Ms. Geek: Straight Outta LA

There is an old saying: your right to swing your fist ends at the tip of my nose. However, if you defend yourself, you're going to get almost universally vilified.

In Thousand Jokes, CA, September 3rd, 2009, an elderly Teabagger swung his fist at the face of a pro-Health Care Reform vigil-er. I will let an eyewitness pick up the story.

All of a sudden, I saw a very tall man in an orange shirt (yes, he is in the photo I linked you to) confront her, verbally at first. Her back was to the thruway, and he was shooing her, approaching her, speaking to her in a very aggressive fashion (observation from body language only) and waving his arms in a shooing motion. With each step she took back, he took one forward, shooing her more. From where I was, it appeared as though he were telling her to get on her own side of the street, and backing it up with a very clear physical threat....

....Several minutes later, there was another altercation. My best recollection is that this man saw what happened to the woman and reacted to it. I cannot say with certainty where he was when he saw it — he may have arrived and was navigating his way through that group, or he may have crossed the street to defend her. He was confronted by the same man. I could tell from where I was that the man was belligerent, angry, and confrontational.

The man in the orange shirt hit the pro-reform guy (I’m going to call him PR Guy just to keep the players straight). Hard. ( tweeted in real time) He punched him in the face, knocked him to the ground and into that thruway. As you can see from the photo, cars drive straight through that without stopping. The pro-reform guy could have been run over. He got up, tried to get back up on the curb, but Orange Shirt guy was in his face. Finger in his face, PR Guy standing, steps up to the curb, and there’s a scuffle. Orange shirt seemed to have PR Guy in a hold, but again, I was across the street, so won’t state that as absolute fact. Next thing I see is PR Guy’s hat being tossed into the street, both yelling at one another, then Orange shirt walks away, PR Guy picks up hat and crosses to our side.

When he gets to our side, he tells a story in one sentence: “He punched me hard, straight in the face, so I bit his finger off.”

Honestly, I thought he was exaggerating. I guess he wasn’t.

I’ve given this report to the police along with my photos. I am not heralding anyone as a hero here. I certainly do not celebrate the idea of anyone biting anyone else, no matter what the reason. However, there is no question that Orange Shirt guy was aching to fight, was willing to pick a fight, and certainly didn’t care who he fought with. He chose people who were shorter than he, and he used his voice, his body, his body language and his height to intimidate them.

Don’t be fooled by reports ginning up sympathy for that 65-year old guy or worse yet, reports characterizing him as a senior citizen. He was aggressive and ready to mix it up.

Article here.

OK. Let me get this straight. Teabagger punches a pro-Reform protester so hard he got knocked into the street. Teabagger then eventually gets the pro-Reform protester into a grappling hold, maybe even one that would enable the Teabagger to choke the pro-Reform guy out. Pro-Reform guy bites Teabagger's finger to get him to break his hold. The fingertip gets bit off.

OK. OK. Biting a guy's fingertip off: bad. That said, should Mr. pro-Reform have allowed Mr. Teabagger to choke him out? I dunno. If Mr. pro-Reform died at the hands of Mr. Teabagger by asphyxia, there would be no ambiguity as to who provoked who. We would have a martyr: as if Nataline Sarkisyan and Nick Colombo weren't enough of martyrs for our cause. We would also have a dead, irreplaceable human being. As it was, both men lived to fight another day, albeit one who may or may not be walking around without a pinky fingertip.

Meanwhile, in spite of the vast popularity of a Public Option as part of a federal Health Care Reform bill, almost 80% to 20% popularity, reports say that President Barack Obama, during the address he will give to a joint session of Congress, will ask progressives to 'take one for the team' and be 'good soldiers' and cede the whole idea of a Public Option to the dustbin of history. Never mind that he has guaranteed the House of Representatives torpedoing the whole bill if this is true. Never mind that. If Obama does this, he has proven what he is made out of: marshmallows and gooey caramel.

This whole fucking disastrous August, these days of rage where the frothing 20%, exemplified by a man who would physically bully pro-Reform vigil-ers, should never have happened. Obama should have steeled-up his spine, cowboy-ed up, and said "None of you are going on vacation until I get a bill. Period. End of story. I am keeping the Senate and House in extraordinary session. And if you don't give me what I want, I will have MY wonks draft a bill, and cram it down your collective throats." You don't give in to bullies. You fight them. Sometimes you might even have to chomp fingers and crack skulls in the process. FDR, JFK and LBJ are looking down at this horrifying state of affairs and weeping. This is Bill and Hillary and Harry and Louise all over again. And it happened because of a bunch of anti-democratic frothers commandeered the nation.

