Saturday, January 24, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Inauguration
It actually happened. I think I'm in shock.
I was absolutely certain that the only way you could get Bush out of the Oval Office was with a crowbar, or you could double dare him of course.
I had this picture in my head of Bush breaking through the security cordon, grabbing the Lincoln Bible and sprinting away, yelling "Haha you can't be president now! I'll be president forever, that will show one-term daddy."
Or, you know, declaring martial law, or something equally insane.
But he didn't.
He left.
He's gone.
Hehehehe.
I was absolutely certain that the only way you could get Bush out of the Oval Office was with a crowbar, or you could double dare him of course.
I had this picture in my head of Bush breaking through the security cordon, grabbing the Lincoln Bible and sprinting away, yelling "Haha you can't be president now! I'll be president forever, that will show one-term daddy."
Or, you know, declaring martial law, or something equally insane.
But he didn't.
He left.
He's gone.
Hehehehe.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Back Again
Okay, in my defense, back home I didn't really have time to do anything but shovel snow and nap because in honor of my homecoming, about three hundred feet of snow fell.
I spent a lot of the last few weeks thinking about Gaza and Israel and reading through a great many blog entries. Every so often I even sallied forth into the bowels of the internet with a comment or two, or twenty (I'd probably still be arguing there, but Feministing stopped letting me log in. I'm like 99% sure it's a general problem given the complaints of others).
Anyway, barrels of ink have been poured over the question from all possible fronts and shockingly enough, I realized that I didn't actually have a solution. I don't really know what the right thing to do is. This apparently puts me in a minority as the rest of the world seems to know exactly what Israel or Hamas should do and what they will do and most impressively, why they're doing what they're doing (apparently if you're on the internet long enough, you become psychic).
Given the facts, I support Israel here.
However, here is a list of arguments, from both sides, that I would like to go away, so there's a chance of having a real discussion. Please note, I'm using the terms Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Israel. No one I'm interested in talking to is Pro-Hamas.
Pro-Palestinian:
1. Don't pre-emptively negate any discussion by saying that people are going to come out of the woodwork accusing any critic of Israel of anti-semitism.
2. Do not say that Arabs cannot be anti-semitic because they're Semites as well. Every time I read that I want to say "Language doesn't work like that. If it did, we wouldn't drive on a parkway and park on a driveway."
3. Don't talk about Hamas defending itself. You can't defend yourself with rockets fired indiscriminately into a neighboring, far more powerful country.
4. Do not talk about Israel's blockade and fail to mention Egypt's.
5. Don't accuse Israel of genocide. If Israel wanted to commit genocide in Gaza, than it could. It hasn't. Not in forty years.
6. Do not compare Israel to Nazi Germany. You want to compare Israel's actions to those of any other repressive or even actively murderous government in the past ten thousand years, fine, feel free. There are plenty of possibilities, just leave Nazi Germany, Hitler and Nazis in general out of it.
Pro-Israel:
1. Do not accuse someone of anti-semitism merely for criticizing Israel. To be anti-semitic, they need to make a statement about Jews or Jewishness. Now, if you think there is veiled anti-semitism, as there is in a lot of the rhetoric about the Jewish lobby and fears about its great secret power, than feel free to point out that that fear is based on old anti-semitic canards about Jews controlling the world, but there is a difference between espousing (possibly/probably unknowingly) a belief linked to anti-semitism and being an anti-semite.
2. Don't use the line that has been making the rounds recently "If Hamas laid down arms there would be no war, if Israel laid down arms there would be no Israel." Superficially fine, even cute and in some ways accurate, but Hamas did not spontaneously develop outside Gaza, invade and take over (despite some of the rhetoric during the fighting between Fatah and Hamas). Hamas developed as a response to specific conditions, actions and beliefs and if it were to lay down arms, it would lose its credibility and it would be replaced. Fearful, angry, oppressed people strike out in dangerous, often stupid ways and they'll do so whether under the auspices of Hamas, or not.
3. Don't suggest genocide. Just don't do it.
4. Don't minimize the suffering of Palestinians.
5. Don't play the oppression olympics. Remember instead of getting a gold medal, all you get is recognition that you're covered in the most crap.
A final point: both sides in this argument are absolutely convinced that the media (I hate the phrase main-stream media, use it and I will reach through the internet and slap you) is on the other side. I know that I'm convinced that the media, especially opinion pages and blogs have a fairly blatant pro-Palestinian bias.
The reason for this is that I see anything with a moderate pro-Israel bias as being merely reflective of the facts on the ground, while anything with any level of pro-Palestinian bias I see as clearly a matter slanted reporting.
So, for those of you on the other side on this particular issue, is it possible you're seeing the same thing, only reversed?
In other words, is it possible that the problem is not in our stars, but in ourselves?
Sorry, couldn't help myself.
I spent a lot of the last few weeks thinking about Gaza and Israel and reading through a great many blog entries. Every so often I even sallied forth into the bowels of the internet with a comment or two, or twenty (I'd probably still be arguing there, but Feministing stopped letting me log in. I'm like 99% sure it's a general problem given the complaints of others).
Anyway, barrels of ink have been poured over the question from all possible fronts and shockingly enough, I realized that I didn't actually have a solution. I don't really know what the right thing to do is. This apparently puts me in a minority as the rest of the world seems to know exactly what Israel or Hamas should do and what they will do and most impressively, why they're doing what they're doing (apparently if you're on the internet long enough, you become psychic).
Given the facts, I support Israel here.
However, here is a list of arguments, from both sides, that I would like to go away, so there's a chance of having a real discussion. Please note, I'm using the terms Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Israel. No one I'm interested in talking to is Pro-Hamas.
