I try to be gracious, but I also try to be candid.

Some people are neither. They are sarcastic and tricky.

I admit to being situationally sarcastic, and tricky when being candid or plain can be dangerous, but I think that those are the rarer times. Even rarer are times when I’m just mean and devious.

In my work-life (here at the synagogue and in every other job I’ve had), I have been around an inordinate amount of materially wealthy people. They are mostly gossipy assholes. They come from such a place of privilege that they are literally offended and horrified when I, or others, don’t cater to their every whim.

These people have such a sense of entitlement that the idea that someone else might have needs is impossible for them to fathom. They are so special that they throw childish fits when they aren’t being attended to by everyone around them. They can’t be humiliated by having to ask for something or communicate their desires, so they have intermediaries do it for them, in the guise of “not being confrontational” when in fact, they cannot deign to address those they view as beneath them.

The world they live in is controlled entirely by their appetites and their bowels.

They really need to get jobs.

I was being teased over the phone yesterday by one of my regular old people, so I teased him back. We laughed and joked and the call ended. Today, it was passed on to me (through a chain of three people) that he thought I was rude and mean.

Here’s the chain:
Old Person on the Phone
V
Board President
V
My Boss
V
Me

How is that not childish behavior? How is that not tricky and sarcastic, classist and elitist?

I may live in an egalitarian society, but these people do not. They still live in 19th Century New York, and everyone has their place in the chain.

When I arrived at The Evergreen State College in September of 1996, I was open to the world and the world was open to me. I was protean. I had vague notions about myself and what I wanted out of life. I was a lonely girl from a small town, and I just knew that I never wanted to go back to that life. I felt tamped down by my friends (who had also ended up at Evergreen), my family (who love me so much it can be smothering), and my own expectations (never disappoint anyone). I still do, 13 years later.

One of the big events on Evergreen’s campus in the fall was the Coming Out Ball. This was a big dance that encouraged young gay people who had been closeted back at home to “come out” and be their fabulous fruity and dykey selves. They even had a “closet” that you walked through and came out into the ball. But the GLBT student alliance encouraged everyone to “come out” – straight or gay. To be yourself. To not be what other people want you to be. I didn’t participated for a few reasons: 1) The aforementioned friends. 2) Not really knowing anyone who was going. 3) Being from a very small town, the only gay people I knew were in TV, movies, or were way older than I was – I didn’t really understand or know gay/straight ally politics at that point. I didn’t know how to be an ally, and I didn’t want to encroach on someone else’s process.

I regret not going.

I’ve also always been kind of fascinated by and envious of the coming out process – it’s a crucible that makes or breaks so many people, families, relationships, lives; it’s definitive. I have always longed to know myself that well and state it unequivocally and demand that people around me accept it or fuck off. To live an authentic life and to know that because some people don’t approve of it, I won’t cease to exist and that my world won’t end. I know it intellectually, but somehow, I fail to live it. Is it my fear of rejection? I don’t think so. I just know that because I worry about what those closest to me will think, I stop myself from being authentic. I am playing a role most of the time. It’s tiring.

Today is National Coming Out day. I encourage everyone who is “closeted” in some way – whether it’s your sexuality or something else – to come out. You’re going to die whether you do or not.

And that’s it. How depressing!

This whole healthcare reform thing is blowing up in a really weird way, huh?

I honestly expected the misguided cries of “Socialism!” from conservatives, but the lie that right-wing media is selling that old people and people with special needs are going to be ordered to die? I did not see that one coming.

I also didn’t expect a bunch of middle-aged and elderly people who are on Medicare to demand that government get out of healthcare. Same with the folks who rely on SSI (Disability) or the VA for their care. Shows what I know.

I am shocked that the various insurance and healthcare special interests are estimated to spending, on average, almost $2 million dollars a day fighting healthcare reform.

I am horrified that some batshit crazy people seem to think that talking about (threatening) assassinating the President and other elected officials is a legitimate form of political discourse. I am not surprised that all of these people seem to be middle-aged white people.

I think that the US desperately needs to implement a single-payer healthcare system (according to some recent polls so do 70% of Americans that are not me). The healthcare reform that is being discussed is not that system (thus the poll numbers that describe between 45%-55% of Americans that are not happy with how this reform is coming along).

I think that most people who oppose healthcare reform don’t actually oppose healthcare reform. I think they oppose their candidate & political party losing the last election, I think they oppose a black man being president, and I think they believe whatever they see or hear on TV and radio from celebrities who pose as journalists.

The locations, ages and skin color of the people I see in the news opposing the reform tell me that these people are the product of strong labor unions who have won them a lifetime of excellent benefits and that they are the beneficiaries of strong social government programs like Medicare and Social Security.

I don’t know anyone under the age of 55 who has those kinds of benefits, and I’m married to a teacher and worked in Human Resources for most of my adult life. You would think if anyone would have encountered health insurance and care worth keeping, it would be me, especially when you consider that I have mostly worked for technology companies and healthcare companies – which tend to offer a fairly high standard of benefits.

What is comes down to is these people who oppose healthcare reform have an incredible sense of entitlement and the thought that anyone might have access to the same care that they do means that they might have to give something up – that they might have to share.

Fuck ‘em. They’re bigots and assholes. It’s not their right to determine who gets access to basic human rights. It’s the same mentality that keeps GLBTQ people, ethnic minorities, and women from having the same rights that a straight white man does. So, I say we ignore these bitchy whiners and do what needs to be done.

Fuck ‘em.

I’m voting NO on Prop 8 because it’s just fucking retarded that if two grown people want to get married, the law doesn’t allow it. Period.

Every scare tactic is being hauled out to convince people to vote for the proposition, but they are all a bunch of bullshit and what it comes down to is a bunch of people (mostly out of state) are trying to impose their RELIGIOUS beliefs (mostly Mormons/LDS & Catholics) on the entire state of California.

Fuck you in your fucking face if you vote for Prop 8. You hate America and the freedom that we represent. You’re an intolerant religious zealot and you should move to Iran.