I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the idea that Obama is not responsible for the behavior of the screaming misogynists who support him. I mean, who can control internet creeps anyways, right?

Except that there is a bigger problem. You are responsible for the kind of environment you create. That is why I am diligent about screening out misogynist and MRA comments. I did allow a comment through on the trans kids post that was obviously transphobic (play acting?) to refute it. It’s a delicate choice sometimes between allowing for discussion and giving room to refute arguments, and just letting the asshole take over. Judging from the numbers of repeat comments from misogynists who are banned and sent to permanent comment moderation, I have been pretty good at choosing correctly so far.

Obama may not be personally trolling blogs that don’t support him. But he has created an environment where stifling the opposition and harassing women are seen as appropriate tools for political gain.

Last week Redstar and I did an email interview with the Black Snob about my anti Obama feelings. She’s got the post up now.

Go check it out. And peruse the Black Snob’s site while you’re at it. She funny and erudite with a good mix of pop culture and politics.

Last night I watched the Barbara Walters special on transkids with my Kid. These kids were so cute and so brave, I just wanted to bundle them up and keep them from everything mean in the world. And I’m not even *that* maternal. Kid, as usual, handled it exceptionally well. He hated that people were mean to them, and he was all “If I had a trans kid, I’d let them pick who they wanted to be”.

Contrast to a few friends from the other night who think “it” is the appropriate pronoun to use for people who just won’t pick a gender and stick with it. Ughhhh. When I pointed out that it is just good manners to use the pronoun that the person uses for themselves, they seemed to get it a little. But with exceptions.

“Except for V_____, it doesn’t know what it is.”

“It” is not a word used for human beings. “It” is the ultimate in othering. “It” is how we describe lifeless things like toasters and sweaters. And when you turn a human into an “It”, it’s no wonder that violence and murder of trans people is high. Can you murder a toaster? I hate “It”.

Is it so hard to ask? If someone is skewing the gender binary, and you are not sure how to address them, I am pretty sure that they would prefer to be asked rather than to be treated like a household object.

Words mean things. And how could anyone ever want to hurt this sweet, sad girl is beyond me.

Since there are growing numbers of Pro Hillary blogs getting locked out as spam I went ahead and created a backup blog at wordpress.

I am not ready to move to Word Press entirely (though I love love love their comment mod system)because A. this started as a group blog (and sometimes still is) and I haven’t figured out how to change the post authors over there yet. So far it looks like i wrote everything- and I don’t want to take that kind of credit. Also, I don’t have the money to pay to upgrade Haloscan comments so I can export them to WordPress (and I’m not 100% sure that can be done. ) and I don’t want to lose them.

So I’ll keep posting here for now. But should something horrible happen, plan b is in place.

They are power washing the outside of my house. It’s very very noisy. Teeth grindingly noisy. It was okay at first, but it’s been going on for hours now and I have a headache and I’m cranky.

Noise pollution sucks.

That is all for now. I am going to go hide my head under a pillow and weep until it stops.

A little over 80 years ago, one of the dominant reasons for not giving us ladies the right to vote was that politics would sully our pure spirits. But really it was just another excuse in a long line of excuses used to shut the bitches up.

Now we have the vote(to the lament of many) and after decades of trying to find a public voice and being shut out of traditional arenas (or given token membership if we are willing to disparage our own sex), women have found the internet, just like dudes did. And we use it speak clearly and freely without being hindered by the old standards that kept us not silent, but unheard.

Of course that drives the tools of the patriarchy mad! Mad I tell you! And just how mad is clearly seen in the cyberstalker and trolls. No, not all all men are cyberstalkers and trolls but nearly all cyberstalkers and trolls are men. It’s the Catholic/Christian thing (All Catholics are Christians but not all Christians are Catholics).

Recently, the mad boyz of the Obama campaign have reported several Pro Clinton blogs as spam in an attempt to shut them up. Including our favorite Blue Lyon. It’s not a coincidence that the bloggers they are trying to quiet are women. I mean, they aren’t getting Pro McCain blogs locked up, now are they?

Why would it be more important to silence women than to silence men of opposing viewpoints is the question. Why are these mad boyz so desperately afraid of women speaking freely about their political opinions? I don’t think it’s just because they think our voices are too shrill or our laughs so cackling that we make their eardrums bleed just by speaking near them. I think they have more pragmatic reasons for trying to keep us quiet.

A little while back, Feministe reported on an awesome Latina teacher in LA who got fired for teaching her mostly minority students about their own histories instead of the regurgitated white bread crap that has been forced down most of our throats. We can’t have that. OMG, POC finding out that their entire history is not one of mere oppression/subjugation! If they learn the histories of successful movements against the oppressors, they might get ideas! They might not be willing to accept the lives of poverty that we have planned for them. Shut that teacher up before she undoes centuries of patriarchal brain washing by letting students read about Malcolm X.

