who am i?

You are Audre Lorde! You were one of the first
wymyn to write love poems to other wymyn, long
before it was safe OR cool. You put the
"rad" in radical feminism, but
somehow still managed to create a cult
following in people who would never identify as
radical themselves.


Which Western feminist icon are you?
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our scary little shrub

I have been so busy at work this week, I have been neglecting my political speeches.

While I can’t spend too much time on this, I am becoming increasingly pissed at the pattern of behavior from the Bush Administration. For years, Republicans have pointed finders at the Clintons for the Monica Lewinsky fiasco and for Whitewater.

The following are a list of things which have been met with lies, deception, quashing the story, lack of response, lack of cooperation with disclosure and outright flippancy.

- Karl Rove
- The Downing Street Memo
- CIA/FBI intelligence re: 9/11
- Halliburton
- Oil and the Iraq War
- Supreme Court nominee Roberts

That’s just for starters, folks.

The Bush Administration will not let anyone see Roberts’ records. They try to limit media releases of soldiers’ deaths in Iraq, they refuse to respond to anyone who questions the legitimacy of their words.

Take a look at the big picture here.

We have a government that is attempting to limit free speech (especially the anti-war effort), they will not allow Americans to see pictures of wounded or dead American or Iraqi Army soldiers, they are not disclosing any documents showing the record of Supreme Court nominee Roberts (the man who could be the swing vote on the highest court in the country), they led us into war on false pretenses and are trying to smooth talking us into staying there for the same lies (and the fact that the soldiers who have died would have wanted us to “stay the course”), they are trying to impose federal amendments intentionally discriminating against gay and lesbians, they are trying to implement creationism in public school curriculums, they are trying to impose limits on abortion, right to privacy and civil liberties in general, they are trying to limit scientific research that would save lives based on stem cell research, and they are spitting in the face of American citizens every days by not giving us the respect to question our democratic government without being called un-patriotic.

This is a democracy. At least, it was.

When Bush took office his first term, I was scared. Really scared!!!
When he got in the second time, I was outright fearful.

When someone is in a position of power in which they have very little accountability (i.e. someone such as Bush who does not need to worry about keeping voters happy for re-election, and will not respond to any constituents anyway), they have a power that is almost unlimited.

And people were worried about Clinton abusing his power by getting a little action in the oval office.

Again, I ask, why aren’t more people outraged????

our vietnam

My boss told me today that Cindy Sheehan was a “plant.”
Why does someone who is anti-war have to be a plant, why can’t she just be anti-war. I don’t understand the reasoning behind the plant argument.
People really think she had no right to be anti-war, even though she has made the ultimate sacrifice, her son??? Bush won’t even take a few minutes out of his 6-week vacation to give her the dignity of a conversation. What has he sacrificed?
I am so disgusted.
Now, we are told that the war will continue for at least another 4 years???
We are having commentary debating if we are winning the war or losing it???
People are being blasted on opinion shows because they are comparing this to Vietnam???
People, pay attention, this is exactly like Vietnam.
Even the response to the anti-war protestors is the same. How come more people aren’t fired up?

the arrogant little man

This is an excerpt from the Washington Post on Thursday, August 18, 2005:

When the War Won't Stay at Bay
With Bush and the public insulated from Iraq, Cindy Sheehan has moral authority.
By Peter Beinartp. A21

”…But if Sheehan's vigil says something important about Iraq, it also says something important about President Bush. Sheehan, after all, has only one demand: She wants to confront the president face to face. The demand is so provocative because one of George W. Bush's defining qualities is his aversion to exactly this sort of challenge. Former administration officials portray a president carefully shielded from unpleasant or dissonant information. According to former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christine Todd Whitman, "There is a palace guard, and they want to run interference for him." Former Treasury secretary Paul O'Neill described Bush as "caught in an echo chamber of his own making, cut off from everyone other than a circle around him that's tiny and getting smaller and in concert on everything."
And while this cocoon may be partly the work of zealous aides, there's reason to believe it is exactly what Bush wants. In 2004 the president told a Washington Times reporter that he doesn't watch news on TV or even read the newspaper except to scan the front page. "I like to have a clear outlook," he explained. "It can be a frustrating experience to pay attention to somebody's false opinion or somebody's characterization, which simply isn't true."
Bush clearly dislikes being challenged by reporters. In his first term, he held fewer individual news conferences than any president in almost a century. And he dislikes being challenged by his political competitors -- as the country learned during last year's first presidential debate, when Bush repeatedly scowled during John Kerry's answers. In fact, Bush aides were so scrupulous in shielding him from criticism during the campaign that they routinely expelled people wearing Kerry paraphernalia from ostensibly public rallies.
On Iraq, officials bearing bad news have been similarly expelled. When Gen. Eric Shinseki suggested the occupation might require several hundred thousand troops, the Pentagon hastily announced his replacement, rendering him a lame duck. National Economic Council director Lawrence Lindsey lost his job soon after telling the Wall Street Journal that the war could cost up to $200 billion. Had the Bush administration heeded these warnings -- rather than punishing the people delivering them -- America would be far better off today.…”
Bush is pretty incredible.
Imagine, being the leader (not if I could have helped it) of a country and being able to just blatantly ignore any bad news. Live under a rock, so to speak.
The reason he is so arrogant is that he will not let reporters challenge him, he will not let the feelings and concerns of his constituents bother him.
Whether or not we accept the fact that Bush is the president (which I must accept but will not herald), he must accept the fact that each and every American is one of his constituents. This is a democracy, in theory, a government ran with the intent to recognize the needs of constituents.
Bush refuses to consider the American people in his each and every decision. But even bolder than that, he refuses to hear their pain, frustration, needs, wants, feelings, hopes, wishes, dreams…well, he will listen if they meet his needs.
Bush refuses to meet with Sheehan because of his inability to hear the truth, because of his incapability of putting a name or face on the damage he has done, because of his arrogance and because he is not a president of the people, he is a president of himself.

