That's okay: I didn't want to be paid the same amount as dudes anyways

In an America where you can sue a dry cleaner to the tune of 67 million dollars for a lost pair of pants, I'm finding it impossible to conceive that similar retribution has been made virtually impossible for victims of pay discrimination.

180 days to file a claim relating to such an issue is a joke; and the plaintiff, Lilly Ledbetter is the personification of this problem, as it took nineteen years before it was realized she was getting paid forty percent less then the lowest paying male supervisor (see this fantastic article).

Justice Ginsburg puts it correctly in her dissent saying, "In our view, the court does not comprehend, or is indifferent to, the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination...Title VII was meant to govern real-world employment practices, and that world is what the court today ignores."

The Grossman and Brake article states, "An employer could pay a woman less than her male counterparts for her entire career, and admit that the reason for doing so is because she is female, as long as the decision to set the discriminatory wage happened at least six months earlier. This rule places untenable burdens on employees and circumvents Title VII's substantive protection against pay discrimination."

Will I ever sue because of a pay discrepancy? Probably not. I like to believe, though, when ever I'm in a tough situation that the law "is on my side" and works most of the time (I know, I know; how I manage to sometimes so romanticize 'the law', even baffles me at this point) . But that romanticism is what gave me the strength to tell my boss' supervisor when I worked at the dinning hall, that they couldn't simply change the names of our foreign exchange students to something "American" because my boss couldn't pronounce their real name, and not think I would get fired. (Oh, the good ole days when I knew nothing about 'big corporation' and the ability of an employer to make you want to leave)

This takes so many steps backwards towards getting the pay gap closed. It's something that makes me struggle to find an area where the law is, in fact, "on my side" when they seem to care about an already rich guys pants over low paying workers trying to get through the every day. Yes, these two cases aren't in a direct competition at all, but the fact that the first case can exist while the second is now shut down, is extremely disheartening.

By a show of hands...

Ah, more debate. With Kucinach still in the race; does it get any better? It could, probably, if the candidates weren't reduced to having to raise their hand every other question. Come on, asking for a show of hands is something you use to decide who wants to go to the Mexican place to eat verses the Chinese one, not to determine who thinks English should be the official language of the United States, and certainly not to discern candidates concerns about the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy.

How frustrating.

But there were a few gem questions like Wolf Blitzer asking seriously, "what would you do with Bill Clinton?", then looking according uncomfortable, uneasily realizing the flaw of the question as he turned to Hillary Clinton to ask the question again. I admit; I'm easily amused, and still in college and fairly young, so I find it perfectly acceptable to laugh at ill phrased questions such as that. So I giggled again when Bidden explained his disagreement to the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy as uniquely as he always manages to with stating about once you're in a hole, your not asking the other guy next to you whether they are gay or not. He meant foxhole, and I'm sure everyone knew it... everyone who has grown up at least.

For a two hour debate without commercials, overall I thought:

• there was too much Blitzer talking, especially when he insisted on repeating other folks' questions.
• Blitzer referring to everyone else by their title and last name, and referring to Clinton as Hillary for some of the debate was inexcusable.
• Gravel was uncomfortably angry the entire time (maybe because he's polling below 1%?), which made me sad and angry because I had totally essentialized all Alaskan folk as basically being cold, but very still very HAPPY versions of hippies (especially with the Men in Trees drama awhile back). So basically, my illusions are shattered; 'plow guy' doesn't exist, and certainly there isn't a sweet and simple Patrick guy waiting for me, and Jack is just a lie. Alaskans are actually apparently even grumpier then we all are.
  
• Obama really doesn't know how to talk about policy. And I got out the line ''we need a po-litical solution, not military one" before he did, so score one for me, but probably minus a lot more for him.
  
• Clinton starting to answer every "if you were president" question with, "when I'm president" was a phenomenal move on her part. Similarly, her stating for everybody involved which questions they will all answer was exceptional. This was a great technique to try and get us not to focus on how she is claiming that, "if she knew then what she knows now" she would not vote for the war, BUT she somehow still contends that she was fully briefed before she voted, and that she knew all the facts.
  
• Bidden impressed me with how he talked about Darfur, and reminding everyone of the urgency to act now ("as we sit here talking, 50,000 will be dead in Darfur"). Similarly, my mouth is still hanging open that Richardson apparently feels intervening with the Beijing Olympics to stop a genocide would be a "disproportionate" action. Seriously??
• Kucinich admitting he wouldn't kill Bin Laden if given the opportunity (assassination bad, following laws good), probably lost him any long shot he had in this race, but I admire him (yes, some more) for answering honestly, and for sticking with his principles.
  

And the best part, what does Kucinich want to do during his first 100 days in office? Aww, "reshape the world for peace". I'm getting images of Sandra Bullock, William Shatner, and Heather Burns explaining her favorite "date".

Hey, the republicans are about to go at it now; we shall see if they will make me laugh or cry more.

