With the pick between useless and condescending, I'd skip the ugly sweater and go straight for the even uglier 90s-looking corporate glass...thing I could not stop looking at.
@5280: Oh, they're back now, baby. Will has just pre-memed our thought stream about that. It's only a matter of time before you find yourself at Department Stores R Us, pawing through the menswear in desperate search for a turtleneck.
Do you want us to shoot you before or after that happens?
Just a correction - the vote is tonight, not tomorrow night!
That said, all of the PCO's are very much aware of this, and have been bombarded with emails and phone calls from the various candidates, so they'll be there. Yay!
About the whole DSM IV thing, I'm with michaelp, or rather I'm with what I'm betting he actually believes and not what he said judging (probably correctly) that his actual beliefs would be misintepreted, possibly maliciously.
Transexuality, at least the form that appears as GID in childhood, is a psychiatric disorder. There is a mismatch between the biological reality of the gender and what the brain is telling you is your gender. If not corrected in some way this can cause severe distress in the patient. There's a reason transexuals have to go through medical doctors to transition, it's because they have a disorder.
Now, I understand the hesitation to call it a disorder because of a sincere and totally understandable wish to not give ammunition to bigots that would use it in the pejorative and follow up with "What you need is Jesus!", but its simply not accurate to pretend it isn't a medical condition. It is, but the best (and as far as I know the only) effective treatment for it is to make adjustments to the body so that the physical gender resembles the mental gender as much as possible. If there were some easy way to make the mental gender match the physical gender that would probably be less invasive and as such probably a better idea. There doesn't appear to be such a treatment at this time, so what has to be done is to get these kids to an understanding doctor and help them transition, while educating the public and ensuring that transmen and transwomen are given the same rights as everyone else.
Is it a turtleneck, or a mockneck? There's a big difference. Turtlenecks are still allowable in certain circumstances (which also involve not having a penis), but mockneck wearers are an offense similar to that of the fannypack and sock-n-sandal combo.
@6 - that's not a glass thing. That's actually The Stranger Hipster Mind-Control Circuit Board. Allow me to walk you through it briefly:
* The four squares in the center are the core control elements; the reddish, upper-right corner, for instance, controls all PBR purchases in the Cap Hill area.
* The quadrant above WIS's head drives the use of stove-pipe jeans and ironic band name clothing. When one of those pieces recently cracked, everyone under the age of 25 wore a Cheap Trick t-shirt for three hours before the glass was replaced.
* The large panel to Michaelp's right controls hipster speech. This is where terms such as "I know, right?", "[BLANK] much?" and "I've got tickets for Death Cab!" reside. A simple wipe of Windex suffices to remove outdated terms, keeping this section shiny, clean and current.
* Out of view are the areas that control emo hair, Pike Street Fish Fry, Linda's menus, Critical Mass routing and ineffective HIV prevention campaigns.
Pray god no one should go up there and throw a chair through that thing. The entirety of hipsterdom would be as ants after their (Cap) hill was kicked. Please make a note of it.
I'm not a fan of either, but didn't realize what a douche Michael "Some of my best friends are Transgendered" P is until seeing this. For the love of god, Michael, tear yourself away from your mobile for a bit, you aren't that important. I've never been a fan of Will In Seattle...I actually find him equally as annoying in places
Now to jump in more properly - do I disagree that I'm pompous? *meh*, I can be pretty pompous. It's true. Wrong about everything? That's debatable.
I do want to touch on that last question a bit more. Hearing the words come out of my mouth I realized that I was sounding more and more like people who justify their being anti-gay marriage but not anti-gay because they have "friends who are gay."
Do I speak well to transgender issues? Not at all. I don't pretend to, and was obviously uncomfortable in my own skin as the dribble came out of my mouth.
I do believe it is important, and wish that this was an issue that elected officials knew and understood better, to ensure that people who do fit the DSM IV diagnosis have their treatment, up to and including gender reassignment, covered by their insurance plan. I recall a whole hullabaloo over the state paying for this a while back, and the state stopping any future coverage of this condition. That was wrong.
Will and Michael have both had many opportunities to make asses of themselves here on Slog (as have I), but Will has been making an ass of himself all on his own at the King County Central Committee for quite some time. I think it's time to give the opportunity to Michael.
I also think that Michael's less-than-artful transgender comments require a deliberate misreading to be interpreted as intentionally offensive, and to play them up reveals the fact SECB views world entirely through a tunnel colored lens. The board should be ashamed that they are sufficiently bloody-minded on the subject that they are willing to impune the intent of a young gay parent. I would suggest a moment of reflection on the subject.
@27, oh, crap, did they mention my name? Do I really have to watch it? I'd rather watch my own flesh being stripped off in sheets than listen to Will's voice, or even look at him with the sound off.
@24 given that my grandfather is buried in Arlington Cemetery as an Air Force Officer and my father was in the USAF, I think we can presume that I support airmen.
And marines, the rum-sodden mensch that they are. Some of my best friends were sailors.
someone oughtta tell Michael that he needs to change his phone password now since it's pretty easily visible on the video. someone might get all his important information...
Is it just me, or was that video cut to intentionally portray them both as assholes? Is that the joke? Fuck the internet for making me think I even have to ask this question.
God watching that video was painful. Both of them come off as total idiots. With WiS I knew what to expect going in, but with michaelp I had some amount of hope based on his written commenting. The idea that either of these twits will rep the 43rd is sad.
@42: I quit watching when you actually started to explain the "we should nuke Saudi Arabia" statement and then they immediately cut away. That is some raw horseshit.
can someone please tell me why the fuck the 43rd ld org or kcdcc matter??? their only purpose is to be cheerleaders for elected dems. their actoins, votes, resolutions, positions, etc don't mean jack as far as i can tell.
