Alright, this just freaking rocks!

How amazing is it that reasoned people are getting the word out and gathering together? Of course many religious types would call this 'persecution', because people of delusion tend to use 'being disagreed with' and 'being persecuted' interchangably.

Here's to more atheist camps and more heroes willing to step up and spread the good news: there is no invisible superbeing who created everything and demands slavish obedience in return! Our destiny is our own! And now there's a place for kids who know the truth to get together for the summer. Awesome. Just freaking awesome.

My heart goes out to the Virginia Tech family today. It's sad that cowards go to such great lengths to hurt other people.

I've long eschewed making posts private. There are two good reasons for this:

1) Believe it or not, my real name is not 'dis_guys'. Very few people know of my online persona, and those are people I (more or less) trust.

2) I am not afraid. Bring it on.

( Tempted by Cynicism )

Wow. It's been so long...where to start? How about some month-by month highlights? Everybody likes highlights!

( Read on for the gory highlights )

Women have been complaining for years - rightly so - that media images provide unrealistic role models when it comes to body shape and proportions. But what about male images?

Body image is a tricky thing. If it's wrong to objectify women, then it's wrong to objectify men. If it's wrong to promote wispy-thin models as the ideal for women, then it is just as wrong to promote the ripped six-pack look as the ideal for men.

Some will attempt to argue that the stereotype for women is weakness, while men are stereotyped as strong. But you know what? A stereotype is a stereotype. An unrealistic image is an unrealistic image. Does it matter if the person feels inferior because she's not thin enough or if he's not 'hunky' enough? I've made this argument in the past and, sadly, been roundly booed by my feminist friends.

Now comes evidence that men have the same issues with media portrayals as do women. While this shouldn't surprise anyone - a human being is a human being, and all human beings have feelings - why do I think it will?

Steve Irwin, the naturalist and conservationist known as "The Crocodile Hunter", has died after being stung in the chest by a stingray.

My thoughts are with Terri Irwin and the couple's family.

I am a fan of Steve's work. Through all the often-hokey stunts and "Danja, danja, danja!", Irwin's genuine passion for the animals came through.

So long, Steve. You died doing what you love, and you will be missed.

This is, ultimately, where the age of cynicism and the cult of "personal responsibility" have led.

Say the cynics and the conservatives:

"Aw Gawd... The drama! Did you hurt yourself? Are you depressed? Tough shit. You're probably just faking it to get attention anyway. Now get out of my face. I'm going places, loser, and you're not. I don't have time to be bothered with you!"

Life in America is steadily going downhill. Compassion has become a dirty word as more and more twisted individuals come to believe discipline and cynicism solve every problem. They don't.

Shame.

Those who passed Washington's ridiculously harsh anti-smoker (let's call it what it is, please) initiative blew off arguments that bars and such would lose money with self-assured promises of the complete opposite.

Business will boom, they said! Why, the minute those nasty smokers are told they have to take it outside, the poor oppressed non-smokers (an 80% majority) will flock to the formerly smokey bars! Business will be better than ever!

Um, yeah. Not so much.

Now that proponents of the anti-smoker law have been proven wrong by objective evidence, will they:

A) Admit the error of their ways and seek repeal.

B) Admit they were wrong about the business effect, but continue to bleat about the "benefits" of their fisty law.

C) Lamely argue that those are only first-year results - it'll be different later! You'll see!

D) Shrug indifferently and insult smokers again while chuckling in a condescending manner.

My money is on some combination of C and D. I don't think anti-smoker zealots have ever admitted being wrong about their single-minded fervor, so no sense betting they will now - even when proven to be so.

I am a former smoker. I quit smoking in April 2005, before the mean-spirited initiative passed. I voted against it; it passed by a predictably large margin. The intolerant law bans smoking in bars, non-tribal casinos, private clubs, restaurants, and within 25 feet of any business' door or window.

While some restrictions on smoking are necessary for public health, the initiative went overboard. I have no doubt there will be more evidence of the experimental law's negative impact in the future; it will be interesting to see how the finger-wagging, anti-smoker evangelists react.

It will also be predictable.

("But think of the lives that are saved/more people will quit now/it's disgusting/smells bad/poor employees forced to breathe smoke/public danger/evil tobacco companies/allergies/shame on you/smokers are rude/health costs/blah blah blah")

Most likely successor: Banning deodorant, cologne, and perfume in public places. Same idea, same crowd, just a different PR campaign. Natch.

I break my silence to say: This is sick, twisted, disgusting, and just plain nauseating.

Well, someone had to tell 'em!

"...emotionally well-adjusted people earn higher incomes, live longer and have more satisfying personal lives."

Nice. In an era of glorified cynicism and dog-eat-dog irrationality, these two businesswomen get it --- nice sells. Mean doesn't.

Or, as I say in politics all the time, making enemies is no way to make friends.

