Thank God for Sesame Street!

You know them, you love them, they have a way of making you smile no matter what, that's right, its the characters on Sesame Street! This week marked the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street and I just wanted to say, that not only does it warm my heart to think about how much I loved Sesame Street as a kid, but it warms my heart to know that the tradition of Sesame Street lives on. Additionally, those of you who are as Google obsessed as me may have noted that Google was also giving love to Sesame Street all week with Sesame Street inspired Google Themes such as the one you see above on this post and also here! Pretty sweet eh?

Anyway, thank you God for Sesame Street surviving 40 years and heres to 40 more!

Get your vote on!

Alright people, my brain is still not working, but that is no excuse for those of us in Washington State to not be taking part in the highly contested and highly important vote that is occurring today. There are many important contests going on, like the competitive races between Dow Constantine and Susan Hutchison for county executive; Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan for Seattle mayor; and the votes on Referendum 71 and Initiative 1033. I won't try to sway people on the Seattle mayoral race or the county executive one (although according to The Stranger Susan Hutchison "is a fan of George W. Bush, Mike Huckabee, Dino Rossi, and Dave Reichert", need I say more?) but I will say without a doubt that people need to vote NO on Initiative 1033 and YES on Referendum 71. If you are feeling even a bit conflicted about ref 71, then please watch the highly educational video by Stephen Colbert below and he will set you straight. I promise!

Get out there and vote people!!! According to the Seattle Times only 20% of the ballots have come back so far, that means that 80% of them are still out there!!! Do your part and make sure that Washington State continues to be a place that Stephen Colbert can hate! :)

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Don't Ask Don't Tell
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Religion

Thank God for Cold Medicine!

Well the cold season is officially upon us, my classes have been half full, people around me are dropping like flies to either simple colds or full on flues, and I have come down with a nasty cold that is making it hard for my poor little brain to work (hence the lack of posts for this week). So on this weekend day, I would like to give a big old thank God to cold medicine for helping me be at least a little bit sane while my parents are in town, I am still trying to get some work done, and while I am fighting this awful cold. So thank you God for the creation of cold medicine and thank you in advance for making this cold a short one (right??? wink wink!!!)

Also, I promised to give an additional shout out to my friends over at Sun Cleaners for their awesome new halloween mixtape that you can download for free. Thats right people, awesome music for free!!!! You can't beat that with a bat!

thanks for all those who have offered to help out...

...ever and specifically for the next 2 weeks, during which i will be slipping into academic hibernation. even if i don't take y'all up on it, i really do appreciate the offers to make me food, take my pooch out and, generally, keep me happy. does anyone wanna clean my bathroom? ;)

special special special thanks to hotstuff, who will be holding down the blog fort, as well as holding down my stress levels being the awesome friend she is. and another happy birthday to her! love you, hotstuff.

rape is horrible... until it runs up against corporate/military interests...

"violence against women is despicable and intolerable" according to one republican senator. but, when it comes to rape committed by a military contractors overseas, eh, the company should be trusted to arbitrate without giving the victim access to a US civil trial...

uh what? read all about here
see the 30 senators that oppose an amendment that would not allow this to be a part of the contractors' employee contracts. they include mr. mccain. wahoo.

these mandatory arbitration clauses came into the public spotlight because of jamie leigh jones. she was drugged, gang raped and imprisoned by her kbr co-workers. she very very bravely tells the story her herself:



thankfully, she will be given her day in court

now see jon stewart shame the 30 senators:

This is just beyond words....

The title of the linked article below pretty much says it all, "Hospital Forces Lesbian to Die Alone; Judge Gives Stamp of Approval". On February 18, 2007 Lisa Pond suffered a major brain aneurysm right before her gay cruise was about to take off from a port in Florida. Her partner of nearly 18 years and 3 of their 4 adopted children (see picture of the family to the left) rushed her to a hospital in Jackson only to be denied access to her at all points because they were in a lesbian relationship. In fact, according to Lisa's partner, Janice Langbehn, their first interaction with a social worker at the hospital included them saying, “you are in an anti-gay city and state. And without a health care proxy you will not see Lisa nor know of her condition”. This is even though Janice had legal Durable Powers of Attorney and would be able to produce such documents. After that point Janice and their children were systematically separated from Lisa and were unable to understand what was going on or to comfort their partner and mother in her last dying hours.

What is even more f'ed up about this is that on September 29, 2009 U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan dismissed a lawsuit brought by Janice, essentially finding that the Jackson Memorial Hospital was within its rights to separate Lisa from her Janice and her children even though they were present and able to prove their legal connections to her. This judge rulled that because it was a lesbian couple it was okay to leave a dying woman alone, deny her present and immediate family to visit her, be updated on her condition, or even to provide the hospital with medically necessary information. Seriously people, WTF?

Article with Janice's Story

Thank God for a little bit of sunshine!