These fuckers don't even respect President Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, the man elected by the biggest majority since George Herbert Walker Bush in 1988. Why? You tell me. They want to keep their kids out of school because President Obama wants to give them a pep-talk about staying in school and being diligent about their studies. Again, it's that goddamned frothing 20% saying this. And yet! They are causing school boards and school principals to not allow their students to hear their President address them.

Oh yeah. President Obama is BLACK. Ergo, not this frothing 20%'s President. Not worthy of respect even if it's grudging respect for the Highest Office In The Land. No, they are watching an endless loop of Birth Of A Nation in their head.

This 20% of the United States, this gaggle of idiots who take their marching orders from the Glenn Becks and Hannitys and Rush Limbaughs of the world, this gaggle who thinks that Stephen Colbert is really gooble gobble ONE OF THEM, not mocking them shamelessly...they are destroying our chances at real health care reform and guaranteeing their hated non-President Obama (remember, they don't think he's the President because he's a 'dirty n*****') will only last one term in office. That is, if they don't inspire someone even more unhinged then they are to assassinate him before he even finishes the term.

Officially, certifiably, INSANE. I thought the nightmare was over on November 5th. I thought the nightmare was surely over on January 19th, when Cheney and his idiot minion Bush slinked out of office. But no, the nightmare continues. Dear Goddess have mercy on us all.

CONSPIRACY THEORY!!! WHOOP!!! WHOOOP!!! WHOOOP!!!!

We've now raised the alert level to RED. As in Commie Red. As in Nazi banner Red. As in the Scarlet Woman astride the Beast. SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!

Well, Summer is over for me, in spite of the fact that we are in the midst of this season's worst heat wave and the firestorms have started right on schedule. Poor me and my poor sinuses. Ugh.

I've got my first 12-unit course load since leaving Woodbury...the LACCD/Metro deal on bus passes ($15/6 months!) was too good to pass up, I'm still an unemployed bum, and by taking more courses I can finish my Occupational Certificate in Media Arts: Post Production by Spring or maybe Fall if I decide to take the advanced Final Cut course which is only given in the Fall.

I spent a few hours with Cousin Brad yesterday, and more and more we are talking about my becoming a video editor as a new career. Unlike Aunt Karen's visceral reaction to my wanting to "get into show business" (please, it's perhaps the least visible career in Media) both he and his sister (my Cousin Wendie) think it might be the best place for me and something for which I might just have a talent.

This means that in all probability I will likely end my school career when I finish that Media Arts certificate. Getting an MFA in Film is likely to not be very helpful to me. But what I'm looking for is possibly to take a course or two to familiarize myself with Avid, since not everybody uses Final Cut and instruction on Avid is not available through LAVC. Post houses are usually either Final Cut shops or Avid shops, and it's prolly smart to have at least an acquaintance with the other even if you are an expert at one. I would like to get good at both but I doubt that's an option available to me.

I feel bad about giving up on a "helping" career, giving up on being a therapist or a counselor or a social worker. But really, I will be out of circulation for a lot longer if I went back for my MA in Counseling Psychology or my MSW. Because we would be talking about more than just the 2 years of further schooling, but a metric buttload of hours in internship. And furthermore, the new Income Contingent Repayment Plan pretty much makes the amount of student loans I owe a little less to worry about. They can only take 15% of your salary. I'm not sure if it's gross or net they are figuring on but either way it's way better than facing $45,000 in student loan debt with the old ways of paying it back. And the fact of the matter is that there is now a groundswell of support for further reform of the student loan process, and perhaps even restoring the option of a BK to discharge unmanageable student loan debt.

Besides, no matter how I deal with the student loan debt, they can't repossess my brain. At least, not at this technology level.

One of MTV's best forays into animation, The Maxx, is back and viewable. Yes, lots and lots of music has been replaced...no more Sartori In Tangier, no more Lighthouse Keeper, but the transfer to Flash is beautiful. Now if only it'd be put on DVD.



Oh yeah...I'm walking around very upset Senator Ted Kennedy did not make it to the vote on Health Care Reform. We knew he was doomed, but still...{sigh}

I've been too busy trying to help prevent THIS from happening:

They fuck up someone's car.



Liberty? What's that? Speak your mind and get your car thrashed. Wonderful. Well played.

(reposted from DailyKos, where I'm Pris from LA.)



