* Newt Gingrich said some things so virulently cl assist that I can't bring myself to repeat them. Demeaning the poor in this economy, an extremely rich man kicking the poor when they are down: the perfect symbol for the 21st century Republican party.
* To be clear, I'm originally from Philly. I was born the year after the year of assassinations, and growing up what is now vintage civil rights footage was still only a step away from current events. I expect the police to be brutal, unfair, above the law, and often racist. That doesn't stop me from mentioning it here. Am I surprised the police are brutal, violent, and being above the law, prone to breaking it? Hell to the no. I remember the cops sitting around the restaurant I worked as a teen bragging about guys they beat up in groups over personal vendettas. To me, it is normal cop behavior for five or six of them to break into somebody's home to "put him in the hospital" because he pissed one of them off. When I was a teen, packs of police used to hunt gay men for sport in the city, because who the hell would stop them? (The first out cop on the Philly force killed himself less than a year on theforce. I do not think this is a coincidence). To this day, in many places, including Philly, the only investigate the murders of trans folk if there are protests and media attention.
Police, especially in big cities, are just another form of gang. We need them, because things get ugly fast without them, but they can get dangerous on the turn of a dime. I never forget that when dealing with them, especially as out here, it is standard practice to pull over people for driving while poor, just as they do here and everywhere else for driving while POC. I have been pretty damned law abiding my whole life, but I fear the police. They do things like chew you out and blame you because a tailgater rear ended you, run "random" warrant checks when you broke no law, and can get away with beating you senseless because they don't like the look of you. Laws do not and never will apply to police. Not all officers are corrupt, but odds are, the one you are dealing with is. The only thing that even remotely keeps them honest is media scrutiny, whether it's coverage of something like police response to financial protests, or film of a bunch of cops group kicking Rodney King, or when a reporter from a Seattle paper when I first moved up here caught a cop mocking an elderly native man in a particularly racist fashion (circling him, doing that woowoo thing with his hand over his mouth and dancing a mocking imitation of a pow wow dance). I still want to smack that asshole cop whenever I think of him.
Sunlight is the only disinfectant we have, as it goes contrary to human nature to expect them to police themselves, and unchecked power always leads to abuse. When I right about police violence here, I'm adding my small voice to all the others calling for better.
* Today sucked in a particularly expensive and time consuming way. I spent a lot of it either trapped in traffic or waiting in various government offices, ID in hand. My food stamps were cut in half. Food prices went up again. Of course. I needed a wall mounted spice rack. They apparently no longer sell them anymore. I wasted $40.00 I can not afford to wast on a counter space eating one that turned out to be completely useless when I got it home. The whole day was like that, one thing after another, wasting time, money, and gas.
I thought I was going to go into this month ahead, financially. Instead, Squirrel needs to raise money to fix the car, and I'm fascinated to see how I manage the bills.
* I can not decide if I am out of remission on the AS or if it's normal winter + still thrashed from moving. Let's hope I'm not out of remission, because the meds that stop the degeneration are rather dangerous and cause some devastation all on their own. (Yes, I have the same thing Niki Sixx has. Yes, it's weird for me hearing him talk about it).
On the upside, my lungs are drastically better now that I'm not breathing all those spores constantly. Normally, this sort of pathogen would lay me up for a month, with me periodically suffocating like a landed cod. Instead: seriously nasty cough Saturday, up to barely noticeable Monday. Still sporadically feverish, achy, a little tight in chest, and generally crappy today, but able to function all on a clear upward tragectory. I skipped the thing where the virus builds up so much crap in my lungs that a colony of bronchitis bacteria takes up residence and they take turns kicking my ass. O.o
* I am exhausted, and I'm going to crash early..
* neo_prodigy found. Paging 1950! I think folks who believe the South and the country in general is over it's racism problem, haven't been paying attention:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57334337/small-ky-church-bans-interracial-couples/* Re the Chuck Norris vs. Jet Li question: Jet Li would obviously win. *sticks tongue out*
* Ahead of it's time. (Here thar be Zombies:)
http://box-in-the-box.livejournal.com/539340.html* A school for the disadvantaged founded by the historically racist Hershey Company denies admition to an honor roll student because he's HIV positive. Sounds like 1983 again, doesn't it? I couldn't find the clip of Anderson Cooper taking the school spokeswoman to task, or I'd be giving it to you, but there is this:
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2011/12/02/school-rejects-hiv-applicant.cnn* While I was looking for that, I was reminded that I wanted to post this thing from Thursday about legalized insider trading by Congress members:
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2011/12/02/ac-kth-congress-cash-in.cnn![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}