While it would have been a beautiful wedding even if it had been raining, a little while before the ceremony was about to begin the sun shone down upon the Golden Gardens Bathhouse creating a purely spectacular backdrop for a truly amazing wedding. Congrats J & J! We here at ruthere could not be happier for the two of you!

are you the keymaster?... to martial bliss...

putting a call out to all readersssss! i'm writing a wedding toast for my favorite beanpole couple. a few years ago my dad gave one of these toasts and he rocked the hiz-house. one of the things he did was poll his local favorite advice givers (including the barber, etc).

so, i'm polling you. do you have the advice for the keys to martial bliss (or at least a happy one)? email rutheregodwtf@gmail.com with the precious tidbits.

how is this post different than all other posts?
-i'm asking you to email me comments instead of posting them. i know this is an extra step, but think of it this way, i promise not to judge your grammar/spelling.

will i post them eventually?
-YES, let me know if you want your name attached to it

what if i wanna be anonymous?
-hmmm, if you don't have a fake email address already, you can post comment and i will take it down after reading it

why is this post different from all other posts?
-b/c i wanna suprise 'em, just in case they take a quick second to check this website before the wedding

am i really gonna base my whole toast on your advice?
-umm, well not the whole thing, but we'll see how good it is! plus, let's see if anyone out there is brave and wise enough to send me anything. ;)

isn't this a little cheesy/gimmicky/silly?
-yes, of course. but there's a time and place... and i trust that y'all have heard of or thought of some solid advice (or at least something to make us giggle).

thanks for playing!

Before you score, remember, you are an asshole!

Pepsi, in all of its corporate genius glory, has decided to promote its new AMP energy drink with an iPhone app called "AMP Up Before You Score". Now before you go worrying to yourself, "Damn, I wish that I had some sort of technological advantage to scoring with women and categorizing them in offensive and stereotypical ways to my advantage." Now you don't have to, Pepsi has done it for you!

They have decided, I am sure in some scientific manner, on a simple process on how best to score with the ladies. Step one: Identify her type. They have identified 24 different types of women that a man might be interested in. That is right ladies, we all apparently fall into one of these types. Including, much to the chagrin I am sure of the execs that had to come up with this the "Women's Studies Major" and the "Nerd" (see link for full list of types). What is even better is that they have also have the types "Married" and the "Rebound Girl", cause what they should really be promoting is people cheating on their spouses and also that women are disposable and can be used as a rebound tool. Nice Pepsi, real nice. Using the type that you have just id'd you then click on it and get to learn all sorts of awesome facts about that type of girl that will help your score with her. Aren't stereotypes fun boys and girls?

Step two: Keep a list. That's right, you get to keep a brag list of all the chicks you have bagged using your awesome new technique, including name, date, and whatever details you remember.

And then my favorite step of all. Step three: Brag. You can keep your buddies up-to-date on your latest conquests via email, facebook, or twitter using this app. Isn't that just lovely?

All told, this app feeds into all that is wrong with our culture. It is misogynistic and insulting to both women and men. And don't even get my started on how heterocentric it is. I mean seriously Pepsi, WTF?

Article on the release of AMP

god, i love running

today was a beautiful fall day and i took a long run with my pup. despite all the joint pain that running can engender, i love it and the post-run euphoria. see vid to see how hotlegs can run:

It costs to be gay!

I was struck recently by an article that my mom (shout out to my Momma y'all) sent me on the cost of being gay. Often the arguments around legalizing gay marriage are all about God, damnation, hellfire, and brimstone, but what about the actual cost benefits that people are missing out on when they aren't allowed to legally recognize their love? What do those numbers look like?

Well some wonderful reporters at the NYT took it upon themselves to answer just that question and finally put some numbers to what many of my same-sex coupled friends having been saying for a long time, it just costs more to be gay and have a family. In fact, as you can see in the linked article from the NYT it can actually cost over the course of a lifetime for a same-sex couple with two children from $41,196 more in the best case scenario to $467,562 more in the worst case scenario, just by not getting the same treatment opposite-sex married couples are afforded every day. The really sad part is that if the federal government would just pony up and legalize gay marriage already, almost all of that cost difference would be wiped away. While clearly this analysis and article had to be made with many assumptions around income, health insurance, etc, I really recommend reading it as it so beautifully lays out the many ways that same-sex couples are not afforded the same privileges as opposite-sex couples, and how that can greatly impact them financially.

And as always, I would like to reiterate our blog's collective desire to see the legalization of same-sex marriage and see people given equal right across the board. I will yet again say that I think it is a sad sad state of affairs that we live in a country where legally a 13 year old girl can get married with the consent of her parents and the court but two loving and consenting adults of the same sex cannot.

NYT Article

way to stick it to them boing boing

according to a 2005 national survey of young peoples (YRBSS), 32% of adolescent girls believed that they were overweight and 61% were attempting to lose weigh. ARG! if we assume that that 32 percent that think they are overweight are also trying to lose weight, that means about 1/2 of the girls that are trying to lose weight don't think they are overweight. they are just trying to get super skinny. ARG! even if we assume that some them are not at their healthy weight, the obesity rate for girls is about 10%. ARG!

while the fight between boing boing and ralph lauren isn't going to change much, at least someone is sticking it to a group promoting unreasonable skinniness (in the form of photoshop this time, instead of barbie.) the basic story is boing boing rightfully pointed out that this model's head is bigger than her pelvis. the lauren folks tried to threaten a lawsuit and boing boing stuck it to them by posting this empty threat and re-posting the original blog. (which has now been picked up by huff post... and much lower on the totem pole: us.)

original post
post-lawsuit threat post

Thank God for Fall!

