(no subject)

And... I think that's it for translating the author bios in Russian. Yay for repeated phrases? And stomping on some of my own pattern-recognition formatting instincts. It does work better, but, argh. Habits.

I don't even know what to say about the Wisconsin bullshit. Apart from that is not what is supposed to happen in this country. We may take sides, we may be partisan, but we are supposed to respect each other and have intelligent discourse, not try to ram legislation through because we want it to exist. He's not even pretending this is about budget issues, this is about removing the right and ability of workers to affect how they are treated by their employers. This is about power, and money, and keeping those without it, without it. This is about him being bought and paid for.

There are things that can still be done. She typed, as Marcus said something about there must be something that could be done. And there is. There are recall efforts underway for eight of the Republican Senators who defied their constituents. We can support Dale Schultz, who voted against the bill because as he said it was what his constituents wanted. Here is his contact page. Further information on Wisconsin matters are here on LJ and here on DW, and she also has a good number of links up for what you can do. And other than that, I'm too tired and too heartsick to come up with anything, so I'll be writing my letters and continuing my link roundups because there's other states doing the same damn thing, and undermining the rights of many, many people. I'd say this isn't supposed to happen here, this can't happen here, but it is, and it can, and it does. Because people are sometimes jackasses. Or so far removed from reality the only way they can see it is through a high-powered telescope, and they're not bothering to look.

Ahem. Okay, ranting over, I need to get to work, I need to do writing matters, and I need to finish some stuff I've started. I need to focus. It'll be easier if I can focus. Really.

(no subject)

Oh for the love of Christmas, people, STOP COMPARING WALKER TO FUCKING HITLER.

Pick a different person to compare him to. There's a lot of people out there, a lot of leaders, even dictators, who have tried to and mostly succeeded in taking away union rights. Or the equivalent thereof. Worker's rights. That's why we have a Labor Day, which is May 1, for those of you who didn't know. Except in the US, when it's in September. We have a Labor Day because a lot of people in a lot of countries have marched for worker's rights, have fought for them, suffered and bled and died for them. So there's plenty of bad, bad men to choose from.

But not Hitler. Leave fucking Hitler alone, okay? I don't think the awareness of him is going to go away anytime soon, you don't need to keep dragging him out of the closet and beating us with his rotting corpse.

Let's look at some things Hitler did that Walker shows no signs of doing. I won't go so far as to say Walker doesn't want to extend the rest of the country into the policies he's currently trying to ram down Wisconsin's throat, because he probably does. He dissolved all other political parties in Germany to consolidate power under his Nazi party; I think even Walker would have a hard time dissolving the Democratic Party in Wisconsin, no matter how hard he tries physically to keep everyone out of the damn building. He gave Germans jobs primarily by building arms factories, which Walker shows no signs of doing (thank god). Hitler refinanced the entire country by playing a pea and shell game with the banks and their money, until his own private army (since he made the army swear allegiance to him personally instead of the office which he held) was armed and outfitted. And then he went and invaded some countries, and rounded up some subsets of the population and had them all ... well, you know the rest.

Somehow, I don't think Walker's planning on rounding people up and putting them in work and death camps.

There are bad things happening. In Wisconsin and Michigan, Indiana and Idaho and Ohio most blatantly, in many other states besides. Some bad things have already happened. People are being disenfranchised in large groups, people are being stripped of their rights, and workers are being reduced to indentured servitude. Do union workers make more than non-union? Often, because union workers negotiate, en masse (strength in numbers, remember?) for their right to be paid a sum they can live on. Non-union workers get paid what they get paid, and have to make it work somehow. You know how Wal-Mart workers are in the news off and on because they're not getting paid enough, they suffer discrimination at work, sexual harassment, etc? They're not union, so Wal-Mart can do whatever they want to them. Or they can quit, and take their chances elsewhere. Would you want to quit your job right now, even if it isn't paying enough to live on? Yeah, I'd think long and hard about it too. Wal-Mart, and similar corporations don't want unions because unions force them to treat their employees fairly, and that's expensive. Hell, consumers don't want unions because the cost of products from a company that treats their employees fairly is higher. Oh noes, you might have to price things and budget and think before you buy something. Shocking.

I digress. Walker is not Hitler. Walker is his own breed of bad person, a breed we've been seeing all too often in the US lately. Someone who believes that rising up in the American dream means pushing everyone else down so you can climb on top. Someone who believes, firmly and absolutely, that if you don't have a job it's because you aren't looking hard enough, or you don't want one. Walker believes in that most Puritan of ethics, that if bad things happen to you it's because you did something bad, and while that would be nice if it were true, it just isn't. Unions exist to protect the rights of people who otherwise would have them yanked out from under them as has just happened, because when people gather in groups including corporations they tend to have more power than when they don't.

But Walker is not Hitler. He is not after the eradication of a people, or several categories of people, or anyone who isn't like him. In a sense, he's worse; you have to believe that these people are some kind of threat to you to hate them that much. The FitzGeralds might believe that; Walker, judging by what he's said and done so far, simply believes that public workers are sub-human. That public workers are the 'them' to his 'us', and puts them in the same category as most human beings would put sheep or cattle. There to be used to serve a purpose. You don't hate the cow if she balks at giving you milk, you simply take steps to get the milk anyway. Or you find some other use for the cow. It's cruel, it's disheartening, it's wrong and it's sorely lacking in any kind of empathy and compassion.

But Walker is not Hitler. And every time you compare him to Hitler, you do two things. You invoke a whole other kind of atrocity to the tiny detriment of that atrocity, and you make people think a little less of the fight to undo these bills. Because pithy ideas like Godwin's law exist for a reason. Crying Hitler is like crying wolf, it only works for so long before people stop taking you seriously, and that time has long, long since passed. Walker isn't Hitler. Surely there are other dictators and politicians to compare him to, and I'm sure if you stop and look some at your history you'll find some. Some more accurate ones, too. Please stop comparing him to Hitler. It demeans everyone and serves no purpose.

Comparing the people of Wisconsin to an angry badger, on the other hand, seems eminently appropriate.

And now, in a moment of supreme... irony, synchronicity, something... ( Deutsch )

(no subject)

I'm trying chicken cacciatore tonight, based off this recipe. Fear. (For the vegetarians among you, of which I actually don't think there are many, it seems like a recipe where an equal poundage of large-chunk veggies could be substituted.)

Routines help me stay sane. They help my world keep spinning, as they do for most people, I'd imagine, and so...

( 日本語 )

Come on, brain. A little more writing, a little more editing and a little more guitar and then you can fall over and die on me. There was supposed to be a movie tomorrow, but instead it seems like it's going to be dinner out and no movie. Which means I'll probably curl up with Bruce Boxleitner at Emerald City Con. I could use some relaxation, and he really does sound adorable. In addition to hilariously proclaiming himself a manwhore loudly at the panel.

I should say something more eloquent or pithy or explanatory here, but, no. I'm going to do some more writing and play some more guitar and then fall over.