My Facebook page is a place of rigorous debate. I post something and a few white male Republicans tell me why I'm wrong about basically everything. I find this enjoyable and somewhat informative, but I should have skipped the unfortunate discussion about racial profiling that I find myself in. I'm in too deep now. It started with a clip from the Ed Schultz Show:
While I'm not sure I would phrase my objections the same way that Jack Rice does his, I still agree with him on this topic. Labeling a quarter of the world's population as suspicious hardly seems like a way to endear ourselves to pro-Western Muslims in the Middle East. Moreover, as a human being with a conscience, I have some real problems with the idea of sending all Muslims to the Muslims-only line at the airport so they can get a cavity search or whatever. It's wrong. And I'm bothered by people who insist that it isn't.
Ultimately I suspect that the reasoning behind it is convenience for everyone except those who had the gall to be Muslims. It's easy for a white Protestant man to insist that anyone in a turban be searched, but I doubt he would react favorably if the criteria were instead white men with subscriptions to The Economist.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Things your teachers lied about
Nonoxynol-9 can literally kill you. Or at least make it much easier for you to become infected with something that can kill you. Even more easily than scientists already thought, actually.
Let me backtrack.
When I attended Indiana public schools, nobody ever talked about sex until fifth grade, when they separated the boys and girls and sent the boys off to watch a video called Boy to Man and the girls off to watch Girl to Woman. Girl to Woman was about a group of three-ish friends who were presumably all on the cusp of womanhood. A number of the details escape me now, but I recall that it never actually explained how babies were made, just that pretty soon we were all going to go through something very special and we would also get zits. Seriously, the video advised us to wash our faces three times a day. When I think about it now, I guess I'm a little disturbed by the fact that my school system thought my complexion was more important than actually explaining the basics of human reproduction. The only other thing I can remember about the movie is when the girls went to the mall and one girl put on an outfit that was reminiscent of late eighties Madonna and exclaimed that she looked just like she belonged on MTV. Clearly, this transformed the video from a painfully awkward and ineffective sex ed film into a hip and progressive teaching tool.
I should add that even when I went through my something very special, I never washed my face three times a day and I never had an acne problem.
In sixth grade, girls watched the boy video and boys watched the girl video. In the boy video, I again learned that you should wash your face three times a day and that erections were embarrassing. This knowledge was rendered pointless by the fact that it did not explain precisely what an erection was. I already knew that the thrice-daily scrubbing was horseshit at this point.
Fortunately, my sister was in junior high and had scored some pamphlets, which she kept on a shelf in her closet along with some sample tampons. She kept these items largely secret from me as though they were initiation paraphernalia for a secret society (looking back, small wonder we both joined sororities). I read the pamphlets on the sly and figured out the basic mechanics of baby-making on my own.*
*I admitted the secret pamphlet-reading to my sister about a month ago. She forgave me.
Let me backtrack.
When I attended Indiana public schools, nobody ever talked about sex until fifth grade, when they separated the boys and girls and sent the boys off to watch a video called Boy to Man and the girls off to watch Girl to Woman. Girl to Woman was about a group of three-ish friends who were presumably all on the cusp of womanhood. A number of the details escape me now, but I recall that it never actually explained how babies were made, just that pretty soon we were all going to go through something very special and we would also get zits. Seriously, the video advised us to wash our faces three times a day. When I think about it now, I guess I'm a little disturbed by the fact that my school system thought my complexion was more important than actually explaining the basics of human reproduction. The only other thing I can remember about the movie is when the girls went to the mall and one girl put on an outfit that was reminiscent of late eighties Madonna and exclaimed that she looked just like she belonged on MTV. Clearly, this transformed the video from a painfully awkward and ineffective sex ed film into a hip and progressive teaching tool.
I should add that even when I went through my something very special, I never washed my face three times a day and I never had an acne problem.
In sixth grade, girls watched the boy video and boys watched the girl video. In the boy video, I again learned that you should wash your face three times a day and that erections were embarrassing. This knowledge was rendered pointless by the fact that it did not explain precisely what an erection was. I already knew that the thrice-daily scrubbing was horseshit at this point.
Fortunately, my sister was in junior high and had scored some pamphlets, which she kept on a shelf in her closet along with some sample tampons. She kept these items largely secret from me as though they were initiation paraphernalia for a secret society (looking back, small wonder we both joined sororities). I read the pamphlets on the sly and figured out the basic mechanics of baby-making on my own.*
*I admitted the secret pamphlet-reading to my sister about a month ago. She forgave me.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
I'm not dead
I swear, I'm not. Have a song!
