Tennessee makes me sadder still

Note: Oh. Hey. Sup? Me? Ehh, fecking pissed still.


Not even a mint chocolate coffee drink could combat my extreme sadness upon reading more fucking dumbness from my state. I mean, TN already makes me incredibly sad as you may know from hearing me talk about it for more than five minutes, and...you know Johnson City is awfully close to like 3 other states I could just run off to.

But things don't change.

Oh, the fucking dumbness from my state:

ACLU wants schools to unblock access to gay Web sites

Knox County's school system is among 107 in Tennessee targeted by the American Civil Liberties Union in a campaign to lift blocks to student access to nonsexual Web sites with information about "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues."

In a letter to officials of the school systems and the Tennessee Schools Cooperative, the ACLU says it will file lawsuits if the school systems do not develop, by April 29, a plan to unblock the "LGBT" filtering category "or any other category that blocks nonsexual Web sites advocating the fair treatment of LGBT people by the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year."

"Students at Knox County and Metro Nashville schools are being denied access to content that is protected speech under the First Amendment as well as the Tennessee state Constitution," said Tricia Herzfeld, staff attorney with the ACLU of Tennessee. "This kind of censorship does nothing but hurt students, whether they're being harassed at school and want to know about their legal rights or are just trying to finish an assignment for a class."

I suppose that falls more under "fucking baffling" than actually fucking dumb. Knox is in east TN in case you were wondering. Like Knoxville get it? Where you hear banjos and shit.

Oh I'm not surprised. I'm more mad at really over zealous school web censoring in general, blocking all sorts of informational sites. By my senior year I could barely use fucking Google in the library. I guess, I was in the library so why don't I look up some books, but I fucking hate high school libraries because they're usually so woefully understocked and disorganized (I fucking worked in ours, I know this shit).

Oh, but I guess that wasn't ignorant enough for you. Never fear, I have more fucking dumbness from my state. If this doesn't have you craving cyanide cookies and bleach tea I don't know what will:


Slavery proposal faces GOP opposition in Tennessee

NASHVILLE - A proposal for the Tennessee General Assembly to express regret for slavery and segregation laws faces a tough hurdle from Republican lawmakers in a House committee today.

Rep. Brenda Gilmore, a Nashville Democrat and main sponsor of the resolution to express "profound regret for the enslavement and racial segregation of African-Americans," ran into hard opposition from several members of the State and Local Government Committee when she spoke before the panel last week.

Republican Rep. Eric Watson, a sheriff's lieutenant in Bradley County, asked Gilmore to expand the resolution to cover all groups that have engaged in enslaving people through history.

"Let's do this for everybody, not just for a certain group of people," he said. "I know you don't want to get accused of profiling, I don't either."

Watson said others were enslaved in the 1800s, too, including Spanish and Chinese people.

Gilmore said she wants to focus on blacks because they were the most predominant group subject to slavery in the South. Six other states - Alabama, New Jersey, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia - have passed similar legislation.

Rep. Eric Swafford, a Pikeville Republican, also took issue with expressing regret specifically toward blacks.

"Once we start talking about an individual group of people, and that we should never forget what they have gone through - I don't think that promotes love and unity," he said. "I think that promotes division."

"THAT'S TOO CONFLICTY OMG OMG OMG GET IT AWAY"

Actually, fuck the both of you. I personally don't want an apology. You're not really sorry, either party.

Auuuughhh it buuuurrrns~ *sips mocha*

More PETA oddness

Well, let's face it, it's probably the LEAST they could do considering racist dog kennels and sea kittens, and I guess it actually kinda worked this time. Maybe PETA does have a plan:


PETA to Pet Shop Boys: Rescue Shelter Boys, perhaps?

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Just because they named their new CD "Yes," does not mean that British electro-pop duo, the Pet Shop Boys, will agree to just about anything.

The band has turned down a request from an animal rights group to rename itself the Rescue Shelter Boys.
The organization, the People for the Ethical Treatment for Animals (PETA), sent a letter to Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe acknowledging that its request, at first blush, might appear "bizarre."

But, by changing its name, the band could raise awareness at every tour stop of the "cramped, filthy conditions" that breeders keep animals in before selling them to pet stores, PETA said in its letter.

Rrriiight.

Excuse me, was you sayin somethin? Uh-uh, you can't tell PETA nuthin. HAH-HAAAH, you can't tell PETA nuthin.

Catholics, rest of the world to Pope: "Shut the fuck up!"

Oh this just warms my heart. A tip of the hat to this entry on Pam's Houseblend.

In light of Papa Benedicto XVI's embarrassing, dangerous, and inane comments on condoms, and everything ELSE HE'S DONE since his...uh...ascension? it seems all sorts of folks are just crawling out the woodwork all angry-like.

First, France & Germany told the Elder Thing to STFU, now it seems the Shepard's own flock are about to join together in a rousing rendition of "Bring 'Em Out". Okay, maybe not, but that'd be hilarious.

Vatican Insiders declare Pope a "disaster"

The Holy See is struggling to contain international anger over the Pope's claim on his first official visit to Africa that Aids "cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems".

The Pope's remarks about condoms, and a recent furore over his lifting of the 20-year excommunication of a British bishop who has questioned the Holocaust, has left him looking isolated and out of touch, prompting calls for a radical shake-up of the way the Holy See delivers its message.

The Pope is isolated and fails to adequately consult his advisers, said a Vatican source with 20 years' knowledge of the Holy See.

Another Vatican insider described Pope Benedict's four-year-old papacy as "a disaster", recalling the pontiff's previous inflammatory remarks on Islam and homosexuality.

"He's out of touch with the real world," the Italian insider said. "On the condom issue, for example, there are priests and bishops in Africa who accept that condoms are a key part of the fight against Aids, and yet the pope adheres to this very conservative line that they encourage promiscuity. The Vatican is far removed from the reality on the ground."

