Pandora Parrot (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pandora_parrot) wrote2008-10-31 03:13 am
pandora_parrot) wrote2008-10-31 03:13 am
Election Time
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.
I urge everyone to vote YES on Proposition 2. This will implement some of the most basic regulations regarding the treatment of animals on factory farms. This is not just about helping the animals. By abusing and torturing animals like we do, we are hurting ourselves, psychically and physically. Please vote YES on Proposition 2, to help reduce animal suffering.
Proposition 5 is another proposition that I encourage people to vote YES on. Proposition 5 changes the laws so that non-violent drug offenders do not serve jail time. Rather, they are put into a rehabilitation program instead. This proposition is important for several reasons. First of all, there are WAAAAY too many people in jail for simply being caught in possession of marijuana. Whether you agree pot use or not, it is absurd to incarcerate people for as long as we do for simple possession. 1% of our population is already in jail, with 780,000 new arrests each year do to possession of marijuana. We need to end this insanity and not send otherwise decent people to jail. This doesn't even get into how these laws are applied in a racist fashion, with black people and other minorities getting harsher sentences for drug possession than white people.
The other reason that I support Proposition 5 is that I believe that the war on drugs is absurd. First, many of the substances that are currently declared to be illegal are less harmful than drugs like alcohol, nicotine, and other drugs currently legal. The decisions of which drugs to criminalize is often made for political reasons and not to "protect people" as many people seem to think. Second, many drugs have been a part of religious rituals dating back to prehistoric civilizations. Human societies have been toking, dropping, or what-have-you going back to the dawn of humanity. Third, many of the drugs that are illegal show great potential for medicinal use. Marijuana is well known to have numerous health benefits, including management of severe and chronic pain. In 1962, an 18-month study regarding alcoholism treatments saw a 62% success rate for the duration of the study for those individuals that also were given LSD while receiving treatment, compared to 25% of those who did not receive LSD. MDMA, also known as "ecstacy," shows promise as a possible cure for depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
To summarize, we are spending ridiculous amounts of money to put people in overcrowded jails for possession of substances that are of proven medical value, ancient religious value, and are really arbitrarily declared to be illegal. This is crazy. If we can do something to make punishment for these "crimes" a little less harsh, we should do that. Vote Yes on Proposition 5.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.
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.
I urge everyone to vote YES on Proposition 2. This will implement some of the most basic regulations regarding the treatment of animals on factory farms. This is not just about helping the animals. By abusing and torturing animals like we do, we are hurting ourselves, psychically and physically. Please vote YES on Proposition 2, to help reduce animal suffering.
Proposition 5 is another proposition that I encourage people to vote YES on. Proposition 5 changes the laws so that non-violent drug offenders do not serve jail time. Rather, they are put into a rehabilitation program instead. This proposition is important for several reasons. First of all, there are WAAAAY too many people in jail for simply being caught in possession of marijuana. Whether you agree pot use or not, it is absurd to incarcerate people for as long as we do for simple possession. 1% of our population is already in jail, with 780,000 new arrests each year do to possession of marijuana. We need to end this insanity and not send otherwise decent people to jail. This doesn't even get into how these laws are applied in a racist fashion, with black people and other minorities getting harsher sentences for drug possession than white people.
The other reason that I support Proposition 5 is that I believe that the war on drugs is absurd. First, many of the substances that are currently declared to be illegal are less harmful than drugs like alcohol, nicotine, and other drugs currently legal. The decisions of which drugs to criminalize is often made for political reasons and not to "protect people" as many people seem to think. Second, many drugs have been a part of religious rituals dating back to prehistoric civilizations. Human societies have been toking, dropping, or what-have-you going back to the dawn of humanity. Third, many of the drugs that are illegal show great potential for medicinal use. Marijuana is well known to have numerous health benefits, including management of severe and chronic pain. In 1962, an 18-month study regarding alcoholism treatments saw a 62% success rate for the duration of the study for those individuals that also were given LSD while receiving treatment, compared to 25% of those who did not receive LSD. MDMA, also known as "ecstacy," shows promise as a possible cure for depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
To summarize, we are spending ridiculous amounts of money to put people in overcrowded jails for possession of substances that are of proven medical value, ancient religious value, and are really arbitrarily declared to be illegal. This is crazy. If we can do something to make punishment for these "crimes" a little less harsh, we should do that. Vote Yes on Proposition 5.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.