Not my “Pal”..-in.

In the days that have passed since it was announced that Super Hockey Mommy Gun-Lovin’ Church Lady Barbie was to be the Republican nominee for vice president, I have tried to refrain from my immediate reaction. Or actually, my second one, since my immediate reaction, “Who?”, would be difficult for me to deny, as it would be for many Americans.

Palin takes aim at a group of homosexual, pro-choice tree-huggers.

But, no. We weren’t punk’d. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin; renowned for her extensive diplomatic experience with nearby Russia and research into the causes of global warming and the history of the feminist movement — she is, a feminist, of course; is truly being nominated for the No. 2 most important position in our country’s government.

I don’t know which of the following is more comical about this clearly very strategic move by the Republican Party, besides her complete lack of experience:

(a) That they’d truly believe that moderate and hardcore Hillary-loving liberal white women would embrace Palin as a candidate;

(b) That this would be viewed as a giant, progressive step forward in the women’s movement — breaking through the glass ceiling — by Americans everywhere, despite Palin’s clearly anti-choice position;

(c) That both of the above seem to actually be happening. At least in some parts of this nation, thanks in no small part of the right-wing PR machine (which, I must admit as a strategic communications major, is clearly brilliant) and the always-receptive-to-ignorance FOX News, not to mention CNBC. Just look at this ridiculous clip from Donny Deutsch, who claims that Palin is a successful candidate because she knows her place in the world — wearing a skirt — Hilldawg never figured that out.

This whole thing is ludicrous. But to be fair, Palin does have some experience in politics, and her accomplishments should not be ignored. Just to name a few:

1. While serving as Mayor of Wasilia, Alaska, she looked the other way as victims of sexual assault were charged between $300 and $1200 for rape kits. OpEdna
2. Also while Mayor of Wasilia, Palin attempted to fire a librarian who refused to remove several books from the library system. Two of the titles? Daddy’s Roommate and Pastor I’m Gay. I love having people in office in a democratic nation who don’t support free speech. The Huffington Post and AP
3. While Governor of Alaska, Palin supported legislation that made it easier for aerial hunters to brutally kill wolves and other animals during the winter, in addition to many other aggressively pro-hunting policies. Queerty
4. During her first 19 months in office as Governor, Palin billed Alaskan taxpayers for 312 nights of a “per diem” allowance to cover her meals and incidental expenses. The total bill? Around $16,000; while her family charged the state over $40,000 to travel in that time. Washington Post
5. Palin’s former church, the Wasilia Assembly of God, has close ties to the abysmal and abusive ex-gay organization Love Won Out. AP

These were just five among many, many more reasons why this woman could not be a worse choice for vice president. Disagree? I’m deeply saddened by your ignorance. Period. I couldn’t agree more with Margaret Cho (an actual feminist)’s quotation from earlier today in the Washington Blade:

“I think [Palin] is the worst thing to happen to America since 9-11,” Cho said. “Someone who has no thoughts about women’s rights and who wants to send women back to the Stone Age? You might as well not let women vote. I came out of the Democratic convention feeling so proud and excited, but now I fear that our country is so backwards in so many ways and the ignorance that exists is greater than we can even imagine.”

Comedian Margaret Cho is an *actual* feminist.

Kudos for being brave and speaking out, Miss Cho. It’s not easy to do in a country that has been taught in recent years to fear like never before. To obey. To never ask questions. When in doubt, just drive over to Wal Mart and buy more shit. It’s the American way.

Kudos to Cho. Kudos to Gloria Steinem, author of the LA Times piece, “Wrong woman, wrong message”. Kudos to the hundreds who rallied this weekend at the Alaskan Women Reject Palin rally — more than showed up to her Welcome Home Rally on the same day. Kudos to mafuckin’ Tina Fey, for her impeccable impression of Hockey Mommy.

Let’s not stand by and let an anti-gay, anti-choice, pro-violence, completely ignorant non-feminist step within a heartbeat of the Presidency. The time is now.

How much can you really “reclaim”?

I’m sure that you’ve all heard by now about Jane Fonda’s “C-bomb” droppage last week on The Today Show, during an interview with Meredith Vieira, but in case you missed it (which is highly possible.. I mean, does anyone really watch that show anymore?):

My first reaction to the news — which caused a ridiculous amount of uproar — pretty much matched Vieira’s. I rolled my eyes, apologized to the three people I was speaking with at the time and moved on. It’s not as though Fonda had slammed a glass beer bottle on the edge of a table, brandishing it toward Vieira while screaming a slew of obscenities about the female anatomy. Instead, she had referred to the name of the monologue — “Reclaiming Cunt” — that she had been asked to perform in a performance of The Vagina Monologues.

