The fight for diverse and conscious voices

Seriously, I do not "get" people.

I am currently frustrated at trying to find a new therapist. But this morning's response really takes the cake and runs with it.

When I send a mail that is three sentences long (yes, literally three sentences) one of which says "...want to find someone with late-afternoon or evening availability if possible" why the FUCK are you replying with "Mondays 9am, 10am, Tuesdays 9am, 10am, Wednesdays 11am"

Did you even ready my fucking email? No, you did not. How do I know?

Because your email further says "Are you planning to use insurance" and my (again, three-sentence) email says "I have Cigna insurance."

If you fail basic reading comprehension why the fuck would I think you could handle something complicated like my mental health?

To be fair this is the admin assistant not the therapist but at a minimum it shows terrible hiring judgment. It's like the old adage that tells you to watch how your date treats the wait staff because that's a clue to how they're going to treat you. I have no information on this therapist except through this assistant and I'm just gonna nope out at this point.

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To cap off the morning, I had the following hilarity:

I want to give money to Organization X. Their site says "call this person to do the thing you want" so I call Person A and leave a voicemail.

A couple days later I get a call back from Person B who says that A is out of the office so she's checking his voicemail and could I please call her instead?

Sure, say I and call her extension which... wait for it... I can't leave a message on because her voicemail box is full.

So Person B is carefully emptying Person A's box while hers overflows. I hate people this time of year, I really do.

Fuck winter

Fuck snow

Fuck shoveling and the back pain it gives me

Fuck having to tromp through snow in my boots and the calf cramps I get from that

Fuck having to scrape off the car multiple times per week

Fuck the cold and fuck the arctic wind that brings it

Fuck the viruses and colds and flus and the misery and isolation they lead to

I am so _done_ with this shit I can't even express it properly. Yes, we had a good party and the dog is great and the family is awesome but I am really ready to stop being in pain and stop having to layer up so I can step outside.

Rather than pollute all my friends' LJs and Google+ entries:

I do not understand why people are so jazzed about Ender's Game being made into a movie. I will not see it so long as it deposits even one more penny in the pocket of that homophobic, misogynistic loudmouth.

I do understand that some people are able mentally to separate an author from that author's works and certainly there have been some great works produced in the past by authors who were seriously problematic. However, when faced with a modern author who is right now today using the fame and money of his books to promote an anti-woman, anti-gay agenda I simply cannot fathom continuing to support him in any way. This is not just a guy who has private beliefs I don't like. This is a man who writes columns and gives speeches advocating his views. The more money he makes the more hate he is able to spread and I'm not able to be a party to that.

(Also, the novel was mediocre. It was a great short story but much weaker at novel length.)

Today's NPR talk show on Texas (or rather, some kook fringe elements in Texas that even Gov Perry won't sing with) trying to secede got my blood boiling. I had to turn off the radio and think about why and here's what I came to:

This secession stuff is angry white racist stuff. It's angry white (mostly) men trying to get rid of all those nasty colored folks. Of which, naturally, the President is the biggest one. But look: Texas has had its entire state school system under court supervision for years because they (the Legislature) refuse to provide adequate funding for poorer school districts. For "poor" you can read "brown" or "Latino" as it pleases you.

Texas has also had the most redistricting plans rejected by courts of any state I can find. The reason the courts keep rejecting these plans is because they're (say it with me) racist. They are plans designed to marginalize and minimize the voting power of non-white people.

If you got rid of Federal oversight, the people running Texas would be free to de-fund poor and Latino-majority school systems. They'd be free to disenfranchise non-white folk. They'd be free to let white people go armed to the border and shoot those nasty brown people who try to cross it. This is what they mean when they say "free" - free from the interlopers in Washington who make them treat non-whites somewhat better.

Lest you think I'm making this up out of whole cloth remember that I lived in Texas for four years. Even though I lived in Austin, which is considerably more liberal than the rest of the state, it was still one of the most overtly racially segregated places I've ever been. There literally was a 'wrong side of the tracks' and I had real estate agents refuse to show us (a white couple) houses on THAT side of the tracks. Back then we could manage to get people like Ann Richards and Jim Hightower elected, which you sure couldn't do today.

I find it depressing and upsetting that the press (let alone NPR) is spending time on this nutball stuff and that nobody seems willing to call it for what it is: racism.

Perry can't remember what parts of the US Government he would like to discard.

Cain can't remember which women he groped.

Romney can't remember his position on abortion rights.

Gingrich can't remember why nobody likes him.

Bachman can't remember basic US history.

Did I omit anything?

Woke up this AM to find my Google+ profile is suspended. Not hugely surprised - it's one of the risks of protesting in someone else's playground. I can't post to any of my circles nor can I comment on posts, but apparently I can still read things, including things posted as "Limited" - presumably that's to circles that include me.

Amusement value so far:
- I'm suspended for name violation of the ToS. However, I'm unable to change my profile name in order to comply with the ToS. So my name continues to be visible as the thing that upset them.

- Contrary to their written policy, no warning was given. (Also not a huge surprise - seems to be what happened to others.)

- I am unable to set a Gchat status. I can, however, write snarky commentary in my profile description text.

- In order to get reinstated I have to provide proof of identity. An accepted proof of identity is a "reputable" (their word, not mine) site containing my name and picture. Among the listed reputable sites is Facebook.

Yeah, I got nothin'.

I've spent more time on Facebook today than I have in months. Thanks, Google!

The short form: nobody died, we will almost certainly be able to pay all our bills (on time even), and we are now banking at Sovereign Bank.

Citizens Bank can kiss my rapidly departing ass.

In other news I am now on Google+ but for some reason a few people are being blocked trying to add me there; I have no idea why.

Posted via LjBeetle

Over at io9.com they're arguing over the possible new looks for DC's revamped character line-ups. The image of Superman appears to show him wearing armor, which raises the inevitable question of "why does Superman need armor?"

Poster PurpleSteve dismisses reasons why Superman needs armor thus:

If you live in the DC universe, and you're doing something nasty enough to attract superman's attention, then I'm pretty sure you know who fucking superman is. On a scale from one to ohshitimgonnadie, 'I just pissed off superman' doesn't really rate much lower than 'I just pissed off superman and he's wearing armour'.

Part of me misses living in a social group where this kind of discussion was commonplace.