I always bring the flag (13 star Betsy Ross from the Bicentennial...embroidered, not silkscreened...very cool) whenever I hold the Single Payer Happy Hours. I fly it proudly. I'm a liberal American, this is my goddamn country, and you punk ass wingnuts better learn to SHARE. Didn't your momma tell you? Didn't your frakkin KINDERGARTEN TEACHER tell you? You SHARE this country with your fellow citizens. I was born here, I was raised here, and the HELL you're going to tell me that you have exclusive rights to Old Glory.

My great uncles, one of whom was born in the shtetls of Berdichev, Ukraine, one of whom was born in Chicago, IL, stormed the beaches at Normandy. They fought in the freaking Battle of the freaking Bulge. They liberated DACHAU. They were proud of their country, and when the '60s rolled around one of them marched in anti-Vietnam War rallies because he did not want his son and daughter (my cousins) to have to go through the same hell he did in WWII.

My dad was a native born Californian who served in the Army during the Cold War. He was a Goldwater conservative who had his heart broken by Nixon's criminal behavior. My mom was a JFK liberal who kept a "Viva Bobby Kennedy" button in her jewelry box until the day she died. Yeah, I took more after my mother than my father, but no matter how much Nixon broke his heart he never broke faith with his country. And I guess that little part of him still lives in me.

My country. I'm willing to share. Hope you are too, because if you aren't, you're not going to steal it from me again like y'all did in 2000.

OK folks, for those who said "don't go!" wrt Twitter, yeah, I'm back. :P msgeek93. Pretty close to the old Twitter identity.

Whoever has the msgeek account...you are a DOUCHE. Gimme, it's mine, I'm the one and only Ms. Geek and probably have been since you were in diapers.

Twitter is simply NOT scaling like it should. I still am waiting to get a post through. So yeah, no tweets for me. Suck it, fail whale. msgeek703 is GONE at Twitter.

I didn't have so great of a childhood...maybe that's the reason why I'm still trying to have a happy childhood now at almost 46. There are a lot of external things that I can blame this on, primarily the sickness and death of my father from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. He was diagnosed in 1972 and died in late 1975.

However, I also have a family history of major depressive disorder, and one of my great aunts made several suicide attempts, one before she was widowed and many more afterward. It may have been that the cause of her death was an attempt at suicide that finally succeeded, but being that my family is Jewish and she had pre-planned arrangements at a Jewish cemetery that would not let her be buried there if she had committed suicide the cause of death was intentionally obfuscated.

This is an old custom: the horror stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer often end with an apparent suicide being judged by Rabbis as being "insane" at the time of the act and allowed to be buried with full Jewish ceremony.

Of course now we see a person who commits suicide as being a person with a brain illness: the mood disorder spectrum. It's a little more exacting than a Rabbi declaring a person insane, or a court. And the fact of the matter is that we know a hell of a lot more about depression than we knew even when I was diagnosed in 1991. And we certainly know more about it than in 1973 when my parents were told I was a "hyperkinetic child" and needed to be medicated for it in order to stay in elementary school.

They were wrong about my diagnosis back then. I will give details behind the flip.
( Read more... )

OK, what's been going on since I last posted here? Well, I suppose you'd already know if you had been to my Facebook and/or my Twitter, and you wouldn't have a clue if you still were looking at my LiveJournal, since I've moved everything having to do with that here.

Anyway, this last weekend was Comic-Con. I can't say I missed it. Yeah a lot of cool stuff happened there which would have been nice to see with my own two eyes, but all the best stuff is on the Intarweb anyway now. And all the BS you go through to actually attend the con has gotten worse and worse since the mid-Zeroes. The last time I went, my hotel was all the way in Mission Valley. The trolley is good, but it doesn't run very frequently later on at night. Eventually it stops altogether. So Tom Reed and I had to hail cabs for a very expensive ride back from the San Diego Convention Center to the hotel on nights where we were at Con late.

As I also mentioned on the Otaku no Podcast, I was also of two minds with regard to Anime Expo. I did have fun, but I felt that the added fees that made their debut with AX2009 were unfair. If you wanted to attend the Masquerade and/or the Anime Music Video contest, you were only assured of a seat if you also got your hotel through the AX website. And if you didn't have one of those hotel room in AX room blocs you had to pay $20 for a 4-day pass to use the shuttle bus service. And events like the concerts and the "guest of honor meetup" thing cost $20 a pop. And all this atop a con membership that starts out at $50 for those who buy their membership now (for AX2010) and rise to $70 at the con. If anything, AX should be looking at lowering membership costs, or making the membership an all-inclusive one. The fact of the matter is that even though AX is now my local "big con" it becomes almost as expensive to attend if you are local and commuting daily to Con.

