The GirlAlive Blog

No, I did not vote in the presidential primaries.  I can't.  You can do absentee voting for major elections, but not for primaries.  But I've been following stuff from over here.

Those who know me know that I'm a lifelong Republican.  But in the last few years I've been considering my position and whether I want to retain attachment to a particular party at all.  I even considered possibly voting Democrat in the next election, because I agree with their stance on healthcare a bit more than the Republicans.   But I still agree with Republicans more on other issues. 

Then I  saw Bill Maher on a talk show, and he entirely made up my mind for me.  I've been out of the country so long that I guess I forgot what pompous, hate-filled and condescending assholes Democrats can be.   Bill Maher never has anything reasonable and logical to say.  Every word from his mouth was essentially, "I hate Republicans and I think they should all die, especially Christians who are all morons."  So I'll be voting Republican, thanks entirely to Bill Maher.  I can't be part of a political party that spouts so much hate of everyone they don't understand. 

Alana

Posted by Alana at 07:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

This is my first year watching the Olympics from another country.  (I once watched the US Open - the tennis one - from a crappy hotel in Russia.  But that's another story.)  It's weird.  In the US, all the big winter sports get covered like crazy.  You've got skiing and figure skating and hockey and all that.  Here, the only team the UK has that has even the slightest chance of a medal is the curling team.  So I get to see hours of curling every day, and coverage of the British girl who came in 37th in a skiing event.  There is no snow here mostly, so there really aren't winter Olympic athletes from the UK. 

But curling is not the very gay sport I'm referring to in the title.  Curling is one of those sports like golf; it looks like it might be fun to play, but watching it is as exciting as watching mold grow on an old tea bag.  But it isn't gay.  The gayest Olympic sport that I think I've seen is Doubles Luge.

I used to think that wrestling, with all the partially naked grabbing, was the gayest Olympic sport.  But then I saw Doubles Luge.  That is the sport where men squeeze themselves into skintight spandex, and then one of the men lays on top of the other one as they zoom down a luge run.  I mean, if you're an athlete and you think, "I'd like to go down a hill really fast with my cousin," wouldn't you maybe think about getting a 2-man bobsled?  But no.  These inevitably Northern European men just decide to lay on top of each other on the luge sled.  

I kind of miss living in a country that sometimes wins in the Olympics.  But my husband doesn't mind that I always root for the Americans.  Except for one Swiss ski-jumper that I like.

Alana

www.girlalive.com 

Posted by Alana at 09:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

diaryland entry 10:22 p.m. - 2005-08-11

Reason Number 37 To Hate Living In a Small Midwestern Town

A car rolled over on the freeway and hit a concrete overpass and 2 people were killed.

In an average city, that would be a minor news item on the day it happened and nothing more would be said. Not in Duluth. In Duluth, that story has been a top news item FOR A MONTH!!!! First they had to talk to all the family and friends. Then the pastor of the church they attended. Then the family again. Then full media coverage of the funeral. I swear, the death of the pope and the London bombings combined didn't get as much air time as this one stinking car crash.

It seems really insensitive of me, but I'm sick of hearing about it. I felt bad for the family the first 2 days. After a month of this story, I just want to scream, "I get it! They're dead! Let's move on to a real news story now!"

Tonight they weredoing a news story about how this horrible tragedy could cause a rise in suicide rates in the area. First of all, there is no evidence of that. And if there are more suicides, maybe those people killed themselves not because of the car crash, but because the media coverage of it was a constant reminder that they live in a stinking hellhole of Midwestern suburbia, where something as mundane as a car accident can be top news for a month.

Have I mentioned that I hate this city?

Alana
www.girlalive.com

Posted by Alana at 08:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

diaryland entry 10:23 a.m. - 2005-07-22

Okay, so it is about 2 weeks after the first bombing in the London subways and a day after the second, more pathetic, bombing.

Any intelligent person would know that the London police are probably jumpy about people bombing the subways by now. Any intelligent person with nothing to hide would stop when the police are chasing them in the subway.

So anyone who is all mad about the guy who was shot running from police in the subway has to step back for a moment and realize that if you think the police were wrong, you're as stupid as the guy who got shot running from cops in the subway. He died of stupidity. Even if he was innocent, it is just darwinism in action.

I have to get back to work. As you were.

Alana
www.girlalive.com

Posted by Alana at 08:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)