From the Bumper Sticker Hall of Fame

I have just ordered this as a magnetic bumper sticker. I don't know if it will wind up on my car or on my fridge, but I couldn't resist.

I know that this opens me up to ridiculous criticism ("she's making a joke out of the war"), so let me just say it: I'm not.

But if you're going to put something on your car (or your fridge), might as well be clever, right?

To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about Iraq going forward (which I know makes me a bad liberal in some circles)... My feeling is that we didn't belong going in there in the first place, but we broke it. So how do we just pick up and leave?

Anybody got a bumper sticker solution for that?

Here's the Thing

The outcome of yesterday's election is good... But it's not great. And before I go any further, let me say that I'm not usually a glass half-empty kind of girl.

Here's my issue:

Considering the state of affairs in our nation over the last six years, it's almost impossible for me to believe that nearly half of the people who voted still cast their ballots for Republicans. A perfect example comes to us from where else? Florida! In the old Sunshine State, 49% of the people of the Mark Foley district actually chose Foley over the Democrat on the ballot (albeit not actually Foley, but a replacement candidate)! Say no to gay marriage but yes to pedophiles?! Okay, I'm oversimplifying... but you get the point. The Senate is still up in the air. How is that possible?

"Morality" issues aside (if you can call them that), the saddest part for me, when it comes to the near equal electorate split, is that a lot of those red ballots were cast by poor, rural folks who need a liberal on their side more than anyone (including people who fall into my category on the socio-economic spectrum). I have relatives like this in South Carolina and I've yet to figure them out. Don't they get confused when they hear the economy is in great shape but they make six bucks an hour? Last I checked the Wall Street boom has yet to "trickle down" to the masses. I know I'm still waiting... and I'm a single woman who makes a good deal more than the average American family of four.

All of that said, of course I'm happy that the House is back in Democratic control and I'm hopeful that even if the Senate stays in the hands of the GOP, they're not going to be able to run rampant any longer. I just want to point out that no matter what anyone says, this was no real referendum. Voter turn out was average at best, validating yet another unfortunate aspect of our so called democracy -- half of Americans (you know, the half that doesn't actually vote) believes that their voices don't even really count. Where is the real revolution?

Two happy thoughts though before I go.

First, Nancy Pelosi.

Enough Said.

Second: A friend called me this morning and said that on her way to work today a banner was hung off the 101 in Burbank. It read simply: Mission Accomplished.

I loved that, but I have to add... ALMOST.

Self Hatred and Scandal in Colorado

What a sad, sad world we live in...

From CNN, a quick overview of the Haggard scandal:

• Top evangelical leader has admitted "some guilt," a church leader says
• The Rev. Ted Haggard earlier denied Colorado man's claim pastor paid for sex
• Haggard quits national leadership post, steps aside from pulpit
• Accuser cites Haggard's support for same-sex marriage ban as motivation

All joking aside (and this one is just begging for a one liner or ten), what I can't escape is the amount of self-hatred all of these closeted Republicans must be carrying. It's unlike anything I've ever seen. Of course I wasn't alive for the civil rights and womens' movements, but somehow, I can't imagine that it was quite like this. (Someone tell me if it was otherwise... that ethnic minorities and women were fighting against their own rights in so many places).

As you might suspect, I take no issue with Haggard's sexuality. However, the semi-satanic role he has played in hate mongering across his state and indeed, across the country as an "evangelical leader" is another story... one that makes this revelation all the more complex and disheartening.

On Election Day 2004, I had a party. For amusement, at some point, as the grim truth of what was happening took over the forward thinking crowd, someone changed the channel to Cable Access. There, we found a local program called Gay Republicans. At the time, it seemed like comic relief (particularly considering that 11 states shot down gay marriage that very night). But now, it's become clear that gay republicans are no laughing matter, least of all to themselves.

If I were of the same breed as the right wing hate machine, I'd pounce right now (after all, how does Haggard define “some guilt?”). But more than anything, I find this unfortunate. A culture of hate never leads anywhere positive; this much is true.

But pity the messenger when they, themselves, are the objects of their own malaise.

Oh, Ted Haggard… isn’t karma a bitch?

My Letter to Senator Kerry in Light of Today's Misconstrued Comments

I was so mortified by the reaction today to Senator John Kerry's botched Bush joke that I had to go to his site and post to his blog. The content of that post is blow.

God, will this country ever wake up? It's like a giant high school (OOH! John Kerry said soldiers are stupid!), where the leader of the clique (George W. Bush) is the biggest hipocrite of all. A liar who not only was a coward (who disappeared to avoid the National Guard), but who is, in fact, stupid...

Sadder still, is that from the next room, I just heard Wolf Blitzer on CNN comparing Bush and Kerry's SAT scores. Why is that what he's talking about? This is our country? It's not even high school. It's 7th grade.

I'm so angry I could scream... but really, I want to cry.


