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October 27, 2008
Apple publicly opposes constitutional ban on same sex marraige...
... says the issue is of civil rights not political.
Apple has made a couple statements at this point regarding their opposition to California's proposition 8. This one comes directly off their website:
"Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8."
It's pretty much unheard of for a company in today's political climate to make such a statement as currently adorns their website regarding prop 8. Furthermore, Apple has backed their belief by donating $100,000 to the campaign opposing this proposition. Makes you wonder why doesn't it?
Well, when we follow the money, we see that in recent years Apple has been gaining a gay-friendly image (no surprises here and all is right with the world considering Cracker Barrel is amongst the least gay-friendly on the list). Gay consumers have strong spending resources and the ability to take a brand to elite status according to a book one of my relatives wrote.
I doubt gay people made Apple elite, but their touches can clearly be seen on Steve Job's wardrobe. That aside, I think Apple's price tag made it elite, along with a higher level of functionality and refining touches in the OS. Much like a Lexus ES09 is considered an elite luxury car whereas the exact same car when branded as a Toyota Camry and stripped of some of the clever electronics is considered a consumer grade car.
Apple's elitist image could also be the result of their workhorse nature in some really nat fields like Graphic & Web Design, Video & Photo Editing, or Music.
Perhaps its all of these things. Perhaps it's the rainbow colored Apple logo of yore that draws the gays in, who knows.
All I know is that, it's both comforting and a little strange to see a company take a stand on such a polarizing political debate. It's a little bit scary to see companies lobby because I start to worry about things like a Corporate state or Social Security brought to you by Coca Cola... but hey, they claim they are doing this as the company considers it a non-issue, basic human right, and supporting their employees. It certainly doesn't hurt my overall agenda so I'm down. Go Apple for not only making the statement but backing it financially as well. Lord knows spending money after your stock halves is concerning to any company.
Oh, btw, Apple bought out Texan's belief on this same topic with a new office building back in 93. I have to imagine this was a much cheaper route.
Posted by Decemberice at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2008
How do you deal with the death of a pet...
... who is so much a part of your life?
That's the question I find myself asking. My dog is still very much alive but she is now 14 years old. She is starting to have health problems. Despite my best efforts the health problems are becoming more than I can afford to deal with. I hate that. I feel like I owe it to her to do everything I can for my dog and would happily spend the thousands of dollars necessary to keep her healthy if I had it. Currently, she needs special food due to her kidney problems which is like $3 a can, 2 cans a day. She has eye problems, she can't hear very well, she's running into things because her coordination is off, and in the last two months she's started to have accidents in the house on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I'm working about 10 hours a day if not more most days and that means I can't give her the attention she needs to work through this. I've had to start considering the quality of her life. My family gets mad at her because she's doing these things and I honestly don't believe it's her fault that we all work long days I can't let her in and out like she needs.
More importantly I got Sox when I was 12. That's when most of the problems started in my life, when I realized that I was gay, when I had my first boyfriend, when I pulled my ligaments and first discovered the evils of opioid pain killers. I had all sorts of changes and problems going on in my life, I was crazy, it was crazy, but my dog never judged me and I could sit and talk to her about my day and she would tilt her head as if to affectionately tell me she had no idea what I was saying but she still cared.
I feel like I am forced to put to sleep my best friend. The only person who's ever known me and all my strife and never been anything other than happy to see me despite it. I can't fill that void once she's gone.
Sox and I have been best friends for as far back as I care to remember. On christmas I get her presents from Santa Paws, I threw my brother in law out of the house for hitting her once because she bit him. By all means she should have gone for the throat but she was nice about it. So I don't know what to do without her. Worse yet, because I can't make the decision I've pawned it off on my mother. I can't be there for it, I can't be a part of it.. so the side effect is that I'll come home one day and this integral part of my life for all this years will just be gone.
Posted by Decemberice at 08:08 PM | Comments (1)