I love that man.

President Obama, you made me cry again.

The only thing I didn't like in that whole speech was the idea of new nuclear power plants in the United States and continuing to perpetuate the lie of so-called "clean coal." We are all aware (or should be) that western Europe is systematically closing all of their nuclear power plants as they replace them with green alternatives because they recognise that the risks of total disaster far outweigh the benefits when geothermal, hydroelectric, wind and solar generated power is so much safer, healthier (for people and the world), more abundant and will eventually be far cheaper than even nuclear power (you know, they have to do something with all that nuclear waste... it doesn't just disappear into the Great Void just because we'd like it to do that...). The "clean coal" lie I have addressed elsewhere and will not go into again, but really people have got to stop repeating this figment of the coal industry's PR people's imaginations. Continuously repeating the lie won't make it any more a reality than telling children about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy make those imaginary creatures real.

Oh, and the Republicans? Can stuff it.

The usual...

A random update...

• I've been a little sick for a week or so... I thought at first that it was the crazy wet and cold weather we had last week, and then I thought maybe it was the weather and/or indoor allergies, which would be unusual but not unheard of, but it was just too annoying and persistent. It's probably a sinus infection, according to the nurse at the clinic... and now that I have antibiotics, I think it's getting better. I'll know better by tomorrow afternoon, as I've only been taking them for 24 hours and while I think I feel better, I couldn't say for 100% certainty.



• We just heard today that my brother is moving home from California to go to school. He'll be here on Monday. Not totally sure how I feel about that yet... I hope he does well.



• Meanwhile, I've been preparing my application for the Graduate Certificate program I want to do to get certified. It's due by March 15th. I have everything finished and together and sitting on my desk in an unsealed envelope, except the letter of interest/statement of purpose. They are quite vague about the requirements for it, and in fact, somewhat contradictory in the instructions, other than the very limited "250 words or less" specification. I've emailed the program requesting a clarification of instructions, but I have yet to hear back.



• I'm loving work... I find it rewarding and enjoyable and I feel valued, competent and helpful. I think that's important.



• I've been knitting a little bit. I just need to finish up a few decorative touches and I'll have two baby hats done for a friend who is expecting. She's a Firefly/Serenity fan, so I've made her a Jayne hat, as well as a hat for which I just happened to have yarn in my stash. I've also given her booties... Next is a blanket, but I haven't completely decided on a pattern yet. I have until mid-April. Other than that, I want to work on a few things for myself. I need a new pair of fingerless mitts. I think I want them to be a little longer than the Fetching mitts that I have already. The only problem with the Fetching mitts is that they aren't quite long enough to cover my arms to where my coat sleeve ends whenever my arms aren't just hanging at my sides, you know? I might make cuffs too. I also want some anklets, and another hat.



• I need to send my Hitchhiker to be converted into a double-treadle. I keep forgetting to pack it up and send it...



• I want to spin. My unspun fiber stash continues to grow unabated and is so very tempting. I'm running out of room for it too... I can't wait until I'm able to get to VA to try out a Mach II. The more I think about it, the more that little number is #1 on my list of potential new wheels.



• I'm obsessed with Star Trek again. I'm a Trekkie. I'd never deny it, just like I would never deny being a huge and hardcore fan of Jane Austen and the works of JRR Tolkien. I liked ST: Voyager for a while there, until it started to get silly toward the end. DS9, since it ended, has been my favorite ST series for the execution of the overall story (frankly, I thought it was masterfully done)... I remember using the philosophical concept of IDIC in some capacity in a paper during my sophomore year of high school. Never watched Enterprise because I thought it wasn't very well done. The writers of that show just weren't particularly interested in going along with previously established canon and just made things up as they went along if it served the story - lazy, tsk, tsk. And I was never into TOS very much until the new movie came out last Spring, but now I've watched every episode of TOS on YouTube (it's up there under CBS's shows) and I would be lying if I didn't say that I want to get some Vulcan ears and go to conventions. It's a sickness and I don't want the cure... Couldn't make it to DragonCon this year, when Shatner, Nimoy, Stewart and Mulgrew, among others were all there. It was unfortunate, but it was just too expensive for me. I'll get there eventually though.



