Does anyone else think "Saxby Chambliss" is the most ridiculous and riduclously awesome name ever? It makes me giggle everytime I read it/hear it/say it. I want to write a children's book where he's a jolly elf and call it "The Adventure of Saxby Chambliss in the Land of Sparkledawn."
The recession is HERE? REALLY? My husband has lost his job, my employer lost her job, therefore I have lost MY job, and so on and so on. These are fucking scary times, especially with 3 children (one in college). I will remain optimistic until they take me away to my cardboard box to live in. May be I will get a couple of chickens and start selling eggs (anyone else been subjected to the Kit Kitredge movie, lol?).
@JazzednJersey: That happened to my dad with me in college and two younger daughters. He has so many years of experience (read: overqualified) he spent more than a year looking for a job, and the only one he found was Halliburton in Irak. :( He's now (thankfully) not employed by them, but these were the most awful times for us.
I really hope you and your family are able to get through this rough patch. This uncertainty is not easy on anyone.
@Brigit: Thank you! He has some good leads, so we are hopeful, and I will find something to help us get through. In a way, these times are what makes a family strong. We're all focusing more on supporting each other emotionally and being kind, and more appreciative of what we do have. In a way, we are richer than most people. I believe in happy endings!!!
@JazzednJersey: I could not believe how sad the Kit Kiteridge movie was! I was very teary, not least because Mlle. O and I are about a half step away from being on the street ourselves. Recession, hell! I say DE-pression. I hope Obama hurries up and creates all those green work project jobs!
@my cousin is an ape: They're just looking at the situation from the other direction, by restricting porn to a certain part of the internet they're upping the relative concentration of porn on the porny parts of the net.
Megan, I agree that protesting a wedding seems like a crappy way to win over voters but hopefully the organizers can keep the gathering peaceful and respectful. If they can accomplish their stated aim, I think it is a way to draw attention to notorious closet-case Crist's wedding of political expediency.
It is extremely suspect that his wedding was announced in July, just as the perpetual gay whispers were scuttling his chances of being McCain's VP and particularly odious in light of his recent support of Amendment 2 in Florida.
I think the past model of lgbt complacency needs to be destroyed. There is a right side to this debate.
@Dudezebel: sigh. The tyranny of the majority strikes once again. Wasn't that the reason we don't subject civil rights to a vote?
I'm so pissed off at the comments (obs not here) that democracy has spoken in the issue of gay marriage in several states.
No. Democracy hasn't spoken, a few bigots with pointy hats and white collars have gotten their incapable-of-critical-thinking mass of followers to speak massively for them.
@Dudezebel: Okay, look, no one really knows if Charlie Crist is gay. He has a lot of rumors swarming around him. That's it. And protesting his wedding is really, really rude. It's reminiscent of those people who protest funerals. Of course, the people who protest funerals usually do it for reasons I don't agree with; I obviously support marriage equality. That doesn't mean that the tactic here is any less intrusive and wrong.
@eatsshootsleaves: You're right no one knows for sure that he's gay. You're also right that protesting a wedding is rude, though I think funeral protests are on a completely different plane of awful.
I do think that regardless of his sexuality, his support for Amendment 2 as governor makes protesting his wedding not inconceivable. I don't think it's the world's greatest idea but my post was as much a reflection of my disapproval with Megan's offhand dismissal of the efficacy of the protest. I would hope that opposing gay marriage becomes an uncomfortable stance for people to take. Crist has stated that the issue doesn't rank high on his priorities list, then threw his support behind Amendment 2 (presumably because he cares more about votes than denying civil rights). I would hope the protest would make him reexamine that political calculus by rudely inconveniencing him on his wedding day. As I stated before I don't think this is the best idea, it's sure to put some people off. But I think more needs to be done, and in a time when people are groping for answers and new strategies I think it is a mistake to offhandedly dismiss impolite ideas.
@Dudezebel: I agree with you in theory, but in practice impolite ideas don't work. Unless you want to provoke a backlash, you go with the King civil rights method, not the Malcolm X one. It will be the recognition that gay people are human beings that turns an opposition to marriage equality into an uncomfortable stance, not intrusive and classless forms of protest which only serve to make it easier to demonize the LGTBA community.
For example, I recently received an email from an uncle in which he expressed outrage at an anti-prop 8 protest that apparently entered a church and threw condoms at the congregation. The email made me angry -- he was using the tactics of some members of the gay rights movement to express opposition to the goals of the movement as a whole. It was an obvious straw man. Yet, I was also angry at the people who perpetrated this protest for making it easier for people to see them as the villains. If people are forced to actually think through the issue of gay marriage, rather than the controversial tactics of certain people promoting it, it becomes much harder to reject giving gay people equal marriage rights.
