11.04.08

tell me what i want to hear

I'll End The War In Iraq Responsibly... Finish The Fight Against Al Qaeda And The Taliban In Afghanistan... Provide Affordable Health Care for Every American... Cut Taxes For 95% Of All Working Families... End Dependence On Oil From Middle East In Ten Years... Invest $150 Billion In Renewable Sources Of Energy Over The Next Decade... Rebuild Our Military To Meet Future Conflicts...

i'm so hopeful.

yeah, you know i'm excited about this

when worlds collide

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

i've been following the whole mccain vs. hilton family thing from the moment daddy hilton eagerly donated twice the allowable campaign funding to mccain, to when mccain's shocking and off-topic political ad slammed the hilton's most (in)famous daugther, to mommy hilton's outraged (and well-said) huffington blog post, to the above mock ad by princess hilton herself.

i love when my guilty pleasures meet my less-guilty pleasures and create hilarious hybrids.

i <3 rachel

i know, i know, all the ladies (and many dudes) do too. but my crush crippled me ages ago, i swear. anyway, if you don't know her by now, she's most famously known for hosting a show on air america and near-daily appearances in MSNBC punditry.

her background, via wiki:

A graduate of Castro Valley High School in Castro Valley, California, Maddow later obtained a degree in public policy from Stanford University in 1994. She then received a Rhodes Scholarship in 1995 and used it to obtain a D.Phil. in political science from Lincoln College, Oxford University. Her political activism has focused on AIDS and prisoners' rights, especially the prevention of the spread of HIV and AIDS in prisons. She is gay, and is an outspoken advocate for gay and progressive issues.

but like i said, i'm not alone. for more on her and her following, see this.

yes, i am still harping on the issue

the wonk room has the rundown of why mccain is just like those very serious anti-contraception folks:

•Voted to end "the Title X family planning program, credited with helping prevent over 9 million abortions."
•Voted against funding teen-pregnancy-prevention programs and ensuring that "abstinence-only" programs are medically accurate.
•Voted for the domestic gag rule, which would have prohibited federally funded family-planning clinics from providing women with access to full information about their reproductive-health options.
•Voted to take $75 million from the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant to establish a new "abstinence-only" program that censors information about birth control.
•Declined to help reduce the need for abortion and improve maternal health by opposing effort to require insurance coverage for prescription birth control, improve access to emergency contraception, and provide more women with prenatal health care.
•Voted against legislation that would have prevented unintended pregnancy by investing in insurance coverage for prescription birth control, promoting family-planning services, implementing teen-pregnancy-prevention programs, and developing programs to increase awareness about emergency contraception

i'm voting republican

today is share tongue-in-cheek support for the republican party day. aside from the video above, here's an additionally funny (yet more depressing) stab: a loyalty oath for clinton supporters who turn to mccain instead of obama

in my opinion, women's reproductive health is the number one reason to vote democratic this election. with the strong likelihood of an open supreme court seat in the next four years, mccain's openly anti-abortion stance, and the nomination he's suspected to make that will change roe v. wade, i really hope that all of you urge your friends and family to vote, and vote specifically obama. for more on the kind of evil we're facing that we've got to get proactive against (from the article i linked above):

And amidst these obstacles, anti-contraceptive activists attack women's access to contraception on every other level: President George W. Bush's Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2006 bars pharmaceutical companies from selling birth control at a discounted price to university health centers and safety-net clinics, leaving low-income and college women paying full price for birth control.

why? there's really little actual reasoning behind that kind of policy. i hate using the word "evil" when talking about politics, but i can't think of a more fitting word in this instance.

election '08: the collective mega (lady) boner

so, i am excited about the finalization (at least it seems so) of the primaries for the democrats. my "man" won. but i wasn't like a lot of obama's voters who seemed to grow increasingly bitter over the rival clinton camp. in fact, when it came to their respective platforms, neither one was so markedly different from the other that i was able to choose a candidate based on policies alone.

