Turkey with a side of politics

Politics and family gatherings don't mix. Just in case you needed a reminder.

My brother in law loves to talk politics around me because we are from two very opposite ends of the spectrum. I'm pretty far left, and you might as well call him "Mrs. Palin." Every chance he gets, he'll bring up how he thinks Obama will bring the end of the world as we know it. I like to remind him that his guy lost, so suck it up and deal with it.

Well, I'm totally used to this from him, and it doesn't really bother me because it's really all in good fun. But today my brother started in on it too. My brother! This is the brother that I totally idealized growing up. He's 12 years older than me, so of course he was just the coolest thing since sliced bread to me when we were growing up. I don't know why, but I always assumed we would have pretty much the same view on things. Boy was I wrong!

Now, I can completely appreciate people with differing points of view from me. Why would I want everyone to agree with me, where's the fun in that? What I have no patience for is just utter ignorance and stupidity. Of course I recognize that my idea of stupidity is another person's complete belief system. So that being said... I guess I was just shocked to hear what came out of his mouth today!

First my brother in law starts in with his Obama talk, how we're going to turn into a Socialist nation with Obama and he wants his stimulus check and something about windfall profits... whatever, I tune him out. But then my brother starts dropping the middle name "Barack Hussein Obama" and how he's a Muslim an all Muslims want to kill Americans.

Excuse me, what? Wait, you're joking right? No, no. He's serious. His wife confirms it, my brother honestly believes Obama is a Muslim. The brother in law then chimes in "Yeah and he wasn't even born in this country! He's a foreigner! He has no birth certificate!"

Oh man. I turn to my brother and shoot him a look. I said to him, "First of all, he's not Muslim. But even if he is, who cares?" He says, "I do. Muslims are terrorists." Now, his 7 year old daughter is sitting right there, listening to every word we are saying. I shot him another look and said, "do NOT teach your daughter that." His wife chimed in that their daughter indeed has Muslim friends at school, so he better watch what he says.

I am just floored at this. I can not believe that my brother, an educated, professional person, and member of my family, would actually believe this crap! I don't care if he's a Republican and voted for McCain, but I do care if all that super right wing crap has seeped into his head and he truly believes this racist bull!

Even my mom, who never ever talks politics, and refuses to tell anyone who she voted for, piped up in this conversation. Mom said "He just got elected and hasn't even started yet, give him a chance." Go, mom! That small nugget of a political opinion coming from her is huge!

I just have to say that I am utterly disappointed in my brother. Not for having a different political viewpoint than me, but for falling prey to the fear tactics that come from the far right, and for sharing those beliefs around his daughter. Where do you think racist people learn to be racist? Their parents. Hatred is not innate, it is learned. I hope, man to I hope... that he doesn't talk like that around her all the time. Kids are impressionable, and I would hate to see her go to school and treat her Muslim schoolmates any differently. You just have to be SO careful what you say around children. Be a bigot if you want, but don't force bigotry on your kids!

I'm an addict.

Yes, I'm an addict. I have to get my fix at least once a week... and it's been known even to occur several times a day. Late at night, with friends. After work by myself. Even a quickie before work.

And I'm thoroughly ashamed of myself. I am addicted to..... Wal-Mart.

Yes, I know. You're either thinking to yourself, "Oh relax, everyone shops at Wal-Mart, who cares!" or "Good God woman, stop now while you still have a chance!" I have friends on both sides.

Once I had a friend make me promise I wouldn't tell his girlfriend we made a trip to Wal-Mart to buy a bath mat. He made me stash the evidence. So, he walked in with a bath mat, no plastic bag and no tag. I wonder if she thought that was strange?

It's especially hard to stay away this time of year. And Wal-Mart knows it! As most other retailers are bracing themselves for what's sure to be the most disappointing Holiday Season in recent memory, Wal-Mart is basking in the glory of being one of the few retail corporations who have actually come out ahead in this current financial crisis. With stores from Linens 'N Things to Home Depot (who happens to be the #2 retailer behind Wal-Mart) closing some or all of their stores, Wal-Mart has posted a 10% increase in 3rd quarter profits.

As a side note, watch your gift-cards this holiday season with all the store closings... they may be worthless shortly...

I have to admit... a lot of my money goes to Wal-Mart. I mean... stuff is really cheap! Let's be honest, even if Wal-Mart hadn't run all the Mom and Pop stores out of town, none of us would still be able to afford to shop there! At least I couldn't. Thanks to all the credit card debt I have... from shopping at Wal-Mart (Dang it!!).

