Who will save us from the extremists?

And I'm not talking about foreign terrorists here, I'm talking domestic extremism. Assholes like the tea partiers and left wing psychos that call you a racist because you think that a person's skin colour has no bearing on whether or not they're racist. It has no bearing on their character whatsoever.

Seriously. This country is divided on almost every single issue -- whether it is an important matter of justice, like whether or not the wealthy should be exempt from the rule of law, or administrative, like who should pay their fair share of taxes and which of the poor are worthy of our help, or completely idiotic and pointless, like the whole gay marriage thing*

Answer? We are. Take your heads out of your collective asses and stop letting politicians and assholes get away with wasting your time.


*Seriously, if I hear one more thing about how two guys marrying affects the sanctity of my marriage, I might snap. My husband and I married three days after meeting by a justice of the peace. The whole thing cost $160 including all the licenses and rings, and took seven minutes. 2 pm we were shaking the JP's hand, and 2.07 we were sitting on the playground wondering if we'd just made a huge mistake. Two dudes or two chicks marrying isn't going to affect my marriage any more than someone changing a tire three states away. And if it affects yours, then I would take a good hard look at what else is going on.

Activism and being a Mom

I have an 8 month old daughter, and a 33 year old husband. Those of you who are married or know the toils of a typical marriage will understand.

I'm currently running on about an hour's sleep, went to the grocery store, came home, baked, and now have cleaning, laundry, and of course dinner left on my list.

That isn't why I stopped going to the especially violent protests. It's not that I haven't any time (although I don't). I MAKE time for things like protesting. It's that I have an 8 month old daughter. And a 33 year old husband. And three cats and an especially whiny dog.

Back when I was single, a head injury just meant I'd forget to feed myself or to wear pants when someone came over, or show up at work on my day off forgetting it was my day off. No big deal. Forget to pay a bill? Pay it late. Miss the last bus? Eh, the cat'll manage. Forget to go grocery shopping? Order a pizza. Forget to cook dinner? Order a pizza. I lived off pizza.

It is different now. I can't risk any more head injuries. I can't afford to forget to feed my kid or change her diaper. I can't afford a random seizure, nor can I risk turning myself into a drooling idiot. I can't risk getting myself arrested and having to explain to my kid why Mama's not watching yo gabba gabba with her tonight. I can't I did my time on the front lines, and I loved every minute of it, and now it is simply time for me to retire to the background. There's plenty a person can do without being directly in the line of fire, and that is what I do now.

It doesn't make me any less of an activist, it doesn't mean I gave up my ideals and turned into a bible thumping republinut, it means I'm raising the next generation of activist.

So before you front liners get all high and mighty talking about how us oldies turned our backs on the cause, and you guys are the only real heroes in the world, remember this: if it weren't for people like me working tirelessly in the background promoting your events, spreading the word, gathering intel, and writing blog posts and articles, you wouldn't know what you were fighting for. So blow me.