So it's been over a month since I posted? Wha? Huh? *looks around, confused*

Anyway...I'm here now.

( A brief recap lies herein. )

I'm so glad we have good Christian men, like this one, protecting our nation.

God I miss Clinton. At least he wasn't a child molesting Republican scumbag.

These are the "morality police" Bush and his fellow fundies want to put in charge, folks.

Are you pissed yet?

Starring Faith...as Bambi.

It's really neato that religious types believe muttering in silence to a mythological being will help sick people heal, but they really don't want science poking its reality-based nose into that delusion.

Religious types should pray that science investigates no further...

I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted. Time is going so quickly!

County Dems are having our convention in a little over a week, and I'll be presenting the platform. I've been working with the Platform Committee, trying to make it as non-controversial as possible. That's not always so easy with such a Big Tent party; the platform has to appeal to the left, the middle, and the moderate right. If it doesn't, then every section becomes an argument waiting to happen.

Speaking of arguments, another typical right-wing liar was caught red-handed by the blogging community. Like any other child, of course, he simply whines about those who exposed him rather than accepting responsibility for his lie - after, of course, making lame excuses for why the photo was on his site to begin with.

Republicans. Blech.

It occurs to me...

Nothing ever blossoms because it is cast into harsh conditions and forced to survive on its own. Things may blossom in spite of such cruelty, but not as a result of it. Sadly, we live in a world in which too many will point at that which survives in spite of a cold environment and determine that harsh conditions are optimum instead of acknowledging the obvious; anything that survives in harsh conditions does so with adaptations which, in a normal environment, are maladaptive at best and destructive at worst.

Example: A feral cat has less chance of survival than a lap cat. The feral cat is not to be envied; the treasured pet (with vaccinations, food, companionship, shelter) lives the envied life. Would the feral feline 'kick ass' in a fight with the coddled cat? Perhaps (the feral has learned that the 'best' way to survive is to constantly maintain an aggressive posture - a trait which, ironically, will preclude its adoption into a safe home), but that outcome is by no means certain, particularly since the indoor cat may be in better overall health. Of course, it's not likely the pet and the feral will ever meet because the pet enjoys shelter --- and the so-called 'coddled' kitty will live the longer life as a result of the care it enjoys.

In the end, what is nurtured is what survives. If extended survival is considered a by-product of strength, then it is easy for even the most diminished intellect to grasp that deprivation does not, despite tortured logic to the contrary, lead to strength.

That which is healthy defeats that which is sick. That which is nurtured and supported is stronger than that which merely endures.

It's a shame when people choose to stop speaking to you for their own reasons...reasons which they have neither the character nor the courage to share. Some people are weak, though, and nothing can change that. They will repay kindness with evil because this is all they know. They confuse strength with the ability to cause harm, because this is all they understand.

In the end, these are their choices. They have the right to be wrong. All the rest of us can do is judge ourselves by the quality of our friends...and the qualities of those who aren't. It takes a lot of strength to consider another's feelings and needs as you do your own, and some just aren't up to the task.

I pity them.

So the sickos in South Dakota have rammed through a disgusting, anti-freedom attack on reproductive freedom.

It was only a matter of time. Reasoned people are rapidly becoming the minority, while self-proclaimed protectors of morality ascend to the same positions of power they held during the Crusades and the Inquisition.

I suppose it's all too rational to apply the argument of smokers to religion: "Do what you want in your home, but your rights stop where my nose begins."

If you believe abortion is oppositional to the dictates of some mythical deity, don't have one. You're wrong, but you have the right to be wrong. I will defend your right to be wrong. If anyone tries to force you to have an abortion, I'll be right there to help you in any way I can. You owe the same courtesy, the same respect, the same protection to those who choose otherwise.

It's simple. Too simple, apparently, for brains twisted by dogma to comprehend.

Oh, you'd never guess whose album debuted at No. 1 last week.

Yeah!!!!

And to think I was at a Manilow concert in 1982 when, while discussing the fad-at-the-time of 'New Wave', he said he considered his music to be a "Permanent Wave". Good goin', Bar.

Oh, that same album is at No. 3 this week - so still going strong!!

OK, so I just spent an hour typing the longest entry, including a recap of just about everything I've done for the past few weeks. Then I accidentally deleted it. Worse, LJ chose that moment to autosave, meaning the draft it saved was - voila - my blank page.

*sigh*

I'll have to try that again before another month goes by. Ha.

Seriously, to say things have been busy for me would be a remarkable understatement. Example: I went 350 minutes over my limit on my cell phone, using a plan that provides 1500 day minutes and unlimited night and weekend minutes. Oh, plus no charges when talking to folks who are using the same provider. Yup. A ton o'talkin.

So there it is - the short version of what was once a long post.

Actually there is much. A ton really. Lots and lots and lots. I'll speak in code so as to not give too much away, while at the same time not having to f-lock because...well...it goes against my nature to be exclusive.

( Read more... )