The 2012 Election and Why Sane People Should Be Afraid

Unless you’ve been living in a cave (aka without access to the internet in any form), you’ve been bombarded with cartoons, articles, posts, rants, comments, etc. about the 2012 Presidential Election. More specifically, since Obama is clearly going to run for a second term, people are focusing on the circus that is the Republican Primary right now. There are four candidates currently in the running: Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul. I will be the first person to admit that I am not extremely knowledgeable about politics. This is not going to be a super intense political pundit type post. However, it WILL be a post by someone who is extremely realistic, and that’s something that I find is lacking in the general discussion about Republican chances in the upcoming election.

Anyone who is a minority (specifically black or Hispanic), a woman, poor, non-Christian, non-crazy, non-extremist should be, for lack of a better word, EXTREMELY afraid of what will happen in the Fall. Why? Because extremists (and yes, the policies of these candidates are quite extreme) will do ANYTHING to win. The Tea Party has shown time and time again that they don’t give a FUCK what anyone thinks, and that they will lie, cheat, steal, coerce–basically do whatever it takes–to get their way. They don’t care about logical explanations, they don’t care about facts and examples, and they don’t care about “hearing the other side” and reconsidering. They have an agenda, they have an ignorant following, and they are running with it.

The problem is not only that they are ruthless in the pursuit of their goals; the problem is ALSO that those of us who are sane or even a little intelligent seem to write them off. How many times have you heard someone say, “They’ll never get elected. This is a joke,” in response to Tea Party antics? People on the “other side” (I won’t say Democrats because not all of these people consider themselves Democrats) of the Tea Party are so sure that everyone sees the crazy that they don’t bother taking anything seriously. THAT is a huge problem, and it terrifies me. It terrifies me because overconfidence leads to defeat. All those “sane” people who are convinced Obama will get re-elected are more prone to falling into the false idea that there’s no way to lose. As soon as you underestimate your opponent you open yourself up to attacks from sources you never expected.

Let me put it in simple terms: Obama will not win the election just based on “well clearly these other candidates are crazy.” So I am TIRED of people making jokes about Newt’s marriages, or Santorum’s latent homosexuality, or whining about Mitt Romney’s income. Yes they are all hypocrites. Yes they are all rich. Yes they lack logic. We already know that. Now let’s get past that and move on to working on how to spread the facts and examples that will WAKE PEOPLE UP. Let’s get people past the shock value or entertainment value tidbits and push them to VOTE. IN DROVES. Because that is EXACTLY what people who support Republicans will do.

Everyone who hates gays, blacks, Hispanics. themselves, non-Christians, women, civil rights, human rights, I could go on and on–ALL those people are gonna go out and practice their hate through voting. If you stay home and say, “I don’t need to do anything, it’s so OBVIOUS that they’re ridiculous” YOU are guilty of your own downfall. YOU will be responsible for all the crazy legislation that gets passed if a Republican gets elected instead of Obama. Regardless of whether you like Obama or not, regardless of whether you think he’s done an excellent job or not, you have to admit that he has achieved a lot in a hostile environment. If you don’t believe me, go to this website: http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/ for some hard facts. If you like him, GREAT, you already want to vote for him. If you dislike him, well, consider him the lesser of two evils.

Every time that you post something like “The GOP makes Cher want to vomit” (sorry Cher, it’s the most recent thing I’ve read) and go on to bash the candidates on personal terms but provide absolutely NO concrete examples as to why it’s so important that they NOT get elected, you are contributing to an unhelpful dialogue. It is unhelpful to bash the other side, because the only thing you will get back is more bashing. YES it’s hard to stop yourself because it’s so easy. YES even if you take the high road you will probably get bashing back instead of constructive conversation. However, bashing will get bashing in response 100% of the time, and logical discussion will AT LEAST get logical discussion back at least SOME of the time, and SOME of the time is better than NONE of the time.

So yeah, many of the people who hate Obama hate him for purely racist reasons, but guess what, saying “You hate Obama because you’re racist” (whether it’s true or not) is only going to lead to a ton of defensiveness, while saying, “This is what Obama has achieved for YOU” is going to MAYBE, PERHAPS lead someone to rethink what they’re saying. Sure, you’re never going to convince the hardcore, “lalalalala I can’t hear you!” loonies, but you MIGHT get through to someone who is otherwise a rational person. You might get through to someone who is on the fence and just uninformed. You MIGHT make a difference.

You know why mentioning Newt’s infidelity won’t make a difference to what people think? Because chances are, the people who support him don’t give a rat’s ass about his personal life. They “just want to get Obama out of office.” That is a DIRECT quote from a video I watched on CNN. This old woman said, “His personal life is not important to me. I just want to get Obama out of office.” So there you go. She doesn’t care who Newt does the dirty with. You know what that old woman MIGHT care about though? The fact that if Republicans get their way, she might be homeless and hungry or dead in a few years because she will be getting like 20 cents in her social security check and be shown the door with a nice “Good luck making it!” as a parting shot.