I think I can safely sum that up to "DO NOT WANT". I think this is my favorite piece from the whole thing (the link is mine for the good Papa):

The Holy See claimed that the Pope had no idea that British bishop Richard Williamson had denied the extent of the Holocaust, but critics have pointed out that a simple Google search would have uncovered the maverick's anti-Semitic views.

Yeeep. But don't worry, the Papa's foot soldiers aren't taking this unfair criticism from sensible Catholics lying down, oh no:

We learned this morning that "Vatican insiders" consider Benedict XVI "a disaster". It's true. They do think that. He's a disaster for them, and their determination to turn the Catholic Church into a touchy-feely forum in which uncomfortable teachings and traditions are "modernised" to impress non-Catholics. Until the Williamson affair, the media weren't sufficiently interested in attacking Benedict XVI to be useful. But now, after that own goal... YES!!!

Take the furore over condoms. I don't think the Pope should have strayed into the topic of condoms and Aids, but what he said didn't represent a hardening of the Church's line on this subject. Post-Williamson, however, the liberal media have slipped back into anti-papal default mode, which suits certain "Catholics" just fine.

I just love how it's always the Libruls fault in ANYTHING when shit goes down. And you thought it stopped at politics. Nope! Puppies get run over? Libruls. Your foot falls off? Libruls. Millions dying over seas? Libruls. Can't find the cool side of your pillow? Libruls. LIBRULS!!!111!!AUUGH!

*tissue* Okay. Okay. I'm done now. I think I might just start calling Papa the Rubberband Man, he's always in trouble man.

Dallas school encourages kids to engage in mortal kombat. Like...literally

Bring em out, bring em out!

While being nosy on Pharyngula I came across this comment and...well, the unsweetened tea flew out my nose.

Dallas school accused of staging fights

The Dallas school system was rocked by allegations Thursday that staff members at an inner-city high school made students settle their differences by fighting bare-knuckle brawls inside a steel cage.

The principal and other employees at South Oak Cliff High knew about the cage fights and allowed the practice to continue, according to a 2008 report by school system investigators.

"More than anything, I'm in shock and disbelief — shocked that this could ever occur and shocked that it would be condoned by a professional administrator," said Jerome Garza, a member of the Dallas school board.

Okay. First off...I'm not even going to front today--letting students just duke it in a semi-controlled environment? Not that bad of an idea. My high school was prone to so many gang fights and random outbreaks that we actually did unofficially propose something like that. Sometimes it just gets THAT serious. In our case, the plan was to offer to let the students fight in hopes that they'll chicken out--because in all but the most serious cases, yeah, if there was no crowd or no administrators nearby the fight would eventually just disintegrate.

NOW

THIS STORY

First off...a steel cage? What in the Vince MacMahon hell? Where did they even GET a steel cage? And why was it necessary? I'm going to need to know ALL of that, in that order.

Secondly, uh, something about this school was apparently already shady as hell so I'm really questioning their true motives behind the little steel cage set up--I'm still really needing to know where they got a steel goddamn cage and who approved this.

The allegations came to light during a grade-fixing investigation that eventually cost the high school its 2005 and 2006 state basketball titles. School officials were suspected of altering students' grades so that they could remain eligible to play for South Oak Cliff, a perennial basketball powerhouse in one of the poorer sections of the city.

Hmm...fixing grades for sports? And now we're holding steel fight cages (which apparently served as entertainment for the teachers too, wow) I want to follow this damn money trail because it is wild.

When you see me in the streets shawty you don't know me...

Lastly, okay, no parent in their right mind is going to say "steel cage fights for disruptive students? Cosign!" (or at least I don't think) but hiding this shit from the parents for so long is just all out wrong.

...wait, is there anything about this that's RIGHT? This school gets two thumbs down and a vehement BOO'ing for stupid ass antics and endangering students (yeah it took a while to bring that little fact up didn't it).

Pope tells Africa condoms are wrong?

Before reading this, please put any and all liquids away and close your windows.

Ready?

Alright then:

Because Benedict the 16th just blew my damn mind!

The pontiff, who preaches marital fidelity and abstinence, said the practise only increased the problem.

"A Christian can never remain silent," he said, after being greeted on arrival in Cameroon by President Paul Biya.

The Pope is also due to visit Angola on his week-long trip, where thousands are expected to attend open-air Masses.

Some 22 million people are infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, according to UN figures for 2007.

This amounts to about two-thirds of the global total.

According to Vatican figures, the number of Catholics in Africa has been rising steadily in recent years.

Pope Benedict said on the eve of his trip that he wanted to wrap his arms around the entire continent, with "its painful wounds, its enormous potential and hopes".

HIV/Aids was, argued, "a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem".

Comment: So...in the face of HIV/AIDS prevention...we shouldn't use...protection?

Ohhh....what?

Excellent solution sir. Just like life saving abortions being a more grievous crime that raping a 9 year old girl. Wooooow.

Favorite search terms

I'm clearly supposed to be asleep now, but before I go I'm going to fall in with the search terms meme *sigh* I'm looking at Google's Webmaster's Tools (which is actually pretty handy) and I'm totally baffled at the search terms that apparently bring up my blog.

Note: I will mention, to give you and myself hope, that most of these are from 2 or 3 months ago, on the bright side. Unfortunately, for some unfathomable reason most of these search terms WILL bring up my blog *really sad face* BUT on the other bright side, I'm usually pretty low on the list and these terms don't necessarily represent the TRAFFIC I get from these terms. They're just damn creepy.

So here's a Top 10 that had be absolutely boggled:

10. black boy addictions

I can only guess that this one popped up because I've mentioned the book Black Boy by Richard Wright, and my blog title. None of that excuses...anything.

9. she castrated him

Pretty sure I've actually used that phrase. Still strange. Must investigate further.

8. what is mastur debating

I want to know too, didn't find the answer.

