President Obama won re-election Tuesday night. A lot of other fantastic things happened and fantastic people got elected Tuesday night, but this entry is about the difference between my President - a man who's tried to better the lives of everyone in this country - and Governor Mitt Romney, a man who admittedly only cares about 53% of the country.
This is President Barack Obama thanking some of his campaign workers, after he won the election:
And this is Mitt Romney's thanks to his campaign workers: Mitt Romney's Campaign Cancels Staffers' Credit Cards in the Middle of the Night
This is the difference between these two men. One of them fucking CARES.
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
PBP - Woman, Phenomenally
When I was in high school, I was big into poetry. Still am, but in high school I had a few poems that I wrote on papers and pasted onto my walls. (Come to think of it, I still do that, too!) One of my very favorite poems at the time was Maya Angelou's Phenomenal Woman. I ADORE this poem. Why?
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I am a woman. I am not my society's ideal of beauty. I'm rather far from it, actually. As I write this, I'm snacking on leftover Halloween candy which is only going to take me farther from said ideal. But you know what? I am a woman, and I am phenomenal, and I am loved. It only took me, oh, YEARS to realize this!
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
When I met Sascha, I was at the end of a long-distance, mostly-online relationship that was spiraling downwards fast. The ex in question wasn't making any effort to make the relationship NOT long-distance, and my self-esteem, never the greatest, was taking hit after hit. And then I met Sascha, who put such effort into wooing me that I began to realize I was actually quite a catch after all.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
And that was simply the kickstart I needed. In the years since, I've come to appreciate my own personality, my own mind, my own REASON. It seems a little sad, looking back on it, that I needed a man, a relationship, to prove this point to me, but that goes back to the way I was raised.
I was raised in a very conservative Christian household. Dad was the head of the household, and he was the one that made the decisions. Mom voted the way Dad did; not because he told her to, but because she believed he knew best. My older brother was more...extroverted, outspoken, braver, etc...than I ever was. So to go from that environment, to a man that wanted to know what I thought, what I believed, what MY reasons were for things...it was unexpected. And to go from the environment of "Pray to God, he has the answers, he knows best, don't trust your own judgement, read the Bible" to "Harm none, do what ye will" and "Look inside yourself for the answers" was even more mind-blowing and eye-opening.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
And then! And then I discovered the GODDESS. Some of you have been raised monotheistic and understand; some of you probably can't. The GODDESS. The female half. Suddenly, instead of having my life dictated by a masculine god who just. didn't. get it., there was a divinity who was part of ME. Or perhaps a divinity I could be part of. This was a world-changing idea. A few of my more experienced pagan friends were afraid I would devote myself too much to the goddess and forget the balance, but I think I simply needed a few years of immersing myself in the divine feminine. Now I can look at the masculine half with new eyes, and re-accept that energy. I just needed time. Time to learn that I, too, can be divine. I am not lesser than a man by the chance of being born female. I am a WOMAN, and I am phenomenal.
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
^This was going to be the end of this entry. But I wrote this before the election on Tuesday, and I suddenly have a lot more to say. WOMEN. Women are the winners of this election. I have several things to share with you that have been floating around Facebook and elsewhere.
"You know your party is in trouble when people ask did the rape guy win, and you have to ask which one." - Alec Baldwin
And also this story: Women and Minorities to dominate the Democratic Party
This is the difference between the Republican party and the Democrat party. Republicans - 90% white males. Democrats - 47% white males. New Hampshire elected a completely female delegation for the first time in US History. We elected an openly lesbian senator. We elected a Hindu woman. A Buddhist woman. A disabled woman. An openly gay congressman. We re-elected an African-American President, with two daughters, who has pledged to protect and fight for a woman's right to choose, for women's access to contraception and preventive healthcare, for equal pay for women, for marriage equality. Marriage equality passed in three states, and a marriage equality ban failed in a fourth.
It wasn't until LAST YEAR that a woman's bathroom got added to the House floor. LAST YEAR. Tuesday marked INCREDIBLE strides for women and minorities. For the first time in a long, long time I feel proud of my country. I am cautiously optimistic about the turn we're taking. Actually, no. I'm not cautiously optimistic. I keep saying I am because I don't want to get my hopes up. But really, I am FREAKING EXCITED for the step we've taken. I am ECSTATIC. I cannot WAIT to see what the next four years bring.
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I am a woman. I am not my society's ideal of beauty. I'm rather far from it, actually. As I write this, I'm snacking on leftover Halloween candy which is only going to take me farther from said ideal. But you know what? I am a woman, and I am phenomenal, and I am loved. It only took me, oh, YEARS to realize this!
