March 2004 Archives
I'm saddened to read that Bob Edwards is leaving NPR's Morning Edition. He was one of the reasons I began listening to NPR so long ago. I'll miss his voice in the morning. So much better then some of the more annoying people on the local ClearChannel station. On the other hand, XM will begin airing America Left tomorrow at noon, beginning with Al Franken's "The O'Franken Factor." I love Al Franken - he is so funny and poignant. Something lost, something gained...
I just read Rep. Marilyn Musgrove's statement about the Federal Marriage Amendment, and found it fun and easy to pick apart her logic (if you want to call it that) and rhetoric. Rep. Musgrove is both wrong in rationale and on the wrong side of history. The next thing we'll see her sponsoring is a bill prohibiting single parenting. Let's pick this crap apart together, shall we?
She opens up and makes several references to all the Americans she's spoken with. She's discussed the issue with many people and the consensus is that gay marriage is wrong. I have to wonder who exactly she was speaking with. Is she speaking to people on her side of the issue only? From her position essay here, I don't get the feeling she's spoken with any GLBT people. So let's cut the crap here and just say "I've spoken with many people who already believe what I think and haven't challenged my position." Moving on...
Among those 'many people' are some family counselors who have told her that "children are best raised in a home by a mother and a father who are married." While this may be true, what about single parents? What about heterosexual marriages that produce no children? I think she's getting off topic here, and using rhetoric and out-of-context statements to bolster her position.
She states that the people she's spoken with mean no "ill will toward any particular group." While that's nice and fuzzy, ill will is what will be created, and no one in this particular group will be positively affected by her rhetoric of lawmaking. Is she ignorant of this fact or just stupid?
"There is no public outcry to redefine marriage," she contends. Again this reinforces my point that she is living somewhere under a rock because I've seen and heard about people rallying and protesting for equal rights in marriage law. Seriously, are we supposed to take the rest of this opinion seriously when her facts are so evidently screwed up?
Tonight an woman came in, made her purchases and was checking out when she had a fit. She used a credit card and the cashier asked to see the back. Of course this is a standard practice to ensure that the cardholder is indeed the person using the card. This lady went berzerk. She was upset because she says we usually don't check her card but we did this time, and we should be checking all the time. I told the reasons that we check, and that the cashier that she went through checks all signatures. She was still freaking out and left the store. She called later to complain again and to ask me what our credit card acceptance policy is. I re-explained and she again told me how insulted she was that her card was checked, yet we should be checking everyone's signatures. So which way did she want it? She really would have been upset if her card wasn't signed - we would have had to ask for her ID!
I see that while the state of Massachusetts is getting ready to wed gay couples in a few months, the Catholic Church is getting ready as well. This from Yahoo! News:
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church is taking steps geared toward ousting lawmakers who support the rights of same-sex couples to marry.The church has launched its first statewide voter registration drive, designed partly to send thousands of new Catholic voters to the polls this fall to vote against pro-gay legislators.
About two-thirds of legislators are Catholic, but the majority of them are not following official church doctrine, which opposes both gay marriage and civil unions. A majority of lawmakers favor an amendment that would allow civil unions.
One would think this is rather ridiculous. Perhaps the catholic church should have spend more time ousting pedophiles instead of excommunicating people who support equality. In my mind this is akin to the church ousting people who freed slaves or something. It's also rather interesting that the gay/gay-supportive community is working on being able to unite people while the church is ousting people. Interesting.. Oh well, no need for me to judge... history will tell, and I certainly won't forget.
(Source: Massachusetts prepares for gays to marry)
This weekend seemed to be a very short one - mostly due to the fact that I closed on Friday. The weather was beautiful as well, of course causing time to progress at a faster rate. Went to my parents' house and spent the night there which was fun. It's always nice to spend time with them. We all went to see the movie The Ladykillers with Tom Hanks. Of course he was great and the movie had some fun moments and good lines, but overall it was a bit odd. The cat really did steal the show in the end. It was just a bit contrived, but then again I'm not always appreciative of that kind of humor. Stayed away from the news for the most part this weekend which was also a nice break - sometimes it is wonderful to be blissfully ignorant. Made a great dish on the grill tonight - it was from one of my mom's recipe books - Grilled potato salad. Very easy to make and very good. Not much else comes to mind at the moment, but that's probably because I should be in bed. :)
This was my post for the bi-weekly photo assignment at The Mavica Information Exchange. The topic was "Phobias" and there is quite a list of them. I chose chronophobia - the fear of time or clocks.
