It is Atrios' birthday, so I will stop being lazy and add a link to him on my page. Don't have that much traffic here, so it may not be noticed, but I read Eschaton damn near daily so it only makes sense.
So, Happy birthday Atrios!
Eschaton
Friday, February 18, 2005
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
The War On Not-War
Pandagon used the phrase 'the War on Not-War' and I thought it was worth spreading. I'll be using it from here on out.
Pandagon: Five Years, Same As Debt: "the War on Not-War"
Pandagon: Five Years, Same As Debt: "the War on Not-War"
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Hit it til it breaks!!!!
Every year at our family farm down in the epicenter of the Deep South, we have a huge multi-day New Year's party. We've been doing it for years, originally just a gathering of my siblings with our similarly aged cousins and an excuse for us to run around like fools shooting bottle-rockets at one another and burn/blow things up. More fun than you might imagine if you have never tried it, but this post isn't specifically about the joys of redneck amusements and the fine art of entertaining yourself in life-endangering ways in rural regions, but rather what has come out of this annual gathering and how it can guide us in the year to come.
This gathering has been perhaps the single most stable recurring event in my life to date, and I think it is treated similarly by many of those who attend (which now numbers far beyond the bounds of blood kinship). There are several people who I only ever see at this party, but I see them there every year. There is something comforting in having a little bit of regularity in a chaotic world and we have some solid traditions that have become a part of the ritual.
The Burning Caldron of Death is probably the oldest and the most important and car chase is a favorite when we can get the old cars running and my mom's marinated sandwiches are the most beloved edible tradition. But the one that sets the tone for the year is the motto.
The motto is decided by a fairly undemocratic process of taking silly and misunderstood statements that come across as unintentionally profound and after little discussion, declaring one of the statements the motto for the year, our guiding light to help get everyone back safely to the next New Year's.
I can't remember them all, should have been writing them down all these years but I can remember a few.
See with your feet. (can't remember the origin)
There may be no point in sitting either. (statement made by my drunk brother to our youngest brother who had just implored him to sit down because 'there is no point in standing'.)
Last year's motto was two fold:
Don't hurt beautiful things/Don't be hurt by beautiful things. (don't remember the origin clearly enough to recount, but I managed to fail on both counts, although I did make it safely through to a new year and reflected on the motto continuously the whole long way.)
Anyway, enough of years past, this year keeping the homemade, woodburning hottub running required chopping a lot of damn firewood and most of it was being chopped out of this huge hickory that had fallen. The cross-sections of the tree were near three feet in diameter, and the wood split easily once you made that first break, but getting that first split took a hell of a lot of hitting. In coaching my brother to get the first crack in a particularly stubborn piece, our friend Mike cheered him on with "Just hit it til it breaks!" Looking forward to an uncertain year and coming off of one in which we had all been frustrated out of our minds and begun to question our generally positive view of folks in general, my brother and I almost instantly looked at one another and knew this had the potential for being our new motto. And as it became clear that no one was going to utter anything close to as appropriate, the official motto it became. No more kinder gentler crap. This is a tough year and it calls for tough action. No more playing nice and expecting others to. This year, if something gets in your way, hit it til it breaks. Faced with inane stupidity? Apathy? Misinformation? HIT IT TIL IT BREAKS!!!!
I don't know the identity of the Rude Pundit, so he may have been at my New Year's shindig (although I doubt it), but he seems to be on the same page, as does Digby:
The Rude Pundit: "this story should be hammered on until something cracks."
Hullabaloo (Read Digby's post and tell me he isn't ready to hit it til it breaks, too)
No more chickenshit politeness while assholes and hypocrites direct the public dialogue through bullying and lies.
I have personally adopted my whole family (ok, anyone whose email I could find on the forward lists that various family members included me on) and am forwarding them obsessively from progressing sources. Yes, they can delete some of the stuff and they can ignore it all, but most of these folks that don't really read the newspaper or digest it very well seem to read most anything you put in their in box (which, judging from the sampling I have seen of what they are sending around, may be part of why this country is in such a funk currently) and actually most folks are responding pretty positively so far, even if they are disagreeing with lots of it. So all of you Awareniks out there (both of you), I am calling on all liberals to adopt the whitesheep idiots in their redstate bloodlines and start bombarding them with progressive lefty infuriating stuff. I am going to start a sister blog archiving everything (and what I get back!), so if folks want to just forward the same things they can. Remember, we are the current underdogs and them on top is dangerous. Don't be afraid of ruffling feathers or pissing off relatives; that is the point. Hit it til it breaks!
This gathering has been perhaps the single most stable recurring event in my life to date, and I think it is treated similarly by many of those who attend (which now numbers far beyond the bounds of blood kinship). There are several people who I only ever see at this party, but I see them there every year. There is something comforting in having a little bit of regularity in a chaotic world and we have some solid traditions that have become a part of the ritual.
The Burning Caldron of Death is probably the oldest and the most important and car chase is a favorite when we can get the old cars running and my mom's marinated sandwiches are the most beloved edible tradition. But the one that sets the tone for the year is the motto.
The motto is decided by a fairly undemocratic process of taking silly and misunderstood statements that come across as unintentionally profound and after little discussion, declaring one of the statements the motto for the year, our guiding light to help get everyone back safely to the next New Year's.
I can't remember them all, should have been writing them down all these years but I can remember a few.
See with your feet. (can't remember the origin)
There may be no point in sitting either. (statement made by my drunk brother to our youngest brother who had just implored him to sit down because 'there is no point in standing'.)
Last year's motto was two fold:
Don't hurt beautiful things/Don't be hurt by beautiful things. (don't remember the origin clearly enough to recount, but I managed to fail on both counts, although I did make it safely through to a new year and reflected on the motto continuously the whole long way.)
Anyway, enough of years past, this year keeping the homemade, woodburning hottub running required chopping a lot of damn firewood and most of it was being chopped out of this huge hickory that had fallen. The cross-sections of the tree were near three feet in diameter, and the wood split easily once you made that first break, but getting that first split took a hell of a lot of hitting. In coaching my brother to get the first crack in a particularly stubborn piece, our friend Mike cheered him on with "Just hit it til it breaks!" Looking forward to an uncertain year and coming off of one in which we had all been frustrated out of our minds and begun to question our generally positive view of folks in general, my brother and I almost instantly looked at one another and knew this had the potential for being our new motto. And as it became clear that no one was going to utter anything close to as appropriate, the official motto it became. No more kinder gentler crap. This is a tough year and it calls for tough action. No more playing nice and expecting others to. This year, if something gets in your way, hit it til it breaks. Faced with inane stupidity? Apathy? Misinformation? HIT IT TIL IT BREAKS!!!!
I don't know the identity of the Rude Pundit, so he may have been at my New Year's shindig (although I doubt it), but he seems to be on the same page, as does Digby:
The Rude Pundit: "this story should be hammered on until something cracks."
Hullabaloo (Read Digby's post and tell me he isn't ready to hit it til it breaks, too)
No more chickenshit politeness while assholes and hypocrites direct the public dialogue through bullying and lies.
I have personally adopted my whole family (ok, anyone whose email I could find on the forward lists that various family members included me on) and am forwarding them obsessively from progressing sources. Yes, they can delete some of the stuff and they can ignore it all, but most of these folks that don't really read the newspaper or digest it very well seem to read most anything you put in their in box (which, judging from the sampling I have seen of what they are sending around, may be part of why this country is in such a funk currently) and actually most folks are responding pretty positively so far, even if they are disagreeing with lots of it. So all of you Awareniks out there (both of you), I am calling on all liberals to adopt the whitesheep idiots in their redstate bloodlines and start bombarding them with progressive lefty infuriating stuff. I am going to start a sister blog archiving everything (and what I get back!), so if folks want to just forward the same things they can. Remember, we are the current underdogs and them on top is dangerous. Don't be afraid of ruffling feathers or pissing off relatives; that is the point. Hit it til it breaks!
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Keyes Family Values
from
DC Media Girl: "Maya Marcel-Keyes, self-described 'queer activist' and daughter of right-wing lunatic Alan Keyes, has outed herself. In a hearwarming demonstration of family values, Keyes has reportedly booted Maya out of the house."