This post is getting kind of long, so I’ll end with this: Every person who hates LGBTs, blacks, poor people, Hispanics, basically any disenfranchised population, taxes, government regulation, etc. will come out to support these Republicans. They hate us so much that they will vote and if we don’t get scared and say “Jesus Christ, we need to stop this” and vote IN DROVES, THEY WILL WIN.

The Republican campaign is a threat. Their voters are a threat. And they need to be treated as a SERIOUS THREAT. They are not to be taken lightly, because they will fight tooth and nail for their beliefs, no matter how misguided. Unfortunately, Democrats have not shown the same attitude, and we should ALL be afraid.

I am terrified of what will happen if Obama doesn’t get re-elected. People need to feel physically, personally threatened, and they SHOULD feel that way. If you are in a same-sex relationship, you should think about the fact that they want to treat you as a second class citizen. If you are gay or a lesbian or whatever, think about the fact that they want to make it legal for you to be bullied if the bully feels it is his “religious” right to do so. If you are a woman, they will be ALL UP IN YOUR UTERUS, and there will be nothing you can do about it. If you are a minority…good luck.

Every woman who wants control of her body, every poor person who wants a chance to climb out of debt/poverty/the education gap/whatever else, every LGBT person/black person/minority who wants to fight racism and bigotry, should feel PERSONALLY affronted. You should feel threatened. You should be scared. You should be motivated. Every time I see someone from one of these groups supporting the Republicans who are all but LITERALLY spitting in their faces, I lose faith in humanity. However, I know that I am a good writer, and so I write this post as MY contribution to constructive conversation. I write this post in the hopes that it will wake at least ONE person up. In the hopes that at least ONE more person will be on our side, and will be motivated to keep the knowledge going. Knowledge. Not cheap shots. Not funny cartoons. Not whining. KNOWLEDGE.

If you’re wondering what these candidates are threatening to do should they get elected, take some initiative and look it up. The “promises” (threats) range from federally banning same sex marriage to overturning Roe v. Wade, and they affect EVERY population that is not rich, white, and straight.

Bottom line, don’t worry about how much Mitt Romney makes. Worry about how his about-as-rigid-as-Gumby political policies will affect you. Same goes for the rest.

Philip Glass – Metamorphosis One

Report: U.S. spending billions of dollars to subsidize junk food

So you guys know how much I love food…and if you’ve had conversations about me, you know how much I HATE and RAIL AGAINST high fructose corn syrup. And how much those commercials bother me. Anyone who has ever said that hfcs is “the same” as sugar or “not that bad” can eat shit…and read this article:

A new report released this week has found that, among the billions of dollars spent each year in federal subsidies for commodity crops, a steady flow of these taxpayer dollars are going to support high fructose corn syrup and three other common food additives used in junk food.

The report, “Apples to Twinkies: Comparing Federal Subsidies of Fresh Produce and Junk Food” by CALPIRG and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, studies the interesting question of whether the nation’s problem with obesity is fueled by farm subsidies.

From 1995 to 2010, $16.9 billion in federal subsidies went to producers and others in the business of corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch and soy oils, according to the report.

The findings come as the White House has been rallying to battle childhood obesity, and Congress is poised to potentially either quash or curtail direct farm subsidy payments in the future.

So how much is America spending? Enough for each U.S. taxpayer to buy 19 Twinkies a year, according to the report. In comparison, it said, federal subsidies for fresh produce would cover only a few bites of an apple per taxpayer a year.

One of the more interesting findings: Taxpayers in the San Francisco area spend $2,762,295 each year in junk food subsidies, but only $41,950 each year on apple subsidies.

“If these agricultural subsidies went directly to consumers to allow them to purchase food, each of America’s 144 million taxpayers would be given $7.36 to spend on junk food and 11 cents with which to buy apples each year –- enough to buy 19 Twinkies but less than a quarter of one Red Delicious apple apiece,” CALPIRG officials said in a statement.

[Source]

So really…you still think hfcs is “not that bad?”

Because I’m bored…

1. How old will you be in five years? 27 (Really 28 but once I hit 27 I’m not getting any older.)

2. Who did you spend at least two hours with today? No one, unless you count my boss.

3. How tall are you? 5’1

4. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks? Many more firsts with my girl.

