Politics News Article | Reuters.com:

We don't need to be raising taxes right now as the economy is beginning to recover. We've got plenty of money in Washington D.C.,' Bush said, making no mention of this year's projected half-trillion-dollar budget deficit.

on drugs or just stupid? you be the judge.

The Onion | Massachusetts Supreme Court Orders All Citizens To Gay Marry:

According to police reports, demonstrators were vocal but orderly.

'The unholy union of people of the same gender destroys the only type of romantic love sanctioned by Our Lord in Heaven: the love between a man and a woman,' 54-year-old protester Rose Shoults said. 'Me and my new partner Helene are going to fry in hell.'

i love the onion.

Body and Soul: What we see, and what we can't: "What we see, and what we can't

I've worn glasses since third grade -- sort of.

Toward the end of third grade, I got a pair of ugly, pale blue, cat's-eye glasses. I mean, looking back at old photographs, I can see that they're ugly, embarassingly ugly, but at the time I thought they were fabulous. I remember walking around the house, looking through them, then pulling them down my nose to peer over the top, so I could compare my new world with the world I used to look at. I was amazed by all the sharp edges in the world that I had never seen before. So this is the way things looked to everyone else. I could see everything!

In fifth grade, my glasses broke. A tether ball hit me in the face and knocked them across the playground. The frames broke into several pieces when they hit the blacktop. I tried Scotch taping them back together, but they were too far gone, and I finally had to throw them away.

Normally that would be a nuisance, not a tragedy. Glasses can be replaced. But something had happened between the year I got the glasses and the year I broke them. When I was in fourth grade, my mother had gotten tired of being beaten up, and had put a continent's distance between my father and us. All in all, that was a very good thing, but a thirty-six-year-old woman who's been out of the job market for a few years doesn't make a lot of money, especially one who's only had menial jobs. And it doesn't help if she's missing teeth.

i didn't get glasses until about three years after i'd needed them, but it was because the doctor kept insisting that i didn't actually need them, rather than because of money issues.

jeanne d'arc writes about her childhood, her mother, and how the little stuff that gets cut from the insurance plans of those of us who have jobs with insurance is so vital and so expensive.

instead of being original and angsty, instead, i will quote nickelback.

I'm through, thinking of things to say to you
It's true, I've said enough and so have you
Just drive, you slam the door and so do I
Tongue tied, from all the little things
And they're the reason that I scream

I needed you,
Probably as bad as I need another hole in the head

I Have No Title For This:

So you want to talk about homosexuality? YOU want to talk about homosexuality? You want to talk about homosexuALITY?

Sit down CHRIStian. Give me that bible you?re waving before you hurt yourself. I?m going to resist the temptation to snatch it from your hands and beat you with it. I am your worst nightmare, a Texas preacher who knows The Book better than you do.

real live preacher takes on some common attitudes about homosexuality.

from my bbs,L-Spacetyped by my sweetie, sig.

So I'm watching the Firefly Series boxed set. Well worth the money. In addition to the three never-aried episodes and the extras, the eight or so commentary tracks on various episodes are great.

I never watched the series when it aired, due to my work schedule, and now I'm glad. If I had, I would've been deeply upset when it got cancelled, and now I'm spared the pain and suspense. However, it is *very* frustratng to hear Joss say he's not going to explain something because the answer might come out in a movie someday!

The thing that has struck me the most so far is a comment Joss made while watching the pilot, 'Serenity,' which I understand was aired *last,* of all the inane things. It's much much better to watch it first! Joss and Nathan are watching the opening scene, in which the Alliance overruns Serenity Valley. This is essentially the moment when Malcolm Reynolds breaks. I understand that the war for independence went on for a few more months after this battle, but the war for Mal ended right there. Abandoned by his superiors, his men dying next to him, ignored by his god -- this is the end of Mal's faith in everything. And the rest of the series is about the man who comes out of that valley. What, after all, do you do when your life is over but you remain unfortunately alive?

Lois Bujold investigates similar questions in her books, both the later Vorkosigan books and the Chalion books to date. It's one of the things I love about those books. As MVK says, "a life in ruin with vomiting is still a life in ruin," and much of A Civil Campaign is finding the life on the other side of ruin. I think there are a number of people on this webadel who, in my opinion, can relate to the awful wrenching process of finding your life again. And not just your life -- your self, your new self, the person who did those things and survived those other things and is somehow still here. What do you do now? Who are you now, as you are no longer the person you once were?

Anyway. Back to Mal, and Firefly.

Joss is watching the scene and musing on the nature of protagonists. He says everything he writes is about found family. But everything he writes is also about flawed heroes. Joss summed it up thusly (and I'm paraphrasing, but closely):

"It's the Air Force One thing -- 'It's about a tough, strong President, who, when the chips are down, is, tough, and, er, strong' -- That's not an arc!" I think I see Joss's point. Sometimes it is fun to watch a tough strong president be tough and strong when the chips are down. But the great characters are not that easy. The great characters have arc. John McClaine? Sarah Connor? Ripley? Angel? John Sheridan?

I like stories about people who are flawed and occasionally broken. Watching them change and grow, or not, is part of the narrative tension that keeps me involved in the story. It's what makes me care.

Firefly is a very good character show. I can see why the network cancelled it. It is impossible to sum up briefly, none of the characters are stock and easily explained, and the setting is rich and complex. (I remember when kal summed up the show to me, briefly, when it was still airing. I was very, very dubious.) T.V. does not love complex. It fears complex. Occasionally a complex show can sneak by, but rarely.