• The garden needs doing, but the weather was awful for a while there, so I'm behind on that work. Hopefully, this weekend, I'll get a lot of work done. Can't plant things yet, but I need to redefine the planting beds and put in the soil amendments and figure out what I'm going to plant.



• I can't remember if I've written about it yet, but I'm taking Hebrew lessons on Wednesday evenings. I really like it and it's about time I learned...

Yes, I think so...

Inspired by my friend Ilana, I'm making a few New Year's resolutions I think I can at least try to keep:

• Blog more! LOL! I'm woefully disappointed with the number of posts I made last year, and none at all in the month of December! For shame!


• Loose the 7 pounds I managed to gain since last summer and then some! To this end, I have bought a pedometer.


• Knit more! And knit for myself more! It's not that I don't like knitting for others, but I have worn out several cold weather items and I really need to make new ones for myself, and if I don't make it a priority, I know I won't do it. And I inexplicably feel like I knitted hardly anything at all last year, even though I began and completed 18 projects and mostly completed 2 others in 2009. Lately, I've been getting lots of inspiration for accessories from Gilmore Girls of all places...


• Continue to eat healthier and find ways to continue to refine what I eat (this will never, however, include cutting out bagels... they are my Kryptonite in the best sort of way). I splurged way too much on sugar during the holidays...


• Go to at least 1 reenacting or living history event! In costume!!!

As an FYI to those who might be interested: all the knitting projects I worked on toward the end of 2009 now have pictures up on Ravelry (viewable only to members). I have the same username there.

Busch Gardens on Thanksgiving

My family had Thanksgiving on Wednesday rather than Thursday like the rest of America...

On thanksgiving, I went to Busch Gardens...

I has sum peekchurs... Mostly animals and the park, none with me in them. Someone else was taking those and I haven't gotten those from them yet.

Enjoy...

Happy Turkey Day!!!

Or... Happy Thanksgiving! :D I hope everyone has a wonderful day with plenty to eat, but no stomach aches!

And now for a video:



I love our president. Just sayin'.

We're having Thanksgiving tonight. Tomorrow, I'm going to Busch Gardens because there will be almost no one there. Friday, I hit the stores for some awesome shopping. Yes, I am insane. *glee*

Knitting update...

I finished a sock! Successfully! o.O How did that happen? I'm currently working on the second one.

I've also finished the lace shawl that I was working on for what seemed like forever. I've washed, blocked it and taken pictures, but haven't put them up on Ravelry yet. I've also started on another shawl.

I'm working on a Piggle for my niece.

I've decided to make scarves for my littlest sisters. I just haven't decided on yarn or patterns yet. I'm thinking something trendy, but simple. Maybe braid cables or just a plain 1x1 rib. There are a lot of scarves in stores like that right now and they're at that age where they would probably like something very trendy.

In other news, I continue to work on washing, skirting and carding the llama fiber I've got. It's been slow going with work, but now that I'm on Thanksgiving Break for the next 9 days(!!!), I should have some time to power through the rest of it. I definitely want to have it all carded and done by the time I leave to go visit family for the holidays.

Oh, thank you, Emma!

Emma Thompson to remove her name from the "Release Polanski!" petition.

Emma Thompson is one of my favorite British actresses. I would have truly hated having to never see any future movie she was involved with.

Holidays are coming up fast...

So I have far too few days until Christmas and far too many things that need to be knit. I'm a bit frustrated with the shawl that I've been working on, although I don't have too very many more rows to do. I should buckle down and just finish them so I can block it and have it off the needles and out of the way.

For the rest of my holiday projects, I'm waiting for needles to arrive from KnitPicks. It's weird, I have dozens upon dozens of needles, but I just happen not to have the sizes and types I need for these last three projects. They aren't sizes that the craft stores around here carry either, and while the LYS has them, I don't want to pay $15 for a circ and $20 for some dpns when I can get the same sizes for $5 from KnitPicks.

So I have to wait until they come to start on anything else. Thank goodness they have fast shipping, even with their free shipping option.

Tangentally, I think I've finally decided on the sock pattern I'm going to try making. More on that at a later date...

