Join the Impact is calling for nationwide protests against California’s passage of Proposition 8 this Saturday, November 15:

On the steps of your City Hall on November 15th at 10:30am PST / 1:30pm EST, our community WILL take to the streets and speak out against Proposition 8 and all of the other pro-equality losses that we have faced in our lifetimes, in our parents’ lifetimes, and for many generations before us. WE CAN’T DO THIS ALONE! WE NEED YOUR HELP! We need organizers in every major city to work with us and get out the protest! I know you’re all tired from all of the work you’ve done for this great election year, but I’m asking for one more push! Let the country hear our voices together. Let them see that we are a strong, adamant, and powerful community that deserves equal rights, and CAN’T BE DEFEATED!

Send this post to everyone! We have one week and must react to the pro-hate votes cast against us! Let’s help our LGBTQ friends, families, neighbors, and each other to IMPACT this country with a demand for our basic human rights! Join the cause, join the voice, and JOIN THE IMPACT!

You can look up your city and protest location here.

(Via Lindsay @ Female Impersonator.)

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Updated to add:

Here’s the exact quote; early accounts of the press conference on the internets only had partial transcripts:

With respect to the dog. This is a major issue. I think it’s generated more interest on our web site than just about anything. We have two criteria that have to be reconciled. One is that Malia is allergic, so it has to be hypoallergenic. There are a number of breeds that are hypoallergenic, on the other hand our preference would be to get a shelter dog. But obviously a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me. So whether we’re going to be able to balance those two things I think is a pressing issue on the Obama household.

Also irksome is the reporter’s phrasing of the question: “everyone wants to know what kind of dog are you going to buy for the girls?” Because purchasing a sentient being as if it’s a microwave or couch is the only way to bring an animal into your home, dontchaknow?

Idiot man-child Chris Matthews echoed this sentiment even after playing Obama’s response just now. Dolt.

Finally, “hypoallergenic” as it relates to dogs should really be in scare quotes; as both Elaine and the Wiki entry I link to below note, there’s no such thing as a truly hypoallergenic dog. However, there are a number of steps that those living with animals and allergies can take to minimize the misery. Shane has asthma, and we manage with five dogs and a cat. (Likewise, my mother has asthma, and has lived with dogs, cats, rabbits, birds and turtles…though not all at the same time!)

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During President-elect Obama’s first press conference this afternoon, he was asked about that puppy he promised daughters Malia and Sasha:

“With respect to the dog, this is a major issue. We have two criteria that have to be reconciled. One is that Malia is allergic, so it has to be hypoallergenic. Number 2. is that we would prefer a shelter dog, but as you know a lot of them are mutts, like me, so we’ll have to balance those issues.”

Here, Obama buys into the myth that young and/or purebred dogs are not available for adoption; that they can only be purchased from breeders. A quick perusal through animal adoption sites such as Petfinder puts this misconception to bed, as Elaine points out.

In addition to Obama’s prejudices regarding shelter dogs (i.e., all are old mutts), I’m also disturbed by his apparent willingness to flipflop on this issue if need be, despite Mrs. Obama’s promise that the family will adopt, rather than purchase a dog. (No doubt due to several high-profile campaigns encouraging them to do just this, including a letter from PETA and a petition drive from Best Friends.) Doubly so when Obama has a history of changing course when it’s politically expedient. If he can’t keep such an “inconsequential,” simple promise such as this, I don’t have much faith that he’ll, say, appoint justices who respect my bodily autonomy.

While the matter of adopting vs. purchasing the family “pet” may seem trivial, the epidemic of companion animal overpopulation and the resulting murder of 3 to 4 million cats and dogs annually is anything but. The Obamas are in the unique position to set an excellent, progressive example; and yet, President-elect Obama has already begun backtracking, hemming and hawing - at such an early date, and seemingly in response to misinformation regarding animal adoption.

I hope Best Friends continues hounding (pun intended) him on the issue.

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…if one more Obamabot trolls my Flickr photostream in order to call Sarah Palin a bitch, a cunt, a whore, etc., and/or call for her murder. Doubly so if they defend their misogyny by saying “I don’t hate all women, I just hate this woman.” Because, um, we’ve all heard that before.

Besides, it’s over, people! What’s the point of all this hate when it’s fucking over!?

I guess misogyny is a Jeanie Kingmaker that’s harder to cram back in the bottle once you’ve encouraged it to run free for the past 21 months, eh?

