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As i sit here, John McCain, Republican presidential candidate, has chosen Republican Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

I am, ironically enough, kind of pissed that he chose a woman. 

Me, I’m a strong feminist.  I cannot express how happy I am that a woman has been chosen.  It’s not the first time, Geraldine Ferraro was chosen for the VP back when Mondale ran for pres in the 80s.

I’m pissed because the Republicans did it.  The republicans.  The party which coined the term “feminazi”.  The party filled with religious women who believe that a “woman’s place is in the home.”   The party that opposes a woman’s right to choose, has chosen an woman.

I can’t help but think of a republican woman in the same way that I think of a gay republican or a black republican.  Republican’s have historically opposed equal rights.  So a woman, who’s rights are still pretty unfree, supporting that party strikes me as a tad traitorous.

Women have come a long way since they were graciously given the right to vote by men in 1920.  In which direction, is however the question…

Women have a contested and limited right to choose abortion as an option.

Women have no right to say how they use their bodies.

Women must have their upper bodies covered in public, whereas men can just peel off their shirts at any time.

Women still make less in the workplace.

Women are still kept out of professional sports.

Women are still kept out of many military situations.

Women are not allowed to be clergy in some very big religions.

I have to run to class.  I’ll be back on this topic…

Back: Ok. 

So, we’re not “okay” or even “close” on women’s equality.  And republicans haven’t helped matters at all because they tend to try to block every social change that women try to make.  Their views are anachronistic and not looking as though they’re gonna get any better.

Another issue, and another reason that this is such a bonehead pick by McCain is that the woman has NO experience.  She’s a first term governor of Alaska and before that was mayor of Wasilla, AK a town of 9,000.

That cool, if you’re not going to DIE SOON.

Now, I hope that McCain lives to the ripe old age of 300.  But he won’t  He’d be the oldest president to serve if (god forbid) he’s elected.  He could easily die.

That would leave Palin in charge of the free world.  She’s been a governor for a short time, and a mayor of a tiny little town.

Bad Idea.  BAD BAD BAD idea.

From what I’m reading, the idiot branch (the ones who are threatening to go to McCain) of the supporters of Hillary Clinton, are being offended by his choice…so I guess they’d better vote for Ron Paul.

Interesting news.

Good speech by Barak Obama last night.  Brought tears to my eyes a few times.  Tears of hope. 

He mentioned “our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.” and even seemed to put himself of the side of supporting gay marriage. Referring to the differences between Dems and Republicans he said:

“We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country.  The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don’t tell me we can’t uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals.  I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination.  Passions fly on immigration, but I don’t know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers.  This too is part of America’s promise - the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.”

Ok.  I did a little blog about bigfoot and the current media frenzy.  You can see it here:

BIGFOOT DEBACLE

Well.  At the end there, I went off on a unicorn that I shot the other day…

Well, I went over to cafepress and made some cool t-shirts.

If you want one:

UNICORNS: THEY EXIST!!

I don’t expect anyone will buy one, but wouldn’t it be cool if they did?

Last week, whilst traipsing through downtown Boise, we were accosted approached by one of those poor people whose job it is to get people to sign petitions…

He approached us with “Are you registered to vote?”

I was pretty interested, because I thought he was registering people to vote.  So I responded enthustiastically.

“No, we just moved here and we need to get registered to vote!  It’s so cool that your out here!”

He looked really uncomfortable and explained that that wasn’t what he was out here for.

He wanted me to sign a petition asking that Ralph Nader and another independent candidate be allowed to be on the ballot in Idaho.

My initial response, and the one that carried me away from him, was “HELL NO!”

Because I truly believe that if Nader hadn’t been on the ballot in 2000, Al Gore would be the president now.  The world would be at peace and we’d all be driving flying cars and living in mansions.

1. Nader took votes from Gore.

2. Putting Nader on the ballot in idaho would have exactly the same effect as putting a Purple Ringed Tortoise on the ballot.  He’d get 134 votes that should go for Obama.  McCain will win in Idaho, because the majority of people in Idaho don’t like to think too much cuz it detracts from their enjoyment of NASCAR; they’ll let Bill O’Reilly do all the hard thinking for them.

So, I am torn.  The true democratic process means that whoever is running for president should be on the damn ballot.  On the other hand, if we carry that down the slippery slope, then anyone with an original party idea would have to be included on the ballot.  So we’d have, potentially, 200 candidates to choose from…

What I did was refuse to sign the petition.  I don’t want Nader on the ballot.  The last eight years stand in testament as to why…

Today in Arkansas, Democratic Party Chairman, Bill Gwatney was gunned down in his office.  The suspect 55 year-old Timothy D. Johnson, lead police on a 20 mile chase which ended with Johnson’s death.

