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I am so fucking cranky about the state of the election. I've been offline and I vaguely remember skimming past some sort of friends-list disclaimers about talking politics on LJ -- is it okay that I don't care? This is my LJ. I do what I please, yo.
We're in week four of my DNC fundraising, and the response I'm getting from good, loyal Democrats (as well as enlightened Republicans, independents and moderates who are simply afraid enough of Bush that they're throwing money at the DNC and changing their votes this year because the alternative is just so SCARY) is, of course, "why is Kerry being such a gigantic pussy?"
http://www.johnkerryisadouchebagbutimvotingforhimanyway.com -- thanks,
se_parsons
And, dude, it's like, UGGHH. I swear to god, I don't even CARE that Kerry's a ginormous pussy. He's a pussy who's going to confirm left-leaning justices to the Federal Bench. He's a pussy who's going to rescind the goddamned PATRIOT ACT, who's going to roll back those goddamned big-business tax cuts, get us out of the goddamned deficit, help rebuild Iraq. He's going to let me buy my Paxil from Canada and he's going to make sure mom and dad get their Social Security when they retire next year. I swear to GOD I don't CARE if he's the weeniest weenie that ever sputtered out a wishy-washy sentence in front of a crowd of desperate Democrats wishing against hope for ANYONE to lead us out of this FRIGHTENING STATE OF FUNDAMENTALIST FASCISM.
I'm sad. I want, you know, Bartlet. Or Clinton. The "Real Thing" that sends me to
wearemany's office in the rain with a shit-eating smile on my face saying "this is it; we're back."
Sadly, this is not it. But, you know, Hillary in 2012 rather than 2008 is FINE by me if it means I'm rescued from four more years of this RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT.
Look, um. My nice Conservative friends. I fully respect your right to a difference of opinion. But seriously, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, how can you POSSIBLY WANT your library records subpoena'd?! How can you POSSIBLY think it's OKAY to have to turn over evidence about yourself, or your friends, to name names? What could POSSIBLY be positive about rolling back your constitutional rights in favor of, what, armbands? Want to throw me in the Jewish ghetto? How about a national ID card? Do you really WANT to give my unborn fetus more rights than ME? HOW is this a good idea? HOW is this the country we signed on for? Don't we have a CONSTITUTION for this sort of stuff? Do you really want the goddamned TEN COMMANDMENTS to be used in COURT? Are you FUCKING INSANE?
I gotta go to work now, where I've got to make call after call to those desperate folks who, in the absence of an oasis, will drink the sand because they don't know the difference, and convince them that KERRY IS A GINORMOUS PUSSY and that they'd sure as shit better vote for him anyway or else we're deeply, DEEPLY FUCKED.
Um.
We still don't have internet, but we're here at the Leonardo di Caprio public library where good young Leo's kind enough to let me speechify and take out books on how to build bombs and the good librarians of LA county will, responsibly, burn my records before Tom Ridge's people come a'knocking to ask if I Am Now Or Have Ever Been.
This has been a public service announcement from Los Angeles.
We'll try and kick PayPal's ass and see what's what and get back online with a vengeance ASAP. Until then, I have purple hair. Just ask
thassalia.
FUCKING VOTE. For Kerry.
Love,
me
We're in week four of my DNC fundraising, and the response I'm getting from good, loyal Democrats (as well as enlightened Republicans, independents and moderates who are simply afraid enough of Bush that they're throwing money at the DNC and changing their votes this year because the alternative is just so SCARY) is, of course, "why is Kerry being such a gigantic pussy?"
http://www.johnkerryisadouchebagbutimvotingforhimanyway.com -- thanks,
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
And, dude, it's like, UGGHH. I swear to god, I don't even CARE that Kerry's a ginormous pussy. He's a pussy who's going to confirm left-leaning justices to the Federal Bench. He's a pussy who's going to rescind the goddamned PATRIOT ACT, who's going to roll back those goddamned big-business tax cuts, get us out of the goddamned deficit, help rebuild Iraq. He's going to let me buy my Paxil from Canada and he's going to make sure mom and dad get their Social Security when they retire next year. I swear to GOD I don't CARE if he's the weeniest weenie that ever sputtered out a wishy-washy sentence in front of a crowd of desperate Democrats wishing against hope for ANYONE to lead us out of this FRIGHTENING STATE OF FUNDAMENTALIST FASCISM.