Oh, and McCain campaign: fuck off. Palin may be as dumb as a box of rocks, but your boss is the one who chose her. What does that say about his intelligence (not to mention, concern for country), hmmmm? And you don’t think his angry outbursts qualify as diva-like temper tantrums? Oh wait, of course not. Silly me, he has a penis, and thus a license to act like one. My bad.

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Tagged: 2008 elections indecision ‘08 elections sarah palin john mccain obamabots misogyny sexism flickr

He wasn’t my candidate, but I’m relieved that today, the Wednesday-morning quarterbacks are discussing how President-elect Barack Obama triumphed over Senator McCain - if only because the other alternative is too terrifying to consider.

I hope that Barack Obama’s victory over John McCain will begin to heal the deep racial divisions that still exist in this country.

But I fear that rewarding a campaign based at least in part on rank, naked misogyny will only encourage it to grow, fester and spread.

I want to believe that an Obama administration will respect and fight for the civil and human rights of all: people of color, women, the LGBTQ community, people of disability, people of all faiths - and particularly those of none. Non-human animals and the environment. Global citizens, not just American citizens.

But I’m fucking terrified that he’ll throw us all under the bus, in the name of “populism” and “reaching across the aisle.” All those “special interest groups” President Obama has called upon to converge as one - does he expect us to sacrifice our well-being for “the greater good”?

Because I won’t. A condescending pat on the head simply won’t do. Goodbye to all that shit.

And yet, blub. This is history, in the making. On more than one level, I’m so very proud to be an American today.

On other levels…not so much.

I don’t know what to think or feel or be this morning.

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Tagged: 2008 elections barack obama youtube acceptance speech chicago grant park video democracy human rights misogyny feminism racism

Mr. Bitch and I headed out to the polling place around 10:45. Anticipating at least an hour’s wait, I brought a copy of the latest Bitch magazine. We even parked a ways down the street from the courthouse, since we didn’t want to cruise around looking for a spot, and wanted to save the good parking for elderly and handicapped voters anyhow.

Alas, although the small room allocated for elections was crowded, there was no line to speak of. The whole process took all of 15 minutes, start to finish. The hardest part was penciling in my write-ins with a marker. (Ugh!)

Clinton County has paper ballots that you feed into a scanner; as it registers your ballot, it shows you what number voter you are. This bitch was voter #782 at her polling place. That sounds like a low number, but not so much when you consider that our county is only home to 18,979 people, including kids under 18. Given that there’s only one polling place for the entire county, and residents of different areas received different ballots, it’s possible that I was only voter #782 in my area. Either way, I hope the number reflects a high voter turnout this year.

Anyway, I prepared for a long wait - downed a bowl of pasta for lunch before leaving, brought some reading material, crated Miss Kaylee, the nervous pee-er - so now it looks like I have the afternoon free. I’ve been experiencing waves of nausea (zomg, what if McCain wins!?) and sadness (someone close to me passed away last night) all day, so methinks I’ll take the dogs for a walk (which means three rounds of walks, since I have five dogs and can only handle two at a time). It’s a gorgeous day out, and tomorrow a cold front’s supposed to come through and bring the first snow fall of the season. Better take advantage of the warm weather while I can. Plus, distractions - I needs ‘em.

For those voting in Missouri: if you plan on writing in a candidate, you can find Missouri state regulations on write-in candidates here. I double-checked ‘em on a whim before leaving; the write-in regulations, though a little stricter than I initially thought, didn’t affect any of my choices. (McKinney/Clemente, if you’re wondering, did file the necessary paperwork to be considered viable write-in candidates.) I mostly voted a Democratic ticket, though I did vote for one libertarian candidate and wrote in two candidates, one Dem, one Green.

And yes, I voted my conscience.

I’m not sorry.

(Crossposted to.)

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Tagged: kansas missouri ks mo kcmo kcks election vote 2008 elections ballot democrat republican clinton county i voted get out the vote bitch bitch magazine democracy participate flickr blogging

Today’s the day! Get yer arses to your polling places, people!

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Here I am, less than 12 hours from going to the polls, and I’m just now pouring over the Clinton County ballot and making my picks. Blame it on election burnout. Plus, despite all my blustering back in August, it looks like I’ll mostly be voting a straight Democratic ticket - there simply aren’t any left-wing third party candidates running in MO. McKinney/Clemente aren’t even on the ballot for president and vp - though Nader is - so it looks like I’ll have to write them in. I mean, jeez, if I’m going to “throw” my vote away on a third party candidate, I’d rather it be someone I actually like. Libertarians and Constitution Party members…not so much.

