presidential race

i watched barak obama's speech on thursday. i am not normally a very political person, but this man seems to be to be the next john kennedy. he is well-spoken and intelligent, charismatic and charming. he wasn't born with a silver spoon up his ass, which i am grateful for. he revolutionized campaign donations by getting little from many rather than a lot from a few. he also hasn't stooped to the negative endorsements of his opponent in his campaign ads. i've dreamed of a candidate who would finally focus on the things he'd do rather than "this is what my opponent won't do."

anyway, i plan on watching McCain's speech next week. and i've been looking into his running mate, Sarah Palin. i just got an email about her from moveon.org. this is what it said:

Dear MoveOn member,

Yesterday was John McCain's 72nd birthday. If elected, he'd be the oldest president ever inaugurated. And after months of slamming Barack Obama for "inexperience," here's who John McCain has chosen to be one heartbeat away from the presidency: a right-wing religious conservative with no foreign policy experience, who until recently was mayor of a town of 9,000 people.

Huh?

Who is Sarah Palin? Here's some basic background:

* She was elected Alaska 's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no foreign policy experience.1
* Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.2
* She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000. 3
* Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools.4
* She's doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change.5
* She's solidly in line with John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy. She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won't be ready for years. She also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species—she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.6
* How closely did John McCain vet this choice? He met Sarah Palin once at a meeting. They spoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about being vice-president. Then he offered her the position.7

This is information the American people need to see. Please take a moment to forward this email to your friends and family.

Sources:

1. "Sarah Palin," Wikipedia, Accessed August 29, 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin

2. "McCain Selects Anti-Choice Sarah Palin as Running Mate," NARAL Pro-Choice America, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17515&id=13661-9955500-9AV7IJx&t=1

3. "Sarah Palin, Buchananite," The Nation, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17736&id=13661-9955500-9AV7IJx&t=2

4. "'Creation science' enters the race," Anchorage Daily News, October 27, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17737&id=13661-9955500-9AV7IJx&t=3

5. "Palin buys climate denial PR spin—ignores science," Huffington Post, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17517&id=13661-9955500-9AV7IJx&t=4

6. "McCain VP Pick Completes Shift to Bush Energy Policy," Sierra Club, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17518&id=13661-9955500-9AV7IJx&t=5

"Choice of Palin Promises Failed Energy Policies of the Past," League of Conservation Voters, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17519&id=13661-9955500-9AV7IJx&t=6

"Protecting polar bears gets in way of drilling for oil, says governor," The Times of London, May 23, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17520&id=13661-9955500-9AV7IJx&t=7

7 "McCain met Palin once before yesterday," MSNBC, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=21119&id=13661-9955500-9AV7IJx&t=8

now, i'm all about finding out the truth about our candidates, so i went to wikipedia.com to check her out. (sidenote: i know wikipedia isn't the be-all-end-all of truthful information. unless you know the candidates personally, the best we can do is take in all information from many different sources and draw our own conclusions. i didn't do that here because i'm lazy.)

i actually read the whole thing and a few things stood out to me:

things i am totally opposed to:
* pro-life
* a prominent member of Feminists for Life
* supports the death penalty.
* opposes same-sex marriage.
* supported a non-binding referendum for a constitutional amendment to deny benefits to gay couples.
* supported the 1998 constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
* supported allowing discussion of the debate between creationism and evolution in public schools, if students bring it up, and not necessarily as part of the curriculum.this is not the same thing as "creationism should be taught in public schools. even tho i am against creationism, re-wording this statement to inflate the meaning is another way of lying."
* a life member of the National Rifle Association
* supports drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) (which McCain is opposed to. strange.)
* is currently being investigated by an independent investigator hired by the Alaska Legislature[58] to determine whether she abused her power when she fired Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan.
* her kids are named Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, Trig

things i respect her for:
* she is anti-corruption. she replaced the entire membership of the Board of Agriculture and Conservation when she found out that the Board of Agriculture and Conservation appoints Creamery Board members. The Alaska Creamery Board recommended closing Matanuska Maid Dairy, an unprofitable state-owned business, Palin objected, citing concern for the impact on dairy farmers and the fact that the dairy had just received $600,000 in state money. she stood up to them and then fired them all when she found out that they were in the pocket of the Board. i dream of what she could do to the FDA.
* she's a woman. i'm all for women getting more publicity in male-dominated roles.
* her youngest, born in April, has down-syndrome. she has a long road ahead of her.

anyway, i'm off to read up on McCain. or take a nap. whichever seems more interesting. ;)

5:30am, Sunday, August 17, 2008

someone was yelling, "take that, bitch!" and then POP-POP-POP! jumped out of bed and ran to the window. called 911 to report 3 shots fired. raised the screen and saw one (seemingly) white guy running down the alley behind our building. there was a bike down on the sidewalk in front of the apartment just west of us and two youths (one black, one not black) walking towards the bike. by the time the cop showed up, everyone was gone.

no, it's not a scene from Law and Order. this happened right outside our condo this morning.

since we never heard screams or an ambulance, we assumed no one was hurt. we still don't know where this shooting took place. i had never heard gunfire in the 8.5 years i've lived in chicago. until this morning.

