Today only, Amazon has Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog
Also, this protest against Prop 8 in California is super-awesome. I love it when people are creative and funny in the face of what now seem to be pretty insurmountable odds.
Category: current events
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Two Awesome Things
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Isn’t this a beautiful pile of crap?
The LDS Church’s response to Prop 8 passing: Read the statement.\
bq. We hope that now and in the future all parties involved in this issue will be well informed and act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility toward those with a different position. No one on any side of the question should be vilified, intimidated, harassed or subject to erroneous information. (emphasis mine)\
Uh, yea. Tell that to your leaders. (More correctly, to the leaders of the Yes on Prop 8 movement.)\
Nice sentiment, guys, but too late.\
As a whole, the statement reads nicely. And, I am not sure I mean that as a compliment. -
No joy
I am still furious that the LDS Church supported California’s Prop 8.\
I am heartbroken that it passed.\
I am incredulous that the pro-8 people misled and lied to voters.\
I am disappointed that it worked. -
Promise
It was a long night. It’s been a long campaign. But, as I sit here with tears in my eyes watching our new President-Elect speak, I can’t help but think about the promise of the next administration. Throughout the last two years, I’ve hoped that Barack Obama would be the next President. He’s the first presidential candidate we’ve donated money to.\
Now, that hope has been fulfilled, and now the promise of a new administration is here. A new day is coming, and in January, the worst president in our nation’s history will leave office and be replaced with one who promises to at least be better, and we hope will be great.\
The last eight years, I’ve been full of anger at what George W. Bush and his administration have done to our country. I hoped for change, and that hope felt in vain at times. I’ve been trying not to hope too much because I wasn’t sure I could take the disappointment this time around when the stakes are so high.\
But, I don’t have to worry about that. My hope has been fulfilled, and now I’m filled with the potential, the promise, of the next four years. I’m hopeful that Mr. Obama won’t disappoint me.\
God bless you, America. Thank you. Thank you for voting in record numbers, for (although a little late in my opinion) rejecting the politics of fear and division, and embracing the future. This election to me was the past vs. the future. We could either keep going the direction that George W. Bush had taken us, or we could decide it was time to embrace the future and become the country we say we are, but never quite live up to.\
Yes we can. Yes we did. Yes, yes, we will.\
(and not to spoil it, but I can’t help but think that all that Barack’s daughters will remember about tonight is that they’re getting a puppy and got to stay up really late) -
Hope
I just want to write this down so I remember it later. I woke up at 5:30 this morning full of nervous energy, thinking about today and what’s happening around the country. I’m excited, but most of all, I’m hopeful. I’m hopeful that Obama will win, and not just with a slim margin like the last two elections, but a real mandate to start the process of fixing things.\
I’m looking forward to watching the returns tonight, and seeing what happens. I smiled this morning, at 7:45AM, as I drove past our local polling place and saw a line out the door and into the parking lot.\
I’m tired, but happy, because unless all the polls are wrong, and really wrong, Barack Obama will be the President-Elect tomorrow morning. That makes me smile. It makes me downright giddy. -
Spare Eight Minutes
Lawrence Lessig provides a great argument against Proposition 8. It’s reasoned, has a sound legal backing (because, he’s Lawrence Lessig), and is profound in its simplicity. It perfectly echoes my own feelings on it, and does a great job of dissolving the rationale for the proposition without insulting those who support it. Great great stuff. Please watch it.
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It’s In Every One of Us to Be Wise
It’s in every one of us
To be wise
Find your heart
Open up both your eyes
We can all know everything
Without ever knowing why
It’s in every one of us
By and by
It’s in every one of us
To be wise
Find your heart
Open up both your eyes
We can all know everything
Without ever knowing why
It’s in every one of us
By and by
By and byfrom It’s In Every One of Us by David Pomeranz
I should be going to sleep now, but I started watching Big Bird singing It’s Not Easy Being Green at Jim Henson’s funeral, which led me to the Muppet’s Tribute to Jim Henson, and then to Frank Oz’s lovely eulogy. In the second video, I heard a song I don’t remember, the one above, and it got me thinking (and yes, crying a little) about my heroes, and why they hold that position.
I love Jim Henson. He’s one of my heroes – a man of amazing creativity, warmth and love, who created so many great characters. More than that, though, he opened up imaginations by sharing his, and everything he created has at its core a gentleness, decency and humanity. You can tell right away that there’s a piece of him in everything he did. He died long after I’d outgrown Sesame Street (I was fifteen), but I still got choked up whenever anyone played Rainbow Connection (still do).
My second hero is Mr. Rogers. I used to watch both shows as a kid, but didn’t really understand who Mr. Rogers was as a “real” person until much much later. Mr. Rogers was seemingly without guile, someone totally in touch with their emotions and with the emotions of those around him – and like Jim Henson, the adjective that jumps to mind when I get past the things they created – the artifacts of their professional lives, is “gentle”. I love that Mr. Rogers dedicated his life to speaking softly to children without speaking down to them, to teaching them about the world without fear or cynicism. I told this to a friend today and she looked at me like I was crazy, but I think Mr. Rogers may be the most Christ-like person to live on the earth since, well, Jesus.