Eli,
I remember when you used to work at the Seattle Times. What in the hell are you doing still working at the Stranger, wasting your talent there at all, much less with a bottom fish like Will Affleck-Asch? Pin that guy down with tough questions? Watching that video would drive any young person from journalism. Pour a little salt on him and let him shrivel. And you, my friend, get then to a better place of employment.
Had I known about this at the candlight vigil for the shooting vicitims in AZ, I might have had a few things to say to one Michael Maddux. As it stands I'll invite him for a beer so I can educate him about the history of the LGBT community with the DSM. And I'll educate him about why saying "hey, I'm not a bigot, some of my best friends are X" is a surefire way to tell everyone that you are indeed a bigot and that you aren't being a very good friend.
@21 when you say we don;'t belong in the community because we are in the DSM-IV, it shows Michael has a piss poor handle on history. Someone might want to remind him about a little action back in the late '70's regarding the DSM and the removal of homosexuality. His blind obedience to a book that is essentially just a code book for the insurance industry reminds me of those who blindly follow the bible, never questioning the passages that are just flat out wrong.
Do you want us to shoot you before or after that happens?
That said, all of the PCO's are very much aware of this, and have been bombarded with emails and phone calls from the various candidates, so they'll be there. Yay!
Transexuality, at least the form that appears as GID in childhood, is a psychiatric disorder. There is a mismatch between the biological reality of the gender and what the brain is telling you is your gender. If not corrected in some way this can cause severe distress in the patient. There's a reason transexuals have to go through medical doctors to transition, it's because they have a disorder.
Now, I understand the hesitation to call it a disorder because of a sincere and totally understandable wish to not give ammunition to bigots that would use it in the pejorative and follow up with "What you need is Jesus!", but its simply not accurate to pretend it isn't a medical condition. It is, but the best (and as far as I know the only) effective treatment for it is to make adjustments to the body so that the physical gender resembles the mental gender as much as possible. If there were some easy way to make the mental gender match the physical gender that would probably be less invasive and as such probably a better idea. There doesn't appear to be such a treatment at this time, so what has to be done is to get these kids to an understanding doctor and help them transition, while educating the public and ensuring that transmen and transwomen are given the same rights as everyone else.
* The four squares in the center are the core control elements; the reddish, upper-right corner, for instance, controls all PBR purchases in the Cap Hill area.
* The quadrant above WIS's head drives the use of stove-pipe jeans and ironic band name clothing. When one of those pieces recently cracked, everyone under the age of 25 wore a Cheap Trick t-shirt for three hours before the glass was replaced.
* The large panel to Michaelp's right controls hipster speech. This is where terms such as "I know, right?", "[BLANK] much?" and "I've got tickets for Death Cab!" reside. A simple wipe of Windex suffices to remove outdated terms, keeping this section shiny, clean and current.
* Out of view are the areas that control emo hair, Pike Street Fish Fry, Linda's menus, Critical Mass routing and ineffective HIV prevention campaigns.
Pray god no one should go up there and throw a chair through that thing. The entirety of hipsterdom would be as ants after their (Cap) hill was kicked. Please make a note of it.
I do want to touch on that last question a bit more. Hearing the words come out of my mouth I realized that I was sounding more and more like people who justify their being anti-gay marriage but not anti-gay because they have "friends who are gay."
Do I speak well to transgender issues? Not at all. I don't pretend to, and was obviously uncomfortable in my own skin as the dribble came out of my mouth.
I do believe it is important, and wish that this was an issue that elected officials knew and understood better, to ensure that people who do fit the DSM IV diagnosis have their treatment, up to and including gender reassignment, covered by their insurance plan. I recall a whole hullabaloo over the state paying for this a while back, and the state stopping any future coverage of this condition. That was wrong.
But yay! for Will's garment!
Sure, WiS is heterosexual, and really ugly looking, and you SLOGgers are all daydreaming about the other guy.
But here is a man who has put his career on the line to fight politically for things that he things are right for Seattle (even if he is a Lib Loon).
So, SLOG...stop the bullying and sexual prejudice.
Vote Will In Seattle...A Man for All Sexes.
I also think that Michael's less-than-artful transgender comments require a deliberate misreading to be interpreted as intentionally offensive, and to play them up reveals the fact SECB views world entirely through a tunnel colored lens. The board should be ashamed that they are sufficiently bloody-minded on the subject that they are willing to impune the intent of a young gay parent. I would suggest a moment of reflection on the subject.
- I like how Will says he "I always support the soldiers". Should I infer that he doesn't support sailors, airmen and Marines?
- Will tossing a copy of The Daily towards the interviewer is comedy gold. I'm gonna try that move next time I'm in a job interview.
From the other, hand hair you could use to weave a particularly sturdy mock turtleneck, and an unexpectedly broad array of facial and mental tics....
But the worst thing about this video was not making the slightest effort to pronounce "Fnarf" as one syllable.
@29 you pronounce it "bleep". And then excuse yourself.
And marines, the rum-sodden mensch that they are. Some of my best friends were sailors.
With three candidates of all orientation in the race, everyone in Seattle has a choice that represents him.
Well...except Fnarf.
None of the three has their head stuck up their ass.
His position of choice...
You should have seen us outside the reception area or in the elevator afterwards, we actually get along fine and appear "mostly harmless".
Fuck the Stranger.
I remember when you used to work at the Seattle Times. What in the hell are you doing still working at the Stranger, wasting your talent there at all, much less with a bottom fish like Will Affleck-Asch? Pin that guy down with tough questions? Watching that video would drive any young person from journalism. Pour a little salt on him and let him shrivel. And you, my friend, get then to a better place of employment.