My advice? Support your local convention. The next local con near me is Mikomikon, a cute little event which will be happening September 18-20 at Cal State Northridge in Northridge, CA. Then there's LosCon on Thanksgiving Weekend at the LAX area. (LA Airport Marriott) Then on January 8-10 Anime Los Angeles will be returning to the LAX area. (LA Airport Marriott) All of these are locally run and cost a hell of a lot less than AX and Comic-Con. It costs $40 for LosCon now and A-LA is $42. If you are a student A-LA costs $30, and if you are underage your parent-in-tow is free.

I bought what I thought would be a Yumi-tan sized director's chair. It was billed as being made of canvas and wood. Turned out it was the wrong size, and if it's made of wood it's made of Balsa wood, because it's way too lightweight to be pine or any other sturdy wood. And if that's canvas (it feels more like muslin to me) it's the weakest frakkin' canvas I've ever seen.

Most of the time eBay has been good to me. It's times like these that make me curse its very existence.

I now am the proud owner of a 1/6 scale RASSLIN' RING. And I got it FOR FREE.

Find out more about Freecycle. I often see items on my local list that are suitable for 1/6 scale fanciers. Not much for bigger dolliez but 1/6 is ubiquitous between Barbies and action figures. I even have been able to find my favored jointed "gymnast" (also ballerina, hula hair and WNBA) Barbies on Freecycle.

Best score ever was technological in nature: a Palm Tungsten T. For free. Sweet.

It does not seem like there are a lot of people following me from LJ to IJ. I guess that's OK but I wish I wasn't here blogging into a vacuum.

Yesterday there was a huge rally at Rep. Henry Waxman's office. 1.) too bad it wasn't on a day his staffers would be in; 2.) too bad it was Henry Waxman rather than Sen. Dianne Feinstein who really does need to be dogged everywhere until she comes out strongly in favor of the Public Option; and 3.) too bad it was hella hot and I simply was too melted by the time the rally was over to go out and canvass like the good soldiers did.

After the rally, I was able to get a ride out to Little Tokyo where I grabbed a few items at Marukai and had lunch. Then I went home.

I'm not sure what I'll be up to today. I think getting a bit too much sun has addled me somewhat. I've got a bit of a headache -- could be sinuses, could be something else.

The continuing State of the World, State of the Union and State of the State has me extremely apprehensive. There seems to be no good way of fixing the California trainwreck short of things that will require a lot of time and an electoral cycle. The Obama Administration has finally admitted that they underestimated the enormity of the current financial downturn. We're still mired in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the forces of reaction and repression seem to have won this round in Iran. And there is this hideous whipsaw back-and-forth about the health care bill. Public option yes or no? Maybe. It's sort of like Schroedinger's cat. It's oscillated between a few eigenstates.

Meanwhile the big story is "Where's Dead Michael?" Someone should do a "Where's Waldo?" spoof with a picture of MJ in full "Thriller" zombie makeup in crowds. Really. Is this the big story? Come on, folks. This and Malia's peace sign t-shirt is not the big news. (Facepalm.)

This is what Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa is reduced to. Basically grovelling on the streets of cyberspace with a begging bowl.

It is good that we had a trouble-free Funeral Of The Century (tm), with not even a single drunk-in-public arrest, let alone a violent crime arrest. But that was accomplished by deploying a small army of LAPD: 3,000 cops on foot, in squad cars and on horseback. This kind of response costs lots and lots and lots of money. The peaceful nature of the gathering means the costs are merely staggering but not crippling...closer to the $2 Million lowball figure than the $4 Million "holy cow it's a riot" figure.

So now Villaraigosa is reduced to begging for help from Jackson's huge fan base to defray costs. Never mind that AEG is going to recoup its costs with sales of merch that would have been sold at the 50 "This Is It!" concerts in London, UK. Never mind that the video of the funeral was recorded in HD and will probably be released in Blu-Ray and DVD. There is even talk of a live show ala the Elvis Live! touring show, using video from the recorded dress rehearsals at Staples Center to stand in for Michael Jackson, which would make AEG tons and tons of money. And don't cry too much for the Jackson clan: Jackson's albums are selling strong again, and will likely dominate the charts the next time Billboard puts them up. In short, lots of people are going to make lots of money from Michael Jackson kicking off this mortal coil.

So why shouldn't LA City be reimbursed for this? This isn't cold, this is justice. We ponied up the law enforcement, now AEG and the Jackson Family need to pony up the dough. The alternative is just plain insulting to the city that Jackson lived in from childhood. And it will mean that LA schools and LA basic human services will suffer further deep cuts as a result. Since much was made about Michael Jackson the humanitarian during his funeral, I would think that he would be upset that the circumstances of his death would be a cause for Angelenos to suffer. Do the right thing. Cough up the bucks. Thankyoudrivethrough.

