much that our next president is Barack Obama. And yes I've already voted.

Current Mood: nervous

I plan on being a very bad winner next Tuesday night when the election returns come in if my party wins. I've been waiting 28yrs for a LIBERAL voice to rise that would inspire the people of the US and we finally got one. I have a very long and vindictive memory when it comes to politics. I hold grudges. I make no bones about where I stand which is to the left of most of the people I know here in TX. And I really hope that when it's all said and done and I've sung an aria(yeppers I'm the fat lady!) we get a better government than what we've got over the past 28yrs.

I am looking forward to some real schadenfreude here. I've wanted that unholy coalition of conservative, neo-con and religious right that has indulged in hatefests and exclusion to implode for yrs. And the worst part? At one time the republican party was a party I could respect.  That has been untrue for so long my dislike and disdain has hardened over the decades of their abuse of government. That they are imploding under the widely reviled presidency of GWB, the campaign of an old washed up senator who's ambition is bigger than his so-called honor with the side kick of the couture wearing hockey mom, just sweetens it for me. They are truly in tatters and what comes next may well be a very long exile from the halls of power they swaggered down all the while corrupting those halls to their own uses. During that exile they will have to examine what they've become and that sort of self examination is always painful. And then they will have to reinvent themselves. Hopefully they will come back as a party that is worthy of respect again, but I'm not counting on it.

I've seen too much of what the republicans can and do do to our country for me to respect what they've become. I wrote once they'd been hijacked by the extreme right, the religious right and they drove their own moderates out. I suspect the day after the election the punditocracy will be pontificating on where they went wrong and how wrong they went. The rot was there all the way back in 1980 when they nominated and elected a beloved actor, turned crappy governor who thought medicare was a socialist plot by the government. A man elected who stated that government was the problem. It was not the problem, bad governing was. Anyone who tells me that Ronald Reagan was a great president gets an earful from me here. I grew up in a California he governed and I saw our school systems, some of the best in the country decline. I saw income, property and sales taxes increase to the point that the voters revolted and passed prop 13(slogan: We're mad as hell and we won't take it anymore!). A mess that CA still reverberates from, just as the federal government is still reeling from the 'trickle down economics' called Reaganomics.

Never mind Iran-Contra. Never mind that the last 4yrs Reagan was most likely suffering the onset of his Alzheimer's. Never mind that we saw a marine colonel LIE his ass off and the right wing elevated him to saint hood. Never mind that the republicans introduced the politicisation of religion. The religious right has been a stain on the polity of the US for way too long in my eyes. Their wedge issues and their outright hate of anything and anyone that does not conform to what they think is right is a stain on our country.

We saw the advent of divisive politics with the advent of Bush Sr, during his campaign a good man was smeared with slime so bad he never came back from it. Lee Atwater has some 'splainin to do to God, he's dead now and he did attempt to apologise to his victims. Will Karl Rove?  And did we really need such slimy politics? Did we really need candidates who out and out pandered to one segment of the population and demonised another based on religion, ethnicity, and difference?  What happened to inclusion and the melting pot?

We did get one democrat in office during the long exile, but hell he was hamstringed by the republicans who investigated everything he and his spouse ever did. That he got anything done at all is a miracle! And impeachment for sex?  WTF??? I understand and remember it was consensual. The more they hounded Bill Clinton the more I hoped the National Enquirer would dig up some slime on them. I remember a whole lotta disrespect and the gnashing of teeth on the republican side of it, 'but it's about character baby' stuff that never comes up when their own aren't poly pure. Oh no it never comes up when Rush Windbag Wingnut gets busted with pharmaceuticals and viagra scrips in another name. It never comes up when John McCain a self admitted adulterer who married his current for her cash runs. It doesn't come up when W ran and had a past that included cocaine, booze and all sorts of stupidity. Fuck character as an argument against; unless it applies equally to both sides. Until it does, fuck it and the horse it rode in on.

Then we got their coup de grace. GWB a solid C student at Yale(a legacy student) who never did grow a business. All of them failed. And Cheney who if I had to apply a Harry Potter character he'd actually rate as Voldemort. We got the Patriot Act, TSA and Homeland Security. WTF were we thinking?  YOU CANNOT TRADE FREEDOM FOR SECURITY!!! IT DOES NOT WORK. EVER. Yet we did. We got Iraq, with shady intel, and I feel sorry for Powell because he sold it, after he drank the Bushco kool aide. We got outsourced jobs. We got tax cuts and consolidation of wealth to the richest of our citizens and we got demonisation of the other. I could go on but hell it hurts to even think about what GWB and his cronies did to the US. And the fact that two presidential elections just might be illegitimate?  That folks scares me.

So now we get a new guy on the scene, who actually got face time before he hit the Senate in 2004. A man who has dared to speak of hope, not hate. A man they attempt to smear with such things as 'he pals around with terrorists!', "he's a muslim', he's not one of us'. No he isn't one of us. He's better than us. He's educated, intelligent and quite frankly willing to do the work. And God he inspires. He has my kids generation locked up!  They know he's on their side when it comes to our planet, the war, and how we need to be as Americans. And yeah he has me too. For the first time in yrs it isn't politics as usual. There's a guy out there who inspires. He speaks of our better natures and he means it. He spoke of something greater than our fear of the other and God knows we love him for it.

The polls say he can win and probably will win. I check fivethirtyeight.com every freaking day to ensure he's still up. And I plan on celebrating with a good healthy dose of schadenfreude here. I've warned the republicans I know that I plan to gloat. I plan on celebrating a good bit, then the sleeves will roll up and I will be looking to see what I can do to help Mr Obama make that difference. It may not be much, and God knows you all are getting the cliff notes here, if I got into women's issues I'd still be mired in the antichoice days of the Reagans, but yeah we mobilised, but this is just a beginning. We need to carry it through. My kids, and their kids deserve this.

Current Mood: awake

Rhiannon's Place

(no subject)

Happy New Year!!!

Government Shutdown ... Here We Go Again ...

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Cassie Clare/The Mortal Instruments/City of Bones? Tanking Now at Your Local Cineplex!

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RIP Mrs. Thatcher ...

Andy Blake/thanfiction/VictoriaBitter/VoyagerBabe/Strwriter/Amy Player

Elections Anyone??

Michael Jackson & Farrah Fawcett

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First Time

Inauguration

Happy New Years ... A Day Late

Moments Remembered

After Election Thoughts

YES WE CAN, AND WE DID

VOTE

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August 2014

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