Is he gone yet?

In case I don't share with you on Google Reader, here's a fun little thing I found this afternoon. And by "fun," I mean "disgusting."



Yep, it's tomorrow. January 18th.

Apparently, Sanctity of Human Life Day has been around since 1984 thanks to Reagan, but presidents get to declare it every year if they want. (Clinton declined throughout his 8 years, but Bush is all about it.)

According to the proclamation:

“The most basic duty of government is to protect the life of the innocent. My administration has been committed to building a culture of life by vigorously promoting adoption and parental notification laws, opposing federal funding for abortions overseas, encouraging teen abstinence and funding crisis pregnancy programs.”

Lovely. Here are a few different things I think we should call it:

National Fuck Women's Rights Day
I Will Shove My Politics Up Your Ass Until My Last Day Day
Maybe Someday We Can Knock Back Women's Rights so They're on Par with the Gays Day
Create More Criminals Day


Dave's:

Take That, Nancy Pelosi Day
Remember, "Human Life" Doesn't Include Guantanamo Bay Day
I've Got Your Back, Bristol Day
I'm Just Doing What Cheney Told Me To (Again) Day


And some more that I really wish I could take credit for:

Celebrate the Consequences of Your Rape Day
I Can Count on You Right Wingers to Not Hate Me for Sucking as a President, Right? Day
Women are Essentially Breeding Machines Day
National Morbid Irony Day
Sanctimonious Life Day
All Your Uteruses [Uteri?] Are Belonging to Us Day



Anyone else?

This should clear things up

You've read how I feel about this. Perhaps it's time for a pretty picture.





Happy Friday!

See you at Quartino tonight, Chicagoans~

It's cold up here on this soapbox

This Prop 8 shit is ridiculous.

As someone who just got married and completely took for granted the fact that not only did I face NO barriers whatsoever, but I was constantly encouraged to do so my whole life, far be it for me to be someone who's outraged. Even though I am.

(Which means you're gonna hear about it.)

It reminds me of when people would ask me, "So, how's married life?" or "How's it feel now that you're married?" and I would answer, "Married life is the same as unmarried life," or, "Feels exactly the same!"

And now I feel shitty about saying that. It's not the same and that's the point.

Marriage didn't make me love Dave more. It didn't trigger some previously buried, new-found loyalty. The dynamic of our relationship hasn't reached earth-shattering new levels of nirvana because we signed a piece of paper.

We're still us. We're just the married us. But it makes a huge difference.

I guess our marriage is a symbol -- to society -- to say, look assholes, we're serious. We committed. We made it official and now all of you can no longer dismiss our relationship as a lesser form of your own because we hadn't yet married and you had. (And yet we have the audacity to deny this right to others?)

Loving each other, living together, paying bills together, moving to a new city together, making important decisions together -- it wasn't enough to show that we were committed just as much as a married couple. It wasn't enough to allow me to make decisions on Dave's behalf should something unthinkable happen. It's just simply not enough.

For us, of course, it was always enough. Legally, it never will be. I get that.

But the fact that this country would even consider denying the legal right to marry to two people who love each other and have been sharing their lives together is disgusting.

Get over yourselves, people. Allowing gays to marry (I hate using the word "allowing" here; does anyone else think that's fucked up?) doesn't make your marriage anything "less." It doesn't taint the institution. It doesn't undermine your love. It shouldn't offend you because someone else's marriage is none of your business in the first place. It DOES mean that you'll have to get off your high horse and stop being a bigot. Uh oh, scary.

If you can't do that, maybe we should do what Melissa Etheridge suggested: If gay people can't have the full rights of American citizens, maybe they shouldn't have to pay state taxes either.

Let Freedom Ring

Snap your own photo of your wedding bands on your middle finger and add it to the Let Freedom Ring page to show everyone what you think of Prop 8.



Okay, I'm getting off this soapbox now, I promise.

And holy crap, was this a heavy post for a Friday. Bet you didn't know I had it in me.

Anyway, I'm gonna go drink my face off...

History making!

Here they are! The much anticipated, slightly blurry, sometimes random pictures from Obamapalooza!

"Dinner" and a few drinks at 4pm.

Walking from River North to Grant Park.

Gorgeous night!

High-fiving people on the street.

We're here!

Got our tickets and headed in...

Made it through checkpoint number 1.

...And promptly got in line. Yes, this was the "line" we formed to shuffle through checkpoints.

So patriotic.

The view from the potties. It was about 6:30 or 7pm -- not even half the crowd that gathered.

Thank God for the jumbo screen.

NOT thank God for the tallest ginge in the world standing in front of me.

Crowd shot.

Obama keeps winning states and we're excited!

More wins!

A picture I stole from Angie who stole it from Kevin who stole it from Josh. (Right?)

OH MY GOD

HOLY SHIT

!!

Yeah, we were relatively "close" to the stage, but I couldn't see shit since I'm, like, 4 and a half feet tall. Dave took this pic.

More pictures from Dave.

This is how I watched his speech. :-)

Totally love Michelle Obama. Love, love, love.

America. Fuck yeah.

Group shot.

