Mental Illness is Hilarious and Wrong

There is this article going around about people getting bad customer service because they are bad customers, and I do not doubt the premise. I've seen people be rude, condescending, and arrogant with servers and others in the customer service industry. I've heard stories from people who thought they were getting bad service, but from the events of the story, I could tell that the person was a dick. But this article, in my opinion, does not describe one of those people. Instead, it describes an incident of a woman, disappointed with a mistake in her order, yelling at a service worker.

Others read this and are quick to yell back at this woman for being unreasonable, but having been someone who overreacted to situations, I see it differently. My immediate assumption is that this woman is having significant stresses in other parts of her life andor may have mental illness. She may have been suffering from low blood sugar on account of not having eaten for a while which is a possible - nay probable - reason for why she choose a fast food drive through for her meal. Low blood sugar makes the mind do silly things and think things are right when they really are wrong. Another factor is that an ingredient that she did not want was added to her order, and she could have good f*cking reasons for not wanting that ingredient, like an allergy. She may not have the resources to cope with her mental illness or blood sugar issues, she may not even have the intelligence to understand that is what is happening, and she put some strain on the staff of this restaurant and caused a scene, but she doesn't deserve this criticism from strangers on the internet.

I really hope that the next article I read about an example of a customer behaving badly isn't such an obvious example of someone with untreated mental illness.

I Wish

I wish I could just be honest, with everyone. I'm not bad, I wish no ill on people, and there is nothing wrong with anything I have done. I barely have the will to kill the tiny ants in my bathroom right now. I wish I could tell them what I want to do, and how I want to contribute.

I wish everyone could calm down. I wish they could let go of their silly hangups. I wish everyone, like me, could focus on what is truly important. I wish they could find the truth, I wish they all could be smarter than me. I wish I was the dummy in the room, instead of the one who can see through it all. I wish people could resist the urge to drink that soda, or buy that stuff they saw on the commercial, or go to that bland chain restaurant.

I wish I could pull down this house of cards, redistribute the wealth, pay farmers, teachers, and careworkers what they really deserve. I wish that all the blowhards would just fade away, and let me work a 5 hour day, from home. I wish they would reduce their expectations - the computer can't read their mind.

I wish all the rich folk would move out of their over-sized mansions in the countryside and come back into the nice houses in my neighborhood. I wish we could all realize that nothing is ever like it used to be, that how it used to be isn't how it always was, and fighting change is a losing game.

I wish I wish I wish that I never had to watch 24-hour news channels again. I wish people in Texas would realize that they don't need to eat that much. I wish that the farmers on land that needs to be irrigated understood the path that they are on. I wish everyone knew as much as me.

I wish that wishes came true, I wish the genie wasn't just a myth. I wish I may, I wish I might have this wish I wish tonight.

How Much More Productive Could I Be?

Working with this person is seriously the worst day of my life. The person is supposed to be an expert at a topic that I know more about. I don't even know. This person wants to leave the hotel together, and keeps inviting me out for dinner, and to eat lunch together, and we're sharing a damn office. I want to scream.

This person noticed that I was growing impatient, and wondered if it was something they "had done." How do you tell someone that the reason that you are so irritated around them is that they are dumb as a box of rocks? I made up some stuff about my seasonal affective disorder, which is making me less outgoing. Then I got a talk about how great I am, and I should remind myself of this when I am sad.

.

.

.

My sadness is not going away because I remember that I am the sh*t - depression doesn't work like that. I know that I am awesome. I'm irritated because I have to slow myself down to work with some idiot, which just happens to be the person I'm talking to at that moment.

Forgiveness is Earned

I want an apology. I want to hear "we're sorry for those things we said, we don't know what we were thinking." I want to see someone shaking his or her head, crying, and begging for us to not think of them as horrible people. I want people to stand up, and accept responsibility for the people they have hurt, the lies they have told, and the inappropriate behavior they have displayed.

