Been listening to this heavily for over a month or month and a half now. Dry fields, howling winds, hot sun:

I am so pissed off at my home state right now that the only thing that's kept me from spitting nails and gnashing my teeth into a gritty powder is the fact that working over seventeen hours on Election Day left me with absolutely no energy to think about the contests, let alone process what the results mean.

So I was more concerned about Prop 8 than I was about Obama, mainly because Obama has been headed to an inevitable victory for quite a while now but also because a LOT of Obama supporters voted in favor of Prop 8. Let me say that again for emphasis: Many solidly Democratic voters chose Obama AND chose to TAKE AWAY PEOPLE'S RIGHTS by imposing a constitutional ban on gay marriage. I was quite literally sick to my stomach with a sense of dread all afternoon and evening on Election Day, but it was because of Prop 8, not Obama v. McCain.

This is why I'm fucking pissed: The whole "I'm against gay marriage and I think it's wrong and unnatural and marriage is sacred and only for a man and a woman but wait! I am also against gay marriage bans! LOL" BULLSHIT that Democratic politicians (including Obama) have been spewing for years played RIGHT into the hands of the Yes on 8 campaign. They used Obama's Own Words on marriage against the No on 8 campaign VERY effectively:

And what, Obama couldn't risk putting a small dent in his twenty-something-point lead in California by coming out against Prop 8 more strongly than he did? Whither your audacity of hope, Barack? If that sort of absence of balls is the "change we need," then whatever. To be honest, I lost what little faith I had left in California voters when we elected Schwarzenegger as governor, but this Yes on Prop 8 bullshit takes the shitty church potluck cake.

So in sum, I'm still waiting to see what sort of "victory" this will end up being. The fact that we elected a man who is African-American is fucking amazing, but I wouldn't be thrilled about a non-Christian, gay Asian man as President if that man was talking about escalating our troop presence in Afghanistan, bailing out corporate interests, and abandoning his promise to filibuster the FISA bill. Obviously Obama will be a fantastic improvement on the shitstain we've had for the past decade, but considering how much "centrist" "courage" I've already seem from him, I'm not holding my breath that the people who elected him will be seeing the real progress they are now expecting. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Our new President is MORE than welcome to prove my ass wrong about him, but from what I've seen I'm keeping expectations low.

And WTF is up with the low turnout numbers in liberal counties -- San Francisco, San Mateo, and Alameda Counties? Srsly? SF and Berkeley? San Francisco had one of the LOWEST turnout percentages in the state, and this is during an election where we had a constitutional ban on gay marriage on the ballot -- are you fucking KIDDING me? I realize that the national Obama victory was well on its way before polls closed here and that he had a twenty-point lead in our state, but way to rock the vote for No on 8, you stupid liberals.

I will say this about the religious orgs. -- they may be confederacies of raging dunces, they may be hypocritical Bible-bangers preaching love and hate simultaneously, and most of them should fucking lose their tax-exempt status PRONTO considering how deeply their proverbial dicks are stuck into the political taint, but you know what? They know how to turn their sheeple out to vote.

Oh, but good job that Prop 2 passed. Clearly chickens deserve more rights than homosexuals, even if they're not as tasty.

I just threw shit together in a bowl and out of it was born a crapload of OMG VEGAN PERSIMMON COOKIEZ (that taste more like pumpkin bread but WHATEVER 'cause it's still MOUTHSEX):


(About two to three cups of Hachiya persimmon flesh, 1/4 tsp. baking soda, ~1/3 tsp. five spice powder, ~1/3 tsp. sea salt, one large spoonful of brown sugar, one large spoonful of coconut oil, and enough whole wheat flour and brown rice flour in a 4:1 ratio to bind the ingredients into a mass that's thicker than cake batter but looser than cookie dough. Drop in large spoonfuls on a sheet lightly greased with coconut oil, bake at 350 F until deep orange-brown, remove, and cool on a rack.

This photo is of my first batch. I used slightly less flour in the second batch and it came out better -- smoother, fluffier in texture, and cosmetically more appealing since they were more rounded.)

( Also: The So-Called ~Controversial~ Meme )

1. Post a list of up to 20 books/movies/anime/TV shows/video games/etc. that you've had an interest in at some time in your life.
2. Have your friends list guess your favorite character from each item.