Getting out of the crowd and walking from Grant Park back to my place took a little over an HOUR.

WOW.

These pictures obviously don't do it justice. The energy downtown was completely indescribable. When it was all said and done, we had been standing around for nearly six hours so my body definitely ached -- my feet were sore, my ankles felt like they were breaking, my back was shot -- and it was SO worth it.

So, so glad we went.

Obama-mania

As I was walking to work this morning, a bus full of kids was chugging along next to me. The kids were hanging out the windows yelling to all of us, "Vote Obama! Yes we can! Vote for Barack Obama! GObama!" They were maybe 10 years old. People on the streets were smiling.

The polling lines I saw during my walk were out the doors, wrapped around the streets -- and no one looked grumpy, annoyed or agitated.

Others walking to work seemed to have an air of excitement about them as they strolled along. Yes, I think they were strolling, not trekking or trudging like they usually do.

Guys, the energy around here is crazy. Aaand, it's gonna get crazier.

You see, Dave and I have our tickets for Obamapalooza, along with Ang and a few other people. (Like, 70,000 other people.) I fucking HATE crowds and I'm not a big fan of people in general, but this is an historic moment. To live in Chicago and not go to Grant Park? You bet your ass I was tempted to say eff this and plop on my couch watching CNN all night, but it just doesn't seem right to have this opportunity and to let it slip by.

So that's where I'll be tonight. And before that, I'll be drinking a bit to make sure I don't have a claustraphobia-induced freak out during the rally.

But even if I do, I have a feeling it will be worth it.

It's almost painful

Two posts in one day. Jesus. Please remember this moment when I slack off around Thanksgiving and forget to post anything whatsoever.

Anyway, you gotta watch this. I could have saved it for an Election Day post, but it's too funny to hoard.

These Canadian comics prank-called Sarah Palin and pretended to be French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He talks about going hunting with her, telling her how he just "loves taking a life." She giggles. He talks about how hot his wife is. She emphatically agrees. He says he loved her in Nailin' Palin. SHE SERIOUSLY THANKS HIM.

Really, it's almost painful.





Click here if you can't see the video.

In honor of tonight's VP Debate

Here is my interview with Sarah Palin. (Click here to interview her yourself.)


Q: What are your views on the economy?

PALIN: And it's going to take a whole a change in leadership in order to really crush that gridlock and get going on this.

Shoring up our economy, and and putting it back on the world.

They're seeing through mediums that one.


Q: Why are you so stupid?

PALIN: I had kids.


Q: Should you have aborted that last kid?

PALIN: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to ya.


Q: Will you shoot Putin like a moose?

PALIN: They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.

As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must surpassed to deal with an issue like this also.


Q: How awesome is Tina Fey?

PALIN: No, no.

Oh no, it's nothing negative at all.

That was the trip of a school teacher, a science teacher, who has really instilled in me a respect for science.

I'm saying that, personally, I would like to take to defend themselves and for their security.

We have that within me also.

I'm looking forward to meeting him, too.

We will not support this.

I have one of them.

I do, and that's a dangerous position for our country, for democracy, for our world to be supported, and adoptions made easier.

I don't know if government is going to do and what I have seen change there.


Q: Whoa, bitch, settle down.

PALIN: Reform that actually happens is tough and you can't just sit down with him the other day and giving him my commitment, as John McCain had pushed for, more troops?

I support this country.


Q: Unfortunately, the smart people in this country don't support you. How do you respond?

PALIN: They're waiting to see a culture of life in this country, will be committed to the issues that we're talking about Israel, we're talking about the need to ramp it up in jail for having an abortion, absolutely not.


Q: Please name any magazine, ever.

PALIN: Now, I would ever support.


Q: Are you drunk?

PALIN: In what respect, Katie?


Q: In the respect of you being so borderline retarded that you've GOT to be subsisting on vodka and Cheez-Its.

PALIN: So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to have exerted such pressure in terms of invading a smaller democratic countries.

So we have to keep...

We cannot ever support.


Q: I'll take that as a "yes."

PALIN: I'm not going to take it one step further.

He wants that healthy deliberation and debate within.


Q: Why would you make women pay for their own rape kits?

PALIN: Um, helping the the freedoms, the democracy, the… the women's rights, the tolerance, they hate what we stand for with the American people are trusting these companies with their insurance policies and construction bonds and the insurance carrier duties of AIG.

You can be protected with them.


Q: Uh huh. All I just heard you say is, "Oh, it's because I hate women."

PALIN: Because another thing that we'll talk about your years of experience and just assuming that the example that you can't just sit down with him the other party, also.

Absolutely.


Q: At the debate tonight, are you going to spew out nothing more than glittering generalities or will you maybe say something of substance?

PALIN: We have got to understand that John McCain knows, more so than any other state, up there with the volume all the all the answers.

And I'm saying that.


Q: Aaaand I think you've just answered my question. Thank you for your time, you crazed snowbilly.

Barack the Vote

Peace out, Hills. Despite your defiant, disappointing, delusional, unconscionable, devilish, petty and combative speech in which you refused to concede, your run -- along with my sympathy -- has ended.