Done

2016 fucking sucks. Get the hell out, and don't come back. I'm done with the shitstorm that is politics, war, and death of this year.

RIP Carrie Fisher

I'm With Her

The next white, hetero, middle-class, middle-aged, English-speaking male who decides to mansplain American politics to an American is going to be told to shove it where the sun don't shine.

I was told today that sexism isn't the main problem that's facing Hillary. By a colleague I like and respect, but who plays the video game of life on the easiest setting (see above) and thus doesn't get the inherent, endemic sexism that surrounds us.

Vote early, don't vote often because that's against the law, and frankly, vote Hillary. I'm With Her, because he's a dipshit who wants to set the world on fire just to watch it burn.

Also, Secretary Clinton is probably the most qualified person ON THE PLANET to govern a country. Just sayin'.

The plot thickens

So...the fire was arson. At least the police are looking for an arsonist. But it gets better. There was also a fire in Linthwaite, at another old mill site. If I'm correct, that would be the site being considered for a Tesco Express.

So the question is, who is setting these fires? The developers, who want to make it more likely to get approval, because there is nothing left to preserve, and no (longer) bats in the buildings?* The people opposed to the stores going in,** who think this will somehow hurt the developers (nope, makes their job easier)? Stupid kids setting fires? That's happened before, but not usually 2 major fires within twelve hours of each other.

So yes, long on theories and conspiracies, but short on actual evidence. I'll be honest and say that I hope it was the developers who put someone up to it, because then they'll a) go to jail, and b) will most likely have their application denied. Still, the developers seemed evil, but not stupid.

*Bats are a protected species in the UK, and if they are found living in a building, that building cannot be torn down/renovated unless permission is granted to have what is essentially a bat-removal specialist come in and relocate that bats. Yes, bats get a higher priority than people, which I think is awesome.

**As a sidenote, while I'm opposed to the Aldi in Slathwaite, but not to a Tesco Express in Linthwaite, because the only businesses in Linthwaite are takeaways, a Premier–basically a quikie-mart–and a Co-op, which is essentially a glorified quickie-mart. Slathwaite actually has real businesses: a butcher's, a pharmacy, an optitian, a mens' wear shop, a green grocer, a newsagent, a couple of shops that sell "stuff," a hairdresser, a bakery, an antique shop, an independently-owned quickie mart, and several cafés, all off the top of my head. We also have a Co-op, which is somewhat better than the one in Linthwaite, if not much.

Rampant Speculation

So there's a fire basically down the street from us. I went out to gawk because it looked like it could have been a) close enough to make me want to start packing up the important items (which is everything, but you know) or b) it could have been the bakery.

Thankfully, it's neither--so far--but the location is quite interesting. Unless you're local, you probably don't know that Aldi (a third rate "supermarket") is trying to get a site here in Slaithwaite. Unfortunately for them, EVERYONE in the village is opposed to it. And I do mean everyone. I haven't spoken to a single person who wants it or thinks it'll be good for the village (the money it brings in won't stay local, unlike the local shops, which will potentially face closing). Perhaps if it were a Sainsbury's, which actually stocks quality stuff, people wouldn't be so opposed to the notion, but Aldis are not unlike a large Quik-E-Mart in all ways except the slushie machine. Unfortunately, no one in the village knows how Kirklees (our local council) will respond, though we're all hoping that they'll listen to those of us who have to live with it. We have raised some compelling concerns beyond "Aldi sucks."*

Anyway, all that to say that the site Aldi has asked for planning permission is currently burning down. They were going to have to demolish half the stuff on the site anyway, but some of the site has listed buildings and the like, so it was all very confusing.

But now it's burning. And I have to wonder if a) it's arson and b) if it is, was it started by ai) the developer or bi) someone opposed to to the development.

In other news, I like listing lists within lists. List list list.

So yes, very interesting. I don't know if this will help or hurt either side, though I imagine it will at least slow down the planning permission application process. However, if it's approved, it will speed up the building.

The only thing I do know is that neither Adam nor I started the fire. How do I know this? Because it's blazing like a mofo, and neither of us can build fires worth shit.** When I went out to check about 40 minutes ago, it didn't look like the firefighters were even approaching it, and at least one entire building was engulfed. So it's definitely big. I'll go back out in a bit, and I'll post more if I find out more, but at the moment, I'm betting arson. By, who, though, that's the question.

*We've raised that, too, but were told that it wasn't a valid argument.

