Wednesday, October 05, 2005
They see us talking out both sides of our mouths, two-faced monsters aaawhhh.....
If I have to hear the phrase "legislate from the bench" so many times that my ears bleed and my brain spontaneously suppurates, then shouldn't it have to actually MEAN SOMETHING? It's only fair. During the Roberts nomination hearings, we were repeatedly told the one thing we should be concerned with when considering a nominee to the SCOTUS was whether they would uphold the Constitution while not attempting to legislate from the bench. So why are the conservatives, including Trent Lott, now questioning Bush's latest nominee, Harriet Miers? I'm not supporting or attacking her, but she seems to meet these basic criteria (read: talking points for the befuddled masses). These buffoons aren't even aspiring to any kind of consistency between their words and actions are they? How stupid do they think we are? Aren't they underestimating Johnny Public here? I'm beginning to think that's not possible. Go ahead. Call me arrogant.
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Speaking of conservatives and legislating, have you seen the crazy ass shit they're trying to pass in Indiana? There are no words for this extent of wingnuttery -- we are going to have to invent new invective.
(That's a *.pdf link btw.)
Help, Jen! I don't understand what I'm reading. :: removes finger from nose ::
This bill seeks to make the "unauthorized practice of artificial reproduction" a Class B misdemeanor. I wish I were making that up.
The short version of it is that any woman who wants to use something like in vitro to get pregnant has to first go to court, get approved, and get a "gestational certificate" that she then shows to her doctors. The criteria for approval are similar to what adoptive parents go through, and includes marriage -- of course, so it not only mistreats women coping with infertility, but it also categorically removes the right to assisted repro tech from single women and queers throughout the state of Indiana.
And good news! It's been dropped, at least for now.
You notice how she understands the bill 'would be controversial'. She doesn't see how it would be wrong, though.
Thanks for the explanation. When I was reading it, that's the gist I got, but then I discounted it because it was so ridiculous.
We are so far through the looking glass that everything bizarre has become commonplace. Michael, you know she doesn't think it is wrong. You know she thinks the fact that we exist unapologetically is wrong. This obsessive compulsion that people have to control other people is probably about as close as I come to believing in the concept of evil.
Whenever I'm talking to someone who doesn't really "get" homophobia, this is one of the sorts of things I always try to reach for -- try to get them to imagine what it would be like to routinely have to be on the watch for this kind of thing, and what it feels like to know that so many people categorically hate you and/or think you're not quite fully human. It's one thing to brush up against it from time to time, it's another thing entirely to have to live your whole life soaking in it culturally. It's stuff like this that makes me yearn for queerish communal living off the grid somewhere. (I actually know people who do this.)
People like Freakgirl are awesome, she totally gets it, even when it requires her to believe six impossible things before breakfast. :) But I find it frustrating as hell when I'm talking to other liberals who only think they get it, and then "don't see what the issue is" with certain discriminatory laws/policies, or think that "just wait a little longer and keep voting for Democrats even after they fuck you over" is an acceptable answer to the problem.
The particular commune place I've been to visit is probably a bit rugged for you -- if I made one I'd be much more emphatic about the creature comforts even considering I'd be green powering it -- but the boys there are quite nice. Naked, stoned, house-building, organic-gardening, goat-raising, magazine-publishing, Beltane-party-throwing nice boys. Plus there were waterfalls and Virginia bluebells everywhere. My concise ass (oh and how Roomie would laugh to hear me called 'concise') loved it.
I studied gender theory in college, which is the primary reason I can make sentences about this shit that make any sense at all. I had the best philosophy teacher, like, ever. She's a dear friend now, although I don't see enough of her because we are both sort-of reclusive. She has virtually no clue how much smarter than other people she is, which amuses me to no end. I've learned so much from her.
I don't know whether I think it's getting worse, actually. Weirder, definitely, but worse? I don't know. I mean, we got the Lawrence decision out of the Supreme Court and we have actual marriage equality in MA now, which is totally amazing to me. I've cried every time I've watched the weddings and the legislative debates. But of course these things have ramped up the queer-haters big time, and Democrats seem to be willing to chuck us overboard to regain seats in Congress in '06 and try to take the WH back in '08. The Dem candidates that are getting big support from the newly cash-soaked party machine are not queer-friendly, and many of them are anti-choice as well, and that frightens me.
Jen, you say nice things about me. Glad to hear I'm not part of the problem. Yet. ;)
Shall we call our commune Pipefreak? Freakdreams?
Deb, after being pitched out of my mom's house when I was 16 because I'm queer, and then having my whole family be total pricks about it, my gratitude for genuine understanding will probably run deeper than bone forever.
I don't care what we call the commune, so long as there's wine and song, trust and ethics, love and laughter. :)
"I don't care what we call the commune, so long as there's wine and song, trust and ethics, love and laughter. :) "
Now I have a yearning.
And it's totally gonna be 'Pipefreak'.
Ethics? I have no ethics. But I do have lots of wine.
As for my hetero understanding, not to get all Oprah on you or anything, but I genuinely believe that it's because I was lucky enough growing up to have a friend with two mommies. I was young enough to know that it was different, but old enough not to listen to the whisperings around town. My mother is also the most open-minded person I've ever met, and her "whatever" attitude about my friend's mom's love life was what I always thought was the norm. It took going to college and watching a frat boy scale a wall to tear down a Gay Union banner in the Student Center that sort of shattered my worldview.
My theory is much more simple -- you're just not an arrogant asshole. An ethics-free drunk, perhaps, but not an arrogant asshole. ;)
Seriously, I've known too many people who should know better from their life experiences, but don't. I used to know this one guy who was a total homophobe even though he was raised by a very dedicated and good-hearted lesbian mom. All his siblings were fine (I knew him because I used to date his sister; she was the only gay sibling) but he was an arrogant asshole and a homophobe. As you might expect, he and I did not get on very well.
File under Strange But True: I actually saw this guy on The People's Court earlier this year, and Judge Milian pretty much told him he was an arrogant asshole. And I laughed and laughed.
Pipefreak. I like it.
With a name like that, it's only a matter of time before Whitney Houston comes knocking on our door. "Lesbians? Crack? Where the hell do I sign up?"
Ooooh, then with Whitney's bank we'll be able to get the deluxe composting toilets.
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