I'm sad. I want, you know, Bartlet. Or Clinton. The "Real Thing" that sends me to
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Sadly, this is not it. But, you know, Hillary in 2012 rather than 2008 is FINE by me if it means I'm rescued from four more years of this RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT.
Look, um. My nice Conservative friends. I fully respect your right to a difference of opinion. But seriously, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, how can you POSSIBLY WANT your library records subpoena'd?! How can you POSSIBLY think it's OKAY to have to turn over evidence about yourself, or your friends, to name names? What could POSSIBLY be positive about rolling back your constitutional rights in favor of, what, armbands? Want to throw me in the Jewish ghetto? How about a national ID card? Do you really WANT to give my unborn fetus more rights than ME? HOW is this a good idea? HOW is this the country we signed on for? Don't we have a CONSTITUTION for this sort of stuff? Do you really want the goddamned TEN COMMANDMENTS to be used in COURT? Are you FUCKING INSANE?
I gotta go to work now, where I've got to make call after call to those desperate folks who, in the absence of an oasis, will drink the sand because they don't know the difference, and convince them that KERRY IS A GINORMOUS PUSSY and that they'd sure as shit better vote for him anyway or else we're deeply, DEEPLY FUCKED.
Um.
We still don't have internet, but we're here at the Leonardo di Caprio public library where good young Leo's kind enough to let me speechify and take out books on how to build bombs and the good librarians of LA county will, responsibly, burn my records before Tom Ridge's people come a'knocking to ask if I Am Now Or Have Ever Been.
This has been a public service announcement from Los Angeles.
We'll try and kick PayPal's ass and see what's what and get back online with a vengeance ASAP. Until then, I have purple hair. Just ask
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
FUCKING VOTE. For Kerry.
Love,
me
no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 12:29 pm (UTC)Ohio is going to decide this election. I swear. Ohio is this year's Florida, and, actually, four years ago, if we'd gotten Ohio (which we lost by 175,000 votes, which is a PITTANCE), we wouldn't have even needed that Supreme Court Florida theivery.
So Leigh. I call upon you to convert ALL OF KENYON away from either Bush or Nader, and get all of Oberlin besides, and then get the hell out there into the neighborhoods and knock on DOORS if you have to. You, my baby girl, and, um, no pressure, but YOU, my girl, could decide this election for us.
If you want help or want me to point you towards places to volunteer, get out the vote, want me to hook you up with other groups, seriously, e-mail me or even call me (323-229-0558 and it's Emily, in case you didn't know) and I will do everything I can.
I'm so proud of you for getting out there to Kenyon and building a life for yourself, especially this year, your first Presidential election where you're eligible to vote. Also, I've been reading your college reports on LJ with great interest and excitement, and I really think you've found a great place for yourself.
Anyway. Go to www.democrats.org and poke around and see what you can do in Ohio, or call me.
And have a marvelous time in college, baby.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 02:27 pm (UTC)And I almost forgot about Oberlin. Good point. I think we have connections; will have to go find out.
I'm gonna go have dinner -- because I can't do righteous anger on an empty stomach -- and then come comb through democrats.org to see what I can do.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 05:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 05:59 pm (UTC)I would vote for my cat, Daisy, before I would vote Republican in the presidential election this fall. In a heartbeat.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 06:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 06:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 05:59 pm (UTC)you rock. I feel very positive about this election. of course, I'm an idiot. ;)
xx
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 12:30 pm (UTC)And give K a hug for me, and I'm so glad you're happy, and, always, I miss you.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 06:29 pm (UTC)I'm going to take this as a retorical question in, as you say, your own lj. And I'm going to wish you luck and determination and the support of your collegues in your work to get out the vote and get people to vote for the candiate you support.
And if you want to actually discuss why I'm not going to vote for Kerry, and am voting for Bush, come on over and ask questions that don't rhyme with "So, when did you stop beating your wife?
I'm dead serious about both parts of that - being glad you're working your issues and being annoyed at the inflamatory remarks.
- hg
thanks
Date: 2004-09-14 11:25 am (UTC)First, thanks for being so civilized amid my mudslinging. I really do respect, and, hell, fight for, your right to vote for whomever you please -- and also, of course, I respect you, and like you, as a member of the fannish community and a friend. So, thanks for being cool.
As for all the vitriol, yes, indeed rhetorical questions in my LJ, and as for your offer -- I would love to take you up on it, but I don't think I CAN right now.