**This could be a problem should the apocolypse come.

This. Just....this.

I am tired down to my bones. Tired of trying to explain why I am tired. Tired of fighting all the little things that add up to a mountain and a constant uphill trudge. 

This Steubenville rape case is just the last straw. If you haven’t heard the words “rape culture” by now, you must have been ignoring the whole thing, which I probably should have done, but I just couldn’t.

[...]

Rape culture is a society giving women a list of do’s and don’t's that boil down to “make sure he rapes the other girl.”

Rape culture is a society where women are scared to go out by themselves at night.

[...]

Rape is not a mistake. You don’t just fall over and end up with your penis in someone’s vagina or anus. You don’t accidentally rape someone. Rape takes intent. It’s an act of power over someone who you consider less than, non-human, the other. It’s not about sex and boys are horny and it just happens. It’s about perpetrators not thinking their victim is a person.

Read the full post here.

Joss Whedon's endorsement of Mitt Romney

Here to stay

Finally. After years of struggling to make our relationship work and months of nervousness that I wouldn't have my documents back in time to travel, not to mention the obscene amount of money thrown at the Tories (assholes), they can't deny it anymore: I'm here to stay. I don't want to be, but that's a different issue.

Yesterday I found a missed package delivery slip. There was absolutely nothing on it besides a tracking number, but when I went to the website to schedule redelivery they mentioned--many times--passports, so I assumed that all my crap (about a kilo's worth of paperwork and our passports) was being returned.

It wasn't. When I signed for it today it was just a tiny envelope, which meant it was my biometric residence card permit thingy (Indefinite Leave to Remain, or ILR), which they're no longer sticking in passports but printing out on plastic. Basically it's a driver's license type thing with a chip in it (because those chips are *soooo* secure). It's horribly ugly, but since it allows me to do nearly everything over here (except vote and drive, and I can drive on my US license for a year if I were crazy, which I'm not), I don't really care. I have to travel with it, which should be interesting; even though they've had these doohickeys for a while, I'm sure someone in Border Control will fuck it up and stamp me in wrong.* That'll be a fun fight to have...

Happily, a couple of hours after receiving my ILR card, there was another pounding on the door (delivery people in this country believe in making a LOT of noise). This time it was a mail carrier who wanted my signature (for Weldman, because he couldn't get it through his head that the "i" wasn't an "l") for a very large packet that appeared to have about a kilo's worth of paperwork in it. It did. They seem to have sent back everything of importance (and at least some of not), and in particular, our passports. So happy days, I'm free to leave the country again. And just in time, too, since I have to leave the country in just over a month for a friend's wedding.

So though I don't always want to be here, I say to everyone who has been a douche to me because I sound different

Suck it. Suck it long, and suck it hard.

I know the residence permit isn't very clear. I prefer it that way for a variety of reasons.

But it's there, and it's mine.

*This happened with my student visa when I first entered on it in 2005. I presented my passport, opened to my visa page, which she ignored and flipped to my ID page, then flipped back to my visa page. She examined it, then proceeded to turn the page and stamp me in as a tourist. I found out when I came back after the holidays in January that effectively I'd been attending classes illegally. Fun times.

Dubious Usefulness

Le sigh.  I currently have no passport, Adam has no passport, and I spent over £7 on copies (and £991 in application fees) this weekend to send in my visa application so as to stay legal and not get deported.  Given that this entire process will cost us around £1200, it's a wonder than I bothered.  It's also not the best way to crack down on illegal immigration (which is not as prevalent ANYWHERE as people seem to think, and certainly isn't the economic problem people want it to be).

But that's not what this post is about.  This post is about the entire "Life in the UK" process, or what I like to call a gigantic financial, mental, and temporal cesspool.  Yeah, that's right.  It took my money, my brainpower, and my time, and stuck them all in a pile of shit.

First, the fact that I--or really anyone--needs to take the test is insulting, as the study book (more on that in a moment) claims that England is proud of its multiculturalism (protip: it's not).  But ignoring that, I can live with the idea of the test.  You want to live somewhere, you should have a token grasp of how that place works.  Sadly, that's not what the test is about.  Let me quote for you:

This handbook contains all the answers to the questions that may be asked in the Life in the UK test.  The questions will all be based on chapters 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the handbook.  You do not have to study the other chapters in order to be able to pass the test, but we hope and believe that they will be of interest and practical value to many readers and they will certainly help your understanding of the chapters you will be tested on.