Tonight was amusing with a number of moronic people coming in to entertain me. First of which was a woman who claimed that we didn't make some food for her correctly. She claimed that this was awhile back, but she had spoken to a nameless manager who said she could come in and get a replacement. huh? She couldn't tell me what was wrong with the food besides "it wasn't right" nor could she say when she was in last except that it was before she "was out of town." My manager okayed it, but not before she grabbed herself a bag of Fritos and started munching on them.
Then there was the bra lady. She bought 3 bras, and so 3 were on her receipt. She beckoned me over to examine her receipt saying that one of the bras should have been taken off of the purchase. I asked if she meant to buy 3 bras and she replied that she did. I re-examined her receipt to find there were indeed 3 bras. I reiterated the fact to her that if she wanted 3 bras, they were there on her receipt and everything was fine, right? No, she said, it should have been voided off. Ummm.. what?? Finally she seemed to understand, laughed and left the store. Twillight zone!
And the topper of the evening. A woman who wanted to get cash back from a credit card purchase. Let me just say that my store is not a bank, and we don't issue cash advances from credit cards. If you pay via credit, that is how you get your refund. This woman fought tooth and nail, even going so far as to tell me how another purchase she made was with cash and she should get cash back. She used the word damn in there somewhere, which I don't really care, but I noted to myself that was one obscenity. Then she told me how "fucking ridiculous" this was. Ok, I'm not the FCC but I don't let people get nasty in my face so I told her to watch her language in the store. She then had the audacity to tell ME to "back off!" Ok, now we're on thin ice. I credited back her card and she promptly told us that she would shop elsewhere from now on. I wanted so bad to make her promise. What is with people coming in to ask us to return something, for us to help them out, and turn and be nasty? Talk about fucking ridiculous!
Someone from Hudson wrote to the Beacon Journal to voice opposition to an editorial that headlined "Use your veto, governor" (regarding the Ohio DOMA bill). This person focuses on domestic partner benefits and how costly they are to companies, and economic reasons for discrimination.
First this person says that large corporations have DP benefits solely for the purposes of plitical correctness and PR. I don't believe that arguement is well researched or thought out. I work for a large corporation that offers DP benefits and it's certainly not for PR purposes. My company actually recruits gay and lesbian people for management, and it wants to be sure they have an attractive compensation package. They also seem to believe in something the writer doesn't - equal benefits. Large companies (as well as small and medium ones) want to recruit the best talent they can. If that means that talent is gay or lesbian, then they want that person regardless.
Another point is that adding domestic partnership benefits increases costs dramatically for a company who provides them. I've read studies that show it increases costs as little as 1%. (I'll update when I find that link - or let me know if you've seen a similar statement). Besides, is cost really what we're talking about here? This person also draws a breadcrumb trail between companies who have to provide DP benefits and taxpayers having to foot the bill. What is that about?
In the person's conclusion the point is again brought up about the majority having to pay for "the lifestyle choices of the few." Well, in that case, I'm sick of having to pay for the "lifestyle choices" of the straight people who get married, a right that is not afforded to me or my partner. We don't get those federal tax breaks, and we also have to pay more to ensure that our rights as a couple are put into writing. I think the writer here needs to rethink the other side before attacking the GLBT community from an economin point of view.
(source: Domestic partner benefits problematic)
Yes, it's true. A 7th grade teacher is gay. He must be promoting things like civil rights, tolerance, and respect. Now these are things that can't be taught in a classroom.
It's about a 7th grade teacher who came out in his classroom because the students asked him directly about getting married to a man. He believes in honesty and so told them that yes, he married a man. The classroom gave him a standing ovation. Now of course there are parents saying he's promoting a gay agenda. Is this like when heterosexual teachers promote the straight agenda? The incident is being investigated, but the gay teacher is not. Thank goodness! But times must have been difficult for him, and I'm sure there are more to come. I applaud his braveness and courage to stick up for basic values such as honesty. There are many teachers who don't stick up for basic values enough. And of course when they do they are investigated.
