Just spoke to the hospital to go over the last details before my orchiectomy. Barring a terrorist attack or my getting hit by a bus or something, my right testicle, Professor Benjamin T. Ramthorne, will be removed a week from Thursday. Yes, I named the little fella. I also imagine that he speaks in what is known among linguists as a "non-dominant vocal accent," much like Bob Dylan. Unlike Bob Dylan, however, he can't write music at all, and his lyrics are maudlin and sentimental.
The surgery is to take about two hours, but I should be allowed to go home the same day! I can't remember if that was the case last time. So with a positive attitude and a modicum of surgical skill this whole affair should be merely unpleasant and not much more. And I'll have a four inch long scar on the right side to match the left. Finally. I hope they give me a big honkin' bottle of Vicodin.
Depression and anxiety in general is really nasty right now, but that's just the way of things. I simply cannot shake the feeling that my brother, and most of my friends, are very angry with me about something. That's the paranoia, I suppose. It's extremely unpleasant, and there is an ongoing sense of urgency and a feeling of panic. My gut aches because of it. But I can't complain, as I have a place to flop, happy cats, a relatively healthy father and food for my face.
Mitt Romney, the Republican douchebag governor of Massachusetts, is apparently inching closer to a formal declaration that he is going to run for president. He's been a terrible governor, and there is no reason to think that he wouldn't be a terrible president, and we can't afford any more bad presidents. We've had our fill. He needs to be taken seriously by the Democratic Party. In my view, being a Mormon won't hurt him. Red state goobers want a believer as president. Polls indicate that the specific religion is less important than one might think. After Bush won in 2004 (2000 was shocking enough) I vowed never to dismiss any boob as "unelectable" ever again.
I suppose it's too early to ruminate on who will run and how they will do. Right now I'm more concerned with how the Massachusetts legislature is going to handle the referendum petition to put gay marriage on the ballot in 2008. They don't have to do anything and the petition will die, as it should. Most referenda die in the legislature without a vote, and not voting is completely ethical and legal. The legislature is called upon to act on referenda, and not voting represents action. It has precedent and it's the letter of the law. Mitt Romney is only coming out strong against civil liberties for gay couples because he knows that South Carolina is watching him. That's the most important of the early primaries, particularly for Republicans. Romney doesn't do ANYTHING without an eye on his political aspirations. What an asshole.
If you've ever tried to get signatures for anything, you know it's a pain in the ass. I've worked on numerous campaigns in my life, and on the surface getting 170,000 signatures seems like quite the accomplishment. That's what the enemies of gay marriage managed to get. But a closer inspection reveals the truth here. For one, many of the signature-takers lied about what people were being asked to sign. Professional petitioners with a record of unethical behavior were hired with money that has flowed into Right-Wing coffers from outside the commonwealth. In addition, many conservative Protestant churches crammed the petition down the throats of their parishioners. Using these methods it's very believable that they could get 170,000 signatures in a commonwealth of 7 million people. I wonder how many of that number knew that the hell they were signing.
And a matter of civil liberties shouldn't be on the fucking ballot to begin with. Right-wingers want you to get upset about two consenting adults getting married. This while they try to rationalize invading Iraq after 9/11. And that's just the upper layer of crust on the shit pie that Republicans have been serving up for years. They literally stand in opposition to a loving couple getting married while supporting the murder of innocent people and the crass, unscrupulous use of our armed forces. How evil do they have to get before they are run out of town?
Anyway, that's my take.
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