vinniebatman | Entries tagged with soapbox

So there hasn't been too much going on lately. My Mom came to visit in July and we had a good time. We ended up seeing a couple of movies, so ya know, good times.

I has been cold as fuck in San Francisco, which I love. Seriously, late fall temperatures in summer give me THE JOY. Last week it hit almost 80 for two days, and it was horrible. Luckily, the weather again went cold. So Yay. Of course, during Labor Day weekend I'll be in Sacramento for my friend's birthday. So of course it will be deathly hot, which will kill me. But that's what you do for friends.

Oh, and my muse has completely buggered off.

( More Blathering on About My Opinions Here )

In random news, this is a link showing that super hot Rolling Stone "True Blood" cover, but without Sookie. I support this image more, as well as photoshop because there are not enough hot gay vampires on tv.

Also, these tee shirt slogans give me the fucking joy. THE JOY. Because while I don't agree with people who think that taxes only ruin the world and that anything that supports the poor is commie socialism, they have the right to their own opinion. But rampent ingnorance really pisses me off.

So, I started reading Joe Flanigan's twitter account (as well as David Hewlett's; his parenting stories are hilarious and he's just awesome), and Joe answered some fan questions. The best one was "Q: if you could rewrite the ending to SGA, how would you send Shepard off into the sunset?"

His answer: "A: Ronin and I steal a puddle jumper, pack it with beer, duct tape McKay in the back (tech support) and set up a new series: WraithHunter. Or should I say "Wraith-Busters""

I am amused that he misspelled Ronon's name. *snickers*

Joe and David, their tweets are what I would except from John and Rodney if they were actors. Just awesome.

Also, I'm in love with this series on youtube: Sassy Gay Friend. It takes a look at what would have happened if Ophelia, Juliet and Desdemona had had a sassy gay friend. Hilarious.

Current Mood: good
Current Location: Home
Current Music: "The Book of Eli"

"Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?" - Ernest Gaines

We would like to know who really believes in gay rights on LiveJournal. There is no bribe of a miracle or anything like that. If you truly believe in gay rights, then repost this and title the post as "Gay Rights". If you don't believe in gay rights, then just ignore this. Thanks.

Current Mood: crazy

Issue the first:
Former N.J. Gov. Tells Oprah of Affair

Recently, former New Jersey govenor James E. McGreevy filmed an appearance for the Oprah show. Despite Oprah asking the audience to keep this quiet, two anonymous audience members did blab to reporters. On one hand, I want to bitch-slap this man for going to have an affair with another man while his wife was in childbirth at the hospital. That's just no okay. But the part that really got to me was this:

In the interview, the audience members said Winfrey explores McGreevey's lifelong struggle with his sexuality.

McGreevey recounted going to the library as an adolescent to look up the word "homosexual" in a dictionary. When he found it included terms like "perverse" and "psychiatric disorder," the Irish-Catholic said he quickly learned to repress his feelings, audience members said.

The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from a list of mental disorders in 1973.

It is heartbreaking to see the way that a man was seriously hurt because of the biases of others, and then by extension, his wife and family. But on the other hand, sometimes it seems like there is still so much for homosexuals to attain. Stories like this show us how far we've actually come.

Current Mood: tired

Like millions of other women, I think Brad Pitt is hot (esp. in "Fight Club"... Lordy, those abs!). But over the last couple years, I'm not that crazy about him. Yeah, he's cute, but I'm not bonkers over him. But that is changing right now. Asked in an Esquire interview about when he'd marry Angelina Jolie, he replied, "Ange and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able."

That just made me so happy! I showed it to one of the assosciates and she was thought it was really cool. True, it could be a bid to stem off any marriage rumors, but the fact that this man, who is so well known, is openly supporting gay marriage rights is good. There are so many people against gay marriage, that in all likelyhood, we'll have to wait for them to die off. I think that right now, the best way to get more support for gay rights is to show everyone that gay marriage is important to us, and help them see that homosexual relationships are just like heterosexual ones, based on the same emotions.

