Women in the Spotlight: Sarah Palin

In Breakfast at Tiffany's, Holly Golightly says, "There are certain shades of limelight that will wreck a girl's complection." That's the spotlight I choose to shine on Sarah Palin this week. For centuries, women have fought for equal rights, both here in the U.S. and around the world. Sarah Palin is setting us back by a decade or two at least. Women already have to campaign harder to work their way up the political ladder and having someone as inept and blatantly idiotic as she is in the center arena does not make it any easier. A friend linked me to Vanity Fair's article "Palin's Resignation: The Edited Version" and it underscores just how unqualified this woman was for Vice President (or any other political position in my personal opinion). The saddest thing, though, is that she probably worked really hard on that speech and was proud of it. At least that was the attitude I encountered working at my first job proofreading content for apartment newsletters. I learned that many people in our country are so poorly educated in English that they don't even know how bad their writing is. And they got extremely agitated when I fixed the blatant grammatical errors (like subject and verb not matching in number) and say, "I worked on that for hours. How could you rewrite it?" And I wanted to tell them all, "I'm sorry, but you really shouldn't have." Meanwhile pondering how much worse the original version could have possibly been? (And immediately deciding that I'd rather not know.)
Now, this is all just speculation. I don't know how much time Palin spent on this speech or how she felt about it. Or even if it was her who wrote it (though VF made it sound like it). Regardless, she should be embarrassed for having given it, because it's one of the most poorly written (and factually inaccurate--she thought President Lincoln's cabinet was responsible for the purchase of Alaska. Isn't that the kind of thing a state governor ought to know?) things I've read since getting laid off from the newsletter company. My cousin wrote better than that in 5th grade. Sadly, most of her listeners probably saw no more wrong with it than she did. Which ought to serve as an indictment (or, preferably, a wake-up call) to us on the state of public education. Instead that's the first thing governments cut when budget crises strike (just look at California right now if you don't believe me).
Kudos goes to VF highlighting the spectacular-ness of editors. So many newspapers and magazines seem to be dispensing with these positions as they send things online. It's reassuring to know that someone is upholding the integrity of the written word in the media.

Have We Outgrown Prejudice? I'll believe it when I see it.

Today, I watched a segment on The Newshour about the Texas Municipality (a side note: I was unaware that Alaska was a Southern state, somebody slept through geography and possibly english, too) that's fighting the Voting Rights law and then later on CBS, CSI: NY dealt with neo-nazis and nazis. It's not like it was planned at all. But I found it especially interesting that on the same day that lawyers are in court arguing that we, as a country, have surpassed any possible reversions to decades-old racist practices, a TV show illustrates that we still have people here in our country who see some people as, to quote the neo-nazi from the show, "animals." I don't think I'm alone in thinking it'd be nice to be able to say we've completely moved beyond racial discrimination, but I think that we'd be deluding ourselves. We haven't eliminated any of the discriminations and prejudices that plague our country. Not completely. As I mentioned last week, women still don't receive equal pay for equal work. Women are still a minority in both house and senate. And the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned has loomed in recent years. (But that's another controversial subject all together.) The existence of hate crime laws shows that prejudice has not been eradicated. And it's not limited to race. It extends to sexual preference, gender and religion. The case Citizen B spoke of last week is a prime example of the prejudices that are still alive and well here in our country. The other side of the coin, of course, was also raised, that the voting law says some states are less capable of governing themselves. And while I concede that is a valid point, I'm still inclined to side with the other side. Maybe it's the mountain of statistical evidence that Congress compiled in 2006 to support their extension of the law for the next 25 years. That former President Bush signed. That says to me that there's a good reason it was kept on the books. But I'll admit, I'm also influenced by the fact that the plaintiff in this case is doing this all so they can move their election location from a garage to an elementary school. Nobody in the state government in any of these states is fighting this law. Is the law actually prohibiting them from making that location change? Or do they just not think they should have to ask for permission? As I understand it (and I could be wrong), it's the latter. In which case, I honestly find the whole thing ridiculous and trumped up. But then, what do I know?

Women Fight for the Right to Not be Treated as Property or Possessions

To continue the topic of feminism, here's an example of how the fight for women's rights continues around the world. Why is it that when men say they know the way things should be that it always entails them trying to turn women into property? I'm glad to see these women fighting back and I hope they succeed in bringing enough attention and pressure that the new laws don't become fully enacted. It's definitely a wake-up call that the fight for women's rights is not a thing of the past. Even here in America, women still don't get paid the same as men for the same work. I think it's still at around .75 to every $1, but I haven't seen the latest figures.

