(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
Posts tagged Politics.
Mayan temple damaged in tourist 'apocalypse' frenzy →
Tourists flocking to Guatemala for “end of the world” parties have damaged an ancient stone temple at Tikal, the largest archeological site and urban center of the Mayan civilization.
“Sadly, many tourists climbed Temple II and caused damage,” said Osvaldo Gomez, a technical adviser at the site, which is located some 550 kilometers (340 miles) north of Guatemala City.
“We are fine with the celebration, but (the tourists) should be more aware because this is a (UNESCO) World Heritage Site,” he told local media.
Gomez did not specify what was done, although he did say it was forbidden to climb the stairs at the site and indicated that the damage was irreparable.
Temple II, which is about 38 meters (125 feet) high and faces the central Tikal plaza, is one of the site’s best known structures.
Friday marked the end of an era that lasted 5,200 years, according to the Mayan “Long Count” calendar. Some believed the date also marked the end of the world as foretold by Mayan hieroglyphs.
More than 7,000 people visited Tikal on Friday to see native Mayan priests hold a colorful ceremony and light fires as the sun emerged to mark the new era.
Critics complained that the event was really for tourists and had little to do with the Mayans. About 42 percent of Guatemala’s 14.3 million residents are native Mayans, and most live in poverty and endure discrimination.
(via ethiopienne)
Which voters waited on long lines to cast their ballots on Tuesday? According to a survey by the AFL-CIO, Obama voters were much more likely to wait on lines longer than 30 minutes than Romney voters, with blacks and Hispanics especially vulnerable.
The long lines were so bad, it took just two minutes for President Obama to mention them in his victory speech on Tuesday, with a rare flash of anger: “By the way, we have to fix that.”
(via ethiopienne)
Vote tomorrow!
Remember- as long as you go to the right voting location for your CURRENT address you have the right to vote NO MATTER WHAT.
Don’t let them tell you otherwise! Bring your ID, your proof of address, and other documentation (if required); then if you are told there is a problem, request a PROVISIONAL BALLOT. They have to let you fill one out, and they give you a receipt so you can look it up and make sure that your vote counted.
Let me know if you have any issues or questions, I was a poll manager for 6 elections, so I know my stuff ;-)VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE
- Stacy (http://wheeliewifee.tumblr.com/)
Holy cow this post exploded fast! I am so glad, it is important!!
It was so offensive, I don’t even want to say it in front of women,
One Michigan state rep’s reaction to Rep. Lisa Brown’s (D) comment: “Finally, Mr. Speaker, I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no,’” while debating an abortion bill. Brown was blocked from speaking on the floor Thursday.
Read the story (with video) at TPM.
(via cheatsheet)
my body parts are not offensive - whats offensive is that these grown ass men who cant even SAY the word vagina are debating my rights, my daughter’s rights, and everyone else who has a vagina’s rights.
Omar Khadr, a sixteen year old Guantanamo Bay detainee weeps uncontrollably, clutching at his face and hair as he calls out for his mother to save him from his torment. “Ya Ummi, Ya Ummi (Oh Mother, Oh Mother),” he wails repeatedly, hauntingly with each breath he takes.
The surveillance tapes, released by Khadr’s defence, show him left alone in an interrogation room for a “break” after he tried complaining to CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) officers about his poor health due to insufficient medical attention. Ignoring his complaints and trying to get him to make false confessions, the officers get frustrated with the sixteen year old’s tears and tell him to get himself together by the time they come back from their break.
“You don’t care about me. Nobody cares about me,” he sobs to them.
The tapes show how the officers manipulated Khadr into thinking that they were helping him because they were also Canadian and how they taunted him with the prospect of home (Canada), (good) food, and familial reunion.
Khadr, a Canadian, was taken into US custody at the age of fifteen, tortured and refused medical attention because he wouldn’t attest to being a member of Al Qaeda, even though he was shot three times in the chest and had shrapnel embedded in his eyes and right shoulder. As a result, Khadr’s left eye is now permanently blind, the vision in his right eye is deteriorating, he develops severe pain in his right shoulder when the temperature drops, and he suffers from extreme nightmares.
He has been incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay since 2002, suffering extremely harsh interrogations and torture (methods), and is now 25 years old.
Oh fuck the world!
It’s time to shut down Guantanamo forever. This is sickening.
This made me feel so ill. If anyone thinks this is even remotely okay… this is a human being. Imagine if it was your brother in his spot. Then how would you feel? Guantanamo needs to be closed like, years ago.
Leaked U.S. Army Document Outlines Plan For Re-Education Camps In America →
‘A leaked U.S. Army document prepared for the Department of Defense contains shocking plans for “political activists” to be pacified by “PSYOP officers” into developing an “appreciation of U.S. policies” while detained in prison camps inside the United States.
The document, entitled FM 3-39.40 Internment and Resettlement Operations (PDF) was originally released on a restricted basis to the DoD in February 2010, but has now been made public.
The manual outlines policies for processing detainees into internment camps both globally and inside the United States.’
lol I guess half of Tumblr’s going
(via commie-femme)
For the first eight years of our marriage, [Michelle and I] were paying more in student loans than what we were paying for our mortgage. So we know what this is about.
And we were lucky to land good jobs with a steady income. But we only finished paying off our student loans—check this out, all right, I’m the President of the United States—we only finished paying off our student loans about eight years ago.