I have always loved this time of year, when the air gets crisp, there is that particular Fall smell, and you start being able to wear sweaters and coats again. So far Fall in Seattle has been quite beautiful with leaves changing colors, clear views of the mountains, and perfectly blue skies. So thank you God for such a lovely Fall so far, and please keep these beautiful Fall days coming!

why would anyone ever want to hit izzy (aka hotlegs)?

my dog broke my heart yesterday. she has a very cute habit of leaving my shoes around the house when i'm gone. she doesn't chew them, just places them. when she ran out of shoes yesterday she picked up my glasses case, which needed to be chomped on to be carried (thank goodness my glasses weren't in there!).

so, for the first time i had to scold her. i started with one "bad dog" and she right away acted like i was going to hit her.

why would anyone ever hit this sweetheart? why would anyone ever terrorize a dog? or other animal? i know there are studies galore on this, but it still breaks my heart.

here are some statistics
here is an awesome slide show from nyt about an animal rescuer

Damnit ACORN, why you gotta give liberal social service organizations a bad name?!?

As I am sure most of you know at this point, two very inspired young conservatives on a shoe-string budget set out with nothing but a fake pimp coat and some very revealing skirts to take down the non-profit organization ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). ACORN is an organization that helps with voter registration, housing, immigration, taxes, health care, wage reform, and many other things for underserved and needy populations. It has been the notorious target of many conservative organizations and has been thought of generally by conservatives to be kinda shady in the past, particularly when it came to voter registration drives.

Thus, it is unsurprising that two enterprising young wannabe conservative reporters would chose to target this organization in some sort of sting operation. What is surprising is what they were able to show. In office after office (Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Brooklyn, San Bernardino, Calif., and San Diego) the two young wannabes posed as a politician pimp and prostitute looking to create a brothel using underaged girls trafficked in illegally from El Salvador. They then caught on tape ACORN staff more then willing to help them set up their "business" and work out ways around any legal issues they might have. Some of the videos and the things that the staff say in them are just downright amazing.

Naturally there will be an investigation, but ACORN has already fired most of the people in the videos and is taking steps towards better training for the people who do work for them. They have also lost a lot of the government funding that they have received. All of which does seems to point to at least some sort of culpability to what is being shown in these here videos and most importantly ACORN has definitely lost a whole heck of a lot of face with these videos coming out whether they are true or not. And in a time where the county I live in is considering cutting all of the funds of legit and wonderful human service organizations, it makes me terribly sad to see such a widely know liberal human service organization giving the rest of us liberals and our organizations a bad name. Seriously people, WTF?

Place to see all of the videos and the back story as they tell it

ACORN Website

Washington Post Article on how the two wannabes got together

thank god for pooches

... especially mine. she's too perfect for words.

science in the WRONG hands part II

thanks to hotstuff and feministing, i have been alerted to a horrible website:

horrible website: sense and sexuality

in the spirit of the linda richman from "coffee talk" (aka mike meyers, watch it!), that website promotes neither sense nor sexuality, discuss.

in the words of feminsting:"I think I can safely say this is the biggest piece of crap website on sex I've ever seen. And that's saying a lot. Between the straight up lies and scare tactics, the sexism, and the hearts making up the DNA strand on the homepage (cause women are just made for love, not sex) - I don't even know where to start."

i hesitate to start, b/c there is so much wrong with this website, but i figured i should start with what i know the most about: hpv. this website uses hpv as it's #1 scare tactic other than a broken heart.

the fact is a large majority of sexually active people will have a genital hpv infection in their lifetime. it's the most common std and for most people there are no symptoms. the best way to prevent hpv is the hpv vaccine, though if you have had 2 or more partners chances are you have already had at least one type of genital hpv. condoms do provide some protection, but not 100%. the best way for sexually active women to protect themselves against genital cancers associated with hpv is to go their gynecologist regularly (and you are all doing that ladies, right?!)

this website, and other puritanical forces twist these facts to their advantage. this website claims "all science, no spin," a clear indication that there is spin. they write as if any risk is not worth taking. we all know that sex is risky, and that includes to emotional health. but risks are an important of life, no?

ok, back to my professional hat, the authors have definitely done their homework. they have read the scientific articles, as indicated by use of terms such as "transformation zone" and referring to an article that found hpv under fingernails. they use the latter to say that mutual masturbation isn't ok, either. that was NOT stated by the investigation's author and is not known yet. and when science doesn't go their way they make statements like this one: "And of course no vaccine prevents a broken heart."

let me put it this way folks, hpv is common. to prevent it and its consequences get the vaccine (if you are young) and go to the doctor. however, the risk of getting it should not be used to prevent a healthy sex life.

Research results in the wrong hands always leads to a good time...

Did you know that "One in 20 women has NEVER had sex sober because they lack body confidence"??? That's right, according to the article in the Daily Mail (a reputable source I know) a new study has found that women enjoy both drinking and sex, and God forbid they also enjoy putting those two things together. But the real news here is that apparently, when a woman decides to have a drink on a date and then having some sexy time on that same date, they are actually doing it because they lack body confidence. Not because it is fun, not because it is enjoyable, not even because it is some sort of social norm, or even a social lubricant, but really it is because all of us ladies out here are very self conscious about our bodies and need to toss back a few before we can let those men get a good look at us. While the study in question may have found, as suggested by this oh so well written article, that a few drinks helps the ladies loosen there inhibitions and become more adventurous, how exactly does that directly translate into lacking body confidence I would love to know!

