Wah!

I've spent more than six hours on my stupid proposal, and it's still not done. Hate this class! Hate it so much! Valuable experience, but hate! When this class is over I'm going to buy a bunch of books and read the hell out of 'em.

The Inquirer published my letter to the editor today, and since I let them publish my email address I got lots of kind messages from appreciative readers. I also got a disjointed missive of venom from some nutjob in West Chester. I guess if I had to live in West Chester I'd be angry, too.

A couple of cuties moved into one of the empty the apartments in my building, but my main interest in them is wondering if I can get them to play Ultimate on Saturdays. Go ahead and pass your amendment, Pennsylvania...I'm still just as boring as a married guy!

An evening of the damned!

I just rented "Village of the Damned", which for those of you who don't know is a great horror movie that was naturally incompetently remade in the 90's. To add insult to injury, Kirstie Alley was cast in the remake, and she is one of my most unfavorite actors of all time. (Evidently Charo was not available.) But I digress. The DVD also contains the little-known sequel "Children of the Damned," which I've not seen but am eager to watch. I'm sure it will be awful, and that only increases my eagerness. I wonder if Dan knows what he's getting into...

Tonight is a well-deserved break from my proposal writing class, which is the current bane of my existence. It's taught fairly well and all that, but it's fourteen weeks of work crammed into five, meaning I have readings and assignments just about all the time. Blech. I must say, however, that proposal writing as a craft is kinda fun. I'm enjoying researching grant organizations and angling the proposal for maximum impact. I think I could do that for a living.

Back to paragraph one. The woman at the video store was just the prettiest thing you could want, and wearing a t-shirt that showed off the, uh, northern hemisphere to best advantage. I can completely understand what straight guys see in women, I really can.

A hearty giggle...

...was had by me when I read about this. Lynn Swann provides further evidence, if any more were needed, that he doesn't have the sand to be Pennsylvania's governor. Why, you ask? Any move to reduce the size of the legislature would involve an act of the legislature, which means members would be voting themselves out of a job. I'm thinking that a body that voted itself a pay raise in the dead of night and then circumvented the state constitution so they could collect it early isn't likely to experience the sudden rush of civic-mindedness such an act would require. Call me cynical if you must, but that's my view. Good luck with that, Lynn. Dummy.

On another topic, whoever isn't playing Galactic Civilizations II is really missing out. If you've ever hankered to tread across the galaxy like a great titan of doom, you need to try this game.

Now it's two things

I don’t mean to bring anyone down, but this has been on my mind since it happened, and I’m hoping blogging will help me get over it.

Yesterday morning, Dan and I were enjoying a brisk walk on Lombard Street, heading west, when at 17^th we saw some kind of commotion about a half-block ahead. A woman walking toward us, who was closer, saw it too, and when she turned and hurried in that direction I knew something was wrong. I saw a guy in a white t-shirt running around the corner away from a woman now sitting on a step, and when Dan and I ran over, she was bleeding from a cut on her nose. Turns out that two guys held her up at gunpoint, took her purse, then to add injury to injury, whacked her across the face with the gun. Yep…evidently robbing her and scaring her out of her wits wasn’t enough. I suppose I should be grateful they hit her with the gun instead of shooting her with it, but come on! What kind of person does that?

Obviously there wasn’t much we could do except call the police and wait with her until they arrived. I went in the direction the muggers had gone, hoping they’d discarded her purse once they took her valuables (wallet, cash, etc.), but either they didn’t drop it or I didn’t see it. She was completely freaked out, in no small part because these thugs had her apartment keys and her ID, which means they now have an all-access pass to her home. You know, just in case the trauma of robbery wasn’t enough, there was also the hovering fear of future violence. In her home.

At first I was just sort of scared and sympathetic, but after about fifteen minutes I got really, really angry. It’s not that I’ve never heard of this sort of thing before; not only did I grow up in a slum, but someone I know was mugged in the not-too-distant past. Seeing the actual event, though, made it more real somehow, and more infuriating. I found myself hoping that she had scorpions in that purse that would sting those thugs and make them swell up like autumn pumpkins or something. For a second I thought, “Dammit, I should start voting Republican!” but then I remembered that they’d just send more money to Iraq and not really cut crime.

