I can't believe this bizarre year is almost over, and as always, it is ending with the busiest time of the year. And by busy I mean trying to keep people from going crazy about not getting enough for others or getting what they want. It's always things, never time, or anything calm and comforting. But I suppose I could say NO to all of it. But I don't see that happening. I buy into the stress of it all and I am already counting down the days until it's over again for another year. Of course it would be nice to enjoy it and not just wait for it to be over, but I fear I am not that evolved yet.
However, I am enjoying listening to music from 2012, realizing that I liked a lot more of it than I thought it did. And for that, I need to thank VH1. Without that channel I would be totally lost when it comes to top 40 and what person sings which song.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Freak Out, Sellwood Style
I should say that this post has nothing to do with politics, for the most part, but it does address a sort of mob mentality/mass hysteria, which I have seen with certain political parties, so it does have that in common.
Almost one year ago a clinic opened in my neighborhood that treats sex offenders. Level One, I believe, and not the level of offenders that would require any kind of notification, since it is a clinic and not a residential facility. Almost one year ago.
At some point in the last couple of weeks, a parent or two decided to find out what this nondescript business was that had been operating for almost one year in their neighborhood. Almost one year.
It started with a rational email, from someone I will call Muffy, and somehow within the course of a few hours Muffy sent out a followup email that included some pretty scary information about her daughter being whistled at, men catcalling, etc, but that information wasn't included in her first email. So I am not sure if she didn't think it was important enough to include the first time, or if she hadn't come up with a lie yet that would rile people up. Once people start to get worked up and hysterical it's hard to know what their real motivations are. But it worked! People got riled up and just knew that this place, that had been open for almost one year, just had to go because obviously it was a threat to the community, considering how many assaults and abductions had happened around it in the last year. Which I believe is ZERO, but that doesn't matter. When people get worked up into a frenzy they can't be bothered by facts.
Like the fact that including the home address of the property owner that rents to this business was included in an email, even though the only reason I can think to include this would be to intimidate, but why let something like intimidation get in your way? Especially when it took ALMOST ONE YEAR for anyone to notice what this business was. Maybe these people are feeling guilty, or like they aren't very bright, since it had been almost one year and no one bothered to learn anything?
This clinic treats sex offenders as well as victims of these crimes. But why should anyone here care about victims getting the help they need? That would be a bothersome fact that they can't handle.
But the thing that is bothering me the most today are their mental high fives, and how they are thanking Muffy for "fighting the good fight". I don't think that term really applies to someone that is fighting against a group of people that no one wants around. If they want to congratulate her for fighting the safe, obvious, easy to win, fight, I think that would be more appropriate.
These people are what is wrong with this world. They don't look at the big picture, focusing instead on their narrow view, and hoping that they "win", even though their win will mean someone else is losing. But that is a fact that is overlooked. Especially when Muffy riles up the townspeople.
I just took a look at their e-petition they are passing around, so they can submit it to Mayor Sam Adams, asking him to help change notification laws in the city of Portland. They are asking Mayor Sam Adams to help them with sex offenders. And it is important to remember that the term sex offender is very broad and includes so many things, even something like having inappropriate sexual contact with a minor, even if it is consensual.
Almost one year ago a clinic opened in my neighborhood that treats sex offenders. Level One, I believe, and not the level of offenders that would require any kind of notification, since it is a clinic and not a residential facility. Almost one year ago.
At some point in the last couple of weeks, a parent or two decided to find out what this nondescript business was that had been operating for almost one year in their neighborhood. Almost one year.
It started with a rational email, from someone I will call Muffy, and somehow within the course of a few hours Muffy sent out a followup email that included some pretty scary information about her daughter being whistled at, men catcalling, etc, but that information wasn't included in her first email. So I am not sure if she didn't think it was important enough to include the first time, or if she hadn't come up with a lie yet that would rile people up. Once people start to get worked up and hysterical it's hard to know what their real motivations are. But it worked! People got riled up and just knew that this place, that had been open for almost one year, just had to go because obviously it was a threat to the community, considering how many assaults and abductions had happened around it in the last year. Which I believe is ZERO, but that doesn't matter. When people get worked up into a frenzy they can't be bothered by facts.
Like the fact that including the home address of the property owner that rents to this business was included in an email, even though the only reason I can think to include this would be to intimidate, but why let something like intimidation get in your way? Especially when it took ALMOST ONE YEAR for anyone to notice what this business was. Maybe these people are feeling guilty, or like they aren't very bright, since it had been almost one year and no one bothered to learn anything?
This clinic treats sex offenders as well as victims of these crimes. But why should anyone here care about victims getting the help they need? That would be a bothersome fact that they can't handle.