I'm not quite sure why my last post is so catastrophically weird and hard to read, but hopefully it will never happen again.

Ode to Dennis Kucinich

My eagerness and enthusiasm leading up to the first democratic debate ended up to have so many disappointing moments. I like Obama, in the sense I suppose, that I acknowledge it is probably going to be the best outcome I can reasonably hope for. More so then I even like him, is my want to really like him, which I suppose inevitably starts to complicate things. I like what I saw as an honest enthusiasm for the issues he likes to talk about, and especially his work on disclosing the stuff that the government is doing (ie being able to go online and see where exactly tax dollars are spent).

I've never really heard too many long speech segments made by him however, and I was really uncomfortable with too many of his answers for me to want to start giving him my one and only vote that I get in this whole thing. I also didn't like (on a more general note) how the candidates went out of their way to seem like they were agreeing with each other, in an attempt to, I can only fathom, try not to step on other folk's toes too early; but that was supposed to be the point of this whole exercise.

This leads to my secret candidate coming out and saving the day; Dennis Kuchinich. At this point, I'm so biased I almost can't tell people he's number one on my list without smiling. Even pushing aside the awesome work he's done for the AR movement, showing and constantly pointing out the link of how animal cruelty leads to humyn violence, recognizing the crisis our climate is in, and backing up everything he advocates by being vegan, and having a shockingly consistent voting record--breathe, yes, besides all that (the issues that I feel closest too, but understand don't hit very high on other folk's level of importance)-- I think he has an array of innovative and workable answers on many other issues such as immigration, energy, and education.

For anyone silly enough to have missed the action, you can follow along here-
www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-042707-krg-debate_part1.1023b3ba.html

It will please me immensely to put my top problems with the candidates (specifically towards Obama in general, only because he is my next "go to" person, so to speak) in list form, with how Kucunich solved the problem for me:

1. I am uneasy with how Obama seems to answer questions with "run around the issue" answers that makes no clear articulation where he stands. Or attempts to push the topic to a place where he feels more comfortable, or has more solutions.
   

MODERATOR:
Senator Obama, on this same topic, what about your view on the decision on partial-birth abortion and your reaction to most of the public agreeing with the court's holding?

OBAMA: You know, I think that most Americans recognize that this is a profoundly difficult issue for the women and families who make these decisions. They don't make them casually. And I trust women to make these decisions in conjunction with their doctors and their families and their clergy...Now, there is a broader issue, though. And that is can we move past some of the debates around which we disagree and can we start talking about the things we do agree on? Reducing teen pregnancy; making it less likely for women to find themselves in the circumstances where they've got to anguish over these decisions.

Those are areas where I think we can all start mobilizing and move forward rather than look backwards.

Verses:

KUCINICH: But the truth of the matter is, it's possible, I believe, to take a course of action where you can get all the people of America in support of a culture of life which includes prenatal care, postnatal care, child care, universal health care, a living wage, all those things that give support to life.

a) Obama's response that we need to talk about abortion in terms of some ridiculously linking teen pregnancy issue where, "we do agree on" is atrocious. Nothing is going to be solved by side stepping to some ground deemed "safe". Debate needs to happen; there needs to be a discussion in which the harms are out in the open, where we are having a conversation about what it means when abortion is "legal" yet inaccessible to too many people, where the teen-age mothers Obama vaguely references are forced to let their fate fall into the hands of their parents, and what waiting 24 hours and listening to a stereo typed and simplified speech about abortion, really gains (personally, still searching for this last one...)

b)I'm not trying to say that Kucinich really scored too many points exactly on this particular point either, but as many have pointed out in examining the debate (talking unfortunately about other people, not him) , he won it by not losing; in this case, not pretending that it's simply a matter of stopping womyn from being in the position to make this decision in the first place.

2. I'm confused as to what Obama is actually proposing in terms of resolving the war.

OBAMA: ...there's no military solution to this. We've got to have a political solution, begin a phased withdrawal, and make certain that we've got benchmarks in place so that the Iraqi people can make a determination about how they want to move forward.

Verses:

MODERATOR: Congressman Kucinich, do you think one can be against the war and yet still fund it?

KUCINICH: No. I think it's inconsistent to tell the American people that you oppose the war and, yet, you continue to vote to fund the war. Because every time you vote to fund the war, you're reauthorizing the war all over again...Furthermore, I don't think that it's sufficient to say that if we had the information at the beginning that we would have voted differently. That information was available to everyone. And, if you made the wrong choice, we're auditioning here for president of the United States. People have to see who had the judgment and the wisdom not to go to war in the first place, and I made the choice not to go to war.

a)What is his political solution? Reading other bits from where he talks about his plan, I've gathered he wants it to obviously end, and there is a bunch of troops being pulled out; but how is troop removal a political solution? According to his web site some troops will remain to "engage in counter-terrorism" ...which sounds suspiciously like what we are doing now, only with a few less people. If he really believes the war is "dumb", why would this still be going on? I am much more ready to listen to Kucinich's 'peacekeepers' without, you know, guns and other weapons that usually make talking harder, to try and resolve things.

