queer and vegan?

Tim Geitner, you are at best an enabler and at worst Obama's biggest fuck-up
and same to you, Christopher Dodd.

the provision in the bail-out legislation that will undoubtedly allow AIG (which we now own 80% of) to use our money to award 165 million dollars of bonuses to the very same executives who are responsible for this mess to begin with was added by Christopher Dodd at the request of the office of Tim Geitner. And to top it off, according to today's edition of Democracy Now!, AIG is suing the government for overpaid taxes...that's right...they are using our money to sue the very same people who own 80% of them...if ever tarring and feathering makes a comeback, i think we've found our first victims!

also in the meantime, this week marks the sixth year of the occupation of Iraq. there still seems to be no progress made in withdrawing our young people and Obama is actually advocating an increase of armed forces in the other occupied territory...when will we learn...

another year older
i'm 24 as of feb. 19th.

i did stuff. drank too much. it was fun.

the end

bitter in victory, even more bitter in defeat
i am referring to the right wing of our country's political spectrum and who could blame them. this current ecomonic time is being called the worst crisis in capitolism in our country's history since the great depression. and why? because of large scale deregulation of the financial markets and slashing of corporate taxes. now we have corporations that are considered too big to fail and look where it got us?

the entire way they think is on trail and it doesn't look good.

Barack Obama may not be the progressive wet dream that i'm looking for in an elected official, but at least i can listen to him speak and not be embarrassed for my country. If he gets the first two years of his presidency right, i believe progressives will make great strides in the 2010 mid-term elections. i've never felt more optimistic for our country's future.

that doesn't mean that i'm without concerns. the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan need to end immediately. people who authorized torture need to be held accountable. etc. etc.

stay tuned, this is going to get interesting!

to steal a line from Rachel Maddow...They're just not that into you...
this whole spirit of post-partisanship sounds lovely to the ears, but clearly the losing party is not interested (what a shock).

this economic recovery plan seems like a solid one from what i've heard about it so far; investments in infrastructure, schools etc. and not in corporate tax breaks (because that's worked so well in the past) and the vote came down to party lines in the house and it's currently struggling in the senate because of said investments in things that may actually help the economy.

so here's my message to house and senate conservatives: we've tried things your way for the last three decades and look where it got us!

President Obama won by a landslide (by modern standards), he's got the rest of the country at his fingertips and is wasting his time in a futile courtship. they don't want him and he doesn't need them!

gah...rant over

cautious optimism prevails....some thoughts on obama
president obama does have a nice ring to it, no?

for my entire adults life, i've been ashamed my country's leadership. i don't need to go through the reasons anymore, anyone reading this knows why. but today, though i do still have my reservations about him, i'm happy to see this changing of the guard.

i think president obama will, in contrast to the asshole there now, will be capable of turning things in the right direction.

fair trade vegan "bark"
this is a really easy and delicious recipe. yum...

1 tub of vegan margerine (such as earth balance)
1 cup of raw cane sugar (use fair trade...because it's the right thing to do)
Saltine type crackers (enough to cover a cookie sheet)
1 bag of fair trade dark chocolate chips
i cup of crushed nuts (i used walnuts, but i'm sure any nut will do...it often does when you're in a pinch...;))

preheat your oven to 400 degrees farenheit

cover a cookie sheet with foil and grease it up (oil works or you can use some of the vegan margerine)

lay down a layer of "saltine" type crackers

in a sauce pan melt your "margerine" and add the sugar and mix well

once melted and mixed, pour the mixture over the saltines. even it out and throw it in the oven for 5 minutes.

the cracker probably will have gone awry, so just rearrange them back into a single layer.

spread the chocolate and nuts over cookie sheet and allow some time for the chocolate to melt a little bit.

cover with foil and place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes or 2-3 hours in the refridgerator.

break into little pieces and serve.

this is a recipe veganized from a non-vegan recipe that my sister got from somewhere...we made it together and it came out really well.

delayed new year's resolutiony stuff...
so i've decided...my driver's license says that i'm 180 pounds which was true when i was 16...i've decided that i want that to be true again at some point this year...

i won't say how far i have to go, but let's just say i've got my work cut out for me...

why oh why is beer so good and yet not good for me...:(.

i've also decided that i am going to take one day every month and fall off the radar completely... disappear for a couple of hours alone...with a good book and coffee...with the phone turned off.