- - - - -

Sci-fi/Fantasy novels:

1. Anne McCaffrey 's Dragonriders of Pern series
2. Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy
3. Terry Brooks' original Shannara trilogy
4. Gregory Maguire's Wicked trilogy

Sci-fi TV:

5. Space Island One (a.k.a. Raumstation Unity)
6. Red Dwarf ANSWER: Rimmer (guessed by sonofthor) and Holly
7. Blake's Seven
8. The Wild Wild West
9. Doctor Who ANSWER: Nine (guessed by masanori), Four, and Five
10. Firefly/Serenity ANSWER: Mal (guessed by masanori) and Simon

Anime/Manga:

11. ぼくの地球を守って (Please Save My Earth)
12. ここはグリーン・ウッド (Here is Green Wood)

Comedy TV:

13. Waiting for God
14. Are You Being Served?
15. Absolutely Fabulous
16. Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister
17. Strangers with Candy
18. Married... with Children

Sports:

19. tennis ANSWER: Tommy Robredo (guessed by masanori)
20. figure skating


... *rofl* Good luck. XD

Bay Area Panzanella



Whole wheat walnut bread by Acme in Berkeley; organic, dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes from Pescadero; local, unfiltered extra-virgin olive oil; locally grown garlic; cucumbers, basil, and mint from the backyard; edamame; sea salt, black pepper, and red chili flakes.

...HOLY SHIT I can't wait to dig into this at work tomorrow~. ♥ <3 ♥ <3 ♥

HOW ~@~SHOCKING~@~!

You are a Social Liberal (81% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (1% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

I voted early -- in person -- today.

( I don't care whether or not you guys know whom/what I'm voting for, so this is my vote breakdown. )

So, to my Canadian friends:

I'm a few days late, but did you guys watch your debate? My few quick thoughts:

1. I realize I'm a biased ecoliberal, but I thought Lizzie May kicked ass.

2. Nothing against the Libs, but oh man -- Dion has to be the worst debater they could have come up with. D: Céline would have done a better job than Stéphane. XD;;;

3. OMFG you guys have no idea how REFRESHING it was to watch a multi-party debate. None of this overly managed bullshit between two people with ~limited response times~ and other format rules that discourage real dialogue.

4. Harper is such a tool. XD XD XD

Thus ends my first week at my new job. It's a local government job and beyond that I'm not comfortable discussing it here (I'll probably elaborate in a friends-locked entry some time when I'm not so exhausted), but suffice to say that despite the brutal 6:15 alarm buzzing in my ear every morning it's great fun, I've met some cool people, and it really satisfies the political junkie in me. A lot of my friends, regardless of how political/apolitical they might be, are reluctant to discuss anything of that nature, so it's been nice to meet equally nerdy people who don't mind shooting the shit about everything from current events to random anecdotes about past ballot initiatives and crap.

I'm working in the hills just west of 280 as well, so every morning I've been getting to see the cool, coastal fog receding from the reservoir and up the ridge and smell the clean, resinous tang of eucalyptus and scrub, seasoned with a slightly salty-sweet note from the sea and the drying grass. Most of my co-workers are blasé about the view and the air but as someone who's sorely missed it, it's freaking awesome.

As a liberal and leftist who does not consider himself a Dem, I'm annoyed that very little of the liberal/Democratic butthurt over this whole bailout situation hasn't been directed inward:*

Where is the criticism of Obama and his recommendation that bankruptcy reforms for homeowners be removed from the bailout bill? Where is the criticism of the 2005 bankruptcy bill that Biden is responsible for?

Here are excerpts, with sources and links:

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: You know, I’ll tell you something that we were told in our caucus. We were told that our presidential candidate, when the negotiations started at the White House, said that he didn’t want [the bankruptcy provisions] in this bill. Now, that’s what we were told.

AMY GOODMAN: You were told that Barack Obama did not want this in the bill?

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: That he didn’t want the bankruptcy provisions in the bill. Now, you know, that’s what we were told. And I don’t understand why he would say that, if he did say that. And I think that there is a—the fact that we didn’t put bankruptcy provisions in, that actually we removed any hope for judges to do any loan modifications or any forbearance. There’s no moratorium on mortgage foreclosures in here. So, who’s getting—who’s really getting helped by this bill? This is a bailout, pure and simple, of Wall Street interests who have been involved in speculation.