3. You've got to be able to defend what you're doing, and why you are doing it; and then stick with it.

MODERATOR:
You've promised in your campaign a new kind of politics, but just this week the Chicago Sun-Times reported on questionable ties you have with a donor who was charged last year for demanding kickbacks on Illinois business deals. Aren't you practicing the very same kind of politics that many of the others on this stage have engaged in?

OBAMA: Well, not all, (emphasis added) we have thousands of donors. This donor engaged in some ethical (sic) behavior and I have denounced it. But I have a track record of bringing people around this new kind of politics, since I was in the state legislature.

Verses:

MODERATOR: "show of hands" question: Do you believe there is such a thing as a global war on terror?Let's try Congressman Kucinich. Why is your hand not up?

KUCINICH: Because the fact of the matter is that the global war on terror has been a pretext for aggressive war. As president of the United States, I intend to take America in a different direction, rejecting war as an instrument of policy, reconnecting with the nations of the world, so that we can address the real issues that affect security all over the globe and affect our security at home: getting rid of all nuclear weapons, the United States participating in the chemical weapons convention, the biological weapons convention, the small arms treaty, the landmine treaty, joining the International Criminal Court, signing the Kyoto climate change treaty.

a)Direct questions need direct answers for me to believe what they are saying. I don't like fancy footwork that aims to distract from what is being discussed.

4. Seriously: Edwards spends $400 on his haircuts?

(even Kucinich couldn't resolve this problem, however)

TV Smith

Monday's Music of the Moment::: TV Smith

I like music that tells me stuff; I'll be the first to admit that. Particularly stuff that I think and believe I have already cleverly figured out, and more specifically stuff that falls into the anti big government category or anything at all related to the AR movement. The louder, crazier, more confusing, the better really. Because soft, "clouds, love, and butterflies" music as I call it, with perfect lyrics and some pretty person singing it to you can literally be found everywhere, and so no longer interests me. So it almost seems silly to me that I haven't previously run into this band before.

I'll put lyric tid-bits from two of my favorite songs to make up for it.

Sugar Crash:

They spoon it on because they've worked out that
If life tastes sweet, we don't fight back
Sugar crash

Only one Flavor:

This is how it starts up
A slap and a cry
The slaps keep coming
For the rest of your life
And you don't know who to question
And you don't know how to fight
You just hope that by the end
It turns out alright

Oh, Oklahoma (insert heavy sigh with a hug and cup of vegan cocoa)

I'm probably in poor shape to be attempting to write coherently, but as it was a huge triumph just to make it to Oklahoma because of both personal (i.e; work, school, and generally trying to organize what I'm going to do with my life) and bureaucratic (as in SUNY Buffalo is really not much of a fan of supporting student's interest outside of sports and video game clubs) issues, I simply cannot wait to gush a bit.

In a way it was supper sad because I knew it was my last tournament; my last chance to debate, smile at winning, laugh at dumb cross x questions, feel irrationally (and the occasionally justified)anger at judges when the outcome didn't pop up as expected, and spend countless time waiting for paired rounds while trying to re-hash the entire round with anyone in the vicinity who will listen. It was in all it's entirety a priceless experience though, and somehow worth every single hour of extra shifts, work, and time spent leading into it. I literally couldn't have asked for a better partner to share it with (both as an excellent debater, but also just a phenomenal person), or more enthusiastic for our cause coach (I love you Katie!), or better people in general to be around in every single one of the Rochester folk.

It's also additionally sad because the one thing that Yasin, Shannon, and I originally sat down and set as a goal when we really tried to think about all the things we wanted from the club, never really happened because next year will leave Buffalo without a debate team again as Ben gets to be with a "real" debate team, and I will be off gallivanting in Burlington, and Jeff will be...um...yea.

Even in light of all that, and also the day and a half bus ride there (and then correspondingly, back) that has to be considered; it was without enough sufficient words to describe it. The seven rounds leading into the eighth one, held some of the best and most entertaining debates I have ever been a part of. I also picked up a laptop and was literally in awe of how easy my flow could be organized with a few clicks. My last round of my "career", I guess, as a debater I got to go into with a 4-3 record with the entirely tangible possibility of breaking at nationals (especially after the 1AR ), and that's really all I could have ever asked for.

I genuinely heart policy debate forever.

Monday's Music of the Moment

Stars

In acknowledgement of finals time, and the need for simple easy to follow rhymes that you can sort of still follow while memorizing the "important" stuff, I'll throw this band out there. I like the sound, the instrumental parts (when you can hear them), and most of the messages that the songs are trying (I think?) to get across; though the second album Set Yourself on Fire is infinitely better then the first (though that's usually the case, isn't it?).