Senator Kerry,

I hope that you will take to EVERY single outlet you can with the context of your comments (including Fox News!). I also hope that members of the Democratic Party have the courage to stand with you and fight back at the twisting of these comments into campaign fodder. Isn't it sad that this is what Republicans want to talk about.... and even sadder that many Democrats stand for it?

I understand that this was a botched joke. But even with the mistake, let's look at the facts: the educated middle classes and those who rank above them on the economic scale are NOT those who are losing their lives in this war that was based on a lie. The working class and poor are losing people (and I speak as someone with working class roots whose father is a Vietnam Veteran)... This is not a commentary on intelligence, but rather on financial means.

So, in that regard, even the botched statement is true in a way: if you can (afford to) study, you won't wind up in Iraq... If you can (afford to study/go to college), you're less likely to be recruited in the first place. Does it mean no educated people serve? Of course not! But look at the averages... and consider who is suffering. By and large, it's not the Ivy Leaguers.

Of course I understand that this is not what you said... but wouldn't it be nice if people actually considered truths instead of twisting reality.

Please stand your ground and be heard no matter what. That is the sort of leader America needs.

Stephanie in California

The Virginia Senate Campaign (Sex is Scary Unless Lynn Cheney Writes About It)

On Saturday, as I embarked upon my usual reading for amusement (afterall, what else are the current political campaigns if not entertaining?), I was alerted to the following by CNN:

"The bitter Senate campaign in Virginia turned uglier Friday when the Republican incumbent pulled up sexual passages from novels written by his Democratic opponent..."

Is this really what the world is coming to? Someone wrote about sex and now he's unfit for government? Are we really this puritanical? Can voters seriously go into the voting booth, dismiss their own human nature, the viagra in their medicine chests and the fact that sex is probably the single most natural thing in all of creation (and legal between consensual adults... though I suspect the Republicans might like that to change) and determine that even writing about the very act that proliferates the human race makes someone a-moral and thereby a lesser candidate for Senate? Even though our own human, natural libidos have nothing to do with governing!

The fact is that Senator Allen knows that and this is nothing more than a dirty tactic to get elected.

How is it that this kind of campaigning continues? Who buys into this shit? Shouldn't people be talking about the issues? And by the issues, I don't mean whether or not two people who love each other are entitled to equal rights under our constitution (because for god's sake, of course they are)! What we should be hearing about are the candidates' plans for our government will take care of its citizens, what we will get for our tax dollars and how they help to ensure that our children and our children's children will actually have a planet on which they can live when we're all dead and gone...

In all fairness, part of the reason this has all become an issue, is that in one of his novels, the Democrat in question, Jim Webb, wrote two passages wherein a child was involved in a sexual act. This is part of the incumbent Senator's evidence that Webb is a bad man... Let me not venture into Mark Foley territory (where the writing in question-- coercive text messages and emails-- led to actual doing), and rather address this simple truth:

Child abuse happens in American homes every day... and for that matter, all over the world. Don't think so? Read the statistics. In addressing this problem, the worst thing we can do as responsible citizens (or writers) is to ignore reality (though these people seem to be getting increasingly good at doing just that). All the restrictions on sex offenders in the world do nothing compared to what a little cultural awareness and open dialogue would do for helping this problem. I could go on here, but I'll save that for another day. What I will conclude is that the only way Webb could have done better than just including what he saw in his novels, would have been to actually become an advocate on behalf of abused children. But then again, Mark Foley was an advocate... right?

Second (and perhaps more to the point), is the fact that thousands of soldiers are dying in Iraq for freedom, which, last I checked, includes freedom of speech. Then again, I suppose we're not really fighting for freedom are we? I mean, if we were, we'd be doing something about the massive slaughter in Darfur... But Darfur doesn't have oil or a leader who offended our President's daddy...

Alas, I'm getting ahead of myself (and in fact, like Allen's entire diatribe, quite off point). Let me stay the course.

Instead of all this hooplah over fiction (literally, Webb's book were novels, fiction, and they apparently sold quite well), why don't we discuss REAL morality. You know, a system of behavior (and governing) wherein people are treated equally, the poor are cared for in a fashion that helps them to change their station in life (with education and jobs) and the little guy has not only the things he needs to survive (and those he pays taxes for) but also a voice in the government he elects. How shall we address this?

Check out Senator Allen's voting record on the things that would make him a "moral" man who cares about the people he's representing (aside from the rich ones):

http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=CNIP9093

A few highlights. He says:

NO to a plan that provides help for a Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (let the poor people freeze in December)!

NO to education funding that increases Title I grants and reduces debt by closing corporate tax loopholes (let the working and middle class people keep taking major loans if they want education, we need to keep the corporations safe!)

And, NO to teen pregnancy education (because clearly if we ignore it, the problem will go away...)

But god forbid Jim Webb write about sex.

Let me offer up my hypothesis (in addition to all of the above):

Perhaps the real problem is that Senator Allen's not getting any?



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