Later that day in work, I spoke to a coworker who said she's currently growing her hair out so that she can donate it to an organization that makes wigs from donated hair for kids with cancer. That made me feel better than any thought of retribution against those muggers. (Although a purse of scorpions is nothing to despise, either.)

Have you ever noticed...

...that when someone says, "I'm not racist, but..." that he/she's about to say something racist?

So the Governator is sending the National Guard to patrol the California borders. Here's the man himself:

"We are doing this, may I remind you, reluctantly,'' Schwarzenegger said. ``It's not my preference to send the National Guard to do this mission. But under the circumstances, to help the federal government to secure our borders, because that is our No. 1 concern.''

So he's reluctantly seeing to the state's #1 concern? Uh-huh...Arnold, I hear they're filming "Red Sonja II", so if you leave now you'll just have time to warm up the Hummer.

Building fences and patrolling borders to keep out immigrants is like leaving three weeks' of leftovers on the kitchen floor and then deciding that the way to fight the bugs is to surround it with roach traps. If we truly want to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, we'd do alot better to make sure nobody wants to hire them. Those folks aren't sneaking in from Mexico to see "X-Men 3", after all; they're coming to make money. I think capitalism has taught us that where there is a demand there will be a supply, so as long as there's work the border-jumpers will keep jumping.

Still, there's something amusing about us building hundreds of miles of fence to keep out the people who make possible the cheap produce and housing Americans won't do without. Sad and amusing.

I Have Seen My Alternate-Universe Self

The other day, whilst near 11th & Locust, I saw this obviously deranged homeless guy coming towards me, muttering to himself. I thought it was just standard psycho-mumbling, which every Center City dweller knows well, but it turned out to be way better. The homeless guy was not just talking to imaginary people, but complaining about the clothing of another man on the street who was wearing the straight-boy summer uniform (striped, short-sleeved polo shirt, khaki shorts and flip-flops) . Yes...he was disparaging the clothing of passers-by.

I love the city.

Answers, please

This being an election day, whilst out walking this morning I pondered this burning question: Should Americans who don't vote be penalized?

I used to be a dedicated non-voter, so for me to even consider such a thing is pretty darn surprising. Although I'm loath to penalize people for failing to exercise a right, at the same time our democracy* does not function properly when less than half the eligible population bothers to cast a ballot. I'm honestly divided about it, and I'm curious to hear what others think.

* BTW, don't tell me, "But we live in a republic, not a democracy", because it's the same damned thing. A republic is governed by democratically elected officials, so although the US is not a direct democracy, it's a democracy nonetheless. One of my pet peeves is pointing out the meaningless distinction between the two, so don't do it or I'll think mean things about you.

Did anyone see this movie?

Before I get to the movie part, I realize I have abused my exclamation point privileges in my recent blog headers. I acknowledge your unspoken scorn.

Now with the movie. Dan was off in the wilds of North Jersey today, so I had opportunity to claim the sofa as my own and watch movies most of the day. (This was preceded by a five-mile walk in gorgeous weather...how can anyone stay inside on a day like this?) Has anyone seen "The Grizzly Man"? Am I uncharitable for thinking Timothy Treadwell was mentally unbalanced? First of all, he was the most nelly-sounding straight man you're likely to run across. Second, he vacillated between peace-and-love nature burbling and voice-cracking near-hysterical rage at the federal park agents who were apparently his nemeses. Third, he interpreted smiley faces on rocks as threats. Admittedly, the first thing doesn't indicate unbalanced, but the others definitely put Treadwell in the I'll-boil-your-rabbit category. Except I guess he wouldn't boil your rabbit, being all naturery.