But the thing that is bothering me the most today are their mental high fives, and how they are thanking Muffy for "fighting the good fight". I don't think that term really applies to someone that is fighting against a group of people that no one wants around. If they want to congratulate her for fighting the safe, obvious, easy to win, fight, I think that would be more appropriate.
These people are what is wrong with this world. They don't look at the big picture, focusing instead on their narrow view, and hoping that they "win", even though their win will mean someone else is losing. But that is a fact that is overlooked. Especially when Muffy riles up the townspeople.
I just took a look at their e-petition they are passing around, so they can submit it to Mayor Sam Adams, asking him to help change notification laws in the city of Portland. They are asking Mayor Sam Adams to help them with sex offenders. And it is important to remember that the term sex offender is very broad and includes so many things, even something like having inappropriate sexual contact with a minor, even if it is consensual.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Election Night!
I can't believe that the election is finally over! At least this part of it. My candidate won, President Barack Obama, and I am thrilled! I wasn't voting against RoRy, I was voting FOR President Obama, and I am, like I said, thrilled! I know that the next four years could be even worse, politically, than the last, but I hope not. I hope that politicians actually do their job and work together, not just trying to block President Obama at every turn.
I am also thrilled that it seems as if marriage equality has come to three out of four states voting on it, by a vote of the people, for the first time! That is truly encouraging news. Bravo, Maine, Maryland, and my neighbor to the north, Washington. Job well done. Maybe hate and lies are finally fading away, maybe the future will be brighter.
There are so many candidates on the national level to be excited about, but a special shout out must go to Tammy Baldwin, the first out lesbian elected to the US Senate! And she won against a well known candidate in Wisconsin, so, wow. Really.
Local measures are passing that I voted for, the big one ensuring funding for our library system that is, really, one of the best on the planet.
Yes, this is all good news, really, but it seemed so easy now that it is over and that easiness worries me. But I will try to be optimistic and just enjoy what might possibly turn out to be the most exciting and progressive election cycle in my lifetime so far.
I am also thrilled that it seems as if marriage equality has come to three out of four states voting on it, by a vote of the people, for the first time! That is truly encouraging news. Bravo, Maine, Maryland, and my neighbor to the north, Washington. Job well done. Maybe hate and lies are finally fading away, maybe the future will be brighter.
There are so many candidates on the national level to be excited about, but a special shout out must go to Tammy Baldwin, the first out lesbian elected to the US Senate! And she won against a well known candidate in Wisconsin, so, wow. Really.
Local measures are passing that I voted for, the big one ensuring funding for our library system that is, really, one of the best on the planet.
Yes, this is all good news, really, but it seemed so easy now that it is over and that easiness worries me. But I will try to be optimistic and just enjoy what might possibly turn out to be the most exciting and progressive election cycle in my lifetime so far.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Time
My original goal was to post something daily, even if it was a link, a video, whatever, and now I realize that I haven't posted anything in a week. It isn't because I don't have the time, it isn't because I have run out of outrage or opinions, so I think it must be that I am a lazy, lazy person. Too lazy to sit in front of a computer and spend 10, 20 minutes, writing something, and I don't even have to get fully dressed? That is pretty sad.
That being said, it is amazing to me that 24 hours ago there was more wind and rain and destruction beating down on the East Coast than anyone could have imagined, even though it was almost exactly what people thought would happen, and tonight it seems to be the 'calm' after the storm. So many people lost everything, so many people without power, people dead, it just boggles the mind. The coast is being reshaped, land is being lost to the ocean, and it all seems so science fiction that it is hard to grasp.
On the political side of things, we have a republican governor in New Jersey that gave our President the respect and thanks he deserved for making sure that people would get what they need, while at the same time that yahoo Michael Brown, who resigned from his FEMA post following his colossal screwup after Hurricane Katrina, is telling a newspaper that our President is handling everything wrong, as if that a-holes opinion matters. And of course throw in a little dig about Libya at the same time. I am not sure why people listen to lying bastards that whine about other people 'playing politics' while that is exactly what the accusers are doing.
Then of course there is RoRo, working a campaign appearance in Ohio, which apparently must have been hit hard by Sandy since that is where the scum bucket has been spending his time. And while I can't say that trying to get goods and services for people after this event is a bad thing, even if it seems slimy, I can say that planning on sending goods to people in need is stupid. The Red Cross needs money, so they can purchase what people need, and purchase them from businesses in the areas heavily impacted, so the local economy can be stimulated. You would think a mad genius businessman would be able to figure that out, but RoRo is more like a corporate raider than an actual businessman, as in someone that creates businesses, so who knows what he knows. All I know is that if he is elected I might eat that shoe I have been threatening to eat for years.
http://www.redcross.org/
That being said, it is amazing to me that 24 hours ago there was more wind and rain and destruction beating down on the East Coast than anyone could have imagined, even though it was almost exactly what people thought would happen, and tonight it seems to be the 'calm' after the storm. So many people lost everything, so many people without power, people dead, it just boggles the mind. The coast is being reshaped, land is being lost to the ocean, and it all seems so science fiction that it is hard to grasp.
