Friday, May 23, 2008

The Lie of Feminism

For full disclosure's sake I'll put it out there that I am an Obamafan. Obamamama. Obamarama. Obamaramamama.

I am disgusted by people who insult feminists who don't support Hillary Clinton. I am a feminist. I think Hillary gives women a bad name. I think she panders, and I think she's fake. Her idea to get rid of the gas tax (but just for the summer!) is ridiculous. It's market manipulation, and that's exactly why we're in the trouble that we're in. Congress is accusing the big oil companies of market manipulation to artificially inflate gas prices, and she wants to do the same thing (for the opposite ends). All it would do is increase demand (oh, gas is cheap! Let's drive cross-country!) and what we need is to reduce demand. We can't cure cancer with flu medicine. We can't fix the problem by simply treating the symptoms. We need to reduce our dependency, and until we do that the American people are just going to have to deal with it. I agree with Congress that the oil companies' profits are ridiculous, and the markup for oil is disgusting. Sure, we can attack that problem, that would be good. But it won't solve the problem. If we somehow force oil companies to reduce profits by reducing the oil markup, prices will go down, demand will go up, and we'll be back where we started. Not to mention the fact that it would just contribute to the problem of global warming.

The fact is that we're a gluttonous society, and now we're paying for it. Permenant solutions won't come quickly, and trying to put a bandaid on it won't save us from our own oil hunger. Clinton, though, is thinking too short term. Her idea is stupid. Just. Plain. Stupid. I'm embarassed for her. I'm embarassed by her.

She's run an awful campaign. If she can't get her act together to win the nomination how can we expect her to win the election, much less run the damn country?? It pisses me off that women all over the place want to tell me that I'm betraying feminism because I don't like Hillary Clinton. Just because she's got tits doesn't mean I should vote for her.

I guess this all comes back to that important, universal argument: "You don't knoooow me!"

Monday, May 19, 2008

Old Men

((x-posted to an LJ community))

Dear Obnoxious Random Execs,

Nice to meet you, I'm C, the new Sales Analyst. I know I'm young enough to be your daughter and/or granddaughter, but my name is not "kid" or "sweetie" or "hon". I know that females are an endangered species in this office but giving me that shit-eating grin when you get to shake my hand because your wife hasn't let you touch her since before I was born is not a good business practice and will not get you your oh-so-valuable data any faster, nor will it encourage me to "tweak" your numbers to make you look good for Mr Boss-Man and subsequently make me look brutally incompetent when the numbers turn out to be wrong. I am not stupid. I am not a little girl. I know more than you do. I'm smarter than you. I, with my Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics, have more education than you, with your Associates in Elementary Typing Skills. Stop treating me with kid gloves. I will be your boss one day. And you will regret making those oh-so-subtle sexist remarks.

Also, please stop censoring yourself with a statement like "Oops, there's a lady in the room!" when you feel like cussing out an account. I DON'T CARE. I've cussed before, I know what those words mean. Treating me like I'm a child is going to make me lose respect for you *much* faster than letting a four-letter word slip out once in awhile.

And stop staring at me like that. I'm not your eye-candy, you creepy old fart. Just because I'm friendly doesn't mean I want you to be my sugar-daddy.

Not Yours,
C

Friday, May 2, 2008

"You don't knooow me!"

So a (very) brief background: I got my BS from the University of Mary Washington, which was in the national spotlight last year at this time (and again last December) because our newly-hired President got drunk, drove, got in an accident, went to the hospital, checked OUT of the hospital against doctor's orders, went home, got BACK in his car (still drunk) and went for another drive. He got two DUI's (to which he entered an Alford plea - accepting charges without admitting guilt). In December he wrote a long, self-absorbed letter to the Washington Post, claiming that he was wronged for being fired.

First of all, there isn't much that I can say. I know that my description was extremely biased, but if you want unbiased news, go to the BBC. We put our faith in this guy, as a school and his employer. We trusted him to run and represent our school and he turned around and buttsecksed us. Then he claimed that he had a "problem"... a "disease" and he needed help not ostracism. This pisses me off. I've known alcoholics, and I have clinical depression, so the idea that this guy is suddenly the poster child for untreated depression and alcoholism pisses me off. You've hit rock bottom, so you deal with it. Don't expect anyone to fix your mistakes for you. I'll grant you the disease aspect, because that doesn't change my opinion of you. Ok, so you have a disease that's been untreated and self-medicated for 40 years. That sucks. But when did that become MY problem? When did that become UMW's problem to deal with?

I've seen people comparing his untreated alcoholism and depression to having cancer. They say "If they fired him for having cancer, there would be an uproar!!"... News Flash, genius: Cancer doesn't put innocent bystanders in harm's way. Cancer patients don't get in a car and kill people because of their cancer. Alcoholics do. UMW didn't fire him for having a disease. UMW fired him for making a very poor decision and putting himself as well as everyone around him at risk. There is no comparison. If he had taken responsibility right off the bat (that means not driving drunk to begin with) and asked for a leave of absence to take care of his disease, I'm sure the Board of Visitors would have been much more understanding. But no, he just left it alone and got himself into trouble and then turned it around on US. Because WE weren't understanding enough and WE acted rashly and WE ostracized HIM. Bullshit. He did all of this to himself.

Anyway, all that aside, the latest incidents crack me up. April 10th, 2007 he got TWO DUIs. He was put on driving probation for a year in September. April 10th 2008 he got another DUI. Do I really need to say more?

This guy lambasts his former employer for firing him, for not having compassion for his disease, for not letting him go into rehab before deciding to terminate his employment. Then he goes and does it again. Oh yea, and he was on his way home from an AA meeting.

Apparently his wife had taken out a restraining order on him a few months prior to his latest incident. I have to wonder what exactly is going on in his life. Despite everything, I would love to read his book when it comes out, because I just cannot understand what can be going through his head right now.

This all sounds just like a Lifetime movie in the making. :)