Find a way.

For what, you ask? Here's your answer. (h/t Quaker Agitator.)

Daily Dose of E-Activism

From the Human Rights Campaign:

Matthew Shepard Act in Serious Jeopardy

Right now, the fate of the Matthew Shepard Act depends on you.

House and Senate leaders could decide in the coming days to detach the bill from a larger Department of Defense bill, where it currently resides. The move would almost certainly eliminate its chances of becoming law, setting back our progress by months or years. We likely have less than a week to convince them.

We've spent a decade fighting tooth and nail for a Federal hate crimes bill – we cannot let last-minute political challenges defeat us now. It's time to make a ruckus. Write your lawmakers today, then spread the word.

Then, sign this petition. It doesn't matter if you don't live in Montana. Representative Rehberg needs to hear from people all over the country. Let's send him a clear message: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." So far, he's been silent on this very important matter, and we need his support to finally pass comprehensive, inclusive, hate crimes legislation in Montana.

Today is...

Adbusters has all kinds of great stuff up.

Participate by not participating.

Give Thanks

Aahhh, isn't this perfect?

Look at how those nice English colonists are
taking good care of those hungry, heathen, brown people.

Kara posted the real story over at her place last year.

She also has a wonderful post up THIS year.

(Buy the book here.)

I've always had a hard time with this holiday...mostly because I feel like if I participate in any celebrations then I am somehow also complicit in the mythology of the history of Thanksgiving. Pottersville provides us with brilliant, articulate commentary on Cowboys and Iranians. (h/t Undeniable Liberalism), and Here's a great list of things to be thankful for this year, courtesy of Think Progress.

Happy, peaceful day, everyone.

The Strike...A summary

Pencils Down means Pencils Down

United Hollywood

In Memoriam

Day Of Remembrance -S. Bear Bergman

I’m scrolling and scrolling,

names on my screen keep rolling,

more than I expected to see, hundreds,

too many to count quickly,

too many to die so early,

one day before they would have is

too early,

outrageous,

sentenced to death for being courageous,

living out loud in an age such as this,

where every border’s guarded and marked with gendered piss,

this here is only for us,

only for you,

what is it mommy?

not now honey, that’s rude — why is it rude?

that’s a bad attitude, that’s what you’ll do?

Parents, that’s unworthy of you,

if something’s unusual,

let children know what’s different,

buy him a tutu - let that be the end of it,

let them grow unencumbered by expectation,

there’s all kinds of situations,

gender, race, ethnic variations,

none of them cut or dried, no lie,

cause otherwise,

we get “boys don’t cry”,

we tell our boys not to cry,

they swallow the tears, the fears,

they erode every other feeling until it explodes,

looking like Gwen in a shallow grave by the road,

like Marsha being fished out whole,

looking like Brandon full of anger’s holes.

We won’t accept this, the idea is ludicrous,

you want to kill a kid because he wants to wear a dress?

Ridiculous.

We will not go gently, not into any night or memory,

we’re here today remember our family, taken too early,

I hope they come back to haunt their killers fully,

inhabit their uncertainty,

give them their own inescapable enemy,

and for those of us still alive,

stand up!

stand up and shout,

stand up and be what it’s about,

be the change you want to see in the world,

live like a flag unfurled,

be heard,

today we are here to remember,

today we are peaceful in honor,

today we are heard together,

but tomorrow this event’s a lesson to miscreants,

anyone with ill intent, our spirit unbreakable,

a lot at stake, our numbers unmistakable,

proclaiming, I’m here with my tribe,

this family’s my wealth, and

I would die with them before I would live by myself.

Today is the ninth anniversary of the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved.

Although not every person represented during the Day of Remembrance self-identified as transgendered — that is, as a transsexual, crossdresser, or otherwise gender-variant — each was a victim of violence based on bias against transgendered people.