Our society has reached this bizarre point with censorship where words, phrases and ideas are only punished when they challenge hegemony. As Eve Ensler, the monologues’ author, stated in a People article: “Why is there a buzz about that when there’s no buzz about the word ‘rape’ or ‘plutonium’ or ‘clusterbomb’? … I’m always surprised that people focus on these issues, when one of three women in the world are being raped and beaten and violated.”

These issues are simply not being talked about, while at the same time, the gendering of proper behavior and etiquette for powerful women has never been more strictly policed. Fonda is just another example of this. We are inundated with news whenever Britney Spears eats a Ho-Ho, Hillary Clinton cries a tear or any other woman of influence steps out of line with the norm in some way.

Today in Wisconsin was the primary election, and as expected, Clinton was defeated soundly by Barack Obama, particularly here in Madison, where the “student voice” quickly morphed into a cultish choir chanting “change” and “hope.” Don’t get me wrong — I really like both candidates and am thankful that we as a country are fortunate enough to be able to choose between two fantastic Democratic candidates, rather than feeling stuck with . But, based on the conversations I have had in the past weeks, suffice it to say that I am skeptical about the depth of Obamaites’ knowledge on the issues. Their eyes sparkle from the excitement of a great orator with carefully crafted, brilliantly strategized appeals and imagery, though I’ve heard very little based in actual political discourse to back up the taglines. That is, unless this heinously anti-woman Facebook status message of a “friend,” posted earlier this evening, counts as discourse:

There simply seems to be no stopping the Obamamania.

Enjoy the song below, which eerily (and catchy-indie-pop-songly) describes my current outlook on life; procrasinating late on a Tuesday night, nearly one-third of the way into my final semester as a student:

This is our decision, to live fast and die young
We’ve got the vision, now let’s have some fun
Yeah, it’s overwhelming, but what else can we do
Get jobs in offices, and wake up for the morning commute

Download: MGMT ‘Time to Pretend’

Don’t ask, don’t fuck with me

The weekend is here, as is December, and snow is falling here in Madison. Bravo is televising a seasons 1, 2 and 3 epic marathon of Project Runway, and I am holed up finishing (starting?) a paper on transgender in(ex)clusion in LGBT community organizing. So, I am cracking open the Diet Coke and proclaiming “bring it” to the end-of-semester stress.

As you probably already know, Wednesday evening was the CNN/YouTube Republican Presidential Debate, and it was just as captivating as one could have ever expected a gathering of middle- to older-aged white men discussing gay-hatin’, Jesus-praisin’ and gun-lovin’ to be. Outside of the expected content, the below question really got to me.

I am so tired of the bullshit response of “unit cohesion” concerns among conservative politicians, and the far-reaching generalizations made over those serving in the military is insulting not only to gay and lesbian troops, but to heterosexual troops assumed to be too close-minded to deal with those who are different with them. The U.S. military is in no position whatsoever to be turning down help from wherever it can get it, and serving our country is something that means a lot to many Americans who choose to enlist. Not allowing them to openly be who they are while putting their life on the line is downright degrading, and I’m still waiting for a better response to questions like Brigadier General Keith Kerr’s from this debate than what we have been hearing for the past decade. The rousing applause of the debate’s audience after the candidates continued to babble on about “family values” and “homosexual lifestyles” was nauseating.

Allegations were later made by a number of conservative bloggers that Kerr’s question was planted by Hillary Clinton’s campaign, given that Kerr serves on a Clinton LGBT-related steering committee. CNN producers have since pandered to their accusations by apologizing for including the question in the debate, despite Kerr’s repeated statements that he was acting as an individual and that he “has not done any work for Mrs. Clinton.”

The whole controversy misses the point, in my mind, given that the whole idea of YouTube debates is to open the forum up to questions from any individual with something on their mind, which may or may not represent the interests of the entire constituency. Democracy is about everyone coming to the table and having their voice heard, as well as the “watchdog” duty that bloggers have taken up in the past several years. Although it is important, and noteworthy, to know that Kerr is associated with the Clinton committee, that shouldn’t mean that the question needs to be completely disregarded. As the above article from the Washington Times points out, many of the questions asked in the debate were contributed by individuals with organizational ties from both ends of the political spectrum. This is simply the nature of the beast. When democratic ideals are used to encourage censorship, something has gone wrong.

In case you didn’t catch this entry’s thesis: “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is fucked up.