And to prove it isn't just crazy uncles who think this way, here is the most ridiculous editorial by the National Review I have ever read (which is certainly saying something):
I love Rachel, but I'm hoping Meet the Press goes to Chuck Todd. I think Rachel needs a show where she can freely voice her opinions and I have a powerful crush on Mr. Todd for some reason.
@PhillyLass: @Brigit: He said it right after 9/11. A lot of people were saying ignorant shit back then, but Chambliss was actually in charge of some Homeland Security shit, so it was a completely reprehensible thing to say. And that was all before he ran for Senate, with an Elizabeth Dole-worthy attack ad on Max Cleland (a vet and amputee) for not being tough on homeland security!
@PilgrimSoul: The way she reacted...it seemed as though she was uncomfortable. She was giggling - what the hell else could she do? What is she, like 11/12?
@alphafemale: there's nothing hahaha about this. my dad is a broker and I have never seen him more stressed out. these people are watching their livelihoods slowly slip away. they're allowed to put their hands on their faces.
I think it is more pervy to assume that Saxby Chambliss' touching of his granddaughter was "incestuous" than it is for him to kind of awkwardly have his arms around her.
@AbJams: I have a problem with making any kind of deal out of it in the first place, considering how incredibly inappropriate it is for the masses to be discussing a 10-year-old's chest and accusing her grandfather of being a deviant. Poor girl.
12/02/08
I'm a bit slow today, but fey? What does that mean?
12/02/08
12/01/08
12/01/08
12/01/08
I really hope you and your family are able to get through this rough patch. This uncertainty is not easy on anyone.
12/01/08
12/01/08
12/01/08
Making a portion of the winner's wifi porn-free will just make it harder for you to find the porn when you look for it. Because you know you do.
12/01/08
12/01/08
12/02/08
*I'm assuming, I've never actually looked
12/01/08
It is extremely suspect that his wedding was announced in July, just as the perpetual gay whispers were scuttling his chances of being McCain's VP and particularly odious in light of his recent support of Amendment 2 in Florida.
I think the past model of lgbt complacency needs to be destroyed. There is a right side to this debate.
12/01/08
I'm so pissed off at the comments (obs not here) that democracy has spoken in the issue of gay marriage in several states.
No. Democracy hasn't spoken, a few bigots with pointy hats and white collars have gotten their incapable-of-critical-thinking mass of followers to speak massively for them.
/rant
12/01/08
12/01/08
I do think that regardless of his sexuality, his support for Amendment 2 as governor makes protesting his wedding not inconceivable. I don't think it's the world's greatest idea but my post was as much a reflection of my disapproval with Megan's offhand dismissal of the efficacy of the protest. I would hope that opposing gay marriage becomes an uncomfortable stance for people to take. Crist has stated that the issue doesn't rank high on his priorities list, then threw his support behind Amendment 2 (presumably because he cares more about votes than denying civil rights). I would hope the protest would make him reexamine that political calculus by rudely inconveniencing him on his wedding day. As I stated before I don't think this is the best idea, it's sure to put some people off. But I think more needs to be done, and in a time when people are groping for answers and new strategies I think it is a mistake to offhandedly dismiss impolite ideas.
12/01/08
For example, I recently received an email from an uncle in which he expressed outrage at an anti-prop 8 protest that apparently entered a church and threw condoms at the congregation. The email made me angry -- he was using the tactics of some members of the gay rights movement to express opposition to the goals of the movement as a whole. It was an obvious straw man. Yet, I was also angry at the people who perpetrated this protest for making it easier for people to see them as the villains. If people are forced to actually think through the issue of gay marriage, rather than the controversial tactics of certain people promoting it, it becomes much harder to reject giving gay people equal marriage rights.
And to prove it isn't just crazy uncles who think this way, here is the most ridiculous editorial by the National Review I have ever read (which is certainly saying something):
[article.nationalreview.com]
12/01/08
The joke writes itself!
12/01/08
How could this ad go through editing, and no one thought it might look untoward?
12/01/08
12/01/08
12/01/08
12/01/08
12/01/08
12/01/08
That's just....odd.
12/01/08
12/01/08
12/01/08
even weirder she seems totally unfazed.
12/01/08
I can't even be grossed out, it's just WEIRD.
12/01/08
[brokershandsontheirfacesblog.tumblr.com]
12/01/08
12/01/08
12/01/08
12/01/08
12/01/08