Think of it like a permission slip - a formality. Something that you have to do in order to be accepted back into the fold and trusted again. I'm tired of brushing bad behavior under the rug, because it only piles up, and sometimes begins to stink.

Now, when so many of us are reaching out, trying to mend the broken ties, some people really need to grow up. A lot of people are content to forgive, unconditionally. I'm different, and I want all of those racist, reactionary, angry Tea Partiers to say that they are sorry.

Uh, Yeah, No One Cares

I'm pretty narcissistic, everyone knows that. I think I'm awesome, that my life is epic, and that everything I say is the most profound thing ever. However, I also have a little perspective, and am increasingly able to keep my mouth shut. This has come from several instances of opening my mouth, or posting something, and then being smacked down, hard. I've been called out, yelled at, and lost friends for the things I've said. I certainly don't have a captive audience that would flood comment threads with concern for me. I've realized that I can't expect people to care about my life, even when nothing else is going on, and it really doesn't bother me.

But today, we are in the midst of a huge election here in the US. And a significant portion of our population experienced a monster storm, that created flooding that brought sharks into New Jersey (that was a fake) and displaced a ton of people. I'm worried about my friends in D.C., since their apartment has a huge window in place of a wall (they were fine, fortunately). Sh*t is getting serious, but I've got a few Facebook friends, well respected in circles that I'd like to be in, who myopically obsess over their own lives today. It burns me up inside, and makes me wish I could post the title of this post as a comment on theirs.

Feel free to call me bitter, I accept that. I am bitter as hell, and this is my blog.

Oh, Shut Up Already

But, but, but,
I have all these reeeeeeasons why
I can't do that
It isn't that big of a deal
I'm laughing it off

Good gracious
If you're complaining
You have a problem
I will help you fix it
Get over your pride
Grow up, please

Oh, so you're just gonna do this this and this
You're gonna make sure you don't meet the definition
But you %&$#ing do
With every breath, you can't see how it manifests
Do you need a phd in gender studies to see the problem?
Do you have to be black to know racism?
How much evidence do you need to %&$#ing trust me?
I do not lie, I know what I know
And you are all @^*& monkeys, dancing on a string
%&$# you
%&$# you
%&$#

---

I went for a walk while at work, at this time, after calling people out on [Social Media], only to face people doubling down, and other frustrations. I started walking, but was going too fast, and my legs were hurting, so I decided to sit on some exercise things that were set up under a tree. There, I wrote that little poem.

Free Speech and Dangerous Delusions

After walking Steve to work yesterday, I bummed around Telegraph and stopped across from the Delusion Corner to observe. For the longest time, some Jesus Crispies have been preaching near a fenced off plot of land at the northeast corner of Telegraph and Haste. The used to use the natural volume of their voice, and hand out fliers. Then they got microphones, and now they have a rock band.

The music, itself, wasn't that bad, and had they just used their instruments, it might have been a nice backdrop for shopping, but there was singing too. At first, the songs were inanely delusional - stuff that would cause an individual to waste her life following someone's fever dream, but nothing that impacts me - but then they pissed me off. In a litany of things we should trust Jesus for, they claimed that we should trust in him for our government and economy.

I had set myself up on the southwest corner of the intersection to observe in amusement, but I was furious. I stated "No we shouldn't" a couple of times, but not loudly. For all the idiots whining about Sharia Law, here was someone with a permit issued by the city declaring his wish to undermine the constitution for religious purposes. I angrily wondered how to get these idiots off the street, but then I remembered.

Long ago, I saw a video clip of an interchange happening in the middle of the 20th century between someone speaking out in favor of Communism and some observing US Soldiers. I think the interchange was staged, for propaganda purposes. The Communist had his standard speech and one of the soldiers said [roughly]:

You should be happy to live in the United States, where you are free to say these things.

