cat_77: Picture of Ghost with booze (cat)
Sunday, January 15th, 2017 09:59 am
I have not actively used LJ for a couple of years now, just cross-posted from DW instead with occasional posts to communities to say I had a new fic, but I haven't even done that for a while. Ever since they moved the servers, I have been slammed with spam comments on posts that are years old (oddly, they all seem to pre-date the DW cross-posts).

Anyway, I'm letting the paid account expire. I think this just means fewer icon choices and ads for me, but let me know if there's extra crap. Not sure if I'll still cross-post or not, to be honest.

If you are thinking that at least some of this is politically inspired, you would not be wrong. I won't preach my views here, others have said things far more elequently than I, but I will leave it as a confirmation that I have some views and follow them.
cat_77: (mordred hates you)
Saturday, July 16th, 2016 04:18 pm
Made the mistake of going to Facebook during an election year. Normally fairly calm people are going apeshit and posting links to so much hate and lies - and it doesn't matter which candidate they are supporting/against, all sides have gone equally nuts. One aunt got a page solely so she can post extreme right-wing posts despite otherwise having no issue with the glbt members of the family. Another is posting any unfounded rumor she may find about anyone remotely on the republican side of the coin.

Very tempted to post something along the lines of: "As a lesbian married to a woman of color and raising our mixed race children together, don't assume I share your views. Also, as someone from a family of hunters who worked their way up from nothing to being able to do more than scape by, don't assume I share your views."

Somehow, I don't think this would go over very well.
cat_77: MN (MN)
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013 06:58 pm
Bill was signed two hours ago. [personal profile] wolfie74 just offered me a chocolate donut as a ring, asking if we could sign a paper, get more taxes back, and fuck the power.

Yep, she's mine.

Edit: Um, we're not actually sure if we're going to do this or not. We've only agreed to review the pros and cons as we already feel connected enough without government approval. That said, the fact that we have lost approximately $7,800.00 in property tax refunds alone over the past ten years is a damn good argument.
cat_77: MN (MN)
Wednesday, November 7th, 2012 06:49 am
Vote No succeeded!

This means MN will not identify marriage as an act solely between one man and one woman.
cat_77: (a gay icon)
Tuesday, November 6th, 2012 05:56 am
The diner was empty save for a couple of truckers, a waitress still in high school, and a cook that glared grumpily from the back whenever anyone came in. A minister spoke from the handful of televisions mounted high, tales of peace and love and doing what was right and wholesome and how you should be able to tell right from wrong.

The parking lot looked barren with only the two semis, an old Corolla, and a beat up hatchback filling its stalls. The minivan stood out as it pulled in, even though others whisked by on the highway outside.

Two women and two children entered, one in preschool and one to start kindergarten in the fall. The sandy haired boy held the hand of the blondish brunette, the boy with more olive skin and darker hair held the hand of the woman with the same. It was clear who they each belonged to, even as they sat side by side in a little vinyl booth.

The children ate their pancakes and giggled quietly while their mothers looked tired, but watchful. Only once the younger boy said, "I'm tired of this game, mama. It's silly."

"Why don't we play just a little longer? See who can pretend the most?" the woman across from him asked as the one beside him gulped down orange juice.

"Okay, mo-, I mean Auntie," he smiled, cheerful as could be.

Later, the dark haired woman took both boys to wash up while the other one settled the bill. "The rush will start soon, everyone getting out of church," the waitress warned. "You'll want to be on the road by then."

"Thank you," the woman replied. She gathered the crayon drawings on the back of the paper placemats and waited for the others.

"I'm sorry," the waitress blurted, not much more than a whisper, really.

"Why?" the woman asked, not knowing what else to say.

The waitress, didn't know either, so she grabbed the dirty dishes and headed back where two older women were sorting out their aprons to begin their day.

The visitors headed back to the minivan and strapped the kids in their car seats. "Mommy, mama, that was fun!" the oldest boy exclaimed. "Can we play that game again some time?"

Neither woman answered as they pulled back out into traffic, away from the tiny town and back towards home.


We told this story to our children this weekend. Neither remembered something that happened so long ago. One is in high school, and the other will be next year.

This was a decade ago, and times have changed a lot since then. I'd kinda like it if they didn't change back.

[/the closest thing I'll post to a political view on this journal]
cat_77: (a gay icon)
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010 08:17 am
Today is the day that was chosen for people to wear purple in solidarity against bullying and in remembrance of those who committed suicide as a result of this bullying. The common factor uniting these unfortunate deaths was that each and every person was gay.