It must be stated for the record, however, I'm desperately looking for some quality emo-like band that doesn't have a song devoted to some broken love affair. Is love and all that jazz important? Sure. Does it need to be in ninety percent of the songs out there? No.

Soft Revolution

And a dream inside our heads

And after changing everything

They couldn't tell we couldn't sing...

And that changes everything

The feminist lurking inside of me

Is more upsetting things happening, or is everything just upsetting me more?

I finished up my philosophy class today; an intro class to logic, something that filled my schedule at 8am three days a week, that I never really had to study for or try real hard because of previous classes taken already addressing the material. It was boring in some parts, in terms of how often the same concept was explained, especially days before tests, and what not, but altogether a pretty easy run. Until today's final.

The last question was detailing how 'Pete' doesn't like to be treated as a child, so therefore he shouldn't treat his wife like one. So I'm going along underlining the premises, as per the directions, and otherwise answering the questions, thinking there are probably a dozen more reasons why this dude shouldn't treat his wife like a child, I come up to the last part: write a counterexample that illustrates a situation where this would not be the case.

Immediately, I shockingly(especially having just diagrammed various other reasons to myself why this would be the case) can't think of anything. Then, as I'm trying just to finish up the test, and tell myself there are plenty of times where I've taken the other side of the argument, and a measly four point question where I do just that, shouldn't be any type of problem for me; I decide that I really don't want to. I don't want to spend any time trying to think up a situation where it would be okay for a guy to treat his wife like a child, because it's not okay. Maybe I'm thinking about this way too much, or not putting the question in context or something; but I feel like that act would always intrinsically be offensive and sexist. And furthermore, (because let's face it, if I'm taking it this far, I might as well go all the way) thirty people thinking about a situation where it would be okay to treat a wife as a child is probably a bad idea. So, just getting more upset really, I just wrote that (not that I didn't want to do the question, though if I hadn't spent the time fuming I probably could have wrote a lot about that too) and that the correct answer is there is no logical example where this would be permissible. And I probably got it wrong, but I feel like the question was wrong also.

I love NYC, and... yes, I think it loves me

This post is extremely delayed in coming, but the semester ending and having to do essentially "make-up" shifts for work (ie, apparently taking one weekend off a month means you have to be able to work everyone else's shift that can't make it for the next five weeks) has left me extremely busy.

But---the Baruch debate tournament was a giant success for everyone (okay! the two active Buffalo debaters!!) on the UB Debate team, and even most of Rochester's team as well. Even more then the technically successful front (I haven't ever made it to semi-finals...), I just had so much fun. Genuine, all out fun. Something that I really had lost, especially last year, and am still brimming with excitement about, even now, weeks latter. I love the stuff we're talking about, cutting our own evidence, and even, not carrying around tubs (though it does pose a slight problem-one expando can only hold so many crazy liberal vegan bumper stickers...).

And to top the debate portion off-we were in New York City, and a half a mile from the nearest all veg place, and so after the last round I googled the nearest place and set off. I went to Curly's Vegetarian Lunch (http://www.curlyslunch.com/)- and was shell shocked with all of my dining options. Seriously, I forgot what it was like to have legitimate dining options. I get excited when I see hummus on a menu so this... was almost to much to take it. The waitress was clearly annoyed with how long I was taking, but I was determined in my fight not to be rushed. Even with the extra time, I think I made a rash decision and ordered the BBQ seitan meal specifically because it had three vegan hush puppies. Oh, they were well worth it though-the only sad thing is I really forget how I don't really eat meals so much anymore, but rather munch on stuff every other hour. Some carrots here, nuts two hours latter, a banana, then some cous-cous. So of course, after I ate the hush puppies I was depressingly full (even though I had thought I had pre-gamed a bit and not ate anything during the last debate), and only nibbled on the wild rice, chili, and the main course. That did not stop me from ordering some cake and taking everything to go and eating it during the rest of the time in the city (as a side note-chili should not be packaged in with anything--it just turns it the whole meal into a big spicy bean mess--a delicious mess; but a mess).

Even with my solitary adventure that filled my vegan tummy up like it hasn't seen in awhile, I was able to make it to the arranged meeting spot fifteen minutes early (which I neurotically view as on time). And then feel incredibly stupid and akward when the bus came twenty minutes latter and no one else had showed up. As the bus driver opened the door and asked me where everyone was (because I would totally be the one that would posess the info where the entire Rochester folk were), it dawned on me what sort of complete dork I was. Here everyone's out partying in the city after a hard but successful day of de-bates, then there is me; holding my vegan cake and Angela Davis book at the pick up location ten minutes early. What is even maybe a bigger testimate is the fact I still think the entire time was well spent. C'est la vie.