We will, doubtlessly, discover that Johnson was a staunch right wing republican.

Jim Atkisson, 58, walks into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church where the children are putting on a presentation of the musical, Annie.  He proceeds to fire his gun into the audience killing two and wounding seven.

Police later said of Atkisson, “It appears that what brought him to this horrible event was his lack of being able to obtain a job, his frustration over that, and his stated hatred for the liberal movement,”

This is the inevitable result of the hate and vitriol spewn by people like Pat Robertson, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly.  They speak as though left-wing, liberal people were destroying America.  They speak with a fervor usually reserved for a holy war.

Their speech goes right into the ears and hearts of the Johnson’s and Atkisson’s of the world.  They and many like them aren’t able to distinguish rhetoric from reality.  They actually believe that the things that O’Reilly and Co. are saying are true.  They actually believe that, for the betterment of society, they must destroy that which Pat Roberton says is destroying America.

This is what is wrong with partisan politics, this is what is wrong with religious zealotry, and this is what is wrong with allowing people like Bill O’Reilly to have air time.  Innocent people are going to die.

Pat Robertson

Ann Coulter

Bill O’Reilly

Sean Hannity

Rush Limbaugh

Any other hate-spewing pundit…

Their blood is on your hands.  Change the way you do business.

Lots of this going on today. Shawn and I stood and watched it from the “Frendship Bridge,” which stretches from BSU to Ann Morrison Park. Photo by Fokket (Search on Flickr)

My partner and I just moved from Jerome, a pretty small town in Idaho, to Boise, the largest city in Idaho.  The reason for this move is that I will be attending Boise State University.

Until now it’s been all about unpacking and getting numbers changed.  So today we decided to go out and check out the town.  We moved to a house which is only a few blocks from BSU, and BSU is right near the Green Belt (Boise’s walking/biking path along the Boise River).  So we’ve been trying to hit the Green Belt and walk every day since we’ve been here.

Today was First Thursday, a Boise celebration that takes place in the evening of the first Thursday of ever month.  I was reading about all the things that were going on and Shawn and I decided to walk to the Green Belt and visit the Boise Zoo.  There was supposed to be a little evening zoo stroll called “Maggie Moo’s Ice Cream Zoofari,” which sounded kind of cool.  We got there and discovered that it was $4/person to get in and another $3/person to have ice cream.  That seemed kind of spendy, so we walked to the art museum and saw that that was $5/person to get in.  Too spendy again.  But we did discover a free bus.  So we took it and it dropped us off in the downtown district of boise. 

Boise is a wine town.  Every grocery store has a humungous section dedicated to wine.  Downtown isn’t any different.  There are wine cafes, restaurants and bars every 30 feet with people drinking and smoking.

Shawn and I wandered around, looking for a restaurant that didn’t look too alcoholy.  We ran into my Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Bennick.  That was cool.  She said that she hadn’t changed much but that I’d changed a great deal in the last 30 years.  Not surprising.

We went to the Emerald Club, a local gay bar with which I have many, many years of acquaintance.  We were trying to figure out what to order when the bartender noticed that Shawn’s ID was expired and we were politely tossed out on our ears.

So we wandered again. Coming to rest at a place called Proto’s Pizzaria Napoletana.  It wasn’t the kind of pizza Shawn was used to in Jerome. So we ordered just a regular pepperoni and cheese.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The food was not too spendy at $9 for a medium pizza.  I ordered a root beer and Shawn ordered a Mr. Pibb.  His came with free refills and mine, though delicious, was a one-shot deal.  The mozzarella was really fresh and the sauce was very tasty.  It got a glowing review from both of us. 

After that we had Maggie Moo’s, which is a Cold Stone ice cream place just down the street.  I wasn’t too impressed.  They didn’t ask us if we wanted cones or anything in our ice cream.  Shawn had the mint, which was an unnaturally bright color and I had the cake batter, which is my fave.  I did wind up asking them to put Nilla Wafers and Butterfingers in it.  But we still didn’t get offered a cone.  We both regretted the ice cream later.

We walked home overall we probably walked about 6 miles or so.  Good exercise ruined by unfortunate ice cream experience. :) 

Tomorrow I’m going back to Atkins.  No more ice cream for me.