President Obama in North Carolina today on why Congress has to act to prevent interest rates on student loans from doubling (via barackobama)
Mississippi is *thisclose* to shutting down only abortion clinic. HOLY FUCK. →
Bill (HB1390) is on Governor Phil Bryant’s desk.
His twitter, facebook, contact info.
Does anyone know of a petition around this? If so, please send me ASAP.
MORE GOOD NEWS TODAY!
the fetal pain, 20 week abortion ban that was without a doubt going to pass in Georgia is now dead. Ga is safe for one more year.
![keepyourboehneroutofmyuterus:
“Houston, we have a PROBE-lem.”
[Please, for my sake, don’t re-blog this and say some shit about how backwards Texas is or how we need to secede from the Union. You know who that helps? Nobody. You know who that doesn’t help? The 130,000 people denied reproductive health by the defunding of the WHP. The people who, seeking an abortion today, will be forced to undergo mandatory ultrasounds, some of them transvaginal ones. All of the hundreds of thousands of people who have and who will lose access to all kinds reproductive health care in this state because of what the GOP is doing here.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1hvg8mYim1qhb2nco1_500.jpg)
“Houston, we have a PROBE-lem.”
[Please, for my sake, don’t re-blog this and say some shit about how backwards Texas is or how we need to secede from the Union. You know who that helps? Nobody. You know who that doesn’t help? The 130,000 people denied reproductive health by the defunding of the WHP. The people who, seeking an abortion today, will be forced to undergo mandatory ultrasounds, some of them transvaginal ones. All of the hundreds of thousands of people who have and who will lose access to all kinds reproductive health care in this state because of what the GOP is doing here.]
The FACTS about the cost of birth control →
- Oral contraceptives, or “the pill,” can cost $1,210 per year without health insurance.
- Women of reproductive age spend 68 percent more on out-of-pocket health care costs than do men, in part because of contraceptive costs.
- Surveys show that nearly one in four women with household incomes of less than $75,000 have put off a doctor’s visit for birth control to save money in the past year.
- Twenty-nine percent of women report that they have tried to save money by using their method inconsistently.
- More than half of young adult women say they have not used their method as directed because it was cost-prohibitive.
- Nearly half of women ages 18–34 with household incomes less than $75,000 report they need to delay or limit their childbearing because of economic hardships they’ve experienced in recent years.
(via barackobama)
It would mean I’d leave a country and go back to a country that I don’t remember, a country that I don’t feel at home, and I don’t even graduate high school. Everything I’ve worked for, it’s, like, going down the drain in a matter of days.
Valedictorian at high school, faces deportation order. [HuffPost]
Daniela Pelaez is valedictorian of her class at North Miami Senior High, in the international baccalaureate program with a 6.7 GPA, applying to Ivy League universities, and hopes to become a heart surgeon.
“Over my dead body will this child be deported,” said Miami-Dade Superintendant of Schools Alberto Carvalho, who exited North Miami High Friday morning holding the 18-year-old’s hand.
The pair joined a walkout protest planned by fellow students after a judge denied Pelaez’ request for a green card Monday and issued a deportation order.
According to the Huffington Post,
- Daniela came to the United States of America at the age of 4.
- Her family left Colombia in the late 90’s.
- Her mother is currently in Colombia (left in ‘06) for medical reasons.
- Daniela lives with her father, a legal U.S. resident.
- Daniela also lives with her brother, a member of the U.S. military, who is also a citizen.
- Daniela has a 6.7 GPA in the IB program.
- Daniela wants to become a heart surgeon.
- Daniela was denied a green card.
- AT THE AGE OF 4, 6.7 GPA, DEPORTED TO A NATION SHE DOESN’T REMEMBER.
- Did you understand all of this?
What does the United States of America stand to gain from this deportation? What does our nation stand to gain? A future scientist? Role model? Successful individual?
“I’ve been asked the question before: ‘Do I feel American?’ or ‘Do I believe I am?’” she told NBCMiami. “And I don’t think it’s a question. I’m American. I know the national anthem. I know the laws. I know what it is to be an American.”
Daniela is one of the millions of faces and stories that highlight the absurdness of our nation’s immigration laws. She should be applauded and exalted for her achievements, as an undocumented student or not. If this story touches you, I recommend that sign the petition to, at the very minimum, show your support.
(via thenoobyorker)
Call 202-732-3000 or 202-732-3100
Sample Script: “I am calling to ask that the deportations of DREAM Act youth Daniela Pelaez (A# 097-624-663) and sister Dayana Pelaez (A# 097-624-663) be stopped. Daniela has been living in the U.S. since she was four years old. She is the valedictorian of her high school class and has plans of attending college after graduation. Daniela and Dayana are eligible for the DREAM Act and shouldn’t be deported. Stop the deportation of DREAMer Daniela Pelaez and Dayana Pelaez.”
(via fleurdelalune)
(via muslimrave)
re: no women on the panel about birth control,
Today’s fiasco of a hearing arises the eternal question, again: if Republicans have such a solid argument, why are they so eager to silence?
State Rape in Virginia (from digby) →
No Virginia, it’s not really about the fetus. It’s all about the probe. Democrats had sought to allow doctors to use other imaging methods but Republicans insisted that doctors put an instrument inside the woman’s vagina. Why? Well, since there’s no medical reason for it, the only possible explanation is that they want to “send a message.” You know. About who’s boss.
[NB: more than just cis women seek out abortion care and so will be affected by this shitastic law in VA.]