7. wristporn

The great thing is, I've actually used that term, just NOT in the way the persons searching that would expect.

6. "why are women angry"

Dunno that one either.

5. naked black football players showering

I. Have. Never. Used. Any. Of. Those. Words. In. One. Post.

4. infant fuck blog

I KID YOU NOT.

3. lisp and missing teeth drug addict

See number 5 and add an extra hell no.

2. bdsm nipples nailed

Well. I like BDSM. I like nipples. Now where the nails come in, I'm not so sure about.

And number one...my favorite search term that apparently pulls up my blog, EVER, at this moment:

drum roll please.

*drum roll*

*rim shot solo*

1. "www all" kinds of "incest com"

Mmkay.

What?

Washing machines, they liberate the modern woman

You know what I say about the Vatican...can't stop won't stop! Y'all can hate them now!

Vatican says washing machine brought rights to women

The washing machine has had a greater liberating role for women than the pill, the official Vatican daily said in an International Women's Day commentary.

"The washing machine and the emancipation of women: put in the powder, close the lid and relax," said the headline on the article in Osservatore Romano.

"In the 20th cenutry, what contributed most to the emancipation of western women?" questioned the article.

"The debate is still open. Some say it was the pill, others the liberalisation of abortion, or being able to work outside the home. Others go even further: the washing machine," it added.

The long eulogy to the washing machine - for which the first rudimentary models appeared in the 18th century - highlighted "the sublime mystique to being able to 'change the sheets on the beds twice a week instead of once'," quoting the words of late American feminist Betty Friedan.

While the machines were at first unreliable, technology has developed so quickly that now there is "the image of the super woman, smiling, made up and radiant among the appliances of her house", wrote Osservatore.

...Riiiight. Here I was thinking it was the microwavable TV dinner :/ Come on, who wants to back me on that one?

I dunno, I just feel that after basically backing a 9 year old's rape, the church should go sit in a corner and think long and hard about what they've done. Don't worry, an apology will be coming in about 10 decades at least.

We're thinking of the children alright: 9 year old raped, pregnant, excommunicated?

Coz that's how it works!

Well, in case you ain't know, there's this story making its way around the blogosphere. It goes a little something like this:

A 9-year-old girl who was carrying twins, and whose stepfather is suspected of raping her, underwent an abortion on Wednesday despite complaints from Brazil's Roman Catholic Church.

The stepfather has been jailed since last week, the police said. Abortion is illegal in Brazil, the country with the most Roman Catholics, but judges can make exceptions if the mother's life is in danger or the fetus has no chance of survival. Fatima Maia, director of the public university hospital where the abortion was performed, said the pregnancy, which was in its 15th week, posed a serious risk to the girl, who weighs 80 pounds. But Marcio Miranda, a lawyer for the Archdiocese of Olinda and Recife in northeastern Brazil, said the girl should have carried the twins to term and had a Caesarean section. "It's the law of God: Do not kill," he said in comments reported by the newspaper O Globo.

Even shorter, a 9 year old CHILD has an abortion because her stepfather raped her. She was carrying twins. Her body would not have been to handle the birth because she is so young and small. And the Roman Catholic church wants to...to...call her a murdering murderer. WITCH HUUUUNT!

No really, as if that weren't bad enough now the girl's family and the doctors that performed the abortion have been excommunicated. This is me drawing the "I give up" Xs on my eyes. Say. Fucking. What?

So, all I'm seeing is this: a little girl was raped & molested for YEARS by her stepfather, it seems that no one did much to help her, she gets pregnant with twins and has a life saving abortion. And that's pretty much all I care about, then here comes the church basically saying "eh, rape? But she killed a fetus! She killed two fetuses!"

Give me a goddamn break. Seriously? And what the fuck was a C-section going to do if she was too young to give vaginal birth? Ah, I get it, save the kids. As in, the babies, not the kid that got raped because she's unimportant right now. Oh yeah she can take care of them, she's nine (old enough to bleed you know). Oh wait, let's give them up for adoption, better option. Certainly. And leave this little girl with the knowledge that her church cared more about a fetus than her safety and her life. Never mind her body possibly not being able to carry the weight of twins, or the fact that we can't even be sure what her living conditions are like. What, were you going to take care of the kids?

_AUUUUUGHHH

Goddamn that's just unbelievable and frankly unacceptable. Unacceptable and unbelievable IN ANYONE'S GODDAMN UNIVERSE except the church I GUESS. That's pretty much all that needs to be said on that.

That's too conflicty, let's not discuss it

So, while I was working on revising my race & hip hop post I went off on a bit of a tangent and decided that, instead of bogging my taste of fame down with it, I just...made another post. Coz I do that! It's not very much, but really, you know what I'm tired of? Inconsistency.

I'm a lazy bastard and often times, admittedly, I don't like a lot of confrontation. SOMEtimes. Then there are sometimes I just don't care, like when it's something important to me. There are just some conversations that need to be had. So it annoys me a little bit (read: a lot) when folks try to wiggle out of conversation claiming it's "too divisive".

It's actually bigger than that though. When people decide to just flat out IGNORE issues because, as they claim, it's too conflicty for them. This is rather self-defeating and conflicts with the good ol' American way of individualism and bootstrap-y-ness. When you dodge things and suggest that if we just ignore them they'll go away, do you realize what you're saying?

Let's take our other favorite topic, queerness. I want to say homosexuality but I think queerness is more encompassing in this case. But let's start with gays. You have folks on either side--pro gay and anti gay. They fight. But have you ever heard the people that basically plug their ears and claim that it's way too divisive and we shouldn't even talk about it? I wonder if these folks can hear what they're saying, sometimes, and realize how stupid they sound.