Thankfully, I come from a better class of Christian than that. Compassion and love, folks, if that ain't what your god calls on you to show towards your fellow man, he ain't Jesus. Keyes is fun to watch on tv, but as a real person kicking his daughter out because he's too self-righteous and bigoted, he is disgusting.
Like that mean, nasty woman on WifeSwap last night who accused the other wife of being a pedophilic sexual predator who would try to molest her daughter. Because she was a lesbian. And lesbians can't be trusted around children because they might...what, what the fuck goes through some idiot's mind to make them say something like that? Her defense was that she was just being protective of her daughter. Bullshit, she was just being a bigot. If protection of her children was her concern, then why would she think it was any safer to put a straight woman in her house with her sons? More pedophiles are straight than gay and the gay pedophiles tend to be the ones who aren't out of the closet so where does the assertion that she needed to worry about her daughter being around married lesbian who was raising a daughter with a life-partner come from? Her own personal bigotries. What if someone had said that she shouldn't be trusted around the lesbians' daughter because she was black? She told the woman she stayed with that discriminating against gay people wasn't like discriminating against black people, because gay people can pretend to be straight and if they just kept their mouths shut and acted straight then they wouldn' have any problem. It's our fault. Yeah, lady, and you won't consider it discrimination when some one tells you you should act more 'white'. That is bullshit. People should be treated with tolerance and respect regardless of how close they manage to mimic some dumb idea of what is normal.
DC Media Girl: "Maya Marcel-Keyes, self-described 'queer activist' and daughter of right-wing lunatic Alan Keyes, has outed herself. In a hearwarming demonstration of family values, Keyes has reportedly booted Maya out of the house."
Thankfully, I come from a better class of Christian than that. Compassion and love, folks, if that ain't what your god calls on you to show towards your fellow man, he ain't Jesus. Keyes is fun to watch on tv, but as a real person kicking his daughter out because he's too self-righteous and bigoted, he is disgusting.
Like that mean, nasty woman on WifeSwap last night who accused the other wife of being a pedophilic sexual predator who would try to molest her daughter. Because she was a lesbian. And lesbians can't be trusted around children because they might...what, what the fuck goes through some idiot's mind to make them say something like that? Her defense was that she was just being protective of her daughter. Bullshit, she was just being a bigot. If protection of her children was her concern, then why would she think it was any safer to put a straight woman in her house with her sons? More pedophiles are straight than gay and the gay pedophiles tend to be the ones who aren't out of the closet so where does the assertion that she needed to worry about her daughter being around married lesbian who was raising a daughter with a life-partner come from? Her own personal bigotries. What if someone had said that she shouldn't be trusted around the lesbians' daughter because she was black? She told the woman she stayed with that discriminating against gay people wasn't like discriminating against black people, because gay people can pretend to be straight and if they just kept their mouths shut and acted straight then they wouldn' have any problem. It's our fault. Yeah, lady, and you won't consider it discrimination when some one tells you you should act more 'white'. That is bullshit. People should be treated with tolerance and respect regardless of how close they manage to mimic some dumb idea of what is normal.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Informed Smackdown
Holy crap!!! Like manna from heaven, this is awsome!
The Alterman-jarvis match lately has been kind of fun, but Dr. Alterman is always fighting with someone and this is way better anyway.
jonah goldberg steps to the defense of bush's nation of retards against the reality based community and gets bitch-slapped (like he should be every time he opens his mouth). The always charming and informative Juan Cole spoke too bluntly about the stupidity of the sing-songy, we-done-right-pat-ourselves-on-the-back bullshit the chickenhawks were crowing about after the Iraqi election and poor jonah just couldn't take it this lying down. So he opened his fat mouth and spewed a little bile . . . and Dr. Cole made him choke on his own foot.
I love an angry academic. If you are going to pick a fight with someone on whatever subject, don't pick a top expert in the field if you are not a top expert in said field. Being on tv does not mean you are smart and having been allowed by a producer to talk about something publicly doesn't mean you know anything about which that of which you speak.
Oh, Jonah . . . please, please debate Juan in a public forum. Please, this would be fun. Of course, Juan, be sure if you do debate him, remember to do what Al Fraken did when he backhanded the whiney o'reilly around on book tv: do it LIVE. If you don't, Punditopia's editing rooms are not kind to intelligent interlopers. Your ideas will be soundbitten to death.
but for now, Juan is in good company with who is weighing in on his behalf. I've read bits on the cage match on Kos, Escaton, and James Wolcott's blog. Mr. Wolcott does a particularly lovely and thorough job of play by play of the event. Perhaps it isn't over yet. A boy can dream...
anyway, the original smackdown:
Informed Comment
James Wolcott weighs in:
James Wolcott: Prof Harpoons Maroon
jonah stepped again, so Juan knocks his sorry ass back to the damn mat:
Informed Comment
The Alterman-jarvis match lately has been kind of fun, but Dr. Alterman is always fighting with someone and this is way better anyway.
jonah goldberg steps to the defense of bush's nation of retards against the reality based community and gets bitch-slapped (like he should be every time he opens his mouth). The always charming and informative Juan Cole spoke too bluntly about the stupidity of the sing-songy, we-done-right-pat-ourselves-on-the-back bullshit the chickenhawks were crowing about after the Iraqi election and poor jonah just couldn't take it this lying down. So he opened his fat mouth and spewed a little bile . . . and Dr. Cole made him choke on his own foot.
I love an angry academic. If you are going to pick a fight with someone on whatever subject, don't pick a top expert in the field if you are not a top expert in said field. Being on tv does not mean you are smart and having been allowed by a producer to talk about something publicly doesn't mean you know anything about which that of which you speak.
Oh, Jonah . . . please, please debate Juan in a public forum. Please, this would be fun. Of course, Juan, be sure if you do debate him, remember to do what Al Fraken did when he backhanded the whiney o'reilly around on book tv: do it LIVE. If you don't, Punditopia's editing rooms are not kind to intelligent interlopers. Your ideas will be soundbitten to death.
but for now, Juan is in good company with who is weighing in on his behalf. I've read bits on the cage match on Kos, Escaton, and James Wolcott's blog. Mr. Wolcott does a particularly lovely and thorough job of play by play of the event. Perhaps it isn't over yet. A boy can dream...
anyway, the original smackdown:
Informed Comment
James Wolcott weighs in:
James Wolcott: Prof Harpoons Maroon
jonah stepped again, so Juan knocks his sorry ass back to the damn mat:
Informed Comment
Friday, February 04, 2005
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Bloggers against gonzales...
Kos has a petition/pledge/roll call for bloggers against gonzales as attorny general. It is hard not to endorse damn near anything which is against that creep.
"Unprecedented times call for unprecedented actions. In this case, we, the undersigned bloggers, have decided to speak as one and collectively author a document of opposition. We oppose the nomination of Alberto Gonzales to the position of Attorney General of the United States, and we urge every United States Senator to vote against him."
Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.
"Unprecedented times call for unprecedented actions. In this case, we, the undersigned bloggers, have decided to speak as one and collectively author a document of opposition. We oppose the nomination of Alberto Gonzales to the position of Attorney General of the United States, and we urge every United States Senator to vote against him."
Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
religious 'leaders' call a spade a spade (and then call a sponge a fag): "Hood-rat, hood-rat, hoochie-mama..."
finally the religious assholes that annoy the rest of us and love the chimp in chief are starting to pay a little closer attention and annoying their beloved leader for a while.
Tbogg points out that they are sending him letters calling his daughters...um, 'classy' is not the word they would have chosen.
jenna and notjenna bimbos of babylon
something to smile about on this dark day.
In other religious nutcase news, Dobson (or as James Wolcott says, SpongeDob Stickypants) is turning on Sponge Bob. Guess what dvd's my nieces are getting for their birthday? It beats the hell out of that veggietale crap that I was forced to watch over the break.
Tbogg points out that they are sending him letters calling his daughters...um, 'classy' is not the word they would have chosen.
jenna and notjenna bimbos of babylon
something to smile about on this dark day.