Ah well. I understand Joss is trying very hard to make a movie of Firefly. Best of luck to him.

one of the many reasons i like her is because she can analyze media much better than i can. so i just end up saying 'yes! like that!' a lot.

more than a thousand rights that go along with marriage. this one's for you, sig.

i am in seattle, at kylee's house, and it is slightly after midnight. today was an exciting day. first thing, abby called with the news that her water heater was dead and leaking. nathan, fine man that he is, fixed this problem by calling minnegasco. then, we went to thai tom for lunch and had much yummy but too spicy thai food. then back to the house and i watched kylee and wim clean, and then people started coming over to the birthday party that we are here for. yay!

Daley on gay marriage: 'no problem' February 19, 2004 BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Mayor Daley said Wednesday he would have 'no problem' with County Clerk David Orr issuing marriage licenses to gay couples -- and Orr said he's open to a San Francisco-style protest if a consensus can be built.

someone on livejournal said it best-- richard m. fucking daley.

wow.

Thanks to a semicolon, gays and lesbians keep marrying in San Francisco:

Two judges delayed taking any action Tuesday to shut down San Francisco's same-sex wedding spree, citing court procedures as they temporarily rebuffed conservative groups enraged that the city's liberal politicians had already married almost 2,400 gay and lesbian couples.
The second judge told the plaintiffs that they would likely succeed on the merits eventually, but that for now, he couldn't accept their proposed court order because of a punctuation error.
It all came down to a semicolon, the judge said.
'I am not trying to be petty here, but it is a big deal ... That semicolon is a big deal,' said San Francisco Superior Court Judge James Warren.

woo!

insideCityHall.sunday

like friday, sunday's marriages were scattered about city hall steps and corridor archways...

more wedding pictures.

Alas, a blog: What Causes Rape? Anatomy of a rape culture:

What causes rape? How can we change our culture so that it happens less often, or not at all?

some really brilliant stuff here.

(why do i keep forgetting to read this? why? soooo good.)

San Francisco takes the lead on civil rights again !

On February 12, 2004, the first legal same-sex marriages in the United States took place when San Francisco city officials decided they weren't going to sit back and wait for bigoted uneducated morons to set the tone for the future of this country. The fundies--who have been rapidly trying to terrorize americans with images of genitalia instead of owning up to their recent and ongoing un-justified massacre of 20,000 + people--have filed two separate lawsuits seeking an injunction that would prohibit SF from continuing these marriages--obviously not realizing that queer marriage has been legal forEVER (hello? have they not heard of trannies? bisexuals? do they not realize that one in every two thousand births is quite possibly assigned the wrong gender by an overworked doctor?)

you weren't in my dream. you hardly ever are. but i don't know who it was in it, and when i woke up, i thought it could have been you, my head on your chest, your arms around me. i thought, it would feel just like that.


(happy valentine's day. i'm probably not talking about you in particular, but a person never knows...)

having a cold makes me soooo grouchy at work. i mean, i still love the job, but i have flipped off my phone more times this week than i think i have previously in my entire time of employment.

fortunately, i have a short memory for being irritated like this.

SF Gate: Multimedia (image)

and a picture! so cute!

San Francisco Officials Perform Marriage of Gay Couple:

Longtime lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon, 79, and Del Martin, 83, were married at 11:10 a.m. by San Francisco Assessor Mabel Teng in a closed-door civil ceremony at City Hall, mayor's spokesman Peter Ragone said. The two have been a couple for 51 years.
The elderly couple said after the brief ceremony that they were going home to rest and didn't plan anything to celebrate. Still, it was a profound moment for the pair, veterans of decades of gay rights struggles.

awwww. napping after a wedding seems like the thing to do, to me.

Chicagobusiness.com:

A move by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to subpoena the medical records of 40 patients who received so-called partial-birth abortions at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago was halted—at least temporarily—when a Chicago federal judge quashed the information request.

i am not particularly excited about being sick. just so you know.

my theory is that if i brace my manager and my coworkers for me possibly needing lots of time off due to surgery in the family, i will need no more than the scheduled time off because everything will go fine.

so i just called and let my manager know about my mom's surgery. and now i'm shaking.

one of the problems that i run into again and again with the new job is that documentation that is written for a reminder for those who know what they're doing is different than documentation for people who are brand new. i am a brand new person, dealing with oooodles of doco written for people who've done this before and just need a reminder.

i am on the phone for a wiscon meeting! right now! this very second!

speaking of comfort, i am now back home from my training trip to texas.

texas is very flat and very sprawly. also, not very warm at the moment. i was promised warm! it got up to maybe 60f on thursday. the rest of the time it was between 40-55f. if i wanted to visit minnesota april, i would just wait a few months, people!

my coworkers are nice people, texas has some good food, the weather while not all i was hoping was better than here even though i didn't dress for it much, and dear lord am i glad to be home.

the dogs are napping on the sofa, and i am pondering joining them for a bit before the small kidlet birthday party that we are planning on going to this afternoon.

comfort meme!

What is your comfort...

...food?
meatloaf! i don't actually eat it often, but it's very comforting. nathan made it for me the first time i came over to his house for dinner.

...drink?
diet coke. oh, alcoholic? fruity coke, which is bushmills in diet coke. no, honest, it tastes fruity.

...stuffed toy or security blanket?
well, there's my security nathan. also, my dogs.

...movie?
um i know this makes me weird but i don't like movies, mostly.

...TV show?
er. or nypd blue.

...book?
the miles vorkosigan books, maybe, or ... hmm. i don't re-read much. oh! frog and toad are friends. also, moosey moose.

...poet?
e.e. cummings and margaret atwood. my favorite margaret atwood poem is one that vicki should never ever read; ask me sometime when she's not around and i'll recite it for you. it's very short.

...music?
nine inch nails. linkin park. moxy fruvous. melissa etheridge. nickelback.

...activity?
computer games. snuggling the dogs. snuggling my sweeties.