5. What’s the last movie you saw? Bridesmaids

6. Who was the last person you called? Tanisha

7. Who was the last person to text you? Twinki

8. What was the last text message you received? “Lmfaooooo. At first I got this and was like “what?” Then I remembered lol”

9. What did you have for breakfast? Water

10. Do you prefer to call or text? Text

11. What were you doing at 12am last night? Sleeping

12. Are your parents married/separated/divorced? Divorced (These days, sadly, there should be a “never married” option)

13. When is the last time you saw your mom? Last night.

14. What color are your eyes? Brown

15. What time did you wake up today? 530

16. What are you wearing right now? Dark skinny jeans, light green tank, white gauze blouse

17. What is your favorite Christmas song? Sarajevo by the Trans Siberian Orchestra

18. Where is your favorite place to be? In bed

19. Where is your least favorite place to be? At work

20. Where would you go if you could go anywhere? Bora Bora

21. Where do you think you’ll be in 10 years? In NYC.

22. Can you touch your nose with the tip of your tongue? No

23. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child? A witch

24. What was the last thing that really made you laugh? My girlfriend’s dance.

25. How many TVs do you have in your house? 4

26. How big is your bed? King-ish Queen (It’s a Queen but only fits King sheets)

28. Do you sleep with or without clothes on? With, usually.

29. What color are your sheets? Tan

30. How many pillows do you sleep with? There are 6 on the bed but I only use one of them.

From Ron: http://creolesoul.tumblr.com/post/8092110077/bored-juvenile-sueme-justdoit

What happens when you butt dial Slaus…

He leaves you a country ass voicemail.

Tumblr/Twitter/Blog Accent Challenge

TUMBLR ACCENT CHALLENGE!
- Your name and username.
- Where you’re from.
- Pronounce the following words: Aunt, Roof, Route, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Pajamas, Caught, Naturally, Aluminium, GIF, Tumblr, Crackerjack, Doorknob, Envelope, GPOY.
- What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
- What is a bubbly carbonated drink called?
- What do you call gym shoes?
- What do you call your grandparents?
- What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
- What is the thing you change the TV channel with?
- Choose a book and read a passage from it.
- Do you think you have an accent?
- Be a wizard or a vampire?
- Do you know anyone on Tumblr in real life?
- End audio post by saying any THREE words you want

The Spelling and Grammar Nazi: Chapter 4

I’ve seen people make this mistake very often, and I felt it is time to address it officially. So here it is:

Who’s = Contraction, who is

Whose = possessive, belonging to whom

Furthermore, it pisses me all the way off when people use the word whom just to make themselves sound smarter. You may say that is an assumption, but if you don’t know HOW to use a word, then really you’re only using it because you THINK it’s fancy and want to sound fancier than you really are. Let me let you in on a secret: when you use a word incorrectly, it just makes you look stupid. Truly smart people don’t worry about how fancy their vocabulary is, they worry about how CORRECTLY they speak. THAT is what makes you sound intelligent, not malapropism.

Malapropism, by the way, is the official term for misusing a word because you don’t know what it actually means or have confused it with some other word.

Now on to the second real issue:

Whom is an indirect object. It is never the subject of a sentence. The subject form is WHO.

Nine times out of ten, the correct word to use is WHO, not WHOM. Don’t use whom just because you think it’s more “correct” than who. Don’t  use it because you think it “sounds better.” Only use it when it’s grammatically appropriate to use it.

Examples:

The son of whom

Belonging to whom

Notice that in both of these examples, there is a preposition present. For a list of prepositions, you may go here.

It is also grammatically correct to use it at the beginning of the sentence when who is the object. As seen here:

Whom are you speaking to during the conference?

In italics is whom, the object of the sentence. In bold is you, the subject of the sentence. Notice also that a preposition is present here as well. A preposition will almost always (99.9% of the time) be present when it is correct to use whom.

This beginning of the sentence usage is grammatically correct, HOWEVER, it is more common and accepted to substitute who for whom when the word is in this position.

Who are you speaking to during the conference?

The above sentence is perfectly acceptable.

I hope this helps people. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them.

Never Name Your Child… (continually updated)

• Chet
• Whalesca
• Shaquora
• D’Brickashaw
• LaVonia (guy’s name)
• LaMelvin
• Duenta
• Varius
• Shithead (pronounced Shi -Heed)
• Destinee Jhade. ‘Jhade’ pronounced as jihad
• ABCDE
• Wilbur
• Brokelyn
• Angel
• Harddick
• Loggaina (pronounced Lagina)
• Ukailya
• Keemonta
• Lordjesus

*If you’re going to suggest a name please make sure you actually know someone or have personally seen someone with that name. I don’t want the “friend of a friend of a friend of a cousin’s son” thing going on.

Day 9: Two smileys that describe your life right now.

and

Day 8: Three turn ons.

1. Dirty talk
2. Intelligence
3. Arm tattoos