Palin for VP.... WTF?!

I tried to resist posting a note about this because IT'S TOO DAMN EASY. John McCain picking Sarah Palin as a running mate is the equivalent of abandoning a baby wrapped in bacon and drizzled in honey in a forest filled with wolf-bears. Horrifying, pitiless, and wrong.
WTF, man.

I've spent all day blogging, googling, gossiping, and best of all... giggling. When I found out about McCain's VP pick, it was a giant "WTF?!" moment in my life. After the slack-jawed silence the last night of the DNC pressed on me, I did not expect to be reduced to silence again by this election. Two periods of silence sound alike; however, there was a world of difference in the quiet. Before, I was too full, too impressed. Now I am stupefied! And for good reason...

1) Who is this lady? He's picked a complete nobody. He might as well have picked me! After all, I was almost senior class president (lost by 8 votes), publicity chair of Stanford Gospel Choir, a graduate chapter SGA representative at Tulane, and interned in the New Orleans Office of Emergency Preparedness. I, however, would have declined, as should she, if she were responsible. Making a gimmick dark horse pick worked in Head of State with Chris Rock, but the movie took place in Hollywood, aka Fantasyland. Need proof? Bernie Mac was his VP and Nate Dogg was his official hype man!

2) This is a gimmick hoping to pick off women voters who may be undecided or have supported HRC. Speaking as a woman voter, there is no undecided or disappointed woman out there worth her salt that isn't completely insulted. Hillary was qualified! This pick shows that McCain thinks anyone with a vagina will appease our quest for true equality. For another thing, feminist voters are overwhelmingly pro-choice. Palin is not. How does this make sense?

3) Palin has no experience pertaining to any of our country's fore-runner issues: the economy, foreign policy, etc. For that matter, she has no experience in any of the lesser issues either. Besides passing sweeping state-level ethics reform legislation, she's never passed a law in her life. She did, however, try to move the state capitol of Alaska from Juneau to Anchorage. What a legacy! Her acceptance speech sounded like me trying to get hired as CFO of Microsoft! It was laughable, with her referring to her time as a MAYOR of a Alaskan town with 9,000 people and calling herself "commander-in-chief of Alaska's National Guard". That deserves nothing less than a "bitch please!".

4) She's under investigation. And make no mistake, she did it. She did exactly what they are accusing her of: abusing her power to get her sister's ex fired so that she could swing their messy custody battle towards her sister. Miss ethics will probably get away with it, however, because she is a good baby Republican and got some minions to do all the calling and dirty work. She suspended some people and.... bye bye scapegoats. They won't be able to pin it on her.

5) McCain is 7,000 years old and has battled cancer four times. He, like all humans, will eventually shuffle off his mortal coil. It could happen in the next four years. How will Palin lead this country? How can she, who has never performed any governmental work in DC, be ready to lead as Commander-in-Chief? It's simple; she can't. I'd sooner expect Bin Laden to show up on cable as a Christian televangelist. I'd sooner expect America to be annexed by China. I'd sooner expect a 10th season of Flavor of Love!

How out of touch can one party be? And let me be clear: it is not just McCain that has done this. He has an entire VP selection committee to prevent any "senior moments" that may lead to something like this being decided by him independently. In doing this, they have single-handedly dismantled all of their arguments for why Obama is a bad choice and why Mccain is best, namely experience and being ready to lead. They can never go there again. Gramps and the GOP may have just gift-wrapped the election for Obama. Thanks guys!

Post Theme: We Are the Champions by Queen

Laundry List

I'd just like to say right off that I'm totally over myself today, so no worries about encountering another sniveling whinefest post ala yesterday. You can exhale now.

Some random observations:

1) It's cold here -- I'm still using the electric blanket. It might sound unreasonable to complain, but this is the Deep South! I haven't been able to feel my toes all week, and I never realized how attached to them I was until they "disappeared".

2) I've noticed the gloves have really come off with the attacks on Obama. The ugly, ignorant, racist, and xenophobic underbelly of our American compatriots is becoming obvious. It really steams my clams to say the least. Little puffs of steam leave my ears when I think about it, because these very fundamental ideologies, made up of generalizations, stereotypes, and outright untruths, build one on another like a really effed up game of jenga. It's why our situation is so shaky. One minute we are a country proudly embarking on a historical presidential term (IT WILL BE EITHER A WOMAN OR A BLACK MAN) and the next we are "maligning" a person by using their middle name and digging up pictures of them dressed in native costumes. This "proof" only speaks to the suspicious and ignorant mind. The fact that it speaks at all is reason to educate, educate, educate!

