Year: 2010

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Happy Halloween!

Ah, the only internationally recognized holiday of the crossdressing world is upon us again, & I had an interesting experience shopping for Halloween costumes & party decorations with Betty.

We were looking around at the mass-produced costumes, me mostly cursing about the oversexed women’s and girl’s costumes (the girls’ costumes show more skin than the ones for adult men, for crying out loud) and Betty thought maybe she’d figure out a costume around an interesting wig. But: I found myself getting uncomfortable when she started trying them on. It was just too much of the past, & started messing with my sense of her gender. It was a Big Deal when she finally got to grow her hair long enough, and have it styled unisex/feminine, that the wigs brought me right back to when she couldn’t do that and had to have men’s cuts (since she was a leading man onstage) and so had to wear wigs in order to go out “en femme.”

So no wigs for us, but we did use spray-on black hair dye (so she could be Wednesday Addams & I could be Frida Kahlo, unibrow & all).

Halloween is still far & above our favorite holiday, but it’s definitely taken on new meanings in this post-trans life of ours. My feminism is more tweaked when she wants to wear short skirts & fetishy shoes because I expect her to say no to all this bullshit objectification of women — and that’s in addition to the absolute bullshit of this culture agreeing that it’s okay for women to be sexual once a year (& once a year only).

So what about you? Has Halloween changed for you in the context of your trans identity/journey? I’d love to hear.

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Education, Education, Education

Democrats actually fund education in myriad ways:

  • Funds for high-speed, broadband Internet access to K-12 schools
  • New funds for school construction
  • Increased student loans
  • Increased opportunities in AmeriCorps program (which helps people earn money for college)
  • Students struggling to make college loan payments can have their loans refinanced
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Four!

Maybe it’s not huge, but this is the kind of stuff Republicans are always claiming to have done (when they haven’t, a la That Palin Woman)

  • Returned money authorized for refurbishment of White House offices and private living quarters
  • Paid for redecoration of White House living quarters out of his own pocket
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5 Days Until Election Day

Until you get out & vote for the Dems who:

  • Authorized discussions with North Korea and private mission by Pres. Bill Clinton to secure the release of two Americans held in prisons
  • Authorized discussions with Myanmar and mission by Sen. Jim Web to secure the release of an American held captive
  • Visited more countries and met with more world leaders than any president in his first six months in office
  • Successful release of US captain held by Somali pirates; authorized the SEALS to do their job
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6 Soldiers Suffering

Republican voters aren’t ready for the truth, because Democrats:

  • Increased pay and benefits for military personnel
  • Improved housing for military personnel
  • Initiated a new policy to promote federal hiring of military spouses
  • Improved conditions at Walter Reed Military Hospital and other military hospitals
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White House Anti-Bullying Campaign

Did you need another reason to support Dems this Election Day? How about this cool news?

The Obama administration is launching a campaign to prevent anti-gay bullying and other harassment at school, advising educators that federal law protects students from many forms of discrimination.

and:

In another example, the advisory discussed a school in which students are subjected to anti-Semitic comments while a swastika is scrawled on a bathroom wall. Administrators might find and punish the perpetrators, the advisory said, but the school would still be responsible for determining whether Jewish or other students feel intimidated by incidents that add up to a pattern of misconduct. In that case, further action would be required.

“Discipline alone was likely insufficient,” Ali wrote. Other possible steps, she said: counseling the perpetrators, publicly labeling incidents as anti-Semitic and publicizing how students can report harassment.

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7 Days Is All She Wrote

Obamacare:

  • Lowered drug costs for seniors
  • Ended the previous practice of forbidding Medicare from negotiating with drug manufacturers for cheaper drugs; the federal government is now realizing hundreds of millions in savings
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In 8 Days…

… you can get out & vote Democrat and keep the US Government busy doing cool stuff like this:

  • Closed offshore tax safe havens
  • Negotiated deal with Swiss banks to permit US government to gain access to records of tax evaders and criminals
  • Ended the previous policy of offering tax benefits to corporations who outsource American jobs; the new policy is to promote in-sourcing to bring jobs back
  • Ended the previous practice of protecting credit card companies; in place of it are new consumer protections from credit card industry’s predatory practices
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9!

More stuff Obama needs a Democratic Congress to keep doing:

  • Expanded the SCHIP program to cover health care for 4 million more children
  • Expanded vaccination programs