Next, let me list the Table of Contents for you (with selected sub-sections):

CHAPTER 1: THE MAKING OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
(sub-sections omitted)
pages 7-25
CHAPTER 2: A CHANGING SOCIETY
Migration to Britain; The changing role of women; Children, family and young people
pages 27-33
CHAPTER 3: UK TODAY: A PROFILE
Population; The nations and regions of the UK; Religion; Customs and traditions
pages 35-41
CHAPTER 4: HOW THE UNITED KINGDOM IS GOVERNED
The British Constitution; The UK in Europe and the World
pages 43-53
CHAPTER 5: EVERYDAY NEEDS
Housing; Services in and for the home; Money and credit; Health; Education; Leisure; Travel and transport
pages 55-73
CHAPTER 6: EMPLOYMENT
Looking for work; Equal rights and discrimination; At work; Working for yourself; Childcare and children at work
pages 75-85
CHAPTER 7: KNOWING THE LAW
(sub-sections omitted)
pages 87-99
CHAPTER 8: SOURCES OF HELP AND INFORMATION
(sub-sections omitted)
pages 101-105
CHAPTER 9: BUILDING BETTER COMMUNITIES
pages 107-113
GLOSSARY

Now, scroll on back up there and see what chapters they test on.  Right, I'll just tell you.  Chapters 2-6.  Now look at the titles of chapters 1 and 7.  Wait, what?  They don't test on British history or, perhaps of more importance, British law?  How can that be?!  Oh wait.  Because by the time you're taking this test, you've lived here close to a minimum of 2 years (likely with the right to work), so now's the time to tell people how to get a job and what the minimum wage is.  Except the book was published in 2007 and the minimum wage goes up nearly every year.  As does the population.  And a variety of other things that change regularly as well.  But by god, they'll test you on information that's half a decade out of date.

I find it galling that I had to read pages on how to get a job, how to send a child to school, how to buy a home, and so forth, but I wasn't required to know a damn thing about crime, my rights under the law (except as to how they apply to working), the court system, and whatever else is covered in the law section.  No, I didn't read anything other than chapters 2-6.  Funny enough, I had no problems with the test.  

It's offensive.  I really am not opposed to the idea of the test, but I am galled at the contents of the test.  24 questions, 18 required to pass (they don't tell you how many you got correct at the end).  The only section that I found to be truly worthwhile was the government section, but that was filled with unnecessary numbers.  Fair enough, needing to know that there are 646 parliamentary seats in the House of Commons, but unless you live in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland, you don't need to know how many seats they all have for their respective ruling bodies.  And why do I think that's not important?  Because the book told me that most ethnic minorities (and thus immigrants, though that is not explicitly said) live in England, and most of those live in London.  So who the fuck cares that the (suspended) Northern Ireland Assembly has 108 members?  Especially since it's suspended!

Here's the worst part.  My in-laws were afraid that I wouldn't pass.  They took a test online and they didn't pass, therefore I wouldn't.  The lack of faith is appalling.  I had the book.  I'm also really good at remembering useless crap, especially for short amounts of time, and good at taking tests (except for the GRE English, but we don't speak of that.  EVER.)