And the most galling thing about this is that the City and County of Los Angeles is on the hook $4 Million for all the public safety personnel required for the event.

I got a solution. It got me flamed at DailyKos, of all places, but fuck it, man, it's only fair.

THE JACKSON ESTATE SHOULD BE FORCED TO PAY FOR THE OUTLAY ON SECURITY.

What the fuck is wrong with that statement? If a person is billed by local first responders for the chopper ride for being rescued from being lost in the Angelus National Forest, certainly the Jackson Family and/or the Jackson Estate can be billed for $4 Million to recoup the outlay for LAPD and LASD overtime.

How many teachers could be rescued from being laid off with that $4 Million? How many children in Primary and Middle school could be able to attend Summer School with that money?

Here's how the Jackson family should have handled things. For the positive example, I give you Ryan O'Neill's final tribute to Farrah Fawcett. It was a private service, in a chapel in the Cathedral of Our Lady Queen of Angels. Security was handled by a private firm. The memorial was videotaped.

If there has to be a public tribute, and certainly there has to be for someone as huge of a star as Michael Jackson, let it be a series of CHARITY MEMORIAL CONCERTS. When you do a charity concert, and I have personal experience because I helped put on Friends Of Richie I at Safari Sam's in Hollywood and Friends Of Richie II: The Celebration of Richie Hass' Life at the Echoplex in Echo Park, no venue owner does it for free. In both cases, the International Myeloma Foundation was the beneficiary. There will be another show, Friends Of Richie III: A Bloody Good Time, at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood on September 20th of this year. And again, the IMF is getting the profits. However, in all cases, the club got their cut and the club's employees got paid. Safari Sam's was SUPPOSED to donate the venue, but as it was, they took their cut before giving us the money to give to the IMF. The infrastructure is there for memorial concerts. You don't need to create a baroque lottery system to distribute tickets. The need for security is factored in.

Oh yeah: one last thing...it would be really really FUCKED if someone died because first responders couldn't get to someone in time because resources were spread so thin because so many first responders had to be used to maintain the security cordon around the LACC, Staples Center and LA Live.

Here's how my Senators and my Congress critter shake out on the "Stand With Dr. Dean" whip count tool:

Rep Howard Berman D CA-28
Supports the choice of public Healthcare option? Yes

Sen Barbara Boxer D CA
Supports the choice of public Healthcare option? Yes

Sen Dianne Feinstein D CA
Supports the choice of public Healthcare option? Don't know

This doesn't reveal the whole picture though...this does.

Here's the money quote:

“I do not think this (vigorous lobbying by the Left on the health care public option) is helpful. It doesn’t move me one whit,” she said. “They are spending a lot of money on something that is not productive.”

And why is this not productive, madam Senator? Because you are bought and paid for by the Sickness Industry.

(from Open Secrets)

Total contributions from these sectors:

Health Professionals $139,150
Insurance $115,350
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $77,750


Sweet, isn't it? We are being sold out by Feinstein for a paltry sum, when you compare how much she is getting from Big Media and law firms. Boy, those folks in the Murder By Spreadsheet industry are getting a real bargain this time around!

Basically, as far as this fight is concerned, we only have one Senator. The other one has been bought. For $254,577.75. So much for so little. Hey, if we could pass the hat and get $255,000 for you, madam Senator, would you change your mind? [sigh]

I woke up feeling like I had a fever and the fever broke. However, it's hot and humid and that's why I feel sweaty today. The humidity should dry up soon, but it's going to be another hot one.

I hate Valley summers.

I'm moving to Insane Journal. However, it's not for the reasons you might think. I'm considering this because my paid account is almost up, and IJ is still free and gives you 100 slots for userpics. And if you pay $50 there you get a "permanently insane" account...at least for the time being.

LJ has been shedding developers and has moved their ops to Russia, a country that is not especially great in the free speech department. Sure, the US is not so hot in that department either, but at least it gives lip service to the ideal.

Y'know what? Here's what I want. If you feel tempted to cough up some bucks to keep my LJ account paid-up, hook me up with permanent paid status at IJ. My LJ will remain here, archived. I'll still visit and read my friends page. But as far as updates go, I'm off to IJ. It's msgeek.insanejournal.com. Almost as easy as msgeek.livejournal.com . Do svedanya, LJ.

I sort of forgot I had this...now I know how to use it again. I guess if my LJ goes foom this will work.