A Safe Space for Moogles

I had an interesting time today with my mom's family (cousin's being shipped to Afghanistan; put in a good word for him with your deity of choice if you've got a spare moment), but blogging about that will have to wait. My 'kick some ass' button is being pressed.

Brief overview and link roundup: a woman in the American military was brutally raped and murdered, and the investigation was halted and ruled a suicide. The mainstream media remains quiet on the subject.

Your Congressperson ought to be notified, but honestly I think it would be more productive to notify John Stewart.

I read this post first thing this morning, and it was like a shot of homicidal rage straight to the heart. Better than drugs, I swear. Anyway, it may have been the early hour or my tendency toward escapism, but I found myself thinking, "General Sephiroth would not stand for this shit." (Pre-Nibelheim Seph, obviously. Although I'd like to think crazy!Seph would dismember those responsible too.) And so, I wrote this. Changed the name of the lady in question, but basically it's the same situation picked up and dropped into Seph's lap.

( I'm channeling my agression into art. )

So I was planning to do a more humorous post, but this pretty much trumps it right now. I know you all have probably seen this already (three people on my flist had posted about it just this morning), but for those who haven't: In a spectacular act of complicity with the religious right, the Department of Health and Human Services Monday released a proposal that allows any federal grant recipient to obstruct a woman's access to contraception. In order to do this, the Department is attempting to redefine many forms of contraception, the birth control 40% of Americans use, as abortion.

I'll let that sink in.

I think namaah_darling says it best (with profanity), but really, what the hell. We fought so hard to get contraception accepted in this country at the turn of the century, and now they want to turn back the clock. There's a link to a Planned Parenthood thing where you can voice your dissent here, so here's what I wrote:

This rule would disproportionately affect the lower classes. The rich and the privileged will always be able to get whatever they need, from abortions to contraceptives, regardless of law or ideology: not so the poor woman who is bound by her circumstances and at the mercy of people (mostly men) who neither care about her nor know her difficulties. To deny her some method to control her reproductive system is inhuman - and you may, of course, tell her 'abstinence' until you're blue in the face, but that doesn't even work for the high school students in our country, so why should it work for an adult woman who has, or should have, the right to choose who she sleeps with and when?

To pass this law would be a massive blow not only to the rights of women and children in this country, but also human rights as a whole. I am a woman and a citizen of the United States and I ask you - please do not pass this!

Of course, that was me restraining myself. I really wanted to say this:

No, I won't just keep my legs closed, you moralizing, hypocritical, authoritarian old farts.


The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Telephone: 202-619-0257
Toll Free: 1-877-696-6775

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt
Office Phone: 202-690-7000 or 202-205-4708
Email: mike.leavitt@hhs.gov
Fax: 202-690-7203
Correspondence Secretary: 202-690-6392

According to faithinfire, the proposal is still in draft form and hasn't gotten anywhere Official yet, but I'd very much like to nip this in the bud as soon as possible.

Dear Flash, my computer's OS, and anything else in the entire world that might be considering acting up,

I am graduating in a week. I do not have time for your shit. I swear to any gods/devils/avatars/forces that might be listening that if I get another crash, I will go stark raving mad. And possibly beat the hell out of this damn machine with a baseball bat.

Love and kisses,
Pepper

(Also, my parents' anniversary is today. Guess who doesn't have anything for them. :D... oh my god i can't take much more of this.)

The last steps of my journey to graduation seem to involve a mess of corporate bullshit. I have to write a 'marketing statement' and pimp myself out to a panel next week. I'm not fluent in marketing speak and I don't want to be. If I ever am, I'd appreciate you all shooting me.

*glares at requirements again*

...I may be violently ill. -_-

Attention Transfandom:

The Decepticons are not 'misunderstood.' They are not trying to make the world a better place, they were not tragically abused and unloved as children, they are not oppressed by the mean ol' Autobots not rolling over and dying, and despite what Victory would have you believe, they are not out to provide for their wives and children. They are out to conquer the universe, and everything that isn't a Decepticon is either to be enslaved or destroyed toward that end. They are not, by any stretch, nice people, and the Power of Love will do precisely zippo to change that.