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
When I met Sascha, I was at the end of a long-distance, mostly-online relationship that was spiraling downwards fast. The ex in question wasn't making any effort to make the relationship NOT long-distance, and my self-esteem, never the greatest, was taking hit after hit. And then I met Sascha, who put such effort into wooing me that I began to realize I was actually quite a catch after all.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
And that was simply the kickstart I needed. In the years since, I've come to appreciate my own personality, my own mind, my own REASON. It seems a little sad, looking back on it, that I needed a man, a relationship, to prove this point to me, but that goes back to the way I was raised.
I was raised in a very conservative Christian household. Dad was the head of the household, and he was the one that made the decisions. Mom voted the way Dad did; not because he told her to, but because she believed he knew best. My older brother was more...extroverted, outspoken, braver, etc...than I ever was. So to go from that environment, to a man that wanted to know what I thought, what I believed, what MY reasons were for things...it was unexpected. And to go from the environment of "Pray to God, he has the answers, he knows best, don't trust your own judgement, read the Bible" to "Harm none, do what ye will" and "Look inside yourself for the answers" was even more mind-blowing and eye-opening.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
And then! And then I discovered the GODDESS. Some of you have been raised monotheistic and understand; some of you probably can't. The GODDESS. The female half. Suddenly, instead of having my life dictated by a masculine god who just. didn't. get it., there was a divinity who was part of ME. Or perhaps a divinity I could be part of. This was a world-changing idea. A few of my more experienced pagan friends were afraid I would devote myself too much to the goddess and forget the balance, but I think I simply needed a few years of immersing myself in the divine feminine. Now I can look at the masculine half with new eyes, and re-accept that energy. I just needed time. Time to learn that I, too, can be divine. I am not lesser than a man by the chance of being born female. I am a WOMAN, and I am phenomenal.
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
^This was going to be the end of this entry. But I wrote this before the election on Tuesday, and I suddenly have a lot more to say. WOMEN. Women are the winners of this election. I have several things to share with you that have been floating around Facebook and elsewhere.
"You know your party is in trouble when people ask did the rape guy win, and you have to ask which one." - Alec Baldwin
And also this story: Women and Minorities to dominate the Democratic Party
This is the difference between the Republican party and the Democrat party. Republicans - 90% white males. Democrats - 47% white males. New Hampshire elected a completely female delegation for the first time in US History. We elected an openly lesbian senator. We elected a Hindu woman. A Buddhist woman. A disabled woman. An openly gay congressman. We re-elected an African-American President, with two daughters, who has pledged to protect and fight for a woman's right to choose, for women's access to contraception and preventive healthcare, for equal pay for women, for marriage equality. Marriage equality passed in three states, and a marriage equality ban failed in a fourth.
It wasn't until LAST YEAR that a woman's bathroom got added to the House floor. LAST YEAR. Tuesday marked INCREDIBLE strides for women and minorities. For the first time in a long, long time I feel proud of my country. I am cautiously optimistic about the turn we're taking. Actually, no. I'm not cautiously optimistic. I keep saying I am because I don't want to get my hopes up. But really, I am FREAKING EXCITED for the step we've taken. I am ECSTATIC. I cannot WAIT to see what the next four years bring.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Photo Sunday
This was the line I stood in to vote on Friday. The door to the building is in the far left; and that was not the end of the line, by a long shot.
But at the end of the line, three hours later, I voted.
I voted for dreams.
I voted for love and equality.
And I voted for hope.
I think those are things worth standing up for.
Have you voted yet?
I voted for dreams.
I voted for love and equality.
And I voted for hope.
I think those are things worth standing up for.
Have you voted yet?
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Saturday Bonus Post!
I don't usually post on Saturdays, but something happened yesterday I really want to talk about. See, Sascha and I voted yesterday. We took advantage of the early voting that our state has, since my work schedule for next week wasn't out yet, and I didn't know if I'd have voting day off or not. We also have never voted in the voting booths before; Oregon, our home state, votes exclusively by mail. So this was something new!
What we weren't expecting was the line. Oh man, the line. Instead of sitting at our table at home, talking about the issues and marking our ballots, we stood in line. For THREE AND A HALF HOURS. We had decided to vote first, and THEN go buy some new shoes for me, so I was standing in not-the-best shoes. My back was aching, my feet were aching...and about halfway through, when we finally got up to the building, I spotted a crow feather on the ground.
I haven't found a crow feather since I left Oregon the last time. The apartment I lived in, in Oregon, had a local murder of crows. I would find feathers EVERYWHERE constantly. I made a promise to Crow to always pick up feathers, so I now have a BOX full. (The image I've posted is about half of the feathers I wound up collecting!)
Seeing this random, lonely feather when I was miserable and aching...it reassured me that I was doing the right thing. It encouraged me to be patient; the gods were watching.
