Gimme Indie Rock!

Your duty: listen to last week's This American Life. Seriously. Download it, subscribe to the podcast, listen to it online, but listen.

I don't have words to express the outrage and disappoint I feel. I mean, I've known and been upset about plenty of things this administration has done, but these stories really drive home some unsettling facts. Bush's abuse of signing statements, the administration's bullying of everyone, the complete loss of checks and balances.... how can we have let this happen? It's criminal. Grah.

In which I shake my tiny fist: How is it that in all the belly aching and complaining about taxes in this country that no one ever complains about the craziness of treating urban salaries like their rural counterparts? Of course I make more money than a librarian in Oklahoma, I live in Boston and I need to make this money to pay living expenses. But according the federal government, I make a lot of money. No, I don't, it all goes out to the high rent, the T pass that only gets more expensive, the food that costs more here than elsewhere.... I don't see why people in Boston/NYC/DC/San Fran/LA/Chicago don't complain more about this, we get shoved into tax brackets we don't deserve to be in. And it's not like many of us city dwellers can afford a mortgage, so we get no special home owning deductions.

Also, I propose that rent should be payable pre-tax. Why not have it possible to arrange with your payroll department for them to send out your rent to your landlord from your paycheck before it's taxed? Electable, not mandatory, of course. That would be super helpful for those of us who live in places where rent eats up a third of your take home pay. Health care is important enough to be treated this way, but a roof over your head isn't?

In non-piss-and-vinegar-news, I feel like I've been rocking the kung-fu lately. My goal is that by the fall I'd like to be able to go up to the advanced class. Maybe. It might be more realistic to hope for that for a year from now.

Is it wrong that I really wish I had $750 laying around so I could go to PaleyFest to see a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunion? NERD!

Also, for Wire fans: What Do Real Thugs Think of the Wire Part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4

Tenillypo found those, so credit to her. Spoilers for Season 5 of The Wire (for episodes that have already aired, not future spoilers).

I voted this morning, being a good civic-duty-er. Edwards was my horse in this race, and I'm disappointed he's out of the picture, though I hope for VP-dom for him. After waffling with strong amounts of indecision on my two remaining candidates, I took one last look at the "issues" on Clinton and Obama's web sites and went to fill in the blanks on a ballot. I went with Obama, because while I'm not convinced that he could govern right off the bat the way Hillary could, I do believe he will honestly try and that he'll put a really good-faith effort into sticking with the view/ideas he has expressed. A lot of my support for Hillary really stemmed from my reaction to her nay-sayers and critics, because I truly think a lot of the flak she's gotten has been misogynistic, and that really bothers me. But she's espoused views that are too centrist/conservative for my taste. I actually don't think she truly believes some of the middle of the road things she says she does, but all I have to go on is what she says and how she's acted in the Senate, and that doesn't warm the cockles of my commie lefty little heart. So that's that. Secret ballot my ass, I have a blog! My voting record, let me show you!

So I've been going back through my old entries and slowly tagging everything, starting waaaaay back in 2002. I just got to my entry on March 20, 2003, the day US (& coalition, don't forget Poland!) troops landed in Iraq. God, it's been so long.

I'm feeling uneasy about the state of politics this election season. I will ( cut for those who really don't want to read about politics )

Great, it's been a while since I've opened one of the email forwards from my mother, so I was about due for ( this treat )

Good lord. The world is going to hell in a handbasket. I've been reading about Peak Oil all morning and getting freaked out. Someone on the MeFi linked to this book and said the peak oil folks are crazy propagandists, but that book appears to be written by a crazy propagandist of another kind. So basically, we're running out of feul, as we've all known at least since I've been alive, and we're not doing much about it, and everything will collapse into a gigantic pit of despair at some point in the future. I get the feeling there should be a middle ground between the two sides of the argument (the "the world is ending" side and the "don't worry about it, there will always be more energy" side). Oh ye fellow LJers with multitudes of free time on your hands, what say you?

Laura Bush once killed a man.

I'm serious. She was 17, didn't stop at a stop sign, plowed into a classmate of hers who was driving through the intersection, and killed the guy.

Wonkette is an interesting read.

This wedding planning thing is kind of fun, I get things done and feel all accomplished. Justice of the Peace has been contacted. I thought we could avoid going all the way up to Monmouth when we go sometime in May to get our license, but we have to go meet with the JP then, too. Her standard ceremony is 10 minutes. Sweeeet. I've made appointments for all my ladies to get their hair prettified. Things are just falling into place!