What I really want to do right now is spin and card the llama fiber my friend in Orlando sent me. The llama fiber is lovely, and so far there has been very little wasted from the 2 lbs 10 ounces bag she sent me. Very little, especially considering that moths got into the bag since it has been here (I'm somewhat concerned about the rest of my stash, although the moths did seem to be isolated in the llama bag, which had holes in it and all my other fiber is either treated with lavender wash, or is in sealed ziplocks or thicker plastic with twist-ties and no holes. *crosses fingers*). I'm having to set aside huge chunks for better scouring to try to get the moth stickiness out of it so it can be carded. These chunks look like big, snarled mats, but really they are just being held together by moth juice (ew!) and if I can get rid of that, it should be okay. Of course, some parts are completely ruined because the moths chewed up all the wool into tiny little pieces, but so far, those little bits have been easy to pick out and the bits that I haven't picked out seem to be falling out just fine when I card. I hope to be able to take pictures to share soon of all my little rolags (which reminds me, I need to figure out how to spin from a hand carded rolag... never done that before).

And let's talk about carding for a moment. So I definitely see that it takes practice and I've noticed that I'm certainly getting better at it. The cards don't seem as heavy to me as they used to feel and the fiber isn't staying on the cards nearly as long. I don't know if that's because this is llama and before I was working with finer alpaca or if I'm just getting better at carding... I'm assuming the later.

And speaking of the alpaca. I haven't given up on hand blending it with the lambs wool I have, but I'm taking a breather on it because my friend who sent me the llama really wants something made from the llama and I'm trying to be mindful of that and get on the process asap.

Which brings me back to holiday gifts. *sighs* I've been trying to think of back up gifts in the eventuality that I won't be able to finish all the projects in what is now something like 50 days. Oy!

Time, you are aflyin'!

Huh?

Can someone explain to me why there are some US size 2 knitting needles that are 2.75mm and some that are 3mm? And sometimes the 3mm are ones are US 2.5 (like in the Ravelry needles and hooks chart)?

Happy Halloween!

Myspace Stuff

Tonight I'm going to a friend's house to watch scary movies. Should be good times...

In other news, I dyed my hair with hennaforhair.com's blond kit last night. It's not really henna, it's cassia. It doesn't change the color of hair that is darker than blond and has a golden yellow dye molecule. That's not the primary reason for my use of it. It conditions hair like nothing else (except actual henna). Really, amazing stuff. I'm also experimenting with other henna mixtures using small samples of my hair taken from my hair brush over the past month. So far the two formulas I've tried, "Cinnamon" and "Sunshine" from hennaforhair, have both dyed my hair very distinctly red... One, the Sunshine, dyed it a rather orange tint, in fact.

Also, I really think I'm going to get a Mach II from Spinolutions. I found a dealer who I will be able to visit when I'm in VA. She's on the way to DC. So I hope in the next six months or so I'll be able to go try her wheel.

No, no, really...

I'm really pretty sure that if this wheel is half as amazing as it looks like it is, I want it. So much.

Check this out:

Weekend projects...

My friend Joe and I planted fruit trees on Saturday. My mom has been wanting a yard full of fruit trees for the better part of 30 years and something has always happened, either to them once they've been planted or to prevent trees from being planted at all. But now we have them. An Anna apple tree, a Dorsett Golden apple tree, a papaya, a mango, a Florida Hass avocado, a Meyer lemon tree, a Persian lime, a Key lime, a Valencia orange, a Hamlin orange and a Brown Turkey fig. It was quite a day, filled with digging and hauling and peat moss. We already had an Anna apple, a Brown Turkey fig, a pink grapefruit and a lemon tree. The lemon tree and the pink grapefruit both used to be orange trees. They died back in freezes back in the 80s, their graphs died or something, and when they grew again, they started producing other kinds of citrus fruit. I think this is the neatest thing about citrus trees. Both are much more than 30 years old now because they were here before the house was built in '79 and the land was still an orange grove.

I took the subject area exam on Saturday as well. I'm confident that I passed it and will be very surprised if I didn't.