instead, i ultimately chose obama because in my lifetime, i have never heard people so excited about politics as those who support obama have been. and i guess, after the last seven years, i think that's one of the things i've been most concerned about: a collective disillusionment. and i think, when americans are active and excited about politics, remarkable things happen in american history: the civil rights movement, women's suffrage, the end of slavery, etc. to name a few. i want to see that within my lifetime.

but i want to speak very quickly about clinton. she still has my respect. and i get excited when i think about her campaign and how it has done really positive things for women in politics and other professional fields. i read this today originally from feministing.org and wanted to share the discussion:

Over the course of this historic, thrilling, aggressive primary election, we've seen more female pundits than ever before writing and speaking about presidential politics. We've experienced unprecedented interest from male politicos in women's participation in the electoral process. And demands for women's leadership have been given their fairest hearing to date in the United States, with Democrats nationwide expecting Obama to give close consideration to female vice presidential prospects -- not only because there are a few wildly successful and talented women who would be great at the job, but also as a gesture of good will toward the feminist energy that animated so many Clinton supporters.

who did YOU vote for and why? what are your thoughts about the primaries?

who let the clueless, pandering white dude out?

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA -- Mitt Romney was greeted warmly by a largely African-American crowd at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Parade in Jacksonville. He shook hands with several dozen parade-goers and even hugged a few of them.

Only one woman was noticeably annoyed by the former Massachusetts’ governor’s presence.

“Mitt Romney, go home!” she yelled. “You’re delaying the parade.”

As he posed for a picture with a group of young people, the typically old-fashioned Romney was relaxed enough to quote from a popular hit single from a few years back.

“Who let the dogs out?” he called out, as he stood there beaming in his shirt and tie. “Who! Who!”

debunking email myths

a few characteristics of my present life result in my receiving A LOT of conservative and/or stupid forwarded emails every week.

although i work in "liberal" academia, there's very little progressivism in my department. and arguably, i think its my department's scientific philosophy that makes it one of the most conservative of higher education. on top of that, i'm also in the middle of the country with rural on all sides of me, in a state that most would still consider to be "the south." and then, include the fact that my mom is a tv evangelical enthusiast, republican voter and you soon understand why i receive so many emails declaring obama an islamist terrorist and swiffer products as dog killers.

it's irritating and the little enjoyment i can get out of it comes with replying occasionally with some factual opposition.

some of the debunking links i've shared below are oldies that everyone's aware of and then some of them might not be. and then you may know of good ones that i don't have here (and in that case, please share).

www.sourcewatch.org: wikipedia-like site that allows users open-review of various organizations.
www.snopes.com: love this one and use it almost daily. note: interesting that clinton and obama are the only presidential candidates with negative items in the top 25 widely circulated email myths.
www.opensecrets.org: one of the best sources on political donations (who gives, who gets, and how much).
www.ripoffreport.com: one of the more widely used open complaint sites on vendors, documenting specific instances of fraud.
www.junkbusters.com: less a verification source and more just smart how-tos on riding your life of spam and scam.
www.guidestar.org:info on non-profit funding and spending

see how they run

born and raised in california (where your electoral vote is safely assumed before the election even begins), i've long fantasized about moving to iowa to be part of their olympiad primaries. instead, i moved to a swing state, which has its own excitements.

needless to say, this is one of my favorite seasons. but despite how excited i get, the whole thing can be so overwhelming. so, i'm always looking for an easy-to-digest breakdown of the facts.

in the latest mother jones, there's an especially helpful candidate platform quick guide that i thought i might share. after clicking on the link above, please note that there's a whole related menu in the title line that includes other helpful charts like campaign contribution breakdowns. romney seems even more terrifying than i thought, kucinich appears even more likable, but equally out of touch with reality, and obama (though i really do like him) seems increasingly less distinguishable from clinton.

american apperal ad: alliteration via "immigration station"

i know i'm self-promoting when i link you to another blog post of mine on another blog, but i wanted to share this contentious, brave, and well-put ad put out by American Apperal in the LA Times. i'm happy to feel something positive for AA, especially because i've long felt ambivalent towards the company and its founder (and i'm not alone, apparently).

http://immigrationstation.blogspot.com/ is a side project of mine that actually gets more action than this one (whatever, pervs). basically, i collect immigration related articles, video, audio, etc. that i find interesting. i used to come across a lot of things in college that i wanted to keep with me, but a lot of that has become disorganized, tossed out, or lost. this is my attempt to organize it better. and i'm hoping that this database of sorts will come in handy in the future.