"Divisive" is not an excuse. Everything is "divisive" one way or another and sweeping it under the bed like it isn't there is just self-defeating. The issue doesn't vanish, it swells like a wound. You probably didn't even know you had that wound until one day it gets infected and it itches and hurts, and suddenly you have to DO something about it or bye-bye limb, no? (Then of course you have the people that just say "Fuck it" and cut the limb off...soooo...)

It's a silly mentality. Nothing is just going to vanish into thin air because you say it is, but at the same time if we keep talking about it, it's not going to go away either. Until you fix it. So what to do, what to do...

Me, personally, I'm off to write more kinky short stories and eat. It's productive!

The Great AOL Brawl of Yesteryear

[Edit: Oh the typos. I shouldn't type while hungry.]


So, if anyone here still uses AOL (and I used to) please forgive me because I'm about to talk straight shit about these folks. For it occurred to me when I was younger and we still used the, uh, service, you know who else used it? A bunch of backwoods backward thinking head-up-ass anti-choice anti-gay racist assholes. Then, you know, just some other people.

I knew this through those little polls. You know, the "Should abortion be outlawed?" and then yes or no radio buttons, I'd click no, then pull up the results and see the bar overwhelmingly pulled for YES and, when they used to allow comments (I don't think they do anymore) it would be mass hysteria about how we're all sinners and going to hell and blah blah bliggity blah.

And I was about 12 or 13, I forget. It happened a lot on so called hot button issues, and after a few times I'd gathered up enough data to make the conclusion that my family was pretty much the only sane one using AOL.

11-14 were my horrible years: I was just turning atheist, realizing that it's okay if I don't like boys but it's NOT okay if I DO like girls, first period, bullied constantly, and going through my emolicious I Hate Everything phase. Everything just sucked sucked sucked and there are almost zero redeeming moments from those lost years.

Well, maybe one. The one day I realized that maybe I don't have to take shit from the world, even if it's just the internet. I got into an AOL brawl. I say brawl because it was a messy, drawn-out fight and I so wish I still had evidence of it, wish that I REMEMBERED more of it because if I recall, it was totally awesome. And a gay rights fight.

This is what I remember. I was just browsing around on the internet doing my thing, whatever it was I did back then, when I found myself doing one of those little polls. I think the question was along the lines of "is homosexuality a choice", I filled out "no" because I can read scientific evidence and it doesn't bother me, and of course the results were overwhelmingly "YES". Like ridiculously. Having nothing to do with my young life, I pulled up the comments/message board thingie and saw all these inflammatory topics declaring that yes homosexuality is a sin and they should be punished, it's wrong, we're wrong, how can you support that, eat babies, shit like that.



As I went through this hysteria...well, frankly I dunno what happened. I guess the internet made me brave for a while and I said, "I don't have to take this!" Well, not that cool since my awesomeness hadn't quite developed then. But next thing I knew I was responding to a comment with something antagonistic about Christians (I was still in the Superior Atheist stage of my atheism) being hypocrites and how homosexuality was fine.

And then, you know, I got virtually jumped by what I recall being more or less a bunch of truck drivers laughing at me and calling me naive. But surprisingly I held myself and, a little like the Lone Swordsman, I just batted at and battled the stupid. Which may subconsciously be part of the reason I still can't do internet debate without eventually blowing up at someone because the arguing was pretty intense. At this point I already knew I was at the very least bisexual--it was kinda obvious--and I was told by people that didn't even know me that naturally, my mother LOVED me but HATED my "sin". To me the concept of sin largely didn't exist anymore and I said this, and when it came out that I was agnostic, even more hell broke loose. Joy.

I had folks emailing me spam letters & bible versus, if I recall correctly--and just why--and I just laughed, figuring it'd sting to have their religion insulted so mightily by a child (they didn't necessarily know I was a child though, I don't guess). Don't think I didn't get any support though, it was actually more or less my first interaction with some form of LGBT community. I remember one out lesbian emailing me to thank me for my support and I was mighty touched.

But, because sane people don't use AOL I guess, the support was a little weaksauce and we were ridiculously overwhelmed, so we eventually had to withdraw. And after a couple of days the discussion just reached its inevitable conclusion and finally died (yeah this wasn't just a one day thing, I definitely remember that). I remember telling mom about it, at least in part, and she just shook her head. Eh, so what, I felt mighty happy about myself, at least for mocking the stupid.

And that's about it. I don't know why I'd forget about such a clearly awesome event, but I've pretty much buried nearly all memories from those years *shudder* huh, who knows what awesome things I've done that I'm not aware of now...

Libruls vs Conservatives Take 1

I have my own thoughts about this, but my boss/buddy/bro Danz is leaving to go do good, good things in At-lanna (*whiiine*) and he's off doing his rugby thing, I suppose, and I thought I'd give him some pimpitization for his efforts. Today he's going to tell us how he really feels about this Liberal/Conservative spiel.

No. You know what, fuck you, whoever put those up, and fuck anyone who approved those flyers. This is what's wrong with the country. When you create two groups of right and wrong and you call either side Liberal or Conservative, Democrat or Republican, Communist or Fascist. This is not a Conservative or Liberal issue. This is both sides trying to polarize public opinion by either ignoring or manipulating the meanings of words. Obama is a Communist, Ronald Reagan is the Devil, Bill Ayers is a terrorist, George Bush doesn't care about black people (well, the jury's still out on that one). See how that works? You use connotations, rather than definitions, of words in order to manipulate emotions, not stimulate cognition. And nobody can win an argument with someone who isn't speaking the same language as you. That's how I feel every day.

It's a joke. It's one big joke that's being played on us all. And there's nothing we can do about it, because the second we fall to one side or the other, we're stuck there, and the second we realize that there really are no sides, we're immobilized as well. I mean, I don't know if I can vote on anything. This system of government forces us to choose between two sides and it's unfair to the nation as a whole.

First off, I do not threaten him to post, I coerce. Secondly, I actually do support acts of non violent vandalism against stupid be it left or right leaning.