Also, it says that on average the women in the study had eight partners but was drunk with at least five of them. What the heck kind of random thing is that to say. For example, lets take a 35 years old woman who has had eight long term partners and also likes to drink sometimes. More then likely she probably got drunk with her partners at least once or twice and I would guess could possibly even have had drunken sex with her partners once or twice. So, even though she probably didn't have drunken sex with her partners every time she had sex with them, she probably did have drunken sex with them at least once. Making their sentence true, but what the heck does that even really mean??? Is that supposed to be a bad thing and some indication that she lacks body confidence?

Seriously people, can't a lady have her drink and enjoy her sex too? WTF?

Silly Article

the uninsured deserve better, illustrated

first of all, check out this map by npr of the uninsured by district. some of the districts have more than 30% for <65 year olds!!!
map

you can also stratify by poltical party. this maps goes with a story npr titles
who's representing the uninsured. seriously, who the heck is?!

and then i would like to add this genius of a sign from this website

and another funny:

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Thank God for Smoking Bans!

As was alluded to in previous posts I have been doing quite a bit of traveling in the past two months or so, one trip of which was to a beautiful wedding in Jackson, MS (Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan!!!). This wedding was charming in all the ways that only a traditional southern wedding could be and both myself and my manfriend had a wonderful time. The one thing that did catch me quite off guard though was walking into the location of the after party, which was held at a local sports bar, and finding it to be full of smoke. Thankfully the bride and groom had reserved a room for us which was not completely open to the main part of the bar, but nonetheless there was no escaping the smoke. Being someone who has lived on the west coast now for seven years, with only trips to places on the east coast that have also adopted smoking bans, I had totally forgotten that there might still be places in which one can smoke indoors. After getting over the initial shock, the after party was a total blast, but I do want to give a big old thank God for smoking bans and for the lack of need to have all pieces of clothing washed or dry cleaned constantly because of the all encompassing, pervasive smell of smoke!

thank you mary travers

mary travers of peter, paul and mary, passed away yesterday. below is an old clip of the group singing pete seeger's "if i had a hammer." although i was certainly not alive when their music was part of the soundtrack of the protest movement, it still moves me.

the obit



also, i can't help but post another moving vid:

And they wonder why we have such a low literacy rate?!?

Effective October 2, 2009 the City of Philadelphia will not have the funds to operate their neighborhood branch libraries, regional libraries, or the Parkway Central Library. That's right, you heard me, the State Legislature did not give them enough funds to keep the libraries open and thus the public libraries are closing down. Does this sound familiar at all? Does everyone remember when the Seattle Public Libraries were all closed down for a week of Monday, Aug. 31 through Sunday, Sept. 6 due to, yes you heard it here, budget cuts. Are we headed down a path similar to that of Philadelphia?

Yes I know these are hard times, I know budgets around the country are being cut and purse strings are being tightened, but it breaks my heart to think that systems as integral to public knowledge, learning, and social programing as the public library system are being so cut back on that they are being shut down all together. I mean seriously people, in a country that touts needing better education and higher literacy standards, should we really being making it hard for our public libraries to stay open? WTF?

Thanks C for sharing this story with us!

Philadelphia Library Closing Announcement

Seattle Library Temporary Closing Announcement

spa day for girls?! am i the only one that finds this gross?

apparently spa birthday parties are all the rage for little girls. am i the only one that finds this gross? i know that many girls go through a pretty in pink stage and a lot come out the other side forgetting all about it, at least consciously (maybe i did. i don't know.) but, geez this level of indulgence in superficiality for little girls seems a bit too over the top for me. maybe there could a "right" way to do this? what do you think readers?

Freaking WiFi!!!!! WTF???

Ok, so I have done quite a bit of traveling in the past couple of months due to it being summer and whatnot. Some of it was for pleasure, some of it was work related, and some of it was wedding related. And what I have come to realize is that where you can and cannot get free WiFi does not make any freaking sense at all. (And as a side note, really, why the heck do we call it WiFi anyway, it is really wireless fidelity?????)

Virgin America from Seattle to SF = Free WiFi
Virgin America from SF to DC =/= Free WiFi

Delta has no WiFi at all of any kind, yet American Airlines offers on its larger flights WiFi for an exorbitant amount of money if you think about the amount that you pay per month for Internet at home.

Sea-Tac Airport has WiFi for free only in certain sections, Atlanta Airport doesn't have it in any sections, and yet the Jackson Mississippi Airport offers it to all for Free.

But what really gets my goat is the way that fancy hotels gouge you on WiFi. I recently was forced to stay overnight in a not so nice motel in Dallas (thanks American Airlines for cancelling my flight and offering me no other options but to stay overnight in Dallas), but, much to my surprise, they had free WiFi. Then I stayed in a perfectly nice hotel in Jackson, MS that also offered free WiFi. But when I stayed in a downright fancy Hyatt in downtown Atlanta they freaking charged me an arm and a leg per day for WiFi use. Thats right, the most expensivo of all the hotels that I stayed in this summer and on top of it all I payed significantly more then I do per month for Internet at home for a mere two days of Internet use at this silly fancy pants hotel. So seriously people, WTF???? Why this WiFi injustice????

thank god for great books, including this one....

nyt book review

9/11

like many americans, i have a complicated relationship with 9/11. i hate that it happened. it is seared in my memory as an awful day. but, i also really don't like what it was used to justify. i wanted to throw things at the tv every 40th time giuliani said it during his presidential campaign, and every time cheney says it i despise what he stands for even more.

mostly, though, the day makes me homesick. i was working puerto rico that day. the planes hit while was i counting trees in the forest. meanwhile, my brother saw the smoke from his dorm, my mom was in the subway headed a block away from the towers and my dad was trapped in queens. they were all happy i wasn't there, but i wasn't. i may be one of very few people who has never watched the footage. really, i've never seen it, on purpose.

plenty of people have much sadder memories of 9/11 than i do, whether they be of lost loved ones or in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder (see article on the mental emergency below). i wish them all well on this anniversary and still hope that good can come out this tragic loss.

mental health emergency from 9/11

corporation=individual?! since when, in real life...

