pandora_parrot: (contemplative)
I was reading about a recent controversy involving Richard Dawkins saying describing a point about logic and comparing things. As I read about the conflict, the amount of inability of Dawkins and his detractors to understand one another across the barrier of communication was staggering. Many people completely missed what he was trying to say, and misunderstood him to a considerable degree. Meanwhile, he completely missed why everyone was upset. He condescendingly described it as an "emotional no-go areas where logic dare not show its face."

Read more... )
pandora_parrot: (anger)
http://kenazfilan.blogspot.com/2011/02/dianic-rites-gender-identification-and.html

Z Budapest, you disgust me.

Just stamp that boot harder. My face isn't numb enough yet.

Gah... I just write a post about compassion and then someone does something like this to enrage me.

I guess what I have to realize is that compassion doesn't mean you don't get angry. Maybe it's just what you do with that anger.
pandora_parrot: (Default)
Reflecting today on the nature of wealth, class, and how your family's social class changes your opportunities in the world.

Read more... )
pandora_parrot: (happy)
Obama is SUCH a geek.

He has a Pac-Man sticker on his MacBook.

He's read the entire Harry Potter series.

He knows enough about sorting algorithms to know that bubble sort isn't one you'd want to use to sort a large amount of integers.

He is going to set up a presidential youtube channel.

He has a weekly vlog/podcast on youtube.

He is a huge fan of Star Trek. He teases his wife about wearing a belt that looks like dilithium crystals on the Enterprise.

He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarbian comics.

He is very familiar with the Superman comics, saying once, "I was actually born on Krypton, and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the planet Earth."

We have a geek for a president. How cool is that?!
pandora_parrot: (happy)
The president-elect is vlogging!

I love this guy!

*makes happy cooing noises*

And when you go to the section of his website where he's talking about civil rights, half the page is about LGBT issues!!!!

And can I conclude by pointing out how awesome it is to read his gender identity non-discrimination policy at the bottom of his job application section? The Obama-Biden Transition Project does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other basis of discrimination prohibited by law.

Unity

Nov. 7th, 2008 03:42 pm
pandora_parrot: (Default)
Some of these pictures bring tears to my eyes. It reminds me of all the anti-bush ones that were posted a while back, but these are all about bringing us together. Beautiful.

Found through [livejournal.com profile] phantomdancer
pandora_parrot: (activism)
Check it out: [livejournal.com profile] maradydd wrote two entries discussing some of the interesting legal aspects of prop 8 and how it will be fought if it is found to have been passed:

Her first entry on the subject
Her second
pandora_parrot: (Default)
These photos of Obama are incredible.

But my favorite is this one. It really captures the spirit of who this man is and what promise he holds for our nation and the work that we have to do.

pandora_parrot: (activism)
So... The supreme court of California decided that it is unconstitutional to have "separate but equal" definitions of unions for same-sex and different-sex couples. But now, marriage is only defined as between a man and a woman. So what's going to happen when this goes back to the supreme court?

Add your possibilities here, but here's a few I came up with:

The court decision said that California must either exit the business of sanctioning marriage, or it must grant same-sex couples the same rights as different-sex couples. Since the latter is no longer an option, will they have to do the former? Will California declare its marriage declaring powers null and void?

Perhaps they will say that the constitution of California is now self-contradictory. How will that be handled? Will they reject proposition 8 until another proposition is passed, this time to remove the equal protection clause in the constitution?

And what of the consequences of this election?

Will the Mormon church lose its tax exempt status because of how heavily it became involved in politics this year?

Will California decide to make out-of-state contributions to local causes illegal?

What will happen to all of the same-sex couples that have been married in the past few months?

This battle continues ever on. It will be very interesting to see what the next move is.
pandora_parrot: (activism)
It's almost here. Election time. I want to tell you how I feel about some of the things going on out there.

First of all, if you live in California on November 4th, I urge you to go to the polls and vote. I know that many of you feel badly about the idea of voting, but we need YOU to come out and vote AGAINST Proposition 8. Please, even if you don't want to cast a vote for president or anything else, come out to vote against 8.

Being transgender, my marital abilities are always in question. Is it legal or not for me to marry a person of either gender? Generally speaking, there is usually someone the government says is my gender, and that means I can't marry them. That is stupid, bigoted, and wrong. Please help me and all GLBT people out by getting out there and voting. I want to someday have the option of marrying the love of my life.

And while you're at it, if you have ANY money to spare to help with advertising and campaigning in the final days leading up to the election, please give what you can, regardless of what state you live in. We need all the help we can get out here!

Here's a link for you to donate some money. $10, $20, $50... Whatever you can afford. Please send it our way.

Next, there's the presidential election. Out here in California, I don't think it really matters who you vote for, but if you live in one of the many states where it isn't too clear which candidate your state is going to go for, please go to the polls and vote for Barack Obama. I'm not a political analyst or anything like that, but from everything I've seen of the guy, I truly believe in him. Although the green party better matches my personal positions on things, I believe in Barack Obama and his ability to lead this nation. I don't think it's just a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils here, like it usually seems. In this case, I think we have a good and true candidate for the office of President of the United States. Under Obama, I believe that we're going to see real change in our policies both foreign and domestic, and that we're going to actually start moving again, instead of digging ourselves deeper and deeper into the shithole we've been digging for ourselves. I think our country is going to recover and become amazing again.

