Stress Relief

Mmmm mmm, Tina Fey and Queen Latifah. Gotta love those women.



Oh, and in case you missed it, check out SNL's take on the Couric interview, the first presidential debate, and of course, Fey's first Palin sketch.

Some people really should be smacked.

I cherish freedom of speech, freedom of religion and all the others freedoms that we're supposed to have in the USA (never mind the idiots constantly chipping away at those things). I myself am no longer affiliated with any organised religions even though I definitely grew up in them, so being non-churchy I often find myself in debates with people who feel that all religions are dangerous and should be banned because of the extremists they breed. Being the rabid liberal I am, I wholeheartedly defend what I believe should be everyone's right to practice the religion of their choosing and talk about it all they want, even if I don't agree with them. Extremists can form out of any ideology, that's no reason to start banning things. When we restrict the freedoms of others we are really imprisoning ourselves.

I guess that's why when people use their freedom of speech to spew such vile hatred about another person I get frustrated. No, frustrated is not a strong enough word. I get pissed, abso-fucking-lutely pissed off. You can disagree with someone's political views and/or the things they say and do all you want, but comments like the ones in the above video go way beyond disagreement or sarcastic ranting.

Meh. I'm so mad about it I don't even want it embedded on my blog, it'll pollute my space too much.

Now for what made me smile this evening:



Homer definitely should sue. :-P

Of course, tampering with the vote is not a laughing matter, but I think I'll save that topic for another time and go watch The Daily Show to try and rid my mind of other things I've seen today.

2 down, 2 to go!

I'm still trying to recover the brain cells I lost listening to Palin's ramblings that have nothing to do with the questions directed at her. Why the hell is it so hard to stay on point? I know the answer to that question, I mean, it's difficult to answer a question you don't have a canned response for, but really, WTF!?!

Her hairstyle amused me, had to let that hair down to seem even more the little woman next to the big, bad, Biden (plus it's easier to hide an ear piece that way). And the winking? Good god people, a candidate for VP winking at the audience repeatedly while spouting off folksy talk, cute little jabs, and why oh why do we have yet another person who cannot say NUCLEAR?? In all that debate practice could they not correct her on that?

Biden did as good as could be expected, in fact he did better than I thought he would. I'm proud of him, that practicing sure paid off. I mean, he did sigh a lot and laugh a few times, but can you blame the man? How frustrating must it be to have to debate with a person who several months ago hadn't a thought in her head about running as VP? I'm surprised he didn't totally lose his temper at some point and crush her for that "you're an idiot" voice she kept using over and over and over again with her condescending attitude! If he had spoken to her in the same way she was speaking to him, the media and the Republican party would have thrown a huge fit! But she can play the gender card, so gets away with whatever the hell she wants.

I hate that the moderator didn't push to get a straight answer out of her. But I guess that's not her fault really, her hands were tied thanks to McSame's whine-fest of the last few days over her book, as if he just now found out about it. *eyes rolling*

The scariest thing about the whole evening is that I know people who will come away from it with a glowing opinion of Palin because they aren't current enough with the facts to see through the lies upon lies she spouts off on a regular basis. Since after all, she said it on national TV, so it must be right....right?

When will people wake up and realise that we've already tried the "elect someone like your pal next door" approach and we got 8 bloody (literally) years of DUBBYA! Do we really want more of the same? I don't want someone in office like the soccer mom next door, I want some one who has spent a good part of their life in politics/law/community service. Someone who is smarter than me, more educated politically than me, who can pronounce the names of world leaders correctly, and who can say NEW-CLEAR instead of NU-CU-LUR!! I want someone who is calm, deliberate, open-minded, who doesn't foam at the mouth with the thought of going to war, who doesn't see all Muslims as the enemy, and who believes that we all deserve jobs with living wages, affordable health care, the right to decide what to do with our own bodies, and accessible education at all levels for EVERYBODY, not just the ones who have parents that can afford it!

I know, I know, I'm showing my idealistic tendencies, but I don't believe those things are so far out of our reach that we cannot attain them. They will be though if we keep electing power hungry idiots to the White House.

Quote of the Day

"I’m not saying this is the perfect answer. If I were dictator, which I always aspire to be, I would write it a little bit differently."



Isn't he just a ray of sunshine! And that's how he speaks to people just conducting an interview? I'd hate to see how he'd talk to a world leader he doesn't care too much for... As if 8 years of Bush haven't damaged our international standing enough, people want to vote him in to finish off the job?

The VP Debate: Sure to be cringeworthy no matter who wins.