(SOURCE)

( Also: Excerpt from the LA Times re. Obama's statement on the bankruptcy provisions -- this basically corroborates Kucinich's comments above. There's a brief reference to the Biden bankruptcy bill as well. )

( Lastly, an excerpt from a lolariously biased anti-Biden article which nevertheless gives some TRUFAX re. his 2005 bankruptcy bill. )

- - - - -

* I'm not trying to say you should vote for McCain or Nader or Barr/Paul/McKinney or anything; I'm just saying that if you're a Democrat or just an O'Biden supporter, for heaven's sake hold your party/candidates accountable and put pressure on them to advocate for REAL change as opposed to this BS.

P.S. What the hell is Kelsey Grammer doing participating in this homophobic, sexist, mind-blowingly unfunny bullshit? O_o I don't follow him or his career at all but what little default respect I had for him has just gone and died in a corner.

(I've been making this pretty regularly for quite a while now. It's great pre- or post-workout because you get a great energy boost without feeling weighed down, and it's a great any-time snack as well. Jamba Juice and their $4 smoothies can kiss my sweet ass!)

Ingredients:

- 1-1.5 cups rice milk (or almond milk, if I've made some and have some on hand)
- a good spoonful of spirulina
- a good spoonful of cacao powder (raw, not Dutched)
- a good spoonful of flaxseed oil (optional)
- half a large banana, to thicken and sweeten (optional, but recommended)
- other fruits that are on hand (optional; berries seem to work best)
- ice (vary the amount depending on the thickness you want; the amount of fruit present will affect this)
- small amount of palm sugar, brown rice syrup, or agave syrup (amount varies depending on the amount of fruit)
- one whole Thai bird chile (OPTIONAL; I rarely do this but it makes things hilariously interesting XD)

Whiz that shit in a blender and drink. OMNOMNAWM.

( P.S. Do you know how RIDICULOUSLY easy almond milk is to make!? Here's my quick recipe. )

So my dad calls me and asks me to hand the phone to my brother (he tried calling my brother directly, but my brother was on the phone and not answering his call waiting, apparently). My brother gets off the phone, talks to my dad using my phone, and then hangs up and tells me that he has to go meet my dad because our grandmother's in the hospital and apparently in bad shape. O_o

( Some of this might be triggering, so it's behind a cut. )

Anyway, I have a long update to write re. my move. I'll hopefully have that up soon, but I just got internet access set up two nights ago and I've been busy job-hunting and trying to squeeze an apartment's worth of belongings into one room so I have quite a bit of catching up to do. Hope everyone is okay.

I just managed to watched Lieberman's speech, and... oh man. *dies*

Seriously Dems, do you honestly believe that under eight years of a Gore-Lieberman administration in a post-9/11 world that we'd've been that much better off with THAT man as our VP? The most hawkish (ex-)Dem. in years when it comes to foreign policy in the Middle East? And just imagine, after a stint as VP he'd've been a leading presidential candidate.

Yeah, just no.

Amy Goodman, award-winning journalist and host of Democracy Now!, has been arrested in St. Paul:

- Democracy Now!'s statement on the incident.

- Salon.Com article.

- Audio of Amy being arrested.

- Video of her arrest:


Two of Democracy Now!'s producers have been arrested as well. Democracy Now! is calling on all journalists and concerned citizens to call the office of Mayor Chris Coleman and the Ramsey County Jail and demand the immediate release of Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. These calls can be directed to: Chris Rider from Mayor Coleman’s office at 651-266-8535 and the Ramsey County Jail at 651-266-9350 (press extension 0).

... Honestly, I was afraid of this happening to her - hope she gets out alright.

- - - - -

UPDATE:

Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar Released After Illegal Arrest at RNC (Charges not dropped as of yet.)

And a Washington Post article:

By Holly Watt
ST. PAUL -- Democracy Now! radio host Amy Goodman and two producers were arrested while covering demonstrations at the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn. Goodman was released after being held for over three hours, but is still waiting to hear when Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar would be released.