... as opposed to how our supreme court has been seeing it lately. for information on this transformation (and if you like your info in movie format), see corporation. the trailer is below, though i don't recommend watching it WUIS (watching under the influence of sleepiness... i had to try a few times, but it was my first year of grad school... it is a really good and informative film).

why am i bringing this up now? well b/c the supremo court, with it's newest wise latina, is hearing arguments that corporations deserve the rights of individuals in terms of 1st amendment.

the skinny is that citizens united, a group that has produced such titles as "aclu: at war with america" and "intelligence failure: how bill clinton's national security policy set the stage for 9/11", produced a movie called "hilary: the movie." they wanted to air it, but it the elections officials found it violated the mccain-feingold campaign finance law, which bans the broadcast, cable or satellite transmission of “electioneering communications” paid for by corporations in the 30 days before a presidential primary and in the 60 days before the general election.

according to the nyt, citizens united are set to win against the federal elections commission. the question is by how much. here's hoping a very narrow exception that is made, and our next campaigns are not even more heavily financed by the corporations that already create havoc through their lobbyist, etc.

nyt article about the case

titles by citizens united

source watch on their funders

Thank God for J&J and T&T!

After a wonderful, but very rainy, Labor Day weekend camping trip to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of J & J I can definitely say that the hotties are back and better then ever!!!!

So I want to start off our return right by giving a big old thank God for J & J and as you can see from the picture above, an additional thank God to Twine & Tarps for keeping us dry during a weekend of rain!

All told, we are glad to be back to the blog after our little summer hiatus and hope that you will be joining us with your comments and suggestions as we engage again in regularly throwing out the question, are you there God, WTF?

wtf. where are the posts, hotties?

sotomayer is confirmed, watson (of the famous duo) thinks we can cure cancers in the next decade and the american psychological association rejects gay-to-straight aimed therapy...so, it's time for a break folks... after all, if congress gets a recess, why shouldn't we?

august, probably the hottest month of the year in our neck of the woods, is off for the hotties. we know there will be plenty of stuff that will make us throw our hands up and ask, "are you there god? wtf?" but, we've decided to keep it to ourselves this month.

we promise to be back in september and hopefully hotter than ever (or at least tanner). in the meantime, we encourage you to use our comment space to post your own wtfs, and as the yearbook notes say "hope to see you next year."

way to go census!

this so cool! the US census is going to count married same-sex couples in the 2010 census. this is a reversal of bush era policy. this more than a fabulous symbolic gesture. as many of you know, the numbers from the census are used for research and policy by so many groups. yay!


article about the official policy change
the image is from this cool canadian blog i just found

Holy Crap, is Seattle going to melt into the Sound?

Seriously people, WTF?

UW Probability Forecast, just so you can see how bad it is!

why is this petition so easy to sign, wtf?!

hehe. seriously, if you live in seattle, please sign this petition for the missing link of the burke-gilman trial and forward it on to other people. the image posted here captures part of a well-used bike route (and where i broke my elbow). NOT COOL. (it gives me the chills just looking at it.)
PETITION

earlier blog posts about this issue
here, here and here

... you could even sign this petition with the aim of making me shut up about it. ;)

Blowguns are not toys!

Who the hell is going around Ballard (the wonderful neighborhood of both hotpants and hotstuff) hitting cyclists with darts from a blowgun? Apparently two cyclists were hit in Ballard on monday evening (one on the Ballard Bridge, the other on 8th Ave NW btw 50th and 51st). Seriously people, WTF?

MyBallard.com Report
Seattle PI Note

wah wah, affirmative yes, no, ok yes

after the sotomayer hearings, it's hard to not think of the older white, conservative senators as whiney babies afraid of losing their toys, or as maureen dowd called it in her editorial as white man’s last stand.

so while we are taking breather for the vote (wah, can't we have one more week, wah wah), i'd like to point out a nice article i found on affirmative action. in it mr. howard points out that white men were beneficiaries of affirmative action for centuries (by exclusion of other types of people for jobs/school/awards etc). and, now that we've had a couple of decades of affirmative action for the excluded groups, at universities men have become a group that are benefiting from the very type of affirmative action the conservatives supposedly abhor. for example, at william and mary college "women are accepted at 26 percent and men at 44 percent" in order to keep the gender balanced. how do you like them apples?

Thank God for Sotomayor!

I just wanted to give a shout out to the wonderfully smart and very poised Judge Sotomayor for having the grace and skill to make it through a week full of inane and ridiculous questions meant to trip her up and make her say things that would potentially jeopardize her nomination. So thank you God for allowing us to have a poised and brilliantly legal minded Latina woman being put up for the highest court in the land, and thank you God for getting her to the point where even Senate Republicans are backing her! HOLLA!!!!

3 more things that make me ARG

this is a bit of personal blog entry, but hopefully most of you can relate.

1. cancer! ARG. ok on a population-wide level you are pretty interesting (hence my research)... but when it comes to people i love: I HATE YOU... and all your pre-cancerous babies. stay away from my peoples or i'm gonna just research you away (heh, in my dreams).