come hell or high water...i'm going to find a way to go down to south beach again with my step-sister. it was a well needed vacation last year and it's even more needed this year.

that's about it for resolutions...

things are good in general. my work life has become significantly less insane lately which i needed because i was becoming this zombie-like creature...disgusting.

i saw a movie (in a theatre) for the first time in just about a year. Milk was very good by the way. Sean Penn was briliant. james franco is fucking hot (oh yeah and also briliant).

some stuff...
some of Obama's future cabinet kind of concern me rahm emmanual and eric holder namely. i'm still no great fan Hillary Clinton, but we shall see where this new leadership will take us (hopefully out of Iraq and Afghanistan). i still hold fast to my cautious optimism; he can't do any worse than the last guy...

but on a personal note, my brother is still not doing well, and is facing a personal housing crisis given that he has exhasted family, hospitals, and shelters to death. he still is not med compliant and i don't feel like he's been given a complete diagnosis. this is the shortfall of privatized medical care, expecially for the uninsured. truth be told, i have made the decision not to involve myself to the extent possible (for my own health). his illness has been hard on all of us.

which brings me to my antipathy for the holidays...i'm no big fan of x-mas or thanksgiving. i'm not religious and i'm cynical, not a holiday loving combo...

i'm trying not to damper other's excitment, but i can live without stuff...i'd be content just celebrating life throughout the year (as i do anyway). it's the occassional night out, the hugs shared between people i love, the really great lays, getting sloshed everyonce in a while, the phone calls just to say "i love you", and all those other little things that people do throughout the year that make me grateful to be living, and i feel that holidays are quite unnecessary in light of all that.

to all of you i haven't seen in a while, my apologies...i love you all :)

Current Mood: melancholy

bill ayers will be on Democracy Now! today along with with and fellow weatherman bernadine dohrn. for those of you who are curious as to what he actually has to say, check it out!

democracynow.org

obama won.
it was a great night for abortion, marijuana, and in MA for greyhounds (thank you for voting to ban greyhound racing) but not for queers.

Arkansas, Florida, Arizona, and the biggest blow California all passed anti-gay measures. my absolute disgust cannot be put into words right now.

haven't got out to get newspapers to see the local results. i know kennedy, langevin, and reed easily won reelection and i know the transportation bond and the open space bond passed. but in Tiverton there are a number of issues and candidates that i feel very strongly about. such as Carol Herrman and Deb Pallasch for school committee or whether or not tiverton will retain the town meeting format or if the right-wing Tiverton Citizens for change got their candidates in local office.

as far as obama is concerned, although my politics are very much to the left of his, i feel that he is much less scary than john mccain. this is most certainly a step in the right direction,but by no means, a progressive victory.

for those curious about my nader/mckinney conflct, i ended up voting for Cynthia Mckinney/Rosa Clemente.

just a thought
i often wonder why righteous candidates such as Ralph Nader or Cynthia McKinney aren't really connecting to mainstream audiences (i mean other than the fact that the corporate media isn't covering a lebanese american candidate or the first all women of color presidential ticket ever)...

and then John McCain calls Barak Obama a Socialist. and then it all comes back to me.

i hate to brag...
but for my mom's birthday, i decided to make her a delicious vegan meal. so i made vegan zuccinni parm! with asparagas coated with roasted sesame seeds. and i have to say it came out quite well.

mmmm....good stuff.

holy shit...
i've got some unexpected time off and now i'm bored as shit...call me if you're out there

for shame...
to John McCain: for his embarrassing lack of concern for women's health issues. dismissing them as a distraction from the "radical pro-abortion movement". as if anyone truly is pro-abortion.

the decision to terminate a pregnancy is a terrible decision to have to make, but a decision that is imperative to protect. very often, but not always, the health of the mother is a deciding factor in terminating pregnancies. i find Senator McCain's dismissal of that fact to be utterly disgusting.

and for allowing the face of voter fraud to be the faces of the poor and minority voters when Republican cohorts have done more to undermine democracy in this country than ACORN could ever dream to. faulty electronic voting machines with no paper trail, voter suppression targeted toward the poor and minorities, and confusing ballots come to mind.

for the record, if an ACORN voter registration worker were to turn in a registration card for mickey mouse and it did make it past inner scrutiny, mickey mouse will not show up to vote.

