Balancing the Scales of Justice

“These right-wingers define moral values as two things: abortion and gay marriage. For them, moral values are all about their crotches!”
– Bill Press, keynote speech at the Winter 2005 ATLA conference, Palm Springs, CA

What a wonderful 24 hours! You know, people may criticize trial lawyers for getting rich by taking a portion of their clients’ compensations for their injuries. Still, trial lawyers make their money by sticking up for people who have been wronged- even if it is a lot of money. Compare that to the much greater sum of money that Ken Lay and his friends made by bilking Enron stockholders out of billions of dollars and you’ll understand why I’d rather stand with the trial lawyers.

What’s more, it’s awesome to just get off campus for a while and hang out with those who actually live and work in that “real world” we’re always hearing about. The jury selection portion of the ATLA conference was very interesting. I learned a great deal from a talk by the legendary trial attorney Russ M. Herman, a very proper Southern gentleman. I could tell from the way he addressed that audience that he must be an absolute firecracker in the courtroom. I certainly would like to see him perform someday, but not from the defendant’s seat.

The true hilight of the day was the talk by Bill Press, a prominent liberal commentator who often goes head to head with the likes of Tucker Carlson and Pat Buchannan. His talk was on how trial lawyers must move quickly if there is to be any hope of defeating the Bush administration’s tort reform agenda.

He discussed Karl Rove’s hidden long-term agenda with regards to tort reform. I was interested to learn that it has very little to do with protecting doctors, or even with protecting the big insurance companies. The fact is, trial lawyers donate more money to the Democratic Party than any other group. If you decrease their income via tort reform, you decrease the overall amount of money in the Democratic coffers weakening the party substantially.

Rove is fantastic at making people believe that the cost of health insurance is going up primarily because of “frivilous lawsuits.” The truth is that health care costs have risen primarily because the cost of health care procedures has risen. It’s more expensive to perform some of the cutting-edge procedures that are available today than it used to be to perform older procedures. The best way to quickly lower health care costs is to lower overhead by using one, unified computer system to keep track of people’s health records. That way, doctors don’t end up ordering the same tests twice, and you can reduce the number of clerical workers pushing papers in the bowels of the hospitals.

Sorry clerical workers!

After his talk, Mr. Press answered some of my most pressing questions about the potential war in Iran and the possibility of a draft. He believes that we will wind up invading Iran, but that Bush won’t institute a draft because it will be political suicide. I hope he’s wrong on the former matter and right on the latter. I was quite taken with him, as he was a truly cordial gentleman. He even let me take a picture with him.

After his talk, I met another lawyer who recruited me for some ATLA/Democratic Party PR work. It’s volunteering rather than paid, but I’ll gain PR experience and get to further the Democratic agenda! Tally ho!

Now I’m off to do my Queer Theory reading and hang with my baby. It’s our 29 month anniversary today!

The Big Show

Yet another piece for my writing nonfiction class

Ick!

Just about everyone who knows me understands that I am by no means a prude. I think sex is healthy, beautiful, and fun. I don’t even have a problem with porn. It’s not my favorite thing in the world, but as long as there are human males, there will be porn, it’s just the way it is. I do draw the line, however, at porn content that is downloadable onto cell phones.

It’s one thing to look at porn in the privacy of your own home, but it’s quite another to have your cell phone ringing moans in a crowded subway or on a bus. I get creeped out seeing guys reading Playboy on park benches, so I can only imagine how I’ll feel the the first time I see some skeezy guy is sitting in some public place getting a boner over a naked girl on his cell phone. This isn’t a matter of prudery, it’s a matter of consideration for the human beings that share public space! Pornographic content on cell phones creates an unduly sexual environment that will inevitably make people uncomfortable.

Keep the porn at home!

Let UP ALREADY PEOPLE!!!

Dude, this is why I hate the tabloids. The freakin’ paparazzi followed Jordan Bratman (the luckiest man on earth) around as he was looking for engagement rings for Christina Aguilera (sex goddess) and then published the news before he got a chance to pop the question.