NO WAY!!!!

there is no way in fucking hell this is happening again. i know what happened. it's all a mistake... she decided she wanted to wear Tommy Boy's jeans and... wait. she wouldn't have to roll them up. they'd look like floods on her.

anyway, if i see anyone PEGGING THEIR FUCKING PANTS, i will WRESTLE them to the GROUND, unroll them, and STAPLE the HEM to their ANKLES!!

i let capris come back and finally gave in after about 3 years because they didn't make everyone look their were wearing hammer pants. bell bottoms i still refuse to wear and think that everyone looks like a dumb 60s asshole when they're wearing them. but i will NOT allow anyone to wear their pants like Katie Holmes is doing. NO WAY.

she used to be so fashionable. what happened? can't she afford a pair of jeans that fit? sigh.

music for old people

as grampa simpson once said, ""I used to be with it, but then they changed what "it" was. Now, what I'm with isn't it, and what "it" is seems weird and scary to me."


i'm trying really hard not to be one of "those" adults that just thinks music today just sucks. but it does. scott and have had this discussion (and when i become a research scientist, i will do more research on this subject) that people's musical tastes are pretty much done being formed around their last year in college. it's when you're most open to new experiences, you decide what you like and what you will like int he future. barring some life-altering event (like moving to Argentina) you will probably like this music for the rest of your life.

for me, that's electronica and dance (underworld, orbital, moby). some rock (like faith no more, stone temple pilots, nirvana). lots of euro-disco-synth-crap-pop (depeche mode, the cure, new order). very little gangsta rap (snoop dog, dr. dre, eminem). but really, if it has an electric drum beat and a strong bass line, i'll give it a shot, lyrics optional.

scott has dramatically different taste from me. we have three bands in common: snoop dog, elliot smith, and ned's atomic dustbin. i'll listen to his other music (neil young, rolling stones, some others). i draw the line at the completely obscure ones (acid mother's temple, mission of burma, many others). sometimes i can get him to listen to underworld, but it has to be in the background and there can't be a driving beat or recognizable lyrics. and he'll refuse to listen to several of my bands on General Principle (U2, moby, fatboy slim).

so in talking with my sister about our musical tastes, i have had a rash of music uploading from my CD collection into iTunes, circa 1985-1996. here is a brief list of what i've been craving, in no particular order:

1. don't go-yaz. allison moyet, the woman who sounds like a man. memory=college
2. james brown is dead-LA style. nothing like a little rave music to make you wonder where you left your glow stick.memory=working at The Limited by senior year in HS.
3. russian hill-jellyfish. this was brought into my repertoire by an old boyfriend. never heard it on the radio and never heard of jellyfish again. memory=college
4. wet my bed-stone temple pilots. STP is the most over-played band ever. it's been 10+ years and i still hear "interstate love song" played ad nauseum. but core was a pretty good album and this song is hilarious. other song associated-plush, wicked garden. memory=college
5. hanging by a thread-mike and the mechanics. if you've ever heard this song, i'll buy you a puppy. memory=senior year in HS driving my parents 1988 Taurus.
6. man in the box-alice and chains had a few good ones. very few. memory=college
7. cruel summer-bananarama. this played on the radio when scott's grandpa died and i couldn't go to the funeral and it was 100 degrees in chicago and we didn't have AC. cruel summer indeed.
8. the metro-berlin. who doesn't remember this video? memory=college
9. video killed the radio star-the buggles. this song would mean more if this wouldn't have been their only song. but i guess it got its point across being the first video ever played on MTV. memory=i'm 8 and we just got cable.
10. around the world-daft punk. yeah, even i can't listen to this song more than once a month. memory=post-college
11. saved by zero-the fixx. the extra X made them cooler. memory=elementary school?
12. just another day-jon secada. i'm a junior in high school dealing with a crappy boyfriend all over again. isn't love (and memory) grand?
13. something about you-level 42. my sister brought this up to me. i don't even think she could walk when this song came out. memory=6th grade
14. pop muzik-M. this is almost as good as Men Without Hats. almost. memory=elementary school.
15. bedtime story-madonna. i had the single to this erotic song. every last remix was on it and it was awesome. memory=college
16. mexican radio=wall of voodoo. i can still see the guy's face in the plate of beans in the video. memory=4th grade?
17. she's got the look-roxette. sorry about this one. memory=10th grade, doing geometry
18. damn, i wish i was your lover-sophie b. hawkins. this song got a little ruined by the fact that is was for another woman, but that didn't prevent me from wearing out the cassingle. memory=high school