John McCain, you truly are out of touch and i will celebrate your eventual defeat. Sarah Palin, don't be surprised when people forget who you are come 2009; when you consider a report that finds you guilty of abuse of power a proof of your innocence, then we have some problems.

the gym has made a comeback in my life.
which is good because i can't really afford to get fat...no money for clothes...

plus y'know...i don't think it's healthy for a 23 year old to have a resting heart rate in 85+ beats per min range or a blood pressure of 130 over 80...

i've cut back on drinking quite significantly. which is, again, good for my overall health...i actually drink water now...which seems very basic, i know. cut back on coffee (i know a travesty.

the only problem is now i'm freakin' sore...like as bad as when i began in the first place...

oi!

on the evening before a rather grim anniversary...
i give you...

a real update on goings on in my life (for those of you who care)

starting with how utterly satisfied with where i'm living currently. i live on my own and yet i am surrounded by people who love me. my step-sister lives in the apartment next to me, her father, his partner, and my step-brother live below me. it's the best of both worlds! my space is small, but i am making due quite well.

my little red accent has also recently died. for the $600 i spent on it, it got me through over a year and a half of financially hard times. now that i have bailed myself out of all debt minus my student loans, i was able to replace it with a little blue accent. this is my first new car (i feel like such a big boy):-D.

my love life is still non-existent. moving on.

my time at hess has been majorly reduced thanks to the vast availability of hours at the group home. it's been a while since i've felt so good about doing something. recently, an opportunity for a case management position has come up. my initial interview went really well so well that i have a second interview on monday. i feel really good about it. the position is in portsmouth...wish me luck

and speaking of mental health my brother has now been hospitalized for the fourth time this year. he's been living in a shelter since his third hospitalization where he was doing really well for a while and then decided not to take his meds...his decompensation only took a week.

he's back there now on the condition that he continues to take his medication. this whole situation has been very heartbreaking for everyone who knows him and i thank you for everyone's support.

that's about it...

where have i been...
my boss just called to confirm the 105 hours i put in in the last two weeks. that's 25 overtime hours and 40 of those hours are overnight hours (cha ching) and that's just at one job. i think i need to learn when to say no!

however, i have met my goal to clear all debt (minus my student loan) by the end of this summer. school is becoming an option again. and it'll be nice to have some savings again.

i did manage to find time to visit provincetown for the first time ever. which was pretty awesome despite the rain.

i'm still waiting for a major lefty political pundit to put obama in his place for (moronically) coming out for off-shore drilling. Democrats cannot get elected without support from the left. moderates tend to respect consistency in positions, so if obama is percieved as a flip flopper, then they aren't going to vote for him.

the best thing for healthy political discourse would be to allow Nader to challenge Obama from the left and Barr to challenge Mccain from the right in a four-way debate...but in the meantime, imma keep dreaming.

worldly goings on.
the green party has officially nominated Cynthia Mckinney and Rosa Clemente to head their ticket for the white house. she joins the two majors, Ralph Nader, and libertarian Bob Barr in the five way race.

the state of mass. has repealed the 1913 law that barred out of state gay couples from obtaining a MA marriage licenses. in the meantime, California voters will decide if same gendered marriage licenses will continue to be legal. it should be noted that statistically ballot measures such as this pass. the vote is expected to be close, but who knows..we can only hope that California voters will side with history on this matter.

more pandering...is this what we mean by sacrifices?
barack obama was part of the winning vote that passed fisa through the senate. for those of who don't know what this means, it gives telecommunications companies the immunity to cooperate with the bush administration and participate in thier spying program. this means that you can be eavesdropped upon by your government without warrent or cause...

this is unacceptable. and i'm doubly pissed that Sheldon Whitehouse, the esteemed senator from RI who deseated then-republican linc chaffee (who i'm positive would have been a "no" vote). i voted for whitehouse because i thought he may have been a more reliable "no" vote for shit like this...

in other news, hip hop activist, Rose Clemente has accepted Cynthia Mckinney's invitation to be her running mate on the Green Party's ticket. The Green's nominating convention is schedualed later today where Cynthia Mckinney is considered a shoo in.

Obama's right wing pandering...
is not convincing me to vote for him. i don't think it's even a wise thing to do considering the fate of mondale, dukakis, gore, and kerry who did the same thing. i'm sorry to say this, but we deserve john mccain if the left isn't willing to stand up and say to obama that his statement to AIPAC is not okay and that we don't want public money to fund faith-based anything. the end

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