Please note I am not listing a number.

The media is listing the most recent and publicized of these occurrences but, let’s face it, over the years how many countless others have died because of this? How many have been killed due to hate, and how many have taken their own lives?

I remember Terry. How we sat together in my dorm room and how she talked about how much she wanted the surgery and how hard it was to be accepted by others. How she told me she preferred to be a “she” and a “her” but requested that we address her as “him” in front of her family as they did not understand. How she offered me chocolate and told me she would go through PMS and all it entailed if it meant she could truly be a woman in every way, shape, and form. And how she set neatly stacked her books and calculator, stood up, walked to the Washington Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi and jumped.

At the funeral, her parents refused to show a single picture of her in transition, the pastor referred to her only as “him” and, at one memorable point, listed the contributing factor to “his” suicide as school stressors and, “We all know about his other problems so we need not go into them here.”

That was fourteen years ago. One would have thought we would have come father than that by now.
cat_77: Picture of Ghost with booze (cat)
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 02:08 pm
So, apparently leaders of several different churches/faiths/what have you here in MN are convinced that MN must ban gay marriage or the world will end.

No. Seriously.

Go read this post at [livejournal.com profile] ontd_political for links and snippets of the stupidity and comparisons to the World Trade Center attacks.

On the up side, so-called leaders of multiple faiths are having non-violent discussions. On the down side, said discussions are a whole new level of dumb.

The thing that makes me giggle the most? The ring leader is from the church that this lesbian pagan went to for pre-school.

cat_77: Picture of Ghost with booze (cat)
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 09:02 am
A thought came to mind this morning as I was working my accounts. Now, I am far from the most knowledgeable political person out there and am solely stating an observation mixed with interpretation and thoughts, so take of this what you will.

In which Cat rambles... )

cat_77: Picture of Ghost with booze (cat)
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 01:38 pm
Okay, so two things were expected: 1) That Bush would push through a few things before he left, and 2) Obama would have a fun time sorting through what's what. Apparently he's found a shortcut for this...

Within hours of Obama' taking the oath of office on Tuesday, Emanuel ordered all federal agencies to put the brakes on any pending regulations that the Bush administration sought to push through in its final days.

Read the full article here.

Does mean some of the completely random stuff like screwing with wildlife protection acts will be overturned as well?

I'm not surprised that there were last minute things. I am surprised that some of them seem so random. I'm not surprised that several orders/issues/plans/whatnot are being overturned - that was pretty much a no brainer given the campaign. I am surprised that so many things are being done so quickly and a general stop order was issued until things could be reviewed.

Happy some of the stupidity is being removed, but also have to question if people can take so much change so quickly without something going horribly wrong...

cat_77: Picture of Ghost with booze (cat)
Monday, December 1st, 2008 11:54 pm
So we're nearing the end of the initial recount in the Coleman/Franken race. Kare 11 has examples of some of the disputed ballots available for view. Some of them are frivolous, to say the least. Tiny dot for one candidate while another is fully colored in? No mark for either being challenged as belonging to a particular candidate? Others make you wonder how these people get by in their day to day life considering they can't seem to find the little oval to color at all.

Oddly enough, many of the rather obvious ones are being challenged by the same candidate - the one with the tiny dot and a lead of less than 400 votes. I'm sure that's just an incredible coincidence.

cat_77: (no icon)
Monday, November 17th, 2008 11:40 pm
[livejournal.com profile] metaquotes multifandom Obama post of awesomeness.

Check it out for the sheer number of different fandom references alone. :)

cat_77: Picture of Ghost with booze (SGA waste)
Monday, November 10th, 2008 06:09 am
Okay, I know this is probably all over the web by now, especially since the BBC had it as an article today, but really, the "No One as Irish as Barack Obama" video, needs to be seen.

Link above, otherwise, video embedded behind the cut.

There's No One as Irish as Barack Obama )

cat_77: Picture of Ghost with booze (cat)
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 11:22 am
My partner and I pretty much decided we will never marry. Even if it were to become legal, we simply don’t feel the need to have some random 3rd party legitimize our relationship. That said, marriage or not, there are some things I would like to have the rights to that tend to come with tying the knot.

I would like the right to be at her bedside if she is ever in the hospital.

I would like the right to decide her care should she not be able to do so herself.

I would like the right to be at the bedside of the children I have helped raise for the past decade should they ever be unfortunate enough to need extended care.

I would like the right to be able to authorize care for them without having to try to get a hold of their mother or biological father first.