Naked Juice is... safe

http://www.nakedjuice.com/

While wandering Tops the other day, I found some ridiculously overpriced, but otherwise completely tasty looking bottles of juice proudly declaring themselves free from extra sugar and otherwise unnatural-ness. They only have about five ingredients per bottle, and the only shaddy-ness was the dreaded natural flavors; so I sent them my concerned polite e-mail inquiring whether natural was just fancy talk for animal.

They replied with unusual speed and interest in my question, but I think the funny part is instead of just saying, ''nope, no animal proteins in anything ('cept predictably enough the Protein Zone one)''--they told me it was safe. Aww--safe. I feel like someone has hugged me. I suppose I can even get over the temporary weird feeling of consuming something named Naked Juice for this.

A campaign I can believe in

I get side tracked whenever I do debate work. Seriously sidetracked. An impossibly smart freshman turned up to cut cards with me today (which I won't, won't, won't keep calling him the New Kid), and I ended up not actually using the computer I was in front of, but talking to him about the topic, and all sorts of debate-ish things--but not actually work, at all. So I still haven't even decided which case I would really like to do, but shockingly just thinking pessimistically about reasons it should stay the same. Go neg.

My class was only thirty minutes, because apparently our teacher is the chief of staff for Marc Coppola, and has readily admitted to us that keeping his job after September 12th is more important then class. Mark one up for honesty, at least. This meant I could go to the library and restart my task of researching and working for debate. So in one of my articles, that was trying to talk about abortion, it mentioned off handedly the Unity08 party. Which I remembered hearing about again only in passing, and decided this was a worthy side track to wander to.

I'm oddly into and for it. While I was (am?) reasonably satisfied with being a democrat, maybe especially so as I was for once in a type of situation where I am not in an abnormally large minority; I really like Unity's stance on politics in general, and on more issues then I ever found in the dem camp. I think it will give me a much more optimistic point of view over the whole procedure, instead of negatively just always thinking that government is corrupt and it does a lot of shady shit, and that it is always going to be that way. Perhaps too optimistic, but I think it will work out. I wish they would bump gun control and gay rights up a little bit in terms of what they view as priorities, but I also think a lot of issues are important.

http://www.unity08.com/

So, to sum everything up for everybody I guess; don't be surprised if you get an email demanding you sign up for the campaign. Hey, I got a free bumper sticker for it.

Make-up for moi?

This probably pales drastically to what people normally find exciting in life; but it's seriously the best I've managed to do in between waitressing shifts that are very long, but extremely successful on the money front. After hearing enough good things about Zuzu Luxe cosmetics to warrant me buying them, I decided to go ahead and take the plunge and try to get back into the attempting to look attractive thing. I have to say, and this is from a former Clinique junkie, that I am quite impressed. They've got all these little samples that are only a buck a piece, so you can find the right color and so forth (and have massive fun playing with a half a dozen eye shadow colors), and run in the reasonable range of what I'm willing to pay in terms of vegan make-up. The only downside I could find is that they don't have any nailpolish, which has probably been what I've been pining for the most.

I celebrated all this with chopping off all my hair, apparently dropping 15 pounds from walking two miles to and from work every day, and insisting on wearing ridiculously oversized sunglass on the way to work to feel even more super-swank. Fan-tastic.

Know what's on your face!!:::
http://www.cosmeticscop.com/learn/dictionary.asp?TYPE=MAIN

Stereo-typed vegan

Maybe I'm just still moderately bummed out from attending the vegan potluck three hours ago, and feeling like it was one of my worst experiences eating out; or maybe this article is legitimately bad. Seriously though, I was not prepared for the social awkward moment at an event I hadn't even anticipated as being awkward. And maybe that's my problem too; I just need to assume every place that I eat in public is some sort of battle ground where no food is safe. But I really thought it was a friendly, good break from studying event that would not cause me any anxiety (and the need to further procrastinate on my thirty page paper due tomorrow). Not someplace where I would get made fun of for my "obsessiveness" when I looked at the bag the bread originally came in and found out it had honey.

It's not even that I mind that there are things at an event that I can't eat--quite the contrary. I get legitimately excited when I find out there is even one choice that I can eat at a public event, because that means I don't have to go to the back pack for my next meal. I don't expect people to think of every diet that could possibly exist; it's a choice I made, and in no way should it really effect the way the people I associate with choose to live their life. I'm just saying, if you call something vegan--it should actually be that. And I think a group calling itself by that name should really be my best shot at understanding this philosophy; and yet I was so disappointed. I have experience with people insulting my veganism--just not with members of that group, I guess.

Apparently there's some unwritten rule that when you go out to eat, all rules are off; and you should just hope for a vegan meal because you can never be sure what you're going to get. I really don't think it has to be that way at all. I think that you shouldn't just compromise what you believe in because the people sitting around you may look at you funny if you order only a drink, and smile and only participate in the conversation.