Today, I went to the yarn shop but forgot to take along the notes about projects that I want to get started on soon, so I didn't get any needles or yarn for planned projects. I did get some yarn though. I can't go there without picking up something. I got some Qina in Wisteria and some Angora yarn in peacock green.

And then this evening, I made banana bread. I hope that it will be delicious and strongly suspect it will. I should post the recipe. My mom has been using it for about 30 years.

I've been working constantly this month. There have only been two weekdays the entire month of October when I haven't worked. So very busy. It's good because more work means more money, but it's still been quite a lot of work and I'll be glad to have some time off. This week, I know I'm working Monday and Tuesday, but I'm not sure about the rest of the week yet.

Edited to include recipe:

My Mom's Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 cup mashed very ripe bananas
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream the sugar and butter together in a mixing bowl. Add vanilla and eggs. Beat together as if you were making scrambled eggs. This will help the bread be lighter. Add bananas. Stir until well mixed. Add all dry ingredients, a little at a time, stirring together in between. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and pour mixture into it. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes. The very center of the bread will probably still be a little moist and the corners will look like they are too dry when it's done.

He's okay...

At about 11:20 this morning, my dad got into a car accident. If he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, he probably would have been killed (everybody, always wear your seatbelt!). Someone who was speeding ran him off the interstate (and they didn't ever stop), he lost control of his car, hit another car (apparently driven by a nice young woman who goes to USF - she wasn't hurt but her car was pretty badly dented on one side and it spun around on the shoulder of the road), went off the road, and then his car flipped over and landed on the driver's side against a barbed wire fence next to a cow field. He climbed out through the passenger side window. He's got a bruise and cut on one elbow, a cut on his forearm, and a cut on the top of his head, where he must have hit something, although he doesn't remember doing that, and his knee that he injured almost two months ago while working in the garden got banged pretty good against the driver's side door and now it's as bad as it ever was again. Poor Daddy... but no concussion and he's okay and glad to be breathing.

We don't know if the car is totaled yet. It's been towed to the Toyota dealership he bought it from back in '01 and we'll hear tomorrow or the next day from the insurance adjuster as to whether or not it will be declared "totaled."

The school secretary tracked my mom and I down in the teachers' lunchroom about halfway through our lunch period to tell us. Scared my mom half to death. Luckily, my dad had called the school and there was a phone in the teachers' lunchroom, so she got to talk to him right away. I was going to leave school and go get him to take him home, but my dad's cell phone died before he could tell her exactly where he was (isn't it awful when that happens? Like, that's what people have cell phones for, but sometimes they just die right when you really need them), and Mom didn't want me to go on a wild goose chase up and down the interstate trying to find him because he had been at the dentist in St. Pete and might be anywhere or might be picked up by the tow truck before I got there. He had said before the phone died that AAA was sending a tow truck to get his car, and that if his phone died, he'd call her again when he got to another phone, either the tow truck driver's or when he got to the Toyota dealership, if he couldn't get a ride home and needed me to come get him. However, (again) luckily, the tow truck driver very kindly offered to drive my dad all the way home even though our house is about 8 miles away from the dealership and he didn't have to do that, so Dad called once he was home, not much more than an hour and a half after the accident happened.

Nupps

I don't get them. I don't get why. And I don't think they look good enough to excuse the considerable trouble.

I'm working on the Swallowtail Shawl right now. I've don't one row of nupps. I'm thinking that's the only row of them I'm going to do. I'm just hoping that it won't look too odd to only have the one row and no more.

What the...?!?!

Sorry, I've been busy praying in synagogue and working this weekend and week respectively, so I'm just now hearing about all this...


(Feel free to take the above and use it elsewhere against these crazies who either signed the petition supporting Polanski or have publicly stated they support his release from jail.)