And last, but certainly not least, my dad. I certainly don’t tell him this enough, but he is my hero. He is the most patient person I’ve ever met, and set a great example of what a husband and father should be – one that I don’t measure up to, but aspire to. He is kind, and gentle. I think the only times I heard him raise his voice were either on the golf course or home repair “mishaps” with heavy tools, and they were never directed at us (the only reasons my brother and I ever went golfing with dad were: to hear him swear, and to drive the cart).
It all comes back to being gentle, something I’m not very good at, but want to be. All three of my heroes are good men: creative, smart, compassionate and charitable gentle men , who leave those around them better for having known them. They are who I aspire to be.
Thank you, dad, for being there when I need you. And thank you, Mr. Rogers and Jim Henson, for being examples of where imagination and decency can take you in a sometimes dark and always imperfect world.
And to get back to the song, it is in all of us to be wise. It’s in all of us to be better than we are, to aspire to being more like our heroes and to choose leaders more like we aspire to be instead of those that feed on our fears. I saw a sticker today Love More. Fear Less (you can get your own), which is what started this whole train of thought.
We, I, have been afraid too long – driven by fear to compromise our dreams, our futures and to choose leaders who feed those fears. It’s time to be led by love, to stop being afraid and embrace the future as a challenge to be better, to live our ideals instead of preaching them to others and doing the opposite behind closed doors when we think no one is looking. I’m tired of being angry. I’m tired of hearing politicians claim that the people who disagree with them aren’t “real” Americans. I’m tired of the pandering and the lies. Anger is fear turned outwards, a blind response to things we feel powerless to control, and anger is not love. I’m no hippie. I know I’ll still be angry when I wake up in the morning and catch a glimpse of the news, but I’m going to try to be wise. I’m going to try to love more and fear less, and I will keep my heroes that embody those qualities.
I don’t know that this makes any sense at all. It’s late, and I should have been asleep two hours ago, but I couldn’t go to bed with all this trapped in my head.
“It’s in every one of us to be wise. Find your heart, open up both your eyes.”
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Good Gnews from Gary Gnu.
1. The broken pipe isn’t actually going into the house in Va, so yay! They won’t have to tear up the house to fix the problem. This means the estimate was a lot higher than the actual bill will be. Phew. “Tonight we eat like the lower middle class to which we aspire.”\
2. Speaking of food, our grocery store finally got in some decent-looking strawberries. I don’t think I have seen any since we’ve moved here. They’re usually bruised and old looking, ewww. Even though these ones were more expensive than usual I bought them, because- yum- strawberries! Double, yay. Max then ate them ALL at breakfast the following day. I guess he was missing out on the strawberries too.\
3. The house we’re renting is for sale (as you long-time readers will know), making our situation here unstable. But! There have already been a couple of offers from people wanting to keep us as tenants, so triple yay. I am guessing at this point that the bank would rather take one of these bids than foreclose, but I don’t actually know the dollar amounts involved, so homelessness is still a possibility.\
4. Every once in a long while, Kevin will be sort of grumpy for a few days, only I won’t really notice it until he is suddenly in a good mood. Well, the same thing happened to me! After being a complete cranky-queen on wheels for the last month, I surprised myself by singing along to a commercial on the tv. (Me being in a bad mood isn’t all that unusual, just that I was surprised to find myself not in one.)\
5. In a PMS-fueled rage, I cleaned the house last night and it was awesome. I couldn’t sit still long enough to fold laundry, but I did scrub and mop and sweep and wipe, etc, etc. I guess PMS is good for something. Then I sacked out on the couch with the brownies I had made earlier in the day and watched some bad tv. What’s up with this lame season? (Oh wait, this is an all good gnews post, so never mind about that.)\
6. I have been a member of the LDS Church my entire adult life and almost half of my total life. It has been great, fulfilling, enlightening, fun, and has helped me grow spiritually, emotionally, and socially. I have had some of the most amazing experiences that are directly linked to the church and the gospel. I am forever grateful for the opportunity I had to meet Kevin, marry him in the LDS Temple, and become part of the Lawver family.\
While I disagree with the church’s support of Prop 8, I don’t have bad feelings for the church, the leaders, or its members. I have not written ill of the church, except to express my disagreement on this one issue, and don’t plan on it.\
So, there is this guy who started a website and wrote a really rational petition to the leaders of the church from members asking for the withdrawal of the church’s support of Prop 8. As for how he went about getting his message out there? I in no way sanction that or anything else about him. All I know is that I agree with the petition, believe that gays should have equal rights to marriage, adoption, government benefits, et al. -
I just spent $80 filling up my gas tank
More from me-\
I get that the LDS church wants to silence dissents, but this guy isn’t speaking out about church doctrine. The petition states: We affirm the LDS Church’s right to define doctrine and policy for its own members. So, let the church proclaim all it wants about whatever. Let the church dictate the actions of its members, bestowing religious privileges only upon whom they see fit. But when it comes to denying civil rights to others? I just can’t support that all. Doctrine and Covenants 134:9 states, “We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government…” So, yea. There ya go.\
See the petition here: Signing for Something. -
Bleebleeblahblahboo
I am vehemently against Prop 8 on California’s ballot in November.\
Ok, Church, do to me what you will.\
ETA- Kevin’s post beat mine by 6 minutes! I knew I shouldn’t have wasted time with a potty break!