swim through the fires to stay in this world

Amazing (and short) speech about the legalization of gay marriage.

Also: You Are Not Crazy

What struck me most about this interview from March with the Arizona congresswoman who was shot was not the bitter irony of her discussing the dangers of the violent rhetoric currently de rigueur in American politics but how reasonable and rational she is, how she refuses to assign blame or point fingers, how she's enthralled with the idea of democracy, how she seems to be exactly the kind of woman I'd want helping form policy in my country.

Bang.

I was reading the Bill of Rights today (one day I am going to manage to memorize them, word for word) and while the US government has many examples in its history and is currently not living up with the spirit or the letter of the Bill of Rights, it is an extremely elegant and humanist document.

Okay, total tone shift.

A couple days ago, terenewen  suggested a meme:

Top 5 hypercompetent characters you'd want in your employ. Also, what could happen in canon to make then snap?

1. Batman. Now, I know the comic are all like, 'blah, blah, Batman can't kill, slippery slop, whine, whine,' but I think that's bullshit. I think that's a comforting lie that Bruce tells himself. Now, what would actually break him? My money is on a supervillain killing and torturing Alfred in front of him.

2. Sydney Bristow. Now, in general I would argue that anyone can be broken as long as you have the right leverage. But for some people, there is no right leverage. Partially due to her training, partially due to her personality, I cannot imagine Syd ever being broken. You may think you've done it, but she's just playing along and biding her time until she kills you ass.

3. Katniss Everdeen. Unlike the other characters, we've seen her at her nadir. We'd also seen her get back up on her feet and continue living.

4. Michael Westen. Again, there isn't anything that you could do to him directly that would get him to crack but torture his family and/or Fi and Sam?
5. Mal Reynolds. Losing Serenity. He could survive that if he had his crew with him and they continued on together but only barely.

This is a couple months late, but it's still awesome: Rowling's Single Mother's Manifesto.  

I just heard that there is a vote coming up which offers a chance to repeal an increased tax on, basically, junk food. And I was really unsure about which way I would vote for a bit because I have really mixed feeling about what we should do regarding increased obesity in the US. (A huge part of which is cultural; otherwise we would not be leading the waistline expansion. However, I also believe that people have the right to eat as badly as they choose and since I'm completely addicted to diet soda, this directly effects me and my pocketbook.) So I was very confused about which way to vote, until I did some research and realized that:

a.) the money is going to budget deficients

b.) it is an incredibly ill written law, in which Snickers are taxed higher than Twix bars

c.) it was really shoe-horned through the legislature.

Write me a consistent law where the money goes to libraries and/or schools and then we'll talk.

I am voting No on 1100 as hard as I possibly can, though. 1100 would privatize hard liquor sales which would most likely increase the ease for minors to get alcohol and (this is why I'm voting no) eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for schools. Basically, it would be benefiting costco and other major groceries over Washington's school kids.

BP Fails Booming School 101 

(This is relevant to the Gulf Oil Spill. And it's hilarious.)

If, you know, you're not out tearing up the town.

Progressives (and Obama) Are Doing Better Than We Think. A list of the changes the Obama Administration has already enacted.

More BS About POC and Sci-Fi with copious links. (I haven't read through all of the posts yet.)

Is Africa Ready For Science Fiction? (The title sounds kind of racist but the article totally isn't and provides excellent insight into sci-fi, speculative fiction, and cultural differences.)

 

MY SKILLS ARE UP FOR AUCTION RIGHT HERE.

(You know you want to buy me.)

Bidding starts at $6.00. I'm offering one fanfic of at least 1500 words. 

 After the failed Northwest Airlines bombing, the TSA tightened up its regulations, requiring that all flights in the US and coming to the US had every passenger patted down prior to boarding and carry only one item onboard, which will be searched by hand prior to boarding. Additionally, during the last hour of the flight, passengers are not allowed to leave their seats, access their luggage, or use handheld electronics, and must sit with their hands in plain view.

What this tells me is that the TSA is fairly clueless on how to keep travelers safe.

I am all for bumping up safety when attacks or threats happen; but the epic delays and cancellations that occurred when these new restrictions came into effect leads me to infer that the TSA does not have the infrastructure to deal with threats, which is ridiculous when you realize they have had nine years since September 11th.

And as for keeping your hands in sight and not using electronics during the last hour – frankly, that is treating people like criminals. I have a very emotional reaction to this; all I can think about is that after paying for an expensive ticket, taking an abnormal amount of time to prove that you are a.) who you say you are and b.) safe to have on a plane, you are treated like a prisoner being transported from one jail to another.

Furthermore, all it seems to do is show that the TSA safety procedures do not work. Or the TSA doesn't have faith that they do, if they think that after going through three different screening processes, they still believe there is a reasonable probability that passengers are carrying hazardous materials.

Finally, I have a huge problem with how mum the TSA is being about why they tightened restrictions and even WHAT the tightened restrictions are. One of the callers on NPR today flew in from Charles de Galle and commented that if he hadn't been a journalist and had access to the wires, he wouldn't have know what was going on.