...unless you're going to vandalize my blog, please don't do that.

In all seriousness I appreciate his taking time out of his busy li--*descends into laughing* um, I appreciate him taking the time to make this post and fight the good fight. Even if his means are a little...questionable.

Somedays, I give up more than others

So those of us that actively try to change people's minds & ways of thinking--whether it be racism, sexism, glbt issues, ableism, and whatever we're all stuck in the ground with--surely, SURELY we all come to the point where we just say, "Know what? Fuck it."

I have those days a lot. With my so-called battles with racism (I feel like I just need to add "in the South" every time I say that) and Ignorant!whitey I just look and say, "Okay, you aren't getting it and I've explained it on a kindergarten level several times, get out of my sight." I feel awful defeated, which is sad because I've been told that one of my worst traits is I give up too easy. Which...you know what, I really hate repeating myself. It's not that I give up too easy, it's that you try too less to grasp simple damn concepts (this is one of the stages of grieving I think).

So, I just say, fuck it you aren't getting it and I'm not going to make you, just stay ignorant (*sings: "Not payin him any atteeention!"*). Occasionally I delude myself into thinking that moving up north will, somehow, make it all better and I can just relax, and sip my Starbucks coffee and look upon the troubles of the world like a playful toy. A bit like an episode of the Twilight Zone. But obviously that doesn't work now does it.

And then sometimes I think of the poem "If--" by Rudyard "Behold the White Man's Burden" Kipling which is funny to me. I had to memorize If for English III honors and it thus traumatized me for a while because I had a horrible experience with it, but sometimes, I think of a few choice particular stanzas (it is a long poem after all) and it somehow makes everything better:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

And you know, it ends, when I can do all these things I'll be a grown ass Man. Sure it's rather androcentric (I just taught you a new word) but I think it can still apply. I'm not sure why those two stanzas just stick in my memory, on the whole I don't think I even like the poem all that much. But you have to say they're rather true.

I see you still don't quite get racism: New York Post edition

Yes, I'm going to talk about that stupid cartoon from the goddamned New York Post.

I wasn't. In many ways I frankly don't care, I much prefer to watch the ignorant eat themselves alive. It eventually happens and I've learned that it happens fairly quickly. True, it's good to call folks out on their ignorance but I believe that, a little like a very unstable atom (which I guess they are), idiocy just doesn't live long.

I'll say for this much like what I said for that infamous New Yorker (do I sense a pattern?) cover: sure it's satire. But that doesn't mean it isn't stupid & racist.

So let me say that I still see that folks don't quite get this racism thing, and referring to things as "satire" or veiling it under "oh you just didn't get the joke" is supposed to absolve you of any wrongdoing. Some folks do this an awful lot and these are usually the same people that wonder why shit happens, never thinking that "Uh, maybe I did that?"

Let me address two things while we're looking at this cover, and I'm going to make this real quick because there have been plenty other of good blog & news outlets that have covered this:

1) YES it can be taken as racist, I don't give a fuck about context
2) Even if you take away the racist elements, it's still a really bad and ignorant cartoon



Now, we've got that out of the way, point 1.

1) Yes, it can be taken as racist. And if you really, really claim that you don't see the racist elements here, frankly I don't believe you. It's not a secret that my people, BLACKS, have often been compared to monkeys, chimps, and apes and still are. Have you heard the phrase "porchmonkey"? Yes, it is a racist term referring to blacks and our typically wide nosed, large eyed, thick lipped appearance. Supposedly we look like apes and people still think that blacks are "unevolved" and are still stuck at the "ape" phase. The irony of this being that we ALL evolved/split off from apes but no one seems to care about evolution and shit.

Secondly, no, I don't care about the context. Really, I don't. I'm not ignoring it, I just don't care. The little speech balloon says something to the effect of (I'm not looking at it as I post) they'll have to get someone else to write the stimulus bill. And sure perhaps a *ahem* certain black president didn't write the stimulus bill. Just what do you think when you see that. I look at the White House and I don't see any black folks so--oh, wait, yeah I do. Sorry I forgot, like the cartoonist.

Oh, the context for the cartoon was something along the lines of a pet chimp slaying it's owner's family--and no you didn't make that connection because you hadn't heard the story before reading the cartoon, and that's where our problem lies.

And now point 2.

2) Okay, about that chimp that killed its whole human family. Why are we even making a joke about this and why does it relate to the stimulus package. That's it, seriously, explain to me.

Do you see where I'm going with this? The only thing stopping people from making the racist connections is the fact that they just don't want to, and we call this being woefully unaware. Also, why are we making a joke about a pet animal killing/injuring its family? Tell me, New York Post, I want to know.

Oh, they did issue a statement on it. And it was totally worthless. Even your employees hate you, NY Post. Good on ya!

Folks, you don't have to explain satire to make it effective. Satire doesn't even have to be funny. But when you have to go to such lengths to dig yourself out of a ditch, well, maybe you did something wrong? I dunno, I'm just gonna watch them eat em selves. I hope controversy is tasty.

We suspend our disbelief, and we are entertained

Yeah, I was in a pretty upbeat mood today. Then I checked out some of my favorite blogs and in the span of about 30 minutes I became extremely depressed again.

BUT

Good news. Not suicidally depressed anymore. I think it would be more beneficial to society if I took out OTHER FOLKS rather than myself.

Yes, as usual, the Internet has ruined a good thing. I don't feel like talking much about what set me off in particular because I'd be here all day mad at way too many people, I just want to say that I have no idea how people can remain so woefully ignorant on the internet. I should change that to willful ignorance because there's no reason that, if you don't understand something, that you can't go LOOK SHIT UP and get you some damn awareness. It's like folks don't even TRY anymore.