Which is not to say, of course, that they are or should be all one-dimensional characters. By all means, explore their individual motivations. Make them interesting, give them backstories, give them weird hobbies and show us different sides to the same person. But please, for the love of Primus, think about who you're writing. Megatron is not a fluffy huggle-bunny, and neither is he a fifteen-year-old girl.

Also, get a beta reader. Just sayin'.

Desperately trying to distract Galvatron from going on a murderous rampage (oh gods my headcast),
Moogle Girl

*tosses Galvatron a chained-up Roddy and flees the impending fireworks*

In ascending order of "things that actually, y'know, affect other people."

Item 1: My professor pulled me aside today and essentially told me that my projects were crap and I'd have to redo them both. In retrospect, it shouldn't have been as big of a shock as it was. I'm grateful that I even have the chance to redo them, even if it means staying after class. Still, not a happy thing to be told. - She asked me if doing two majors was putting an unfair amount of pressure on me. I told her that it's a lot, that doesn't mean it's unfair. This is what I've decided to do. Even if it kills me.

Item 2: Our new masters, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to do away with the option to create Basic accounts. They call this "streamlining the setup process for new users." LJ users call it bullshit. I call it "really, really glad I followed dragovianknight to IJ, and wanting to tempt all my LJ friends over there with me." IJ does not have near enough Transformers fans, y'all. This needs to be fixed. Also, I should probably look into roleplay communities on IJ. ...Not that I'm giving up on LJ yet. They just own the servers; the real stuff - the content - that's ours.

Item 3: Oklahoma representative Sally Kern goes on an anti-gay tirade of epic proportions. Guys, when you listen to this, keep in mind between projectile-vomiting sessions that this is what they actually believe. And she's not just some crank bitching over the Internet - she's in a leadership position, speaking as a leader.

On the upside, today my new psychiatrist doubled my dosage of happy pills.

"The Death of Optimus Prime" by They Might Be Giants never fails to make me cry. And get ridiculous images of Autobots singing sadly around a bonfire. And then I cry some more, because dammit they all miss him that much.

Winamp insists on playing that song for me every single day for two weeks straight. This is not conducive to my mental state.

ESPECIALLY WHEN I AM TRYING TO WRITE PORN.

Zen player update: still dead. Am still an idiot. Sending off my DS tomorrow to be repaired. Am still an idiot. Wasn't feeling well today, so stayed home from the shelter; will go a couple times during the upcoming break to make up for it. Feeling the lack of fuzzies right now. Am still a fucking idiot.

So upon coming out to my car today, I found my two-hundred-some-dollar Zen Vision mp3 player laying in the grass beside it. It'd been out there all night. During a torrential downpour.

Now it's a two-hundred-some-dollar fucking paperweight. And I'm an idiot of the first water.

What is it with things dying on me lately? First my DS, then my dog, now this... I'd better go back up my computer before it decides to die too. -_-

*beats head against desk*

I was about to do another wingthing ficbit, but I think I lost my bunny. -_- I saw this on apathocles's journal.

"They wanted them poor niggers out of there." (A short article, with links to more information, about hurricane recovery being used as a cover to keep the poor of New Orleans from returning to their homes on some valuable real estate.)

Were I able, I would like to go down there and push those mercenaries into arresting me. I'd be very interested to hear what the charges would be. Although I imagine the dramatic irony would be heightened if it was one of those people who lived there pre-Katrina. "You're under arrest for trespassing." "In my own fucking front yard!?" (Though I imagine getting arrested represents a greater threat for someone who's poor and practically homeless than it would be for me.)

And what the hell can I do about it? I'm a student - trapped by finance and circumstance. If I could pick up and go down there I would. *flails* GAH. Every day it gets harder to not hope for something painful to happen to our beloved president.