This story caught my eye because it hits close to home. It's one of the reasons I didn't finish school, and haven't yet become a teacher. There was an incident once with a professor who told me that if she had children in my classroom, she would have them removed because I'm gay. That really struck me, and prompted the thoughts that I write here now. What if I spend all these years getting my degree and preparing to teach - something I've known for a long time that I really want to do and know I would be very good at - and someone finds out that I'm gay? What if a parent finds out and I get fired? My teaching career would be over. Luckily I haven't given up on this dream, and I'm hoping to return to school soon to finish up.
I wouldn't want to create controversy. I would want what's best for my students, and there is enough in the world to distract them from learning. But at the same time I would want it to be a non-issue. Being gay has no effect on my teaching, except that I know that by the time I get there I will have done enough soul searching to know that teaching is what I want to do, unlike some teachers who would rather be doing something else. I hope that by the time I have my degree and begin teaching for the next generation, the future will be brighter for them and be filled with less hate and rhetoric.
(source: Investigation Launched After Teacher Tells Class He's Gay
)
The past few days have been filled with excitement and relief. I bought a new car! Well, it's not exactly new. It's a 2001 Saturn, but it's new to me. My old Saturn was 10 years old and starting to require more and more maintenance. The wait to see if I was approved for a car loan was excruciating, but the relief of having a newer car is wonderful. My old car was pretty basic - so basic it had manual steering. The new one has power steering which is much nicer in parking lots. Anyway, not that anyone really cares, but I thought I'd mention this since I've been away from the blog for a bit.
I'm reading this evening that the Federal Marriage Amendment has new, improved wording. The new version deletes a few words thereby making it possible for civil unions to exist. Goodness, how generous of them. That back seat of the bus is SO appealing.
Really, the problem is not the wording, and that disgrace of a representative from Colorado doesn't get it. (She never will either so don't bother.) It's not the fact that we just want our equal civil rights, we want to be treated like American citizens, not second class people who just aren't good enough for marriage. Civil unions are fine and dandy, but not when they are lacking the full priviledges of marriage. I mean, a heterosexual couple can move out of state and take their marriage with them. A gay couple with a civil union cannot. There's a myriad of other inequalities associated with the difference between civil union and marriage. The most important being that it's "seperate but equal." (my ass)
And here's my other problem with this amendment. It says to everyone that gays are not good enough, that we're not first-class citizens, and that we're not worthy of our human dignity. Know what that translates into? Hate crimes, teen suicide, mental and emotional distress, etc. When the government officially sanctions a viewpoint such as FMA, it sends a message to the people of the country, and unfortunately among those people are those like the ones who killed Matt Shepard. All they need is a little encouragement. Others are going to be kids in school who will torture young, gay kids like Robbie Kirkland who committed suicide because he couldn't take it anymore. And there's plenty of people out there who are just sick and tired of being the punching bag of the country, and it won't make life any easier for them. I know hateful language, even with deleted words, doesn't make life any better for anyone.
(source: New wording proposed for marriage ban)
Well, a few weeks ago on a winter Friday it was about 70 degrees here in NE Ohio. Now it's the 3rd day of Spring and it's 27 degrees F with a wind chill of 17. As the saying goes though, if you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes. And true enough about 5 minutes after I took these pictures the snow abated and the sun shone through. Of course then the snow came back.
Once again I present you with the top search results that turn up my little web page:
2) randomness
8) meaning of melissa (Melissa who? Melissa Etheridge? My old roommate?)
13) empty warhead (looking for Bush no doubt)
15) how to make methamphetamines (i think this one's going to be with me for awhile - all because I wrote about how to misspell it.)
19) meaning of rhetoric (there are many meanings, and it depends on who's spouting it and who's analyzing it)
"meaning of gay" was on there for awhile but it's not in the top 20 anymore. I always hope that those who read my blog come awat with something, but I guess not in all cases. There are no warheads or methamphetamines here - sorry.
I almost am not sure what to say about this. In case you haven't seen this yet online, it's a urinal that has been installed in the Virgin Airlines lounge at JFK airport. Now I'm thinking to myself, why? Is it to encourage men who can't aim to do so more carefully? Quite frankly that thing scares me. Yeah I'm gay and I suppose that should be taken into account, but I would think a straight man wouldn't be all that fond of that thing. I mean it's a GIANT mouth - look at those teeth! And that's all I'm going to say about that.
(source: Kisses)
UPDATE: The National Organization for Women along with several other groups has denounced the "Kisses" urinals (thank goodness), and they will not be installed after all. Really when you think about it, it's kinda sick.