2. companies that suck Salmon Bay Sand and Gravel Co., Ballard Chamber of Commerce, Seattle Marine Business Coalition, Ballard Oil Company, North Seattle Industrial Association, and the Ballard Interbay Northend Manufacturing & Industrial Center YOU SUCK, for signing onto this lawsuit. i'm sorry, but the inconvienence of less parking, loud construction vehicles and a few days less of business is a bs reason to stop the construction of a bike trail where there is a a known health hazard to bike commuters (of which i'm guesstimating there are over a thousand that go through this area a week). i hope your case gets thrown out of court.

3. ok, this is my personal opinion and that of a my lovely friend sms (a member of the u of c hottie zone): unless you are jewish, you do not get to make jewish jokes, at least around us... unless we know you well enough to hit you, if you went too far... i am not religious and i not am observant, but being jewish is my, and many other people's, ethnicity. so when you make jokes about it, just think, would you make the same level of joke about a hispanic/asian-american/african-american if they were here? i know, some of these jokes are really funny, b/c, for one, they have been honed over the years. but, just like jokes about other ethnicities they also can make people angry, feel put into a box they don't fit into, or just want to hit you. (the "you" here is, of course a very general you, and not directed necessarily at anyone of you wonderful readers)

phew, now all that's off my chest i feel much better. have a lovely weekend readers.

another infuriating curriculum war

how's this for a recommendation for k-12 american history curriculum: "Replace references to America's "democratic" values with "republican" values"
justification: "We don't pledge allegiance to the flag and the democracy for which it stands."

is this an onion headline? nope. is this a fox news anchor? nope. is this a republican talking head with no power? nope.

this is a david barton, who is 1 of 6 reviewers appointed by the texas board of education to review k-12 american history curriculum. (barton real job is run a conservative christian org devoted to promoting american's christian heritage.)

the texas board of education has appointed 3 conservative (read: religious right organizers) reviewers and 3 liberal (read: academics) reviewers to look over their curriculum. one of the actual board members said this:

"America is a special place and we need to be sure we communicate that to our children," said Don McLeroy, a leading conservative on the board. "The foundational principles of our country are very biblical.... That needs to come out in the textbooks."

arg. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, PLEASE! and having only caught wind of the idea of this concept of "american exceptionalism" before this article. i went ahead and looked it up. i can see absolutely no difference between this and nationalism. the wiki page is worth reading, if only to get your blood boiling.

article on texas board of ed recommendation (definitely check out the end of the article where the recommendations are listed, including dropping thurgood marshall out)
wiki page on american exceptionalism

Damn Straight! An Orgasm a day probably does keep the doctor away!

The National Health Service in Britain clearly has all of its ducks in a row and is looking to finally bring some truth and sexiness back into the world of taking care of yourself. They have recently sparked some controversy with their new educational campaign which promotes the importance of having an enjoyable sex life and regular orgasms. They even go so far as to promote the slogan "an orgasm a day keeps the doctor away", further saying, "Health promotion experts advocate five portions of fruit and veg a day and 30 minutes' physical activity three times a week. What about sex or masturbation twice a week?" Naturally there are all sorts of people who are now up in arms about this campaign saying that it is going to promote teenage sex and lead to an increase in STDs.

First, YAY!!! Thank God someone is realizing that sex is a good thing, orgasms are great for you, and sexual activity is actually quite good for both your cardiovascular, mental, and muscle health. Second, seriously what the hell is wrong with people that they are not willing to understand that teenagers are going to have sex whether we tell them about it or not, and maybe, just maybe, it is actually better for them to have a positive outlook about sex and its connections to health, then repressing all notions of sex and making it a taboo subject. I mean how much research does there need to be showing that countries that have an open attitude towards sex actually have the lowest STD rates and the least amount of teenage pregnancies? I can see nothing but good things coming from this campaign, and if they promote safe sex along side it, all the better!

Thanks AG for pointing this campaign out to me!

Huffington Post Article on the subject

sometimes it really is that simple...

a little birdy (who happens to be a liberal-minded lawyer) remarked to me that the only reason the supreme court heard the CT firemen case was to make sotomayer "look stupid" prior to her congressional hearings. i didn't exactly believe it at the time... but now i'm starting to think either she was right, or the world is full of very interesting coooooincidences.

for those you that didn't keep up with this case, the short of it is, there was a test given to new haven firemen for promotion. the top scorers were all of white race (though by ethnicity, one was hispanic, but who's counting...) for fear of being sued for discrimination the new haven-ite higher-ups decided to scrap the exam. the lower court (with sotomayer presiding) ruled in favor of the city. the supreme court ruled in favor of the fireman whose exams were scrapped. however the majority ruling was muddled as discussed in this article and my favorite justice ever wrote a strong minority opinion (see this absolutely awesome interview of her from the nyt mag)

i want to be clear here, i'm not expressing an opinion on the case and neither was the little birdy. instead, i'd like to point out that is an interesting coincidence that one of these firemen will now be called during the congressional hearings. yes, and i mean that in the way fox new anchors use it... interrrresting...
article about calling the fireman

is palin going crazy or was she always nuts?

i know it may be painful to some of you, but if you haven't seen the palin's resignation speech it's worth watching (with nyt article here), if only to be perplexed.... what is she talking about? if you really can't stand it without commentary, watch the keith olberman vid below.

i think i've come to the conclusion that sarah palin was really just in over her head... and perhaps a little off her rocker. what do you think? i know a lot of people are thinking a scandal is ready to hit the press, but i don't think so. well, other than the boyfriend's tell-all book... or perhaps we'll soon get sarah's tell-all too. wahoo.

also, she is a bit of a liar. check out this list in the atlantic

Fox is at it again! More to love can only mean less to like about Fox!