What we weren't expecting was the line. Oh man, the line. Instead of sitting at our table at home, talking about the issues and marking our ballots, we stood in line. For THREE AND A HALF HOURS. We had decided to vote first, and THEN go buy some new shoes for me, so I was standing in not-the-best shoes. My back was aching, my feet were aching...and about halfway through, when we finally got up to the building, I spotted a crow feather on the ground.
Seeing this random, lonely feather when I was miserable and aching...it reassured me that I was doing the right thing. It encouraged me to be patient; the gods were watching.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Why Rick Santorum is a Scumbag
So, after making a rather...vitriolic post on Google+ last night about this article, I think I'm ready to talk in a (slightly) more reasonable manner about it.
Basically, back in 2006, Rick Santorum made some....disconcerting comments about birth control. Now, we all know that the GOP hates birth control and abortion and the thought of women doing what they want with their own bodies. But Santorum took that to another level, I think.
“It’s not OK because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. They’re supposed to be within marriage, they are supposed to be for purposes that are, yes, conjugal, but also, but also procreative. That’s the perfect way that a sexual union should happen. We take any part of that out, we diminish the act. And if you can take one part out that’s not for purposes of procreation, that’s not one of the reasons, then you diminish this very special bond between men and women, so why can’t you take other parts of that out? And all of a sudden, it becomes deconstructed to the point where it’s simply pleasure. And that’s certainly a part of it—and it’s an important part of it, don’t get me wrong—but there’s a lot of things we do for pleasure, and this is special, and it needs to be seen as special.”
Basically, back in 2006, Rick Santorum made some....disconcerting comments about birth control. Now, we all know that the GOP hates birth control and abortion and the thought of women doing what they want with their own bodies. But Santorum took that to another level, I think.
“It’s not OK because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. They’re supposed to be within marriage, they are supposed to be for purposes that are, yes, conjugal, but also, but also procreative. That’s the perfect way that a sexual union should happen. We take any part of that out, we diminish the act. And if you can take one part out that’s not for purposes of procreation, that’s not one of the reasons, then you diminish this very special bond between men and women, so why can’t you take other parts of that out? And all of a sudden, it becomes deconstructed to the point where it’s simply pleasure. And that’s certainly a part of it—and it’s an important part of it, don’t get me wrong—but there’s a lot of things we do for pleasure, and this is special, and it needs to be seen as special.”
This just ticks me right off. You see, I use birth control. I am married, we don't want kids. Even if I wasn't, the idea that sex isn't special unless it's for procreative reasons is absurd. So...older people, past child-bearing age, and infertile people - their sex isn't as good as the younger people who are having kids. It's not as special, according to Santorum.
And he actually states that he believes birth control is harmful to women. Yeah, you heard me.
“I vote and have supported birth control because it is not the taking of human life. But I’m not a believer in birth control and artificial birth control. I think it goes down the line of being able to do whatever you want to do without having the responsibility that comes with that. I think it breaks that … this is from a personal point of view of, from a governmental point of view I support that Title X,” he said.
“I guess it is and have voted for contraception, although I don’t think it works. I think it’s harmful to women. I think it’s harmful to our society to have a society that says that sex outside of marriage is something that should be encouraged or tolerated …, particularly among the young and it has I think we’ve seen very, very harmful long-term consequences to the society. Birth control to me enables that and I don’t think it’s a healthy thing for our country.”
What? I mean, really, what?! Let me take you back a little bit, to the women's suffrage movement. Do you realize why, exactly, it happened when it did? What else happened in the 50s? Oh, that's right, we got the pill. We got a way to keep from being tied to the house and kitchen with a dozen kids. That gave us the ABILITY to be more than wives and mothers. And not just women! Men were required to work to support their families, including kids they may or may not have wanted but it was the price of having sex with their wives. No more! Don't want kids? Don't have them! That is now an OPTION, where it wasn't before.
Birth control is not harmful to women; it frees them. I can work outside the home. I can go to school without worrying about daycare. I can have sex with my husband without worrying that it will cause an accidental child.
EVERY CHILD SHOULD BE WANTED. That's why, since we don't want any, we take steps to prevent it. If more people did so, if more people had easier access to birth control, we wouldn't have as many children up for adoption or in foster care. Which would, in turn, be a smaller burden on the government to support!
This is just another example of the GOP's war on women. And another example of the hate they have for the "weaker sex." (Ha. Right.) If you want more examples, stay tuned to this blog, I will post more in the weeks leading up to the elections, I promise!
Santorum is a disgusting excuse for a human being. Stay out of my uterus, scumbag.
Also, do you really want a president whose name is slang for something this disgusting? (Warning, link not for the squeamish.)
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