In other religious nutcase news, Dobson (or as James Wolcott says, SpongeDob Stickypants) is turning on Sponge Bob. Guess what dvd's my nieces are getting for their birthday? It beats the hell out of that veggietale crap that I was forced to watch over the break.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Maybe the president is right for once: of the young and our trust for the government
Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo does a great job of countering the nekkid emperor's continuing assertions that social security is falling apart and will die a swift and inglorious death unless he swoops down and saves us from ourselves (like he did in Iraq). He quotes the president on the youth perspective on the whole mess:
> Today the president said: "Most younger people in America think they'll >never see a dime [from Social Security]. Probably an exaggeration to a certain >extent. But a lot of people who are young, who understand how Social >Security works, really do wonder whether they'll see anything."
Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: January 09, 2005 - January 15, 2005 Archives
Josh explains quite well why the president is wrong, and I agree with his points, but in a different way the president is right (although it doesn't support his assertions): most young people don't expect social security to be there for us.
But not because we think the system itself is flawed, but rather because we know there are folks like the president in the government whittling away at anything that is good and precisely for that reason we do not trust the government. Period. I believe that there are any number of programs that work amazingly well and should be expanded, but if I go away and come back later I don't trust that things will still be where I left it. After Nixon and Reagan (and in certain ways Clinton; the first bush just really didn't seem organized enough to change a table setting) and Vietnam and the Iran-Contra crap, faith in our government isn't exactly soaring and this isn't an attitude that we acquired; we have been raised with it. Our default expectation for the government is failure.
We have to be heartily convinced that any program that we have not had personal, direct interaction with is good and no twenty-something knows anything of social security personally except that some of our money goes there from every check. We are not a generation that believes in institutions or public figures.
But we love the things we feel we can trust (institutionwise, I personally only really allow myself the indulgence of trusting National Geographic, which may seem silly or trivial, but you have to hang on to something and I think I have picked well) and don't have an aversion to stability. We just expect otherwise.
Just look at how we approach employment. I do not expect to hold a single job for the rest of my life. I do not expect to stay at a single company or organization. I have already work at more varied things than can be counted on one's hand, and I think the same is true for most of my peers. How many different jobs did our parents have by 27?
So maybe lil' bush is right for once; we do not expect social security to be there when we get old. We expect him or someone like him to manage to destroy it long before then.
> Today the president said: "Most younger people in America think they'll >never see a dime [from Social Security]. Probably an exaggeration to a certain >extent. But a lot of people who are young, who understand how Social >Security works, really do wonder whether they'll see anything."
Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: January 09, 2005 - January 15, 2005 Archives
Josh explains quite well why the president is wrong, and I agree with his points, but in a different way the president is right (although it doesn't support his assertions): most young people don't expect social security to be there for us.
But not because we think the system itself is flawed, but rather because we know there are folks like the president in the government whittling away at anything that is good and precisely for that reason we do not trust the government. Period. I believe that there are any number of programs that work amazingly well and should be expanded, but if I go away and come back later I don't trust that things will still be where I left it. After Nixon and Reagan (and in certain ways Clinton; the first bush just really didn't seem organized enough to change a table setting) and Vietnam and the Iran-Contra crap, faith in our government isn't exactly soaring and this isn't an attitude that we acquired; we have been raised with it. Our default expectation for the government is failure.
We have to be heartily convinced that any program that we have not had personal, direct interaction with is good and no twenty-something knows anything of social security personally except that some of our money goes there from every check. We are not a generation that believes in institutions or public figures.
But we love the things we feel we can trust (institutionwise, I personally only really allow myself the indulgence of trusting National Geographic, which may seem silly or trivial, but you have to hang on to something and I think I have picked well) and don't have an aversion to stability. We just expect otherwise.
Just look at how we approach employment. I do not expect to hold a single job for the rest of my life. I do not expect to stay at a single company or organization. I have already work at more varied things than can be counted on one's hand, and I think the same is true for most of my peers. How many different jobs did our parents have by 27?
So maybe lil' bush is right for once; we do not expect social security to be there when we get old. We expect him or someone like him to manage to destroy it long before then.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Project Concern International: Helping children and families around the world
A friend who I haven't seen in years but live vicariously through their infrequent but lengthy updates just sent a personal request about tsunami relief. She spends most of her year on the water and spent much of this last year in areas hit by the tsunami. She wrote a personal message and forwarded on a message from a friend currently working in the region delivering aid. If you are interested in giving, please consider giving here (their letters follow):
Project Concern International: Helping children and families around the world
>From: heather t----- <*snip*>
>To: *snip*
>Subject: Here's how to HELP!
>Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 17:07:53 -0800 (PST)
>
>Hello all, Just when you think the lion is sleeping,
>she bites back with ferocity. Amazing how a tragedy in
>one part of the world can effect those miles and miles
>away. I am grateful that myself and my two great
>loves, John and Dancyn, weren't anywhere near the
>tsunamis. Unfortunately, many cruisers like to spend
>the winter season in Phuket and I am sure there are
>many that weren't so lucky. I recently heard on the
>radio that more people die from the lack of clean
>water and good medicine a year in those regions that
>we disdainfully refer to as the third world than all
>of the tsunami victims to date, but now we have a
>chance to really reach out and help those that we
>don't know, will never know, but are fellow citizens
>of the planet. A fellow cruiser friend, Chris, is
>currently in Bandi Aceh on Sumatra heading up relief
>work with Project Concern International, a grassroots
>organization based out of San Diego. His partner,
>Dana, will be joining him shortly. We met them in the
>Galapagos, were best friends at their wedding in the
>Marquesas (since we knew them the longest-2 months),
>and have had the joy of reuniting with them in Hawaii
>after they sailed up from Tahiti 2 months ago.
>According to Chris, there is a lot of money, a lot of
>help pouring into the affected areas, but
>unfortunately, it has remained concentrated in only a
>few places. Chris was sent to Sumatra and came up with
>the brillant idea to charter a ship (once a sailor,
>always a sailor) and deliver supplies to the thousands
>of people in outlying areas that still remain without
>water, food, and medical help. If you donating funds
>to relief efforts, consider giving directly to Project
>Concern International (see below) because you know for
>certain your money will be used to its fullest.
>I know that in today's world if we only put as much
>zest into making peace as we do fighting wars and
>creating capital, such events would have less impact
>on everyone.
>Health and peace to all, Heather
>
>
>Dear family and friends,
>
>As you all know, we are in the midst of a tragedy that
>is beyond our
>collective capacity to put accurately into words. It
>is being called the
>worst natural disaster of the last 100 years. Veteran
>relief workers,
>foreign journalists and military personnel are
>consistent in their response
>– they have never seen anything that compares to the
>destruction that this
>has caused. Hiroshima has been the best point of
>reference to describe
>what
>has happened. But in the end, the tsunami is just
>another destructive
>force
>that has sapped the life and livelihood out of those
>who had little to
>start
>with. It will take years to rebuild and many will
>never recover from the
>physical and emotional trauma this event has caused.
>This past week,
>Project Concern International (the organization I
>worked for prior to going
>sailing) asked me to go to Indonesia to lead our
>disaster response. I
>am
>currently in Jakarta but will leave for Ache, ground
>zero for the
>earthquake/tsunami destruction, today. It is likely
>that Dana will also
>come out to help with me within the coming months.
>Our initial priority
>and
>focus will be to get to areas currently out of reach
>from the massive amount
>of supplies flooding into the region. Ironically,
>just when I thought
>I was
>retiring from sailing, I will soon find myself back on
>a boat. PCI is
>in
>the process of chartering an 800 ton capacity steel
>schooner to bring
>supplies and medical assistance to those who have thus
>far been inaccessible
>by modern craft and land transport.
>
>I have never asked family or friends to support my
>causes but I am asking
>now. We need your help. I need your help. You can
>directly link to
>www.projectconcern.org and find out how
>to
>donate or call 858 279-9690. I will be out of touch
>for awhile but thank
>you
>in advance for any support you can provide.
>
>Chris Bessenecker
>
>
Project Concern International: Helping children and families around the world
>From: heather t----- <*snip*>
>To: *snip*
>Subject: Here's how to HELP!
>Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 17:07:53 -0800 (PST)
>
>Hello all, Just when you think the lion is sleeping,
>she bites back with ferocity. Amazing how a tragedy in
>one part of the world can effect those miles and miles
>away. I am grateful that myself and my two great
>loves, John and Dancyn, weren't anywhere near the
>tsunamis. Unfortunately, many cruisers like to spend
>the winter season in Phuket and I am sure there are
>many that weren't so lucky. I recently heard on the
>radio that more people die from the lack of clean
>water and good medicine a year in those regions that
>we disdainfully refer to as the third world than all
>of the tsunami victims to date, but now we have a
>chance to really reach out and help those that we
>don't know, will never know, but are fellow citizens
>of the planet. A fellow cruiser friend, Chris, is
>currently in Bandi Aceh on Sumatra heading up relief
>work with Project Concern International, a grassroots
>organization based out of San Diego. His partner,
>Dana, will be joining him shortly. We met them in the
>Galapagos, were best friends at their wedding in the
>Marquesas (since we knew them the longest-2 months),
>and have had the joy of reuniting with them in Hawaii
>after they sailed up from Tahiti 2 months ago.
>According to Chris, there is a lot of money, a lot of
>help pouring into the affected areas, but
>unfortunately, it has remained concentrated in only a
>few places. Chris was sent to Sumatra and came up with
>the brillant idea to charter a ship (once a sailor,
>always a sailor) and deliver supplies to the thousands
>of people in outlying areas that still remain without
>water, food, and medical help. If you donating funds
>to relief efforts, consider giving directly to Project
>Concern International (see below) because you know for
>certain your money will be used to its fullest.
>I know that in today's world if we only put as much
>zest into making peace as we do fighting wars and
>creating capital, such events would have less impact
>on everyone.
>Health and peace to all, Heather
>
>
>Dear family and friends,
>
>As you all know, we are in the midst of a tragedy that
>is beyond our
>collective capacity to put accurately into words. It
>is being called the
>worst natural disaster of the last 100 years. Veteran
>relief workers,
>foreign journalists and military personnel are
>consistent in their response
>– they have never seen anything that compares to the
>destruction that this
>has caused. Hiroshima has been the best point of
>reference to describe
>what
>has happened. But in the end, the tsunami is just
>another destructive
>force
>that has sapped the life and livelihood out of those
>who had little to
>start
>with. It will take years to rebuild and many will
>never recover from the
>physical and emotional trauma this event has caused.
>This past week,
>Project Concern International (the organization I
>worked for prior to going
>sailing) asked me to go to Indonesia to lead our
>disaster response. I
>am
>currently in Jakarta but will leave for Ache, ground
>zero for the
>earthquake/tsunami destruction, today. It is likely
>that Dana will also
>come out to help with me within the coming months.
>Our initial priority
>and
>focus will be to get to areas currently out of reach
>from the massive amount
>of supplies flooding into the region. Ironically,
>just when I thought
>I was
>retiring from sailing, I will soon find myself back on
>a boat. PCI is
>in
>the process of chartering an 800 ton capacity steel
>schooner to bring
>supplies and medical assistance to those who have thus
>far been inaccessible
>by modern craft and land transport.
>
>I have never asked family or friends to support my
>causes but I am asking
>now. We need your help. I need your help. You can
>directly link to
>www.projectconcern.org and find out how
>to
>donate or call 858 279-9690. I will be out of touch
>for awhile but thank
>you
>in advance for any support you can provide.
>
>Chris Bessenecker
>
>
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Monday, December 13, 2004
Gerald Allen: the blood on his hands.
Once again I am proud to be from Alabama. The state I love comes up with new and more insane ways to aggressively defend the national and international perception of it being the most bigoted backwards-ass place on the planet. Thank you, representative gerald allen (tuscaloosa, 50 miles from my parents' home) for making sure that bigotry remains the number one association that people have when they hear the word "alabama".
a little on how he has done us so proud (from the Guardian)
Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | 'We have to protect people'
>What should we do with US classics like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or The Color Purple? "Dig a hole," Gerald Allen recommends, "and dump them in it." Don't laugh. Gerald Allen's book-burying opinions are not a joke.
Earlier this week, Allen got a call from Washington. He will be meeting with President Bush on Monday. I asked him if this was his first invitation to the White House. "Oh no," he laughs. "It's my fifth meeting with Mr Bush."
Bush is interested in Allen's opinions because Allen is an elected Republican representative in the Alabama state legislature. He is Bush's base. Last week, Bush's base introduced a bill that would ban the use of state funds to purchase any books or other materials that "promote homosexuality". Allen does not want taxpayers' money to support "positive depictions of homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle". That's why Tennessee Williams and Alice Walker have got to go.
I ask Allen what prompted this bill. Was one of his children exposed to something in school that he considered inappropriate? Did he see some flamingly gay book displayed prominently at the public library?
No, nothing like that. "It was election day," he explains. Last month, "14 states passed referendums defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman". Exit polls asked people what they considered the most important issue, and "moral values in this country" were "the top of the list".<
By 'moral values' did you mean anything about caring for the poor, or helping the sick, or caring for the depressed and hurt among you? When you invoke moral values, are you invoking caring for your fellow man as you do for yourself? Does this mean calling for honesty and openness from our public officials and holding them accountable for how their policies affect our fellow man, at home and abroad?
No, when you say 'moral values' you mean 'bigotry'. Plain and simple, the 'moral values' vote was the bigot vote. You meant ostracizing and punishing the 'different' people. It is harder these days to get away with flat out, overt racism (although you already know how I feel about folks who like to say it isn't still a problem), so cultural bigotry is the new, acceptible racism (find Mason's rant in the archives on Abu Ghraib for more on this). Domestically, homos are the big easy target.
And when the representatives put us in their bullseye, so do others. Other alabamians decided to skip the book burnings and go straight on to burning the faggots:
Scotty Joe Weaver and Billy Jack Gaither
Billy Jack was killed around the time of Matthew Shepard, but he was older and less pretty, so the national media didn't really care when he was beaten to death and burned on a pile of kerosene soaked tires. Only the gay media really covered it at all and alabama turned a largely blind eye to what happened.
So it happened again. Scotty Joe was attacked and killed and burned as well. And yes these deaths happened before you got it in your fool mind that there should be no positive representations of homosexuals available to kids in alabama, and no you didn't commit these crimes, representative allen, but when you say there should be no positive representation of us available, you are painting a big bullseye on the head of every poor gay kid who stays stuck in what you are determined to keep a violent, bigoted backwater of a state. The blood of these men is on your hands and so will be the blood of the next. You are loading bullets in the guns that troubled homosexual adolescents will be blowing their own brains out with; you are pouring the kerosene on the pile of tires that will be used to burn the next victim.
Lynching niggers is out, so lets burn the faggots.
You can cry all you want that that isn't what you meant, but you be very sure of this: it is what you are doing.
And you better be very thankful of your relationship with Jesus, because he is the only one who might forgive you.
And yes, I do take this very personally. I got out in one piece, but it wasn't a given that I would and there were more than a few that I know that didn't. I am well educated and mobile and able to chose where I live and who I surround myself with, but that is not the option available to every (or even most) gay kid(s). The average gay person isn't like the representations on Will and Grace. Most gay people aren't wealthy and happy and educated. Plenty of us are, because we aren't given much of a choice (find a way out or die), but so many more are still hacking it out in hostile environments. Being able to get married isn't their biggest issue and whether or not the hot guy at the gym noticed them or which party they should go to are not their biggest dilemmas. Their lives just became a little more dangerous.
a little on how he has done us so proud (from the Guardian)
Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | 'We have to protect people'
>What should we do with US classics like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or The Color Purple? "Dig a hole," Gerald Allen recommends, "and dump them in it." Don't laugh. Gerald Allen's book-burying opinions are not a joke.
Earlier this week, Allen got a call from Washington. He will be meeting with President Bush on Monday. I asked him if this was his first invitation to the White House. "Oh no," he laughs. "It's my fifth meeting with Mr Bush."
Bush is interested in Allen's opinions because Allen is an elected Republican representative in the Alabama state legislature. He is Bush's base. Last week, Bush's base introduced a bill that would ban the use of state funds to purchase any books or other materials that "promote homosexuality". Allen does not want taxpayers' money to support "positive depictions of homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle". That's why Tennessee Williams and Alice Walker have got to go.
I ask Allen what prompted this bill. Was one of his children exposed to something in school that he considered inappropriate? Did he see some flamingly gay book displayed prominently at the public library?