If the caption "LARGER-THAN-LIFE SINGLE MAN LOOKS FOR 'MORE TO LOVE'" isn't enough to tell you the many ways that this new TV show is infuriating to me, then I don't know what would. So Fox (yes the people who bring us Fox News) is starting a new reality show based off of the bachelor called "More to Love". The premise is that people are sick of seeing all these uber "skinny" people on TV and want people that are "normal" sized up there, because as the announcer says "normal sized people deserve love too". As their website says:

"FOX is setting out to prove that love comes in all shapes and sizes with the new inspirational dating competition series MORE TO LOVE. Executive-produced by Mike Fleiss ("The Bachelor," "The Bachelorette"), the unscripted series follows a single average guy with a big waist and an even bigger heart as he romances several confident and secure plus-size women. Each week, the husky hunk will wine and dine a group of curvy women to determine if they have more love to give or if they are truly more than he can handle. When the size of competition narrows, he will have to decide if one full-figured lady will become his true love."

As if it wasn't clear from the description above, this is a show about exploiting the husky hunk and his trove of curvy ladies for their size. The concept of the show has some merit in the idea that yes their are many wonderful people in this world who are not a size 2, are beautiful nonetheless, and able to have love in their lives, but the idea that we need a show to tell us that they "deserve love" and that plus-size people only find love with other plus-sized people is ridiculous. Additionally, Fox is clearly more then willing to point out that these people are "larger then life", "husky", "curvy", "plus-sized", "full-figured", etc. at every chance they get. Thus instead of just letting these people be "normal" and fall in love, they are making it clear that these people are not actually "normal" but instead exotically different different from everyone else on TV and should have their weight pointed out and exploited at every available moment. For Fox to really achieve what they are purportedly putting out as their goal, they should consider just putting some average sized people on one of their typical shows without all the hoopla and spotlight on the contestants weight. I mean god forbid that a "skinny" man fall in love with a "curvy" lady or a "skinny" girl fall in love with a "husky" man. We wouldn't want to promote that now would we???

thank the good lord almighty for hotstuff

it would be impossible for her to be more awesome.

Humans: The straightest in the animal kingdom?

Guest blogger Hotsauce writes:

Apparently, science ("Yes!" w/ fist pump) is confirming a belief long held by those who proudly wave a rainbow flag (or PFLAG): God is just a little bit gay. Or, maybe s/he's just gender neutral, or sex positive, or doesn't give a damn one way or another. This conclusion is based on the mounting (sorry 'bout that one) evidence that gay sex is rampant in the animal kingdom and is, in fact, more the rule than the exception. Although it is nice to hear this from peer-reviewed sources, I didn't really need any extra convincing. Just ask anyone whose grown up on or around farms. My father, who grew up in tiny towns in the rural south during the 50s and 60s (for chrissake!), has always known about gay animals. Ocassionally, a sow would be much more interested in mounting her female penmates than being mounted by the local boar. Dogs hump eachother all the time. We assume they're just expressing dominance, but we don't know what's going on in their little doggy brains. Yep - bonobos, penquins, dolphins, fruit flies, pigs, dogs, locusts, albatrosses, etc. Name any animal you want. There is a very good chance that it would lose to you at a game of Never Have I Ever, at least as long as you stay away from things that require opposable thumbs. ;^D

So, if God thinks gay sex is perfectly natural, why are humans so uptight about it?

Peace
HotSauce

SF Gate Article on the Science of Gay Animals

first term blues

the coup in honduras and the almost definitely mishandled election in iran (as well as the violent handling of protesters) has made for a shaky couple weeks in democracy internationally. not knowing enough about either of these complicated situations (even though i've read quite a bit), i have to say obama's strong condemnations and multilaterial rhetoric have been the best that i could hope for from the US.

on domestic issues, however, i'm having trouble (again) with obama's middle road. many of the articles i have been reading lately about these issues (environmental, torture, gay rights, etc) have cited the administration's strong desire to hold onto independent voters. yes, they are a section of the voters that elected him, but they elected him when he was not middle-of-roading these issues. as my co-blogger has said "promises were made." the inside strategists may be right, but it's disheartening to think that decisions are being made based on re-election.

are we going to have to wait until obama's 2nd term (please let there be one...) for some of the huge policy shifts he promised. in other words, was west wing (the tv show) right, again? does the ability to be elected twice make presidents more accountable or less?

for your viewing pleasure, here is a video with the current administration in the west wing intro and a great moment in west wing during president barlett's re-election campaign. what's next?

Thank God for Pride!

I just wanted to take a moment and say thank God for the multitude of Gay Pride Parades happening around the country and all the wonderful Pride things that go with it. Gay Pride Parades are meant to be both serious and fun, they are a moment to reflect upon how far the Gay rights movement has come and how far it still has to go. I am happy to say that I have now lived in two cities with very large Gay Pride Parades and that each year the Gay rights movement moves our culture (and cultures around the world) towards more acceptance of people's life choices and acceptance of the diversity of life in general. So thank you God for wonderful Gay Pride and the fantastic Gay rights movement! Holla!

aw mj...

no one's music is surer to get the hotties on the dance floor than michael jackson's. there's no denying that the man had some issues, many of which we will hear more about in the days/years to come. but there is also no denying that he had so much talent and style. if this video doesn't move you, you might not be human:

Monetary incentive for not getting pregnant?