Actually, that's not the worst part.  The worst part is that there was a girl in there who was taking the test for the second time, since she failed the first time.  She also failed the second time.  Another lass failed as well, because--and I quote--"there were at least 10 questions on there that weren't on the practice tests."  And I'm guessing a third guy failed, because he scheduled the test and then bought the book.  Because our testing was so screwed up (massive computer and server failures meant they had to keep restarting/reloading) they were being lax at the test centre, and he kept going into the post-test waiting room to "get some water" to ask those of us who finished for answers.  His problem?  I wasn't helping him, and the two who were both failed.  Ooops.

~~~~~

In somewhat related news, someone I care very deeply for (not my husband*) told me that the English, when they go other places, make an effort to learn and fit into that culture, particularly if they're moving there.  This was in reference to Muslims or those of Asian extraction** I presume.  But I disagree: a culture whose primary goal for centuries was to acquire as many countries as possible*** and enforce Britishness on them doesn't get the right to say that.  Besides, Brits are roundly hated when they go to restaurants in the States because they "don't know" that they're supposed to tip.****  Bullshit.  They know.  They just pretend ignorance because they're cheap.  Everybody knows that Americans are so cheap that they won't pay their waitstaff a livable wage so they depend on those tips to keep the lights on and food on the table.

*I do care very deeply for my husband, but he's not the person who said this.

**In this case, Asian means Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, etc.  This is England, not the west coast of the States, where I take Asian to mean Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc (sorry to everyone I lumped into "etc.," but I can't see my map from here and that was the one part of the world where we didn't study geography in middle school).

***Do you have a flag?

****They're also hated in France, but that's a long standing feud and the feeling is mutual.

Senate Legislation

I know that a lot of my US friends support local, organic, sustainable farms.  I certainly do whenever I'm in the states and my folks still do.  Fairly soon, S. 510: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act will come for a vote before the Senate.  This bill is designed to prevent and contain outbreaks from farms.  The problem is that the paperwork and bureaucracy involved (and some generally inane portions that are just moronic) will destroy small farms: they won't be able to handle the costs or laws.  And generally speaking, people don't get e. coli or salmonella from a local 50 acre farm.  They get it from a 10,000 acre farm that's destroyed the earth and such (no, I'm not biased).

Senator Jon Tester of Montana has created an amendment for S. 510, that will provide some exemptions for small farms, allowing them to both stay in business and still provide safe and healthy produce and meat.  Please, contact both your senators and ask them to support Senator Tester's amendment to S. 510.  The easiest way to contact the senators is to go to their official Senate website and use the "Contact" form.  If you don't know who your Senator is, well, I'm not going to help you there, but the website is [senatorlastname].senate.gov.  If you're an Oregonian, those will be wyden.senate.gov and merkley.senate.gov.

For more information on the bill and amendments you can visit S. 510 text: 

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-510 

Senator Tester’s Amendment:

http://tester.senate.gov/Newsroom/pr_041410_foodsafety.cfm

Farmer-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund Opinion: 

http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/news/news-foodsafety.htm

Additionally, here's a more generic version of what I wrote to Oregon Senators Wyden and Merkley.  I'm more than happy for people to copy/paste this and send it to their Senators.  If you're extra enthusiastic, mention some of your local farms by name (I did).  Also, mention your specific local, fragile economy (in all seriousness, this would probably destroy Oregon).  I did all the hard work, so please, copy this and send it along to your Senators.

Currently awaiting a Senate vote  is S. 510: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.  S. 510 is a one-size-fits-all bill, provided the "all" is massive, commercial farming.  Small farms, particularly those who sell directly to the consumers, will get royally screwed by this bill.  

I'm sure you're well aware of the number of small, farms that exist in the US.  I'm passionate customer of many of these farms farms that sell directly to customers, whether from a farm shop, a booth at a local market, or through weekly "Farm Box" services sold to and directly delivered to members.  These farms are dedicated to sustainable, safe practices already.  Though I believe in oversight and monitoring of safe practices, lest people get lazy, generally these farms are too small to be able to adhere to methods outlined in S. 510, and would most likely go out of business, which would not only deprive consumers of local, generally organic and sustainable produce, but it would also destroy the livelihood of the farmers and potentially be catastrophic to already fragile local economies.

Senator Tester has an amendment to S. 510, which would grant exceptions to these small farms, allowing them to stay in business, while still allowing for stronger food safety practices.  Please support his amendment to S. 510, for not all farms are the same size.

Thank you, and your staff, for all your hard work and time.  There are those of us who truly appreciate your efforts and energy.