We live in times more sensitive than ever to hatred based violence, especially since the events of September 11th. Yet even now, the deaths of those based on anti-transgender hatred or prejudice are largely ignored. Over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgender-based hate or prejudice, regardless of any other factors in their lives. This trend shows no sign of abating.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance serves several purposes. It raises public awareness of hate crimes against transgendered people, an action that current media doesn’t perform. Day of Remembrance publicly mourns and honors the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten. Through the vigil, we express love and respect for our people in the face of national indifference and hatred. Day of Remembrance reminds non-transgendered people that we are their sons, daughters, parents, friends and lovers. Day of Remembrance gives our allies a chance to step forward with us and stand in vigil, memorializing those of us who’ve died by anti-transgender violence.

From http://www.gender.org/.

Thank You...

...to all our veterans, but especially to this one, my little brother:

Today's observance was intended not to glorify war, but as a solemn way to recognize its end. In that spirit, today I continue my commitment to advocate for a peaceful resolution to end the war in Iraq, and prevent war with Iran. We do not need more veterans. Instead, we need to honor those we have by fully funding services designed to meet the challenging and diverse needs of the men and women who have served in our military.

We can say 'thank you' with the immediate elimination of waiting lists for care and benefits.

We can say 'thank you' by ensuring that the mental health needs of returning soldiers are considered a medical priority and providing the adequately trained staff in sufficient numbers so as to guarantee that every solider receives the best standard of care possible.

We can say 'thank you' by the immediate elimination of pay and benefit inequities between U.S. military personnel and private paramilitary contractors who often perform the same work, in the same situations, for a fraction of the compensation. Those who wear our uniform deserve more pay, not less.

We can say 'thank you' by keeping our recruiting promises to help pay for college in a realistic and meaningful way that accurately compensates veterans for the true costs of higher education.

We can say 'thank you' by encouraging a real national conversation about the toll of war on the future of this country, not just in dollars and cents, but in the loss of production and innovation that will come as a direct result of the permanent disabilities of our wounded.

We can say 'thank you' by redefining what support means. Forget the rhetoric. It isn't about showing respect to the flag and it isn't about whether you wear a lapel pin. It isn't about a 99 cent magnet flung on the back of some car. This is what true support would look like: not one homeless veteran. Not one.

We can say 'thank you' by working as a nation to eliminate the stigma associated with PTSD, depression, and other identifiable and treatable mental health issues so as to eliminate this debilitating barrier to service provision.

We can say 'thank you' by finally ending the flawed 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. We must bring honor to all our veterans by allowing them the respect and dignity they deserve. Sexual orientation has nothing to do with patriotism or the ability to do one's job. Existing benefits and supportive services must be extended to the families of LGBT military personnel and they must be permitted to serve openly without fear of discrimination or harassment.

We can say 'thank you' by praying for peace.

Update: The web is full of wonderful, powerful Veteran's Day posts like this one, this one, and this one.

Justice IS Blind

Happy Pride!

Today was our annual Palm Springs Pride Parade. The weather was wonderful, the crowd was amazing, and the atmosphere, well, see for yourself:

Audre Lorde said, “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences." Today my community celebrated the rich diversity it contains and I was so proud.

(More pictures coming soon!)

Boo!

Here's a collection of cartoons in honor of Halloween...

I don't know how you're feeling, but I am having trouble imagining anything scarier than the current condition of our foreign policy and Bu$hCo's drumbeat for war with Iran. It's our very own reality show nightmare.

Personally, I'm neck-deep in my thesis draft, so I won't be attending any festivities this year. Though, the kid in me has reserved a prime-time hour to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. It's an annual tradition.

Here's wishing everyone has as much fun as a World War I Flying Ace. (And of course, by this, I am referencing Snoopy's imagination and am not, in any way, meaning to imply that any of our military service persons are having fun...Yes, someone did send me a comment about this.)

Update: Here's a link to someone who really knows how to carve a pumpkin, though none of them are nearly as good as this one:

Killing Me Softly

Sports fans may think that this is old news, but I saw it for the first time this afternoon, and this really makes me mad.

