Recently in Politics Category

This is pretty funny, or pretty dismal, depending on how you look at it. Somebody called Lyle Rossiter, who some conservatives are calling a 'top psychiatrist' and an 'eminent doctor', that 'Liberals are clinically mad'. If you follow the link you'll see he's written a book about it, subtitled 'The psychological causes of political madness.' Here's a quote from Rossiter:

'A political leader who understands human nature will not ignore individual differences in talent, drive, personal appeal and work ethic, and then try to impose economic and social equality on the population - as liberals do. And a legislator who understands human nature will not create an environment of rules which over-regulates and over-taxes the nation's citizens, corrupts their character and reduces them to wards of the state - as liberals do.'

Riiight... It's LIBERALS who ignore the individual! Silly me. I thought denying women rights over their own bodies and equal pay and arguing that hetero-marriage is the only right choice for everyone was more deindividualising than fighting for those freedoms, but I stand corrected.

Of course, the guys over at Conservapedia are loving it. I would highly recommend looking at it if you want to laugh and cry at the same time at the idiocy of its authors, who've answered to Wikipedia, which they believe is liberal-biased. I can't help thinking they're doing their cause more harm than good. What depresses me most is it isn't even a hoax.

I think it's interesting that a group of people that have been notoriously discriminated against are now spreading hate about another group of people. I don't agree with the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints on basically everything but you can't blame one group of people [as a whole] for Proposition 8 passing. There are people who are homophobic and don't believe in equality in marriage (basic civil rights) but it's not one sole group of people ascribing to a certain religion. It is bigoted people. There are mormon people who agree and disagree with gay marriage being legalized and to target all of them and say that they are why this didn't pass is futile and childish. This spreads hate and prejudice. It does no good. Thinking of people in groups you put stereotypes to and not as individuals is how hate thrives.

So I don't know if anyone else remembers reading this Newsweek article that came out in the aftermath of the Summers controversy, but I think it contains a few gems that we really should keep in mind.  If he thought that these quotes would score him any points with women, he really is quite dense.  

“Starting in the fall, Harvard will offer home economics for women who find economics too tricky,” said Summers, who called the move “long overdue.”

Summers said that the new courses would help women at Harvard improve their grade point averages, adding, “When it comes to getting busy in the kitchen, women are second to none.”

In a meeting with the protesters, Summers promised that he would recruit additional women to the Harvard faculty but refused to tell the protesters how many. “I don’t want to fill your heads with a lot of big numbers you won’t understand,” he said.

You would think that if he really was a smart guy that he'd be able to apply some critical thinking to his own views on women and realize how dumb they are.

I've sort of been following the news coverage of Obama's selection of cabinet and staff, and I'm feeling a bit uneasy. Is it just me, or does it seem like women are really underrepresented here? I think I've heard the names of two women so far, in spite of the fact that there are a number of women who would be qualified for cabinet positions that women have never held. I've also heard the argument that Obama doesn't have to concern himself with the diversity of his staff and cabinet since his presidency is already so historic, but this sounds like BS to me. Has anybody heard of other women who might be under consideration? And what do you think about this argument that he doesn't have to worry about diversity?

Tonight I find myself sitting here on what has been a fairly normal Monday, crying. It is unnerving and unexpected, but not entirely surprising.

For almost a week now, I have remained largely numb as a result of the 2008 election cycle. This country did something extraordinary, inspiring and oh-so needed in electing Barack Obama to become the 44th President of the United States . In a country where he would have once been considered property, where his parents’ relationship would once have been illegal, where he and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden would once have not been able to sit next to each other on a bus or take a drink from the same water fountain—where still today people believe he should die because of his name and the color of his skin—he is now the leader. He has shattered what was (arguably) the last ceiling left for African-Americans to break. Now, almost all doubts among the black youth of America as to their worth has vanished. Now, they can see a bit of themselves in the President of the United States of America, and they know that the American ideal that “Anything is possible,” is actually a reality.

The video and images that have surfaced since Tuesday night absolutely amaze me. In Newark, my friends and I ventured from the apartment building where we watched the results to a predominantly black bar right next door. Several of us have gotten to know the general manager there, and we had to go see her. We had to share our joy with the city of Newark.

