(no subject)
Today is both municipal election day in Israel and Veteran's Day in the U.S. Yesterday was the memorial day for Rabin. As important as all of these are, I don't have a ton to say about any of them right now, so y'all just get some brief points.
Israel's Municipal Elections:
Veteran's Day
There's a lot to be said about this, but right now I just hope that the coming year sees a smaller percentage of U.S. veterans coming home in body bags.
Rabin:
I remember hearing about his assassination and being stunned. It was the first time I'd ever heard of a Jew murdering another Jew in cold blood (this was before the Sheinbein case, which, particularly for those of us in the DC area, thoroughly shattered that particular myth); the political implications of it didn't really sink in at the time, even though my mother had insisted that we all watch the (in)famous handshake on the White House lawn two years before.
This year, from what I understand, is the first that his murderer hasn't been given time to speak on Israel's most prestigous television station. I don't know that it's a good thing; it may just indicate that the cult surrounding Rabin has overshadowed the way he made people feel during his (second) prime ministership (is that a word?). Anyway, I'm not presumptuous enough to try to expound upon what his murder means for Israeli society today; goodness knows there are enough speeches at the memorial ceremonies that claim to do so. I am, however, presumptuous enough to object to what someone else says on the subject. A prominent Israel rabbi says that the left wing is also responsible for Rabin's assassination, which to me makes about as much sense as arguing that the ANC was responsible for Mandela's imprisonment (because clearly parties who work for social justice are responsible when their leaders are harmed by those who don't like those goals).
U.S. Elections
I just keep coming across more interesting links about the recent U.S. elections, so here goes....
Other:
Israel's Municipal Elections:
- Beer Sheva: The incumbent, who's 70, was running against a number of younger candidates including his former deputy mayor. The latter (based on exit polls) won.
- Jerusalem: The candidate who, based on exit polls, seems to have won is right-wing. But I'm actually quite happy at his win, 'cause the guy in second place is ultra-Orthodox and the third runner-up is a war criminal (well, I don't think he's been convicted, but if he enters the EU he'll be extradited).
- Tel Aviv: A left-wing candidate has run a surprisingly popular campaign against the incumbent mayor. It's unlikely he'll win, but I'm hoping he's at least force a run-off election (because it's not a 2-party system, if the candidate who wins the plurality of votes gets less than 40% there's a run-off election). Based on exit polls he didn't succeed.
Veteran's Day
There's a lot to be said about this, but right now I just hope that the coming year sees a smaller percentage of U.S. veterans coming home in body bags.
Rabin:
I remember hearing about his assassination and being stunned. It was the first time I'd ever heard of a Jew murdering another Jew in cold blood (this was before the Sheinbein case, which, particularly for those of us in the DC area, thoroughly shattered that particular myth); the political implications of it didn't really sink in at the time, even though my mother had insisted that we all watch the (in)famous handshake on the White House lawn two years before.
This year, from what I understand, is the first that his murderer hasn't been given time to speak on Israel's most prestigous television station. I don't know that it's a good thing; it may just indicate that the cult surrounding Rabin has overshadowed the way he made people feel during his (second) prime ministership (is that a word?). Anyway, I'm not presumptuous enough to try to expound upon what his murder means for Israeli society today; goodness knows there are enough speeches at the memorial ceremonies that claim to do so. I am, however, presumptuous enough to object to what someone else says on the subject. A prominent Israel rabbi says that the left wing is also responsible for Rabin's assassination, which to me makes about as much sense as arguing that the ANC was responsible for Mandela's imprisonment (because clearly parties who work for social justice are responsible when their leaders are harmed by those who don't like those goals).
U.S. Elections
I just keep coming across more interesting links about the recent U.S. elections, so here goes....
- A particular obnoxious Virginia legislator has been voted out of office in favor of a particularly awesome-seeming guy (though the vote's really close and with a full recount the result may change).
- A small Oregon town has elected what's believed to be the first out trans. mayor.
- My friend Julian (angrychihuahua ) wrote a really great email about his experience watching the election results (at a bar full of queer folk in Norfolk, VA).
- Here's a really good editorial by an Israeli left-winger about hopes for Obama.
- A lot of people have written about how the reason Prop. 8 passed in California was that all the black and hispanic voters who came out for Obama voted in favor of it. Not that I'm approving of homophobia in POC communities, but, as one of my co-workers tried to explain to me back at GLSEN (i.e. when I was fresh out of high school and pretty naive when it came to race), growing up as a black lesbian, sexual orientation didn't really make it on to the list of issues about which she had to worry. In other words, race-relations in the U.S. have a long and complicated history, and those pushing for equal rights for GLB folk have been pretty damned shitty about acknowledging that. Some common pitfalls are outlined here. While a couple of people have posted or sent me Olbermann's piece about Prop. 8, I have to say, I found his comparison between same-sex marriage rights and slave marriages rather offensive. Yeah, slaves couldn't legally marry, but they also couldn't legally (or in any other way) enforce their custody rights, their property rights, their right not to be beaten to death (literally), or their right to go to the next town over without a pass from their "owners". Comparing the two cases of discrimination in marriage laws without at least acknowledging the other horrors of slavery is, in my mind at least, utter chutzpa in the worst possible meaning of the word.
Other:
- The Maldives, fearing the fate of Bhola Island (and Atlantis), is looking into buying higher elevation land on which to re-establish itself in case global warming continues and sea levels continue to rise.
- And, to end on a positive, if wacky, note, I recently came across The PCR Song and thought the bio. geeks out there might appreciate the link (though I'm curious who it's aimed at, 'cause they list a bunch of commercial uses but at the end "salute all the scientists out there using PCR").