A Funny Tax Lawyer? What?

As much as I admire President Obama, I confess to being disappointed by all the tax scandal raised during the appointments to his cabinet. And also found it ironic that the others in question stepped down, while the secretary of the treasury (tim geitner) did not. This is another offering from my dad and it was too intelligent and creative to not post.

Picturing Our Debt

This comes courtesy of my dad and with all the bailout, budget, deficit and bonus amounts getting tossed about in the news, I felt it was apropos and worth sharing.

What does a trillion dollars look like? Using Google Sketchup, here's an idea of what exactly that amounts to.

Let's start with a $100 dollar bill, currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Most everyone has seen one, slightly fewer have owned one. Guaranteed to make friends wherever it goes.

A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains $10,000. It fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for a week or two of shamefully decadent fun.

Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.

While a measly $1 million looks a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet.

And $1 BILLION dollars. Now we're really getting somewhere.

Next we'll look at ONE TRILLION dollars. This is that number you've been hearing so much about. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it's a million million. It's a thousand billion. It's a one followed by 12 zeros.

Notice those pallets are double stacked and remember those are $100 bills.

So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase "trillion dollars," that's what they're talking about.

Something else to think about. On The Daily Show the other night, Jon Stewart and his guest economist, Peter Orszag, were discussing the projected deficit for the country. It was around $15 trillion over the next 10 years if we make cuts. So you have to take that last image and multiple it by 15. And you thought it was a horrifying sight by itself? Thank God my personal debt is still below the single pack of $10,000. Which is helped the fact that I have not had any fast food, bought any books, purchased alcohol or spent money going out more than one night a week since February 23rd. Unfortunately, while my friends who gave up things for lent get to start enjoying them again after Sunday, I have to keep up my budget crackdown because I need to limit how much I'm borrowing from my parents.

Who Says Comedians Don't Ask the Tough Questions?

And the more important thing to ponder: Why does it take a Comedy Show, a News Show Parody, to ask the questions that need to be asked? Jim Cramer whines about how CEOs lied to him, but (and feel free to speak up if you disagree) isn't it the job of the REPORTER to check facts and figure out if the people they're getting their info from are lying to them? If all you're going to do is parrot the lines that CEOs and other executives give you, then aren't you really, for all intents and purposes, nothing more than a Publicist? The companies have PR to spread the news they want people to know. I was under the impression (from my high school newspaper classes and Veronica Mars) that reporters were supposed to research their stories and substantiate their facts with evidence. I say, Jim Cramer, stop your whining. You have the power of the press behind you, learn how to run a fucking financial background check (or whatever they call it). No intelligent CEO is going to go on national TV and say "My company is full of shit and we're going to crash and burn and all your money will go POOF!" It should be taken as a given that they're putting the most positive Pollyanna spin on whatever they tell you. The job of the reporter is to sort the lies from the truth and tell us "the viewer" which is which to the best of their knowledge. As Jon Stewart points out, "Isn't that financial reporting?" and later, "I'm under the assumption and maybe this is purely ridiculous, but I'm under the assumption that you don't just take their word at face value. You actually then go around and try and figure it out."

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things w/ Demetri Martin Political Humor

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 2
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things w/ Demetri Martin Political Humor

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 3
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things w/ Demetri Martin Political Humor

You gotta admit it. Jon Stewart definitely showed up Jim Cramer, who came across--to me anyway--as a wishy-washy flip-flopper who just says what he thinks people want to hear and whines when anyone points out the inconsistencies. (Side Note: I think that Jim Cramer started this whole thing, took Stewart's original criticism that was aimed at CNBC in general personally, as a publicity stunt to try and get the ratings for his show up. Sad, pathetic man.)

Let the Angry Mobs Arise! (Sharpen Your Pitchforks and Your Wit!)