The legal precedent of our nation also allows these people to say what they want, even with amplifying devices, on the street. So while the authoritarian in me wanted to shut these idiots down, I decided instead to observe and record their now less than amusing delusions.

I got audio of a song with a completely contradictory message, and observed a completely indifferent crowd pass by the band and the people handing out fliers. My initial fury gave way to a larger perspective. Just as communists can say what they want, even about "radical revolution", so too can these people, and it looks to be just as productive.

Standards

The blogosphere was awash with fervor a couple of weeks ago over a recent poll published on DailyKos. The poll, conducted by Research 2000, asked self-identified Republicans a few questions about their beliefs. I've also been thinking a lot recently about the concepts of being entitled to an opinion and the fallacy of debate style reporting. One of the members of SANE was going to present on being entitled to one's opinion back on the 2nd, but he was sick, so he's presenting it on the 23rd. It should be interesting.

The poll demonstrated that the Republicans polled believe a lot of things that plain ain't true. Some things that are just fabricated falsehoods, and other things that are clearly proven with real evidence.This gives additional evidence to the case for reducing the number of falsehoods that are allowed to filter through society. I found this comment on Ginandtacos.com to be a great description of why we are in this predicament.

You might think vanilla cake is better, I might think chocolate cake is better, but we'll never settle on one to order for the party if you scream that every option I bring up is poisonous and will kill children and I'm only trying to order it because I hate freedom.

And if we take those positions in present America, the media just reports "X says vanilla cake is nice, Y says it kills children" and they don't bother sending it to a lab to test… and even if they did that, they wouldn't hold the person screaming "poison" responsible for trying to create irrational fear and panic.

And so our political debate is poisoned with lies and madness. And people like Corey who come in trying to pretend otherwise are not helping, they're feeding an unhealthy fiction that is derailing the country's ability to function on even a basic level.

-a response to Corey [and Trevor - ok, not really]

About a week ago, a friend defined himself as a free speech purist. I am certainly not, at least, not to the extent that he was indicating. I think that speech coming from authoritative sources must be well reasoned and supported by evidence. If it does not do that, it should cease to be regarded as authoritative. Non-authoritative information can and should be disregarded in public discourse. This doesn't make it illegal, and that is all free speech really concerns.

Amanda and others at Pandagon frequently call out people that think that free speech is infringed by the actions of individuals in the marketplace. For instance, many might call my continued boycotting of Whole Foods due to the health insurance op-ed the CEO gave last year an assault on that CEO's free speech. The 1st amendment is about the government infringing on speech, not about an individual deciding to patronize a business based on how they use their position in society. I don't think the guy's opinion should be illegal, or censored. I disagree with what he said and I decided not to shop at Whole Foods anymore. Private citizens are not obligated to continue listening to people that they do not want to listen to, for whatever reason.

I can't stand the loss of citizens to the lot of hucksters selling them bizarre conspiracy theories to explain away facts that disrupt their insular, patriarchal, entitled, bitter worldview. I refuse to listen to these people and it frustrates me that they are allowed to masquerade as authoritative when they cannot meet the qualifications. I think the time has come to hold ourselves to higher standards - with, of course, constant review of the standards to ensure that all well reasoned opinions supported by evidence are considered.

At the Expense of Others

The movie Leap Year asks if women should propose marriage. That begs the question of if women should be making decisions at all. Really, should women be leaving their homes or even spending money?

The only people that think this way are narrow minded idiots that think "tradition" is a valid reason to continue bad policy. Unfortunately, these people also happen to be the majority of the population. So, sorry gals, looks like you're not in charge of your own lives.

We Do Not Exist Just to Breed

Something is said to be alive if it is an item that grows on its own and creates identical items that grow on their own. So it happens that the life patterns of humans would include a period of growth, then procreation. A major difference between humans and other species of life is that we don't just stop at making copies of ourselves. We create and build, we discover and invent, we fix and improve, sometimes never stopping to have more than one or two children.

