I can make hollywood stars do my bidding.
No. Really.
Okay, not really but I did get one to follow my advice for reals, so hey!
An actress who will go unnamed made a tweet about how she was playing Settlers of Cataan. And I tweeted back that hey, SoC is fun, but hey, she should try Apples to Apples or Cash and Guns.
Apparently, she loves Apples to Apples, so, at my behest, she went, looked up Cash and Guns, and bought it.

I am easily made to squee, I guess.

I'm hoping that the next time she mentions C&G isn't to say how icky it was.

If your party has the term "the white race" on its web page?
I'm not voting for you, because it means you are overwhelmingly likely to be racists.
Otherwise, you are also three crazy old guys.

I think I ate bad sushi at movie night last night. There was oogy feeling, and then there was waking up in the middle of the night with my body trying to purge itself from both ends.
And yes, I feel much better now.
Also, I am doing NaNoWriMo, so if yo don't see me around here much, you'll know why. All my words are for the word count. I'll probably even be repurposing some of these.

I have two invitations. Anyone want one?

Senator Inouye, Chairman of the Appropriations committee, may remove the Franken Amendment from the latest bill.
I hope I don't have to tell you how bad this would be. Apparently the defense contractors have been lobbyin hard. We, as citizens, need to lobby harder. Make a big, big noise, people. Contact Senator Inouye, contact the members of the appropriations committee. Click here for the appropriations committee and/or here to contact Senator Inouye directly.
( Here's what I wrote. )

My Senator, Al Franken, recently proposed an amendment to a bill, this was the amendment.

Sec. 8104. (a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any existing or new Federal contract if the contractor or a subcontractor at any tier requires that an employee or independent contractor, as a condition of employment, sign a contract that mandates that the employee or independent contractor performing work under the contract or subcontract resolve through arbitration any claim under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or any tort related to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment, including assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, or negligent hiring, supervision, or retention.

To put it in common English, this amendment restricts the government from using funds from this bill to pay contracts with companies that have, as part of their employment requirements, a restriction that employees may not sue if they are raped, sexually assaulted or harassed on the job.

You might ask why such a thing would be necessary. Which means you've probably not heard of Jamie Leigh Jones. Ms. Jones was 20 years old when she went to Iraq to work for KBR, a former subsidiary for Haliburton. While she was there, she was gang raped by her fellow employees and KBR locked her up in a shipping container for 24 hours when she tried to report it, and she was only released when the U.S. Embassy got involved. When she tried to prosecute, she found that KBR had managed to 'lose' important parts of her rape kit. When she tried to sue, she found that her contract included a requirement that she submit to arbitration even in the case of rape and assault.

Other women have come forward with similar reports.

So Senator Al Franken (btw? I will never get tired of typing those words) put forth an amendment to a bill to make sure that this sort of thing doesn't happen again. It seems like a slam dunk, right? And in the end it was. It won by a wide margin. Sixty something to 30.


"Wait." you might be saying "30 people voted against a measure that keeps the government from making contracts with abusive employers who cover up rape?"
Why yes. Yes, they did. 30 state senators voted against this amendment.
Each and every one of them a Republican. Here's the list!
Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

Defenses of these votes stated by these Senators included such things as "This is a political attack against Haliburton." (odd, KBR is no longer a subsidiary of Haliburton, and at any rate, how can you make a political attack against a private company) and that it amounts to restricting what private companies can have in their contract (no, no it does not. it restricts whether the government will accept such things from companies that they pay with our tax dollars).


The Daily Show of course said it best.

Apparently some days ago, a couple of drunken yahoo's in Swansea, Wales decided that it was just the sort of night to attack people weaker than them. People who were different. People who might be easily intimidated.
So they attacked a pair of transvestites who were walking down the street together.
Bad move.
Bad, bad move.
Because you see, the transvestites were actually cage fighters, dressed up for a stag party (bachelor party) in dresses and heels. Cage fighters who proceeded to give the asshats a swift but thorough beatdown and then wander off in their high heels with nary a scratch on them and only a dropped clutch purse to retrieve. And it was, being the UK and a busy urban street, all caught on CCTV for the world to see.
The only way that this could have been better would be if the transvestites had just been regular old transvestites. Still, perhaps these idiots will think twice before picking on those they consider weird. Perhaps other idiots will also give it a second thought (one can hope). My big hope actually is for the cage fighters. I hope they have been given a good glimpse of the sort of things that people in the GLBT community have to deal with all the time, and perhaps it will make them more likely to defend others. Maybe they'll even teach a "self defense in heels" course?

I went to bed last night literally pie-eyed from information overload. It's been a long, long time since that happened to me.