Current Mood: tired

Oh
My
God.

A friend of an LJ friend recently recieved an email from a gardening company. This is a link to the letter she recieved and response she wrote.
The Letter
I actually did leave a comment for CBS, thanking them for including the issues of homosexuality on their network. So many treat homosexuality as an issue to garner attention for whatever viewpoint they have. This leads to so many forgetting that this isn't an issue for us to decided: it is an emotional issue between two people. Its their business, not ours. Television is supposed to be an entertaining depiction, usually with some basis in the real world. Homosexuals are real, they exist. They are a part of this world, why shouldn't they be represented.

Oh, and the funny part (to me) was this guy saying "If homosexuality was the norm, civilization would have ceased to exist thousands of years ago. Procreation takes a man and a woman. " Hmm... apparently he's never heard that homosexuals are a minority. Most people are not 100% straight. Even if they never act on it, most have at least noticed the opposite sex. Okay, enough preaching. Please go back to your regularly scheduled... blogging.

Update:
I did send a letter to CBS and one to the gardening company. This is what I wrote to them:

It is the sanctimonious hypocrisy of those like yourself that have driven me away from the religion in which I was raised. I personally feel that all people should be free to pursue love, regardless of sex. Fifty years ago a kiss between two people of different races would have been seen as scandalous, an action worthy of a lynching.

If you stop and consider just how few same-sex relationships are portrayed on network television, you truly have no cause for anger. Most consider sexuality to be on a scale, with few people being perfectly straight or gay. The current percentage of the U.S. population that classifies themselves as homosexual is generally (depending on the poll), around 10-15%, excluding those that consider themselves bisexual.

You seem to feel that this display of love is uncalled for and disgraceful. You know gardening, so stick to gardening. You have every right to speak out about what you believe, but subjecting your customers religious/moral sermons isn’t one of them. Instead, consider the fact that the number of Americans who claim to be Christian decreases each year. It isn’t because of the dogma, but the arrogant words spoken by those like yourself. People like you do more for the gay rights movement than any staged kiss on a t.v. program.

Current Mood: angry

Lance Bass of `N Sync Reveals He's Gay

Um, okay. Raise you hand if you didn't suspect that one of them was gay? And I don't mean in the way that most people who were annoyed by the band claimed they were all gay. But this really puts my icon in a new light.

However, I would like point out that I thought it was great when he said '"The thing is, I'm not ashamed - that's the one thing I went to say," Bass says. "I don't think it's wrong, I'm not devastated going through this. I'm more liberated and happy than I've been my whole life. I'm just happy."'

Its a good thing whens someone can come out of the closet without feeling that they've done something wrong that they should apologize for. The only sad part is that he felt he did have to hide it earlier, and with good reason. The band probably would have suffered had he admitted his momosexuality.

Okay, once again, I'm talking about scientology.

A couple of months ago, South Park did an episode lampooning Scientology. Just like they've lampooned Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Mormonism, and many others. However, because of this episode, Isaac Hayes is leaving the show. In an article from www.guardian.co.uk (an excellent British newspaper), Hayes said "There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends, and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins. As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices."

Okay, so it wasn't bad when they made fun of every other religion, but no for poor scientology.

I personally have always like Parker and Stone because they dont' single out one particular group or political party. Everyone is treated with the same derision and satire, which is how it should be. This is what they said in response, and I found it to be a rather enlightened comment:

"This has nothing to do with intolerance and bigotry and everything to do with the fact that Isaac Hayes is a Scientologist and that we recently featured Scientology in an episode of South Park. In 10 years and more than 150 episodes Isaac never had a problem with the show making fun of Christians, Muslims, Mormons and Jews. He got a sudden case of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show. To bring the civil rights struggle into this is just a non sequitur. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and, to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin. Of course, we will release Isaac from his contract and we wish him well."