Roman Polanski - the creep - finally got arrested and will hopefully be extradited back to the US. But some people, who no doubt believe that art and time should heal all evils, seem to think he should be allowed to continue fleeing justice. What part of "HE DRUGGED AND RAPED A 13-YEAR-OLD-GIRL AND DIDN'T EVEN CONTEST IT! IN FACT, HE ADMITTED IT, PLEAD GUILTY, AND THEN FLED THE COUNTRY SO HE WOULDN'T GO TO PRISON FOREVER!" don't these people understand?!?!?! HE'S A PEDO FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY! I'll repeat that for those who missed it the first time: HE'S A PEDO! FOR THOSE WHO DOUBT IT, I HAVE THIS QUOTE, SPOKEN BY ROMAN POLANSKI HIMSELF:

"If I had killed somebody, it wouldn’t have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But... fucking, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to fuck young girls. Juries want to fuck young girls. Everyone wants to fuck young girls!"

(This was reported by The Telegraph UK, having been found in an interview that Polanski did with Martin Amis, a novelist, in 1979.)

If nothing else, we've all seen enough Law & Order: SVU to know that THAT RIGHT THERE is the way a PEDOPHILE THINKS to justify THE SICK things they do! They think everyone wants to do what they do, but everyone else just won't admit it. WTH?

And for those who might think that Polanski was right to run because the judge, who had accepted his plea deal, which Polanski had agreed to on the basis that the judge would reduce his sentence, reneged on the agreement that the sentence would be reduced and instead had decided to sentence Polanski to 50 years... The judge changed his mind because he was given evidence that Polanski had raped two underage girls in Germany before and had reason to believe that, if given the chance, Polanski would do it again. Sounds like a good reason to levy maximum sentence to me. The fact that Polanski has admitted to having sex with underage girls in the years since he fled the US just makes it that much worse.

So many people that I have to put on the "Dead to Me" list now, the people who have signed the petition asking for Polanski's release from the Swiss jail in which he's currently awaiting extradition... Including Terry Gilliam, who I adored until now, and Martin Scorsese. I notice, however, that most people on the list supporting his release are French or in some way Continental European... I find that rather interesting...

Oh, and I love (read that with sarcasm, k?) that this petition says he's been arrested on a 30 year old warrant in which he's charged "in a case of morals"... Nice euphemism for "child rape"? As if the rape of a child is not a generally abhorrent thing and it's all a matter of Americans being Puritanical prudes. Really, WTH?!? DIAF!

Another awesome article that obviously does not miss the point of all this at all. YAY! for SALON!

And I would like to say to Whoopi Goldberg, who clarified her "but I don't believe it was rape-rape" statement earlier today: You need to get your facts straight before you open your mouth. Polanski plead guilty to the lesser charge of "unlawful sex with a minor" in a plea deal. He would have been charged with and tried for "aggrivated rape" - which certainly is "rape-rape," as you put it - if he hadn't plead out. And if you read the transcripts of the victim's grand jury testimony, it is very obvious that what he did was aggrivated, violent rape of a 13 year old girl. The DA offered the deal to spare the child further anguish by having to go through what would have been a high-profile trial at a time when there were no protections for victims like there are today. There's no mitigation or down-playing of Polanski's crime, no matter to what he formally plead guilty.

Also: See this open letter to the signers of this petition and consider passing it on. This deserves to become viral on the internet and I hope every single one of the signers of the Polanski supporters' petition sees this letter and the comments.

As of 2:30am September 1st, the following people I once respected have signed the petition for Polanski's release:

Darren Aronofsky (husband of Rachel Weisz), Ethan Coen (one half of the Coen Brothers), Penelope Cruz (yeah, you read that right), Alfonso Cuaron (the director of Prisoner of Azkaban), Guillermo del Toro (damn it, and I wanted to see The Hobbit), Terry Gilliam (of Monte Python), David Lynch (who did Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive), Brett Ratner (the shit director who ruined X-Men: the Last Stand), Martin Scorsese (who needs no introduction), Tilda Swinton (The White Witch in Narnia), Sam Mendes (Kate Winslet's husband), and Woody Allen (who I never respected, ever, but who isn't a surprise to the point that it's a freaking joke...)...

Knitting and Spinning news...

I won the Customer Appreciation drawing on the Peaches n' Creme Ravelry group for September! Two pounds of any yarn! :D I got the Article 940 in Capri Blue and 984 in Sky Blue. YAY!

