punt
i should be working on my novel. instead, i downloaded FeedReader, a rss/atom feed client. i like it because it looks sort of like an email client, which means that i can disguise my lunchtime websurfing a little better. 😀
but i’m starting my right after hitting post.
more consumerism, quelle surprise
i’ve been thinking about getting this book: What’s the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. i’ve heard it recommended in a few blogs and on AirAmerica Radio.
kos, you are a little late
click link above. he quotes from an article that discusses the pulling apart of a religious marriage from a government-sanctioned union. eat this, sucka: my ideal solution to gay marriage.
p.s. i love dailykos.
pet topics
my view of the democratic party is that we stand for the underdog and for public service, that the country isn’t better until everyone is doing better, not just you, not just me. we stand against corporate interests and for environmentally-friendly policies and for equality in the eyes of the law. we stand for the under-educated (so, no, we shouldn’t just write off people in the mid-west and mining towns as rednecks and be done with it; whether they know it or not, we stand for them too), the abused, the jobless, the homeless. we stand for a society were people can make informed decisions to improve their lives, where people can go to school if they work hard. i hate that the republicans have pushed us into a place where we largely have to position things in an “us versus them” mentality. “they” can’t see that “we” are working for them too, that when we improve things for “us”, that it’s not just the supporters of the democratic party that win, but everyone.
it seems simple enough to understand. sigh.
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christians, even evangelical christians, do NOT equal Republican/Bush supporters. white christians, yes. black christians, no. asian christians, no. i think also latino christians, no, but i’m not too sure (i know support has waned, at the very least). let’s not unfairly stick them under the same umbrella, because it’s not fair to, say, the black ministers that organized their congregations to march for civil rights to classify them in the same way as the people who used the bible against them to claim that blacks were inferior beings. some use religion as an excuse for bigotry, but some learn the right lessons of tolerance and non-judgment.
when you don’t have government representation, you look to community leaders, and many communities center around church activities. minority communities, which are heavily democratic and underrepresented, often have this type of leadership. let’s not alienate the people in the fight with us against this administration.
i should look up stats to support my assertion about minority christian groups.
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someone brought into work an atari system and three games. heh. i used to think “atari” was “artari”. i think i still accidentally say that a lot of the time.
i caved
i am giving in to the lobbying parties. i learned it by watching you, government! here you go: https://eingy.helava.com/feedme.xml.
2006
the time to start working for a democratic majority in 2006 is now.
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2006 reminds me of 2.006, which was the number for the thermo II class that i failed. let’s hope there is no curse.
looking hopeful
Check out Zogby (click on post heading). His final prediction before the returns is Bush: 213, Kerry: 311, with Nevada (5) and Colorado (9) too close to call.
my ideal solution to gay marriages
my feeling is that inequality is wrong, wrong, wrong. i can’t say it enough. and my feeling is that there should be a true separation of church and state. i don’t want the government to mandate my beliefs and i don’t want the church to run my government. (sidenote: i also believe in a true separtion of corporate interests and state, and think this really needs to be addressed asap.)
i think ALL unions that have any sort of legal benefit or binding effect should be civil unions, for gay, straight, whatever. there is no reason that a religious ceremony should have any legal ramifications or protection insofar as a life partner. (i had to put in the caveat because i believe in the conscientious objector status for people who are raised in or convert to a pacifist doctrine, which has nothing to do with unions or marriages.) i think that a marriages should have the protections and rights granted it repealed henceforth, with those rights going squarely under the umbrella of a civil union.
i think if a person wants to get married in a church or synagogue or other place of worship, or get married by a person of some religious or other faith, they should go find someone who will marry them in their faith. but it should have no legal bearing on their partnership status. at all. none. it should just be something they do because it’s personally important to them in some way.
i know that that’s not how it’ll be in the US. people who don’t understand freak out and believe that somehow the sanctity of marriage is being threatened. don’t you see? it’s not. if marriage is a civil, state-run thing that you can vote on, then it’s a violation of civil rights to deny it to consenting adults, with all the good and bad that come from marriage. if it’s purely a faith issue, and it bothers you, then go worship where they don’t perform marriages for gays, and let the ones that do continue on their way. faith is a matter between you and God or whoever you think is the head of your faith. work hard to decrease the divorce rate and “protect families” by encouraging environments that are open to communication, where there are people around to help if something goes wrong. work to be a personification of your beliefs (er, unless you are like the KKK or something) — take the example of Buddha, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jesus. don’t take the example of people who point and fear and taunt and judge. be an example to those you want to believe in the things you believe.
i’m going off-topic, but i don’t care. believe in the golden rule and live it out. do unto others as you would have them do unto you. first remove the beam that is in your own eye, then you will see clearly how to help your brother remove the little sliver that is in his eye. he who is without sin cast the first stone. love covers over a multitude of sins. and this means your own, not other people’s.
gay people are not going to molest your children. how is it that in middle america, when you write “gay”, people read “child molestor”? this shocked me when i first heard someone make the false connection. i’m baffled by it.
voted
today, i cast my first presidential ballot. if you have to ask me who i voted for, i have to say that you must be a stranger.
there were a good handful of people, with an average line length of 8 or so people, getting processed at a good rate. in the past, it has always been about 2 people, so it looks good. i asked for a paper ballot and was so nervous that i would screw something up that i took forever to fill out the little bubbles.
my stomach hurts.