Remember, keep writing your congressmen, don't waste any of your money on Sarah Palin's shitty book and most importantly, sometimes you need to drink a beer and listen to the music.
Remember, keep writing your congressmen, don't waste any of your money on Sarah Palin's shitty book and most importantly, sometimes you need to drink a beer and listen to the music.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Health care?
In case you were dead this weekend, the House narrowly passed their version of health care reform on Saturday night at around 11:15. I won't get into the steaming pile of crap that is the Stupak amendment, except to say that I hope this is the first casualty of the conference committee. Other than that, I'm pleased that the House pulled together to do this. It's a major step toward de facto equality.
Allow me to express my great delight over Joseph Cao's break with the Republicans and subsequent "aye" vote. A novel concept that, voting according to the wishes and needs of one's constituents and not just doing what Eric Cantor tells you. The Republican bill was an obvious train wreck, though I don't fool myself into thinking that Republicans actually thought it could pass. It was a cheap and cynical move, in my opinion, and I won't soon forget their appalling behavior during the last few months. Lies, fear and grandstanding.
But I want to shelf that, because it passed and what John Boehner thinks doesn't matter to me anymore. For now, we dance.
Allow me to express my great delight over Joseph Cao's break with the Republicans and subsequent "aye" vote. A novel concept that, voting according to the wishes and needs of one's constituents and not just doing what Eric Cantor tells you. The Republican bill was an obvious train wreck, though I don't fool myself into thinking that Republicans actually thought it could pass. It was a cheap and cynical move, in my opinion, and I won't soon forget their appalling behavior during the last few months. Lies, fear and grandstanding.
But I want to shelf that, because it passed and what John Boehner thinks doesn't matter to me anymore. For now, we dance.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
It's gonna be all right
No, I'm not employed yet. That would be a truly ridiculous turn of events. Finding a job this quickly would be nothing short of miraculous. No, instead I'm enjoying unemployment, or at least trying my best. If I persist in thinking of it as an extended, albeit involuntary vacation, then I can unwind enough to go to the local coffee shop and search for jobs whilst drinking pretentious tea.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
I get laid off
Where have I been?
Short answer: I was busy becoming a statistic.
Long answer:
I got laid off.
Prior to my captors releasing me back into the wild, I worked in the marketing department for a musical instrument manufacturer. They hired me as an intern and then as a full-time marketing coordinator back in the halcyon days before the recession, when mortgage-backed securities and credit default swaps were awesome, when Lehman Brothers meant quality financial services, when people still bought shit like musical instruments.
Between June 2007 and today, a number of remarkable things occurred. The housing bubble burst, the credit markets locked up, the Bush administration oversaw a disastrously run bailout program, Will Smith became president and the Democratic supermajority in the Senate conclusively proved that even a huge advantage can be rendered completely powerless by Olympia Snowe.
What did not occur was a complete and timely economic recovery. I needn't delve too deeply into this topic. I don't place this at Obama's feet; it's not like anyone else had a better idea. A shitty thing happened and it will take time to fix. The stimulus stopped the bleeding, but the damage was done.
So I watched co-workers vanish, heard increasingly dire rumors about the state of affairs and speculated as to if or when I might go to the chopping block. I started as the marketing department intern and, a few weeks ago, became the last remaining marketing employee. I wish I had the time and foresight to accomplish something significant in the department alone so I could present it as an achievement with few resources, but I didn't. And yesterday, they let me go.
I assumed that eventually I would lose my job, but I hadn't expected it so soon. The unceremonious dumping sort of stunned me and my initial reaction was, well, unfavorable, but I've had some time to calm down and now I'm more or less fine. Shaken and worried, but fine.
For all my self-important ramblings about the state of the economy and how XYZ elected official doesn't understand how things are out there, I'm forced to admit now that maybe I didn't really know either. Intellectually I knew that the economy was terrible and that people were suffering because of it, but I learned a hard and important lesson yesterday. You might be very smart with a college degree, you might do good work, you might be hilarious and popular with your co-workers. That does not exclude you from the possibility that you, too, can become just another grim face in the unemployment line.
Short answer: I was busy becoming a statistic.
Long answer:
I got laid off.
Prior to my captors releasing me back into the wild, I worked in the marketing department for a musical instrument manufacturer. They hired me as an intern and then as a full-time marketing coordinator back in the halcyon days before the recession, when mortgage-backed securities and credit default swaps were awesome, when Lehman Brothers meant quality financial services, when people still bought shit like musical instruments.
Between June 2007 and today, a number of remarkable things occurred. The housing bubble burst, the credit markets locked up, the Bush administration oversaw a disastrously run bailout program, Will Smith became president and the Democratic supermajority in the Senate conclusively proved that even a huge advantage can be rendered completely powerless by Olympia Snowe.