Besides, it's convenient. Especially the Super Wal-Marts. Where else can you go to buy Hamburger Helper and get an oil change at the same time?

If I had a dollar for every one spent at Super Wal-Mart when I was in college... I could buy my own Wal-Mart. I have fond memories of late-night trips with my best friend in college... getting donuts and just being fools at 2am. Where better to waste time than Wal-Mart? It's certainly consumed massive amounts of my free time.... Oooh, what's that? A kitchen towel with little snowmen on it...with matching washcloths?? I *need* that! And that... oh! And that...

Kind of reminds me of Kristen Wiig's "Target Lady" on SNL...

It's true, Wal-Mart is killing our economy while we continue to shop there. They are forcing suppliers to manufacture goods at cheaper and cheaper prices, forcing companies to ship jobs overseas to meet the demand for cheap labor.

Suppliers who are forced to fall in line for that demand for cheap product, dare not speak out against Wal-Mart, or run the risk of being blacklisted.

As a corporation, Wal-Mart fights against unionization of their employees, who were told that "there could be job cuts if a Barack Obama administration pushed through a law making it easier to unionize," according to the Boston Globe.

They have a spot on the dubious "do not buy" list with the Human Rights Campaign for their refusal to offer domestic partnership benefits to employees.

Yet I can't pass up that $2.97 "Rollback" on athletic socks. Go figure. As a country, have we found yet another way to confirm our gluttony by slowly eating ourselves to death on Wal-Mart merchandise?

I'm feeling a little fat.

Newt, Bill, and Chuck: The Trifecta of Ridiculousness.

Today I was sitting at work, trying to pay attention and stay engaged in the editing and re-editing of the group report we are writing. It's about as fun as it sounds.

Inevitably, my mind wandered and I succumbed to the temptations of the Internet in front of me. I took advantage of the fact that I'm hidden beind the monitor and navigated away momentarily from our net-meeting and onto the Internet. Don't judge, I know I'm not the only one doing this!

I hit the usual places: CNN.com, huffingtonpost.com, MSNBC.com..... scanning the headlines. As of late, I've become very interested in anything Prop 8 themed, so a couple of things caught my eye.

This morning on Morning Joe there was a snippet of Newt Gingrich saying something ridiculous, so I had to read about it.

Listen, I'm not going to pretend and say I really know anything about Newt Gingrich and his beliefs or political history up until this point. I don't. All I know about this man is that I used to hear his name on the news a lot several years ago. And now I know he's a hate sputtering, fear mongering idiot..

Sorry, was that harsh?

This man, in a conversation with Bill O'Riley (naturally) was quoted as saying: "I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion."

Fascism? What is with people thinking it's okay to throw around words like "fascist," "socialist," and "Nazi" lately, just because they disagree with someone? So...let me get this straight (pun!), if I'm gay and I want to be treated like an equal human being and be given the same rights and as any other person, and refuse to send this country back to the 1960s and settle for "separate but equal", that would make me a fascist?

*Shakes head*

Of course Bill O'Riley starts listing off all the examples he has of how "out of control" all those darned gay people are over this darned Proposition 8. Listen. There are violent, crazy people on both sides of this thing. You will have that no matter what group of people you are talking about, regardless of the topic. It's not the right thing to do on either side, obviously. And though there may be some isolated incidents of these unfortunate cases, that's not the majority, and it's not right that Fox News can spread lies leading people to believe the GLBT community is a violent, crazed, immoral group of....I can't even say citizens, because they don't even see GLBT people as equal citizens of this country. Homosexuals. I can just picture the contempt in these peoples faces as they utter the word homosexual. You can practically feel the shutter going through their bodies.

Gingrich also said "you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they're the opposite, of what you're taught in Sunday school."

Wait a minute... didn't they teach "love thy neighbor" and "do unto others what you would have done unto you" in Sunday School? Along with tolerance, forgiveness, and "judge not lest ye be judged"? Couldn't the bible-thumper ideology he just spouted off be thrown right back in his face and the face of all those right wing Christians who preach hate masked behind a thin veil of Christian righteousness? Does he not see the irony in those words? What does he think Focus on the Family does?? But wait, I'm the one that's "antiethical" right? Right. My new favorite person Keith Olbermann got it SO RIGHT on this very topic in his Special Comment (grab the Kleenex if you haven't seen this yet)

THEN. Then. Then I read....of all people..... Chuck Norris's article on Prop 8. First of all, who the hell does Chuck Norris think he is, and why on EARTH is he now writing a column? Please. Go back to making terrible television shows about Texas Rangers.