For Casey Sheehan and countless others

Life is getting in the way of my activism.
I soooo want to fly out to Texas from CT and protest with Cindy Sheehan outside of not-my-president’s ranch. BLESS YOU CINDY SHEEHAN!!!
I have a job that I can’t lose because my partner is having a baby and we are buying a condo in less than 6 weeks. Pathetic, isn’t it? But I wish I could join Cindy Sheehan. I know that my obligations to my life are nothing compared to what the young soldiers who have lost their lives in Iraq (and their families) have given up, and I am sorry that I am not strong enough to be on a roadside in Texas with Mrs. Sheehan.
I really hope this takes off and hundreds of people show up. I hope that those Americans who refuse to even doubt this war take some notice.
I couldn’t even believe it when some ass…I couldn’t find the same story today…blasted Sheehan for hurting troop morale.
I get fired up when people say we are hurting troop morale. Anti-war protests are intended to send a message to the powers that be that the decision to go to war was bad. How many anti-war protestors do you know are anti-troops? We want to see them come home alive.
How many Vietnam Vets are still bitter now never having a true answer for a horrific war that we lost in the end?
Pay attention people. This not-my-president is just another bad mistake after another. If people aren’t getting pissed off when Americans are dying, what will it take for a wake up call?

BTW – I saw a bumper sticker the other day that I want. It said “Blind faith in bad leadership is not Patriotism.” I am trying to limit my online shopping, but I might have to get either that bumper sticker or the “Sweet Jesus. I hate Bill O’Reilly” t-shirt. Both will probably have the desired effect of pissing my family members off.

i am gay

I went to a Civil Union 101 information session last night.
Way to go Connecticut to be on the forefront of this civil right!
As we listened to the informational (and entertaining) portions of the lecture, I was moved again to be more than an armchair activist.
One of the first things my mother said to me when I came out to her was that she was afraid that I would feel frustrated and restrained because I could not do and have what other people could have so easily.
When I see people walk around holding hands, pushing strollers, I smile at their happiness but always feel a pang of jealousy that it is easy and acceptable for them to get married and have a baby, but with us, we are still worried about our families’, co-workers’ and friends’ reactions to everything we do.
I am not going to tell my grandparents or cousins about our civil union when we have one, and I am definitely not telling my grandparents about Lois’ pregnancy.
We will not have a big wedding with all of my relatives invited and Lois’ gigantic Italian family bringing envelopes of cash helping us on our new adventure, wedding registries and money to “start our new life.”
I am trying not to be bitter. It is not just about “stuff” or even so much having people “embrace” our relationship.
Our friends have been great. Our families are even getting there.
It is just that it is still something that cannot be yelled too loudly. Some people are coming around and are even indifferent – i.e. ‘sure, let gay people have unions but not marriage. Let them have unions, but do they have to be showy about it?’
It’s okay to be gay, so long as you don’t announce it. That is still the feeling, isn’t it?
Hey, I am as much of a hypocrite as anyone. I don’t wear any rainbow jewelry as I begin my career as a real estate attorney. I don’t announce to everyone that I have a partner or even dare say I have a partner who is pregnant. (Although more people in the office now know than I originally intended).
All I am saying is that there is still so much ground to be covered, a long road ahead, all the clichés one can think of. Instead of being bitter and sulking, I won’t stop until actual equality exists. Will it happen in my lifetime?
The best I can do right now is to inform people. We are regular people with regular boring lives. We will have a child and raise it to be a good, loving person.
How outrageous is that?

my first rant

Why aren’t more people outraged?

We have a President who is lies, deceives and ignores the American people. He sidesteps the democratic process as often as he can get away with it.

I don’t care what people say about Fahrenheit 9/11 and how it was a fraud. I watched it and applauded Michael Moore for seeking the truth. Now, are people saying that the Downing Street Memo is full of lies as well? Is it easier to attack a filmmaker than a prime minister? Want to find out more, check out this blog or even the original website in the UK. The last line of the main webpage states: The American people deserve a full accounting of how we got where we are in Iraq. With every person—soldier or civilian—who is killed or injured as a result of the ongoing violence it becomes more, not less, imperative that we have answers.

The problem is that the American people don’t seem to care very much. Or at least, not enough uproar exists. I think even the media downplay his behavior.

The (not our) president (I refuse to capitalize) fabricated facts to convince everyone he could that we should go to war to eradicate TERRORISM.
I have not forgotten September 11th. It is very close to home for me. That’s why I get irate every time Bush brings up September 11th as the reason for invading Iraq.

September 11th was not a valid reason for raiding Iraq. Iraq had nothing to do with September 11th.

Weapons of Mass Destruction had nothing to do with our invasion of Iraq because none existed, and we knew that.

Then he gets John Bolton in as ambassador to the United Nations by pushing him through when the Senate was on recess. Yes, it is his prerogative to do such a thing, but aren’t we a little concerned that the president will use that tactic because he knows that the Democrats would not have let it happen?!?

Every single thing he does gets me more and more fired up.

Now, this Intelligent Design thing is going to send me over the edge.

Bush makes a comment in a speech about how intelligent design should be given equal treatment in schools, same as evolution, to have “objectivity in origins science” as the intelligent designs website states. Which can be found here for anyone thinks I am being too subjective.

Oh, and I have a new favorite website. It’s called Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O’Reilly. Got a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?