Either way it is, my being upset or the article; this blog really hasn't seen me in my "crazy hippy-tree hugging, ingredient checking" vegan mode (that we all just know every vegan has), that I think it's really entitled too. I just hate, and I think a lot of people do, to be tight cast into a role that I don't fit into; but other people think I fit into because they have previous ideas about what a word means. And I really hate negative stereo types for veganism; especially made by people who claim to have all the knowledge, because they tried it once for a couple of weeks; and so therefore, must know everything about the subject.

http://www.slashfood.com/2006/04/26/going-vegan-traveling-while-vegan/

At first, I was really pretty excited about reading this little blip of an article. Veganism while traveling?? That says me all over. I was strangely drawn into anything that the author had to write about. But my difficulty with what was written, despite my intense want to like it, started fairly early.

One: I seriously raise my eyebrow at anyone trying to tell me how impossible it was to find vegan food in Portland, Oregon. I know for a fact it's one of the top five rated veg cities in the United States. You are doing something wrong if you can't find vegan food there.

Two: An offhand comment of how they were prepared for the worst though, because they had brought an apple and bag of pretzels--which obviously can sustain a family for the entire weekend. Do I pack for "the worst"? No shit. Between my paranoia about other people making my food "behind my back" (aka the scary non-veg friendly kitchen), my traveling every other weekend with being on about a thirty dollar a month food budget, and my general distaste for what a big group of people call good vegan food, which I call moodily, "the gross looking stuff with lots of onions and spicy things that's are going to make my mouth hurt"--packing food is like packing my toothbrush. (Which, as a small foot note, I have recently realized is not all that automatic with people; numerously finding myself in a room where there are three other girls, but everyone is asking me for toothpaste--but just to clear up any misunderstandings--I view toothpaste packing as one of the very first things to be put in the bag. Especially seeing as most travel related trips I go to revolve around a lot of speaking.) But I am entirely realistic in my packing, or so I like to believe, and it is not uncommon for half of my luggage to actually be an assortment of food that meets normal nutritional needs. And while I might not be a nutritionist, I do know that an apple and some pretzels even for one person, is not going to get anyone very far. Talking like it would, is just asinine, and any writer trying to give a perspective of what vegans go through when they're traveling, should not further the stereo-types that veganism is synonymous with eating disorder.

Three: Sort of off the last point, but; the obscene reliance on one food, and that one food being a meat substitute. Let's not even get into the discussion of how gardenburger products aren't vegan--lets pretend it's another product that actually is. (Though personally, I love propping up soy substitutes not actually designed for people who don't include meat in their diet, but for people who have realized that eating seven steaks a week sort of raises your cholesterol; or people who like saying now and then,"hey look everyone--I'm eating a vegetarian meal, like it's some exotic delicacy that they don't eat a third of the time, and just never think about it.) Acting like your vegan life would have ended, had it not been for a pre-packaged Kellogg's product is so ridiculously narrow minded, and has no basis in actual fact- but with how other people think vegans live. Honestly? The only soy substitute I've had all month is tofu and soy milk, and if I didn't have that, I would be cooking with a few more pounds of lentils, beans, nuts, and water and wouldn't even think twice. Fake meat really isn't a big turn on, when I know what it's trying to imitate.

Four: Totally unnecessary comments about how you long for a steak. It doesn't even make sense logically. Who exactly is your target audience? (Damn, probably the same people who buy Morningstar to make themselves feel good). I find it hard to believe many meat eating people saw an article about vegan traveling and thought, "holly shit; this was exactly what I was looking for and want to spend my valuable online time reading!". On the other hand, I think a number of people generally interested in veg*nism might have clicked on it to read it. Making comments like this about how hard it is to be vegan for a month, are worse then not putting out any article on it. Without articles that try and give you the facts they've discovered about something they've essentially stuck their big toe into the ocean with, a lot less negative press would be circulating.

To nuke or not to nuke?? Apparently it's a question...

I saw some of this circulating yesterday, but I was too much in WTF mode to say anything productive and just vent disparagingly about the newest news update.

from:
http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=36124

"one option still on the table is the use of tactical nuclear weapons to ensure
the destruction of well-protected Iranian nuclear facilities. "

This takes eye for an eye justice to new levels. Shit, they have nuclear facilities; how do we get rid of them? I know-- we'll use our nuclear missiles on them. This sounds so counter intuitive and utterly ridiculous, even for this government, that I have to take it with a little skepticism.

Too many people are coming out and saying that this isn't an option they are pursuing, for me to start adding this to my daily worries. Even if it was something they were considering, they aren't going to be dropping any nukes any time soon with about a million statements saying using them would be, ahem... "nuts" (oh Mr. Straw, you're such a tricky linguist).

from:
http://http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/10/hersh.access/index.html?section=cnn_latest

"BLITZER: So your sources have concluded basically that the diplomatic
option as it's going forward is not necessarily going to work?
HERSH: That's the fear. The fear is that we're back to the pre-Iraqi invasion game when we went through the U.N. exercise. The fear is that the White House, there's
some people in the White House who aren't really, no matter what happens
diplomatically, they don't believe Iran's going to give up its ambitions."

