That putrid witch woman.

Or Sarah Palin as she's know in the US. I cannot adequately express how much I hate this woman, how ridiculous it is that I even know who she is, how dangerous she is and how much I want to see her head aborted from her body. But oh I shall try.
This blog has taken an age to write as I didn't want to merely rant, I want to back-up my rant and prove to you all (hell if you're reading this, I probably know you which means there's a 95% chance you're a big lefty and don't need persuading but you never know when a stray Nazi Republican might swing by) that she should not be allowed within spitting distance of the White House.

Feminism

The Republican party seemed to have confused female for feminist. Palin is as dangerous and as damaging to women as any red-necked, red-blooded man could hope to be if not more so. Palin was picked solely because of her gender, this is not positive discrimination, this is sheer stupidity. The only question that has to be asked is if a male candidate had been proposed with a history and CV identical to Palin's, would he have been chosen? Of course not. Palin is allowing herself to be used by men in order for them to gain power, her biggest crime is that she is dressing it up and selling it as feminism to thousands of impressionable girls and women who don't have the intelligence or access to information to realise that this is not female empowerment. This is working for the very party that would have kept her in the kitchen.
And all before even a glance at her policies which aren't just lacking a feminist streak but are downright anti-woman. Women in Alaska having to pay for their own rape examination kits, anti-abortion, pro-abstinance only sex education. How any American woman could vote for Palin is beyond me. I don't agree with politics stooping to the level of attacking a politicians family but I will say this: Whilst some may find it charming that Bristol Palin is 'choosing' to keep her baby I imagine that being pregnant at 17 and un-married was not at the top of Sarah Palin's 'Things I want my daughter to have achieved before graduation' list. Yet she is still willing to implement the abstinence only religious teachings that she couldn't even use to control her own child on a national scale. May the fetus you save be gay.

Experience

In my opinion, extensive experience in office isn't the most important thing. Some, obviously, is necessary. They aren't running for President of Playdough. I just think that world experience, given the job, is potentially more important. I don't want anyone in the White House who only got their first passport last year. I don't want anyone who even thinks making a joke about being able to see Russia is relevant. I want someone who has an understanding of other countries, other cultures and other customs. I want someone who will want to fill in their knowledge if it is missing. I want someone who doesn't think the prefix of 'terrorist' is 'Islamic'
One of the biggest issues I have in writing this blog is that I am not American and I am aware that in many situations I do not have the right to comment on who or who should not be the candidate to decide American policy. But this election is different. For the first time in many, many decades America is no longer strong enough or respected enough to ignore the world. It cannot exist in a bubble and it is no longer head of the pack. Do I think Obama will truly listen to the outer world, to Europe? No, of course not. He may be a Democrat but an American liberal is still a few miles to the right of a European liberal. But he acknowledges we exist. He acknowledges that the decisions his country makes affect us all and he acknowledges that America can no longer bully the world. If the Republican party are elected come November it isn't just anyone with a sense of humanity that has been fucked over, the entire world will just have been shown a stars and stripes emblazoned finger.
A quick McCain aside: Of course I don't like him, he's a Republican and I'm a gay atheist. I'm practically another species in his eyes. That said out of all the candidates that could have been picked, I think he was the best and I could see how someone with a brain would pick him. Palin is a different beast, she is there purely for her right-wing Evangelical position and her ovaries and that makes her a lot more dangerous.

She's just like us.

When Palin was first announced as VP and all I knew was her name and gender my first thought was that it was a very clever move. Then I thought about it some more and I convinced myself that there was no way that Clinton supporters were going to switch their entire political stance because she has breasts. And then I thought about it some more and I realised it was America I was thinking about and I got depressed. Hillary made me proud to be a woman, she got to where she was because she fought all the way for it (I'm not saying she didn't fight dirty at times but no-one can deny that that woman bloody deserved to be there on determination and merit, regardless of her gender), Palin makes me ashamed of my gender. That a whole stock of women would suddenly switch their vote because the Republican party present a candidate that's just like them is sickening. I don't want my President/ Prime Minister to be just like me. I want them to know what the hell is going on, to be rational, to be informed. I DO NOT CARE IF YOU CAN LOOK AFTER A FAMILY OF 54, PICK THE KIDS UP FROM 10 DIFFERENT SCHOOLS WHILST COOKING HOMEMADE DINNER EVERY NIGHT AT THE SAME TIME AS PREACHING A SERMON ON THE EVIL GAYS. It does NOT qualify a person to be the leader of a mjor world power. I know many women who juggle more than Palin has but we'd be in serious bloody trouble if they ever had any political aspirations.

In God we trust (America to fuck this up)

Hands up who's surprised I've mentioned religion. Anyone? Anyone at all? Ah well. I accept that at times I have the tendency to be a little bit.....militant in my atheism. I'm working on it, it's on my To-Do list I promise. Right under Become A Size 6. Richard Dawkins was once asked the question "But what if you're wrong?", I won't repeat his answer because I actually thought it was a bit weak but never mind. The point I am so verbosely trying to make is that if we (we the collective Atheists) are wrong then......so what? We made the choice and it will be us that burn in the hot and steamy pits of hell if we've led lives of sin. But what if the religious right are wrong? How many hundreds of thousands of people have suffered, are suffering and will suffer because of a belief they don't hold? Isn't it better to air on the side of humanity decency caution and not base government policies that will affect 300 million people? Bottom line, I don't trust Palin not to have her educational policies influenced by creationism, her marriage laws based on a line in a book written hundreds of years ago by a plethora of different men and the rights of women strangled by her mistaken belief that we still need to pay for a bite of fruit.

