a post on politics

It's pretty clear who I'm voting for. Every day there's something that makes me dislike Clinton's tactics more and more and something that makes my voting for Obama more justified.
I use Stumble Upon and today it took me to something posted on Daily Kos. Someone did their research on Clinton and Obama and was kind enough to pass on some of the info.
It's long, but if you're unsure of who you want between the two, it might help you decide.

Now it's time for a small rant:
Also, I watched the first SNL last night and it was very funny. Except for Tina Fey's rant about how Clinton's the right choice. Sure, she's right about some of the Clinton criticism (the whole "Bitches get stuff done" thing). I like Tina Fey because she identifies herself as a feminist in a time where female celebrities are afraid to do so, but she also plays a character on 30 Rock that, at times, falls into the sitcom stereotype of 30-something single females. I agree that it's a fantastic time for feminism and women because we have a serious female candidate for President that, at one point in time, almost could've nabbed the job. But really, Tina, STFD and STFU. I don't care that you want to vote for Clinton just because she's female, her husband is a former President, etc. etc. When she said, "And yet women have come so far as feminists that they don't feel obligated to vote for a candidate just because she's a woman. Women today feel perfectly free to make whatever choice Oprah tells them to." (with a picture of Obama and Oprah) That was ridiculous. Oprah has sucked up to the Clintons just as much as she has to Obama. That's like people blaming her for GWB winning because he came on her show.
And don't get me started on the feminist blogosphere and their bashing of any sentence out of a male politician's mouth about Clinton. Seriously, ladies. Just cause Obama said "periodically" doesn't not necessarily mean he was going "LOL, WOMEN ARE SO CRAZY CAUSE THEY HAVE PERIODS!". Clinton is holding her own and they're treating her like another political candidate. They're not treating her like a child or a joke, not holding back because of her fragile state as a woman, so, really, settle down. Plus, have you heard some of the stuff Bill Clinton's been saying? Damn.
Can we stop analyzing and criticizing each and every thing and just be happy for a few minutes that we are living in a historic time period where our two Democratic candidates don't look similar to every other President and candidate?

attn: women

Did you know that your body is like a lollipop and if you have sex you're just a "poorly wrapped, saliva-fouled sucker." Please, click the link for some more LOLz like how HIV/AIDS is contracted through skin contact (that one's for you, mom) and condoms cause cancer. Good luck, everybody, you're all gonna die. It was nice knowing you.

In other news, I'm freaking cold. Today was crazy windy and the coldest temps we've had so far. Also, I'm counting down the hours until Friday at 2:05. As the week goes on, sugar levels and anxious jumping up and down in the seats increases, meaning this week is going to be the best EVER. I already had some fun students that pushed my buttons today. One was jacked up on all sorts of sugar and caffeine and one tugged on my shirt like a 5 year old for a good 5 minutes before I told her to leave me alone.
But, next time you see me, give me a high five because I finished grading the first wave of research papers before break. WTG, me!

the internet is creepy, it's just a fact

I don't have much to say or do right now. Yesterday, I dropped off Megan in D.C. to fly back to Michigan, tomorrow I pick up David in Norfolk, flying back into Michigan. It's strange to be here all alone and not have work or any real obligations...

I found this video on feministing, and felt I should share it. There are many great women slam poets out there (if you look at my myspace page, I have a few videos up), but this one almost moved me to tears. It's amazing.
"What We Deserve" by Sonya "The Drama" Boom Renee
What We Deserve

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Also, I was reading some of the feminist blogs I check on and one (feministe) was talking about this group Anonymous and attacks to take down feminist blogs. It's kinda crazy. No, not kinda. Really crazy. This has been a topic that has been gaining more and more attention because commenters are making violent threats towards bloggers. It's crazy and incredibly creepy. The sad thing is, there seems to be a lot of grey legal area in dealing with internet harassment. I almost feel like a lot of people are afraid to contact police or any authority that could help because they don't know if they can (or will) do anything about it. I don't know if I'm alone in making this connection, but doesn't that feel like when a woman is raped, assaulted, etc., and they're afraid of reporting it because they think they won't be taken seriously or they'll be blamed for it? I think it's very, very similar line of thinking. If they report it, will anyone take them seriously? Will they be blamed for it? etc. etc.
It's incredibly sad that the internet empowers people to feel like they can make comments/threats about anyone involved in putting themselves and their thoughts on the internet. This crosses all lines, it seems-- whether you're non-white, gay, female, etc, but, sadly, it seems to be a lot more personal and threatening when it comes to women, especially feminists. It seems a lot more personal and vicious. They joke about raping, mutilating and killing these women. All for what? Because they expressed their opinion?! That is... wow. Even though it's only on the internet, I still think these women are incredibly brave for putting up with these comments and harrassment and not stopping what they're doing. I mean, think about if you had someone (or more than one person) constantly telling you some pretty messed up stuff about what a horrible person you are or how they want to torture or kill you. What would you do?

Anyway, here's an interesting video on harassment of youtube vloggers.


And this is the post I was reading yesterday: What Do We Do About Online Harassment?

Also, feministe had a lot on AutoAdmit (a forum that seems to be dominated by dudebros, who are supposed to be lawyers of some kind), which is a different kind of harassment than what I was talking about earlier (as in not directed towards bloggers and their blogs, but women they know in gereal--colleagues of theirs. fantastic!), but it's still about sexalized, violent comments towards women. Here's one post that I like that talks about AutoAdmit, internet harassment and why it makes femnism still necessary, but there are many others about AutoAdmit.
They mention Kathy Sierra in the post I directly link to. It seems to be one of the most publicized cases, because she ended up cancelling a public appearance due to the threats. Here's the wikipedia page for her, an interview with her, and another article about the attack on her

Again, what would you do if this was happening to you? Or to someone you cared about? Would you quit? Would you report it? Would you keep blogging and ignore it? I'm very interested, let me know.