But many people have it in their heads that our purpose is to breed, they may be forbidden by others from preventing pregnancy, and many are unable to resist sexual contact. In the past, the human population stayed stable because we were unable to keep a large segment of babies from dying shortly after birth. The population was further held down due to disease, war, and in Europe, witch burnings killed a significant portion of the young adult population. These days, science gives us the technology to limit the number of people we create and to take good care of the ones that we do create.

But now and then, the past comes back to haunt us. Will we make the right assessment of the problem and fix it? Will we discourage religious dogma and encourage contraception? I hope we do.

I Hate Zombies

I really can't stand them. Actually, zombies do not exist, what I cannot stand is the cultural obsession around them. There are all these stupid quizes and retarded hypotheticals about how they would survive a zombie attack that could. never. happen. Now people in the UK have wasted the world's time determining that humans could not survive an attack by this completely fictional entity.

Why aren't we spending time determining if the world could survive an attack of werewolves? What if we were infested with witches and warlocks that had a desire to do the world harm? How about a massive infestation of Big Foots? Sure, people are having fun, but this genre ceased being fun when people started putting zombies in every other movie, video game, and social conversation. Now that people are investing the world's conciousness in a stupid made up monster, it is just retarded.

Also, note that this post is a replacement for snarky comments on friends Facebook statuses. I have enough respect for the friends I have that find this interesting not to rain on their parade, but, as you can see, I hate the obsession with zombies.

You're Kidding Me

I'm watching all of the episodes of Bullshit from Penn & Teller. I'll be posting reviews of certain clumps of episodes, but I'm starting with the episode College, which is actually an indictment of diversity. I can hear the bs reason for the society in Fahrenheit 451 already. In all seriousness, I am censoring my post because I am nervous about having this blog deleted, literally. Though I have almost every reason to believe that the threat of this is gone, the risk is too great, censoring away!



That is an image of [a college], my alma mater and the episode actually talked about [something I vividly remember]. [I had another paragraph about my relationship with the events and people and locations portrayed] [Finally there was a paragraph about the racial make-up of the campus and other things] I can say that the episode's description of events does not match my recollection in that it leaves things out and doesn't actually answer any of the questions I had 8 years ago.

The white rich guy in the episode said that women, people of color, LGBT, etc people are treated like children when we are "told" that we should not be exposed to certain types of speech or opinions. In my experience, these same people are asking for a learning environment free of these assholes. It isn't just speech or opinions either. Remembering going to my alma mater, I remember a lot of conversation and yes, vitriol aimed at people who said stupid racist shit. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from criticism of your hate speech. But a lot of what was said also wasn't protected speech. Harassment and threats are not the same as free speech. Sure, attention to diversity can be problematic - I am not a moral relativist - but you can't have an open discussion with someone that insists that "f****ts", "n****rs", and "b***hes" are less than human.

We have a history in this country that creates a context of hostility towards anyone not that "majority" group with which we are familiar. It is very easy for members of a group that has not been threatened with violence or are seen [more in the past than now, thank goodness] routinely as less than human to tell us what we want. In fact, they do it all the time and they did just now. Sure, diversity is rationally ridiculous to people that don't benefit from it, but ask the out black lesbian who is going to college to learn chemistry about the tangible benefits of diversity training and even awareness in the people around her in her ability to obtain her degree.

This episode could have been much more powerful and I did not come away from the episode with any new knowledge, literally, even about the incident at my alma mater. It could have been an indictment of the excesses of diversity training. They hit on some overreactions at my alma mater and pulled a stunt protesting diversity at a diversity event. Tolerating intolerance is not tolerance and the episode proved that universities are aware of this fact. The tolerance of any idea without editing, without regard to effect is an excess of diversity and no one is doing that. Making campus safe for a KKK group would be a problem, but it isn't happening. I think the fact that this episode had to go to a second rate state university in a state that most people in America forget about to get an example of "diversity gone wrong" when it wasn't even ABOUT "diversity" is an indication that they REALLY had to reach for something that just ain't there. Seriously.

The show could have also addressed the issue of too many people going to college or getting crap degrees with which they cannot get a good job after they graduate. What about grade inflation and the snowflake epidemic? They tried to address this issue by trotting out names of talented and/or lucky people that struck it rich without college, but that does not a criticism of college make. Everyone knows that being an entertainer does not necessitate college, with the exception of maybe Peter Graves. But these days college has become what high school used to be - a training ground for young people before they enter adulthood. But we consider that college and made high school into a holding pen for children and elementary school is elaborate day care. Colleges need to be places that create future leaders, artists, professionals, and scholars to enhance society for all people, whether or not they went to college. They should not pass students after they skip the final and even ask not to be failed so they can have time to drop the class.

There is so much this episode could have been, and it should have been two episodes to address the excesses of diversity (because they exist) and the problems in college today. As is, this episode just taught me that some highly educated and high powered and uneducated but wealthy entertainer white guys don't think that diversity or college are good things, respectively. I should probably make up some kind of rating system, but overall, this episode is bullshit.

Yeah

toothpastefordinner.com

Related Posts: Waste

Recent Memory

Due to all the time spent in waiting rooms yesterday, I saw a bunch of magazines. One was the issue of Newsweek with the article about the decline of the Christianity in politics.* It had a tagline with a comment saying that there is less religion in politics now than in any other time in "recent memory", which made me wonder just how short our memories really are. Seriously, less religion in politics since when? Unless "recent" translates to 5 years, and "now" translates to two months, or the day Obama decided to not have evangelicals visit the White House for the National Day of Ignoring the Constitution Prayer.

It seems as if our cultural memory has been limited to less than a few years. We live in the constant present, thinking that anything that happens could mean the collapse of society. In other words, there is a significant lack of historical literacy in our culture. This is different from cognizance of perpetuation of historical trends, but the definitions are always easier to say than to apply. Regardless, "recent memory" of religion in politics should go beyond one presidential administration, and an assessment of the status quo should too.

*I guess I was too annoyed by the tagline and the knowledge that any amount of religion in politics is a bad thing to actually read the article. Not to mention the fact that the doctor came in too soon.

WRONG

Once again, we see that Obama, despite his mention of "non-believers,"* still needs to play to the delusional.

"There is no god who condones taking the life of an innocent human being," [President Obama] said, and all religions teach people to love and care for one another.

Not the god of the Old Testament! That god LOVED killing anyone and everyone. Oh, but I guess because they were living on land that some other people wanted, no one could consider them "innocent". It all hinges on the definition of that word, and few, if any humans (American or not) are actually "innocent" according to these outdated, hateful, xenophobic, and misogynist texts. And I’m talking about the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, and yeah, even Eastern religions have crap about what women should and should not do because guys got all freaked out by us shedding unused uterine lining once a month. It’s easy to put on blinders and think that because one character in a book told us to love our neighbors as ourselves that religion is harmless. Just be careful that you don’t get stoned, set on fire, or cast out of your family for accidentally breaking one of the other asinine rules also written in those mega-violent novels.

*I actually don’t like that term and was not that encouraged by it in the inaugural address. It wasn’t until I read other blog posts that were so happy about our inclusion that I even know that it was a big deal. I don’t like being defined by what I lack. The terms atheist and even godless are less bothersome, even though they mean the same thing. I’d love to start using the term rationalist, but there are so many religious misogynists (though misogynists can also be atheist) that also think they are rational so the word isn’t very descriptive.

Like 1993 All Over Again

In grad school, I processed a collection around the passage of the Federal Direct Loan Program and learned that I never, ever should have cursed my FAFSA. The system in place before the FDLP was similar to the situation most students now have with private lenders but far, far worse. The government backed the loans in this case and the private companies involved learned that they made more money when students defaulted on the loans. With that information, they began a practice of not sending the loan statements so that students never knew that the needed to begin repayment. In the first Bush administration, most members of congress were in support of changing this system. Enter William Jefferson Clinton and suddenly, congresspeople that once liked the idea of Direct Loans found them to be a terrible idea. Interestingly, all of these individuals happened to be members of the Republican Party.

I don't seem to recall Democrats just flip flopping on issues like this (and with so much evidence about their change in stance) when Bush came in to office. It was more that Bush was doing so many things that Democrats plain didn't like. Oh, sure, Obama is going to do a lot of things that Republicans don't like either, but they're also dragging their feet on issues that they loved in mid-2008. Rachel Maddow played a clip of one such Republican Senator on the "Keep F*cking Things Up" Tour. He indicated that Republicans didn't think that giving money to make broadband and other internet connections available to people was a good use of money. This was why they didn't like the stimulus package as Obama and the Democrats presented it. Interestingly, this same Senator - I forget his name, John or something - actually promoted the same idea he now hates when he was on the campaign trail this year. I guess it was for re-election or something - no, wait, that's right, he was on the Joke Ticket, I remember now. Yeah, Candidate John McCain loved broadband for the people, but suddenly, now that the American people resoundingly rejected his ideas and his party, Senator John McCain hates the proposal.

Welcome to 1993, folks. To bad for Republicans that most of America is far more informed and we have recordings of your flip flops. And to Americans, never forget that this economic crisis is the result of deregulation and the destruction of the New Deal Era policies. We've been through this before, and that it isn't exactly the same is meaningless. If you disagree, well, you probably also weren't in on the joke from this last election cycle. Hope you enjoy your Obama tax cuts.

We're back to doing our best

Also, it was kind of stupid for no Republicans to vote for the stimulus in the House. You know that now the Democrats know that it doesn't matter how much they cater to them, they'll still be stubborn babies. I hope they like being shut out and ignored cuz they've shown that listening and even giving in to their idiotic ideas is pointless.

No He Wasn't. He Just Gave All of Our Money to His Rich Buddies

That's what my dad told me when my 8 to 10 year old self thought about the Reagan administration, didn't remember any major wars, and decided to declare that Reagan was a "pretty good president". This was information that I did not know, so I said "oh" and moved on with my day. I didn't care that much back then anyway - I don't even remember exactly how old I was, I just remember my dad balking at my statement. But the early 90's saw the introduction of right-wing radio in Central Wisconsin, and just 4 years later, he was voting Republican.

I'm listening to NPR tonight with Terri Gross interviewing a guy talking about war robotics. She mentioned the massive outsourcing of military activities during the Bush Administration and wondered if we can go back, which got me thinking. The no-bid, bloated contracts for mercenaries didn't seem to save the Pentagon any money. So, was Bush the kind of president that history will judge kindly? See post title.

Now if only I can get my father to realize the depths of the crap he's been hearing for the last 16 years.

Who Gets to Talk to the Imaginary Friend?

Everyone is pissed off about Rick Warren. Well, at least everyone with a basic understanding of discrimination, hate speech, and human rights. A guy on the Jim Lehrer News Hour compared Warren's appearance before the innaguration and a more liberal preacher giving the Benediction later with having an anti-semite in Warren's place and expecting to smooth it over by having a rabbi speak at the end.

But people HATE comparisons like that when talking about anything relating to gender and breaking outdated roles built for XX or XY people. Comparing gay people with Jews? How can you compare homophobia with the Holocaust? Oh... wait... homosexuals were rounded up then too...

Homosexual people and women who want to control when and how often they will or won't become pregnant are still expected to take this as "tolerance". When someone's politics don't directly affect my life, then I will tolerate them. However this guy wants to tell me how to live and interfere with my ability to be a productive and happy citizen, so sorry, no tolerance here.