(source: READY, AIM - FIRED - and this may be the only time I ever link to that newspaper)
My sister works with the general public as I do, and often has funny and enlightening stories as well. She works in pet care and she shared some good ones with me tonight.
One was the guy who was bringing his dog in and since Heartworm season is coming up (which is spread by mosquitos) she recommended starting a heartworm treatment. He said that his dog doesn't go outside except to go to the bathroom, and that his yard is fenced in. Umm.. does he also have a sign for the mosquitos: "No Mosquitos Allowed!" People just don't think.
Then there was a guy who had a dog insurance plan and its title is something like a preventative health plan. He was very upset when his dog was so sick they had to put him to sleep and rightfully so. But then he became enraged when he found out that the preventative health plan didn't include euthanasia. No, I suppose a preventative health care plan wouldn't include death.
And finally, people have problems describing body parts and things - almost to the point where they are childlike. Like the ones that call their male dogs part his "wiener." But the one that really takes the cake is the woman who exclaimed so that all could hear that her dog was "licking her COOTER!"
You gotta love the general public.
When I was watching Realtime with Bill Maher the other night I heard a great line by the former Candian Prime Minister about religion in American politics. It just made me want to up and move to Canada. I really like Maple leaves! I just got the sound byte prepared for you:
Canadian Point of View
I watched the most recent installment of Real Time with Bill Maher tonight and George Carlin was on the show. He said something that made me think. He said that when we are born we are given a ticket to the freak show - here in America we get a front row seat. Now the rest of this is what I got from the rest of his comments. Basically, you can sit back and watch the whole thing; you can be an objective commentator. Or you can be a freak, or even a freak saver. So I thought, oh my gosh, I'm one of the freaks! I thought this because I am playing the part of the GLBT advocate writing blog after blog about how terrible the other side is. I am one of the freaks who has no objectivity and soley re-establishes and rationalizes my position. This is bad I'm thinking.
So as I consider my options I'm thinking I could just try to sit back and become more objective about things (being the gay rights issue.) I could get rid of the blog and just go about my business. I could decide to be a full-fledged freak and go hog wild accusing every last person who says anti-gay of crimes against humanity. Or I could go on doing what I'm doing...
My partner often tells me that I need to be more objective sometimes; that I need to stop letting the news get to me so much. He's probably right. Sometimes I get so steamed when I read the latest BS from the president or the right wing that I could spit. But in some sense I think that's an asset. Many people ask whether they would rather be tortured by knowing the truth about the world or be blissfully ignorant of the facts surrounding them. I choose the torture - how masochistic of me. I think it's what makes things happen though. If no one got upset when blacks had to sit on the back of the bus, we'd be in a much different place. If no one got upset when Matthew Shepard was killed, what kind of people would we be?
Which brings me back to being a freak. I think on many issues I am a front row observer. There are many issues which do not impact me or anyone I know directly and I don't give them much thought. But when those issues become important I rely on the freaks to let me know what is going on - those people who passionately care about the truth are the ones most likely to give it to me. So I will remain the freak that I am, and continue to let people know my version of the truth. If I and everyone else sits back and watches, then who will know the truth?
Proud to be a freak!
Not many people like getting calls from telemarketers - hence the national "Do Not Call" list. Today though, I telemarketed myself. When I got home from lunch with a dear friend of mine, I was told that someone from a company that we have cable and internet service through called and left a number for me to call him back. I thought that was odd - rarely do telemarketers leave a call-back number. So I called back. All of a sudden I was being sold a new plan - one in which I have little interest. So now I'm on the phone with a telemarketer and I called HIM! What a moron I must be to fall for the newest scheme.
Sometimes I wonder about the mentality of people. This little girl came in not long after I had started my shift. She had to be about 8 or 9 years old and she was a handful. She wasn't crying, but instead was throwing a tantrum like none I had seen before. She was trying so hard to cry she was bleeting like a billy goat - if it hadn't been so irritating I would have laughed. She carried on like this for a good 15 minutes as her mother checked out. I thought it would never end.
Later a man came up to the service desk wanting to return something. My staff had already explained he couldn't return the item - it was nasty, no packaging, no receipt. Wasn't going to happen. So this man threw his own little tantrum - told me he will never shop at our store again and that I could stick the item up my ass. Well, that's original.
Just goes to show there's no set age where people stop throwing tantrums.