Oh, and this little news item is lovely:

Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum introduced legislation that would prohibit the National Weather Service from providing information or services that compete with private sector companies. Private weather businesses are upset about the free or low-cost "specialized data and forecasts" that the agency offers the public.

I didn't realize the frickin weather was a big-business interest now!

What a day. On top of being the reference queen and ordering a crapload of cases, analyzing some weird case to see what's going on with it, ordering supplies, and other stuff, I also had adventures. First, I had a meeting at the Social Law Library for a library committee that I just joined. My old boss from my old work is the head of the committee, and I really like her, so that's mostly why I joined. About 10 minutes into the meeting, fire alarms started going off, and we had to evacuate the building. After that, I made a brief stop at the Suffolk Superior Court, where my very sketchy bottle opener scared the nice security guys. I had no idea it was in my bag, and was emptying out all kinds of crap, nothing remotely weapon-like. Then I looked behind me, and bushidokelt was standing there looking bemused. Got back to work, handled many a reference request, and then left work to meet Drew at John Harvard's. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

The State of the Union was lame. I call Shenanigans.

So well over a week I asked my mom what I thought would be a pretty easy question. I asked her why she voted for Bush. I asked without judgment, promising that I would neither sneer at her views nor try to correct them. Today I get ( a response )

Wow. This invective and rage against Europe is just...crazy. Not the mention some good old-fashioned racism thrown in, with some jingoism sprinkled liberally atop.

Well, in other news, my work's kitchen is awesome. They gave us strawberries!

So in my new crusade to actually be an active member of the community, I am perusing a list of local committees and organizations. There's a lot: http://www.ci.somerville.ma.us/community/Guide%20to%20SomCGC1.pdf

Gotta start somewhere....

Mr. TiVo taped the episode of Aqua Teen with the Moonites' uncle Cliff and his welfare check. Yay!

Uh, still groggy. Had the strangest hard-to-wake-up-from dream this morning. It started with me being back in college, working at the library, seeing all sorts of folks I haven't seen/thought of in so long. But I wasn't me from then, I was me from now, as I was catching up with people and telling them I'm engaged and talking about the bunnies. Then I went home, and it was my old house, where, for some reason, I was listening to a Haitian radio station and drinking Dunkin Donuts coffee. Then I was on a beach with Drew and Jessica Simpson, because Jessica Simpson was trying to show us her husband's new house, which was in a cave on the beach. Um, yeah.

Now I'm reading The Note and The Hill online and thinking too much about politics.

The weekend was quite, quite good. There was a party and some comedy and a movie. Next weekend there are so many movies to see! So many! Who's with me for Bridget Jones? Hugh Grant and Colin Firth! There's also SpongeBob, and National Treasure (which does demand hidden flasks of booze, as it'll be an enormous crapfest).

Well, the nagging headache I'd had since Black Tuesday has finally subsided. And hey, at least we know the Daily Show will have 4 more years of material. But seriously, I'm feeling less tumultuous and more resolved to get off my lazy ass and start working for change. This is a good thing.

For those in the Davis Square area- the place that just opened, Sauce, is quite good. Tasty wine.

Well, I'd been putting off saying anything about it because I'm still a little nervous about the sucking up of funds that this'll do (but that's what the extra Dec. paycheck is for!), but I can't contain myself any longer. We're going to this. *swoon* Slint-y goodness.

I am angry. I'm disappointed. But damn it all, I want to do something about this. There's got to be a small-scale political office I can run for that I'd have a shot at. Board of Alderman, here I come!

I'm just so disgusted right now, I don't want to live in a theocracy! I don't want my government controlled by Jesus freaks. alex_victory has some good points, as does prosicated, check 'em out.

Sigh. I don't how I'm going to concentrate today. It's not just the Presidential race; the balance of power in the Senate and the House has swung completely over to the Republicans. Ugh. Just took a look at the results of ballot questions- people in CO voted NOT to divy up their electoral votes in accordance wtih the popular vote. Why?! The number of gay marriage banning propositions is, while not unexpected, just plain disheartening- no, it's repugnant. That's what it is.

I voted. Yay! People were walking out of the polling place with big grins, that was nice to see. Since it was at a school, there were little ones running amock outside, and one girl was singing "vote for Bush." Made me remember that back in 3rd or 4th grade, when Bush Sr. won, for some reason all of us kids were really excited about that. Of course, had I the right to vote in 8th grade, I would have voted for Perot. Kids are kind of dumb.