I have always loved South Park because of their willingness satirize everything, but its starting to sadden me that two men who directed an NC-17 puppet sex scene and and have an episode about steroid use in the special olympics seem to be the adults when they're involved in scandels.

Current Mood: incredulous
Current Music: The Freshman by Verve Pipe

A lot has been said about how to prevent rape.

Women should learn self-defense.

Women should lock themselves in their houses after dark.

Women shouldn't have long hair and women shouldn't wear short skirts.

Women shouldn't leave drinks unattended. Fuck, they shouldn't dare to get drunk at
all.

Instead of that bullshit, how about:

If a woman is drunk, don't rape her.

If a woman is walking alone at night, don't rape her.

If a women is drugged and unconscious, don't rape her.

If a woman is wearing a short skirt, don't rape her.

If a woman is jogging in a park at 5 a.m., don't rape her.

If a woman looks like your ex-girlfriend you're still hung up on, don't rape her.

If a woman is asleep in her bed, don't rape her.

If a woman is asleep in your bed, don't rape her.

If a woman is doing her laundry, don't rape her.

If a woman is in a coma, don't rape her.

If a woman changes her mind in the middle of or about a particular activity, don't rape her.

If a woman has repeatedly refused a certain activity, don't rape her.

If a woman is not yet a woman, but a child, don't rape her.

If your girlfriend or wife is not in the mood, don't rape her.

If your step-daughter is watching TV, don't rape her.

If you break into a house and find a woman there, don't rape her.

If your friend thinks it's okay to rape someone, tell him it's not, and that he's not your friend.

If your "friend" tells you he raped someone, report him to the police.

If your frat-brother or another guy at the party tells you there's an
unconscious woman upstairs and it's your turn, don't rape her, call the
police and report him as a rapist.

Tell your sons, god-sons, nephews, grandsons, and sons of friends that it's not okay to rape someone.

Don't
just tell your women friends how to be safe and avoid rape!

Don't imply that she could have avoided it if she'd only done/not done x,y or z.

Don't imply that it's in any way her fault.

Don't
let silence imply agreement when someone tells you he "got some" with the drunk girl.

Don't

perpetuate a culture that tells you that you have no control over or
responsibility for your actions.

You can, too, help yourself.

If you agree, repost it. It's that important.

I got this from

cinderella81

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Just Like You Imagined by NIN

Just found this article, gave me a bit of the joy. Okay, a lot of the joy.

Gay Marriage Legalized in South Africa

Current Mood: Wet from the Humboldt Rain
Current Music: Story of Santa Claus by Cheech and Chong

Okay peeps, remember the entry I posted about "I am the gay boy who...." which was all depressing? Have a new one for you, and it makes me happy. Please read!

I am the guy who came out to the entire school in his senior speech and got a standing ovation for his courage.

I am the girl who kisses her girlfriend on the sidewalk and laughs at those who glare.

We are the couple who planned and studied and got a damn good lawyer and BEAT the state that wanted to take our child away.

We are the ones who took martial arts classes and carry pepper spray and are just too dangerous to gay bash.

I am the transgender person who uses the bathroom that suits me, and
demands that any complaining staff explain their complaint to my facein front of the entire restaurant--and shares with my other trans friends which restaurants don't raise a stink.

I am the mother who told her lesbian daughter to invite her girlfriend over for dinner.

I am the father who punished his son for calling you a fag.

I am the preacher who told my congregation that love, not hate, is the definition of a true follower of God.

I am the girl who did not learn the meaning of "homosexual" until high school but never thought to question why two men might be kissing.

I am the woman who argues (quite loudly and vehemently) with the bigots who insist that you do not have the right to marry or raise children.

We are the high school class who agrees, unanimously, along with our teacher, that love should be all that matters.

I am making a difference. Hate will not win.

Current Mood: determined
Current Music: Hurricane by Bob Dylan

Everyday, 700 women are abused by their intimate partners, and four are murdered.