While I'm blogging, can I say how much I am enjoying Galactic Civilizations II? Now that I have the chance to captain a galactic power, I understand how Dan and Sarcasmo got so evil playing Sim City. For example, when in one game the Terran Alliance failed to respond to my best efforts at diplomacy, I let my space marines take over negotiations. Nothin' like blowing up sixteen frigates to get someone's attention. One game before that I played paladin by liberating planets conquered by the Iconian Refuge and giving them away for free to the other, less powerful races. Of course, I made sure to place historic enemies next to each other to ensure they'd fight each other and not me. That's why the sun never set on my empire. The other night I won a technology victory, which means our tech got so good my people just turned into energy beings and floated away. That was nice, but what I really wanted was to go all Vorlon and influence the other races into fighting for my edification and pleasure. Stupid lesser races.

Again with the Sex Dwarf!

Another great night of dancing at Sex Dwarf, this time with a B-52's theme. Babyraven was a knockout in a black velvet dress, high boots, and a blonde hair extension that, in her words, made her a cross between Jeannie (as in I Dream Of) and Madonna in her "Blonde Icon" days. Truth be told, she was in good company; there were lots of fine-looking women there. Either I'm getting straight or else the male beauty quotient was pretty low that night.

(Don't all rush to comment that it must have been the latter. I already know.)

Anyway, part of the B-52's theme was wigs, big wigs, and lots of 'em were pink, so every time I turned around I saw Cyn. It was both sad and disturbing, and I shared this with Babs and Mouserobot. MR said they were Cyn-posters, and I upped the ante by calling them Cyn-thetic. Babs just shook her head and said, "That shit ain't right."

What is right, however, is that next month is the Sex Dwarf prom, and I'm all drooly over it. (This is due in no small amount to the fact that the only way I was going to my senior prom was if I could sit in the rafters with a bucket of blood.) So many unanswered questions! Will we slow dance to "Eternal Flame"? Will we pose for pictures under an ivy-entwined trellis? Will we get to elect a prom queen? Probably not, but it will no doubt still be a blast.

Me in Print!

Yay! The Winter 2006 issue of Rhapsoidia was finally released, which marks the first print publication of my short story "Sidney's Gift." Trust me, that sucker was rejected many, many times, but I guess persistence (or outright stubbornness) pays...in a single contributor copy, anyway. I'll order more when they're available for sale, as I am certain my mother will be all over me for one.

I'd thought of having a got-published party, but that seemed a bit forward since it's only a small literary rag that maybe 300 people will read, and for which I was paid zilch. If I'm to celebrate that kind of milestone, I had as well plan the somebody-breathed party, or the day-that-ends-in"y" party. Still, it's nice to finally see that story in print; it really is the strongest thing I've ever written. Of course, when I look at it these days all I can see are the mistakes, but I suppose that's natural. Still...yay me!

I saw Mr. Sulu!

As you know, George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu on "Star Trek", recently outed himself, and since then he's been doing speaking tours for the Human Rights Campaign. Tonight was the inaugural speech, and Dan and I were there. It was great! Takei was a great speaker, and he has a really infectious laugh. His speech was short (about 10 minutes) but stirring, and he had Q&A for nearly an hour afterward. There were about sixty or seventy people there, and they by and large asked great questions. He then hung around to speak with folks, sign autographs, etc., but we cut out at that point. I'm a bit leery of asking celebrities for autographs; it always makes me feel intrusive. I realize Takei does this for a living, but I still can't shake the feeling.

Takei talked about his childhood growing up in the Japanese-American internment camps, and he was so eloquent I couldn't help but feel a sense of shame for my own country. (Interning American of Japanese decent was not good...suck it, Michele Malkin!) Still, he spoke mostly of his sense of pride in America, and it was a good reminder that, even with a country under such fucked-up leadership as ours, that the US is a great place to be.

Oh, and can I say it's awesome that a sister was driving the Enterprise?

Yay for the Bay State!

As it has in same sex marriage, looks like Massachusetts is trying to lead the way on health care for all.

It's about damned time, I say. Experts say that, in the not-too-distant future, the US will spend 40% of its GNP on health care, and I just heard on NPR News a study that concluded that Americans spend more on health care and get less than about ten other nations, including Canada, England and New Zealand. Call me crazy, but I don't think the world's remaining superpower should rank behind New Zealand in anything, and particularly not something as basic and critically important as health care. The time has come for a universal health care program.