No, nothing like that. "It was election day," he explains. Last month, "14 states passed referendums defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman". Exit polls asked people what they considered the most important issue, and "moral values in this country" were "the top of the list".<
By 'moral values' did you mean anything about caring for the poor, or helping the sick, or caring for the depressed and hurt among you? When you invoke moral values, are you invoking caring for your fellow man as you do for yourself? Does this mean calling for honesty and openness from our public officials and holding them accountable for how their policies affect our fellow man, at home and abroad?
No, when you say 'moral values' you mean 'bigotry'. Plain and simple, the 'moral values' vote was the bigot vote. You meant ostracizing and punishing the 'different' people. It is harder these days to get away with flat out, overt racism (although you already know how I feel about folks who like to say it isn't still a problem), so cultural bigotry is the new, acceptible racism (find Mason's rant in the archives on Abu Ghraib for more on this). Domestically, homos are the big easy target.
And when the representatives put us in their bullseye, so do others. Other alabamians decided to skip the book burnings and go straight on to burning the faggots:
Scotty Joe Weaver and Billy Jack Gaither
Billy Jack was killed around the time of Matthew Shepard, but he was older and less pretty, so the national media didn't really care when he was beaten to death and burned on a pile of kerosene soaked tires. Only the gay media really covered it at all and alabama turned a largely blind eye to what happened.
So it happened again. Scotty Joe was attacked and killed and burned as well. And yes these deaths happened before you got it in your fool mind that there should be no positive representations of homosexuals available to kids in alabama, and no you didn't commit these crimes, representative allen, but when you say there should be no positive representation of us available, you are painting a big bullseye on the head of every poor gay kid who stays stuck in what you are determined to keep a violent, bigoted backwater of a state. The blood of these men is on your hands and so will be the blood of the next. You are loading bullets in the guns that troubled homosexual adolescents will be blowing their own brains out with; you are pouring the kerosene on the pile of tires that will be used to burn the next victim.
Lynching niggers is out, so lets burn the faggots.
You can cry all you want that that isn't what you meant, but you be very sure of this: it is what you are doing.
And you better be very thankful of your relationship with Jesus, because he is the only one who might forgive you.
And yes, I do take this very personally. I got out in one piece, but it wasn't a given that I would and there were more than a few that I know that didn't. I am well educated and mobile and able to chose where I live and who I surround myself with, but that is not the option available to every (or even most) gay kid(s). The average gay person isn't like the representations on Will and Grace. Most gay people aren't wealthy and happy and educated. Plenty of us are, because we aren't given much of a choice (find a way out or die), but so many more are still hacking it out in hostile environments. Being able to get married isn't their biggest issue and whether or not the hot guy at the gym noticed them or which party they should go to are not their biggest dilemmas. Their lives just became a little more dangerous.
I am sad tonight...
I haven't really used this whole blog thing much for personal emoting; generally not my thing. I am much better at bitching about politics and such. But everyone else in the house is asleep and I am sad.
The things I want to say and can't won't let me sleep.
A child at camp who claimed to be able to see others' auras, once told me my aura was black and looked creeped out like if he looked at me too long his soul would be sucked away. He had been telling everyone else that their auras were happy pretty colors and meant fun nice things like they were very understanding or good empathizers or were more interesting than they first appeared. And he told everyone about their 'psychic' abilities. "You sometime can feel things before they happen" or "Your orange inner aura reveals that you have strong psychic powers" or whatever. All the kids were eating the shit up, whch was amusing and all and we were having to wait while folks did some individual stuff in the diving class we were teaching, so anything that keeps the idle kids from trying to entertain themselves was a welcome diversion even if half a dozen teenage girls trying to practice their psychic abilities can quickly become annoying.
Point being, after looking at me in horror and declaring my aura (inner/outer/all of it) black, one of the other kids asked if I had any psychic ability, to which he responded, "No, he has absolutely no psychic ability whatsoever. None, not a bit." which struck me as a bit rude and the kids started making fun until he followed up with, "He doesn't need any; he just knows things." That struck me as kind of nice.
but as our title declares, sometimes awareness is painful.
sometimes i wish i didn't just know things.
tonight i wish i didn't.
but i do and sleep won't come.
The things I want to say and can't won't let me sleep.
A child at camp who claimed to be able to see others' auras, once told me my aura was black and looked creeped out like if he looked at me too long his soul would be sucked away. He had been telling everyone else that their auras were happy pretty colors and meant fun nice things like they were very understanding or good empathizers or were more interesting than they first appeared. And he told everyone about their 'psychic' abilities. "You sometime can feel things before they happen" or "Your orange inner aura reveals that you have strong psychic powers" or whatever. All the kids were eating the shit up, whch was amusing and all and we were having to wait while folks did some individual stuff in the diving class we were teaching, so anything that keeps the idle kids from trying to entertain themselves was a welcome diversion even if half a dozen teenage girls trying to practice their psychic abilities can quickly become annoying.
Point being, after looking at me in horror and declaring my aura (inner/outer/all of it) black, one of the other kids asked if I had any psychic ability, to which he responded, "No, he has absolutely no psychic ability whatsoever. None, not a bit." which struck me as a bit rude and the kids started making fun until he followed up with, "He doesn't need any; he just knows things." That struck me as kind of nice.
but as our title declares, sometimes awareness is painful.
sometimes i wish i didn't just know things.
tonight i wish i didn't.
but i do and sleep won't come.
Friday, December 10, 2004
He's too insensitive to notice discrimination, let's make him head of the civil rights panel.
Here is your reason to throw up for the day:
"I just assume somewhere in my life some knucklehead has looked at me and my brown self and said that they have given me less or denied me an opportunity," said the chairman, Gerald A. Reynolds, 41, an African-American lawyer. "But the bottom line is, and my wife will attest to this, I am so insensitive that I probably didn't notice."
The New York Times > National > Shift Toward Skepticism for Civil Rights Panel
A conservative black lawyer who says he has never noticed any discrimination in his life? Were he and dr. rice hatched out of the same damn pod?
A man who called affermative action "a big lie" is now in charge of the government watchdog panel for civil rights. Yes, we can expect much from him.
Can we talk about affirmative action for a minute? This back to my earlier post on WASPs in this country who are the biggest fucking babies about so much. Any time the scale isn't tipped in the white, christian's blatant favor on any issue, there is a call to arms. If one more comfortable upper middle-class butthole start crying over affirmative action to me, I am going to kick them in their shins. You don't get an advantage? It should all be merit based? Like hell you don't get an advantage and their are other things besides GPA's. The stinking nekkid emperor got everything in his life on affirmative action instead of merit. He got into an ivy league school because his father went there, not because of his grades. He got business deals, and hauled out of them when he was a miserable failure, because of who is father was. He got political backing and the 'extra' help he needed to take the presidency because of his family. He did not accomplish on thing on his own or by merit his whole life, but he will bitch about Affirmative Action. Affirmative action in my book is anything which gives you an advantage to help you get ahead which is not based on your personal accomplishments. He (and every middle-class white person in America) has recieved it in spades.
And for Mr. Reynolds, you take a good look around and you will see the bigotry. This last election hinged on it. But really, man, just because every instance hasn't crippled you doesn't mean it isn't there. You are from New York? Do you ever take cabs? No, they aren't that tough to hail. If you are in the city, watch a black person, well dressed or not, try to hail a cab. I have on more than one occassion seen cabs with their lights on drive past a black man in a suit just to pick up a white kid in ratty jeans down the block. Trouble with cabs may be an annoying thing, more than threatening, but it is symptomatic.
Racism is not what it was in 1950, but if you think it doesn't play a role in your daily life today, you are an idiot. You can refuse to let it stop you or weigh on your mind and choose to just do with what you have. Fine, all admirable options, but don't try to tell everyone that they are crazy and life is fair and race isn't an issue any more in America.
"I just assume somewhere in my life some knucklehead has looked at me and my brown self and said that they have given me less or denied me an opportunity," said the chairman, Gerald A. Reynolds, 41, an African-American lawyer. "But the bottom line is, and my wife will attest to this, I am so insensitive that I probably didn't notice."
The New York Times > National > Shift Toward Skepticism for Civil Rights Panel
A conservative black lawyer who says he has never noticed any discrimination in his life? Were he and dr. rice hatched out of the same damn pod?
