Post-Election Exhaustion

After an amazing presidential result yesterday, I find myself conflicted in my joy. Why?

• Scott Brown (MA State Senate) won (he’s a homophobe, being one of 67 MA legislators who tried to vote to revoke already-granted marriage rights from same-sex couples in MA)
• Michelle Bachman (US Rep from MN) won (she’s a homophobe, introducing an amendment in the MN House in the 05-06 session to ban SSM)
• Prop 8 in CA looks as though it may pass. (I hate to disparage an entire religion, having been raised in a religion that often gets disparaged. But I am so livid with the entire Mormon Church right now I can’t even see straight. Pun NOT intended.) (Banning ALREADY-LEGAL SSM)
• Prop 102 in AZ passed (banning SSM)
• Initiative 1 in AR passed (banning LGBT people from adopting children)
• Amendment 2 in FL passed (banning SSM)

What do all of these races have in common? They all can point to an irrational fear of LGBTQ people as instrumental in their success - and I believe that those fears are deeply rooted in religious intolerance.

And that depresses the living shit out of me.

Election Commentary

Okay, maybe not so much commentary as linky goodness. If you know me at all, you won’t be surprised to know that I’m supporting Obama/Biden this year and am adamantly against “The Ticket That Shall Not Be Named.”  So with that, enjoy!

Kate Clinton suggests the election be run the same way as Project Runway. Brilliant!

This week your assignment is to design a plan to reduce the US dependency on foreign oil by 50% in the next five years. You will be penalized for wearing fake hard hats and shrieking “Drill, Baby, Drill.”

The Republican VP nominee? Scary person.

• While mayor, hired police chief who was angry when a law in Alaska was signed that prevented police from charging rape victims for processing their rape kits.
• Check out the wonderful Mikhaela Reed’s comic on the VP nominee for the Republicans - “Attention disgruntled Clinton supports: Vote P! She’s a lady!”
• Be a P.A.N.T.H.E.R. (Proud American Needing Token Hillary Estrogen Replacement) - hilarious video!
• Jon Stewart on the VP pick and her comparison of hockey moms to pit bulls: “One is unfairly maligned in spite of evidence that it is no worse than any other dog, and one is an artificial demographic that is no better or worse than any other mom.” (about 3:40 into the video)
• Jon Stewart again on the sheer hypocrisy of some conservative pundits. Strike one… strike two… strike three!

• Censor! Censor! Seriously, of all the things about her that I find problematic, this one makes me the spittingest mad. Most everything else scares me to death, but this one simply infuriates me.

Palin, originally uploaded by Dave & Bry

• If you need any more reasons to be freaked out by this person, check out CA NOW’s blog entry.
• And finally, please don’t miss Becca Freed’s open letter to women of the national Democratic Party:
  

  She is anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-gun control, anti-environmental protection, and anti-science. In addition her ethics are dubious, despite her self-characterization as a reformer. Those positions aren’t part of any feminism I recognize. Feminist values are inclusive, egalitarian, serious about social welfare and environmental stewardship, rational, fair, and never demeaning of others. [She] is a brilliant political weapon: She wraps discriminatory, regressive policies in a palatable, mediagenic package, and she has demonstrated that she can get off a zinger with the best of them. …. Don’t let them redefine feminism!

And that’s about it for now. Don’t forget to register to vote in this fall’s election (if you can)!