After a day's work at the DNC phone banks talking to a couple hundred voters across the country who are DEAD SHIT SCARED about the state of the union, people on Social Security and fixed incomes, unemployed and uninsured, people who feel like they're UNDER ATTACK, and like they no longer have a country to be proud of because the Constitution they believe in has ceased to be relevant -- I get home at 9:30 or 10 at night and I'm so wiped and wired that I can't sleep till 5 am and even then I have horrible political civil war dreams.
So while really wish I could be cool-headed and diplomatic and have an intelligent conversation with you, I'm not sure I have it IN me, because I spend my days feeling like I'm at war. I swear, this fight's so hard that there's a good part of me that wants to quit working for the DNC so I don't have to make these heartbreaking outreach calls day after day. Like I just can't listen to ONE MORE 93 year old who can't buy his prescription drugs on his rolled-back Medicare, and who was told that if he imports his drugs from Canada he's "giving the terrorists an opportunity." It's HEARTBREAKING. It HURTS. And I'm just one person and I don't know if I can FIGHT for everyone, and I don't know if we're going to WIN, and I don't know -- I really, REALLY don't know -- what I'm going to do if we lose.
Anyway, I hope you can understand that, and I know that you are not my enemy, that, as cooler heads than mine have said across generations of bipartisan cooperation, "the forces that unite us are greater than the forces that divide us." I trust, Hoss, that you and I believe in many of the same fundamental principles about freedom and liberty, and that we both believe we live in (potentially) the greatest nation in the world, and we want it to live up to its potential and the dream that this country was based on. I know that, intellectually.
But for the next two months, I'm at war, and George W. Bush IS my enemy, we're fighting for my country, and I want to win as much as he does, and we can't both do it. So I'm having a little bit of an "if you're not with me you're against me" crisis, and while I hate that it gets in the way of my personal and fannish life, it just might. Just for a couple months.
I will always keep reading your blog, and your fic, and I want to thank you again for commenting here. And, mostly, again, just to apologize that I don't feel like I have the peacetime luxury to have an intelligent bipartisan conversation right now.
But, you know, god bless America.
Re: thanks
Date: 2004-09-14 01:20 pm (UTC)I'm glad you're still talking to me, when you're not screaming at the ionosphere. That you've said that goes a long way to easing away a load of cranky anger I carried for a lot of today.
I'm still annoyed. Cause really I don't like being called a fascist woman-hating murder, thank you all the same. And I didn't expect that from you.
Nor the array of head-bobbing that followed.
I think perhaps you and I don't share the same view of who our most dangerous enemy is. Or of who makes up the "people on our side that we should talk things out with" vs "people who really want to hurt us." And I think, in this case, you're being dangerously short-sighted. You likely feel the same way about my priorities.
But hon, win or lose, both sides still have to live with each other after the election. Even if Kerry wins, the conservative side of the nation isn't going to up and move to Zimbabwe. A hair of moderation in thought and tone might go a long way to making the time after the election livable.
And as angry as you are right now, I don't think a discussion is a good idea either. So this is all I'm going to say on this, here, for now.
I do totally understand the postive effects of a good, mind-clearing rant. And you did use an lj-cut before calling names, for which, thankyou thankyou, and I really appreciate that.
So. Yeah. God bless America, 'cause she sure as hell needs it.
- hg
no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 06:59 pm (UTC)but the point is, yeah, I want a candidate worthy enough too, but if I think for more than about two seconds about just how bad things can get if Bush gets another four years, I think my head will explode.
so, you know, this is just me, part of the choir, telling you to go right on ahead and keep preaching at us.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 12:34 pm (UTC)When does Shana Naomi get back to town? And when do we get to see you guys next? I wanna bitch and moan about these DNC calls I'm making and how HARD this is and how IMPORTANT this is, and I feel if that's going to happen it should happen over a LOT OF ALCOHOL and probably several other illicit substances. *g*
I think you are both fabulous, and we finished the potato salad.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 08:35 pm (UTC)This also means it's going to be epically insane in my neck of the woods, as I'm working 5 days a week for the next two weeks, and of those 14 days (12 of which are occupied by work) my 4 days of "not work" will be occupied with travel to and from work and/or having to be on call for work, which while not all as emotionally draining as what you're doing,definitely puts me in the mood for consuming alcohol in order to relax, but, doesn't look klike a logistical possibility until sometime the last week of the month. Sadly.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 07:01 pm (UTC)I hope every eligible voter goes to the polls this November, and I hope every one of them makes sure that *their* ballot doesn't have a hanging chad or any other defect that would invalidate their vote.