Yours,

I'd swear my former film company made this...

...but for the fact that I found it on a news site.

This is perhaps the most bizarre political commercial ever.  And apparently it's real.  Ad is in the middle of the article, which more or less sums it up if you don't feel like loading up or watching the video.

Also check out Dead Gentlemen Productions--link is on your left.  Their political attack ad is probably still in the video section of the website.

I wanna help!

News story is here.

I really do want to get in on this and help out. I can't afford to donate money, but perhaps I can help waterboard Sean Hannity. I want to do my bit for my country too.* Afterall, waterboarding isn't torture--Bush and Hannity both said so.**

Yeah, perhaps Keith Olbermann does at times give the left a bad name, but he's no Bill-O or Hannity. I wonder if he's stopped announcing the number of days since Bush delcared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq...I don't get to watch "Countdown" here. Or anything that's broadcast on TV, really...


*I imagine there's a rather long waiting list to waterboard Sean Hannity.
**Two people who have not experienced it firsthand (or witnessed it), so they're well qualified to judge.

Your daily dose of WTF

And believe or not, it's all true!  The link to the full article is here.

Ron Paul wants to hire privateers to deal with the Somali pirate situation.  I'm not sure if it's absolutely brilliant, or the most cracked-out scheme I've heard of.  I think my real fear is that they won't be so much privateers/bounty hunters as vigilantes, and that's not good.

For what it's worth, I don't support what the pirates do.  That said, I do understand the desperate drive to try and provide for yourself and your family, and even for your country.  I would imagine that many of those who have legal means of making money (or no means at all) also support the pirates, at least to a point, because it's income for everyone (I figure trickle-down econmonics work better in really poor economies, not so much in first-world ones.  I have no proof to back this up).  Somalia is hopelessly poor, and I imagine doesn't offer much in the way of futures.  Piracy is a way out, and who doesn't want to be a pirate?  Still, I deplore what's happening out there.

One other note.  You know there's piracy in those shipping lanes, and you know you need to send your freighter through there.  You also know that the pirates don't really attack ships that can protect themselves (ie, armed ones).  Isn't it cheaper to invest in a few semi-automatic weapons and sniper rifles rather than risk being hijacked and ransomed, possibly losing the cargo, the commission for the cargo, and the crew?  Just saying...

Well, that explains that.

To continue on with our theme of porn/crappy-wannabe-notporn-porn, it turns out the Girls Gone Wild team has left Eugene.  At least the bus thingy is no longer in front of Sleazy club.  Instead, it appears to be wending it's way toward our great nation's capital.  I leave you with this story, from IMDb (who I believe got it from WENN, but whatever).  Permalink is here.

Porn Moguls Ask Congress For Help
7 January 2009 7:56 AM, PST

Porn moguls Larry Flynt and Joe Francis are appealing to the U.S. Congress to grant the adult entertainment industry a $5 billion (GBP3.3 billion) bail out - because it is suffering from the global economic meltdown just as much as others.

Hustler magazine entrepreneur Flynt claims adult DVD sales have plummeted in the last 12 months, with figures down 22 per cent from 2007.

He says, "With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind. It's time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America."

Meanwhile, Girls Gone Wild creator Francis is planning to travel to Washington D.C. to make his point heard, because he's adamant the porn industry is a key part of the U.S. economy - just like the financial and motor institutions.

He tells TMZ.com, "Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation's most important businesses; we feel we deserve the same consideration."

Hehehehehe Fire!

So I can't really think of anything creative to say tonight, especially as 5 November is past where it matters. But nevertheless, Happy Bonfire Night!

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I can think of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

An email I just sent

My parents are in Italy for this--what is now historic--election. I sent this email to them, which describes my feelings toward this election, as well as the outcomes as their were being broadcast (and posted online). For those who are somehow in doubt, I am so far left that it makes some liberals (and certainly anyone who's too patsy to be a "liberal" and is instead a "progressive") cry. If this means anything to you, I voted for Dennis Kucinich in the 2004 primaries, and had I the chance, BIll Richardson in the 2008 primaries; because he dropped out, I voted for Hillary, then for President-Elect Barack Obama. Someday I'd like to say that I crossed party-lines to vote for the best candidate, but that's not this year. It's time for something different (not a change, necessarily), and dammit, I voted for that. Though my initial Senate candidate is under 5 feet tall and has a hook hand (yeah, I voted for a quasi-pirate who could hook other Senators in the crotch--sue me).

In other news, I did include some info on the various Oregon/Lane County ballot measures. So ignore them if you wish. Also, Joe Biden got re-elected to the Senate. By a lot. Which cracks my shit up, but I suppose is immaterial.

They just announced that there will (most likely) be 17 women in the Senate. That makes me happy. But I'm sad, because there should be more. 50? Not necessarily. But 17 is less that 25% of the Senate, and that stinks. Even so, tis yet another step forward.