My Craigslist karma has come full-circle, I knew that helping out that grad student would pay off. Next week I'll be making $75 just to sit around and give my opinion on the internets internet.

As politics is making all of our hearts beat a little faster right now- this is one of the best (i.e. sensible and reasonably argued) editorial pieces I've read regarding the upcoming election. Read it here

I still have the Kim Jong-Il song from Team America stuck in my head.

Huh. Just took a look at what my ballot will look like tomorrow, and aside from the Presidential race, there are 5 other races to vote on, only one of which is actually contested. I guess people really don't care anymore. Jenny for Councillor 2008! Anyway, for those in MA, you can take a look at what your ballot will look like here.

The debate: I think I watched the Jib-Jab "This Land" cartoon too much. I just wanted Kerry to bust out with "you can't say nuclear, that really scares me, sometimes a brain can come in quite handy."

Well, at least Kerry bumped himself up some in the polls.

Whew. I have Pearl Jammed, thanks again to spacedthekeys. We snagged a ride home with a cabbie from the Middle East who had lots of opinions about politics, hating France, and Kerry kowtowing to the UN (which was also on his hate-list, along with the president of Germany). Gotta love that the god old GOP proganda machine has worked so well. Today's adventure in serials cataloging was slightly better than a sharp stick in the eye. Of course, since I catalog without ever having to use or look at MARC tags, a lot of it didn't apply to me, but I came away with knowledge, some good ideas, and a lot of thankfulness that my cataloging system is dummy-proof and does not involve MARC. I also got to wow the academic librarians with my tales from law librarian-dom, which is worlds away from what they're used to (i.e. we're glad when people remember to check out the books before they take 'em until they retire, there is no "circulation" system). Picked Drew up from work, then shopped for the cutest little red jacket and hat ensemble, a TiVo, and miscellaneous home goods. *Yawn* Now I'm sleeeeepy.

I stole this link from the "from the left" community, but y'all have to check this out. These people are insane. WTF?!

For the record, I say it'll be Obama/Clinton 2008.

I really need to stop reading the Boston community. Politics, politics. The one thing that gets me the most about all the Kerry-bashing and claims of "flip-flopping" is that no one seems to remember that he's a representative. In theory, his votes in the legislature are supposed to reflect the wishes of his constituents, not his own moral compass. For the love of all that's holy, I just want someone from the right to argue with a modicum of common sense for once.

For the past five years (good lord, has it been that long?) I have been receiving various and sundry email forwards regarding how great God is, how bad democrats/left wingers are, and how cool Republicans/right wingers are. These come from my mom and her illustrious new husband. Now, normally I either skim and chuckle, delete without reading, or smack my forehead and roll my eyes. Rarely, one will come across me that I feel the need to respond to. I believe the last was a particuarly bad gay joke that got my ire up, I simply responded that I would appreciate it if he (new husband guy) didn't send me anything homophobic ever again. I also thought it would be a good time to try some remedial education along the lines of "gay people aren't bad" and threw in the "Hey, you know, I'm bisexual, you've spoken to me, I'm not so bad am I." What I got back was something along the lines that he just didn't want to have anything to do with "those people." So anyway, today I got a forward about a quote from a recent speech of Hillary Clinton's, something about taking back the tax cuts. I wrote back to everyone on the forward list that the ellipses in the quote indicate that it's somehow been manipulated (i.e. words are missing!). Ok, so I might have added that the tax cuts didn't benefit any of us, so I didn't see why they (the Southern gentleman and his clan) should be upset. I may also have tried to dispel the myth that democrats are Robin Hoods who just want to steal money to give to crackheads and homeless people (adding some embellishment here). So now I'm getting emails from Southern Republicans along the lines of this: "Jen, it's not your money and you are not entitled to a penny of it to support the causes you happen to like!":
Whaa? I'm not asking for it! I...but...if it's not my money, then how is it this guy's money? I need to go back to just smacking the forehead and deleting. Why can they not be reasoned with??!! I would actually enjoy the political discourse if they would take their fingers out of their ears and obey the rules of basic logic.