3) Another thing about that... I see accusations of the media unfairly supporting Obama and cracking down on HRC and McCain. This seems to be primarily based on the fact that there have been no past issues of concern being released. Allow me to be Captain Obvious and say that just because there is no major issue as yet, does not mean there has not been an ardent search for one. I mean, anytime Barack's kindergarten paper is quoted to prove his intention to be president, people are digging. It's not that I mean to imply that there are none, but what if no one found anything? It would be scary, because it would be the most powerful and eloquent statement against politics as usual for this generation. Think on it.

4)Have you seen the video of the bus fight between some students and the driver that hit the news today? It made me mad just watching it. Mad enough to fight. Which is why I could never be a teacher in the school system, and I don't like to work with large groups of kids, despite the masses of people who press me to change careers in that direction. "You're amazing with kids" they say. "The youth need people like you" they say. I agree. But I also know that it's a pressure cooker of a thankless job, where I would be fired at the least and jailed at the most, because I do not like to be censored, questioned on my methods, or to follow rules. I also have a zero tolerance policy on disrespect. I threaten (they're actually more like promises) and I will also beat a teen down. And so you see, you don't want me in the classroom. I would be terrible with parents, as I lack finesse to deal with difficult or disengaged ones. I would be a disaster. I'm a rock star tutor though (one on one is totally different). Suffice it to say that little Courtney Love in the vid would have been injured. Badly.

5) A friend of mine is dealing with a international adoption. It pisses me off that it's so easy to kidnap, abuse, enslave, prostitute, kill, sell, starve, and mutilate children all over the world. They are made into prostitutes and soldiers every day, bartered and spent like paper money. It's so easy. No permission needed, no process followed, no law enforced. Even American children are not completely safe from this. Yet it's so hard to take one in, raise one, protect one, love one. It takes international lawyers, spectacular diplomacy, bribes, fees, cash, and a whole lot of patience to adopt. It's unfair to say the least. I've heard people say that a child needs to go to the right home, but really any home at all is much better than the aforementioned alternatives. What's a mother without a spouse that sometimes has trouble juggling it all compared to be living your life as someone' s property?!??! One is heaven and one is hell, the disparity is so vast.

There's nothing to be done but fall on my knees and say a prayer for her and the baby she wants to adopt, but impotent fury fills me all the same.

Post Theme: Man In the Mirror by Michael Jackson

Am I High?

I've been in a weird, psychadelic place today. Is this what magic mushrooms make you feel like? I've been giddy since I took a benadryl in response to an allergic reaction brought on by a sinister, though innocuous, english muffin. Imagine my surprise that there were walnuts listed in the ingredients! All of a sudden that "health nut" label took on a new meaning. What was once a cheery encouragement became a dire advertisement: WARNING! POISON INSIDE.

Ever since then, I've been staggering around, eyes too bright, slurring my words, and nursing a champagne headache without the bubbly stuff, not to mention the three and a half hour mandatory nap that ensued once the medicine kicked in. How can a little dissolving film strip, pretty much an identical sensory experience as a breath mint, cause so much trouble? If I had been operating heavy machinery today, I might have been killed. As it were, other hijinx ensued.

I opened a can of evaporated milk today, fresh purchased from the store. It wasn't until a few disgusting sour clumps plopped onto my special k that I realized it was completely sour. When does that happen?! The whole point of it being evaporated and sealed in a can is to preserve the damn milk! The answer: NEVER. Further proof of a world gone sideways. (You have to be good at reading the signs)

I sat down to watch the end of Larry King and some of 360 with Anderson Cooper, and that's when I really knew I was on the other side of the looking glass: the "mudslinging" in the democratic primary resembles nothing so much as toddlers rolling around in the sandbox. The accusation of plagiarism by Hillary Clinton is both laughable and pitiful. McCain made the unbelievable gaffe of saying "no new taxes" while simultaneously accepting George Bush's endorsement (for someone calling themselves most experienced, he's acting like a rookie). Michelle Obama, feted as God's gift to the position of first lady, is now being attacked on her patriotism. What a wild ride! Someone get me off this merry-go-round before I'm sick!

As I sit before this glowing screen in the dark, blood rushes sluggishly through my body and my tongue feels thick. I am floating through en ephemeral brain fog of the mind. I know my eyes are rolling around in my head, and I am joyfully anticipating the landscape of dreams to follow my head hitting the pillow. There's a perfectly good explanation for all of this -- it's the drugs. But it feels like life. Bring on tomorrow.

Post Theme: Then I Got High by Afroman