Let's Be Clear on "Hate"

POSTED BY JHW22

I keep seeing a Rick Warren quote popping up on Facebook. Hell, I don't know if he really said it but here it is:

"Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear them or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate." -Rick Warren

Days after all the Chik-Fil-A crap, and some people STILL don't understand that the left isn't mad about what the head of Chick-fil-a SAID. We're pissed at what he DID. He funded groups that take rights away from gay people -- preventing them from marrying, adopting, getting jobs and in parts of the world LIVING. Yes, the head of Chick-fil-a helps fund a group that supports the execution of gays in Africa.

You can SAY that doesn't mean he hates gay people if you want. But when you support people being executed for being gay, I guess you can say Hitler didn't hate gays when he sent them to the camps.

Semantics, I guess.

And really, when you use the "it doesn't mean I hate them" as a distraction from the real issue that you oppose civil rights, it's as if you're defensive about being called a hater. Gee, I think a gay person is probably MORE defensive about having their rights taken away.

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Job Search

Posted by JHW22

Since President Obama was elected, his policies (the ones NOT blocked by the GOP) have created 4.5 million jobs. There are days when I get so furious thinking how many more jobs his policies could have created had the GOP actually not been assholes.
4.5 million jobs! That's a LOT. That's a lot considering how close we were to a Depression. It's kind of like being in 8th place until the last 50 meters and then pulling out all you've got and getting the Silver Have to have an Olympic reference, right). We still need to get the Gold but that would require some team effort. Sadly, with the GOP working against us, our team isn't being very productive.

Today we got a new jobs report and our economy added 163,000 jobs. The unemployment rate went up a click and that's what the GOP will focus on. They'll pretend the addition of jobs is a bad thing because the percent went up. But 163,000 jobs exist that didn't exist before.

-- Kevin Drum, Mother Jones

As a person who has been looking for a job for the first time in six years, and really longer ago than that because I had a job before I decided to be a stay-at-home mom, this is great news.

However, my problem isn't the number of jobs out there. I look at job boards several times a day. I have apps I check obsessively. I see jobs all day long. I see jobs in health care. I see jobs in retail. I see clerical jobs. And at times I see jobs in my field. But the jobs I see the most are in technical fields. Seriously. The problem isn't that we don't have jobs. The problem is that we aren't all qualified for the plethora of good paying jobs because we all decided to major in Literature (well, I did, anyway).

So I have a hard time applying for more jobs than I'd like simply because I don't have the skill sets needed for the jobs that ARE out there.

I read a quote a few weeks ago and I think about it all the time. I have to paraphrase it because I don't remember it specifically, and I have no idea who said it, but the gist is this:
[quote]Don't wait for something to happen. MAKE something happen.[/quote]
I'm trying to follow this in my job search. I am trying to be creative and inventive. It hasn't worked so far but at least I FEEL in control. I KNOW I'm not in control -- after all, there are hundreds of applicants competing for the same jobs, I've been off the circuit for A LONG TIME, and I have to admit I had a pretty glaring error on the resumes I was submitting for almost two months. I can't control the person's schedule who receives my resume to ensure they don't go on vacation or call in sick while my resume is at the top of the stack.

But I can take classes, I can read books, I can read articles, I can find ways to hone my skills.

And I can help re-elect President Obama and work to elect good Democrats to support him in Congress. Because if the 2012 election results in a Democratic win, I am confident that Obama will have more job creation policies enacted and a lot more opportunities for ALL of us and not just the techies. Or hell, maybe I can find something to hold me over while I become a techie, myself. Ahahahahaha. That was funny.

Cross-posted at www.ThisWomanThinks.com

Is Romney Really Worse Than Sarah Palin?

A few days ago, when Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney took off for London in what was supposed to be an easy, softball, build your foreign policy credibility trip, he began making a series of gaffes from insulting the readiness of London to host the Olympics, and shrugging off his wife's dressage horse event in order to look less elitist, to forgetting the opposition party leader's name.

The British press tore him to shreds, not only because they felt the had to protect their own, but also because for a trip that was supposed to be easy-peasy, Mitt was blowing it in epic proportions. But one particular statement caught my eye. Worse than Sarah Palin. I mean, I get it, but really? Actually worse that Palin?

It's true that the more we see and hear Mitt, the more we realize he's got his own little brand of word salad going on, but at least he tries to speak in a fashion that's grammatically correct whether what he's saying makes sense or not. But worse than know-nothing Sarah Palin? ...Then he went to Israel.

Adding to the already loud din of criticism of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney after he said Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, China today said Mr. Romney’s “hawkish remarks” could spark conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. 

“Romney's remarks totally neglect historical facts and are actually irresponsible if he just meant to appeal to voters at home,” wrote Xinhua, China’s official state news service. “[A]ny words that favor any party to the conflict regardless of history and reality are irresponsible and unfair for Palestinians who are in a less powerful position in the peace talks. They may even result in a much worse situation in this region by intensifying the differences between the two sides.” 

China also took issue with Mr. Romney’s claim that he would move the US embassy to Jerusalem, something American officials have long avoided doing because the move would imply Israeli sovereignty of the long contested city.

Not only is he stupid, but he's dangerous. For the sake of scoring some political points not with the Jewish population here at home, but with the Evangelical right, Mitt Romney has gone against what every president since Harry Truman has understood; that Jerusalem was deemed an international city to protect religious rights for all in the region, unsettled since the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948, and negotiation is the only way to settle it.  Hell, even St. Ronnie agreed with that!*

But why should Romney care about such nuance when he can indirectly point a finger at President Obama in an attempt to categorize him as not friendly towards Israel? Who cares about looking like a fool to the rest of the world when you're trying to win an election at home by any means necessary for Pete's sake?!

Romney also touted Israel's healthcare system. A universal healthcare system. You know, sort of like Medicare for all, but with an individual mandate. The same mandate that was good enough for Romneycare in Massachusetts but according to Mitt, is an abomination in Obamacare. The sound you hear is my head slamming into my keyboard repeatedly.

So in short, yeah, Mitt Romney is worse than Sarah Palin. You can excuse Palin for being plucked out of the middle of nowhere, being completely unvetted and not ready for prime time. Exposing her idiocy was an unintended consequence of being thrown onto the national stage. But Mitt Romney has been running for President for over eight years and has apparently learned or attempted to learn nothing. What's his excuse?

(* H/T Zandar)

(Cross-posted on ABLC)

Romney Hightails It Out of London - Campaign Shoots Barbs From Afar

It seems that the Romney campaign can't seem to stop stepping on its own tongue. Rather than leave well enough alone and quitting while they're behind, the Romney camp decided totalk toughafter they left London for Israel.

A Romney campaign official has blasted Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, as an ‘eccentric, odd fellow’ whose public attack on the Republican candidate was ‘unbecoming’ and an indication of his bias towards President Barack Obama...  

'Johnson on the other hand lived up to his reputation as an eccentric, odd fellow. It was unbecoming to attack Governor Romney in that way. There really was no need. But Johnson made it clear in 2008 that his vote would have gone to Obama.’

So, Romney can insult London, but London can't insult Romney. It's "unbecoming." Got it.

In the meantime, the Romney campaign hasdenied access to reporters in his scheduled Jerusalem fundraiser.

Romney's campaign is barring reporters from a fundraiser at Jerusalem's King David Hotel and not saying why. At U.S. events, Romney's remarks to donors in communal spaces such as hotels are typically public.

You know what I find unbecoming? A "President" Mitt Romney.

(Cross-posted on ABLC)