Joss Whedon has a new TV series coming out soonish!

And yeah, I'm so excited.

It stars Eliza Dushku, who is pretty much one of the hottest actresses EVER. (Up there with Tricia Helfer and Summer Glau. Um. No, I don't watch too much science fiction. Noooooo.)

Also it's JOSS WHEDON, man, do I even need to elaborate?

I love Joss Whedon.

So much.



Unfortunately, it looks like Obama played the Jesus card. I'm a bit disconcerted by this. I suppose I still cling to my antiquated belief that faith should be a private matter. I still get a bit unsettled when people make a big deal out of their faith. I don't really know why; probably because I grew up without a religion, and therefore have very little experience with it. However, that's pretty silly and irrational of me. Pfft. Fear of the unknown? SO over that, thanks. I don't really think he had any other option, either, because in America, everybody loves Jesus. At the very least, everybody hates atheists. In fact, they probably feel the same way about non-religious people as I do about incredibly religious people! Not necessarily a dislike, but a fear of the unknown. And there's a lot more of them than there are of me. Not only that, after the whole Rev. Wright debacle, Obama probably feels the need to make his personal feelings (which differ quite strongly from Rev. Wright's, apparently) on religion known. It's either that or he's REALLY going to be tarred and feathered with the same brush, which he probably wouldn't appreciate. Definitely won't help him get elected. Nobody likes angry black men, I guess. Also, I really don't think religion should enter into this at all, which means that I shouldn't let his personal religious beliefs (or MY personal religious beliefs) affect my vote. Quite obviously, his religious beliefs ARE going to influence his decisions, but I think he at least does want to do the right thing. Anyone's religious beliefs are going to influence their decisions anyway, whether they're Catholic or Jewish or Muslim or Scientologists or atheists or whatever. It's not necessarily THE most important component, but it's going to be a factor. Unfortunately, that means I get to be a big girl, put my money where my mouth is, and assess him based on what he actually plans to do. As long as he doesn't intend on forcing his religious beliefs down my throat, at least. More importantly, I do get the feeling that while he's using religion as a political bargaining to some degree, it's also something that's genuinely important in his life and that provides him a certain degree of strength and support. That sort of religion doesn't make me uncomfortable - at least not as uncomfortable, and it's the sort of feeling that I can talk myself down from at least somewhat - and it's not something that's going to be used AGAINST people. It's for inclusion. Honestly, I think true religion is a beautiful thing. I may not share in the collective faith, but I can appreciate quite a few things about religion. Love the sinner, hate the sin. There are many things I take from religion and try to incorporate into my own life. I try not to judge. I let off steam about things and I whine about how I don't understand things, but what I want is to be able to understand where people are coming from. The question, perhaps, is where does that stop? Where do we say "so you believe that killing Jews is for the benefit of humanity? No, sorry, it doesn't work like that"? At what point is the line drawn? I suppose one generalization that could be made is that if it doesn't hurt anyone else (unless it's with their consent, if you know what I mean), it should be okay. But how do we define what "hurts" someone? It seems IMPOSSIBLE. Is it impossible? I have no idea. It'd be easy for me to say that it is impossible, but I hate doing that. Sure, I do it, but I do a lot of stupid things. I try not to, at least. Eh. Anyway. It's something to work on. All we can do is keep trying to make things better. But how do we do that? No, seriously. Where do we even start? There are a LOT of things that need improving. Some are local, some are national, some are global, some don't even fit that scope. Perhaps all we can do is try to improve ourselves as people. Do as, say, Christians are supposed to do and set examples. But that leaves the truly desperate out in the cold, because not everyone is going to be willing to try to improve, and not everyone can. So what do we do about them? Perhaps it's the slippery slope idea that scares me. Where oh where do we draw that motherfucking line? What's the difference between protecting people and screwing them over? Someone's going to get fucked up no matter what. How do we choose? The idea of the greater good... is not one that appeals. Perhaps it's necessary, but it's not something I can embrace wholeheartedly right now. I don't know. I just don't know.

From a brief glance at Obama's website, I do like his attitude. I haven't gotten to the sections on his positions on issues or on what he's done so much, but so far I'm cautiously intrigued. I also like that even in the faith section, he mentions that the rights of nonbelievers (as well as, of course, believers of all sorts of other stripes) must be preserved. That makes me happy. It's a personal bias, yes, but it's still vaguely relevant.

Ah, but I can't help wondering where all this money is going to come from. How on EARTH are we going to even start to reduce the national debt? What about health care? I really like large amounts of Obama's health care plan, but how is he going to make it work? I realize he can't very well explain exactly how he's going to do everything before he's even elected, but... eh, I don't know, crazy lingering doubts. Nobody's really going to explain anything as much as I'd like anyway. I think there's a good chance I'll be voting for Obama. This is an excellent step up from what I've been thinking previously: "Not Clinton. Probably not McCain, probably not Obama. Um... yeah." That, unfortunately, doesn't work so well. What I'm trying to do is figure out who's the least of all evils. I'm going to vote, dammit. I'm going to vote for the person who I think is going to fuck the country up the least, and then I'll have earned my right to bitch and whine the good old-fashioned way. It's a pity it takes SO much research, though. I mean, I have to... try to find everyone's speeches, I have to read everyone's stances on issues, I have to try to think about this shit... man oh man. I'm afraid it would be much more fun if I weren't busy doing other things. Alas.

Fuck this, I'm taking a nap.