This Year's Model of Humanity

WASHINGTON -- A major defense authorization bill carrying the repeal of the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' law was blocked on Thursday by Senate Republicans and one Senate Democrat after negotiations between the parties failed. A number of moderate Republicans who said they supported a repeal, including Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), voted to filibuster the measure. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) joined their efforts.

So, the total number number of delegates needed to win the nomination is 2,025, yes? That's the lowest number for a majority. Obama is currently leading Clinton by 143 delegates, with his total number at 1,631 and hers at 1,488. That's... not insurmountable by any means. Certainly not a good reason for her to curl up and go home.

Pennsylvia's primary is on the twenty-second of this month. Then Indiana and North Carolina on the 6th. West Virginia on the 13th and, finally, the 20th of May, Oregon gets to vote (along with Kentucky). The fact that my primary is so far away is a source of frustration to me.

I like Clinton's health care plan. When she and Obama talk specifics about issues and votes, I tend to find myself agreeing with her more often than with him when they differ (many times, they don't). Of course, in any race between Obama and McCain, Obama would get my vote in a heartbeat, but between him and Clinton... yes, I plan to vote for her.

The world that we live in is not post-racism or post-sexism (or, for that matter, post-classism and it certainly isn't post-homophobia). Either Clinton or Obama as our President will be a major step forward for this country. I'll be proud to call either of them my President.

Not that it'll matter for a few more months (*insert mutters about the lateness of Oregon's primaries*), but I'm currently leaning in a Clinton direction at the moment. This would appear to be a bit of a minority opinion on my flist, but not overwhelmingly so.

( spoilers for Smallville 7x11 -- Siren )

( spoilers for Supernatural 3x10 -- Dream a Little Dream )

This week is, apparently, Blog Against Racism Week.

Racism is an area that I do try to question myself in, when watching television or movies. Because, for example, while it's hard for me to picture anyone else as Xander, if someone else had been Xander, then it might be Nicholas Brendon who I would think it silly to imagine being Xander (of course, if Xander had been black or hispanic or asian or native american, then his diminished role in the later seasons might have looked worse than it did, from an outside point of view).

One of the things that I didn't notice about RENT but tickled me pink when someone pointed it out to me is that every single couple in the movie/play is interracial. It's just there and no one in the movie makes any kind of deal about it.

When there are strong/interesting non-caucasian characters, I still fangirl them and fall in love. But there simply aren't the plethora of characters (and character types) out there that you get for the 'white' characters. As Mr. Trick said, Sunnydale really isn't a 'haven for the brothers' (and, much as I love Joss Whedon, commenting on something in the text doesn't excuse the metatexual reasons for those choices). And considering the population percentages you normally find in California... well, let's just say that we should have been hearing a lot more spanish on those shows than we got (and none of that even goes near the subject of the low number of asians in Firefly).

American television is... a lot paler than the towns and states that the shows tend to be set in. And that is a problem -- it's a writing problem, it's a casting problem, it's a network problem. The issues exist and they matter deeply.

Or, as Rev. Al Sharpton said in the first episode of Boston Legal -- 'Give us a black Spider-Man. Give us a black Superman who can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Give us a black Orphan Annie.' (paraphrased) Because these are icons that were created years ago and they are meant to be universal American icons -- universal American icons shouldn't be limited by color, even if their creators were.

And here, I was about to note that Boston Legal's main cast was all-white, but I went to the website and apparently that changes later on. That was a nice surprise. Of course, it's still seven to one, but that's better than eight-zero.

So, this last day was the fourth of July -- Independence Day for the United States of America.

I love my country, I love it the way I love my family, fiercely but full of the knowledge of its faults. I've been rereading a book (Lies My Teacher Told Me, which is excellent) and thinking about this country of mine.

I dislike the idea of preaching -- I'm no evangelist, that's a huge part of why I don't go to church and don't consider myself terrribly beholden to any religion. I dislike the idea of lecturing even more. That's why I seriously try to avoid ever doing those things. They're... one-way, generally, all about trying to impart one person's noble wisdom onto the masses which is... yeah, not my thing.

I have no noble wisdom or great truth, just things that I think about sometimes. In any government, participation is vital. It's the only way to get your views out there, because no government has mindreaders (and if they did, I doubt they'd be using them for the purpose of better serving the general population). There's a saying that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and that's generally true. Making noise is often the only to make something noticed.

In a democratic/republican country, that starts at voting, but voting is really the least you can do, the bare minimum where you say -- "Yeah, I'm giving you this money in the form of taxes, so I demand my say." (no taxation without representation, yo) Then there's petitions, donating, protesting. Becoming active in politics. A huge spectrum of ways to help steer the course of your ship.

I've been trying, over the course of the last few years, to get up the courage to be more active in these things -- I called Congressman David Wu about supporting Net Neutrality and he (and/or his aides) sent me back a two-page letter thanking me for calling him and telling me that he was totally on my side (note: this is a paraphrase). I almost died from the giddy shock.

This participation thing is the best way to honor your country, so that's what I'm trying to do. Honor what I believe the U.S. can be. Working on the courage, day by day.