"mike huckabee's message to iowa" or arkansas latest political superstar

kelly: hey
kelly: congrats on your surging native son presidential candidate
me: haha
me: yeah, thanks i guess
me: huckabee=pretty cool for a republican (minus that whole aids thing, ergh)
kelly: i dunno
kelly: he worries me
kelly: it's like he sugar coats the evil
me: maybe so, but he's really likeable as he does it. and i guess that makes him dangerous.
me: he did do a lot of really socialized things for arkansas, while wording it nicely for christians/republicans.
me: he created the no children without healthcare program here, which supposedly is one of the best ones in the country.
me: and he argued that it was justified, because if someone is pro-life they have to be pro-life past birth, which is the biggest irk i have with the christian argument against choice but against benefits for kids too.
kelly: yeah, it's the religious social welfare state
kelly: super paternalistic
kelly: yeah, i like(d) him
kelly: but the more i find out the less i do
me: yeah
me: funny that he’s he's likeable in a way that clinton was/is too, and from the same small town
kelly: he's folksy
kelly: and doesn't appear to take himself too seriously
kelly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuWUdUDUIDQ
kelly: this is hilarious
me: hahahaha
me: that was awesome
me: and that sums [your argument] up nicely
kelly: yeah

musician protest photos

dear web journal,

i’ve been working on an entry (a couple of them actually) for awhile. but they’re only half done, because i can’t seem to finish a thought lately without something bigger and more important balking for my attention. anyway, i saw this today and i thought i would share, because i thought some of the signs were pretty smart and naturally, there’s something enjoyable about seeing pictures of your favorite bands sharing similar thoughts as your own, eh?

"the whole system is REALLY unfair"

dear web journal,

if you know me already, you know the topic of immigration is one dear to my heart. so, you may imagine the kind of joy i got out of the video below.

Immigration: The Human Cost

good, good, good (magazine)

dear web journal,

this is the perfect funny shirt to balance out my last post. and a cute stab at consumerism like this also helps me introduce an emerging concept growing out of fundraising for a good cause: when more, more, more can actually equal good, good, good.

for christmas, i got my future sister-in-law a subscription to good magazine and they accidentally sent the first issue to my house. i was already really impressed with the magazine from the advertisements i saw randomly popping up on tv, the internet, and radio. but i can’t stress enough how important their work is, especially after reading an issue. first and foremost, 100% of your subscription payment ($20) goes to a charity of your choosing (out of their somewhat limited, but excellent list of organizations). you get a really awesome publication out of it and you can feel good knowing the purchase supports a worthy cause. and it is chock-full of really informative pieces.

i have to admit that i am really excited about consumerist giving including programs like this and (product)red. forget kant; giving should include all kinds of personal incentives. the moral imperative creates a totally unrealistic and unsustainable expectation of human beings. why not (literally) capitalize on what is good about our nature to want to be recognized and reciprocated for our good deeds? and our generation is ripe for this kind of giving—we want accountability and we want to receive something for our investments. if that produces desired results with little cost, i’m all for it. naturally, i am not including some of the self-important waste that sometimes occurs in ridiculously pampered gala fundraising. but when people are already buying ipods, t-shirts, and magazine entertainment, all the better to have that include a greater good as well. think of it as a necessary mitigation for consumer waste, if you must. and frankly, i don’t think we have the time to wait for the purity of soul that kant expected of human beings. things like AIDS, sudanese conflicts, global warming, and mid-east instability don’t warrant the luxury of time.