"I was down on the convention floor interviewing delegates when I heard that two of our producers had been arrested," said Goodman. "I ran down to Jackson and 7th Street, where the police had moved in."

Goodman said that when she ran up to find out what was going on, she was also arrested.

"They seriously manhandled me and handcuffed my hands behind my back. The top ID [at the convention] is to get on the floor and the Secret Service ripped that off me. I had my Democracy Now! ID too. I was clearly a reporter."

Goodman, who was released after being charged with a misdemeanor, said that Salazar had been hurt in the face, while Kouddous had been thrown up against a wall and hurt his elbow.

"Nicole told me that as they moved in on three sides, she asked them 'How do I get away from this?' and they jumped on her."

Both Kouddous and Salazar could be held for up to 36 hours.

"One of the police kept shouting at me 'Shut up, shut up," she said. "It was extremely threatening."

EDIT: I called the jail and they say Goodman was released awhile ago, but when I tried to ask about the two producers the woman hung up on me. O_o The voicemail box for Ms. Rider's number (given above) is full already. *rofl*

XD XD XD

( KLIX 4 MOAR )

It's a total cliché now to say that Biden has one of the best foreign policy minds in Congress, but honestly, some of the stuff he said re. Iraq/Iran/Pakistan/Afghanistan during the primary season absolutely bowled me over with the amount of forethought, research, and clarity that was evident behind his words.

The problem is that such universal regard for Biden's command of foreign policy matters inevitably begs the question as to why he voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq. Especially when the Democrats were in the minority in Congress at the time and had absolutely no hope of influencing the Bush administration's war policies, and especially when people who "know less about foreign policy than [he's] forgotten" (Biden, 2008) were correctly, prophetically pointing out that preemptive war in Iraq would only serve to further destabilize the region and provide convenient fuel for terrorist recruitment and insurgency activities.

But who cares, right? What matters is that Biden is was majorly DILF-tastic:

.

Seriously though: After Kucinich, Deadwards* and Biden were my second-tier favorites during the primaries, and Biden remains one of the few Congressional Democrats whom I have a soft spot for, so good for him. Can't think of a more deserving nominee; in fact, if it was an either/or thing between him and Obama in the primaries I'd've preferred him at the top of the ticket.

Good move for Obama, as well: After all the hub-bub about his flip-flopping - which even fans of him have to admit is to a large extent well-deserved despite the fact that none of the flip-flops should have come as a great surprise - and the fact that he's actually trailing McCain in a recent poll during one of the worst years for Republicans in ages, this is probably the best thing he's done in weeks.

P.S. Remember when Joe Biden visited "Uncle Nancy"? Good times. XD

P.P.S. I think what pisses me off the most about the whole Deadwards things is that thanks to Johnny, I can't laugh at this genius, genius piece of satire anymore. An excerpt:

     Let's pretend that the Washington Post lent its editorial
     offices to the more exciting sensationalists of Tiger Beat
     magazine, and give Edwards the superhot credit he deserves.
     Either way, you're gonna vote for him. I mean, what the
     hell – you know you would totally make out with him, and
     the Bush family doesn't even have lips.

...I hardly even titter anymore. :( Such a shame!

- - - - -

* Yes, "Deadwards," because he's dead to me, despite his DILF-ness. Or perhaps "because of," considering that's what got him in trouble. XD XD XD

... Commie pinko liberal red terrors have dirty mirrors!*** :O Down with the left!

- - - - -

*** And also Big Gay Posters three different kinds of sunscreen!

For those who don't know, this had been stewing around for some time now (since last year), though it was only the recent lovechild allegations that brought it to the forefront again:

John Edwards’ Statement Acknowledging Affair.