I would like to be able to sign off on their health cards at school.

I would like to be able to travel without an affidavit from their father giving me permission to take them with me.

I would like the right to take care of them and continue to raise them if their mother died.

I would like the right to be considered a mother in the eyes of the law.

These are rights currently denied to me and I have to ask, why? What is so offensive about me wanting to take care of the people that I love and the people I consider my family? What is the great influence that any of this has on your daily life that would cause you to say no, I don’t deserve this? Why should my gender matter?

This is not a matter of marriage. This is a matter of rights.

cat_77: Picture of Ghost with booze (earth)
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 08:20 pm
Still coughing up a lung from standing outside in line for an hour and a half with an air quality warning in effect, but got it done.

Several points about the day:

~ Mr. McCain supporter driving a Buick, gabbing on your cell phone, and swerving through traffic because you are busy flipping off an Obama sign, you are a parody.

~ Ms. Obama supported who was jumping up and down on the bridge above the highway so much that you nearly fell, so are you.

~ Various supporters of the amendment for funding for clean water and clean air (timely, yes?), I believe your message may have been better received had you not been driving a huge truck back and forth, up and down the street, shouting your message. As the man next to me suggested, perhaps bicycles would have been a better choice over a gas-guzzling vehicle?

~ Media Morons, please realize that people ducking out of the way of cameras probably don't want their pictures taken, and please respect this choice (man, the frat boys tried to give her cover).

~ Overly Patriot People Who Know Nothing About Patriotism, yes, you got to be seen on tv waving the huge flag, but did you know they were still taping when you rolled it up in a ball and tossed it on the picnic table as you walked away?

In short, yeah, I voted.

cat_77: Picture of Ghost with booze (cat)
Thursday, October 30th, 2008 01:26 am
Trying to see if there was anything on the boom on the local news site, I found this instead. I don't care if you are Republican or Democrat, you don't purposely mess with images like that and expect a) no one will notice, and b) that they will believe you any apparent sense of racism is unintentional.

Still nothing on the boom. Going to bed. Maybe there will be something when I get up in four hours.

cat_77: Picture of Ghost with booze (SGA waste)
Monday, October 27th, 2008 01:59 pm
System’s down more than up here at work, LJ doesn’t want to work with crap, various pages from various sites are refusing to work. What does all this mean? It’s conspiracy theory time!

Current Theory:
In preparation of next week’s elections, the government is tracking usage and/or shutting down information routes to make sure the vote is corrupted. We won’t see the results until after they are made official and no one can complain about manipulation until it’s too late. There may or may not be pages being created to "support" the winning candidate at this very moment. But, like most things tainted by the govenment, it's all failing miserably and this is what we are left with.

Or, you know, the backbone’s down.

Please note – whenever I mention a conspiracy theory, I’m not actually serious. This one was brought on by frustration and sugar.
cat_77: Picture of Ghost with booze (earth)
Thursday, October 16th, 2008 09:18 am
Whatever your political affiliations, you have to admit this pic is hella funny. Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] johnnym77 for the heads up:



cat_77: Picture of Ghost with booze (earth)
Thursday, September 25th, 2008 06:08 am
So the president is warning that, if we do not pass this huge bill to bail out big business, we're going to go into a recession.

Er, aren't we already in one? I mean, really, we've got inflation, job loss, people struggling to survive on the little they are making while the economy and some would argue society as a whole goes to crap. But the best way to make things better is to bail out companies against Federal laws, not to mention first try to sneak it by without approval, and charge every man, woman, and child roughly $3500.00 in taxes to do so? Why can't they take responsibility for themselves? Why can't they file Bankruptcy like literally hundreds of people are doing each week? Why do we need to fix their messes?

In a slightly more amusing take on the whole thing, check out Sinfest starting with Sunday's and scrolling through to today's, which is truly awesome.

cat_77: Picture of Ghost with booze (cat)
Sunday, September 21st, 2008 09:11 pm
When the news came out about Sarah Palin running for the Republican VP ticket, I pulled up what info I could about her to read up on her policies and the like. Unfortunately, the first pic I found of her was the official one in front of the Alaskan State Seal in the little pink suit. The first thing to pop to mind? Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

My partner requested photographic evidence. Let's compare and contrast, shall we?

Palin vs. Umbridge )

Edit: Now with icons.

Icons )

cat_77: Picture of Ghost with booze (cat)
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 09:10 am
It has only taken 31 years, but my mother has finally realized that I am not a Republican.