[added later]
The mistaken quote of the evening... you know when you hear something that someone said, but it turns out the person said something totally different. Last night I was trying to get a register lane cleaned of a bunch of candy that we had put out. Later I heard a cashier say to me "All the candy has been put away and that man is queer." I turned to where he was pointing looking for someone, but no one was there. I was like, what man? My cashier was confused. I asked him to repeat what he had said: "All the candy has been put away and the lane is clear."
I was watching Star Trek: Voyager last night and heard a great line. It was an episode where a alien called "Q" who is an immortal, omnipotent creature wanted to die. The "state" refused to let him die which he considered an affront to his individual rights. The MP3 is a line that I thought was very good and awfully appropriate these days.
Individual Rights
(source: Star Trek: Voyager)
I love the letters to the editor. Sometimes they are just too easy a target. And if you think I'm picking on someone here, remember that this person took the time to write to the largest newspaper in Akron for the sole purpose of having this crap published for all the world to see. The purpose to voice an opposition to my having civil rights. I think a response is not undeserved. From the opinion section of the Beacon Journal 3/10/04:
Seed of destruction
I am definitely in favor of a constitutional amendment. We are a nation under God, and God's word states it is a sin to have same-sex relationships. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for this sin.
Jonna
Akron
Yeah, so let's get an enternment camp going for those Buddists, Atheists and anyone non-Christian! WTF? God called this woman long-distance on the telephone and told her same-sex relations are a sin, or is that her interpretation? I wonder if she's ever cut her hair or eaten shellfish. And of the many interpretations of S & G I don't think it's entirely a cut and dry issue to use it against civil rights. Many interpret it as a warning against many other things not including homosexuality. This person is obviously either simple-minded or ignorant. Problem is that this is the dominant voice of the "majority" who seek to oppress the gay community, and it's really stupid.
As for the rest of the letters opposing gay marriage, they all boil down to one thing: discrimination. Base it on religion, personal choice or blueberry jam - I don't care. It's still discrimination, and these people rationalize like slave owners. It's just really stupid.
Watching the original Matrix on TNT and of course it's censored. Classic line when they extract the bug from Neo in the car. I think in the movie he exclaims "holy shit" but in the TNT version he yells "Jeepers Creepers!" I laughed my ass off.
On another topic... Thom from Queer Eye says if your apartment smells so bad you have to plug it in, you have a problem.
Seen on a T-Shirt: "Friends don't let friends go to hell!"
I'm not sure if I posted this lovely story back when it happened, but one day I was cashiering and a strange thing happened. This woman was with her child who very obviously needed to use the restroom. What made it obvious you ask? Well, the kid was exclaiming rather loudy, "Mommy! I gotta POOP real bad!" The mother was trying to quiet him down and tell him to say he had to go to the bathroom. Didn't work. The kid exclaimed this all the way to the bathroom. So today I'm working and I hear a child yelling "Mommy! I gotta go to the bathroom real bad!" Yay, she got her kid to say what she wanted. Now if only she can adjust the volume.
Speaking of poop, a kid was with his mom today (a different one) and the mom was buying baby wipes. So I hear the kid singing to himself, and I was about to ask what he was singing. Then I heard it.. "Poopy wipes... poopy wipes..." It was a little song the kid must have made up on the spot. Maybe one day he'll write for William Hung.
On another note, I see Bush is being Bush, the CA supreme court put a stop to gay marriages, and Mass. passed the the gay marriage ban through the house. Not a stellar day for the gay community. I'm too tired to comment.
And can I just mention how cool XM radio is?
No one really takes joy from another person's pain do they? Like with Ashcroft in the hospital and all - no one is really happy that he's unwell. But then again, I don't really feel bad for him either. I heard a great line on Real Time with Bill Maher last night, and you can listen to it here.
Oh my gosh this is TOO funny! So this woman walks into a Wal-Mart and tries to pay for stuff with a $1 Million bill. Ok, first the treasury doesn't make bills in $1,000,000 denominations, and second, did she think the cashier was going to make change??? Oh sure, I've got your change. That'll be $999,845.01. What exactly does one have to be on to think that just might work?
Of course there was a man who came into work tonight who was already on something when he bought all the amphetamines he could to do lord knows what with. He was already all jittery and nervous when he bought them. I think it was time to take a break for him. Or then there was the man who we had to ask to leave this evening because he wouldn't stop yelling. We found him just walking around the store yelling at miscellaneous inanimate objects and things. He threatened to call the mayor. We threatened to call the police. Never a dull moment. But at least no one tried to pass a $1,000,000 bill tonight!
