Dipping My Toes In Frigid Political Waters

I'm well aware that being political on one's blog is not the best way to make friends.  The best way is to post pretty pictures and talk about heartfelt stuff.  I never receive so many disgruntled comments and emails as I do when I step onto my political soap box and let'r rip. That said, whatevs.

I'm a firm liberal Democrat and I hope many of you are firm conservative Republicans.  Because if you are, it's likely we are all feeling a little homeless (probably have been for quite some time) in this political climate. Obama isn't doing enough to support the clean-up efforts in the Gulf.  Not even close.  We're still neck deep in two wars and several occupation efforts which are spreading us too thin and disrespecting those we occupy as well as our troops. Every single day, EVERY SINGLE DAY, there's a new report about corrupt politicians, political unrest, natural disasters, man-made disasters, wars, etc. It's non-stop, and it's taking a serious toll on our collective soul.

The thing that set me off was an article detailing the amounts of campaign contributions the oil industry has given to each politican who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee Panel (Huff Post). The very people who are in charge of investigating the oil industry, specifically BP, are accepting contributions from them. They're not even trying to hide it. It's an enormous conflict of interest, and, in my mind, a good representation of what has gone wrong in our gov't. Money, power, influence. It's the same old song and dance, but these tight shoes are starting to pinch my feet.

Sidebar: Some of the politians have not accepted money. Perhaps they were not offered it (which I doubt) or they did not accept it (which I hope).

While I'm totally pissed and exhausted by the whole thing, I don't feel hopeless.  It's a mess, no doubt, but there are lots of good people in the world doing really wonderful things. The worst thing we can do is become divided and start going at each other.  That was my major criticism of the previous administration (a tactic Carl Rove admitted to using). This is not to say that we shouldn't disagree. Conflict is the catalyst to progress, but it's important to understand that, in the end, we're all part of the same fabric.

Although I'm not quite sure the House Energy and Commerce Committee Panel sees it that way.

Americana

It feels weird to post such a straight forward picture of us all posed and smiling and oozing Americana. I cringe a little, but then I realize that, in fact, what you see is what you get, and what you're getting is pretty damn cute so...there you have it. We're Americana. Uhhum, I just vomited in my mouth a smidge.

Plus, it turns out I have really great hair in New Orleans.

I want to pause for a second and talk about the oil spill and how, for a few short days, I spent some time with people who are most affected by it. Thing is, you would have never known it.  It reminded me very much of the time I spent in South Africa. Although the circumstances are entirely different, the people exuded a similar sense of community, a similar sense of strength in their togetherness.  No one was depressed, at least outwardly, and no one seemed to be interested in self-pity.  Instead, I saw people eating delicious traditional food saying, "We better eat it up while we still can."All of this fortitude in the face of negligent billion dollar companies who couldn't give a shit about them.

I don't mean to lesson the significance of their experience, and I don't think they did either. It's unfair of me to think I have any idea what they might be going through. That said, I was deeply impressed by their resilience and ability to rise and rise again. It's a culture of celebration, one which seemed to understand the importance of community.

Traveling with our brood is an enormous pain in the ass, but I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything.  Watching Eva experience the world for the first time is a total kick.  Soon, Miles will get to experience the same stuff, but for now his universe consists of to two large orbs located on my chest.

Presidential Reunion

Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion from Will Ferrell

President's Reunion Behind the Scenes - watch more funny videos

32 weeks

For the record, I think this pose is hilarious. I usually take 5-10 shots and pick the one that looks the least ridiculous. I had my eye on a different image, but Ferris insisted I use this one. His reasoning? He said I look feisty.

I love that man.

Everything is going well, other than the 3 gallons of trapped gas I'm holding behind the creature. I seriously think I'm measuring big because I haven't been able to fart adequately since I peed on the stick. Just imagine experiencing non-stop, epic fart pressure for 32 weeks without the ability to do anything about it. AND BELIEVE ME, I've tried. I drink the special tea, I lay on my left side, I assume the fart position (downward dog with your tush in the air), I pray to the virgin Mary who you'd think would have some empathy. I'm being serious. All you free farters enjoying your luxurious free farting can sit on it and spin.

In other news.

Question 1 failed, and the people's veto prevailed. The gays lost, we lost, people suck.

Grumble.

Update: If you're interested, Time Mag has a pretty good article about the whole shabang over here.

Happy voting day, my peeps

It's voting day, so I've decided to piss off half of my readers by discussing the current situation in Maine, Question 1. Mainers know what I'm talking about and probably already know what I'm about to say. For the lovely others, Question 1 is our marriage equality bill. In other words, it's the gay marriage bill. The bill was passed by the Maine legislature, signed in by our Catholic Governor, and is now up for ratification or veto by popular vote. I'll try to make this short and sweet.

Let me start by saying this.

I'm not all that pissed about what happened in California with Prop 8. While I still believe most of the opposition was based on fear and discrimination, I understand the people who opposed it because of language. It didn't explicitly protect everyone (i.e. clergy who would refuse to marry a gay couple). That is exactly why I support this bill. It's about upholding equality and the protection of personal rights for everyone. The language, as taken directly from the Maine Citizen's Guide, is as follows:

Marriage is the legally recognized union of 2 people. Gender-specific terms relating to the marital relationship or familial relationships, including, but not limited to, "spouse," "family," "marriage," "immediate family," "dependent," "next of kin," "bride," "groom," "husband," "wife," "widow" and "widower," must be construed to be gender-neutral for all purposes throughout the law, whether in the context of statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law or any other source of civil law. This Part does not authorize any court or other state or local governmental body, entity, agency or commission to compel, prevent or interfere in any way with any religious institution's religious doctrine, policy, teaching or solemnization of marriage within that particular religious faith's tradition as guaranteed by the Maine Constitution, Article 1, Section 3 or the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. A person authorized to join persons in marriage and who fails or refuses to join persons in marriage is not subject to any fine or other penalty for such failure or refusal.

Each time I pass the 'Yes on 1' people (meaning, people who want to deny marriage equality) waiving their signs on Forest and Marginal Way, I want to barf out my car window. I support their right to picket, but I can't help but wonder what's so scary about gay marriage. When everyone's rights are protected, what's the big whoop? As a hetero spouse and family member, I think giving everyone the right to marry (aka, solidify families) only serves to strengthen our communities.

People often have trouble with the word 'marriage' and think gay couples should be content with civil unions. Here's the problem with that. Civil unions are 'separate but equal' and don't receive the same legal protection as marriages, especially if you have a conservative judge. We're talking about children being taken away from a (gay) parent if a judge doesn't recognize the union. It brakes my heart in a thousand different pieces to think of that happening. I try to imagine if I were in a gay civil union and lost my spouse through death or divorce. A judge could potentially deem that I wasn't considered a parent because my spouse was the adoptive parent. Besides living in constant fear, I would go batshit crazy if I lost my kids. You would have to lock me up and plug in an IV of your strongest sedatives. I would be homicidal.

And that shit happens every day.

The bottom line is this. Any time a family can remain together or a couple can stabilize and solidify their commitment, everyone wins. It's about love, people. L-to the-O-to the-VE. Love.