In 1999, Jean Kilbourne published her now famous book Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think And Feel. In it, she outlines her observations of advertising's images of women. If you haven't read it, please take the time to watch this 34-minute lecture during which the author outlines her central thesis:

This beer commercial is an example of what Kilbourne would call "advertising and violence" since sex in advertising is more about disconnection and distance than connection and closeness. The ad dehumanizes and objectifies women and it fetishizes its product.

This commercial reduces women to mindless robotic subjects of men's fantasy and transforms our wombs into refrigerators.

And, if anyone STILL doesn't think that this stuff as a real, measurable effect on the way we think and feel, think again.

Dumbledore is WHAT?!?!?!?

So, there's a woman in my school program who posted this up on her MySpace blog. She has a better sense of humor than I do, and her tongue-in-cheek writing left me in stitches. I loved it and hope you will too.

My friends, JK Rowling has outed Dumbledore as a flaming homosexual.
:)
In front of a full house of hardcore Potter fans at Carnegie Hall in
New York, Rowling, sitting on the stage on a red velvet and carved wood throne,
read from her seventh and final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," then took questions. One fan asked whether Albus Dumbledore, the head of the famed Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, had ever loved anyone. Rowling smiled. "Dumbledore is gay, actually," replied Rowling as the audience erupted in surprise. She added that, in her mind, Dumbledore had an unrequited love affair with Gellert Grindelwald, Voldemort's predecessor who appears in the seventh book. After several minutes of prolonged shouting and clapping from astonished fans, Rowling added. "I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy."

But, really, who didn't know that? The oh-so-mahvelous robes? The weird relationship with Grindewald that no one really understood? Okay, so most people probably didn't pick up on those hints at the time. What is hilarious are the reader's comments on all of these article that always begin with the words (in one form or another) "I'm not homophobic, but..." and then go into detail proving exactly how homophobic they are:

"why did there have to be a gay character at all?"

For that matter, why do we have to have BLACK people in our movies and
books??? Why can't the whole world just be rich, white, republican
assholes who look and think and act EXACTLY like me? OR you can stop being
so terrified of everyone who isn't exactly like you and become an actual, decent
human being! Whichever.

"why did Dumbledore have to be gay, why not some other
[background] character? Now I can never look at him the
same!"

So what you're saying is that you don't mind if people are gay, as
long as you have no interaction or emotional attachment to them? WOW,
that's so progressive and compassionate of you!

"homosexual characters have no place in a children's
book."

In that case, we should ban every story ever written about a prince
rescuing a "helpless" princess and marrying her. Since you seem to have
such a problem with your children knowing anything about families that don't
look like yours, maybe you should just keep them from reading (or watching t.v.)
altogether, we wouldn't want them to, you know, think critically about how
jacked up your morals are.

"this ruins the whole series for me."

Good you bigot. I don't want to think that we have the same
taste in literature. I mean, Seriously? the fact the you found out a
character is gay (after the series was over and said series never made a single
reference to the character's orientation), ruins it for you? remind me
never to come out to your judgemental ass.

Oh, and I especially love this comment:

"umm...i guess i now understand why dumbledore spent so much time
with harry alone in his office.... :/ "

Cuz, you know.... gay = pedophile.

I couldn't resist looking at the comment pages and I found some of my own that are real winners:

"First of all, Dumbledore is a really old guy, and there's no romantic storyline anywhere in the series that involves him. If there were, there probably shouldn't be anyway."

Homophobia AND ageism all rolled into one little package, because, as we all know, old people aren't sexual, or they shouldn't be.

"She doesn't sell enough books without having to include a homosexual? Give us a break!!"

Yeah. You guessed it. She felt obligated to script a gay character for her personal financial gain. Never mind that the revelation came well after she's already made like a gazillion dollars on royalties. Why don't you give ME a break?

"Many Harry Potter readers, not all, but a good many, are too young to grasp the concept of a gay character in a children's series."