I finished knitting the Odessa hat my little sister asked for. I just need to dye it. She wanted in yellow and I couldn't get my hands on the right yarn in yellow, so I got Cascade 220 Superwash in a natural sort of color and I'm going to dye it with acid dye. I just need to get my hands on some vinegar.

In other news, I want this wheel so bad, OMG! Saw it in an ad in Fall 2009 Spin-Off (there are some really interesting articles in there, including information about raising silk worms, growing cotton in your backyard and spinning wolf fur!). The wheel is called the Mach II by SpinOlution.

I've been thinking about how I probably need a double-treadle castle wheel that I can place directly in front of me when I spin for a few weeks now. Not that I have any money to buy one. I'm not even entirely sure what I want to buy. But I think a double-treadle, castle-type wheel might help with the bursitis in my hip. I still can't spin for a prolonged period of time. I've managed a half ounce of fiber per day that I've spun three times this last week, and I've been okay doing that. No pain, no strain that I can really feel. It's something, but nothing like what I used to do. And I've asked on one of the spinning groups on Ravelry for advice about it and a double-treadle castle was recommended because the orifice and the treadles are directly in front of the spinner, instead of placed at an angle - either to the spinner or to each other or both - and this might encourage better posture, save one side of my body from doing all the work (or even allow me to switch feet entirely when I want to), and keep me from doing something I've noticed I do with my other wheels...

I had never noticed this before, but I'm trying to be more conscious of what my body does while I'm spinning that might be causing repetitive motion issues. I have a very pronounced tendency to turnout my hip and whole leg while treadling! For those who might not know what it means to turnout, it's a ballet and dance term for the motion where one rotates the hip joint (and therefore, the entire leg all the way down to the foot) away from the center of the body. I have noticed that I sometimes do this much less often while driving as well... This could be the source of my injury, and I'm making a conscious effort to not do it, but it is difficult. It feels very natural to allow my hip to turn out while spinning on my HitchHiker, and though I haven't used it in a really long time my Saxony practically begs me to turnout because the treadle is already at the perfect angle for it, but I can see that turning-out makes my posture lazy and it puts greater strain on my hip joint in a very short period of time, even if it is otherwise quite comfortable. Bad, bad, bad. So I really would like to try out a double-treadle castle wheel as soon as I can to see if this change in the treadles and orientation of the orifice helps with this problem.

Reading Rainbow is being canceled!

You read that right. I am so bummed! I loved Reading Rainbow as a small child. It was one of my first tv shows and I watched it practically every day. I hoped to one day have my children watch the show too.

Details here.

Personally, I think it's the job of schools, not television to teach the mechanics of how to read. Reading Rainbow makes reading cool and fun for young kids. And it's not just a matter of encouraging the literate to read, but also motivating the illiterate to want to learn to read and also, you know, a lot of kids who watch the show are still in the stage where their parents read to them. This idea of canceling it because research shows they should have programs that focus on phonics is stupid.

Who's up for a fund-raiser just for Reading Rainbow? I bet it would be really easy to raise enough money to keep it on the air if someone would just organize it. It's a shame that such a wonderful and beloved program is being canceled over the matter of just a few hundred thousand dollars.

OMG, Shoes! ... And Shows...

I love shoes. Even if most of the time I like my feet bare, I still have an uncontrollable, irrational lust for cute, hot, trendy, hot shoes.

I bought some today. Seychelles. "Our Heroine."



That's the best photo I can get with my camera phone.

They're pretty much exactly like shoes that they are selling at Target, except these have brass hardware instead of pewter colored hardware, and these are real leather instead of evil PVC. \o/

In other news: Am currently watching Bones. I gave up on The Vampire Diaries after last week. It's set in a small town in rural Virginia, and yet NO ONE speaks with even a hint of a Southern accent... in fact, everyone speaks as if they're from Los Angeles. That's the tip of the iceberg of the things that are wrong with that show, but that was the thing that pushed me from "fun to mock how bad this is" to "now, they're just being excessively ridiculous."

Supernatural is on next!!! :D Hot shoes and Supernatural! I feel like it's my birthday or something...

I don't like Joe Wilson as much as anyone...