In response, I'm always hearing, "I don't want to spend my money taking care of others' health." Newsflash: We already do. Who do you think picks up the tab for those homeless people who nearly freeze to death and wind up in the ER? Or the indigent people who can't afford preventative care and wind up using (much more expensive) emergency care? That's right...the taxpayer foots the bill for all of it, except we do it when it's most expensive. Let me propose the following example to illustrate my point.

• Scenario A: Insured Tracker comes down with a nasty case of a sore throat, which unbeknownst to him is strep throat. Tracker goes to his primary care physician (at a cost of about $150), finds out the nature of his illness, and gets a prescription for an antibiotic (at a cost of about $15 to the pharmaceutical company) that clears up the infection within two weeks.
• Scenario B: Uninsured Tracker, who can't cough up the $150 for the visit, tries to wait out the sore throat, hoping for the best. When his illness becomes life-threatening he goes to the ER to find that he had strep which, having gone untreated, has now turned into a dandy case of rubella. Tracker is admitted to the hospital, which spends tens of thousands of dollars trying to save his life.

Most of you reading this are U.S. taxpayers, so I ask: Which scenario is the most cost-effective? If you said "Scenario A", you are correct; if you said, "Scenario B", you're lying because it's obvious that answer's wrong.

Gotta do it, folks, if only for economic reasons. I'm not advocating that we abolish private health care; those who can pay more should be able to get more. However, every citizen deserves at least the protection of a catastrophic health care plan. It's not just morally wise; it's fiscally responsible.

South Dakota...we dislike women AND judges

Besides the recent draconian abortion ban, here's another reason not to move to South Dakota, if any other reason were needed.

My favorite part of this proposed amendment is this...

"No immunity shall extend to any judge of this State for any deliberate violation of law, fraud or conspiracy, intentional violation of due process of law, deliberate disregard of material facts..." (Emphasis added.)

Just what does it mean to "disregard material facts"? That might mean a judge who issues an unpopular ruling can be penalized, because everyone knows that [insert issue name here] is just wrong, and the only way a judge could rule in favor of it was if he ignored the facts of the case. Very handy.

I'd like to suggest that South Dakota enact another amendment, one that outlaws deliberate fucking assholery on the part of the legislature.

Why don't they just call it GOP News?

Check out this Fox News interview with Dick Durbin.

The interviewer makes barely an effort to appear unbiased. This is my favorite part:

Chris Wallace: Senator, I want to follow up on this, because I'm a little bit surprised. You're saying that President Bush, who is the commander in chief in a time of war — you're not ruling out the possibility that he has broken the law, committed high crimes and misdemeanors, and could be subject to impeachment.

Why didn't he just say, "Senator, you're saying that a man who loves puppies and Valentine's Day, who donates excessively to charity and is oh-so-sweet to his wife could possibly have done anything wrong?"

Durbin, to his credit, refuses to be drawn, and for once I don't think it was just political double-speak. Of course he can't rule out impeachment; he needs to know more about Bush's wiretapping activities. Asking a U.S. senator if a president will be impeached if the Democrats gain control of Congress is like asking the D.A. for an indictment before an arrest has been made. It's just not something you can do.

How can anyone think Fox News is anything but a Republican mouthpiece?

And we wonder why...

...the world fears us. The United States struck a blow for less UN oversight of human rights issues worldwide. Some favorite quotes:

After voting against the new body, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said his government is concerned that the UN members did not go far enough in ensuring that the council will have credibility.

Uh-huh. I'd say the biggest credibility gap lies with the US, author of such abuse-aramas as Guantanemo Bay and Abu-Graib. At least places like Uganda admit they torture people.

Mr. Bolton said the United States wanted council members elected by a two-thirds vote rather than a majority, and wanted a more efficient mechanism for booting violators off the council.

This from a guy who has yet to be approved by the Senate even by a majority vote, much less two-thirds. He'd better watch out the Senate doesn't boot him off the UN.

Folder Torture

The part of my office in which I work is pretty quiet, and there aren’t many people in the immediate area, so any noise can be quickly traced to its source. Just keep that in mind as I tell this.