;_; I'm just pissed that it wasn't me he was boning. >:( After all, there's no way I could have gotten preggo! :D

Okay, no, seriously, though. I am pissed off on so any levels. Pissed off that:

the mainstream media's coverage of Edwards' campaign was only marginally better than what his affair received;

the mainstream media gifted Fox and other right-wing media with A Perfect Opportunity to self-righteously jizz all over themselves with cries of "liberal media bias!";

Johnny was dumb enough to think that boning a woman whose hair was two spritzes of bad hairspray away from the 1980s was worth the risk of ruining any chance that his good ideas for the country would ever get proper audience (let alone a chance at a very productive political future);

the way people who have been silent on many issues - e.g. the authorizing of an illegal war, the rampant breaking of campaign promises, or perhaps the playing of the energy market that eventually shut down the most populous state in the country - suddenly crawl out of the woodwork to cry that affair = "immoral!";

Johnny couldn't respect his terminally ill wife enough to just slink into the master bath with his hand and a magazine (I mean really, even Nigella Lawson waited 'til her ill husband had actually passed away), and then lied his ass off about it until he was finally cornered;

insane windbags like Coulter who enjoyed their sexist fagbaiting of Edwards during his campaign don't see the irony of turning around and criticizing him for unethical behavior against his wife;

and that Edwards himself said quite bluntly that fidelity/infidelity in a marriage is "fundamental to how you judge people and human character."

Ugh, whatever Johnny. Go disappear and then come back in six years by repainting yourself as the champion of poverty, like Gore did with global warming.

In other news, I'm planning on switching my registration from Green to Peace and Freedom, but as my address may or may not be changing soon I'm going to hold off for a bit.

I would love to see if all these fangirls who write Doctor Who porn would have even thought such things if William Hartnell or Patrick Troughton was still the Doctor.

I mean, seriously: Replace Tennant and Simm with Pertwee and Roger Delgado and THEN imagine what all your Doctor/Master slash fics suddenly look like: "The Master raised his Mephistophelitic eyebrows and ripped open the Doctor's velour smoking jacket, exposing wild, argent chest hair that matched his unruly curls."

... Yeah. Not so sexy now, are they?

(P.S. If you still find them sexy, call me!)

So I'm (finally) up-to-date with Doctor Who.

( Long-ass rundown of thoughts on the end of Series 3 and Series 4. )

Well damn, mention Doctor Who and suddenly my comments page asplodes. *lol*

Random things:

1. The weather suddenly cooled down yesterday with winds whipping the trees into a frenzy, and so I opened all my windows wide to blast the cold air through all day and throughout the night. It got so cold that I had to put on long pants and a thick jacket during the night, but it was worth it to have a nice, bracing day of clean/cold air after constant, constant heat/smoke/ash. Thankfully the smoke/ash part is pretty much over.

2. Some nights ago I had this random dream that I put the moves on this hotass, except instead of the dream turning into a full-fledged Sexeh Dream we instead became boyfriends and went on a road trip through Arizona and New Mexico, staring at large cacti and bright orange mesas. O_o;;;

3. There's this stray cat (grey and white, male) that for the past couple of years has been stopping by periodically, begging to be fed. Most of the time he runs up to my car as I pull into my parking space and starts meowing like crazy; sometimes he's waiting at my door when I'm leaving. I'll go for days without seeing him and then randomly he'll show up every day for two weeks straight, asking for food. I have a bowl outside my door for him.

Several times the grey has led a couple of other male cats to my door with him - an orange and a really busted looking long-haired black cat (I haven't seen either of them in months). I think they just tagged along, as they would always wait 'til Grey had finished eating and left before they came near the food. There was also one time where a really scraggly-looking stray kitten followed Grey up to my door and intimidated Grey - who was 2.5 times his size - into moving away from the food bowl simply by staring him down and meowing loudly. The kitten ate a whole bunch of food, cautiously allowed me to pet him a few times, and left. He looked so skinny that I tried to take him in, but he was way too skittish; every time I stood up he'd run off and it would take quite a few minutes to get him to start eating again, even if I'd gotten up in a painfully slow fashion. I haven't seen that kitten since and my best guess is that it didn't survive this last winter.

Anyway, last week I saw a random black and white (long-haired, skinny) cat lounging under a bush in my parking lot, trying to escape the heat. I could tell he was a stray but he didn't back away when I approached, so he was clearly a former house cat and clearly nowhere near feral. I kept him company for a minute but I was in a hurry so I got in my car and left.

Couple of days ago as I was leaving for gym, I saw Black and White again, staring at me from under a car, and I chirped at him and beckoned him over, but he stayed put.