About some other California propositions )
We now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.
pandora_parrot: (Default)
I've been seeing this idea being spread around a lot lately. The idea that there is no such thing as "cisphobia" or "heterophobia" or "reverse racism" or "reverse sexism" or any of that, and frankly, I find the idea really disturbing and distressing.

I'm not disagreeing with the idea that these words are ill conceived. As I understand it, words like "homophobia," "transphobia," "racism," "sexism," etc. are referring to cultural patterns of oppression and privilege from an oppressor class towards an oppressed class that are not necessarily overt displays of prejudice and bias. These phobias and -isms cannot be used to refer to bias and hate against the oppressor class. When a trans person makes sweeping generalized statements or acts with bias against cis people, they are not displaying "cisphobia," because they are not acting out a general pattern of oppression and privilege towards cisgender people. In this sense, then, there is no such thing as "cisphobia."

Read more... )
pandora_parrot: (Default)
This story needs to be read to be believed. Apparently, some airports believe they are actually required to stop 11-month old children from boarding because they are suspected of being terrorists.

C'mon... seriously?
pandora_parrot: (save the world)
I worry about this damn thing passing, and our rights being denied...

But then, it could be a good thing. EVERY history student is now going to have to have a class discussion about this Amendment. The issue of homosexuality will suddenly be in every classroom. We'll have breached the barrier preventing children from learning about it.

Interesting. I wonder how the right wingers are going to handle that.

"Don't talk to my kid about homosexuality!"
"But you put it in the constitution. We have to talk about it now!"
"I don't care. Tell them that the amendment is about something else."

I keep thinking that I need to reread "The Handmaid's Tail." America seems to be taking those slow steps towards a theocracy. Hmmm...
pandora_parrot: (save the world)
I found this on [livejournal.com profile] night_bird_owl's LJ. (Through [livejournal.com profile] heptadecagram). Original Post here

Back In The USSR????
20 years ago I lived in a country where it was very important to be "polictically correct" and telling a wrong kind of a joke at work could get you fired. I lived in a country where you didn't get to choose your own doctor. I lived in a country where the government promised "a safe retirement" and lied. I lived in a country where kids in schools wore uniforms (a hot debate subject at the Dallas ISD).

I lived in a country where the government was tracking all of the phone calls.

I lived in a country where all of the tax was on the working stiff to pay for the indulgences of those in power (see recent tax cut laws). I lived in the counrty with "EFFECTIVE BORDER CONTROL" (see today's Bushy speach).

I lived in the country that fought in Afganistan. I lived in a country that took all of the credit for winning every world war, especially WWII.

I lived in the country that thought that it owned the whole world just because it had lots of nukes and lots of people.

20 years ago, I lived in the USSR....
pandora_parrot: (Default)
Note, this entry was originally published on my old blog back in 2005. I have ported it here for completion.

The abortion debate really really annoys me. *gets up on my soapbox*

Here's why:
One side says, "There is a LIFE inside there, and it is wrong and BARBARIC to "CHOOSE" to MURDER that life."
The other side says, "The woman's body is her OWN, and she can CHOOOSE what she decides to do with it."

I think both sides are so caught up in their own dogma that they fail to recognize that they both have a point.
Read more... )
*gets off soapbox* That's my opinion, but to be honest, I'm not really sure about the issues. I do think both sides fail to properly characterize the argument, but what the result of that argument should be, I'm not really sure at all.

I'm not too familiar with the feminist-focused arguments for/against abortion, but those of you that don't know, there are many arguments discussing the social implications of forced pregnancy. Furthermore, there is certainly an argument for population reduction on the planet. More babies just makes more problems, in this regard. We need to reduce the population, not increase it!

*reads over this article* Wow... I don't like the way I sound in this... Do I come off too preachy? *laughs* I did used to be a total christian moralist, you know... ;P I blame it on that. Old habits die hard.
pandora_parrot: (Default)
Note, this entry was originally published on my old blog back in 2004. I have ported it here for completion.

This is awesome:
2004: Year of moral values


   By Beth Quinn
   Times Herald-Record
   bquinn@th-record.com
  
Well, kids, time to take a look back at 2004 and reflect on how much America has changed since the good old days. What with the shortage of newspaper space I'm facing here, I've decided to sum up the first 10 months in a single entry and concentrate on events since the election. So sit back and pour yourself a good, stiff drink. You'll be needing it.
Read more... )
pandora_parrot: (Default)
Note, this entry was originally published on my old blog back in 2004. I have ported it here for completion.

And didn't Jesus kick some major ass for this?
pandora_parrot: (Default)
Note, this entry was originally published on my old blog back in 2004. I have ported it here for completion.

From Michael Moore:
"A record $40 million-plus inauguration versus the pledged $35 million for tsunami relief versus the already distibuted $3.17 billion for Florida hurricaine relief."

It just makes you think about how little the U.S. cares about other nations anymore.
pandora_parrot: (Default)
Note, this entry was originally published on my old blog back in 2004. I have ported it here for completion.

Although I don't believe it yet, I am getting more and more convinced that John F. Kerry is our elected president, and that election fraud has changed that result. Here's the latest article on the subject. Apparently, there is a 1 in 250 million chance that George Bush actually won the election.

This is making me very nervous... Two election in a row?! It is unfathomable. From now on, is this all the republicans will have to do: Divide the country as evenly as possible and let fraud carry them over to victory? Scary. I still hope that it is not true. Having bush win by fraud is worse than having him win legitimately...

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