I don't think I'll ever understand this willful lack of awareness--let's call it ignorance. Then again I don't get human nature and I don't think anyone does either. So, fuck it, really, if people want to act like the world is their navel I'll treat them like the world is their navel, i.e like they're fucking stupid as hell. I kind of hate everyone & everything right now.

I don't feel very nice so obviously today is not the day for forgiveness, compassion, or anything foolish like that. Instead, have a Rush song. Listen to Mystic Rhythms like I have for the past two days to calm myself. Forgive Geddy's voice a bit, also not helping is Alex's (blonde dude) lack of mic volume so those harmonies sound...like un-harmonies.

So many things I think about
When I look far away
Things I know - things I wonder
Things I'd like to say
The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown
We suspend our disbelief
And we are not alone

Mystic rhythms - capture my thoughts
And carry them away
Mysteries of night
Escape the light of day
Mystic rhythms - under northern lights
Or the African Sun
Primitive things stir
The hearts of everyone

We sometimes catch a window
A glimpse of what's beyond
Was it just imagination
Stringing us along?
More things than are dreamed about
Unseen and unexplained
We suspend our disbelief
And we are entertained

Mystic rhythms - capture my thoughts
And carry them away
Nature seems to spin
A supernatural way
Mystic rhythms - under city lights
Or a canopy of stars
We feel the powers
And we wonder what they are
We feel the push and pull
Of restless rhythms from afar

PETA manages to get even more outrageous, world spins, news at 5.

Edit: Fixed this entry up and got rid of some problematic wording. Not sure if it's for better or for worse but it sounds less frothy-mouth-angry.

Well, while I'm waiting for my hair to dry (late shower), I figure I'd show some good will to my brother Danz and prove that I don't actually hate him (he makes it hard sometimes though).

I guess I pumped him up and he made this post talking about PETA's latest antics.

What did PETA do exactly? Oh just dress up like the KKK outside of the American Kennel Club. You know, dog breeders. Why? They feel the AKC is trying to create a "master race" of dogs and that's terrible.

First off...I'm not even going to get into how much I care about animal rights. I just want to get all up into how wrong and blatantly racist and stupid this is. Can I do that? Can I please say "fuck animal rights" for a few seconds and just talk about why we don't do this?

I. PETA, help thyselves.

Let's get some things straight. Yes animal breeding & cruelty to animals is wrong. The AKC isn't some happy go lucky club that just wants to show of their dogs, they are pretty shady.

You know what's also wrong and shady, though? PETA feeling that they have to get their point across using other hate groups. Hate groups. I do not think the AKC has ever burned crosses on people's yards because they so happen to be non-white/otherwise not horribly stuck in the dark ages.

PETA, you have a fucking problem here. You figure the best way to help animals is standing around in KKK robes & hoods handing out fliers, and you think this is the right thing to do. In reality, what you're doing is making other, dare I say, more reasonable folks very, very upset with you. Okay? Here's the thing: the KKK terrorized blacks, women, Jews, and anyone they deemed imperfect. AKC is breeding dogs. It's really kind of apples and oranges in terms of which is worse (hint: both are equally terrible) but that really, really takes a leap of faith to make that conclusion.

But you did and I kind of hate you for it. I think what I really hate the most is PETA is not fucking helping. Naturally they don't stand for every single vegetarian/vegan/those of us against animal cruelty, and I'm pretty sure the public at large knows this pretty well by now. Still, they aren't helping their own cause. They are NOT. They're being silly.

II. Also, ur doin it wrong

They even fail at being silly. As I said before this edit, I think PETA got the KKK mixed up with those dreaded Nazis. If we're talking about a master race I know that's typically what I think of. But no, PETA chose to go with the Ku Klux--not even the KKK's American counterpart even--and they chose the statement they were going to make. I don't think anyone looked at those robes and said "Oh the AKC is creating a master race, must boycott". They probably looked on in horror as the Klan was given free reign, strangely enough, outside the AKC. The Klan we most strongly identify in this country as racist, not engineering the perfect breed. WHY. Why KKK and not some other group, I wonder. They're both horrible and yet not the same, but in the end that is truly a moot point considering THEY FIGURED THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Shock tactics

Can I just say how tired I am of PETA's shock tactics as well? Unfortunately compared to some of their past hijinks this only narrowly takes the cake. God, PETA, as I keep saying all your good intentions get drowned in your persistence in being goddamned lunatics. Help the animals, by all means, but stop doing it this way.

As a last note I just want to get into the broader issue of folks deciding that it's okay to trivialize the experiences of others by making these comparisons. As Danz points out in his post, comparing what the AKC does to what the KKK did/does is insulting those hurt/killed by this group. Every time you make a meaningless comparison to Nazis and Hitler to illustrate your point you're doing no service to yourself or those hurt by Hitler. It's really weak and unoriginal, and it leads to being cussed out and feelings hurt.

Uuuugghhh too much stupid in one week...it's just Tuesday...

Weed: The Root of All Evil...I guess.

I don't care about marijuana. I really don't.

I think it's a stupid drug. Other than medicinal purposes I don't really see the appeal in tokin' up with RayJay and Jaekwon and Chuck. Then again, I am a complete teetotaler and I grew up around the shit...and other drugs *shrug* So that's me.

That being said, I am so tired of these goddamn AboveTheInfluence commercials about pot. Guys. Seriously? Stop.

You hear that acoustic montage music, then you look over at your screen and see a little boy with cigarette burns in his arm...because his sister is smoking pot.

I fucking hate these commercials. They're about as stupid as the drug itself. Stop vilifying weed like it's the source of all evil. It's not. Furthermore, kids out there are doing more than just smoking a little grass. Ecstasy, coke, meth, acid...meth is the reason I can't by Nyquil over the counter anymore!

And you may say, well, coke is a little expensive for the average teen isn't it? Or hell, even the average adult. But that doesn't mean it can't be made available and that doesn't mean that kids don't do it and get hooked on it. It's not that pot isn't bad for you, I'm just tired of seeing these commercials making such a big deal of a little grass when there are other dangers at hand.