"Irony is the bringing together of contradictory truths to make out of the contradiction a new truth with a laugh or a smile. I confess that a truth must come with one or the other or I count it as false and deny it the very nature of humanity itself." - Anne Hathaway, Becoming Jane
With that in mind, I present the following Comedy Central videos on AIG. You should also visit Citizen B's blog to join the debate on whether or not the government should tax the bonuses back.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
AIG Bailout Money Bonuses
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things w/ Demetri Martin Political Humor

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
The Notorious AIG - Outrage
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things w/ Demetri Martin Political Humor

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
The Notorious AIG - Congress Wants to Blame Someone
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things w/ Demetri Martin Political Humor

Since the space node 3 naming contest has closed, I propose a new contest to rename AIG. As everyone now despises the company and all it stands for, it will now have to enter the Witless Protection Program in order to attract future business (in addition to possibly approaching congress for additional bailout funds as the first billion or so may not be quite enough). Feel free to submit your name suggestions in the comments below. If I get any, I'll create a poll of them.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Stephen's Angry Mob Will Crush AIG
comedycentral.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Mark Sanford

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Keeping Our Heads
comedycentral.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Mark Sanford

I Watched MILK Today

I've never understood how people who believe in Jesus and a loving God can believe so strongly that God and Jesus hate homosexuals. When I was in Sunday School I remember the church always stressing that Jesus said to "Love thy neighbor as thyself." I was raised on the golden rule, "do unto others as you want them to do unto you." I do not understand how people can call themselves Christian while at the same time persecuting people and trying to strip them of their civil rights. It goes against every tenet of Christianity that I was taught growing up. It's one of the main reasons that I don't like to affiliate myself with any one religion. For some people, it seems that they cannot feel safe in their beliefs unless they put down people who do not share them. Myself, I believe that if you feel strongly about something, then it shouldn't matter if nobody else agrees with you. Nobody can make you be gay. Nobody can make your children gay. It is not something that is taught or caught like a virus. Allowing others to live their lives as they wish and to have the same rights as you will not destroy families or marriages. It's the most ridiculous notion in the world to say that allowing homosexuals to have civil rights will destroy the sanctity of marriage or family. The only people who can destroy a marriage are the people who are in it. If you study history, many of the arguments that are being employed against the gay rights movement are the same ones that were employed against African-Americans and Women a hundred years ago. And look, women have been voting for, what, 90 years now. And the world has not come to an end. The government has not come crashing down around our ears. I hope that in less than a hundred years time, the arguments against gay rights sound as ridiculous as the arguments that were posed against African American and Women's rights a century ago.

The Good and the Hopeful

The good news: I've walked 12+ miles in the last week and discovered that the P.O. is only 1 mile away; the Bank/Grocery Store is only 1.5 miles; and there are two parks pretty and relaxing parks with nice trails in between.

The even better news: I've managed to plan out the entirety of my romance novel over the course of 20 chapters. Which means all I have to do now is actually write it (I have 4.5 chapters done).

The hopeful news: The company I interviewed at over two weeks ago called today and they're going to make their decision next week. I thought they'd just decided I was absolutely horrible and not worth calling back. Please, God, if you're there and listening, I really, really need this job.

And now for something completely different: It's such a nice change to have a President who I can stand to listen to for an hour without wanting to shout "You're nothing but a Talking Monkey Puppet" and throw things at the TV. That said, Clinton may have been charismatic, but Obama comes off as very intelligent and well-studied, which really inspires confidence. At least in me. My grandad is probably cursing him for his "socialist agenda" but I was shocked to find out that almost 4 million people had lost their jobs nationwide. I hadn't heard the number recently. A couple of months ago I hit a wall and stopped wanting to know who else was unemployed and competing with me for the very few jobs available.

Do any of the DC politicians pay their taxes?

Does anyone else find it a little unsettling (and feeling like quite a bit more than coincidental) that three of President Obama's nominees in a row have had issues with not paying taxes? Not to mention completely unfair. My dad sent me this editorial cartoon about it.

On another note, I quite liked Jon Stewart's proposition on The Daily Show sometime last week that instead of bailing out companies, the government should give everyone money to pay off their consumer debt, because it would take care of the individual debt AND bail out the companies at the same time. (There are probably a million reasons it wouldn't be feasible, but I can think of plenty for why it's not a good idea to just dole out money to the companies either. And right now, I care more about my personal financial crisis than that of the greedy CEOs who got us all into this in the first place.)

Who Wants to Be a Republican?