This is getting very long. I am running out of venom (it will recharge, never fear). So I am going to end on a high note: Palin is not a trendsetter in eyewear; she stole her choice of optics from Shane. That's right. Sarah Palin is taking lesbian fashion tips.

Aberdeen: First impressions

The move went quite smoothly (I could be writing a very different blog post if a kind man driving on Lothian road hadn't pointed out that the back van doors weren't shut....) and I've got pretty much everything unpacked. The only box left is full of little bits and bobs that I'm sure have a natural home but I haven't quite found it yet. So far the flat seems like a really nice place to live. It's just off Union Street (Aberdeen's version of Princes Street) so it's nice and central and very convenient for the shops. The only downside to being so central is on a Friday and Saturday night you can hear the drunken harpies screaming their heads off on the street if you're in the living room. There's something so piercing about the tone of a drunk Scottish woman that no other nationality seems to have mastered, if Scotland ever gains independance I think they should incorporate a screeched verse of 'STACEEEEEEEEEEEY YA LITTLE CUNT GET BACK HEEEEEEEERE' into the national anthem. Thankfully my bedroom is at the back of the flat and the noise doesn't travel through otherwise I'd be calling up the Witch-Queen of Angmar (Palin's new moniker) for some tips on shooting.

Francis ended up staying for the weekend after helping me move so we decided to sample what nightlife Aberdeen had to offer. After watching the Big Brother final (I make NO apologies, it is entertaining if not intellectual) and consuming a rather large amount of wine we hit the mean streets of Aberdeen in search of the gay scene. Our first attempt at finding the club we'd seen on the internet was less than successful, the street it was supposed to be on was a slightly dark sidestreet - sans club. (I have since learnt that we were in the right place but it burnt down. Probably for the best). After several minutes spent looking rather lost out came the iPhone and we found another one. Having only come out last year and only having tried the gay scene in Edinburgh I'd never had the pleasure of a really bad gay club. I can now say that is no longer the case. I think I was the only woman in there with long hair, it was the most retro-flashback-gender-sterotyped-surreal place I've ever seen. All the women seemed to be in t-shirts, tracksuits and trainers sporting short spikey hair and all the men were uber camp and effeminate. Not quite GHQ......

Other observations of Aberdeen:

• There are no recycling dumpsters in the city centre. I have to go to the big supermarket which is about 2 miles away. Grrr.
• Buses are NOT CHEAP. 1.50 for a single ticket!
• Alcohol is VERY CHEAP. 2.30 for a pint of Kronenburg. It's probably so that everyone can save up enough money to get the bus.
• People hang out in the graveyard on Union Street. Not just teenagers with litre bottle of White Lightning but everyone. There are benches, people meet for lunch. It's the strangest thing. Maybe there aren't a lot of green spaces in Aberdeen and that's the closest thing they've got to Princes Street gardens. But still. It's a graveyard.
• There are NO visible Post Offices. I'm aware that compaining about Post Offices makes me middle-aged.
• Living by the beach is quite cool. I have childish joy at the presence of 2p machines in the arcade.

A video of the flat will follow when I get back on Friday. AND MY INTERNET WAS CONNECTED THIS MORNING. HERE I COME SPORE.

Back to the 'Burgh.

I'm hoping this will be the first of three blogs in quick succession having finally gained access to a computer with internet. I love my iPhone dearly but it does have it's limitations when it comes to typing. After this one I will do an update on Aberdeen and the flat - though I might wait until I get back up there (I'm in Edinburgh for the week) so I can take some photos. The third blog, I warn thee now, is going to be a vitriolic rant calling for the head of Sarah Palin to be aborted from her body.

So yes. I'm back in Edinburgh for the week staying with Ella. This is the first time, aside from a quick trip I took before uni started way-back-when, that I've been in Edinburgh without having a home to call my own and it is very, very strange. I think I may have to bite the bullet and give myself 2 or 3 weeks in Aberdeen without coming back down so I can take root there. I don't want to say goodbye to Edinburgh as my home but I think in terms of my mental well-being, I should probably make an attempt to treat the city I'm living in for the next 4 years somewhat homely.

I'm hoping to try and see a lot of people this week just in case it's a few months before I get the chance again. It's also Fresher's Week at Edinburgh University, cue feeling very old and slightly smug simultaneously. This does mean that I get to teach the BSL taster session on Thursday for Sign Soc as my last parting gift to them. I truly love Sign Soc but the chances of me getting involved in another society in Aberdeen are about the same as me waking up a size 6 tomorrow. It will be good to finally put it to rest.

The most important thing I have to achieve this week is to make sure that I go back up to Aberdeen with some idea of what to do for my PhD. I'm going to go and raid the psychology library in the hope of coming up with a brilliant idea as so far my thesis is called "Sign Language Is Cool So Nur" and may need slightly refining.