I'd love to ask this guy at what age he thinks individuals CAN "grasp the concept of a gay character," or how old he thinks one should be before they are exposed to ignorance. Obviously he knows nothing about emotional, cognitive, or moral development. I could go on, but I won't bother.

"So, what's next? Heidi was molested by her grandfather and Dorothy was doing no-no activity with her dog Toto?"

Yes. Obviously. Because gay men prey on children and lesbians prefer sex with animals.

For People of Difference

Brothers, sisters
of difference,
people of color,
people of poverty,
gay and straight,
black, white, Asian, Hispanic,
jew, Christian, Muslim,
or whoever you are,
hitherto invisible ones,
stand together and
affirm yourselves,
in your difference,
and in your unity.
Do not accept for
one more minute
the insidious forces
that hold you back
by act, word, or tone.
Forge a chain and
break the chains,
you do not stand alone.
And to you beyond the walls,
in mental hospitals,
in prison stalls,
in chairs of steel,
in hospice beds,
in boxes made of cardboard,
or numbered by substances that
eat away at brain and heart,
for you who bear the stigma
of difference
and the judments of all,
join together, make it start!
Do not go silently;
do not withdraw;
do not say "yes sir"
even once more.
Trust what you think
and what you know and feel.
Cry, shout, scream,
find your anger,
dare to dream,
find your strength locked
arm in arm.
Do not go gently or in shame.
You have a legacy of hope,
of courage more than pain.

- Judith A. Lee

Equal Opportunity - Unless You're GLBT

This comes from Human Rights Campaign:

In most states, you can be fired for being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, regardless of your performance or qualifications. HRC has been fighting since 2004 to pass a federal law to end this injustice.

Congressional leaders have decided to push a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that includes sexual orientation, but not gender identity. Tell Congress to support the Baldwin Amendment to ENDA, which would place gender identity back into the bill - and ensure all GLBT people have full employment equality.

This is a historic vote. For the first time ever, the House of Representatives is poised to vote on employment protections for the GLBT community. Help us make sure every member of the GLBT community is included in those protections.

Make sure the Baldwin Amendment passes! Call Congress today at (202) 224-3121, and tell your representative to support the Baldwin Amendment to ENDA.

Then, be sure to send an email to reinforce your call.

We must do this. It is long overdue.

Happy Birthday to MY Dad

I'll bet that when this picture was taken...

You never anticipated we'd take one like this:

I love you, Dad, and I'm so full of thanks for another year.

And the Winner Is...

I take it back.

Today, in the heat of a moment filled with the stress of the demands of my graduate school program, I turned to my dogs and said in a hungry, pathetic voice:

"I am SO sick of bean burritos and Velveeta Shells and Cheese. I just want something good to eat!!"

Then I read this.

I have never been this hungry.

What the AP fails to mention is that the person in this story is not alone. It is estimated that there are more than 38 million Americans who are "food insecure."

In fact, according to this national survey, requests for emergency food assistance increased an average of 12 percent in 2005. That same year, 18 percent of all requests for emergency food assistance went unmet. In more than half of the cities participating in the survey, food assistance facilities were not able to provide an adequate quantity of food. 68% of cities report either decreasing the quantity of emergency food assistance distributed or putting limits on the numbers of bags distributed or decreasing further the number of times families and/or individuals can come to get food.

Forty-three percent of the cities report that emergency food assistance facilities may have to turn away those in need because of lack of resources.

In 87 percent of the cities, families and individuals relied on emergency food assistance facilities
both in emergencies and as a steady source of food over long periods of time.

That's some report card for the land of plenty we call the greatest nation in the world.

My mom used to encourage me to eat brussel sprouts with gratitude because, "there are starving children in China." She forgot to mention that there are starving children in America.

I have never been this hungry.

I take it back.

Another Child Left Behind

Read the story at Common Dreams.

We don't have the political will to provide adequate

mental health services to citizens of this country.

Who's going to help this little boy make sense of his world?

Tickle Fuzzy Hug

It's all in the semantics.

To Summarize...