Last week I got a letter in the mail from my grandad. Apparently Obama's election has reminded him that he has yet to convert me to the republican mindset. A year or so ago, I made the mistake of recommending that he watch the movie An Inconvenient Truth because I thought (mistakenly it turned out) that the science would transcend the politics. That was when I learned that not only does my grandad not believe in global warming, but that it is apparently considered more of a political issue than a scientific one. Anyways, for about three months after I recommended the movie to my grandad, I got an unending flow of newspaper editorial clippings from him about how the liberals have all invented global warming in an attempt to bring down the conservatives and ruin the world. Eventually, he stopped after telling me that if I just read Ann Coulter's columns and books, I would see the light. Then, last week a letter from my grandad arrives with a clipping that says that Obama is exaggerating the (according to the Conservatives and Republicans) non-existent global warming crisis in order to destroy the American way of life and make us all into socialists. First off, I'm willing to admit that there's a chance that global warming is exaggerated, but I took geography and geology in college and I'm not willing to accept that my professors who had studied and researched it were lying about the science behind it. I've always found that inbetween two extremes tends to be the most balanced and accurate place to stand. Second, I'm tempted to ask my grandad why he would think that his unemployed grand-daughter, who is currently barely able to afford prescriptions and totally unable to afford insurance and who not only voted for Obama but was actively counting down the days until Bush left office, would possibly side against socialist policies that have a chance of improving the environment, the economy and her chance of getting affordable healthcare?

I Want Some Tarp, Too!

While I understand the principles behind saving the mortgage and auto industries, I also feel a bit like it's telling them that it's okay that they used shady practices and wasted all their own money. It's not really fair that they get a second chance with our tax money when they haven't really shown that they're going to do any different this time around. Yes, they've they'll do things different, but they've been saying lots of things for a long time. I have absolutely no sympathy for the mortgage companies that have gone under. They knew that what they were doing wasn't the right way to handle loans but it made them money, so they didn't care. I feel even less sympathy for the car companies. They knew this was coming. They'd have to blind not to. But they kept doing what they were doing and now it's biting them in the ass. It'd be bad for them to go out of business, but if we save them from the consequences of their actions now, what's to keep them from coming back to us again the next time they screw up? And then there's the selfish part of me that goes, hey I did a good job of managing my money and doing my job and then out of the blue I'm laid off because the economy is tanking, because these guys decided to mess around with all that stuff, and the government isn't helping me get out of it and it wasn't even my own doing. It's just one more example of how life differs from what my mom taught me growing up. When I misbehaved, I had to face the consequences (generally groundings).

Make sure you read the fine print!

if the churches really want to preserve the sanctity of marriage...

Drafted by my dear friend, Citizen B. I've long wondered why it is that so many people and religions feel that homosexual relationships are a threat to their own. How does who my friend chooses to date affect who I am dating? Answer: It doesn't. I've always felt these must be the same people who feel threatened by anyone who doesn't believe everything they do. If you are secure in your beliefs, in your relationships, then nothing that anyone else believes or loves should affect your own beliefs or loves.

Petition for the TRUE Sanctity of Marriage
Submitted by Citizen B

The residents of this state believe our constitution should be amended to protect the sanctity of marriage. Like Proposition 8 in California, this creates in our constitution a definition for marriage- one man and one woman. But let's go back to that word sanctity. We the undersigned feel that constitution does not do enough to preserve this union under its laws.

Therefore, we propose a Sanctity of Marriage Bill to be amended to our constitution. The provisions under the bill are as follows:

1) The intention of marriage is to produce offspring. Therefore, marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman, because two men or two women joined in such a union cannot naturally procreate.

2) Because marriage must lead to procreation, all men and women wishing to be married in this state must undergo fertility tests before receiving a marriage license. If one or both of the potential spouses is found to be infertile, it is illegal for them to marry, because they cannot fulfill the sacred duty of marriage.

3 ) Marriage vows should be written into the letter of the law. Therefore, divorce will be outlawed, assuring that couples stick it out until death do they part. (See addendum bill allowing the state to consider divorce cases only in most dire circumstances of abuse; infidelity is not considered abuse and, therefore, is not a reason for divorce.)

4) To uphold the sanctity of marriage, the spouses must try to produce an offspring in the first year of their marriage. To make sure the couple does not try to violate this sacred marriage right of childbearing, it is illegal to sell contraceptives to married couples. We cannot allow fertile married people in our state to forgo their sacred duty and prevent life!

5) If in the first year of marriage no offspring has been produced, a child will be provided for the couple by the state.

6) With divorce being illegal, there shall be no more prenuptial contracts. What's yours is hers until death do you part, gentlemen.