Wow, this is taking it to a whole new level. Apparently there is a now a program, College Bound Sisters, that is paying girls for not getting pregnant right here in the good ol' US of A. That's right, you heard me, paying them to not get pregnant. The three main goals of the program are avoiding pregnancy, graduating from high school, and enrolling in college. While this program has some positive aspects like giving the girls activities to be a part of, helping them realize that going to college and getting good grades are important goals to have, I can't help but be somewhat dismayed about the way these goals are being monetarily incentivized. The girls are given $7 a week that is put into a saving account for them, but if they get pregnant, they don't get the money. I mean seriously, how much research needs to be done to show that while incentives may work in the short term, they are not good at creating lasting change in people's behaviors. And most often don't work at all. Additionally, if you are going to try to get the teenage girls to not get pregnant maybe you should also consider doing a little sexual education along with your program. I mean seriously people, WTF?

CNN Video

let the good be the enemy of the mediocre

if you haven't heard the phrase yet, the obama admin has a mantra floating around: "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." in other words, don't wait for the perfect policy (i read this as the most liberal policy, but that's up to your discretion) be the enemy of a good policy.

BUT, no or weak public health insurance option in a health care bill! WTF. this isn't obama (though we'll see what he says in his press conference today). this is the senate finance committee's bill FIRST DRAFT. here's a list of the members. if you feel as strongly about this is we do, please:
WA: call maria cantwell 202-224-3441
NY: call chuck schumer 202-224-6542
OR: call ron wyden 202-224-5244

and tell them: "A health care bill without a strong public health insurance option is completely unacceptable." (script from moveon.org ;) )

i also wrote senator cantwell last night. this is not my best letter but feel free to use it when emailing your senators. really it doesn't matter what you say, so long as they register that you want a public health insurance option:

Dear Mrs. Cantwell,
There absolutely needs to be public option for health care reform. Please do not let this option slip away. Please take some initiative and do not rely on "co-ops." Group Health-like HMO's cannot catch all people without insurance and will be very hard to regulate nationally. The majority of Americans want a public options, please listen to them.
Thank you.

to prove my last line see graphic below...


info from washington post on finance committee

Thank God for Dads!

On this Father's Day I would like to give a big thanks to God for my dad. He has always been supportive of me, there to make me laugh, and to listen to my off-the-wall ideas. He keeps me honest and has taught me how to be critical of the world around me and yet able to give people the benefit of the doubt. As I am sure many of you out there in bloggerland would agree, I would not be the person I am today if it were not for my dad. So thank you God for fathers around the world, and just like mother's day, thanks for having a fake hallmark holiday to celebrate them!

i fear fear

fear-mongering can lead people to do crazy things. here's a video that a friend sent me a few months ago. then to make everyone feel better after hearing it's fear-mongering, extremist views, i also posted obama's cairo speech, which preaches close to the opposite. it's long, but it really worth a listen if you haven't seen the whole thing yet.

Isn't the truth worth anything these days?

The Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 decision, decided today that convicts do not have a right under the Constitution to obtain DNA testing to try to prove their innocence after being found guilty. Basically indicating that even if the advanced DNA testing now available would be able to prove a person's innocence after the fact, people who are already in jail do not have a right to it. WTF?

One of the major issues brought up in this argument, was that the defendant who brought this before the Supreme Court was not very lovable or believably innocent. As was stated in the NYT article:

Justice Scalia said he was struck by the absence of a full-throated declaration
of innocence from the defendant, and quoted from a sworn statement Mr. Osborne
had submitted to the state courts: "I have no doubt whatsoever that retesting of
the condom will prove once and for all time...”

Here, Justice Scalia
observed, a listener would expect to hear the words “my innocence.” But the
defendant did not say that, saying instead “either my guilt or innocence.”

But I would argue that in fact the defendant was exactly correct in what he said. The more accurate DNA test would in fact prove once and for all time whether a defendant was guilty or innocent. And wouldn't information of either sort be useful to the courts? If a defendant is found guilty, once and for all, then maybe they would stop the insanely time consuming and expensive appeal process they are probably going through. If they are found innocent then maybe they will be able to actually clear their name and walk out of their wrongful imprisonment. Either way, it seems to me that to enable the truth to be found through DNA testing is a win-win for justice and the court system in the long run. So seriously Supreme Court, why would you want to deny people the right to more accurate evidence?

NYT Article

bodywatch, WTF "people"

i picked up a waiting room copy of people magazine and WTF, there is now a section of the magazine called "bodywatch"! it's all about weight gain and loss of celebrities (probably 99.9% female).

i've seen all the covers in the supermarket of celebrity magazines that highlight these weight changes, but i didn't realize that magazines were so blatantly f'ed up to make it a regular segment of their magazine.

i assume you, readers, understand how demeaning and unhealthy this focus is, but i was thinking, what if they highlighted any other segment of the population: kids or elderly, and stalked them about their weight issues. they would never do that, of course, b/c it's so obviously f'ed up. why are women 18-50 supposed to be immune to this hurtful focus?

i hate to give you the link... but here it is