A New Post Over at Recap Attack, by Yours Truly

A new podcast is posted at RecapAttack, and I'm guesting again, so go on and check that out here.

To go along with it, I've cooked up one of my usual blog-essays especially for Recap Attack. Here's the teaser:

I skew to the left on most political issues, from your garden variety hot-button issues on down. I believe in a woman's right to choose if her body will carry a pregnancy to term; I believe that guns should be legal but tightly regulated; and I believe that taxes are the bread and butter that keeps my roads paved, food fecal-matter free, and my house from burning down or getting burglarized -- generally, I wholeheartedly support paying them.

Not everyone feels the way I do, and I can accept that. Hell, I can even embrace it -- this is a complex world, and it takes more than one viewpoint to create a rich and varied culture like that of our U.S. of A. What I cannot accept is the level to which our intolerance of opposing viewpoints has risen in recent years. More specifically, I cannot believe that in the pantomime of our soundbite-ready political system, we actually permitted ourselves to come to the very brink of default. Funny money or not, there were real people with real paychecks and our credibility as a nation at risk, and our elected officials could not manage to step down from the grandstand long enough to do what had to be done -- at least not soon enough to save us international embarrassment and a whole lot of freaking out -- and raise the debt limit so our city on a hill could pay the electric company and keep the beacons lit.

Read the rest on Recap Attack's page, here. And check back on this blog on Monday - there will be a piping hot post, fresh out of the oven just for you.

Behind the Pantomime, A Genuine Possibility for Change

I skew to the left on most political issues, from your garden variety hot-button issues on down. I believe in a woman's right to choose if her body will carry a pregnancy to term; I believe that guns should be legal but tightly regulated; and I believe that taxes are the bread and butter that keeps my roads paved, food fecal-matter free, and my house from burning down or getting burglarized -- generally, I wholeheartedly support paying them.

Not everyone feels the way I do, and I can accept that. Hell, I can even embrace it -- this is a complex world, and it takes more than one viewpoint to create a rich and varied culture like that of our U.S. of A. What I cannot accept is the level to which our intolerance of opposing viewpoints has risen in recent years. More specifically, I cannot believe that in the pantomime of our soundbite-ready political system, we actually permitted ourselves to come to the very brink of default. Funny money or not, there were real people with real paychecks and our credibility as a nation at risk, and our elected officials could not manage to step down from the grandstand long enough to do what had to be done -- at least not soon enough to save us international embarrassment and a whole lot of freaking out -- and raise the debt limit so our city on a hill could pay the electric company and keep the beacons lit.

Rhymes with Smushmortion

I try really hard to not be a militant activist. Strident, sometimes, maybe - I mean, we all have those moments, right? When we get just a little bit too caught up in some debate and all of a sudden we're chaining ourselves to the Thanksgiving table screaming, "You'll never take me alive!" while Great-Aunt Edna looks on in in utter horror before fainting into the mashed potatoes . . . Just me? Well, what I'm attempting to say is I try to keep it toned down - not militant.

That said, this post is going to be a little controversial, so if you are easily offended or don't like reading opinions different from yours, I might recommend reevaluating whether you really want to read this pro-choice woman's blog post. Nope, you're staying? You sure? All right then - just be prepared: I'm happy to discuss at length any aspect of the abortion discussion in the comments section, and would in fact LOVE to see people from different viewpoints drawn in and talking to one another. But flaming, trolling, name-calling, and any other childish behavior will not be tolerated. Let's all take a deep breath and remember, it's just a comment thread!

Do not feed the trolls.

Okay, now that's out of the way, let's get started.

I tend to seek out abortion articles like a pig snuffing for high-end truffles - I pass by a lot of them because they're either old news, too superficial, or so outrageous that the only way to make them die is to ignore them (NOTE: see above). Like I said, I'm pro-choice -- which means I'm pro-every-woman's-choice. Carrying a pregnancy to term, terminating the pregnancy, keeping the baby, putting the baby up for adoption, these things are all fine by me. Sometimes, I may question the reasoning behind another woman's decision regarding her pregnancy, but hell no would I ever take away her right to make that decision.