Hell, it’s not a matter of privacy. I honestly don’t give a shit whether the whole world knows that they’re engaged, but let him freakin’ pop the question to her so that she can be suprised and elated like every other woman getting proposed to.

Oh that she were a lesbian though!

Incredible Discovery

Today my father got word from a man who once served with my grandfather in the South Pacific in WWII. He remembered him as a “big man with black hair who kept us from going off course.”

What a thrill to find someone who knew him.

Memories of College: Good, Bad, Bittersweet

- Sending Andy that Liquid Generation sabotage about illegal music downloads.

- Moshing around Lawry C-Tower with Coty Meibeyer singing Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone.”

- Making Fraser do a beer bong.

- Giggling with Michelle over how I’m going to steal her away from Aris.

- “I’ve started referring to you as my girlfriend. Don’t let it go to your head or anything.”

- Debbie & Jules calling me “Rachmaninioff” (due to the strength of my massaging fingers), fighting to be first.

- Topless body shots.

- Taking pictures of Debbie’s foot while we pregame in her room.

- Making gnocci for Esther.

- “I love you too, but let’s talk about it later. I have to finish this calculus problem.”

- Being randomly kissed by Wig B guys. Randomly kissing Wig 2 guys.

- Giving Prometheus his cock at long last.

- Drinking with Esther, Susan, Elizabeth and Issac until 11am the first night we all met.

- Overdressing with Lauren Capp.

- Me: It’s a good thing Evan’s not taller. Good looking tall guys are all jackasses.
Alex: I’m not a jackass.
Me: You’re not all that good looking.

- Kidnapping Kojo and not telling Cieran.

- Professor Meza initiating Peter, Katie and I into the cult of the sidewalk cat.

- “I know you’re cheating on my sweet pea-ness.”

- Calling Peter Marks an overachiever.

- “Because you are my brown-eyed girl,” and other similarly sweet things Mark once said to me.

- Dan Rosenholtz dressed as a gorilla at midnight breakfast.

- The elliptical machine at Rains Center.

- Creaky steering wheels/asses.

- “I don’t chase girls because they have cooties. I chase them because they have cooters.”

- Sumo Wrestling.

- Mark Harley begging me to slap him as hard as I can, then forcibly picking my nose and wiping it on Zach Greeman.

Rotator Cuff

Ouch!

Queer Theories, Gay Fictions

I love this class so much! The professor is this adorable gay man in his late 40’s with a fantastic sense of style and a really cool outlook on how to conduct a class. I feel for the first time that I am truly in a seminar with intellectuals who are all guiding the work together. It’s SO much better than Professor Larsen’s crappy seminar last semester. Free at last!

1529 Coalition Forces Dead, 10371 Wounded, Undetermined Thousands of Iraqis Dead or Wounded

Oops!

Everyone’s Back

As much as I love my classmates - there’s something really disturbing about everyone moving back on campus after break. After all, I was here when it was all quiet. When I had the campus to myself with nobody else around, it was like a frontier ghost town, now it’s a bustling city.

Kind of a weird transition to make overnight.

Crackified Yet Again

Why!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I’m going to lie down for a while and then go for a run.

So Motherfucking Pissed!

I know Tunji says that you can’t let this stuff get to you, but I honestly don’t know how he does it sometimes. It’s hard for me not to want to put my fist through a wall when I see bullshit like this:

or this:

or this:

In case you can’t read it, it basically instructs black voters in McCandles Township, PA to vote on November 3rd instead of November 2nd.

MOTHERFUCKERS!!! I’ll bet they thought it was funny, too. I’ll bet they got a huge kick out of all those black people turning up at the polls the day after the election. I’ll bet they thought it was great to make a woman whose husband is in jail because of our racist justice system stay home on election day because she’s scared of losing her kids and going to prison. I’ll bet they thought it was hysterical to tell a bunch of people that the NAACP and John Kerry were trying to fix the election by registering ineligible voters.

