The Extremophile's Lair

Today is Voting Day, at least in Arizona.   Just a reminder.

And a scary-looking - but not particularly dangerous - tarantula for Halloween.




How to find your voting place:

https://voter.azsos.gov/VoterView/PollingPlaceSearch.do

Working on finding one for entire USA.

EDIT:  Found one!


http://pol.moveon.org/votinginfo2010.html   courtesy of Comrade-Cat on LJ.

Attention all Arizona people:
(and anyone else who's interested)

Two very important Bills have been passed through the Legislature and are going in front of Jan Brewer to sign.  Please ask her to veto them both.

Teachers & Education
https://listserv.nea.org/t/30268/1996803/718/0/

This is yet another bill to undo all the beneficial changes teacher's unions have made.  This allows any school to reduce a teacher's salary for ANY reason. 

Anit-Immigration Ugliness
http://www.change.org/petitions/view/tell_governor_brewer_to_stand_up_for_arizona_and_veto_sb1070

This give any law enforcement the right to ask for someone's "papers" (a.k.a. Proof of Citizenship) if they have any reason to believe that they are illegals.  In other words - this will probably mean things like skin color.  Anyone found without their "papers" or proof of citizenship can be held.  At least if I'm reading this law correctly.

Please add your voice to this.

Many, Many Iranians are engaged in nonviolent protest.

This is important world news, but I'm going to let someone do the talking who's actually been there:

andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

I wish I had more energy to post more on this, but it's been one of those days.

Posted from my private blog.

My views have mellowed a bit since I wrote this though.  At the time I was still in shock and angry.

Marriage may be a religious institution that our government should have no say in, but prop 102 is still a nasty and foolish piece of work. Not only does it potentially restrict access to hospital visitation rights, but it also might send a nasty message about the equal worth of relationships.

It seems to me that the whole "procreation" issue is a red herring. Because when I see anybody who's married (even the fundie christian types) when they talk about their spouse and why they married them it's never about how they wanted to fill the Earth with their children. It's about LOVE. They LOVE each other. Ok, not always. My best friend was perfectly willing to cohabitate until his lover got into a serious accident and the hospital paperwork got messy.

This simple fact is at the heart of why I'm suspicious of anything that restricts marriage, even if I'm not really sure how it would fit into my life if I did get married. The ritual aspect always struck me as cool, but being neither monogamous nor possessive, and being annoyed by empty social rituals, I can't see any reason to tie the Knot.

Love is too rare and precious to worry too much over who other people choose to love. That should be a non-issue. Having believed for a long time that I was flat out "incapable of love" (and all the trouble that caused) it baffles me when people pull this kind of shit and assume that others are unfit to be in a relationship.

EDIT: I'm no longer sure how important this is. Mixing up personal lives and politics is often a bad combination. Basing your arguments on what people "might think" is no way to prioritize.

I'm Saddened by this.

Prop 102, which disallows gay marriage in AZ passed.

I'm not always sure about the usefulness of marriage.  I'm not even sure what marriage means, aka which are the important parts.  Is it the devotion to the other person, the "till death do us part", the fidelity, the social status of "being married"?  I do understand the ability to visit your lover in the hospital and to retain custody of your kids in case something happens to your beloved.

But being married to the person you love is a human right, and it is bigoted to deny some people that right.

I'm sorry.