So of course I'm already a little peeved after reading about my good friends Newt and Bill and their little convo about things that directly affect MY life, and NOT THEIRS. But anyway, on to Chuck.

So now, according to Chuck Norris, gay-rights supporters have gone from being called fascists to being called anarchists. Better....I guess.....?

Chuck spouts off more examples of how scary and violent these "anarchist" anti-prop 8 people are... shoving old ladies and spitting on them. Also he talks about "A pro-homosexual, pro-anarchy organization named Bash Back marched into the middle of a church service and flung fliers and condoms to the congregants. They also hung a banner from the balcony that featured two lesbians in provocative positions at the pulpit."

Well that'll get their attention! Agreed probably not the best way to go about it...but really, do we have to lump "pro-homosexual" and "pro-anarchy" in the same description, like they're one in the same? Come on.

Chuck also writes: "the tolerance-preaching activists also have taken their anger to the blogosphere, where posts have planted ideas ranging from burning churches to storming the citadels of government until our society is forced to overturn Prop. 8. You even can find donor blacklists online. The lists include everyone who financially backed Prop. 8 -- even those who gave as little as $46 -- with the obvious objective that these individuals will be bantered and boycotted for doing so.

*Gasp!* You mean gay people are planning on boycotting organizations and individuals that donated money to take away their civil rights? The audacity! The outrage! The...effing genius!

If you know what a DINK is (Double Income No Kids for those of you that don't), then you know the vast amount of wealth the GLBT market holds, and how stupid you would be not to market directly to them or not to protect your hold on their spending power.

I spent the next several minutes finding the biggest list I could of Prop 8 donors. The Knights of Columbus donated $8,889.00. My dad is a part of that organization...and I can't help but wonder if this was a measure that was on the Illinois ballot and not just CA, if he would have donated to the cause? That makes me really uncomfortable. Most of these supporters are, of course, CA based, so I can't boycott them since I don't live in CA. But I will urge anyone I know that does live in CA to refrain from giving their hard earned money to these people. I will also be doing more research on gay-friendly companies, and focusing more on making sure that companies that are not gay-friendly do not get my money. I should have done that a long time ago. And if that makes me a "bitter activist" then so be it. I am bitter.

I have to say, after reading those two articles and digesting the smears and lies and hate... I really was angry. I was angry enough to have to momentarily close my eyes and breathe until the lump in my throat went down and the anxiety building up in my chest subsided. In the middle of work. I closed my browser, I couldn't think about it anymore. Had to focus on work again.

Gay people are not violent. They are not fascists. They are not immoral. They are the same as you, they love, they hurt, they pay taxes. I participated in the anti-prop 8 protest this weekend in Chicago, and I am proud to say I was a part of it. It was inspiring to see all the supporters line the street as we marched by, all the people up in the windows cheering us on, all the people who were stuck in their cars on the street, surrounded by gay people marching and chanting for equal rights, but not angry they were stuck. They were honking in support. And I am proud to say not one person was arrested. Not one incident of violence was reported.

I am also proud to say that our new President has a plan to support the GLBT community, and strengthen Civil Rights for ALL citizens of this country. And though it's becoming cliche, I just can't help but say.... Yes We Can!


"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." - Gandhi

Really Sarah?

Now.... for as ridiculous as I think Sarah Palin is (despite the fact she was an excellent source of a Halloween costume this year), I can't help but feel a little bad for her right now. You have to admit she's having a rough time. You can tell in all of her interviews...she's tired, defensive, and now that the RNC isn't paying for her hairstylist anymore... looks a little rough. And maybe the allegations of not knowing what countries make up NAFTA (here's a hint... North...American...fill in the blank) or supposedly not knowing that Africa was a continent and not a country, are false. Or maybe they're not. Either way there are obviously some people within the Republican camp that do NOT like her. And that sucks for her, admittedly.

However... when I heard her response to these allegations, I couldn't help but think... Really Sarah? Really? YOU are going to get upset about words being taken out of context? About lies being spread? These people are..... Jerks? Here's her response, taken from huffingtonpost.com:

"If there are allegations based on questions or comments that I made in debate prep about NAFTA, and about the continent vs. the country when we talk about Africa there, then those were taken out of context," she said. "That's cruel, It's mean-spirited. It's immature. It's unprofessional and those guys are jerks if they came away with it, taking things out of context and then tried to spread something on national news. It's not fair, and it's not right."

No, it's not fair, and it's not right. But maybe she should have thought about that before she started the "palling around with terrorists" campaign against Obama, inciting crowds of people to yell "terrorist" and "kill him" when she did. Karma, anyone? Just a thought.