A man who called affermative action "a big lie" is now in charge of the government watchdog panel for civil rights. Yes, we can expect much from him.
Can we talk about affirmative action for a minute? This back to my earlier post on WASPs in this country who are the biggest fucking babies about so much. Any time the scale isn't tipped in the white, christian's blatant favor on any issue, there is a call to arms. If one more comfortable upper middle-class butthole start crying over affirmative action to me, I am going to kick them in their shins. You don't get an advantage? It should all be merit based? Like hell you don't get an advantage and their are other things besides GPA's. The stinking nekkid emperor got everything in his life on affirmative action instead of merit. He got into an ivy league school because his father went there, not because of his grades. He got business deals, and hauled out of them when he was a miserable failure, because of who is father was. He got political backing and the 'extra' help he needed to take the presidency because of his family. He did not accomplish on thing on his own or by merit his whole life, but he will bitch about Affirmative Action. Affirmative action in my book is anything which gives you an advantage to help you get ahead which is not based on your personal accomplishments. He (and every middle-class white person in America) has recieved it in spades.
And for Mr. Reynolds, you take a good look around and you will see the bigotry. This last election hinged on it. But really, man, just because every instance hasn't crippled you doesn't mean it isn't there. You are from New York? Do you ever take cabs? No, they aren't that tough to hail. If you are in the city, watch a black person, well dressed or not, try to hail a cab. I have on more than one occassion seen cabs with their lights on drive past a black man in a suit just to pick up a white kid in ratty jeans down the block. Trouble with cabs may be an annoying thing, more than threatening, but it is symptomatic.
Racism is not what it was in 1950, but if you think it doesn't play a role in your daily life today, you are an idiot. You can refuse to let it stop you or weigh on your mind and choose to just do with what you have. Fine, all admirable options, but don't try to tell everyone that they are crazy and life is fair and race isn't an issue any more in America.
Monday, December 06, 2004
sick and tired christian 'victims'
My cousin sends from time to time what are often the most obnoxious stupid forwards I have ever read. The silly forward-this-and-microsoft-will-give-you-money letters are annoying, but easily enough deleted without ruffling my feathers. It is the white-people-who-call-themselves-christians-and-worship-a-fictional-version-of-the-past-but-now-cast-themselves-as-victims letters that make me want to puke.
For two main reasons:
1) If you are a christian, white person in America, any oppression you may feel has nothing to do with either being christian or white. If anything, you are given advatages that other people can only dream of. If you are truly being oppressed or marginalized, it is because of your lack of wealth or education or both. Otherwise, you are probably just whining and you need to stop bitching about the way things used to be and be happy about what you have and help those who have less.
If you find that people have a negative reaction to you because you are a christian, you might take a good hard look at what kind of christian you are. Saying you are a christian and running around swinging your religion like a weapon won't make you any friends except among the other greedy, warring types. Most people I know who wear their christian mantle like a banner wouldn't think twice about passing a homeless person who is begging in the streets without so much as looking their way. Everyone seems to have lost their 'WWJD?' bracelets these days, which leads to my second complaint...
2) If you claim Christianity as your faith and Christ as your spiritual leader, but do not give to the poor, you are a hollow excuse for a Christian. When I say give to the poor, I mean truly give when someone needs without all the stupid judgemental excuses and contorted reasons for not helping. What do YOU do? If you are wealthy and comfortable, you have no (nada, none, zero) place lecturing anyone else about Christian values. You can share your abundance, you can share your peace and your joy, you can offer to help them, but shut the hell up about how you deserve what you have and how others should work harder and how the lord blesses you.
In the letter that my cousin sent today that got me all twisted and pissed off, it included this line:
"Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights."
WTF?!?! "Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek..." is damn near the stupidest rant I have ever heard. Turning the other cheek wasn't supposed to be fun or easy. It was supposed to be the right thing to do. It was supposed to be a testament to your selflessness and your faith in God. It was supposed to be symbolic of your faith in God's plan, an unflinching personal response to worldly conflict. These sad misguided invocations of bastardized christian values are pathetic and craven at best. 'Blasphemous' is probably the better description.
Too many people do not want to believe in free will or personal responsibility. They want their 'christianity' handed to them, inherited from their superior parents and as a testament to having been chosen. Christianity is not a birthright or a weapon. Those who treat it as either belittle and slander what is beautiful in its message.
For two main reasons:
1) If you are a christian, white person in America, any oppression you may feel has nothing to do with either being christian or white. If anything, you are given advatages that other people can only dream of. If you are truly being oppressed or marginalized, it is because of your lack of wealth or education or both. Otherwise, you are probably just whining and you need to stop bitching about the way things used to be and be happy about what you have and help those who have less.
If you find that people have a negative reaction to you because you are a christian, you might take a good hard look at what kind of christian you are. Saying you are a christian and running around swinging your religion like a weapon won't make you any friends except among the other greedy, warring types. Most people I know who wear their christian mantle like a banner wouldn't think twice about passing a homeless person who is begging in the streets without so much as looking their way. Everyone seems to have lost their 'WWJD?' bracelets these days, which leads to my second complaint...
2) If you claim Christianity as your faith and Christ as your spiritual leader, but do not give to the poor, you are a hollow excuse for a Christian. When I say give to the poor, I mean truly give when someone needs without all the stupid judgemental excuses and contorted reasons for not helping. What do YOU do? If you are wealthy and comfortable, you have no (nada, none, zero) place lecturing anyone else about Christian values. You can share your abundance, you can share your peace and your joy, you can offer to help them, but shut the hell up about how you deserve what you have and how others should work harder and how the lord blesses you.
In the letter that my cousin sent today that got me all twisted and pissed off, it included this line:
"Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights."
WTF?!?! "Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek..." is damn near the stupidest rant I have ever heard. Turning the other cheek wasn't supposed to be fun or easy. It was supposed to be the right thing to do. It was supposed to be a testament to your selflessness and your faith in God. It was supposed to be symbolic of your faith in God's plan, an unflinching personal response to worldly conflict. These sad misguided invocations of bastardized christian values are pathetic and craven at best. 'Blasphemous' is probably the better description.
Too many people do not want to believe in free will or personal responsibility. They want their 'christianity' handed to them, inherited from their superior parents and as a testament to having been chosen. Christianity is not a birthright or a weapon. Those who treat it as either belittle and slander what is beautiful in its message.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
the cake that is baking...
Josh Marshall over at talkingpointsmemo has been talking about the need for the democrats to position themselves as a true opposition party. I really couldn't agree with him more (although he might put it a little differently than I do).
The dems in congress really have to learn (as Charlie Pierce has been imploring them for sometime now) to just say 'no'. Wouldn't Nancy be proud? But seriously, let them (the republicans and such) have their cake and eat it too. The one they are baking now is not going to taste very good.
For God's sake just refuse to do a damn thing if they aren't going to listen and scream bloody hell about how they are screwing everything up! Really, just say no. They can pass what they want without you, so why the hell not take the moral high ground and keep your names off some of their crap legislation? Support the good stuff and tell them to take a hike when they present shit. I know there will be hemming and hawing and plenty of arm twisting; fine. Just make sure that at the end of the day, when it goes on the record, when the majority party is trying to flex their muscle that you say "I object."
It's their cake. Let them have it. Don't help them ice it, don't help them cut it, don't help them serve it. They chose the ingredients and how to cook it, let them eat it. You aren't the head cooks anymore but you better make it loud and clear that you know and accept that or they will be blaming their burnt shit on you.
The dems in congress really have to learn (as Charlie Pierce has been imploring them for sometime now) to just say 'no'. Wouldn't Nancy be proud? But seriously, let them (the republicans and such) have their cake and eat it too. The one they are baking now is not going to taste very good.
For God's sake just refuse to do a damn thing if they aren't going to listen and scream bloody hell about how they are screwing everything up! Really, just say no. They can pass what they want without you, so why the hell not take the moral high ground and keep your names off some of their crap legislation? Support the good stuff and tell them to take a hike when they present shit. I know there will be hemming and hawing and plenty of arm twisting; fine. Just make sure that at the end of the day, when it goes on the record, when the majority party is trying to flex their muscle that you say "I object."
It's their cake. Let them have it. Don't help them ice it, don't help them cut it, don't help them serve it. They chose the ingredients and how to cook it, let them eat it. You aren't the head cooks anymore but you better make it loud and clear that you know and accept that or they will be blaming their burnt shit on you.
Monday, November 29, 2004
burned food items as religious icons...(or 'for-sale-piety might as well be edible')
Thank God (who may or may not chose to reveal him/herself to you in your food) there is no end to coverage of the Mary on the sandwich being sold on ebay, since otherwise there would be nothing worth reporting. I guess the sarcasm falls flat when this is the subject on which I chose to comment after barely writing anything for a couple of weeks, but there are several things I find interesting and annoying about this.
I really don't mind some lady sincerely believing that Mary has come to her in her grilled cheese. Despite a protestant upbringing which frowns upon... well, damn near everything (mostly southern baptist, but thankfully also a little Methodist), but particularly on stuff such as superstitious beliefs, I totally find little signs comforting in everyday life. I have a Hello Kitty! toaster which burns her face into my bread each morning and I completely take how clearly the face burns into the bread as a direct omen towards how my day is going to go. No, I don't stay at home if my toasts burns or the face is indistiguishable, but it is one of those silly little things that makes my life a little easier. Frankly, compared to many of our institutions, superstition isn't looking so bad these days. (note: by superstition I do not mean to be derisive, but rather using it as a catch-all for finding spiritual significance or control in the way everyday, not explicitly religious or spiritual activities, and not in a holistic, 'everything is spiritual' kind of way but rather a event specific omen/talisman kind of way)
I kind of do find annoying (ok, I find it insanely annoying)the idea that someone believes God appeared to them in their snack and then subsequently believes it a good idea to sale said direct divine communique to the highest bidder. But I guess if folks auctioning off their piety for personal gain has to be on the news, I'll take the grilled cheese lady over james dobson or jerry faldwell or pat robertson or the nekkid emperor. She at least seems more sincere and I imagine her 13 year old grilled cheese would be easier to stomach.
Really though, if we need people who find pictures in food on tv, can somebody find that great lady who used to come on the tonight show with her collection of potato chips that looked like celebrities?
I really don't mind some lady sincerely believing that Mary has come to her in her grilled cheese. Despite a protestant upbringing which frowns upon... well, damn near everything (mostly southern baptist, but thankfully also a little Methodist), but particularly on stuff such as superstitious beliefs, I totally find little signs comforting in everyday life. I have a Hello Kitty! toaster which burns her face into my bread each morning and I completely take how clearly the face burns into the bread as a direct omen towards how my day is going to go. No, I don't stay at home if my toasts burns or the face is indistiguishable, but it is one of those silly little things that makes my life a little easier. Frankly, compared to many of our institutions, superstition isn't looking so bad these days. (note: by superstition I do not mean to be derisive, but rather using it as a catch-all for finding spiritual significance or control in the way everyday, not explicitly religious or spiritual activities, and not in a holistic, 'everything is spiritual' kind of way but rather a event specific omen/talisman kind of way)
I kind of do find annoying (ok, I find it insanely annoying)the idea that someone believes God appeared to them in their snack and then subsequently believes it a good idea to sale said direct divine communique to the highest bidder. But I guess if folks auctioning off their piety for personal gain has to be on the news, I'll take the grilled cheese lady over james dobson or jerry faldwell or pat robertson or the nekkid emperor. She at least seems more sincere and I imagine her 13 year old grilled cheese would be easier to stomach.
Really though, if we need people who find pictures in food on tv, can somebody find that great lady who used to come on the tonight show with her collection of potato chips that looked like celebrities?
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Matters of importance...
I haven't been blogging much lately. Things have been busy and I haven't really had a whole lot of extra time near a computer. We all needed a little bit of a break after all the election crap and I am no exception. Having screamed my bloody head off for so many months (really, I think I have been screaming for as long as I can remember, and given how things are looking, I see no end in sight), I had to turn my attention to matters of great importance which I had been neglecting. So over the last couple of weeks, I have repotted plants and brought in those that were still outside and gave the aquarium in my bedroom a makeover (it had basically been a swamp full of duckweed, Salvinia, hairgrass, and snails).
I moved my Brugmansia (angel's trumpet) indoors and am anxious to see how it will fair indoors. It had been badly battered by the wind and only bloomed right at the end of the summer. I cut it back and put it in a big planter and it is already sending out new leaves and seems happy so far. Our living room is well lit with southern exposure, so hopefully it will thrive. If I can get it to bloom indoors over the winter, I'm throwing a party.
My geraniums aren't quite so happy, but if they will hang on through the winter they will be huge when I start them again in the spring.
In my old established fish tank, my polypterus is protesting no longer having a regular supply of guppies to eat by targetting the arulius barbs. He has managed to take one down and leave a hole in another one's tail. These guys are full grown and several inches long, so this is no small accomplishment. They have been holy terrors since I first introduced them almost a year ago and at times wished Jackson (the polypterus) would just eat them and be done with it, but recently they had calmed down and started showing their adult coloration and the males' dorsal fins have grown out and I was enjoying them. I am feeding more often now and calling my friend with too many guppies to try to prevent further ichthycide.
I also took out the watersprite that had taken over the top of the tank and everything is looking so much better now. The tiny water lettuce and the riccia at the top have been growing great and look much better on the surface. The cryptocornes are spreading through the sand slowly and the java moss is finally attaching to the driftwood and rocks. (for those of you that are not fish/plant people, sorry, politics needed a break)
In the new tank in my room, after weeding back some of the existing plants and getting the substrate (sand) and water ready, I went a little insane with fish and plants. I noticed I had a little money in the bank and all my bills paid, and there were cute little South American puffers at the LFS, so I snapped them up and started populating the tank. Well, I moved three banjo cats in from smaller living quarters, and got a few new plants, and suddenly two SA puffers turned into 6 corydora, 2 marbled talking catfish, 8 glassfish, and 3 spiketail gouramis. A little overboard, but it is a nice sized tank and the fish seem happy and I can't stop watching the tank. Now comes the trouble with trying to not add anything else.
anyway, I'll get back to rants and snark soon enough, but the fish and plants are currently keeping me sane, so expect to hear about them from time to time.
I moved my Brugmansia (angel's trumpet) indoors and am anxious to see how it will fair indoors. It had been badly battered by the wind and only bloomed right at the end of the summer. I cut it back and put it in a big planter and it is already sending out new leaves and seems happy so far. Our living room is well lit with southern exposure, so hopefully it will thrive. If I can get it to bloom indoors over the winter, I'm throwing a party.
My geraniums aren't quite so happy, but if they will hang on through the winter they will be huge when I start them again in the spring.
In my old established fish tank, my polypterus is protesting no longer having a regular supply of guppies to eat by targetting the arulius barbs. He has managed to take one down and leave a hole in another one's tail. These guys are full grown and several inches long, so this is no small accomplishment. They have been holy terrors since I first introduced them almost a year ago and at times wished Jackson (the polypterus) would just eat them and be done with it, but recently they had calmed down and started showing their adult coloration and the males' dorsal fins have grown out and I was enjoying them. I am feeding more often now and calling my friend with too many guppies to try to prevent further ichthycide.
I also took out the watersprite that had taken over the top of the tank and everything is looking so much better now. The tiny water lettuce and the riccia at the top have been growing great and look much better on the surface. The cryptocornes are spreading through the sand slowly and the java moss is finally attaching to the driftwood and rocks. (for those of you that are not fish/plant people, sorry, politics needed a break)
In the new tank in my room, after weeding back some of the existing plants and getting the substrate (sand) and water ready, I went a little insane with fish and plants. I noticed I had a little money in the bank and all my bills paid, and there were cute little South American puffers at the LFS, so I snapped them up and started populating the tank. Well, I moved three banjo cats in from smaller living quarters, and got a few new plants, and suddenly two SA puffers turned into 6 corydora, 2 marbled talking catfish, 8 glassfish, and 3 spiketail gouramis. A little overboard, but it is a nice sized tank and the fish seem happy and I can't stop watching the tank. Now comes the trouble with trying to not add anything else.
anyway, I'll get back to rants and snark soon enough, but the fish and plants are currently keeping me sane, so expect to hear about them from time to time.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
ashcroft resigns!!! Ding dong, the witch is...being replaced.