(source: Police: Woman Tried to Pass Fake $1M Bill )
In response to a letter to the editor in the March 8, 2004 Akron Beacon Journal:
I'm sick of homophobic people who complain about the "homosexual agenda" while at the same time perpetuating stereotypes about "diseases, early deaths, suicides, dysfunctional families and abuse of children" thereby forcing us to stand up for ourselves. Where are your studies and facts? I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that there are plenty of all of that in the straight world. Apparently for these ignorant people, anyone who wants equal rights and is willing to stand up for them have an inapprpriate agenda. So I guess MLK Jr. had an agenda too...
As for your definition of marriage, your dictionary may be outdated. Perhaps it's time you got out and bought a new one from the 21st century. The Merriam-Webster definition of marriage is:
1 a (1) : the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law (2) : the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage {same-sex marriage}
I think that perhaps this ABJ reader is upset with the fact that people are looking for the same rights that he has, and he's not comfortable with giving a minority the same rights of the majority. Next he'll be telling us about how women should be in the kitchen and African-Americans should be riding in the back of the bus. How dare we stand up for what is right you ask. How dare you stand in the way of my basic, civil rights? Like any American I want to live my life freely and with the same opportunities as everyone else. If I'm not able to do that then I'm going to make some noise so that future generations don't have to put up with the crap that people like you throw at us on a daily basis.
I'm really hoping that box on her head is not part of the outfit. Apparently this getup is part of a ready-to-wear line designed by a British designer. I keep seeing these new outfits with crazy head pieces - I don't think it does any good to not be able to fit into a car or through a doorway. Would you wear it?
(source: Yahoo! World Photos)
A late Friday 5.
What was...
1. ...your first grade teacher's name?
Mrs. Loy. She was a nice person, and she sang to the class as she taught.
2. ...your favorite Saturday morning cartoon?
The Smurfs. They were just smurfy...
3. ...the name of your very first best friend?
She knows who she was.
4. ...your favorite breakfast cereal?
Cheerios. I used to eat them all the time - so much so that I don't eat cereal these days.
5. ...your favorite thing to do after school?
I would talk on the phone with my friends from school - hours on end sometimes. Really used to annoy my parents.
I spent some time among the metal gas guzzlers this evening at the Greater Cleveland Auto Show at the IX Center in Cleveland. I have a few reactions.
What century is this? Why is it that in 1987 my mom had a Chevy Nova that got 35+ MPG and in 1994 I bought a Saturn that gets 38+ MPG, and now cars are lucky to get 28MPG? Are we traveling backwards in time? How long do we want this middle east dependency to continue? If the cars at the show were any indication then it's going to be a long while. I suppose it will be as long as Americans insist on driving cars that make them feel invincible.
As my last experience at the auto show was rather unexciting, I will say that this one was a bit more interesting. The Chevy's were pretty cool having different designs, and even one called the Aveo that starts under $10k! For the most part, all the cars looked the same. It's funny, you walk up to one car and the sticker says $17,000. Then you walk up to another car that looks exactly the same and the sticker says $36,000. huh? I know it's all under the hood, but if you're going to pay that much for a car it should look like it eh'? And justa note about Suzuki - the interiors are horrible. Whoever is designing them should likely be fired or at least steered away from wherever he/she is going.
Lastly, we learned how to keep your car clean - dust once every few hours.
I had a really bizzare dream last night. I dreamed that someone put my 3 fish into a tupperware container and put them in the fridge. Then somehow, someone added some lasagna into their container apparently not thinking that a seperate container would be better. So I went into the kitchen for something to eat, saw the lasagna and tossed it into the oven. Then I thought something was odd - my fish weren't in the fridge anymore. With horror I realized that they had been in the lasagna so I pulled it out of the oven and poured water over it. The fish were fine after that and I guess I returned them to their tank.
Beacon Journal | 03/04/2004 | New face of the lawless: Mayors at gay nuptials
The link above was an article printed in the Akron Beacon Journal today, and I feel encouraged to comment on Malkin's (the writer) opinion.