So last night, I get back from the grocery store and BOTH Grey and B&W run up to my car, with Grey meowing even before I could turn my engine off. They both follow me to my door and eat, and Grey finishes first and stands guard for a few minutes several meters off while B&W keeps eating. Eventually Grey leaves, but B&W stays to be petted. He's quite obviously just recently out of the kitten stage and he's very playful, very affectionate.

B&W tried repeatedly to run into my apartment as I was petting him, and his fur was extremely well-groomed and clean for a stray so on his fourth attempt I relented and let him in. He had a good sniff around and stayed long enough that I started working on the computer while he poked around, and I noticed he groomed himself constantly, which probably explains the clean coat. After a bit of exploring he bounded into my lap and started purring like crazy, dancing in my lap for a good ten or fifteen minutes. I finally shooed him off, and after he poked around for a bit more he started whining, so I opened the door and he went out to finish eating.

After a while I checked on him through my window and saw that he had finished eating and was staring intently at some bird or some bug. I opened the door to see if he wanted to come back in, but he took a few steps in the direction of what he was staring at, turned back to me and meowed as if to say, "Not now, this is important," and ran off. So cute. XD I have a feeling he'll be back.

Thank goodness I still have my lint rollers from when I had Stardust, though - for all his grooming B&W still left me COVERED in hair after turning dozens of circles in my lap. All credit to the moggy: I'm fine around the average house cat but normally my eyes start itching around the strays, especially long-haired ones, and all his grooming must have considerably dampened my response.

4. Will hopefully be seeing Dark Knight later today.

1. Open Letter to All Baggers and Cashiers: No, I do NOT want an effing bag. I brought my backpack/messenger bag/reusable grocery bag with me for a reason. Stop staring at me all offended because I threw you off your stultifyingly simple routine and suddenly made our little transaction way too complex for you to handle.

1a. If you tell me my total is X dollars and 85 cents and I give you X+1 dollars and a dime, that means I want a quarter back. Don't look at me like I'm stupid and then hand me my dime back before handing over another $0.15.

2. Open Letter to Weekend Shoppers Who Drive in from the Boonies and Cram into the Shops Where I Run My Regular Errands: Stop staring at me. I have no holes in my clothing, I am clean and well-dressed, and I have no eye-catching logos/jewelry. OH WAIT you've never seen an Asian guy before - stare ALL YOU WANT I guess. :O

(Seriously, I've had shoppers literally stop in their tracks to look at me, stop mid-sentence, etc. WTMF? I'm not some big uggo and I'm not eye-catchingly attractive, I'm not extremely tall/short or extremely skinny/fat, and even if I WAS any of those things it'd still be rude as hell to stare the way they do, so what gives?)

3. I am loving spiking my rice milk with spirulina and cacao powder.

4. Because I didn't want to waste gas driving to the store where I buy my super cheap, fragrance-free, all-purpose shampoo (it's a shampoo/body wash/hand soap/delicate fabrics wash all in one!), I checked five different stores in town to see if they had anything that could tide me over till I could make the trip over.

Five stores. There was NOTHING that wasn't fragranced. Even the products from Dove and Aveeno and shit that were labeled "fragrance-free" and/or "for sensitive skin" all contained herbal or spice extracts with irritating fragrant components, including rosemary, cardamom, and myrrh. Blech. And the products from the "natural" and "organic" brands were even more ridiculous of course - I love it when a bottle reads "great for sensitive skin!" and the ingredients label has shit like eucalyptus, lavender, rosemary, orange oil, etc. Great for sensitive skin MY FANNY. XD

5. I've been working out so hard that I've been constantly hungry lately. Which is fine - I haven't been gaining any weight, and in fact I'm the fittest/strongest I've been in years - but I have noticed my muscles getting larger and my chest/torso getting "thick" from all the weight training, so I'm going to cut down on the weights quite a bit. I like being fit and solid but I dislike when the muscles thicken to the point where I feel like I'm carrying extra weight, and they're getting to that point now.