Also...these commercials just kind of suck. They're irritating. They're too artsy and vague and aren't going to deter anyone. I think we need to find a better, more honest & straightforward way of warning kids about the dangers of drugs & alcohol. Teens make bad decisions but they aren't utterly stupid. Seriously, don't let those test scores fool you, some of us gots a bit of common sense and can think for ourselves.

So...to sum up, I'm still sick and annoyed and these stupid drug commercials aren't helping. Is that it?

Hold on, she can still have babies, this is murder!

I'll admit, if I barely know shit about American politics I know next to nothing about Italian politics (other than they actually seem to have a lot of issues that very much mirror our own in a sort of Bizarro way). But there's this case I've been following about an Italian woman--Eluana Englaro--who's been in a coma for about 17 years after she was in a car accident. Now her family is trying to fight for her right to die peacefully as, according to her doctors, the coma is irreversible.

17 years in a vegetative state. 17 years watching your daughter lay there and show no signs of ever waking up again. The woman is, for all intents and purposes, dead. Keep that in mind because it's about to become key when you read what this article says:

Italy faces constitutional crisis over coma woman

The Italian government has been plunged into a constitutional crisis over the fate of a 38-year-old woman who has been in a coma for the past 17 years. Eluana Englaro was left in a vegetative state after a car crash in 1992. After a decade-long court battle, doctors reduced her nutrition on Friday in preparation for removing her feeding tubes, which her father claims would be in accordance with her wishes.

But in an extraordinary turn of events, the country's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, after consultation with the Vatican, has issued an emergency decree stating that food and water cannot be suspended for any patient depending upon them, reversing the earlier court ruling. On issuing the emergency decree, Berlusconi declared: "This is murder. I would be failing to rescue her. I'm not a Pontius Pilate."

Wait, hold on, I haven't gotten to the creepiest part yet:

Justifying his campaign to save Englaro's life, the prime minister added that, physically at least, she was "in the condition to have babies", a remark described by La Stampa newspaper as "shocking". Giorgio Napolitano, Italy's president, has refused to sign the decree, but if it is ratified by the Italian parliament doctors may be obliged to resume the feeding of Eluana early this week.

You are fucking kidding me.

This woman in a coma is able to have babies. Just what the fuck does that have to do with anything considering she's been in a COMA for 17 years? Signore, just what the fuck are you implying?

Everything is wrong with this. This is sick. First off, good job comparing yourself to Pontius Pilate--so I guess she's somehow your "Jesus"? Your Virgin Mary? Also, consulting the Vatican? They have no impact on this woman's life. Even if she were Catholic, dude, they have no bearing on her family's decision to let the Englaro die. It is not your right to come to her family and say they can't let their daughter have her dignity and die peacefully. You have no right to keep this woman hooked up in a hospital for, what, another 17 years? And for what? She isn't coming back, her family has realized this, and they are willing to let her go. I suggest Berlusconi does the same. Sir, it is not up to you, the decision had already been MADE.

A little more:

The case has deeply divided Italian society and raised concerns over the influence of the Vatican. Yesterday Pope Benedict indirectly referred to Englaro in a message delivered to mark the World Day of the Sick, stating that society had a duty to defend "the absolute and supreme dignity of every human being" even when "weak and shrouded in the mystery of suffering". But even some of Berlusconi's political allies, including the president of the lower house of parliament, Gianfranco Fini, have stated that the supreme court ruling should be obeyed and Englaro should be allowed to die.

Meanwhile, doctors are continuing to act according to the original supreme court ruling. On Friday morning in the La Quiete clinic in Udine, northern Italy, they began reducing the amount of food in Eluana Englaro's feeding tube, according to a precise medical protocol that will see nutrition gradually replaced with sedative and anti-convulsant medication. Experts say that within four to five days her condition may have deteriorated to an irreversible extent, though it might be two weeks or more before her heart stops. The process means the Englaro family and their doctors are now in a race against time as they try to end Eluana's life before the Berlusconi government and its backers in the Vatican halt the process.

This is just...sick. In a "race" to give this woman her final--or at least her family's final--wishes. It's true that people do come out of comas in months, years, decades...but this is what her family wants. They just want their daughter to go off peacefully. What is wrong with this? How is this a "crime against humanity" I ask you? Wouldn't it be more humane to end her suffering? Just because she can still have children--physically--but is not MENTALLY capable is that all that's required for life? That...is sick.

Our History, Our Heritage

Well! My Facebook friends have been lively lately. You know what, I keep tellin y'all, notes are fucking fun.

So, after the extreme silliness and drama of yesterday, earlier this afternoon I saw this note post from Mr Paul W. Spirit by him, edit by moi.

Listen, I grew up in the south but I don't understand the notion that we should be proud of the Confederacy.

See, my family taught me as a child that the South was in the wrong, and frankly they were. And no, I'm not talking only about slavery. They were guilty of Treason, nothing more or less. And Treason is punishable by death. Everyone whines and complains that the North was too harsh during reconstruction and caused the South to suffer. Well come on! First off, the Confederate leadership got off easy, every one of them could have been hanged. But they weren't because Lincoln and those after him knew that they were still Americans and the Country had to be united. But it couldn't go unpunished. You can't just walk away from your country because you don't get what you want. That is not Democracy!

And before any of you say anything about how the United States was founded by rebels, let's get real. Yes, they did rebel. But rebelling from tyranny is not the same as rebelling against a government where you just got out-voted. Welcome to Democracy...you don't always get what you want. But all this still comes to my first question: Why be proud of it? The answer I hear most often is "it's our heritage, it's our history." Okay, so should modern Germans walk around with swastikas painted on their wind-shields and belt buckles just because its part of their history? No, of course not. So if anyone can enlighten me on this, please feel free to do so.