Pro-Palestinian:
1. Don't pre-emptively negate any discussion by saying that people are going to come out of the woodwork accusing any critic of Israel of anti-semitism.
2. Do not say that Arabs cannot be anti-semitic because they're Semites as well. Every time I read that I want to say "Language doesn't work like that. If it did, we wouldn't drive on a parkway and park on a driveway."
3. Don't talk about Hamas defending itself. You can't defend yourself with rockets fired indiscriminately into a neighboring, far more powerful country.
4. Do not talk about Israel's blockade and fail to mention Egypt's.
5. Don't accuse Israel of genocide. If Israel wanted to commit genocide in Gaza, than it could. It hasn't. Not in forty years.
6. Do not compare Israel to Nazi Germany. You want to compare Israel's actions to those of any other repressive or even actively murderous government in the past ten thousand years, fine, feel free. There are plenty of possibilities, just leave Nazi Germany, Hitler and Nazis in general out of it.
Pro-Israel:
1. Do not accuse someone of anti-semitism merely for criticizing Israel. To be anti-semitic, they need to make a statement about Jews or Jewishness. Now, if you think there is veiled anti-semitism, as there is in a lot of the rhetoric about the Jewish lobby and fears about its great secret power, than feel free to point out that that fear is based on old anti-semitic canards about Jews controlling the world, but there is a difference between espousing (possibly/probably unknowingly) a belief linked to anti-semitism and being an anti-semite.
2. Don't use the line that has been making the rounds recently "If Hamas laid down arms there would be no war, if Israel laid down arms there would be no Israel." Superficially fine, even cute and in some ways accurate, but Hamas did not spontaneously develop outside Gaza, invade and take over (despite some of the rhetoric during the fighting between Fatah and Hamas). Hamas developed as a response to specific conditions, actions and beliefs and if it were to lay down arms, it would lose its credibility and it would be replaced. Fearful, angry, oppressed people strike out in dangerous, often stupid ways and they'll do so whether under the auspices of Hamas, or not.
3. Don't suggest genocide. Just don't do it.
4. Don't minimize the suffering of Palestinians.
5. Don't play the oppression olympics. Remember instead of getting a gold medal, all you get is recognition that you're covered in the most crap.
A final point: both sides in this argument are absolutely convinced that the media (I hate the phrase main-stream media, use it and I will reach through the internet and slap you) is on the other side. I know that I'm convinced that the media, especially opinion pages and blogs have a fairly blatant pro-Palestinian bias.
The reason for this is that I see anything with a moderate pro-Israel bias as being merely reflective of the facts on the ground, while anything with any level of pro-Palestinian bias I see as clearly a matter slanted reporting.
So, for those of you on the other side on this particular issue, is it possible you're seeing the same thing, only reversed?
In other words, is it possible that the problem is not in our stars, but in ourselves?
Sorry, couldn't help myself.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas
Merry Christmas.
That's all I have to say at the moment.
Huh, being home sort of takes the edge off my rage.
That's all I have to say at the moment.
Huh, being home sort of takes the edge off my rage.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Pictures.
I'm home. So I give you, pictures of me, smiling:
It may just be a Christmas shrub, but we handle that by overloading it with ornaments.
And, of course, me sitting on the stove, because I like hot butts.
Sorry about that, couldn't help myself.
And, me, all ready to go shovel snow.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Snow
Snow settles over the hills of Eastern Washington like a blanket, covering everything in deep white snow. The surety of a white Christmas sweeps over small children, who rush outside to build snow men, forts and angels.
And heard throughout the land, echoing amongst the trees and houses is a single exclamation: "FUCK!"
Because for people who actually have things to do and people to see (or vice versa) it's not pretty, instead it is evil incarnate, come to make you late and make even the simplest of drives into a nerve-wracking, machoness-draining horror show that can reduce even the strongest to impotent tears.
However, I'm on vacation, so I get to sit in my nice warm house and watch it snow, which is actually quite nice.
Though, despite being on vacation, I did somehow get roped into sweeping snow off the deck...
Yes, I swept snow off the uncovered deck.
Why did I use a broom, not a shovel? I don't know.
Why did I sweep the snow off an uncovered deck that no one sane uses in the winter? I don't know.
I'm sure there's a reason, but I don't want to know. My brain is resting between quarters.
And heard throughout the land, echoing amongst the trees and houses is a single exclamation: "FUCK!"
Because for people who actually have things to do and people to see (or vice versa) it's not pretty, instead it is evil incarnate, come to make you late and make even the simplest of drives into a nerve-wracking, machoness-draining horror show that can reduce even the strongest to impotent tears.
However, I'm on vacation, so I get to sit in my nice warm house and watch it snow, which is actually quite nice.
Though, despite being on vacation, I did somehow get roped into sweeping snow off the deck...
Yes, I swept snow off the uncovered deck.
Why did I use a broom, not a shovel? I don't know.
Why did I sweep the snow off an uncovered deck that no one sane uses in the winter? I don't know.
I'm sure there's a reason, but I don't want to know. My brain is resting between quarters.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Done.
For some reason, every single one of my finals took place at 8:30 in the morning. I have learned an important lesson from this: Don't just check when your classes meet, check when their finals are.
Doneness.
Goodness.
Sleepiness.
Now I head home to spend Christmas with my family.
Happy Holidays.
Darn I've outed myself as an agent in the War on Christmas.
Doneness.
Goodness.
Sleepiness.
Now I head home to spend Christmas with my family.
Happy Holidays.
Darn I've outed myself as an agent in the War on Christmas.
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