Political blogs and news sites have been abuzz this week with (among other things) their predictions for the upcoming VP debates. Considering Biden's knack for rambling on far longer than he should and at times sticking his foot in his mouth, paired with Palin's um...well...ah...habit of repeating the same lines over and over again mixed in with phrases that are utter nonsense, most people will be glued to their TV sets (or computer screens) to see how it all plays out.

The McCain campaign has been negotiating strict rules about how things will go in this debate, so if Biden strays from the format at all I'm sure we'll all be hearing spin on it for days. Which strikes me as funny considering it was painfully obvious McCain refused to stick to the format decided on for the last Presidential debate!

Personally the whole thing makes me nervous. On the one hand she could give the same performance she has in the few interviews she's done and we'll all cringe our way through the debates, hoping everyone else wakes up and realises McCain's first executive decision was a disaster. Or she could come out so well rehearsed that all she has to do is stick to her coached answers, not be caught off guard by something she doesn't have a canned answer to, maybe even throw in a few feisty digs at Biden and Obama to get brownie points, and it'll be seen as a "win" for nothing more than the fact she made it through without falling on her face. Isn't that a little scary? The average American has set their expectations so low that anything less than a monumental disaster will be a win. *shakes head*

So Joe, please, for the sake of all, make your answers short and to the point. I know it'll be hard, but the less you say, the better you'll look. Talk in calm tones, be respectful, and try to not look like you think Palin is clueless, but don't look like you're trying to go easy on her 'cause she's a woman. Believe me, I would love to see you talk circles around her and have a real honest to goodness debate with her, but let's face it, people are a little too squeamish for that and hate you for picking on the little woman. She'll trash talk at you in that saccharine manner and everyone will let it go without blinking an eye, but if you fight back you'll look like the big, bad man. I guess what I'm trying to say is, give her enough rope and hopefully she'll hang herself.

It's pretty bad when a woman who just months ago criticised Hillary Clinton for not bucking up enough and giving all women in politics a bad name, is getting a free pass by so many voters because they either want to be her, be her best friend, or fuck her. Talk about sexism.

Somebody find my blankie, I don't know if I can watch this...

Vote!

Topic of the month for NaBloPoMo is "Vote". As an American living outside the US, voting this year will be an entirely different experience than it was 4 years ago!

My last Presidential vote was cast in a tiny volunteer fire department building, with a pen and a paper ballot, sitting at a table with partitions that no one seemed to use. The woman who handed me the ballot and asked if it was the first time I'd voted (it was), smiled, and made a comment about how great it was to see young people coming out to give that good man another 4 years for the sake of our country. This was rural Alabama after all, so her comment came as no surprise. I smiled back and didn't have the heart to tell her I was one of those dreaded Democrats and there was no way in hell I'd willingly give that "good man" another 4 years to screw over our country. But believe me, I thoroughly enjoyed sitting there and casting one of the only votes for Kerry that probably came from that little polling place!

We all know how the election turned out, but I still remember that proud feeling I had as I placed my ballot in the box and stepped out into the early November rain. It makes think of all the new voters that have been registered this year through all the organisations working to ensure that everyone has a say and every vote is counted.

Today early voting starts in 8 states in the US, and absentee voters from around the world will also be voting this month(including me). Some states will close their voter registration soon (if they haven't already), while others allow registering up to the day of the election.

Have you registered to vote this year? If not, check out what your state requirements are and if still permitted, I encourage you to register and make your vote count! Don't know if you're registered or not? This site will hook you up with the info you need to find out if you are. Overseas? Try this site and be sure to check out the special shipping deals FedEx is offering for mailing your ballot to the US, in some places (like New Zealand) it's even free!

Is there such a thing as blog fright?

"Do one thing every day that scares you." -Eleanor Roosevelt

That quote has been running through my mind for the past 20 minutes as I sit here staring at the empty text box on my screen. From the previous posts in this blog I'm sure anyone can tell I'm not the type that never has much to say, so the sudden loss of words has been a bit puzzling to say the least.

And then it hit me.

I have stage fright! Errr, or blog fright (if there is such a thing).

Usually I have no problem coming up with something to ramble about, but that's because not many people read my blog and most of the few that do I know personally, so having them read my writing is no big deal. But while trying to write this post it suddenly occurred to me that since I've decided to try the "post every day for a month" thing, once I'm added to the blogroll other people might stop by to have a read! Don't get me wrong, that's cool, I love to read other's blogs and have them respond to mine (I blog elsewhere on occasion with more readers), but somehow this is different.

I know it seems silly to have stage fright over such a thing, but since those kind of fears aren't rational to begin with, it is what it is. Standing on a stage about to give a speech is one of the only things that consistently leaves me speechless!

Surely it's just a passing thing, but 'til it goes I'll just have to do what they say to do when staring out at the mass of people before you:

Picture you all in your underwear. ;-P