Ironic that the word fear appears in every sentence of his answer? I think not. I think this a huge part of the problem. On top of the possible threat of nuclear weapons and the histaria that creates, we have the man who has been the front runner of these reports, adding more baggage to the claim. I feel like all he is saying is: In case you didn't get the message--be afraid. Not only is your government contemplating nukes but some of them want to use them.

Obviously I'm anti this administration. To an obscene degree. Even when I try to say to myself, hey it's not that bad; I find myself being proved wrong. But to say that there are people in the White House who want, and who will, use nuclear weapons on Iran regardless of what Iran does is ridiculous. Even the worst person in the administration, has the knowledge of what sort of public backlash using nukes would create, and they would not create this frivously. If for nothing else, nobody wants bad press, and this would be the epitome of that.

I really had a decent amount of respect for Seymour Hersh's writing and reporting abilities, but these types of answers bother me to no end. I don't think it is helpful at all to start making comparisons between past events and what is happening now, similarly to how I don't think it's cool that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is being compared to Hitler (http://www.todayonline.com/articles/111736.asp). No two events are the same and when we start mixing the two different events we start changing what is happening presently. There can not be two Hitlers, and we cannot recreate the political environment pre-Iraqi invasion.

Texas, revisited

CEDA nats finished up late Wednesday evening; and by late I mean judging clocked in at about one thirty in the morning, and now the debate season is officially over. I was momentarily depressed by all this, no more cutting relation and Sudan updates; but an e-mail by a kid who has been debating for four years have picked my spirits back up. I realize I have received several e-mails to this effect, but this one really sounded promising.

Texas was great again, though the tournament bailed on providing lunches which made my budget unhappy. I had a few decent veggie stirfrys though, along with a trip to a huge natural food store. This thing was huge (see attached picture) and had things I had never even heard of. I got some tofu spring rolls and peanut sauce, and it seriously was one of the best things I have had in awhile. Even without the peanut sauce-- so that just shows you how good it was. I wish our store was that all encompassing.


The outrounds contained some of the best debates I have ever watched, and I'm glad my flows and I didn't miss a moment of it. I enjoyed hearing some of the best debaters in the nation hash out arguments, and I even enjoyed being beaten by a few of them. Generally, they were really nice about it and didn't try to spread us. We just had good debates. Chuck Norris and zombies ended up taking us down in round seven which was extremely unfortunate; especially because I knew about the zombie DA and still didn't make a block to it. Looking back on it I really could have said some pretty clever things. I just should have attacked game theory though. I wasn't really thinking that straight, with our record and The Jeff swirling about in my mind.

The hotel was awesome and Iskra and I got a room to ourselves, as we were the only womyn who went. Which has to be weighed as an unfortunate thing, even with the coolness of only two people in one room. So many people from Rochester came, but only one female? Iskra put it all to bad timing and coincidences, but I guess I'm more cynical or paranoid, or something along that lines; because I really don't think it can all be written off by that. Even the final judging panel only had two females. Heavy sigh.

I should probably look into doing all the work I missed over the last week....

Busted in Indiana

In a semi remarkable turn of circumstances, the University at Buffalo failed to advance to nationals. Now I find this marginally hilarious, seeing how this was the very first year that 'A' team has placed in the top ten during invitationals, and they even placed first in the last two. Then at nationals they don't pull through? Amazing.

I was generally dissatisfied with my liquor store owner persona, but there was a reasonable amount of amusement in the reversed Nathenson criminal profile role. Mainly, just watching the other teams reaction when they found out, and getting crossed, because no body understood it. They kept looking for places to impeach me, and failed miserably. Our little 'C' team managed to pull a very good show, and it ended up being our best tournament all around. (That's supposed to be how UB rolls, I'm not quite sure what 'A' team was up to...)

They attempted to give us food, which ended up to be a disaster, surprisingly. I would have been more satisfied if they didn't try and give us food at all. Then I wouldn't have to fume over the plastic orange go they smeared all over a perfectly good mushroom sandwich that I couldn't have eaten. The whole bag lunch just made me eat so many potato chips (which I never eat, and now I know why) and apples that I nearly got sick. I certainly felt queasy the rest of the day.

Lessons learned Indiana: Salt, oil, soda, and acidy fruit do not sit well together; and karma exists.

The Honesty Box

Monday's Music of the Moment::: The Honesty Box

In an unusual turn of circumstances, I like the instrumental songs almost as much as the ones with lyrics for this band. My favorite has got to be Cloudburt Forever and I've been doing my homework to it for the last few hours. The lyric construction is simple enough to get caught in your head for hours, and http://www.pahardcore.com has quickly become one of my top five webpages, as I get to make playlists and hear songs for no money whatsoever. The only down side is they have about two songs for every band. Well, beggars can't be choosers...