Shit! You know we love it when people go hard!

And now, my unabridged thoughts.

Man, living in the South is tough sometimes. I take that lie back, it's tough living in the South all the time.

As school children we learn about the Civil War. We learn that it was more or less a battle between the North & the South over...ehh, different ideals. At first you might get the impression that it's all about slavery. Then over the years more complex reasons come out. State's rights and all that. You learn more and more about what exactly went down, but there has to be a moment in your head where you go...

"What the FUCK were we fighting over?!"

Living in the South is haaard with that kind of legacy. I know sometimes people don't want to say treason but isn't that just it? And how the hell can you be proud of that? I admit when I was younger, I was taught that the rebel flag was offensive, and I just understood it without ever realizing why until I got older and started learning more and more about the American civil war. Only backwoods rednecks idolized that hateful thing. And then it all starts clicking--that part of American history was BAD, why does the South have such a sick fascination with it? Damn!

And it's only been a few times recently when I've had people try to justify Confederate pride to me. And when they do it's usually the weak excuse of "it's our history!" Okay, yeah, dude. I'm black (and some native american & irish actually). Yeah, the Civil War surely was part of my damn history--so I should ride around with a rebel flag out the backside, but only on the left side...?

Yeeeah. Come on, South. Do you really want to look back on that period--a senseless war WE LOST--with pride? That has never made sense to me.

Seminar on the END TIMES

Little Facebook copypasta only more intelligent. Frankly I don't know what this is or why they're doing it, but I reserve the right to be judgmental.



I have one thing to say to this ad-ver-tise-ment:

...BWAAAAAAAAHAAAAHAHAHAAHAHAAAAAA!

[Edit: I really did laugh like that when I saw it.]

STOP IT. OMG STOP IT!

What is the point of this? What the fuck is there to understand about the "end times"? Is this some of that Left Behind mess? I hate this about as much as I can hate an inanimate object.



[Edit: Click to enlargenate, it gets blurry though.]

And let's examine this ad-ver-tise-ment. That purple thing off in the corner is just my thumb holding it.

Okay, let's see. We've got the symbolism of the bears, wolves...is that a fucking tiger? Dante refutes this.

Next, 10 WEEK MULTIMEDIA PROPHECY SERIES? Why the fuck is this ten weeks?! Why is it a DVD seminar? Ladies and gentlemen, I have questions that need dire answers, urgently. [Edit: I really am curious btw. The good folks doing this are a campus church group/hang out called the Well. My room mate used to visit there but she said they weren't shit more or less.]

Lastly, let me address that floating head. Alright, it's been addressed.

In conclusion, obviously if you don't want to attend this little...get together, you don't have to. But in the event that, in February, you feel that shit is so serious that you have to get your affairs in order and go "learn" about the "end time", I'm in L--- C--- room ---, across from the CPA. I took high school psychology and made a B in Intro to Sociology, WE CAN WORK IT OUT. Okay? Call me. [Edit: I'm not suggesting that you have issues if you wish to attend this seminar. You could be a perfectly well adjusted human being. You may also just want to know about the Christian book of Revelations. Perhaps you want to learn what all cultures & religions think of the so called "end of times" or "apocalypse" or "Armageddon". It's like a flood myth, everyone has their own perspective.

It's just that I doubt any of the above apply.]

What we've learned this week

Well, this is it. The countdown until I start classes again (yaay). After that we begin the countdown until I stop classes again (yaaay).

I've also learned plenty this week. This has been probably one of the most productive weeks of my life. I mean that with all due sarcasm. I wanted to make a separate post for each but I'm not in the mood...so...you get sub-headings!

I. Silly Girl, Guys Are For Fucking!

You know, I've always had a fair ratio of guy to girl friends. A lot of times it seems I have more girl friends than guys, but that's okay.

To the point, I learned that I can't have a guy friend without there being something sexual about it. As in, I have to want to fuck that guy. I learned this while in Wal-Mart, of all places, with my mother. She has it in her head that for some reason I'm going to end up marrying Danz *blink* despite me telling her at least a thousand times I'm not interested and never have been. And he's quite involved with someone else, that doesn't seem to matter to her either.

On on hand, she could have just been playing with me. On the other hand, why she keeps bringing this up I don't know.

Unfortunately, my guy friends and girl friends share this same mentality that in order to be friends with the opposite sex you must want to fuck them. And that's a fine mentality to have when you're in elementary school and don't know any better, but I figure being in the All Growed Up world would diminish that...attitude...oh, I know, I doth protest too much. Which leads us to our next important fact.

II. I Have No Boundaries

Nope, no I don't. I'm game for everything and when I try to protest it's always "Oh you spoilsport!" or "Whyyyyy?!"

I don't like to talk about certain things. I do actually have a few boundaries in place and sorry if I don't feel like "talking them over" or "respecting privacy" and shit. People kill me with that. I could list my boundaries but what would that help? People like to cross my lines.

Mom does this an awful lot...I suppose it's just part of being a mother that she has to continually bring up things I've already expressed an severe disinterest in not talking about? I give up.

III. I'm Insensitive.

I suppose this goes with boundary pushing, it's just that when my metaphorical buttons are pushed enough I go into "shut down mode" and I just cease to care about everyone around me.

IV. Everything that's wrong with me leads up to my need for dick.

You know what, someone's got one more time to tell me that I'll be "fixed" if I just get laid. Because dick is the solution to all my problems. I'm bout ready to just come out as gay and Mormon to my family.

V. The actual problem is that I'm PMSy and need meds.

It's true, I get me some wicked PMS. I get wildly depressed, crampy, irritated easier. And that's my problem year round for some reason. So I need to take something for it, if I can't get dick any time soon.

And that's almost one item of knowledge for every day of the week...well, unless you don't count the weekend, then it IS an item for each day. Hooray! I hope you've all learned something great and totally non-cynical about yourselves this week too.