Right now, Amnesty International USA is petition to present to
Congress, urging them to reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act
(VAWA) before it expires this month.

According to AI, "VAWA has changed everything for domestic violence victims who once
suffered in silence. Because of VAWA, victims of domestic violence,
dating violence, sexual assault and stalking are now able to access
services, and a new generation of families and justice system
professionals has come to understand that domestic violence, dating
violence, sexual assault and stalking are crimes that our society will
not tolerate. Reauthorization and expansion of this law should be a
congressional priority in 2005."

If you feel strongly about this
issue, please sign the petition at 700women.org
to stand up for all the women who live in fear. If you've already
signed, then please post this in you LJ so other can see it.

Current Mood: determined

Okay, this is a meme I got from dreamerchaos. Repost it, and maybe someone you know who may be a little homophobic will get a new view.

I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.

I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.

I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.

I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.

I am one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able to walk again.

I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.

We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.

I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.

I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.

I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.

I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

I am the man who died when the paramedics stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.

I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I didn’t have to always deal with society hating me.

I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don't believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.

I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.

Repost this if you believe homophobia is wrong.

It makes me want to cry.

Current Mood: sad
Current Music: The Tourist by Radiohead

oh, these are some links I was sent.
This one is in opposition to the constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage. It helps you send a letter you your senator.

http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/senate_mpa_oppose

This link is for the "million for marriage" petition, which, according to this group, supports marriage equality for all.

http://www.hrc.org/millionformarriage/index.shtml

Just wanted to put these out there for you. Also, after signing/sending, you can send the link to your friends.

Sometimes my brain swirls. Its not bad or anything, but its like my head is a blender and all these emotion, hopes, dreams, fear and anger get mixed together until I have a headache and a nervous/excited stomach flutter. It almost makes me feel sick. Yeah, I was really bitchy today, just randomly mean and often cruel. I hate being this way, and some people don't get why I call it a defense mechanism, but it is. I have all this self loathing and disgust, and if I throw it onto someone else, be mean to them, I'm not thinking about how much I hate myself. There is a strange power in cruelty, and it makes me feel better. Not that I have any mental problems or anything.

In other news, Corinna, Bethany, Marissa and I went and saw... well, "Saw." The script was good, but the dialogue... not so much. So being in bitch mode, I heckled. I need to fucking die (in a passive agressive way, not a "I'm gonna do something" way). I'll go shower, maybe that will calm me down.

Current Mood: conflicted
Current Music: Random schmaltz I fear naming...

---- I'm in another one of those moods. Yep, once again Alice is getting all forlorn and whiney about her romance life. This going to be like any one of my other five hundred whiney entries, so if you want to, feel free to skip the reading and just post the obligatory best friend comment of "I love you and you're beautiful to me." Sometimes, its all a friend can really say.

---- So yeah, more Alice whining. But this time, its different. I now realized the problem with my life and the lacking in my love life. After last year's "pining for loser Jon" fiasco, I thought that my problem was that I had started aiming too low (and even those guys didn't want me, sadly). So I've started aiming and pining for the better guys. There's been Kostya, a gorgeous RussoUkrainian, intelligent and nice, who I suspect has a girlfriend. I can't even talk to him, so so much for that. Then there is Mike, who I can talk to. Mike, the handsome, irreverant, funny and talented poet who has an adorable, pretty, thin girlfriend that I could never compete with. There is also Jack, a tall, thin attractive, shy, sensative guy, who writes good poetry, has beautiful hands, and apparently, a signifacant other. So yay for my choosing skills. I mean, its not like any of these guys are Jude Law. I know them, and yet they lay outside of my sphere of possiblibity. I try for losers, and they don't want me, and then I don't even have a shot with the guys I really want. I'm in a no mans land of romantic possibility. I exist in a place without possibility. Its not like I want a romance novel with the perfect guy. I realize that relationships are difficult and problematic, requiring work. I can accept that. And I can accept the fact that many never find love- for a lot of people, there is not Mr. or Miss right.