8:30pm Update: As bad as this is, it is five minutes. The more we focus on this, the less we focus on the new regulation to make it more complicated and, in some places, impossible for people to get abortions, emergency contraception, normal birth control methods, or really make any decisions about one's own body without some doctor, pharmacist, nurse, assistant, or janitor slut-shaming and denying what could be a life-saving service. Even a month of that is enough to fuck up a lot of people. In my case, I get to spend my vacation grilling prospective pharmacies about whether or not they will fill my prescriptions, saying nothing about finding doctors. (my new and better insurance kicks in on January 1 - so long, Kaiser!) Hooray for stress that I don't need.

There Were NO 'No on 8' Offices in My Area Code

In response to the victory of hate, figuring out just where the fuck we went wrong, in response to this, a comment on a Pandagon post that I needed to share with other people, here is my observation: I was at SF Pride, bawling my eyes out because I just happened to see two men get married. The happiness in me (and some booze) was that great. I saw the “vote no on the marriage ban” at that time. In the interim, I slowly saw this thing gain ground. Seeing a commercial on TV at the gym once, then a sign here and there (I remember the first time I saw that yellow sign, it was so foreign that I said to myself, “what is 8? why should I vote for it?” before I connected it with that thing that I didn’t think any decent person could support), then last week, it exploded.

Sunday night, I saw signs popping up in the middle of the night. I checked to find my local No on 8 office, and the closest I could get was Berkeley or Oakland. There were no offices with numbers from my area code (925). Monday morning, I made the mistake of taking the road to the highway to get to work and found myself in what I call “The Gauntlet of Hate”. Yes on 8 signs three feet apart for MILES, people guarding them, then there were the people WITH the signs. My rage was palpable, and the only thing I could do was give dirty looks and the finger. One of the people with signs looked sad when we made eye contact. That was my solace.

How could so many people be so arrogant?

I had sent a message to the No on 8 campaign the night before, asking for assistance, giving them my daytime phone number. I did not get a call back on Monday. I do not know how overworked or staffed the office was. I had been wanting a sign against 8 for my car for months, but the closest I got was a bumper sticker that I had wanted to tape inside my car, but I got effing lazy. I finally got my sign, found on the ground at UC Berkeley on Tuesday night, but it was too late. One person that saw me holding it that night approached me to give me the sad news. I already knew and just wanted to enjoy the return of rational US government to our planet, so I was more discrete with the sign, so as to avoid mourning for now. But I still wanted my sign, if only as a way to remind myself and everyone else that no, I was not a bigot.

Last night, some of my friends went to the SF protest and came back with a sign. I remarked at how badly I had wanted one but hadn’t gotten one until now. My friend said the same thing. We are all guilty in some way for this loss. We’re doing the same thing that Republicans are now doing about McCain. Only, instead of infighting and blaming those that didn’t vote with us, we need to figure out how to dispel the myths around Prop 8. Anyone that listens to KQED (or other CA NPR, probably) has heard that man who said that he supported gay people and their right to marry, but stopped short at it “being taught in the schools”, and that was why “of course” he voted yes on 8.

In other words, undoubtedly, many of those 52% that voted yes that did so because of the outright LIES told by the Prop 8 supporters. We needed to dispel these lies even more vigorously (myself included, don’t think I’m not as pissed at myself as anyone else) - no, we STILL need to. We need to remind people that this is a civil rights issue, and just like those people that protested school desegregation, the Yes on 8 crowd will find itself on the wrong and embarrassing side of history.

Waste

Why does NewEgg use so much packaging?

USB Drives, packed in packaging easily 10 times bigger than the actual thing, stacked three high, with little interlocking sections on the packaging so it stays together, wrapped in 1" bubble wrap, in a box of styrofoam peanuts.

Waste
Waste
Waste
Waste
Waste

I sent the box of peanuts and bubble wrap back so they might be re-used.