And the same principle applies to women. Shut those uppity bitches up before other women (and sympathetic men) catch on and ruin it for all of us. That’s why the hopium smokers keep trolling Hillary blogs. Hillary reminded us that there is still a lot of fighting to be done. And she woke up a giant community of women who are tired of being quiet for the good of the party. Hillary may have suspender her campaign, but the spirit of possibility and the drive to create something better has been awakened in many of us. And for those of us who have never been quiet, we now have much larger audiences of willing and enthusiastic listeners. That is what the trolls fear most. That people will hear us and agree.

It is easy to attribute the abuses of privilege to evilness or ignorance. But like I’ve been saying for a long time, privilege is pragmatic. Rape exists and is allowed to flourish as a means of keeping women in fear. The motherhood ideal exists as a way to keep women doing necessary labor for no wages. And misogynist trolls on feminist blogs everywhere exist to keep us quiet.

But it ain’t gonna work this time.

It seems that the hard press is starting to come from the party now (and not just the stalker bots). Every morning when I wake up there is a slew of new emails in my inbox from people like John Kerry trying to get me to “Unite for change” (i/e give my money to Obama)

Uhm, no.

But rather than feel useless and mute in the face of the sleazy salesmen of the Democratic party, I pledge to keep fighting to bring reason and ration back to politics. So when Dr. Socks posted this pledge from I Own My Vote, I had to sign up.

I stand together with Hillary Clinton’s 18 million voters to demand that Senator Obama and the Democratic Party:

• Bring us together by seating 100% of the Florida and Michigan delegations in Denver with 100% of their votes, allocated in accordance with the popular vote of each state.
• Bring us together by adopting policies on the Platform Committee that Hillary Clinton has championed.
• Bring us together through reform of the primary and caucus system to reflect the basic principle of one person/one vote.
• Bring us together through outspoken denunciation of all gender bias, racism and other forms of discrimination.
• Bring us together by fairly and respectfully including Hillary and her supporters at the Democratic National Convention in Denver by, among other things, placing her name in nomination for President, conducting a roll call vote, and providing her a prominent speaking role during prime time on August 26th, the 88th anniversary of women’s suffrage.

I own my vote. It does not belong to any party. It does not belong to any candidate. It does not belong to any mob that would impose its will on me. Only I can decide how to use my vote, and I can decide based on any criteria I choose. Therefore I pledge not to give my vote to anyone who does not earn it.

And that my friends is the most basic truth of this election. Obama has not earned my vote, and intimidation tactics will not get me to vote for him. Extortion will not get me to vote for him. Abusive behavior will not get me to vote for him. Disenfranchisement will not get me to vote for him.

To My Darling Soopermouse:

I can’t be there in person to make you a real cake, so this will have to do. I am so happy that we have become friends. Because of you, I have spent mountains of hours watching holocaust documentaries just so I can keep up with you in our epic debates. You are also my best insight into the minds of Eastern European boys and heavy metal music, and weird YouTube videos.

Happy birthday. Maybe I’ll find a way to be there in person for your next one.

I hate cauliflower. I mean I really hate cauliflower. I like most other veggies. Spinach, broccoli, asparagus, even brussell sprouts when cooked right. But I cannot imagine any scenario where I see cauliflower as anything other than an ugly blight on the vegetable world.

But other people like it. I can’t imagine why they do, but it happens. It happens often enough that it is always for sale at my grocery store. Always. And yet I keep shopping at that store. I don’t boycott the store. I haven’t written to my congressman asking him to pass a resolution that cauliflower is the root (or veg) of all evil. I simply refrain from buying or eating cauliflower myself. And I can still sneer at cauliflower eaters and snarkily ask them why they would put such and ugly, nasty thing in their mouths.

Human rights work the same way. I don’t like most of the Christian religion. I won’t go to their churches or share their beliefs. But I also am not writing my congressman to tell him that Christianity is the root of all evil and should be outlawed. But I still raise an eyebrow at the fundies and make fun of their belief in the magical sky fairy.

So when the fundies, of whatever religious flavor – Christian, Mormon, Muslim, whatever, pull out their “You’re mere existence steps on my rights” crap. I want to tie them down and force feed them cauliflower. They are wrong.

That gay people exist and should have the same human rights to marry and be parents is not infringing on anyones rights to believe that gays are the root of all evil. You can believe that till until the magical sky fairy returns for all I care. But you don’t get to legislate their rights away. Just like I, as a reasonable human being in the world, will not legislate the cauliflower away. Gays exist, cauliflowers exist, women who want control of their own bodies exist. And their right to exist trumps your desire to not feel uncomfortable.

No one will ever force a fundy to have hot gay sex. Or prevent a hetero couple from marrying because a smoking lesbian wants the bride. But on a daily basis, gay couples are kept from marrying the people they love and kept from providing stable homes to foster kids while fundies scream cause it makes them feel icky inside to imagine the “wrong” body parts lining up in a dark bedroom somewhere.

Inspired by this clip from 30 days posted at Jezebel (Sorry OD, it’s a habit i’m trying to break) that I can’t find an embeddable link for.