Yes, one of the uglier witches is finally leaving Munchkinland, but unfortunately it isn't because a house landed on his head and it ain't Dorothy who got the slippers. Key player in bush's nation of retards, john ashcroft will be remembered fondly for such kind heart-warming things as indefinite detentions and the erosion of civil liberties. He truly has been a real, american douche-bag. I wish him all the best as he moves on to pursue a singing career.
But lest we be overjoyed and come crawling out of our flower and mushroom munchkin hiding places too quickly, he has been replaced by another dark overlord, alberto gonzales. Yes, that alberto gonzales. The man responsible for writing the legal opinion on how to toture folks and ditch the Geneva Convention and get away with it. Yes, this is obviously the person we want to be interpreting the constitution in an official capacity.
For all of you who want to scream, "but they are the bad guys; screw the Geneva Convention and they deserve to be tortured blah blah blah" remember this: when you see someone beheaded on tv, when you hear tales from our troops who get imprisoned who are tortured and treated like animals, when civilians are targeted in Iraq, our president had this man throw our grounds for moral objections to all this out the window. Oh yes, we the people can call these things monstrous (they absolutely are), but our president looked at them and said they don't matter. The Geneva Convention was the international aggreement that these things be considered war crimes and reprehensible. The man now interpretting the Constitution and our laws for the federal government disagrees.
More houses need to fall from the sky.
But lest we be overjoyed and come crawling out of our flower and mushroom munchkin hiding places too quickly, he has been replaced by another dark overlord, alberto gonzales. Yes, that alberto gonzales. The man responsible for writing the legal opinion on how to toture folks and ditch the Geneva Convention and get away with it. Yes, this is obviously the person we want to be interpreting the constitution in an official capacity.
For all of you who want to scream, "but they are the bad guys; screw the Geneva Convention and they deserve to be tortured blah blah blah" remember this: when you see someone beheaded on tv, when you hear tales from our troops who get imprisoned who are tortured and treated like animals, when civilians are targeted in Iraq, our president had this man throw our grounds for moral objections to all this out the window. Oh yes, we the people can call these things monstrous (they absolutely are), but our president looked at them and said they don't matter. The Geneva Convention was the international aggreement that these things be considered war crimes and reprehensible. The man now interpretting the Constitution and our laws for the federal government disagrees.
More houses need to fall from the sky.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Aversion to reality: congenital disorder, signs of early onset dementia, or product of faulty upbringing
I with that it could be as simple as any of those.
I have been thinking over and over again about the quote from the Suskind article where he describes being told about the short comings of the reality based community (I don't feel like linking to the article right now or searching out the exact quote, that is why you have google). It makes a creepy sense to me, but in a depressing-craven-bastardization-of-something-familiar kind of way.
I am happily the friend of willful delusion and imagination and life following art. I have often felt that the truth can be a brutal and unwieldy thing if not approached with consideration, but I have no great aversion to it. But those moves and shakers out there like mr. rove and co. who consider themselves free from the constraints of reality are no artists or visionaries. They are fat, lying little pigs rewriting the rules on the side of the barn at night, adding their "...but some are more equal than others," while we sleep.
But it is not that leaders can be selfish and greedy which is so disturbing; that is not new or special. It is also how complicit our populous can be. The feeling currently turning my stomach is not just that people believe this crap because they want to support our president and don't want to believe he could be as horrible as a clear view and analysis makes clear, but that people would rather know that horrible things are happening elsewhere in their name than see uncomfortable things up close.
In particular I am going back the gay crap that I have kind of been harping about lately. Actually, not just homosexuality, but any uncomfortable social issues which are used as political rallying cries (which currently seems to be homos and abortions). I hear people who use these as their starting points for judging any candidate and rarely get any sensible statement on either subject out of them. I understand that not everyone will feel the same way about these issues and I certainly don't see either in black and white, but when someone who has a rigid take on either usually doesn't have much of an understanding of it beyond their solid prejudice. They begin and end with not liking that the issue exists at all and are insanely drawn to whoever will reinforce this bigotry.
How can a person cling so dearly to hatred and ignorance? Again, I don't mind well thoughtout disagreement, but when a person begins and finishes arguements on subjects with "it's just not right" and refuses to try for any deeper understanding, I am left speechless and horrified, whether they are talking about homosexual, black people, immigrants, Muslims, whatever. I am beginning to get this sinking feeling in my stomach that part of the reason my parents and sister have considered voting for bush is that they are more comfortable with our country being mislead into a war and then bungling along with criminaly faulty leader ship than with having a gay son. Dead bodies on tv are less disturbing than gay couples, and the leader who will hem and haw the most and act the most condescending and uncomfortable with the subject draws their attention. Their discomfort is more dire than others' pain and deaths. This is my greatest fear. This is monstrous and I pray that I am wrong.
I hope that this does not describe my parents, but this does seem to put those who don't live in the reality based community in perspective. They live instead in the bigotry based community, the land where comfort is found in not being one of 'Them' and their are easy answers because there faith in a fast and easy way-things-are-supposed-to-be. I for one will take my difficult reality; you can have your easy bigotry, but try and make it reality and you are going to get a fucking fight. People are being patient right now and praying for the best, but not damn many people take too kindly to being pushed around any more. If you think fags can't fight or stand up for themselves, in the words of the much missed Wesley Willis, "Fuck with me and find out."
I have been thinking over and over again about the quote from the Suskind article where he describes being told about the short comings of the reality based community (I don't feel like linking to the article right now or searching out the exact quote, that is why you have google). It makes a creepy sense to me, but in a depressing-craven-bastardization-of-something-familiar kind of way.
I am happily the friend of willful delusion and imagination and life following art. I have often felt that the truth can be a brutal and unwieldy thing if not approached with consideration, but I have no great aversion to it. But those moves and shakers out there like mr. rove and co. who consider themselves free from the constraints of reality are no artists or visionaries. They are fat, lying little pigs rewriting the rules on the side of the barn at night, adding their "...but some are more equal than others," while we sleep.
But it is not that leaders can be selfish and greedy which is so disturbing; that is not new or special. It is also how complicit our populous can be. The feeling currently turning my stomach is not just that people believe this crap because they want to support our president and don't want to believe he could be as horrible as a clear view and analysis makes clear, but that people would rather know that horrible things are happening elsewhere in their name than see uncomfortable things up close.
In particular I am going back the gay crap that I have kind of been harping about lately. Actually, not just homosexuality, but any uncomfortable social issues which are used as political rallying cries (which currently seems to be homos and abortions). I hear people who use these as their starting points for judging any candidate and rarely get any sensible statement on either subject out of them. I understand that not everyone will feel the same way about these issues and I certainly don't see either in black and white, but when someone who has a rigid take on either usually doesn't have much of an understanding of it beyond their solid prejudice. They begin and end with not liking that the issue exists at all and are insanely drawn to whoever will reinforce this bigotry.
How can a person cling so dearly to hatred and ignorance? Again, I don't mind well thoughtout disagreement, but when a person begins and finishes arguements on subjects with "it's just not right" and refuses to try for any deeper understanding, I am left speechless and horrified, whether they are talking about homosexual, black people, immigrants, Muslims, whatever. I am beginning to get this sinking feeling in my stomach that part of the reason my parents and sister have considered voting for bush is that they are more comfortable with our country being mislead into a war and then bungling along with criminaly faulty leader ship than with having a gay son. Dead bodies on tv are less disturbing than gay couples, and the leader who will hem and haw the most and act the most condescending and uncomfortable with the subject draws their attention. Their discomfort is more dire than others' pain and deaths. This is my greatest fear. This is monstrous and I pray that I am wrong.
I hope that this does not describe my parents, but this does seem to put those who don't live in the reality based community in perspective. They live instead in the bigotry based community, the land where comfort is found in not being one of 'Them' and their are easy answers because there faith in a fast and easy way-things-are-supposed-to-be. I for one will take my difficult reality; you can have your easy bigotry, but try and make it reality and you are going to get a fucking fight. People are being patient right now and praying for the best, but not damn many people take too kindly to being pushed around any more. If you think fags can't fight or stand up for themselves, in the words of the much missed Wesley Willis, "Fuck with me and find out."
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