straight from Savage Love

http://citypages.com/databank/26/1300/article13845.asp

STRAIGHT RIGHTS UPDATE: There were two disturbing developments in the battle over straight rights last week. First, we know that Target fills its ads with dancing, multi-culti hipsters giving off a tolerant, urbanist vibe and runs hipster-heavy ad campaigns positioning Target as a slightly more expensive, more progressive alternative to Wal-Mart. Well, as John Aravosis revealed on Americablog.org last week, Target's politics are as red as their bulls-eye logo. The chain allows its pharmacists to refuse to dispense birth control and emergency contraception to female customers if the pharmacist objects on religious grounds. What's worse, the company claims that any of its employees have a right to discriminate against any of its customers provided the discrimination is motivated by an employee's religious beliefs. Read all about it at www.americablog.org and www.plannedparenthood.org.

Second, more troubling news from Tucson, Arizona, where a 20-year-old rape victim called dozens of pharmacies in town before she found one that stocked emergency contraception (EC). "When she finally did find a pharmacy with it, she said she was told the pharmacist on duty would not dispense it because of religious and moral objections," reported the Arizona Daily Star. Emergency contraception, the story continued, "prevents pregnancy by stopping ovulation, fertilization, or implantation of a fertilized egg. The sooner the emergency contraception is taken after intercourse, the more effective it is."

Don't just sit there, heteros. Defend your rights! Don't shop at Target, and write 'em and tell them why you're going elsewhere. (Go to Target.com and click on "contact us," then "Target Corporation.") As for Fry's Pharmacy in Tucson, the shop that wouldn't dispense EC to a freakin' rape victim, the fundamentalist pharmacist claims its her "right" not to do her fucking job. Well, you have a right to free speech. Call Fry's at 520-323-2695 and ask them why the fuck a pharmacy that won't dispense EC keeps the drug in stock. Do they do it just to torment rape victims? ("Oh yeah, we've got EC—but you can't have any. Don't you know that Jesus wants you to bear your rapist's child?") Rise up, straight people, and demand your rights!

grrr....

Okay seriously, I just wanted to watch a quicktime movie in my updated Opera browser.

Why do I need to spend twenty minutes installing iTunes (which I **already have**)?!

I woke up this morning to find my CD/mp3 player sitting on top of a stove burner, like I should cook some omlettes on it.

And of course, having received all the toys I wanted to use to exercise with, I've come down with a head cold.

( Morning schedule thoughts )

More politics.

From MoveOn.org:

On Monday, President Bush buckled under pressure from the radical right and nominated the extreme right wing Judge Samuel Alito. MoveOn members leapt into action, blowing away our original goal and gathering more than 350,000 signatures in just over 24 hours—a new MoveOn record.

So today we're aiming to boost the total to half a million signatures, and do it by tomorrow. If we can get there, we'll run an ad in Roll Call, the newspaper that Congress reads, to show them the new total.

To reach our national goal, we need just 5,096 more signatures from Illinois.

Please sign today, if you haven't already, and remember to forward this note on to friends.

http://political.moveon.org/stopalito/?id=6255-5642022-BJMssRuZjpVkxr3lBT8I4w&t=3

Tomorrow's an especially important deadline, because the so-called "Gang of 14"—a group of centrist Senators from both parties—will be meeting to discuss the possibility of a filibuster, and whether or not they'll honor their agreement to keep the "nuclear option" off the table.2  We need to make sure those Senators, and all of Congress, understand that the public is fully engaged and prepared to defend our basic rights.

Can you help us reach 500,000 signers by tomorrow by forwarding this email on to your friends and colleagues? Below we've attached our original petition email, which provides some good basic information on Alito, to send around.

Thanks, as always, for all you do.

–Ben, Jennifer, Tanya, Marika and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
  Wednesday, November 2nd 2005

P.S. The case against Alito is growing rapidly. Check out this paragraph from Business Week:

"One group is breathing a big sigh of relief: Corporate America. Of the dozen or so names on Bush's rumored short list of high court candidates, Alito ranked near the top for the boardroom set. In the 800-plus opinions he has penned during his 15 years as a federal judge, Alito consistently has come down on the side of limiting corporate liability, limiting employee rights, and limiting federal regulation."2

Sources:

1. "Dems hint at filibuster" The Hill, November 1st 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1094

2. "Why Big Business Likes Alito" Business Week, November 1st 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1096

Weird bits of refuse and debris

I collected a pile of mail that'd be sitting at my parents' house yesterday. While sorting through it, I found a pair of citations, dated September 1st, from the Pittsburgh Dept of Public Works.

It says, "Defendant has insufficient containers for refuse storage. The could lead to a rodent problem." It lists Arrakis as the location of the incident.

Now, I obviously can't be held responsible for this, since I don't own that property anymore. But the question of dealing with this and contacting My Ex's lawyer to deal with it is just a giant hassle that I really don't need. What's more bothersome is the fact that the paper trail leading to me continues to be so slow. Everything bottlenecks at my parents, who insist on using my mail as a form of leverage to get me to spend time with them. I mean, this traffic citation is dated nearly two months ago. Chances are good that they've already tried & convicted me, and sent up for collection. Which means I'll need to deal with the credit bureaus, too. Joy.

All because My Ex never remembers to take the trash out until it becomes a problem.

(no subject)

OMFG!

A post-production house organized a competition where assistant editors ‘re-cut’ trailers for famous movies to try and make them seem like different movies . . . . this is the one that won

The Shining.
http://www.ps260.com/molly/SHINING%20FINAL.mov
(ganked from ghostsandrobots, who ganked from http://www.tatteredcoat.com/archives/2005/09/28/the-shining-redux/ )

That is just about the most bizarre thing I've ever seen!

memory meme

ganked from heathergalaxy

If you are reading this, leave one memory of you and me together as a COMMENT... it doesn't matter if I know you a little or a lot, anything you remember.