Those motherfuckers most likely swayed the election for Bush. And they’re proud of it too. The only thing that makes me feel just a little bit better is the fact that Bush knows he owes his reelection to these grotesque pieces of shit that pass for human beings. If he’s even a halfway decent human being, he’ll feel ashamed for it - and Condi Rice and the rest of his diverse administration should feel ashamed for it too.

I’m going to go kick the shit out of inanimate objects now.

Happy 7th Birthday Lil Sis!

Dearest Anna-Banannabelle,

Happy 7th birthday darling girl! One could not ask for a better “mini-me” to do my evil bidding, nor a more adorable Shirley Temple clone.

I hope your special day is as special as you are. Remember, you’re a pua-pua nut!

With Lots of Sisterly Love,
Teresa

Forever Amber ~ A Book Review

Kathleen Windsor’s celebrated 1944 novel Forever Amber, captures ten years in the life of Amber St. Claire, who rises through the ranks of Restoration England to become one of the most powerful women in Europe. The novel absolutely captivated me from the prologue through about page 650. Unfortunately, the remaining 320 pages meander around the existing plot, filling in interesting bits here and there without developing anything new. The end of the book is a great disappointment, revealing no true growth of character in its heroine.

Still, Winsor’s thoroughly researched understanding of the characters and customs of 1660s London makes for a richly detailed, accurate and eye-opening look at the court of King Charles II. Amber and her courtly compatriots are not far flung from Hollywood, which is after all our own modern American court, with all its gossip, glamour, intrigue, and rampant profligacy. This book is absolultely worth reading - but prepare to be disappointed in Amber at the end.
______
Mood:Disappointed
Music:Ray Charles’ Genius Loves Company
Next Book:The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

Te-te! Te-te Crockett! Queen of the Wild Frontier!

Well, it’s not quite the wild frontier. But Pomona College, when deserted over winter break, lashed with heavy storms, and overgrown with the lush greenery that feeds on such storms can feel surprisingly like Little House on the Prairie. My nearest neighbor at the moment is more than a courtyard away! It’s isolated out here, folks!

I really am enjoying the solitude though. It’s nice not to have to be considerate of anyone else when making a huge racket or staying in the bathroom for as long as I like. Who knows, after this I may even take a shower with my new Roberto Cavali body scrub (thanks Devon!) that I got for Christmas. It’s not that I don’t like the presence of all the loving people in my life, but occasionally alone time is really good for you.

So anyway - I think I will go take that shower - I’ll leave you with THIS LINK to my Ofoto album from winter break.

Utah is a Very Nice Place

Well Utah has been really relaxing. I’m about 500 pages into a fantastic novel called Forever Amber about a young courtesan in Restoration England. The book has been around since 1944 and reminds me a lot of DeFoe’s Moll Flanders, another one of my favorite novels.

We’ve been playing a lot of Taboo and Scrabble, going sledding, and Andy’s mom and I have been cooking up a storm. Tomorrow I’m going to show her my mother’s eggplant recipe, which is one of the tastiest things I’ve ever had. Even people who hate eggplant love this dish.

The winds are very howly and it’s freezing outside. Nevertheless, Andy and I ventured out to see Kinsey last night, which was awesome and which everyone must see.

Other than the usual winter break stuff, Andy and I have been considering using some of our summer travel time to go to South Asia and assist in some way with disaster relief efforts. We still need to do considerable research before it actually becomes a reality, but it feels like something that would be really worthwhile.

Happy New Year!

Wow what a great week! Andy flew in the day after Christmas and left today. We had such a great time running around Seattle. Last night for New Year’s Eve, we went to The Stranger’s “New Year’s Sleaze” party at Chop Suey on Capitol Hill. It was soooo awesome! Dan Savage was there and he gave me a kiss on the cheek, which is a fantastic way to kick of 2005 if I do say so myself.

Pictures were taken, but unfortunately I’m not at my very own computer at the moment, so I can’t load them up from my camera, but an Ofoto album of winter break will appear just as soon as I get my ass back to Claremont on the 11th.