Being in that bar gave me an incredible feeling. People were crying; people were hugging; people were celebrating. It was as if our hometown sports team had just won the national championship, only it was all of us that had won. Our country won. Since that night, I’ve discovered that the celebrations in Newark were tame compared to the rest of the world . The celebrations flowed on streets in cities all over the country and all over the world. They celebrated in Kenya, in Australia, in Spain and England. They celebrated in Israel and France. It was as if, with three simple words, this country’s reputation and dignity was reinstated worldwide. Those words were President-Elect Barack Obama.

Obviously, inexplicably mixed with my elation over the presidential landslide , is my complete confusion and devastation from the passage anti-gay marriage amendments in California (Proposition 8), Florida (Proposition 2) and Arizona (Proposition 102). Add Arkansas’s new ban on adoption by non-married couples, and I’m left with even more uncertainty regarding my own standing as an American.

Until last week, I don’t think I’ve ever felt marginalized for being gay. Even having spent 22 years in two of the reddest states in the country, I have never really felt discriminated against, and never felt as though I am any less of a person. Looking back, I think I owe the majority of that credit to my family for being the people they are. I have been incredibly fortunate in that my parents, siblings and extended family are all genuine and loving people. They made my coming out experience exactly what it should be—a complete relief, awkward, joyous and most importantly, painless. After being brought up in that environment, I unconsciously (or perhaps, consciously?) surrounded myself with incredibly fair-minded, loving friends who also accept and love me for exactly the person I am. They don’t simply tolerate me; they love me. To them, I am who I am.

I'm a second year law student and I just attended a presentation at school on "What judicial appointments can you except from an Obama administration"

I expected/hoped that it would be a somewhat unbiased account of the kinds of judges we would see Obama appoint. What it ended up being was an hour of hate-mongering like I have never seen before. Essentially, any liberal judge was bad and any conservative judge was good. Some key choice moments:

1) Discussing how the Burger court "invented the right to an abortion"

2) How certain judges on a short list of possible appointees to the Supreme Court would get confirmed because of their race/gender

3) how "politicized" the nomination and confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas were

4) that with the kinds of justices Obama wanted to appoint (empathetic), he may as well appoint Oprah

5) how it was improper for Justice Ginsburg to cite the Declaration on the Rights of the Child when deciding whether or not TO EXECUTE CHILDREN

6) how granting gay couples the right to marry would likely lead to polygamy and bestiality

This is all from a supposed legal scholar, not a conservative pundit.

It makes me sad that after everything positive and uplifting that came out of last week, people like this can still get to me.

I found this article today while browsing around, and thought it pretty much sums up my sentiments.

How do I thank thee for running, Sarah Palin? Let me count the ways. I thank thee to the depth and breadth and height my Democratic, Obama-loving, unemployed soul can reach, still exhausted mightily from the interminable weeks of horrific suspense, waiting to find out if what we were witnessing was a monumental comedy or a catastrophic, world-ending horror-movie.

Enjoy!

Just thought everyone would be happy to know that New Hampshire, my state, became the first state in the country to have a majority of women in the legislature. I don't know if it's sad that we're the first, and only now, or just a great thing that women are so well represented in this state-- women from both parties (though we do still have a Democratic majority).

I know on my ballot I had 5 democrat women, one democrat man, and one republican woman as choices for my state-level representatives. Women are finally stepping up and running for public office here. Hopefully other states will soon follow our example.

Are there women to choose from as his Cabinet goes?

Is there a list of women or at least pro feminist men we can send to Obama?

I admit I am not so well informed when it comes to who is qualified to fill the positions.  As a matter of fact, when I saw a picture and read the list, the question did arise, "Are there any women suitable for any of those jobs?"

Or is it going to look like it always has, like a bunch of old white men?

Just another victory for equal rights/recognition from this election.

In Silverton, residents have elected a man who's believed to be the first ever openly transvestite mayor in the history of the United States. And he won in a 13-point landslide... He says he has no interest in becoming transgendered and undergoing sexual reassignment surgery. He just enjoys dressing up like a woman, and is relieved that townsfolk in Silverton have accepted him.

<a href="http://www.620kpoj.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=&article=4544697">Full Story Here</a>

It just made me smile hearing this, this morning.