I held my nose and voted for a Democrat twice. The world did not suddenly become a better place, despite promises that all we had to do was get the evil, incompetent Republican incumbent out of office.
So, respectfully, I won't be supporting your candidate. Thank you for your wholehearted participation in the process, nonetheless.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 12:43 pm (UTC)And, yes, if there's one thing we can all get together on, it's that everyone's gotta get out there and VOTE.
You know I disagree with you on Clinton, on Bush Sr, and certainly on the current President Bush, but there absolutely are partisan lines that can't be crossed, and there's a point where we just have to agree to disagree. And thanks for being cool enough to do that even while I'm harping.
Making the world a better place is more than a one- or two-term job, in this country or any other. I'm absolutely not expecting Kerry to repair all the damage in this country or the world; I'm just trying, desperately trying, to hold on to the things that make me love this country.
I need to be able to pray however I want, marry whomever I want, study whatever I want, talk to my doctor about whatever I want on a condition of confidentiality, associate with whatever organizations I please and never be expected to turn over evidence against myself or my friends. I need to be able to get health care and a job and cheap prescription drugs if I need them and an abortion if I need one. As far as I'm concerned, that's what will decide this election, and all the people I'm talking to are afraid for the same civil liberties that I am. So at the end of the day, I'm just broke, and scared, and so I'm doing what I have to do to help be less of both of those things.
Anyway. Thank you for voting too, and for your participation in the process, which is another thing that I figure we both love about this Democratic Republic we live in -- the fact that our voices count.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 01:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 08:32 pm (UTC)I hardly dare ask since you're so busy fighting the forces of very real evil, but are you back online now, and available for RP?
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 12:54 pm (UTC)I did, however, have a Londo/G'Kar dream (in line with all this business, somehow the Forces of Light against the Forces of Darkness seem suddenly very relevant) and miss you AWFULLY.
Want to send me an e-mail and catch me up on where we are in the RP, all around? And I'll hop in next time I'm online.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 01:53 pm (UTC)But you know, Bush isn't the Shadows. He's Clark. Which is probably more frightening.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 11:52 pm (UTC)I've been trying to explain to my conservative friends that I don't actually care how wishy-washy and whatever Kerry is. I would vote for Kermit the Fucking Frog if it got Bush out of office. I would. I would vote for a muppet.
Your post summed it up perfectly. Yes, I want a Bartlett. I want someone who makes me believe that change is possible and that we have a fighting chance to get this country past the prejudices of the past and into an era where the idea that "all men are created equal" is not just a pretty line but a truth. Where someone's gender, race, and/or sexuality has no bearing on what place they hold in society.
But until I get a Bartlett, I'll take Kerry. Because, really, anyone but Bush.
*Anyone*
Because you're right. If Kerry doesn't win we are really deeply fucked.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 02:01 am (UTC)And drawing the line means that I don't feel ashamed or guilty-tripped or like a bad citizen when I say: No. No, I won't even debate your arguments. You're an idiot and you're wrong. It's pretty much what I say to any number of Christians who've tried to 'illuminate' me over the years.
I tolerate others as fellow human beings, but I don't have to tolerate ideas. And the idea of voting for Bush is plain fucking stupid. Which is what I hate (yes, I weigh my words) most about him: that he's engendered such a breakdown in the political debate that he's crossed my tolerance line to the point were I am forced to refuse rational discussion. (To those who would try to show me the error of my ways on that count: Don't bother.)
P.S. And that you've got a VP who can say stuff like "Voting for Kerry will lead to another terrorist attack on our soil," and get the fuck away with it without a major civil uprising and nationwide condemnation makes me want to puke.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 12:46 pm (UTC)You're still more diplomatic than I am, if only because you're speaking sensibly while I'm shouting and flailing my arms around. But at the end of the day, y'know: WORD. Thanks for getting my back, and for putting, even more succinctly, exactly why I'm not interested in bipartisan cooperation right this minute.
Which is to say, I'm much, MUCH more interested in WINNING MY COUNTRY BACK.
Incidentally, importing prescription drugs from Canada will also lead to another terrorist attack. Also letting Mexican residents of LA get drivers licenses, apparently.
Hide your spy hat when you come through customs.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-15 01:30 am (UTC)Lot of good that'll do me. They're taking my fingerprints this time.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 03:56 am (UTC)It's strange -- we really don't hear much about Kerry over here at all; I would guess that most Australians don't even know who he is. (Of course, most Australians don't know jack about their own politicians. Heh.) But, from what we *do* hear about him, the 'pussy' reputation just doesn't make it through over here at all. (And why did writing 'pussy' just then feel so dirty?) Probably the most we ever heard about him was during the whole Vietnam thing, and since Australia has never been as pro-Vietnam (or pro-war in general) as the US, I don't think it bothered anyone down here at all; certainly, the only actual criticism I heard was from US reports.