---- In our world, there is no intermingling. The beautiful fall for the beautiful, the normal with the normal, and the ugly with the ugly. These rules, while not written (to the best of my knowledge, at least) are followed. Have you ever seen a really hot guy with an ugly chick? Or visa versa? The only time this pattern is broken, is when the ugly one is rich as hell, and I have am rather poor. The only other, and, frankly, rare exception, is when the parties involved are in truely in love *holds back derisive snort*, are somehow able to look past appearence Unfortuantely, in my life, all the normal guys seem to be targeting beautiful girls, so that leave me shit out of luck, and, sadly, I am programmed with this pattern enough that I don't want to date an ugly guy. Brutal cycle, isn't it? This cycle isn't going to change, and no amount of make up or pretty clothes is going to change this, it is a reality that can not be escaped. Because it doesn't matter what I say or do, some things don't change.

----So if my friends made it this far, I assure you, I'm fine. I'm not that sad, and I'm not crying. Yes, I've taken my meds, and have no desire to express my feeling on my skin. I'm okay because what I've just said, no matter how depressing, is the truth. Its not a lie told to make me feel better, but is true, and I can deal with that. Because I finally see the truth. I'm tired of expending emotion and energy on something that isn't going to, and may never, happen. So hopefully that quote is true- "The truth shall set you free."

Current Mood: resigned
Current Music: Sun Up Running for Home by Matthew Goode Band

Today's song of the day is
"Mass Destruction," by Faithless. Read the lyrics, its a good song with a good point.
~~~~~~~~~
With a long range weapon or suicide bomber
Wicked mind is a weapon of mass destruction

Whether you're stowaway's son or BBC 1
Dis-information is a weapon of mass destruction

You could a caucasian or a poor asian
Racism is a weapon of mass destruction

Whether inflation or globalisation
Fear is a weapon of mass destruction

My dad came into my room, holdin his hat
I knew he was leavin', he sat
on my bed, told me some facts,
son

I have a duty, callin on me
You and your sister be
brave my little soldier,
and don't forget all i told ya
Your the mister of the house now remember this
And when you wake up in the morning give ya momma a kiss,
then I had to say goodbye

In the morning i woke momma with a kiss on each eyelid,
Even though im only a kid,
certain things can't be hid
Momma grabbed me, held me like i was made of gold,
but left her in the story untold
I said, momma it will be allright,
when daddy comes home, tonight

With a long range weapon or suicide bomber
Wicked mind is a weapon of mass destruction

Whether you're stowaway's son or BBC 1
Dis-information is a weapon of mass destruction

You could a caucasian or a poor asian
Racism is a weapon of mass destruction

Whether inflation or globalisation
Fear is a weapon of mass destruction

Whether Haliburton, Enron or anyone
Greed is a weapon of mass destruction

We need to find courage, overcome
Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction
Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction
Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction

My story stops here, lets be clear
this scenario is happenin everywhere
and you ain't goin to nirvana or favana
You comin right back here to live out your karma
with even more drama
than previously, seriously
Just how many centuries have we been waiting for someone else to make us free
And we refuse to see,
The people overseas are just like we
Mad leadership, amigos, unfettered and free
They feed on the people they're supposed to lead, I dont need it
We need to pray away, for the lord to make it all straight
Its only now we do it right, cos I don't want my daddy, leavin home tonight

With a long range weapon or suicide bomber
Wicked mind is a weapon of mass destruction

Whether you're stowaway's son or BBC 1
Dis-information is a weapon of mass destruction

You could a caucasian or a poor asian
Racism is a weapon of mass destruction

Whether inflation or globalisation
Fear is a weapon of mass destruction

Whether Haliburton, Enron or anyone
Greed is a weapon of mass destruction

We need to find courage, overcome
Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction
Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction
Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction