Whew, I finally returned home from a thirty-two hour endurance tour on the job. I had pulled an afternoon-to-morning all nighter, then returned to my home to recharge my cell phone, the company phone, and my laptop on Saturday morning, knowing that I'd be returning Saturday afternoon. My workplace had been sans electricity since approximately 11PM last Monday. I knew that I would not be having a fun time.
Fortunately, we have a lot of lanterns on the job because we use them for atmospheric illumination during night events. I relied heavily on a small radio/LED combo with a solar panel and a hand crank throughout my "purposeful camping" trip.
When I returned on Saturday afternoon, I knew I wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. One of my co-workers had called to tell me about the ordeal of trying to find gasoline in his Bronx neighborhood. In Yonkers, all of the gas stations near my house were completely sold out of gasoline, and the open gas stations I passed on my way to work had half-mile lines. I had about a quarter of a tank left, so ditching the car in the parking lot at work was my plan. The buses and trains were running, so I knew I'd have options (funny how most suburbanites are completely ignorant of their local public transportation options, even though almost everybody in my neck of the woods heads down to Manhattan on a fairly regular basis) if fueling up were a problem.
Saturday night into Sunday morning was no picnic. It was dark and cold and, worst of all, there was no internet access (HORRORS!!!). I don't creep out easily... at the best of times, my job is not one for someone who's easily rattled. I didn't get creeped out, but I wasn't exactly happy. The worst sensation was the chronic lack of warmth- I had put on several layers of clothing, but I didn't have a place to go for additional heat. It's not a fun sensation after the first few hours. When the skeleton crew came to work the day shift (both guys had lost power at home for most of the week), I stretched out on a settee and zonked out for a few hours. Oddly enough, I really didn't need that much sleep- my need to go outside and feel the sun's warmth and chat with my co-workers outweighed my need for sleep.
As I'd suspected, the guy who was scheduled to relieve me was still unable to purchase gas and, to compound matters, his ninety-two year old mother was in the process of being transferred from a hospital to a rehabilitation-oriented nursing home. My problems were nothing compared to his. Besides, the local gas stations were not operational because of the lack of electricity. I was actually relieved to be able to hunker down for some more time while the infrastructure was being returned to normal.
After dark, I began to see some activity on the road adjacent to my office- the good folks at Consolidated Edison had a couple of bucket trucks on the scene. Those people are absolutely heroic- they've been working outside, in the cold and darkness, around the clock. I had no heat, but I was sheltered from the elements, and I really wasn't busting my ass (I spent much of my shift spending some quality time with Will Shortz, having grabbed a bunch of past issues of The New York Times from the recycling bin). The power finally came on around 10PM. Wow, what a transition! I actually did a little happy dance before running all over the site checking the outbuildings and resetting the various alarm systems. I also sent text messages to management and the bigwigs in "physical plant" to let them know that power had been restored. The only wrinkle was that there was no internet access because the server wasn't online. Can't complain, though, the sheer fact that I was able to see clearly was cause for celebration.
When my relief came in at midnight, I headed immediately to the nearest all-night gas station, which had started the pumps only two hours earlier. There were four or five cars ahead of me, so I didn't have to wait more than five minutes before I could gas up the car (my primary concern at this time). I lucked out, the gas stations near my home are still out of fuel.
As soon as I got home, I decided that I'd put up a post recapping my sucky weekend. As soon as I hit "publish", I'm going to take a long, scalding shower. Thirty-two hours is too long a time to spend catassing in the cold and dark.
As sucky as my weekend has been, I want to stress yet again that I got off easy. My home is intact, and I was relative safe ensconced at work. I'm extremely fortunate, and I'm going to make damn sure that some of my O.T. goes to the relief effort for my people.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Post Sandy Reality
Power is still out at work... I spent sixteen hours on the job, much of it spent in a building without heat or electricity. The sky has finally cleared up a bit, and a lovely waning moon illuminated the landscape quite fetchingly. I think spending so much time in the dark has left me acclimated to the poor lighting conditions. I'm not Ginger's equal, but I'm coping pretty well. Sigh, if only Lamarck were right.
Being cloistered at work, I have been largely ignorant of the true extent of the storm's damage (even though I have been sitting in the dark for a week). I drove home past a bunch of gas stations which have the pumps roped off and festooned with "NO GAS" signs. I passed a half-mile gas line, a line in which one of my co-workers had been waiting for three hours before the "NO GAS" announcement was made. I'm still doing okay- got a quarter of a tank left in my small car. Hopefully, after I pull another sixteen hours, fuel deliveries will have been made, and the darkened gas stations will have the power restored. The only reason I came home this morning was that I needed to recharge my cell phone and, more importantly, the company cell phone. I have the luxury of camping out on the job tomorrow, having recharged devices and all that. If I can't refuel, I may do just that.
I have to say, I am grateful to my family for dragging the family to a rustic cabin every summer. I know how to prepare for "primitive" conditions, I know how to prepare, I know how to conserve limited resources. It's not so comfortable doing it in a blustery November week, but I have the skill set which allows me to pull through. Still, I'd like to have my nice, heated, well-lit office back.
Being cloistered at work, I have been largely ignorant of the true extent of the storm's damage (even though I have been sitting in the dark for a week). I drove home past a bunch of gas stations which have the pumps roped off and festooned with "NO GAS" signs. I passed a half-mile gas line, a line in which one of my co-workers had been waiting for three hours before the "NO GAS" announcement was made. I'm still doing okay- got a quarter of a tank left in my small car. Hopefully, after I pull another sixteen hours, fuel deliveries will have been made, and the darkened gas stations will have the power restored. The only reason I came home this morning was that I needed to recharge my cell phone and, more importantly, the company cell phone. I have the luxury of camping out on the job tomorrow, having recharged devices and all that. If I can't refuel, I may do just that.
I have to say, I am grateful to my family for dragging the family to a rustic cabin every summer. I know how to prepare for "primitive" conditions, I know how to prepare, I know how to conserve limited resources. It's not so comfortable doing it in a blustery November week, but I have the skill set which allows me to pull through. Still, I'd like to have my nice, heated, well-lit office back.
Friday, November 2, 2012
Crossing My Fingers
I called into work this morning and the power was still out at 8AM. I'm going in at 4:30PM and working straight through to 8:30AM. Gadzooks, I hope Consolidated Edison gets the power back on. Sixteen hours with no heat, no electric light, and (worst of all!) no internet is going to be an ordeal.
I'd post a video, but I've already posted the most appropriate one. Ah, hell, there's a live version:
Can I just say, in a totes hetero (and totes modest) manner, that bald, nerdy guys are hot? I mean, I'm just saying. Now, wish me luck, I sure as hell don't want to be eaten by a grue.
I'd post a video, but I've already posted the most appropriate one. Ah, hell, there's a live version:
Can I just say, in a totes hetero (and totes modest) manner, that bald, nerdy guys are hot? I mean, I'm just saying. Now, wish me luck, I sure as hell don't want to be eaten by a grue.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Romney, Wrong on the Role of the Federal Government
Sitting in the dark on the job for two days, one has time for contemplation. Because I was sitting in the dark as a result of a major storm, disaster response has been on my mind. I'm going to riff off of one of the last blog posts I read before losing the electricity, Bette Noir's "compare and contrast" post about President Obama's approach to disaster relief and Mitt Romney's statements about disaster relief in one of the primary debates. Here's an excerpt from the transcript of the debate, hosted by CNN's John King:
“FEMA is about to run out of money, and there are some people who say do it on a case-by-case basis and some people who say, you know, maybe we're learning a lesson here that the states should take on more of this role,” Mr. King said. “How do you deal with something like that?”
Romney’s response: "Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better.
“Instead of thinking in the federal budget, what we should cut – we should ask ourselves the opposite question,” Romney continued. “What should we keep? We should take all of what we're doing at the federal level and say, what are the things we're doing that we don't have to do? And those things we've got to stop doing, because we're borrowing $1.6 trillion more this year than we're taking in. We cannot ...”
King interjected: “Including disaster relief, though?”
Romney replied: “We cannot – we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we'll all be dead and gone before it's paid off. It makes no sense at all.”
A quick glance at the map of Superstorm Sandy demonstrates the stupidity of Mitt Romney's proposal for diminishing the role of the federal government in disaster response. Hurricane Sandy was a vast storm which ravaged the Atlantic Coast of the United States from North Carolina to Massachusetts, with lesser, though significant effects felt as far west as Ohio. Simply put, the storm was too vast for any single state to be able to handle disaster response and relief. Damage to the infrastructure within a state hampers the coordination of relief efforts. Even now, days after the storm, there are communication problems (I have electricity, and I am having problems getting through on the phone for various reasons, those without power are even worse off). In much of the New York tri-state area, gasoline is in short supply. To put the burden of disaster relief on the overburdened states is asinine. Just because I want to twist the knife, so to speak, Mitt Romney's record as a governor responding to a natural disaster is not a good one.
In times of disaster, it is important to remember the original motto of the United States, E Pluribus Unum, which is Latin for "out of many, one". Combined, the states form a more powerful whole. In times of natural disaster, the federal government can coordinate the response more readily than the states which have been hit. The United States is a vast country, the nature of disasters differs from location to location- while different states can concentrate on their areas of expertise, a central coordinating agency is better able to marshal resources that will be needed after local resources are exhausted.
To compound Romney's idiocy, his assertion that he'd rather have the private sector administer disaster responses is truly a howler. Of course, Romney's not really an idiot- he's the sort of sociopath who would prefer that there's an executive skimming off the top when funds are allocated for disaster aid. If Romney gets elected president, expect well-connected wealthy insiders to get even wealthier on the misery of disaster victims. In anticipation of such a (literal) windfall, Jeb Bush has founded a for-profit disaster response corporation. If disaster response is privatized, there will be a two-tier approach to relief and recovery operations- the rich folks will be whisked out of the disaster area in luxurious helicopters with fully-stocked bars while Joe and Jane Schmo will die horribly... the executives have to make a profit, after all. I imagine Jeb Bush's privatized disaster response will be just as successful as his brother George's privatized war.
In the '90's the town of Rye Brook, New York decided to experiment with privatized firefighting services. The private firefighting corporation cut corners with wages, ensuring that the workers were poorly-trained and had a high turnover rate, and they refused to engage in a mutual assistance agreement with neighboring municipalities, and the result was disastrous. Imagine how poorly a private corporation, with an eye towards maximizing profits, would handle a disaster of the magnitude of a Sandy.
Hopefully, the example of Sandy will wake voters who would vote for Mitt Romney out of spite. Romney is unfit to run the country- Chris Christie, a man I can't stand, has praised President Obama's disaster response and is being lambasted by his former admirers for it. Former Republican and wishy-washy "third way" flack Mike Bloomberg has endorsed President Obama's candidacy. In the face of disaster, real leadership and a genuine desire for public service is needed. Mitt Romney is a callow, hollow simulacrum of a man, and his history of failed disaster response and putting personal profits over the public need renders him unacceptable as a President.
“FEMA is about to run out of money, and there are some people who say do it on a case-by-case basis and some people who say, you know, maybe we're learning a lesson here that the states should take on more of this role,” Mr. King said. “How do you deal with something like that?”
Romney’s response: "Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better.
“Instead of thinking in the federal budget, what we should cut – we should ask ourselves the opposite question,” Romney continued. “What should we keep? We should take all of what we're doing at the federal level and say, what are the things we're doing that we don't have to do? And those things we've got to stop doing, because we're borrowing $1.6 trillion more this year than we're taking in. We cannot ...”
King interjected: “Including disaster relief, though?”
Romney replied: “We cannot – we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we'll all be dead and gone before it's paid off. It makes no sense at all.”
A quick glance at the map of Superstorm Sandy demonstrates the stupidity of Mitt Romney's proposal for diminishing the role of the federal government in disaster response. Hurricane Sandy was a vast storm which ravaged the Atlantic Coast of the United States from North Carolina to Massachusetts, with lesser, though significant effects felt as far west as Ohio. Simply put, the storm was too vast for any single state to be able to handle disaster response and relief. Damage to the infrastructure within a state hampers the coordination of relief efforts. Even now, days after the storm, there are communication problems (I have electricity, and I am having problems getting through on the phone for various reasons, those without power are even worse off). In much of the New York tri-state area, gasoline is in short supply. To put the burden of disaster relief on the overburdened states is asinine. Just because I want to twist the knife, so to speak, Mitt Romney's record as a governor responding to a natural disaster is not a good one.
In times of disaster, it is important to remember the original motto of the United States, E Pluribus Unum, which is Latin for "out of many, one". Combined, the states form a more powerful whole. In times of natural disaster, the federal government can coordinate the response more readily than the states which have been hit. The United States is a vast country, the nature of disasters differs from location to location- while different states can concentrate on their areas of expertise, a central coordinating agency is better able to marshal resources that will be needed after local resources are exhausted.
To compound Romney's idiocy, his assertion that he'd rather have the private sector administer disaster responses is truly a howler. Of course, Romney's not really an idiot- he's the sort of sociopath who would prefer that there's an executive skimming off the top when funds are allocated for disaster aid. If Romney gets elected president, expect well-connected wealthy insiders to get even wealthier on the misery of disaster victims. In anticipation of such a (literal) windfall, Jeb Bush has founded a for-profit disaster response corporation. If disaster response is privatized, there will be a two-tier approach to relief and recovery operations- the rich folks will be whisked out of the disaster area in luxurious helicopters with fully-stocked bars while Joe and Jane Schmo will die horribly... the executives have to make a profit, after all. I imagine Jeb Bush's privatized disaster response will be just as successful as his brother George's privatized war.
In the '90's the town of Rye Brook, New York decided to experiment with privatized firefighting services. The private firefighting corporation cut corners with wages, ensuring that the workers were poorly-trained and had a high turnover rate, and they refused to engage in a mutual assistance agreement with neighboring municipalities, and the result was disastrous. Imagine how poorly a private corporation, with an eye towards maximizing profits, would handle a disaster of the magnitude of a Sandy.
Hopefully, the example of Sandy will wake voters who would vote for Mitt Romney out of spite. Romney is unfit to run the country- Chris Christie, a man I can't stand, has praised President Obama's disaster response and is being lambasted by his former admirers for it. Former Republican and wishy-washy "third way" flack Mike Bloomberg has endorsed President Obama's candidacy. In the face of disaster, real leadership and a genuine desire for public service is needed. Mitt Romney is a callow, hollow simulacrum of a man, and his history of failed disaster response and putting personal profits over the public need renders him unacceptable as a President.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Sandy Aftermath
Sandy, to put it succinctly, kicked my ass, but not to the extent that last year's hurricane Irene did. I got to work before the brunt of the storm hit, around 2PM on Monday, knowing that I would not be leaving the site before 9AM the following morning. I packed as if I were going on a camping trip- plenty of food and several changes of clothes.
When it hit my neck of the woods, Sandy differed significantly from a typical tropical storm in that there was comparatively little rainfall. Out of the several times when I had to be outside checking up on things, I only had to wear my rain poncho once. The wind, however, was pretty brutal. My workplace lost power around 11PM (two of my co-workers were also pulling all-night duty, one lost power early on, the other didn't lose power at all).
The weird thing about losing power in a public building is that there is emergency power that kicks in to provide enough lighting to allow an evacuation of the building. Of course, I was not evacuating... it's a bit eerie sitting in a dim building, watching the lights slowly dying, listening to the beeps of the alarm system growing fainter with time. Luckily, I had access to candles (during our nighttime fundraisers, we put lanterns up on site to provide "atmosphere"), and I made sure to "top off" my electronic devices throughout the evening while I still had power.
Knowing the power would not come on for a while, I had to engage in "resource management"- I had to use the gigantic rechargeable flashlight sparingly and conserve phone battery power (the phone is an emergency light source as well as a communication device in instances like this). I only used my phone frivolously once, to snap a picture of a tired, unshaven, raggedly looking bastard working by candlelight:
It was pitch dark but luckily I had a torch and a match in my inventory.
About every three hours, I did a walkabout to gauge water levels on the site (Irene was primarily a flooding event in my neck of the woods) and checked for storm damage to the buildings on site. A sizable branch had narrowly missed my car, but we survived pretty much unscathed. During one of my rambles I saw what appeared to be an intense, though extremely localized, fireworks display- probably a transformer explosion. The police, fire department, EMTs, and ConEd work crews were out and about- the night was punctuated by wailing sirens and flashing lights. By the time the site director and site manager arrived at 9AM, the storm had subsided, and I had a comprehensive report on the extent of the minor damage done to the site. I sent several text messages to my department head to appraise him of my situation and convey the reports of my two overnighting co-workers.
I returned home on deserted roads and found that my neighborhood had never lost power. A large oak tree came down right where I usually park my car... I joked to my neighbor that I was lucky I worked an all-nighter- it's not the first time my car missed getting totaled by a falling tree by virtue of my work schedule. She joked about inviting all of her powerless friends over for the day- "If you have any frozen steaks you don't want to spoil, bring them over!"
I crawled into bed, bone tired, and zonked out until about 3PM, when I received a call from the guy who was supposed to work Tuesday afternoon- he was stuck at home by flooded roads and downed trees. Damn, damn, damn, I had to go back. Luckily, I had re-charged my cell phone- I arrived to find that the power was still out at work. Knowing that the power would probably be out, I made sure I had a fat, lurid paperpack, purchased for a quarter at a library book sale, and my wind-up radio/LED combo with me. Around 5PM, the Chief Financial Officer of the organization came over to conduct a spot inspection (much to my surprise). I took him on a Cook's destruction tour, pointing out the minor damage that the site had incurred. The rest of the night was uneventful- it involved using my resources sparingly, reading my trashy novel, and listening to radio reports of the massive damage that coastal areas received. I'm still not really caught up on current events, but Sandy pretty much supersedes everything as far as media coverage in these parts.
When it hit my neck of the woods, Sandy differed significantly from a typical tropical storm in that there was comparatively little rainfall. Out of the several times when I had to be outside checking up on things, I only had to wear my rain poncho once. The wind, however, was pretty brutal. My workplace lost power around 11PM (two of my co-workers were also pulling all-night duty, one lost power early on, the other didn't lose power at all).
The weird thing about losing power in a public building is that there is emergency power that kicks in to provide enough lighting to allow an evacuation of the building. Of course, I was not evacuating... it's a bit eerie sitting in a dim building, watching the lights slowly dying, listening to the beeps of the alarm system growing fainter with time. Luckily, I had access to candles (during our nighttime fundraisers, we put lanterns up on site to provide "atmosphere"), and I made sure to "top off" my electronic devices throughout the evening while I still had power.
Knowing the power would not come on for a while, I had to engage in "resource management"- I had to use the gigantic rechargeable flashlight sparingly and conserve phone battery power (the phone is an emergency light source as well as a communication device in instances like this). I only used my phone frivolously once, to snap a picture of a tired, unshaven, raggedly looking bastard working by candlelight:
It was pitch dark but luckily I had a torch and a match in my inventory.
About every three hours, I did a walkabout to gauge water levels on the site (Irene was primarily a flooding event in my neck of the woods) and checked for storm damage to the buildings on site. A sizable branch had narrowly missed my car, but we survived pretty much unscathed. During one of my rambles I saw what appeared to be an intense, though extremely localized, fireworks display- probably a transformer explosion. The police, fire department, EMTs, and ConEd work crews were out and about- the night was punctuated by wailing sirens and flashing lights. By the time the site director and site manager arrived at 9AM, the storm had subsided, and I had a comprehensive report on the extent of the minor damage done to the site. I sent several text messages to my department head to appraise him of my situation and convey the reports of my two overnighting co-workers.
I returned home on deserted roads and found that my neighborhood had never lost power. A large oak tree came down right where I usually park my car... I joked to my neighbor that I was lucky I worked an all-nighter- it's not the first time my car missed getting totaled by a falling tree by virtue of my work schedule. She joked about inviting all of her powerless friends over for the day- "If you have any frozen steaks you don't want to spoil, bring them over!"
I crawled into bed, bone tired, and zonked out until about 3PM, when I received a call from the guy who was supposed to work Tuesday afternoon- he was stuck at home by flooded roads and downed trees. Damn, damn, damn, I had to go back. Luckily, I had re-charged my cell phone- I arrived to find that the power was still out at work. Knowing that the power would probably be out, I made sure I had a fat, lurid paperpack, purchased for a quarter at a library book sale, and my wind-up radio/LED combo with me. Around 5PM, the Chief Financial Officer of the organization came over to conduct a spot inspection (much to my surprise). I took him on a Cook's destruction tour, pointing out the minor damage that the site had incurred. The rest of the night was uneventful- it involved using my resources sparingly, reading my trashy novel, and listening to radio reports of the massive damage that coastal areas received. I'm still not really caught up on current events, but Sandy pretty much supersedes everything as far as media coverage in these parts.
Monday, October 29, 2012
You Look Familiar, I Think I Met Your Sister
Wow, three days without a post... it's been crazy here in Bastardstan. My last post was on Thursday, the last moment of calmness I've had in a while. Thursday night, I returned to work one of our major fall fundraisers after getting a whopping three hours of sleep. Friday? I slept until noon, then got my act together and headed back to work the fundraiser that night. After five and a half hours of sleep, I headed down to Manhattan to teach, then traveled straight to work, stopping only to get a couple of slices of pizza.
As you can imagine, I passed out when I got home and slept until noon yet again on Sunday. When I got to work at 3PM, I found that our last fundraising night was cancelled due to the impending Hurricane Sandy (a sizable contingent of our cast and crew commutes up from NYC and the MTA suspended train service at 7PM. Instead of working the event, I helped break the sets down and collected a metric fuckton of hardware off the site. One of my co-workers jokingly told me, "I don't mean to offend you, but you're a beast." No offense was taken, one's gotta do what one must, even if it's exhausting.
Today, I got to work early to beat the fury of the predicted Frankenstorm. I'm just as safe at work as I would be at home, and I'm a hell of a lot safer than I'd be on the roads. I made sure I packed as if I were going on a camping trip- I have several changes of clothes, plenty of food, and I made sure I filled several large bottles with water just in case the shit hits the fan. My first order of business on the job was making sure that mah preshus kittehs were safely locked in their dwellings and supplied with plenty of cat food. Can't have them running around in a titanic gale.
Hilariously, one of the young ladies in the event crew had made a joke about disaster preparedness: "Stock up on condoms and frozen vegetables. If you are stuck with no place to go, you can just have sex until you're sore, then you can use the frozen vegetable packages as ice packs, and you can eat them when they thaw out." Well, this comment made me revise my disaster preparedness plans... "Whatever you do, make sure you are stranded with this girl if there is a disaster."
Unfortunately, the only one I'm stranded with Sandy, and she's looking a lot like her sister Irene, with whom I spent the night. Because of the timing, and the storm's effect on our fundraisers, I am also reminded of last year's late October blizzard. The forecasters have indicated that Sandy could be with us for up to 36 hours.
It's going to be a long, rough couple of days and I'm all out ofbubblegum frozen vegetables.
As you can imagine, I passed out when I got home and slept until noon yet again on Sunday. When I got to work at 3PM, I found that our last fundraising night was cancelled due to the impending Hurricane Sandy (a sizable contingent of our cast and crew commutes up from NYC and the MTA suspended train service at 7PM. Instead of working the event, I helped break the sets down and collected a metric fuckton of hardware off the site. One of my co-workers jokingly told me, "I don't mean to offend you, but you're a beast." No offense was taken, one's gotta do what one must, even if it's exhausting.
Today, I got to work early to beat the fury of the predicted Frankenstorm. I'm just as safe at work as I would be at home, and I'm a hell of a lot safer than I'd be on the roads. I made sure I packed as if I were going on a camping trip- I have several changes of clothes, plenty of food, and I made sure I filled several large bottles with water just in case the shit hits the fan. My first order of business on the job was making sure that mah preshus kittehs were safely locked in their dwellings and supplied with plenty of cat food. Can't have them running around in a titanic gale.
Hilariously, one of the young ladies in the event crew had made a joke about disaster preparedness: "Stock up on condoms and frozen vegetables. If you are stuck with no place to go, you can just have sex until you're sore, then you can use the frozen vegetable packages as ice packs, and you can eat them when they thaw out." Well, this comment made me revise my disaster preparedness plans... "Whatever you do, make sure you are stranded with this girl if there is a disaster."
Unfortunately, the only one I'm stranded with Sandy, and she's looking a lot like her sister Irene, with whom I spent the night. Because of the timing, and the storm's effect on our fundraisers, I am also reminded of last year's late October blizzard. The forecasters have indicated that Sandy could be with us for up to 36 hours.
It's going to be a long, rough couple of days and I'm all out of
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Conservatives Cannot Comprehend Consent
Conservatives cannot comprehend the concept of consent- this is evident in their parsing of the word "rape", their inventing categories of the crime in an attempt to trivialize a woman's role as a moral agent. Conservatives have a problem distinguishing consensual sex from rape and see a sinister sexual agenda in harmless, indeed harm-reducing policies. They employ crude, violent sexual imagery to describe the voting decisions of popularly elected officials. Even while conservatives spout their creepy, sexualized characterizations of "Obamacare", they attempt to pass laws that mandate invasive, coercive "medical" procedures.
Yes, conservatives have a problem with the concept of consent to the extent that the Republican vice presidential (and a Wisconsin congressional) candidate considers rape merely "another form of conception":
If the GOP ticket wins, legislators who wish to redefine rape won't receive credible opposition from the executive branch- this should give pause to any voter who values an individual's right to self-determination.
Yes, conservatives have a problem with the concept of consent to the extent that the Republican vice presidential (and a Wisconsin congressional) candidate considers rape merely "another form of conception":
If the GOP ticket wins, legislators who wish to redefine rape won't receive credible opposition from the executive branch- this should give pause to any voter who values an individual's right to self-determination.
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