What did not occur was a complete and timely economic recovery. I needn't delve too deeply into this topic. I don't place this at Obama's feet; it's not like anyone else had a better idea. A shitty thing happened and it will take time to fix. The stimulus stopped the bleeding, but the damage was done.
So I watched co-workers vanish, heard increasingly dire rumors about the state of affairs and speculated as to if or when I might go to the chopping block. I started as the marketing department intern and, a few weeks ago, became the last remaining marketing employee. I wish I had the time and foresight to accomplish something significant in the department alone so I could present it as an achievement with few resources, but I didn't. And yesterday, they let me go.
I assumed that eventually I would lose my job, but I hadn't expected it so soon. The unceremonious dumping sort of stunned me and my initial reaction was, well, unfavorable, but I've had some time to calm down and now I'm more or less fine. Shaken and worried, but fine.
For all my self-important ramblings about the state of the economy and how XYZ elected official doesn't understand how things are out there, I'm forced to admit now that maybe I didn't really know either. Intellectually I knew that the economy was terrible and that people were suffering because of it, but I learned a hard and important lesson yesterday. You might be very smart with a college degree, you might do good work, you might be hilarious and popular with your co-workers. That does not exclude you from the possibility that you, too, can become just another grim face in the unemployment line.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
A-Holes
A U.S. Census worker was found hanged with the word "fed" scrawled into his chest. I've always thought it downright foolish to ignore the violent overtones of the "blood of tyrants" shit that's been floating around lately, especially after Oklahoma City, but some memories are sadly short. After George Tiller's murder, Bill O'Reilly backpedaled from "Tiller the Killer" as fast as he could, claiming that he wasn't responsible at all for even some small part of the harassment that eventually ended Dr. Tiller's life. Right-wing extremism is real, it is dangerous and it is happening. No one brings semiautomatic rifles to presidential events to joyously celebrate the Constitution. They do it to intimidate and threaten the people around them. To assert their superiority with a subtle and powerful threat. To make it clear to others that they are not important, nor will they ever be. Force matters. You do not.
This responsibility question brings me to my next point, which is that the far right - not the right or the moderates or the conservatives, but the far right - consistently pushes these toxic views and then refuses to accept responsibility for the fallout. Mainstream conservatives stand back and let it flow. Conservative media figures have the gall to mock people who express alarm (Sean Hannity viciously opining on Nancy Pelosi's watery-eyed plea to tone it down comes to mind) and then, when shit goes down, they're nowhere to be found to stand behind that shit that they so lovingly fed and coaxed into bloom. If someone poisons Nancy Pelosi, would Glenn Beck make a public apology? Acknowledge his tacit role? Probably not. Nor would Rush Limbaugh make any attempt to rectify his hateful bullshit if Obama is ever shot at (personally, I think this more a question of when and not if).
For a party that has long claimed to nurture a culture of life, they're doing a poor job representing. The intense disregard for so many makes me incredibly sad, disregard like their resistance to the all-important reform, the death jokes about Democratic politicians, the impossible Republican-led war in Afghanistan that our Democratic president must now untangle. I don't expect a definitive victory and when that becomes apparent, Republicans will almost certainly blame Obama. Which hardly surprises me.
I would just like to know when opponents evolved from people with divergent opinions to mortal enemies.
This responsibility question brings me to my next point, which is that the far right - not the right or the moderates or the conservatives, but the far right - consistently pushes these toxic views and then refuses to accept responsibility for the fallout. Mainstream conservatives stand back and let it flow. Conservative media figures have the gall to mock people who express alarm (Sean Hannity viciously opining on Nancy Pelosi's watery-eyed plea to tone it down comes to mind) and then, when shit goes down, they're nowhere to be found to stand behind that shit that they so lovingly fed and coaxed into bloom. If someone poisons Nancy Pelosi, would Glenn Beck make a public apology? Acknowledge his tacit role? Probably not. Nor would Rush Limbaugh make any attempt to rectify his hateful bullshit if Obama is ever shot at (personally, I think this more a question of when and not if).
For a party that has long claimed to nurture a culture of life, they're doing a poor job representing. The intense disregard for so many makes me incredibly sad, disregard like their resistance to the all-important reform, the death jokes about Democratic politicians, the impossible Republican-led war in Afghanistan that our Democratic president must now untangle. I don't expect a definitive victory and when that becomes apparent, Republicans will almost certainly blame Obama. Which hardly surprises me.
I would just like to know when opponents evolved from people with divergent opinions to mortal enemies.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
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