What a satisfying weekend. Friday night was spent with good company and lots of music. Yesterday we saw Fahrenheit 9/11 with Catherine & Brian and bunnyroo and her man. There was a crazy lady outside the theater after the showing who was yelling about how much she hates Bush. Then she was going off about how Clinton wasn't so bad and started yelling "have sex, not war! have sex as many times as you want! Twice a day!" It was amusing. Then some people dressed as Revolutionary War-era folks (complete with a little drum!) came by with flyers about ousting our unelected President. Heh. I thought the movie did a good job of showing what appears to be incontrovertible evidence that the government has royally fucked up. The scenes from Iraq were horrific and gut-wrenching, which I also think is good for people to see, as the news only shows a very sanitized version of what's actually going on. We later met up with the A-Dot for dinner at Bukowskis and a showing of Napoleon Dynamite. Good lord, that movie is hilarious. I was in stiches the entire time. You must see it! Today we met up with Miss Tenille and ms_ntropy for some lunch and Shrek2, which was also most enjoyable. I am content. Now I've got to wait for my brother to get back from the Sox game and try to convince him to give me a ride to the grocery store.

Wow. Did you know that John Kerry is not just more liberal than Ted Kennedy, but way more liberal than Kennedy? That's news to me.

I swear, I don't know why I bother trying to argue politics with my mom, but I always hold the hope that someday what I say will finally convince her. When someone is repeating party line, there's only so much I can say until it boils down to: "but that's just a lie!" Gah!

As seen in this week's MA Lawyer's Weekly re: gay marriage: "three reasons offered by the state for restricting marriage to heterosexual couples, to wit: that it made for a favorable setting for procreation; ensured an optimal setting for child bearing; and preserved scarce state and private financial sources."

Because as soon as gay people get married, all straight folk will immediately cease to fuck, marry, and divorce. Of course. Wait a second...so if crazy homophobes stop procreating out of protest, maybe we'll have a few less ignorant assholes in the world... yes....*rubs hands in a Mr. Burnsian fashion*
Oh, and last I checked marriage tends to bring in tons of money, especially for private financial interests. Try ordering flowers for no reason. Then try ordering flowers for a wedding.

The whole procreation argument is so patently stupid that it's hard to argue against, it's like arguing with a two year old.

Homophobia makes me want to kick things people.

I want a news source that is really unbiased. Is there no media that doesn't have an ideological stake in their product?! While I love my ranty leftist material, I'm well aware that they have their own agendas. Right-wing, Fox-type stuff makes my ire rise just thinking about it. The Boston Herald's headline a few days ago was something like "Herion is killing children! Yours might be next!" or some such nonsense. The New Yorker is as close as I've been able to find to at least printing columns and stories by both liberals and conservatives. Meh.

So Dot & Alan were telling me on Sunday about some research that shows that Ecstasy causes Parkinson's Disease, among other nasty brain problems. The cover story of The Chronicle of Higher Education this week is actually about that research: seems the scientist who's done a good deal of government-funded MDMA research completely screwed up his experiments- he "accidentally" gave monkeys in the study huge doses of methamphetamines instead of MDMA, which did indeed cause severe neurological problems, including Parkinson's symptoms. He also attempted to cover this up, and it's just now coming to light. Seems that the government's "war on drugs" information regarding Ecstasy stems mostly from this guy's research, and many science-y type folk are coming out now to say they think a lot of his work is bogus; they say that since he was so heavily funded by the government he skewed a lot of his work to come out the way The Man wants it.

I love it when my liberal fantasies about government conspiracies are at least quasi-confirmed.

Am I the only one who saw that some new operation in Iraq is called "Operation Ivy Blizzard" and nearly shot juice out my nose? Tee-hee. Rancid is so much better anyway.

my feelings on the current state of affairs:
frustration. disappointment. anger. consternation. powerlessness.

i shake my tiny fist in [impotent] rage.

oh the ( state of the union address )

Went to see Bowling for Columbine, and am still trying to articulate my thoughts on it. Being rather hopelessly, naively idealistic, I feel profoundly disappointed with American society. But then again, if nothing else, I feel more dedicated to trying to actually -do- something. I had been thinking of skipping the rally on Sunday at Boston Common, but now can't in good conscience miss the chance to at least feel like I'm doing a little something with my opinions. Besides, Howard Zinn and Jill Stein will be speaking.
Well, my roommate just called, nixing tonight's plans to go to this party at one of her friend's places... which is just as well by me, drinking and merriment can be had at home for less hassle. There is much to be said for living with a good friend, when we get extra lazy, at least we can entertain each other.