( 6. Lastly, some Doctor Who comments for those who are interested. )

While I generally despise the New York Times, this is a good summary from them, even if it comes weeks/months after many have already made the same basic point:

( We are not shocked when a candidate moves to the center for the general election. But Mr. Obama’s shifts are striking because he was the candidate who proposed to change the face of politics, the man of passionate convictions who did not play old political games. )

- - - - -

...and they don't even get into his Iraq war policy, his pandering speech to a right-wing Israeli PAC, and on and on, like opposing California's gay marriage ban while at the same time saying with a straight face that "marriage is between a man and a woman." Brilliant work! That's the kind of clear stand on the issues that got Kerry elected! 8D

You know what I don't get though? All this coverage lately about Obama's "move to the center." Why all the shock? All that drama over him "changing his Iraq policy" when the fact is that anyone who was paying close attention KNEW that his policy had always been the same - as far as I can remember he's ALWAYS left himself an "out" - enough wiggle room and "nuance" to be able to revise his plans to end the war if need be. (Even though the overwhelming consensus continues to tell us that the best thing for both Iraq and the US would be a swift withdrawal.) Obama's telling the truth when he says nothing's changed in his stance: That caveat has always been there, so the fact that it's only an issue now is a pretty telling example of the quality coverage our major media outlets provide.

I have to admit though that even I - being a big Green commie Obama skeptic - even I was surprised at how he folded on the FISA bill. That and declaring he would expand Bush's funding program for faith-based organizations. WTF?

So in the end I don't know what annoys me more - the fact that people are shocked by this "sudden" move to the center, or the fact that they aren't.

Don't get me wrong, I think he'd be a good Prezzie and he's clearly a great center-left politician, but sorry, he's not the great liberal hope that a lot of people like to think of him as, and he's not some new, better brand of politician either.

Okay, so if he does become Pres. and moves back away from the "center" after being elected (which is basically what G.W. Bush did during his first weeks in office), then as a flaming leftist I'll obviously be pleased to see it happen. But based on what I've seen so far? Not holding my breath.

Thanks to the huge flakes in charge of the marriage politicking at Pride on Saturday I ended up not volunteering at all, mainly because I was pissed off at being told several different things by several different people and because even when I got there I was given no clear idea as to who was running what, where I should go, what I was volunteering for, why the hell there was a subtle undertone of shilling for Obama even though that's not why I signed up to volunteer, etc.

Even the location they told me they were stationed at was dead fucking wrong by, oh, two streets; if it wasn't for the fact that I'd budgeted time to walk around and have some time to myself checking things out, I'd've wasted valuable time looking for them. Gawd. If that's how they normally run their organization, I fear for gay marriage. *lol* I looked to see if the SF Greens had a booth so that I could help them out if they needed it, but no booth.

Had fun though, despite the overall lameness of Pride - the corporate sponsors infesting the place (think Clear Channel radio stations and Comcast and New York Times holding out their change cups); the guys who use Pride as an excuse to do all the things they're too cowardly to do anywhere else; and the fact that you couldn't purchase plain water anywhere, just $5 mixed drinks. I just lazed around basically, people watching, enjoying the show(s), and staring at the hazy, smoky sky as I ate some overpriced falafel for lunch. Danced for a bit in front of a radio station booth playing some hip-hop, and while I was dancing with this hot black girl some professional photog and a random Asian woman took some photos of us. This just means that I'll for sure show up in someone's Flickr stream with the caption: "zmg look at dis fag dancing with his messenger bag still on lulz such teh n00b lulz lulz"

Also, I've been noticing for a long time now that despite my general misanthropic nature I actually enjoy being in a big crowd, *gasp* so long as I have plenty of my own space and don't have to talk much (note that I'm talking in the context of strangers, not friends). It's only when I feel physically crowded and unable to go inward often enough that I get annoyed; thankfully I was only at Pride on the slower day so I had plenty of my own space, both physical and mental. Probably the best way to describe the feeling was "gregarious, but not open," or "friendly, but not social."

Anyway, after Pride I hung out with Nna - we saw Wall-E, which was fabulous because Pixar remains one of the only companies whose CG work doesn't feel cold/emotionless/stale/staid/synthetic (Star Wars, anyone?). Then, some great Japanese food at Katanaya (thanks, Yelp!), and on my way home I got majorly checked out by some quite-obviously-much-younger-than-me cute nerd with a bike on the BART. Picked up some hot green tea in Richmond too before the drive home. Good stuff.