I was trying to fit some labels I had designed into the spines of three-ring binders, and having a hell of a time not bending or tearing the labels. Just before I got to the level of frustration that equals hostage-taking, I asked the folks in the copy center how they do it. They told me they use the thin metal rail from a hanging file folder to guide the label into the binder sleeve. With this information, I returned to my desk, got out a spare hanging file and some scissors, and proceeded to cut the rail free.

QUORK! QUORK! QUORK!

That was the alarming sound of the scissors against the folder. It was unbelievably loud, as if some giant, prehistoric bird of prey was roosting in my cubicle and crying out its defiance. Before heads starting popping up over cubicle walls to see this great avian, I started nonchalantly checking my email, as if I hadn’t heard anything amiss. When the coast was clear, I returned to my cutting, this time working slowing and gently.

QQQUUUUOOORRRKKK! QQQUUUOOORRRKKK!

The sound was more prolonged but no quieter. I made as if I was absorbed in my email again, and when things had settled down, I adopted another tactic. I snipped gently at the folder to start the cut, then tore away the rest of the paper with my hands.

QUORK SSSSSHHHHHHPPPP! QUORK SSSSSHHHHHHPPPP!

I realized that, no matter what I did, that file folder was determined to raise its great voice, so I gave up on subtlety and had at it, quorking my way along until the job was done. The little metal rail was perfect for guiding the labels into the binder spines, by the way, so torturing this file folder was not without benefit.

My Second Biggest Laugh of the Day

Donald Rumsfeld, speaking before the Senate Appropriations Committee about Iraq:

"But the country is not in a civil war at the present time by most experts' calculation."

Umm...Don, if you have to bring in experts to evaluate if a nation is in a state of civil war, chances are, it is.

My biggest laugh of the day came whilst listening to Radio Times on WHYY. Tom Ferrick was discussing Pennsylvania politics, and he remarked that, in the governor's race, deeply conservative voters were going to have a terrible choice: They must choose between a black man from western Pennsylvania and Jew from Philadelphia. Tee-hee!

The Problem with Fear...

...is that, when used politically, it can turn on its wielder.

The Bush administration has spent the better part of five years telling the American people to fear all things Muslim, and now it wants us to turn our ports over to...Muslims. Hmm. So Muslims are too dangerous to let on our planes and in our buildings, but they'll do a super job running our ports?

Also, may I say it's about time Congress remembered that it, too, is mentioned in the Constitution? In fact, I believe the Constitution sets forth the makeup and powers of Congress way before it gets to the president. Let's check the document.

::riffles through files::

Here we are. Article I, Section 1:

All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.

The noble document doesn't get to the president until Article II. That means that Congress has duties and powers all its own, and not just those delegated by the White House. Let's hope they remember that. I didn't send 19 reps and two senators to Washington to run Bush's errands, and I think most Pennsylvanians feel the same.

Now this is moxie!

This woman struck a blow for the elderly, but next time she might want to get herself a getaway driver.

Oooh! I hate them so much!

This really frosts my cookies. Earlier this year the state of Maryland passed a law (over its governor's veto) that would force the Wal-Mart's of the world to stop sucking off the public teat, but such a thing doesn't seem likely in Pennsylvania, and it's a shame.

We're told by conservatives that the "free market" is preferable to government interference, and that everything would be just fine and dandy if we'd just cut people off welfare and let private industry handle things. Uh-huh. Evidently it's OK when the private industry is the recipient of said welfare. That's what the corporate fucks call "externalizing costs", which is a eupemistic way of saying they're letting the taxpayers absorb the price of their greed. That's like when companies move from cities to lower-taxed suburban office parks, leaving the commuting costs to their employees and, ultimately, the taxpayers.

Oh, and by the way, there is no such thing as a "free market." Markets are constructions of humanity, not laws of nature like gravity. People create markets, and can damn well make sure they operate to the benefit of the many and not the few. If you have any doubt about this, just remember that it was government action that created the modern housing market, with guaranteed mortgage programs through the FHA. The government also enabled the construction of all those cozy suburban developments through investment in roads, utilities, and all of the other necessities of life. Free market...are you kidding?