Racial reconciliation...through...furniture...?

"Look at this sofa! It's perfect for a black person or a white person!" Um...what...?




Saw this on Chicagoist, and I have no idea how to react. Why does one of the white men have to mention "huntin' and bass fishin'?" Why does the black woman have to sit next to an awful Value City-like animal print? What the hell is up with the two white dudes singing in two-part harmony--aren't they missing the ebony to go with their ivory? Why are all the white men in flannel or fleece?

At least they mentioned "hicspanic" people, too.

Arlen Specter Quits This Bitch

Damn. I get back from my honeymoon and all hell breaks loose.

Arlen Specter, a Republican since the Civil Rights era, has switched sides and become a Democrat. In statement released today, Specter laid out his reasons for his defection. It seems he didn't leave the party; the party left him.

Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.

Further, Specter suggests that the Republican party has become a small-minded entity whose chief goal has nothing to do with serving the American people. Ouch.

[...]While each member of the Senate caucuses with his Party, what each of us hopes to accomplish is distinct from his party affiliation. The American people do not care which Party solves the problems confronting our nation. And no Senator, no matter how loyal he is to his Party, should or would put party loyalty above his duty to the state and nation.

Check out his full statement here. Call me crazy, but I bet that one of the senate's longest-serving Republicans might have some followers in the coming months.

I's married now!

So, that's why I haven't done an entry in so long--I was busy getting hitched and enjoying my husband on my honeymoon. Just got back into the office today, and I'm catching up on all the political and other news I ignored while I was knocking back rum and Cokes on the beach. There's a lot to talk about--swine flu, Republican bitchassness, and the mindboggling success of Beyonce's movie--but it's going to take me a minute to settle down and get back to the real world. More later, I promise.

As the Career Burns: Palin's Dad Calls Johnston a Deadbeat

Sarah Palin's dad is berating the unemployed dropout father of his great-grandson for not providing for the child.

In the article in my head, Levi Johnston is quoted as responding, "Whatever! Whatever! You don't know me! I was with her for two years, Maury! That old man don't know nothin'!"

David Shuster's Nuts!

The puns are heavy, but Shuster's deadpan delivery is a subtle explosion of hilarity. Can't stop giggling.

Dad in Chief

Unfortunately, I can't embed C-SPAN video, but there's a clip of our president reading "Where the Wild Things Are" to a bunch of kids at the Easter egg roll today, and it just warmed my heart. Obama's ability to play to an audience of kids--the howl kills me!--shows just how dedicated he is to his own kids. Today, he was a dad reading a story to some friends of his daughters. Frickin' adorable.

Once this whole president thing goes away, he'd be a great elementary school teacher. No wonder he's doing so well against the Republicans--he's used to dealing with children.

"It's Almost Over."

My best friend L and I have used that as a mantra for years now. When we were both struggling to work full time and finish undergrad, a reminder that "it's almost over" helped chill us out a little and focus on the positive. During her law school finals and my grad school term paper drafts, for awkward family gatherings and doctor's appointments, those three words have often been the glue that holds me together when things get crazy.

And I've been chanting those words to myself this morning. After trying since the weekend to finalize reception details with the hall, I got it all squared away with the hall's owner last night. At 10pm. I won't say much, other than I wish the guy was a little easier to get a hold of. I've bought the favors and I'm making Rob help me put them all together this weekend. I went to Ulta last night and bought makeup--something I do once every three years or so, since I wear it so infrequently. My out of town friends and relatives have made lodging arrangements for next weekend. Rob's getting all 10-year-old about going to Universal Studios while we're in Florida for the honeymoon.

Ten more days. After a yearlong engagement, I've got ten more days until I change my last name and become my honey's wife. I can finally relax and look foward to it now, and that's kinda awesome. My wait is almost over.

Obama serves Satan!

I haven't given my secret girlfriend much love lately, but this made me fall in love with her all over again. Thank you, Satan, indeed. (h/t to HuffPo)

Maybe they really are starting to surround us.

I was wrong about the Bimghamton shooting, but the incident in Pittsburgh was indeed the work of a misled man afraid of the government. And it's much worse, because Richard Poplawski killed men sworn to protect him.

This young man hunted police officers because he was afraid Obama was going to take away his guns. Perhaps this will sound a little insensitive, but people like this are not helping the Second Amendment cause at all. Killing people doesn't make a positive case for loosening restrictions on gun control.

The article linked above (h/t to Ta-Nehisi Coates) says Poplawski joined the white supremacist website Stormfront, attacked his girlfriend after an argument and was arrested after violating a protection order, and was kicked out of the military after throwing a lunch tray at a drill instructor.

Now, belonging to a hate group--in theory--should not disqualify someone from owning a gun. But violence against anyone--especially a woman--should at least put up some red flags. Having an arsenal buried in a park is not even remotely the same thing as keeping a rifle and a few handguns for hunting and protection. This man immersed himself in conspiracy theories, was violent toward women, and proved himself unfit for the military. Regardless of his political beliefs, this is a man who should not have had guns.

What frightens me is knowing that there are people all over the country like Poplawski, people who believe the warped rhetoric coming from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and his ilk. To link sites like Stormfront with Fox News is no longer the stretch it used to be--when a newscaster is calling for citizens to actively plan a resistance to government, there will inevitably be people who take the message a little too literally. And when that happens, innocent people are in danger. Richard Poplawski did more than kill three police officers: he took the innocence of the daughters who will grow up without their fathers. He took the husbands, brothers, and sons of families away. And he did it because people lied to him.

This has to stop.

Glenn Beck's Harvest?: Shooting at American Civic Association in Binghamton, NY

See--Fox News aren't the only people capable of using a question-headline to make unfair points about politics. And if this has nothing to do with crazy white men and guns, I will not change this post or apologize--because being wrong isn't an option. If Fox can do it, why can't I? But this really could be some "We Surround Them" shit.

Officials have confirmed that at least four people were shot, and more than forty hostages are being held at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York. It's an organization that helps immigrants with citizenship, counseling and resettlement issues. And if this is racially/immigrant motivated, it wouldn't be the first time a crazy fundie decided to hunt non-whites and/or non-Christians.

And for people of color and non-Christians, it's hard not to connect these horrifying incidents with statements from politicians and media personalities that encourage "fighting back" against the people and institutions that threaten their way of life. These people have to know that what they're saying is going to set someone off. And they don't give a shit. Because the brown people and the moozlums and the gays are taking over, and that's worse than just about anything America has ever suffered.

Something tells me this isn't what makes Glenn Beck fear for his country. But it makes me fear for mine.

Iowa officially kicks ass.

This means my best friend, who's lived in Iowa for nearly five years, can go from fussing over my wedding to fussing over his own someday. I'm so happy, and so proud to live in this America.

Whiny Smokers are Whiny

There are claims that the federal tobacco tax picks on poor, helpless smokers. And we should be picked on. I paid almost six bucks for a pack of smokes today, and I'm glad.

Listen--I know that smoking is bad for me. My mother was a respiratory therapist for more than 20 years, and when I started smoking at age 18, she gave me plenty of speeches about what I was doing to my lungs, my skin, my vascular system. Both of my grandmothers smoked, and they both suffered strokes and heart attacks that eventually killed them. I sang all through high school and spent about 15 minutes in a blues band in my early twenties, and my voice has definitely suffered from my habit. And since there's a good chance my yucky habit will cultivate some yucky health problems, I should be responsible for paying for them. Higher taxes that go toward health care will do that--and I'll pay until I quit.

I've been trying to quit for years, and haven't been able to maintain the will to stick to it. I hope that I, and others like me, will accept this tax as a price for doing harm to ourselves, and learn to do without it.