So, that's where I stand. And here's where the American abortion debate stands: at an absolute standstill, because we've gotten caught up in our sense of moral obligation to protect the lives of others and our God-given* right to personal liberty (I'm thinking T. Jefferson's take on this bit). So what to do?

William Saletan, one of my favorite writers at Slate.com, wrote a couple articles covering a recent meeting of the minds: the pro-life camp and the pro-choice camp got together and hugged it out. Well, technically they didn't hug it out -- they talked abortion policy in America and how to get the debate moving again, and the representatives for the pro-life camp got ostracized by their own groups for fraternizing with the enemy, and the representatives from the pro-choice camp got blackballed for sacrificing the party line.

Extremism: It's not just for the crazies anymore

Basically, not a whole lot happened -- superficially. But as Saletan points out, there were some real concessions made, by both sides, and some real common ground discovered, that could help to move us forward. The main points to take away after the jump, as laid out by Saletan:

Don't Ask Don't Tell is Going Down!

No, it's not the end of the fight against prejudice and the fight for equal rights for all, but it is the end of a over a decade of institutionalized discrimination and shameful, wasteful policy. The Senate has voted to repeal DADT, and Obama has sworn to sign it into law. This is happening, people, no matter how sad John McCain may feel about it. In celebration, let's look back at one of the loudest calls to end DADT that helped make this happen, from a little singer called Lady Gaga:





Hot damn, woman - thanks for making pop music cool to me again :).

The full transcript is posted after the jump:

HPV: Not just for sluts

This is a video more people need to see -- HPV infects 80% of the U.S. adult population, and usually those infected don't even know they have it. Yet for those who become infected, it can bring on all the shame and stigma assosciated with STDs in our culture - but it shouldn't! The woman in this video gets it right: "It's not something that's dirty, it's not something that's any different if you would get if you had strep or you had the common cold; it just has to do with your sexual organs and therefore has a stigma associated with it."

Everything is Terrible, Part One

Welcome to the first installment of my "Everything is Terrible" series, where I discuss something that's really getting on my nerves. Don't worry, I'll keep it fun.


Driving home today, listening to the elitist liberal propaganda radio station otherwise known as NPR, I was struck by a general irritation with politics. Now don't get me wrong, usually I love politics (truly, I do, just ask any of my friends who are sick and tired of hearing me promote the latest cause or express my complete outrage with some miserable situation -- I live and breathe for political discussion, right after cute shoes and a giant English manor house with a limitless decorating budget).


But here's what's sticking in my craw: why the HELL can't the Republican party come up with some other solution for our national debt besides cutting taxes and spending?? I'm sorry, but if I notice my household finances are out of whack, of course I cut back on spending in order to get out of debt, but I never, ever, not in a million, trillion, bazillion years also decide to cut my revenue. I mean, honestly -- if I'm in debt, I'm looking around for some other ways to make money, like dealing suger-laced baked goods to the kids or selling domestic-themed lap dances or something. Maybe a striptease involving irons and a lacy apron . . . hmm.

Borrowed from MadPhotog

My future money-making aspirations aside, I know that Republicans very rarely cut taxes the way they claim to want to. GOP god Ronald Regan actually RAISED taxes considerably during his presidency: after his big cut in 1981, he increased taxes twice, resulting in the lower- and middle-class actually paying a greater percentage of taxes than they had in 1980. That's right, Ron raised taxes - because it was the right thing to do, in order to rectify budget mistakes that had been made when calculating his initial tax cut, and then again to help sustain Social Security and Medicare. And he had bipartisan support! (source) 
  
This is to say, I'm not asking Republicans give up their "make less, spend less" platform when it comes to government budgeting, but could we please ratchet the dedication to the rhetoric down a couple notches? This country is in a major mess, money-wise, and while I agree we need to eat out less, now is hardly the time to quit the second job so we can have more free time. Let's go find that lacy apron! 


In other words, now is the time to urge your congresspersons to let the Bush tax cuts for the very wealthy expire -- continuing to lose that revenue is a luxury for the few that we cannot sustain. Check out these sites after the jump for ways you can make your voice heard in this debate and get involved: