Political Animal « Artificially Sweetened

A boo & some cheers

June 20, 2007 at 9:52 pm | In Linky Love, Political Animal | 8 Comments

Boo: President Bush, I don’t support your dumbass war. If I had any choice at all, my tax dollars would not be supporting the murder – that’s right – murder – of our young men and women and of innocent Iraqis who have the nerve to do something ridiculous like go out and buy groceries at the market. So how do you justify telling me that my tax dollars can’t be spent on stem cell research that could save my life, because “Destroying human life [embryos which have not been transferred into a human uterus, let alone successfully implanted and developed into blobs with beating hearts] in the hopes of saving human life is not ethical.” Now remind me what the hell this war is supposedly about?

Cheer: To the NYS Assembly, which passed a bill to allow same-sex couples equal access to marriage by a bipartisan vote of 85 to 61. State laws don’t grant us access to the most important legal benefits of marriage, but they’re certainly a step in the right direction. C’mon NYS Senate!

And Another Cheer: To the much deserving Sofia, who is OUT OF PGN! Hip hip hooray!

And Another Long Overdue Cheer: For Dis, who very generously donated a Children’s Place gift card to Operation Lifeboat. I’ve only been meaning to thank her for, oh a few weeks now!

But don’t you fret: Dannielynn pouts just like Anna. Just in case you were worried.

Five wishes for LGBT families day

June 1, 2007 at 4:37 pm | In AdoptThis!, Political Animal, We are Family | 26 Comments

Today, I am blogging for all the LGBTQ people who want to have families or to have the families they’ve already got legally recognized. I am blogging…

…for those of us who are estranged from our families of origin because of our sexual orientation. May this year open their hearts and let them see that loving well and being loved well matters most of all.

…for those of us who struggle to find love. May this year bring you the family of your choice.

…for those of us who long for the presence of grubby fingers and dirty diapers in our lives. May the doors of homophobia, infertility and beauracratic indifference* finally swing open and let us in – and SOON.

…for those of us who kiss boo-boos and wipe noses but are legally ignored as parents. May wisdom and common sense prevail over intolerance and hatred.

…for those of us who grow older living in fear of the financial consequences of an unjust system that won’t allow us to enjoy the extensive federal benefits of marriage. Again, may wisdom and common sense finally prevail over intolerance and hatred.

Mama & GB

Today I am blogging for him.

* We learned today that GB’s case was given a previo by the assessor (not sure when) and readmitted to PGN today. What a thoughtful 7-month birthday present from my friends in PGN.

Britney Spears Files for Divorce

November 7, 2006 at 7:08 pm | In Political Animal, We are Family | 24 Comments

Her second child was born less than two months ago.

And you idiots think that the only families worth protecting look like hers?

If you haven’t already done so, vote today. And please, vote to protect my family.

If you have a respectful disagreement, I’m willing to hear it. Cowardly anonymous comments will be deleted posthaste.

I’m in a… New Jersey state of mind?

October 26, 2006 at 10:56 am | In Political Animal, We are Family | 6 Comments

This hurts so bad.

Not that it happened. I’m thrilled that the good justices of New Jersey, or at least four of them, do not have their heads up their arses.

But how could it happen in New Jersey before it happened in New York? This is a matter of great and grevious shame to me.

All I can say, is that Eliot better keep his promises.

Argh, argh, argh.

September 12, 2006 at 4:24 pm | In AdoptThis!, Political Animal | 11 Comments

Many things are enraging me today:

Adoption: Crawling out of my skin with frustration. Guatemala Agency Lady (Ms. GAL) has still not given us feedback on the homestudy, which makes me think she hates it. She told me to call her today and has not returned my calls. Meanwhile, Vaseline Teeth is tugging on my sleeve wondering why Ms. Gal has not gotten back to us yet. The police clearance has to be sent away to be certified, but Vaseline Teeth won’t release it until we pay her part II of her fee, and given her tendency to move slower than a sloth on valium, I’m not doing that until she’s made all the needed corrections and given us the corrected, signed sealed and notarized homestudy. Oh, and did I mention that according to Ms. Gal, the timeline for referrals is now twice as long as we were told previously. I’d like to ask her why, but she won’t return my call…

President Bush: How does he get away with one day dismissing a congressional report showing absolutely no link between AlQuaeda and Saddam Hussein and the next day linking September 11th and terrorism to the war we’re fighting… the one in Iraq. This man is a disgrace to our country, plain and simple.

This Day

September 11, 2006 at 11:37 am | In Political Animal | 7 Comments

Today I am sitting in my pajamas in my parents house in NYC, where five years ago I yearned to be.

Five years ago I turned on the radio in my apartment in Flat City to hear the expressway travel times so that I could decide what route to take to work. Instead I heard the oddly detached voice of the NPR announcer say, “and eyewitness reports confirm that another plane has just hit the world trade towers…”

Not knowing what else to do, I got dressed and left for work. I was on the cell phone with my father when he saw a void and a cloud of dust where a skyscraper had stood. We spent the morning trying to locate my mom, who sometimes went to that area for work – fortunately she was nowhere nearby. I emailed friends from high school I had not talked to in years. Are you okay? Is your family okay? Miraculously, they were. All I wanted was to be there. To hug my parents. To touch my city, my wounded, aching, fiercely defiant city. To get on a plane and be there. Which, of course, I could not do.

Five years later, I hate what has become of this day. A horrible opportunity for our country to see how we were perceived around the world and work to change that image was perverted and twisted into an excuse for war. A war, I firmly believe, which has only turned more hearts and minds against us and created more terrorists. The lives of countless Iraqi civillians matter – as much as the lives of 2996 people who died five years ago. The lives of the lgbt victims Mombian writes about matter just as much as the lives of those unnamed – to us – Iraqis. And so do the lives of the window cleaners, illegal immigrants, stock brokers, firefighters, flight attendants and many others whose stories go told and untold. And a day for mourning and self-reflection has become a day for jingoism and self-congratulation.

Today is a beautiful sunny day in New York, as that day was.

ETA: Check out this poem that Sophia posted.

I couldn’t resist

September 4, 2006 at 11:33 am | In Political Animal | 8 Comments

A little fun with photoshop.

Rorschach/Photo Friday (Early!)

August 30, 2006 at 11:55 pm | In Photo Friday, Political Animal, Ya Gotta Eat | 16 Comments

First of all, what comes to mind when you see this tomato?

Please do share your thoughts. I will use them as the basis for your diagnosis.

So what does this have to do with Photo Friday?

The topic for Photo Friday this week is “politics.” Post a photo which in some way showcases your politics. Funky tomatoes? Politics? Yes.

This tomato comes from our CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. We pay $400 in the Spring, and get beautiful boxes of locally grown organic produce all summer long. By doing so, we benefit – we eat delicious, fresh, healthy veggies and far more of them than we normally would – the farmer benefits by sharing some of his risk with us (if he gets screwed by weather or bugs, so do we) – and the earth benefits. No harmful fertilizers and pesticides being washed into our waterways, and no fossil fuels being used to truck our produce 3000 miles across the country.

These are my politics. Consume thoughtfully. If you’re going to be a consumer – and oh boy am I ever one – try to create relationships through your consuming. My CSA has connected me with friends in my neighborhood. I hear the life story of my tomatoes in the newsletter that comes with my box. I treasure the rug I bought from a coworker’s aunt 10 years ago. Minimize impact. Am I going to foreswear lettuce from California in the midst of a brutal northern winter? No. But during the summer, when lettuce and corn and all manner of fabulous fruits are being grown right around me – why should I buy lettuce that’s been trucked from g-d only knows where?

The added benefit? I’d have to post a picture of me eating these tomatoes like apples, juice dripping down my chin, to convey how unbelievably rich and lush and tomatoey they taste. And the salad greens we get last two weeks in the fridge before they start to wilt.

I’ll leave you with a recipe of sorts for my favorite summer treat:

Cut rounds of locally baked italian bread. Place at bottom of baking dish. Layer fresh heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, and fresh mozzarella on top. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over them. Sprinkle with sea salt and ground pepper. Repeat layers. Try to stop eating it.

From Serious to Snarky in One Short Post

August 11, 2006 at 10:56 am | In AdoptThis!, PiliPiliPili, Political Animal | 6 Comments

This morning, Pili and I went to have our fingerprints taken at our friendly local office of the Department of Homeland Insecurity, Office of Citizenship and Immigration Diservice. As we sat in the drab waiting room, Pili chatted with the security guard. This is one of the basic differences between us. Native New Yorkers are rarely chatters, I’ve found. Friendly, helpful, yes. That whole rude New Yorker thing is b.s. in my oh so humble opinion. But chatty, no.

She asked why we were not allowed to have our cell phones on. Was it a security thing or was it a respect issue? Respect, said the guard. You wouldn’t believe how fast people can talk in Spanish or Vietnamese, yabba jabba jabba. And they’re so loud. It’s really annoying.

I fully sympathize with their desire to have a cell phone free zone. But frankly, I’m more annoyed when I can understand people’s conversations. I don’t need to hear about your brother sleeping with your best friend and how BETRAYED you feel, or about the fact that your dog farted last night and your c-section incision is still kind of oozing and your husband doesn’t care.

Then, as I was having my fingerprints done, one of the workers commented that the man she had just fingerprinted, from the Sudan, was really stinky (not that I could notice, he wasn’t).

It seems to me, that if you’re going to work in an environment where you have the privilege of dealing with people who actually want to become citizens of this country, people who bring a rich gift of diversity and culture to our country, you might want to have the slightest sense of appreciation for those diffwences. And that the fact that so many North-but-not-Canada-Americans don’t appreciate other cultures is part of why so many people hate us right now.

And the fact that so many people hate us right now is why I will have to hunt down my doctor’s letter and prescription labels and check my lipstick (sigh. I will not look glamourous as I descend from the plane to claim my bags) when I fly to D.C. on Saturday for a combination of work/fun travel. The security guards at our dinky airport take their job far more seriously than any TSA official in a city where terrorism is a real possibility and I look forward to a lovely girl on girl wanding experience this weekend.

Ciao bellas!

Reader Participation Day: Ethical Dilemmas

July 25, 2006 at 4:49 pm | In Bringing Home the Bacon, Political Animal | 18 Comments

Solve my problems for me please, dear readers.

1. A former intern has asked me to be a professional reference for her. Quite frankly, she was a complete flake. Very nice, but very flakey. Promised things and didn’t deliver them, didn’t listen to feedback, couldn’t write her way out of a paper bag… you get the picture. I did a lot of the work on the project that was supposedly her responsibility. My former boss, when asked for advice on what to tell her, said “boy, I’m glad I was on maternity leave for most of the time she was her so I don’t have to deal with that one.” Do I:

a) Tell her I don’t think I’d be the best person for her to use as a reference for this field (I don’t think she has a lot of other people to turn to)

b) Say yes, and hope no one calls me. Be honest if they do.

c) Say, well I can certainly say you were enthusiastic (if nothing else) and hope she gets the picture.

d) ????

2. One of the security guards at work, L., has told me that her niece and niece’s partner are going to Cape Cod to get legally married in a few weeks. They are super excited, have been busy planning a huge party at L.’s house when they get back, etc. etc. She’s thrilled for them and doesn’t understand why they can’t just get married here. I don’t understand either, but I think I’ve written about that before.

They live in New Jersey. It’s my understanding that MA will not marry out of state residents (if they’re gay). If her niece and partner are from a socio-economic background similar to L.’s, which I think they are, it’s entirely possible that they may not have access to the most current information regarding gay marriage in MA. Do I say something to L. about the fact that I’m not sure they’re going to be able to pull this off?

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