P.S. Thank goodness the air has mostly cleared up. Not fun staying in LA pollution for two weeks and then coming back home expecting clean air, only to be bombarded with hazy, white/grey skies and the smell of burning wood in your nostrils for two more weeks.

Dear Netflix,

I know I gave Brokeback Mountain and Absolutely Fabulous positive ratings, but that doesn't mean you need to keep recommending Madonna DVDs to me.

Please stop.

Love,

Me

Congrats to all my friends who supported Obama and/or Clinton. :D

Now it's time for some pizza with a sleepy hottie:

;

( or perhaps some bootay... )

If you've been following the news lately, one of the biggest things in Korea right now are the massive, large-scale protests against the resumption of U.S. beef imports into Korea. Dozens of protestors have been injured by the use of water cannons:



and hundreds more have been arrested.

This uprising against U.S. beef imports has a lot to do with fears over mad cow disease (or BSE - bovine spongiform encephalopathy) and there's a lot of hype and hyperbole in Korea right now over the safety of U.S. beef, but what's underlying all the mad cow horror stories is the issue of the U.S. coercing Korea into accepting these beef imports in order to make way for agreement on a larger trade deal.

There are huge issues at stake here:

1. the way a nation has basically been coerced into accepting the import of a product even though the large majority of its people absolutely do not want it;

2. the way the ridonkulous, heavily subsidized U.S. meat industry has found a way to force its inventory on others; and

3. perhaps most importantly, the way these sorts of actions are hurting small Korean farmers. If you've read stories in the news of Korean farmers publicly setting themselves on fire in suicidal desperation, in a fatal act of protest at their inability to earn a minimal living, you might connect those deaths with this system of global capitalism where the meat and other food supplies shipped across parts of North America and then across the Pacific Ocean are subsidized so much that they're actually cheaper than what many farmers in Korea are able to produce.

( More... )

If you have a few minutes, check out this kickass short talk on the ridiculousness of meat/dairy consumption in the US by Mark Bittman.

It's nothing that hippies like myself (XD) and people like Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver haven't addressed already, but considering Bittman is one of the most well-known, mainstream, and conventional of food writers and TV cooks out there - he's not some big organic hippie chef and he's quite adamantly a proud omnivore and NOT a vegetarian - it's refreshing to see someone with his conventional food background point out how useless meat consumption and dairy consumption is for the body, how awful it is for the planet, and how big agribusiness involvement in the FDA has created a situation where we're fed all this ridiculous propaganda that constant overconsumption of meat and dairy are somehow the key to good health.

I'm not presuming to tell anyone how to eat - I'm just glad that these ideas are finally hitting the mainstream where they belong, instead of being stereotyped as just the rantings of meat-starved hippies. And that someone as mainstream as Bittman is willing to call out the b.s. we hear from the meat and dairy industry for what it is - propaganda driven by corporate, big-money interests that in no way benefit our health. It's about flippin' time.

( Also, some hot, spicy foodpr0n! )

I saw sarcasm_hime for the first time in AGES! Y_Y The time was too short but I'm glad we at least got to hang out for a bit and have dinner. (Speaking of which, I ate red meat for the first time in forever. XD;;; I don't regret it in the slightest, but I ain't doing that again for a long while. Still detoxing from that - nothing but brown rice and fresh veggies since. *drool*)

I fucking love Amy Goodman and her firm chin, her stony demeanor. She's robotic, but in a sexy intellectualesbian way, so I guess that makes her lesbionic. Her stern, progressive gaze makes me weak in the knees, but I bet she secretly dresses up in pink tutus and rocks out to Avril Lavigne. :D

Amy Goodman discusses the US-backed coup in Haiti and her concept of "trickle-up journalism":



( An extra bonus. )

I watched An Unreasonable Man (a biography/documentary on Ralph Nader) recently and thought it was fantastic. Despite what you might think it's not two hours of footage where people compete to lick Nader's butthole*; it's actually pretty balanced with a lot of critics participating (of whom the most anti-Nader was Eric Alterman, who also comes off as the most unfair/idiotic). I highly recommend it - not just to Nader fans but fans of interesting biographies in general.

( Anyway, I wanted to post two key excerpts from the documentary. )