I totally agree that he was censured in the House today. I think he should apologize before the House too. It's not playing politics to censure him. He did an awful, awful thing during the President's speech. I said at the time that it was potentially racially motivated because I don't believe anyone would have done that to any previous president... whether that is because things are just so extreme right now, or because it truly did happen because the President is black and Joe Wilson is a racist, I can't say for sure.

But I do not like what Chris Matthews is doing. Saying that Joe Wilson is "playing Johnny Reb" by purposefully trying to stir things up to distract everyone from the real issue of health care, and trying to steer discussions on his MSNBC show toward what Joe Wilson's politics might be about the Confederacy and the Battle Flag, and suggesting that because Joe Wilson is from South Carolina everyone from South Carolina is racist, when that is very much not the case. Joe Wilson might be a lot of things - and I don't know that Chris is entirely wrong in his suggestions toward Joe Wilson's personal racism, I just wish Chris would be more specific with his evidence instead of just spouting innuendo and including all of South Carolina and all of the South in his slurs. Icwhutudidthar, Chris... and I don't approve. Because, honestly, you're doing exactly what you accused Joe Wilson of trying to do today - distracting from the real issues at hand. Stop being divisive, Chris! It weakens the argument and the Republicans do that enough for everyone... And the same goes for the rest of the Yankee media who seem to be really liking the idea that it's all a matter of people from the South just generally being ignorant, racist hicks. We're not. Thanks. I mean, some are, but I think the matter is being overstated and exaggerated.

I know what President Carter has said about the South. I would like to point out that he's of an older generation (like my grandmother who said last November that she wouldn't vote for Obama, despite the fact that the rest of us were, because "black people aren't as smart as white people"... *headdesk* Yes, we don't listen to what she has to say on such issues, and we realize she's living in 1932...), and might not be seeing the changes in the younger, mainstream Southern culture because he's looking for the way things used to be and finding that in some places (as Lincoln said, "If you look for the bad in people, expecting to find it, you surely will."). Sure, racism in the South still exists - I mean, duh - but is it pervasive and insidious like it once was? I don't see that it is.

Racism also doesn't occur just in the South. It also exists in New York, and Connecticut, and Wisconsin, and Vermont, and Arizona, and California - it occurs everywhere... Anyone who says otherwise obviously isn't paying attention, or purposely ignoring evidence because it doesn't fit in with their preconceived ideas about what racism is and who is guilty of it (and this tendency by some people is something I find pretty freaking disturbing). It isn't limited to just white people being racist toward black people either, it occurs in any and every combination imaginable, and anyone who pays attention knows that. Personally, I don't see greater evidence of racism in the South than I see evidence of it anywhere else in the country, although I think racism in the South gets a lot more press (again because it plays into some people's preconceived notions). If anything, I think many people in the South are hyper-aware of race issues precisely because of the South's history, in ways that people outside of the South are not, and make an effort to not only not be a racist in actual fact, but also to not do anything that might make them appear to be a racist either.

And can we please remember that Barack Obama carried Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia - which are three Southern states (Yes, Florida counts! If we seceded once upon a time, we count.) - and that he lost South Carolina by only 9%! That's a pretty small margin for a state that's supposedly so very racist, while also being so very Republican (which I think had a lot more to do with the loss, rather than pervasive racism). I'd also like to note that North Carolina and Indiana (not a Southern state!) had the same margin in Obama's favor: 50% to 49% with 1% going to other candidates.

At the very same time, I would very much thank the "Right" if they would STOP using phrases that bring up the idea that the South is full of racists to advertise their anti-Obama products, such as the "You Lie!" bumpersticker being peddled at WorldNetDaily with the phrase "Rebel yell" as part of the advertisement (and bona dea, but they are wingnuts over there at that site!). In fact, if you're not Joe Diffy or using it in technical historical context, I really wish you wouldn't use that phrase at all.

*sighs* ... Yeah, getting back to the fight for health care now.

Two pieces of business this morning...

Which Psych Character Are You?

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And the Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day trailer...



October 30th, y'all!!! WHY SO FAR AWAY?!?! (I know it's because they want it to be close to All Saints Day, but still...)