MY EMAIL:

After most of half of a duck breast, and all but one remaining Riedel glass (so about a 1/5 of a bottle) of Masterpiece Red Willie, I can fairly confidently say that Barack Obama is the next president of the United States. Jeff Merkley is beating Gordon Smith, and Kitty Piercy is beating Jim Torey 51% to 49%.

They've just called Virginia for Obama as well. It's gonna be a landslide, unless the electoral college decides to vote differently. And if they do, I'm pretty sure they will be assassinated. Not a threat. Just a fact.

Grant Park in Chicago is (obviously) jam packed, waiting for Obama's victory speech. Hopefully he'll wait to speak a bit longer, particularly as they're saying that McCain is going to speak shortly at the Biltmore in Phoenix. And it's wonderful to see all the excited blacks in Grant Park, some in tears (like Jesse Jackson), who are--as the black commentator says--are amazed by the fact that a black man can be president.

It feels really, REALLY good to know that, for the first time since I could vote, the person I voted for will be elected president. They're even now calling him President-Elect Obama.

And they just called Florida for Obama as well. All the big swings are blue. It looks like the Yahoo Political Dashboard was dead on. Arizona did go for McCain, and by 10%. But he's now giving his speech. He knew. You can see it on his face. You can also see how much it hurts him. And part of me feels bad for him. I still believe that if McCain just said what HE believed, and ignored everyone else, he could have possibly won, or at least made a real showing. And his speech is, in places, heartfelt. He also sent his condolances for the loss of Obama's grandmother. He's also asking his supporters to pledge their goodwill to Obama. Which is fairly classy. Whether or not his supporters think he's being honest, I really do.

I'll send a second email with the State/County/City measures when I see them. Though it looks like 57 and 61 (various sentencing bills) are passing. As is Building Permits. But as I said, I shall follow them more closely in a while.

On Indecision 2008 Colbert kept saying "an historic" as did the reporters on KVAL (CBS?). An horse's ass? Hence the email title.

Sarah Palin looks happy as a pig in shit. Bitch.

Montana just elected a democratic governor. W00t.

Good on McCain. He wasn't the best, but he could have been worse. Now to look into the local stuff. Which they are now reporting, so I may just continue this email.

Brownlow is getting 6% tonight. Which isn't much, but still. Piercy is still winning but by less than 1000 (less than 600 or 300, but I can't remember) and Handy is winning with about 600 votes. LCC is probably going to get their bond. As is the city of Eugene road repairs. Measure 57 is passing (increase prison sentences). Measure 61 is now failing. Sorry. I think I screwed that up earlier. And measure 62, which would reallocate lottery funds to public safety, is failing.

So that's the start.

Love, and buy an Italian table a carafe of wine when you're next out to dinner. Seriously--I'll pay for it. Or a German, or a Brit. I can spare $10 or so (or less) to share the goodwill. Or your waiter. I don't care, but please find some way to share this whilst you're over there.

Love,
Katie xxxxx


"Ladies and gentlemen take my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice."
~~Dr. Sidney Freedman, M*A*S*H

NOT IN MY EMAIL

Also, Kate Brown is beating forman KEZI anchor (I think, maybe meteorologist) Rick Dancer, for Oregon Secretary of State, and the redistricting measure (not important if you're not in Oregon) is winning, meaning that the redistriction doesn't take effect before terms end. Also, the mayor is less than 300 votes apart for current mayor (and my pick, though I don't live in the city so I can't vote) Kitty Piercy. And some punter named Saxby Chambliss is winning in Georgia. Seriously, what the hell kind of name is that?!

My way of adding to the political "libel"

I got this as a forward from Laurel, who was on my MA course in Leicester with me. No, people don't randomly email me museum related news...I just get it from my coursemates, which is logical.  I didn't like Sarah Palin anyway, but this really sealed it for me.  And the best part?  It's not actually libel (or slander) if it's true.  I would include the link that came with it, but it seems to have died, so here's the article.

REPUBLICAN VP A MUSEUM FOE
Much of the copious news coverage swirling around Sarah Palin, Republican John McCain's surprise pick for vice president, has focused on the relative inexperience of the freshman governor of Alaska and former mayor of Wasilla, a suburb of less than 10,000 people outside Anchorage. However, the 44-year-old Palin had proven experience with one thing during her brief tenure in government: slashing museum funding. As mayor of Wasilla, Palin quickly moved to cut the budget of the Dorothy G. Page Museum, a city-run institution that teaches Alaskan history and includes exhibits about the Gold Rush and the Iditarod.

According to a 1997 report in the Anchorage Daily News, Palin summarily fired museum director John Cooper (along with many other city officials. Palin, known for injecting her religious beliefs into government, also reportedly pressured town librarian Mary Ellen Baker to ban books, and then tried to fire the woman when she refused). Palin cut $32,000 from the Page Museum's $200,000 budget, provoking the three 15-year employees of the museum, Ann Meyers, Opal Toomey and Esther West, to resign en masse. "They'd rather quit than continue working for a city that doesn't want to preserve its history," the Daily News reported. Wasilla was running a $4 million budget surplus at the time.