Point of no return

You pushed to hard, I’m about to break
There’s only so much I can take
There was a time, I’d let it go
Because the highs outweighed the lows

But now it seems, those days are gone
Tell me where did we go wrong?
You will take, no blame at all
Right always comes before a fall

I can’t go on
There’s nothing left
I cannot take another step
You’re on your own
You’ve got to learn
That there’s a point
of no return

I heart Binghamton

Buffalo debate has always had some crazy times at Binghamton, and even though I was literally the only one from our team representing; it was still amazing. I got to judge for my first time ever, which proved very enjoyable. I hadn't even realized how much fun this could be-- and I got money for it! The best of both worlds. I even got to be on the panel for the final novice debate, which was quite intense. I also didn't realize Bard took their clothes off, which made that another first for me. Nobody yelled at me afterwards about any of my decisions, and I even got this crazy "judging award", so hopefully that's a good sign.

Better still, I had about four rounds off or so, and so have a good number of varsity debates flowed and ready to be looked at to make blocks. I have definitely been slacking on the debate, and focusing on the school part this week, but I figure I have some time over the weekend to muddle together some random cards. Everyone is running topicality is biopolitical. I tried finding stuff on it, but so far, I've hit a cement wall. I'm thinking I could just type up a bunch of analyticals about it anyways. As long as I convince Jeff, or my imaginary partner, to stick to one good one per round, I don't really see it being much of an issue.

The food situation was crazy there as well. The first day everything was vegan, and they even tossed in a dinner of pitas and falafel. There were also these chocolate bars with nuts that I ended up eating three of. Absolutely delicious.

Bush denies genocide in Sudan

It really shouldn't surprise me any more; but I can't help it.

As violence still displaces Daruris, US decides genocide no longer exist, Eric Reeves ; Feb 4, 2006
http://sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=13913


I literally had to read this article twice in order to fully comprehend. Bush is seriously trying to deny that a genocide is happening in Sudan? They already admitted one was happening.

I am however, happy the first article I found talking about it was by Eric Reeves, who definitely rocks and made this unbelievable statement sit a little better with me. He details how horrendous this denial is and has quality lines like:::

"No amount of expediency on the part of the Bush administration can diminish these realities, or their clear delineation by the language of the Genocide Convention."

Where will that leave Sudan now? Effectually nothing was being done in the status quo, when the US was recognizing that the situation was a genocide. How long is this really going to continue before substantial action is taken?

OneWordSolution

Monday's music of the moment:::

I've been hopelessly addicted to OneWordSolution as of late. Even though they are far more liberal then what I'm used to listening to (yea okay, this from the girl who can sing a good number of quality David Rovic songs verbatim), I still am finding it more amusing then I probably should. It has a fairly decent beat, although I think it would be ten times more effective if they would slow down on the lyrics. Either way, it definitely goes into the pile of CDs I would by if I had money.

Wasteland
In the distribution of the wealth there's no equality
With a fair share seeming to be a fantasy
Still everybody's looking for the diamond ring
While the fruits of out labor go to feed the king
Everybody's ready for a break in the rain
And everybody's tired from the weight of the chain
It only takes one spark to ignite the flame
For the voice of the people is the power of change.

Fish as... art?

For my Chinese class we were instructed that we had to visit the museum in the Center for the Arts and write about their China wall display. No problem, I was all over it.

I wandered down there Thursday afternoon and began transcribing random stuff into my notebook about each display to use for my paper latter on. Some of the displays were fairly cool, and I was pleasantly enjoying myself as I dully tried to deduce why I couldn't just be an art major and play with paint all day long.

There was a bed in the corner of the room, and eventually I moseyed over there to investigate. On top of the bed it had a clear mattress with an oxygen tank hooked up to it. Huddled at the top were about three dozen goldfish, all trying to get oxygen from the thin stream being poorly run through. What was even more disturbing, was the paragraph that was describing the exhibit to us uninspired students who can't see art through this medium. It talked all about how the artist had been trying desperately to "get it right" for years, as he forgot frivolous items like oxygen and food and other mundane things. So hundreds of fish died at the sake of his masterpiece.

This is the most disgusting disregard for life as I have ever seen. How does one elucidate to themselves that wasting fish is a legitimate detriment for the sake of expressing their creativity?? On the accompanying paragraph it concluded how daring this was, and such a bold statement. When I got home, I looked it up. This isn't some daring new form of unknown expression; it has been done, tried, expressed, and copied for over a decade. Another moron has the same exact wonderful imaginative thing you do. What creativity and ingenious does that give you?? None. You have the same thing that a person would have if they stole a Van Goug from a museum and brought it to a copier machine. What inspiration. If only we all could evolve to that level.

http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2003/0606/local/stories/08local.htm

At least one got shut down. I would totally be on this, but the last day was friday. So at least it's all gone anyways.

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/STYLE/arts/02/15/goldfish.ap/