Anyway, my picks below. Since I did most of my research for the primary, I’ll mostly link back to what I wrote in August in order to explain my choices. At the end of this post I’ve also gathered links to various progressive scorecards and endorsements, so you can research your candidates and be your own decider person.

President and Vice President

x John McCain / Sarah Palin (R)
x Barack Obama / Joe Biden (D)
x Bob Barr / Wayne A. Root (Lib)
x Chuck Baldwin / Darrell Castle (Cst)
x Ralph Nader / Matt Gonzalez (Ind)

Though I’d rather vote my conscience as opposed to voting for the lesser of two evils, I’m still waffling. Every time CNN runs the AC360 segment on Supreme Court nominations, I freak a bit and start leaning towards Obama. Then I remember that he initially supported Roberts, and balk.

Ultimately, I suspect I won’t know how I’ll vote until I’m actually in the voting booth. I dislike the Dem ticket for a variety of reasons, some of which involve Obama’s policy positions (his flip-flopping on progressive issues such as FISA, offshore drilling, voter disenfranchisement in Michigan and Florida; his weakness on reproductive rights, including his support for restrictions on late-term abortions; his extension of Bush’s faith-based initiatives, etc.) , others which are more global and have little-to-nothing to do with the actual candidate(s) (i.e., the corrupt, anti-democratic nature of the two-party system; the rank misogyny that permeates the Democratic party).

Yet, the prospect of a McCain/Palin administration scares the red sauce outta me.

I plan on voting for the Green party by penciling in McKinney/Clemente, though I could still be scared toward the Obama/Biden ticket.

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Aside from the implication that McCain and Obama are the only two motherfuckers running for prez in ‘08, this video from MoveOn is awesome:

You can personalize the video and send your friends and family (and yourself) a copy here.

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Tagged: 2008 elections politics video moveon.org john mccain barack obama rock the vote

Just, no.

Firstly, I’m not a “girl.”

Nor am I bait, a prop, or an object to be used for your political ends.

It’s nice to know, though, in a historic election year that nearly saw the first viable female presidential candidate, and did bring the second female VP candidate on a major party ticket - well, it’s nice to know what I’m really good for: fucking. It’s all about the lady bits, am I right?

And yes, I realize that the ad was produced by four girls women; that doesn’t make it any less sexist. Because, um, women can be sexist, too.

This sort of misogyny - emanating from the left, and directed at all women, be they conservatives (Palin), Republicans, Democrats (Clinton & the so-called PUMAs), or progressives (non-Obamabots, i.e., me) - is one of many reasons why I won’t be voting for Obama on November 4.

Or renewing my Bust subscription.

This election cycle cannot be over fast enough.

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Tagged: 2008 elections politics barack obama john mccain sarah palin sexism misogyny political ads bust

I rarely watch the local news, but happened to have it on in the background last night. These two stories ran almost back-to-back:

Racial Slur on Receipt Shocks Family

Last Edited: Wednesday, 22 Oct 2008, 9:53 AM CDT

OVERLAND PARK, KAN. — A shoe return deeply offended a family, got a worker fired, and the Justice Department involved.

College student Keith Slater, 22, came to Oak Park Mall on Friday night with his mother and sister. He bought a pair of $80 shoes. But, quickly found a better deal.

So, he went back to the original store, Journeys, and returned his first pair. When he looked at the receipt, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Amazed and just shocked,” said Keith Slater, the man’s father.

Rather than the man’s name, it reads “dumb n*****.”

As in, the cashier entered “dumb nigger” in the “GUEST” field. Yeah.

The other incident - which apparently is so ho-hum that I can’t find it on the local Fox affiliate’s website - involves a string of vandalized Obama/Biden signs along Ward Parkway (for those not in the know, Ward Parkway is an upscale, mansion-lined boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri, along the Kansas border). Rather than the predictable slurs, such as “Barack Hussein Obama” or “Osama Obama” (or “dumb nigger”), the vandals spray-painted “USSR” across the signs.

So…I guess we’ve moved on from racism and xenophobia to ’50s-era McCarthyism and xenophobia? Um, yay progress?

Well, at least a Kansan has yet to slaughter a black bear cub and staple Obama signs to her forehead. Nope, that was North Carolina.

There’s your small-town, “real America” American values right there, Ms. Palin.

Sigh.

**sob**

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Tagged: kansas missouri ks mo kcmo kcks kansas city ward parkway 2008 elections barack obama racism xenophobia racial slurs animal rights animal welfare animals