Michelle Malkin uses Coulter-like hypocracy and style to villify the Left without regard as to what her own Right hand is doing. She compared draft-dodging to the current issue of marriage for gay couples. (An ironic argument considering Bush's questionable military record). She has this major bone to pick with inclusion by putting quote marks each time she uses the word "diversity." It's as if the mere notion is appalling or frightening - almost like when Bush does a speech about gay people but can't bring himself to utter the word "gay."
She consistently makes the diversity=lawlessness comparison. Apparently she's forgotten about the struggle for equality of African Americans in the past century as if it truely was 100 years ago that those issues were revisited. Rosa Parks wasn't a "shiny pied piper" nor was Martin Luther King Jr. "paying lip service" to anything. They were real, important events and statements. Ms. Malkin is missing the point when she resorts to calling Mayor Newsom "outlaw-in-chief."
She takes issue with the fact that Roy Moore broke the law and everyone cried out, but that now when Newsom breaks the law there is no outcry. Is she blind, deaf, and dumb? The President spoke out in favor of a Constitutional Amendment to counter the growing fight for equality! That's not outcry enough? In Moore's case, he violated already existing Consititutional Law when he united church and state - a founding principle of our country and one reason for its existence. What he did was try to force his beliefs on other people - something that the founding fathers crossed an ocean to get away from. And yes, Roy Moore is a zealot.
Malkin's arguments are flawed, and her rhetoric is that of someone trying to skirt the real issues when there are only irrational concepts to back up her position. But I suppose it's all in how you look at it - from the Right or the Left? Or perhaps looking at her article from the middle doesn't make much sense either.
This morning, a particularly busy morning I may add, a woman came in with her $20 in hand, but refused to spend it. It was one of those new $20 bills. She came up to one of my cashiers and insisted that she exchange it for one of the old ones. When prompted as to why she wanted an old one, she explained that she would not spend George Bush's money. huh? I mean, his face isn't on the twenty (yet) and I'm sure he had nothing to do with the creation of the new money. I mean, I'm pretty anti-Bush, but that's a whole new level...
Today I made time to go vote before beginning an 10 hour workday. It's always interesting voting in a small township. People always want to know about you, where you live, oh in that house.. blah blah blah... I got into the voting booth and looked at the candidate's names. Not Kerry. Flip-flops too much. Against FMA but for second-class status for queer folks in his own state. Not Edwards, same problem. I know it made no difference, but I voted for Howard Dean. I saw he won Vermont tonight - I'm happy for him. He deserved a win after everything he put into shaping this election. I see he got 3% of the vote in Ohio. Not bad for someone who isn't even running anymore. I'm happy that the state representative that I voted for won - she was supportive of the queer community when Ohio's DOMA was passing through. For the people who didn't vote today, you may not complain about politics until after November.
And BTW, for a certain school district in NE Ohio - you just voted one of the best school systems in the state into the toilet. Congratulations, idiots...
Ohio legislators kept saying that Ohio's DOMA was only to declare same-sex marriage against the "strong public policy" of the state, and that it meant to prevent Ohio from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. (which is of course against the full faith and credit portion of the US Constitution) I kept saying that was BS. The language of the bill was left vague enough that people could make much more of it.Section 3101.01 (3) states that "Any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of this state. . . that extends the specific statutory benefits of legal marriage to nonmarital relationships between persons of the same sex or different sexes is void ab initio."
So apparently that includes the partner registry in Cleveland Heights even though it confers no rights or benefits. According to the Gay People's Chronicle "a Cleveland Heights council member used the new law to sue" to overturn the voter initiated registry. Those f*****s in Columbus have really screwed us with this one. They knew what they were doing, and it wasn't just about gay marriage, it was giving the right-wing conservatives and anti-gay activists legal ground to pummel us into the ground and ensure that we remain second-class.
I got a call from corporate this evening. Apparently a woman had called to complain about the return policy. Someone from corporate then called me to find why I had done what I did. The caller was not very happy with me, and went over the events as they had happened. I told her how I had applied the policy, and she acted like she didn't understand why. I think I went over it a few times referring to specific documents until she finally relented saying, "Fine!" and then hanging up. It's an odd evening when I have to tell someone who should be more in the know than me about how the return policy works.
Just a strange, twillight zone evening over all anyway. I occasionally wonder what prompts people to go out in public wearing the things they do. Like the mini skirt with the leggings and the straps that connect to the underwear showing. (I forget what they're called) Or holy - and I mean with many holes - sweatclothes that you can see things through that one shouldn't see in public. And people question my sanity at work!