And I can't even comment on the stupidity of the fact that Bush may well get back in, because Australia's in the exact same goddamned position, and the Howard government is probably going to be re-elected for the billionth time. Because they utilise the politics of fear and hatred. Because people think 'better the devil you know'. Because people don't give a shit who they've got in charge, as long as *they're* not the ones dying. (And, although I don't think it's been said outright, the government are basically doing the 'imply that a Labor government would increase the chances of a terrorist attack on Australian soil', the fuckers. No, *you're* the ones who're gonna provoke terrorist attacks, by staying in Iraq, siding with Bush, and doing nothing to *repair* our fucking relations with the Middle East. Fucking hell.)
Do I want Mark Latham as my next PM? Hell, no. He's irritating as all hell, and I don't think a lot of his policies are going to work (if he ever even bothers to try to implement them). But, I mean, shit. If they win, Labor have promised to: a) pull out of Iraq, b) sign the Kyoto Protocol, and c) pull money from the most ridiculously overfunded private schools, and spread it out amongst the poorest public schools. (Amongst other things, of course.)
Yes, these are election promises. I'm not naïve. But, if a Labor government manages to pull just *one* of the above things off, then it'll still be a *huge* improvement over what we've got now. And, for the moment, that's the best that I can hope for; I'll work with whatever I can get.
Unfortunately, I'm not optimistic. Every time it looks like Labor's starting to get somewhere, something always happens to make people flock to the conservatives. Last election, it was the Tampa crisis. (Because asylum seekers are EEEEEVIL, and are planning to blow up Australia from their leaky, leaky boats!) This time around, there's the Australian Embassy bombing in Jakarta. Always right before the election, and somehow, the Libs manage to make people believe that we'd be less safe from 'outside forces' if we were under Labor. Even though these things are happening, y'know, UNDER THE LIBERALS.
Fuck, it makes me sick.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 06:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 12:51 pm (UTC)Word.
I'm not convinced this is the last we'll hear of it, either, which is deeply frightening -- I get the feeling that the Bush campaign is holding that last scare tactic as an ace in the hole, and come November they're going to start preaching about how important it is in this time of terrorist threat to maintain the administration who started this war.
And people will agree with them, because they're sheep, and because we've taken the idea of Democracy for granted for so long that we've forgotten that there are actually RULES to it, and, among them, we have the right to vote out our Commander in Chief every four years NO MATTER WHAT.
And, y'know, those who are willing to sacrifice liberty for some measure of safety deserve neither. And this from the girl who hid under her bed with a bottle of bourbon for most of September and October, 2001, because I wanted safety, and I was scared, and I was in New York, and I simply DIDN'T WANT TO BE ATTACKED again.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 07:59 am (UTC)I've lost heart a little since Dean is gone. Because a pussy he was not. And I just can't stomach sending money to the DNC. Obama doesn't seem to need my help, so I think I'm concentrating on getting rid of Henry Hyde and driving around with my Kerry/Edwards bumpersticker.
Which, fortunately, won't get me fired like that poor woman in Alabama.
I also think I'll be phone banking to Wisconsin or something if the Democrats around here would really get their shit together.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 12:53 pm (UTC)MoveOn.org also has swing-state phone banks; my mom and my sister are working both ends of the nation from NY and SF respectively, but YOU are in the MIDDLE and therefore more important than any of us.
Man, I miss Dean too. But seriously, at this point, WHATEVER.
I miss Dean and I miss Clinton, but I miss my RIGHTS and my HEALTH INSURANCE MORE. You know?
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 03:31 pm (UTC)It sucks that it's all happening at once. But I'll go to the Kerry website, and I'll try to rope Lena in, too.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 02:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-15 06:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-15 10:52 am (UTC)The sad thing is, I'm not sure it's the administration that's causing that state of affairs, though I do believe it is encouraging it. Even an "I disagree with you, and it upsets me, but I still like you" is an improvement on that score. (As in, see above.)
Am I alone?
Date: 2004-09-24 06:15 pm (UTC)The more I learn about Kerry, the more sure I am that he will be a great President. I just hope he isn't handed too much of a mess in January.
(I loved your post, btw!)