Still speechless...

Almost everything I read today suggested that scumbag half-wit won because many people liked his stand on "moral issues" - in other words, gay mariage and abortion.

Yes, because that's what's really wrong with the country. Forget the economy. Forget the mess in Iraq and the Middle East. Forget the Every Child Left Behind education strategy. Forget the corporate scandals, the constant threat of terrorism being held over your heads, and the failing social support system. None of that was important. What really mattered were those damned gays and loose women.

Spare me.

I had a whole long rant composed in my head this afternoon about opposition to gay marriage. What it boiled down to was this:

1. You think that a man marrying another man or a woman marrying another woman is a threat to the sanctity of marriage? Please. I've heard various numbers tossed around, but the divorce rate hovers somewhere around the 40% mark. And since only hetrosexuals can get married at this point - guess what? It's straight people who are messing up the institution as it stands. Not gays. Straights. Hetros.
   
2. How sad is it they would deny the happiness and satisfaction of a loving relationship between two consenting adults simply because you're squicked out by it? The world is a big huge place filled with depressing, mean things; it's cold and impersonal, and when you think about how much could be done to make it right and how little is actually done to make it right, it's almost overwhelming. So when you find someone to share your life with, whose happiness is tied to your own, who knows all your faults and imperfections and still wants to be with you more than anything else in the world, why deny that? You love whom you love, and calling that sinful and wrong is surely a greater evil than saying, "I now pronounce you, Adam and Steve, husband and husband - go forth and be happy!"

As for abortion, I'm pro-choice. I don't think I'd ever have one for philosophical reasons, but that doesn't mean I think other woman shouldn't. It's a personal decision that a woman has to make, and just because she has the option to abort doesn't mean she will choose it. The analogy I use is this:

You want ice cream. Nay, you need ice cream - maybe for personal reasons, maybe for medical reasons. But all you have is vanilla. Vanilla just doesn't cut it for whatever reason. So, there's chocolate - chocolate is good too, another valid option. Now you have a choice - vanilla or chocolate. Sometimes you need chocolate because otherwise terrible things will happen. But sometimes you just want ice cream - and having the choice between vanilla and chocolate doesn't mean you're going to chose chocolate. At least you have that choice.

I think that's all I want to say on this. I'm still going to be fuming, but I'll be moving on shortly.

Speechless

I can't.... I'm just.... I'm... speechless... just....

*sigh*

I can't believe that lying sack of shit got re-elected. Jeezuz Goddamn Christ Almighty. What the hell were you thinking?

I'm so upset and angry that I can't even articulate it. I'm angry that enough people were able to look past his lack of accountability and experience and hatemongering and warmongering to vote for him again. I'm upset that Americans are going to be convinced that the whole world hates them when really we despise their politicians and politics. I'm heartbroken that the thuggish and bullying tactics that have been used since 9/11 on Middle East nations and other nations that wouldn't support that pathetic excuse to invade Iraq and don't believe the whole thing has been handled with anything approaching intelligence, will continue for another four years.

I had a headache for most of the day - a bad one. Partly caused by tar fumes from the building across the street, and partly because I couldn't stop thinking about my dear friend who lives in upstate NY and my Mom's cousin in Boston.

About a year and a half ago, my friend made the extremely difficult personal decision to come out of the closet. His brother is gay, and he'd been trying to deny the possibility that he might also be gay. But once he acknowledged it and told us, I congratulated him, told him it didn't change how I felt about him, and wished him well. I had hoped that by coming out, he could finally feel free to be himself, and that the weight of hiding who and what he was could finally be lifted off his shoulders. But no - apparently, his "type" are deviants and evil, and shouldn't be afforded the same rights and freedoms that the rest of the population are. Eleven states passed referendums banning gay marriage. What's next - discrimination, isolation, repression - I shudder to think.

My Mom's cousin in Boston works for Polaroid. It's a company that's not doing well at all. At the end of every month, she has to wait to hear if she's got a job next month because they are constantly laying staff off. And if the worst does happen, what does she have? She doesn't have a pension, because they lost it when the company was taken over a few years ago. She's not far from retirement, but what the hell is she supposed to live on if she makes it that far? Yet CEOs of companies who mismanage them to the point of bankruptcy get huge payoffs and bonuses - what? You're not a CEO and your company has gone belly-up? Too bad. So sad. Didn't you people remember Enron?

What's wrong with you? You actually think that idiot has any plans or goals beyond completely screwing up the Middle East and giving in to every fantasy of the wacko fundies? You thunk wrong.

There's nothing else I want to say, or can say without resorting to strong, family-unfriendly language. If you need me, I'll be quietly fuming over here for the next four years.