On the political side of things, we have a republican governor in New Jersey that gave our President the respect and thanks he deserved for making sure that people would get what they need, while at the same time that yahoo Michael Brown, who resigned from his FEMA post following his colossal screwup after Hurricane Katrina, is telling a newspaper that our President is handling everything wrong, as if that a-holes opinion matters. And of course throw in a little dig about Libya at the same time. I am not sure why people listen to lying bastards that whine about other people 'playing politics' while that is exactly what the accusers are doing.
Then of course there is RoRo, working a campaign appearance in Ohio, which apparently must have been hit hard by Sandy since that is where the scum bucket has been spending his time. And while I can't say that trying to get goods and services for people after this event is a bad thing, even if it seems slimy, I can say that planning on sending goods to people in need is stupid. The Red Cross needs money, so they can purchase what people need, and purchase them from businesses in the areas heavily impacted, so the local economy can be stimulated. You would think a mad genius businessman would be able to figure that out, but RoRo is more like a corporate raider than an actual businessman, as in someone that creates businesses, so who knows what he knows. All I know is that if he is elected I might eat that shoe I have been threatening to eat for years.
http://www.redcross.org/
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
13 days!
So, DT had an October surprise that should have come as no surprise-he just wanted attention. He truly is a disgusting human being, and I don't know one person that actually listens to that pig in a wig.
Then there is the always lovely and charming SP, tweeting about our President 'shucking and jiving'. And of course there is AC, who called our President a 'retard', and commended MR for taking it easy on him. I am not sure what AC was really trying to say, since she really ended up attacking and demeaning a group of people that as far as I know have never done anything to her. She just made herself look nastier than usual. I know! Who thought that was possible? These three people, as the 'celebrity' faction of the Republican party, should really just, you know, I don't know how else to say it, fuck off.
Then there is the always lovely and charming SP, tweeting about our President 'shucking and jiving'. And of course there is AC, who called our President a 'retard', and commended MR for taking it easy on him. I am not sure what AC was really trying to say, since she really ended up attacking and demeaning a group of people that as far as I know have never done anything to her. She just made herself look nastier than usual. I know! Who thought that was possible? These three people, as the 'celebrity' faction of the Republican party, should really just, you know, I don't know how else to say it, fuck off.
Friday, October 19, 2012
VOTE!
I received my ballot in the mail today, filled it out, and dropped it off at the library while picking up Project Runway seasons 4-6. I am happy with my choices, hoping nothing goes haywire with any
people I selected, and now I can breathe easier.
This link is pretty fantastic, and I can't believe it came from a Utah newspaper, although that probably just shows my bias more than anything else.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/55019844-82/romney-obama-state-president.html.csp
people I selected, and now I can breathe easier.
This link is pretty fantastic, and I can't believe it came from a Utah newspaper, although that probably just shows my bias more than anything else.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/55019844-82/romney-obama-state-president.html.csp
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Voters' Pamphlet
I remember one year when it came in two parts, so I know it has been bigger, but I think the fact that there are a few tax issues I don't know enough about, and that I actually need to read the thing, somehow made it seem bigger than ever.
I am grateful that it came yesterday as I needed something to read, something that would force my brain to work, or at least attempt to work, and I have to say that it was a success! I know how I am voting on every measure except one, which really isn't too bad considering how many words you have to read through to get to the point. As far as mayor goes...I might just have to write someone in or leave it blank.
So, I have one ballot measure to consider and one office to consider. But whenever I get my ballot I am filling it in and taking it to the Elections Office and that's that-no regrets, no second guessing, it will be too late because it will be out of my house and out of my hands.
I am grateful that it came yesterday as I needed something to read, something that would force my brain to work, or at least attempt to work, and I have to say that it was a success! I know how I am voting on every measure except one, which really isn't too bad considering how many words you have to read through to get to the point. As far as mayor goes...I might just have to write someone in or leave it blank.
So, I have one ballot measure to consider and one office to consider. But whenever I get my ballot I am filling it in and taking it to the Elections Office and that's that-no regrets, no second guessing, it will be too late because it will be out of my house and out of my hands.
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