A while ago I gave up giving up. Seemed to be pointless to
get upset by morons running for the presidency and giving up on the Republican
voters sucking up to them. SO I gave up ‘giving up’. But, with the new field of dream candidates, I am getting close again. The poles are like a ping pong ball bouncing around the room. Every candidate swings down, then up, then down etc.
The Republican voters run hot and cold so fast it makes my head spin. One guy has a good speech (written by a professional writer) and the polls go up.
Another has a bad hair day and the polls go down.
Really people, these guys are messing with your tiny little conservative minds. They are playing your base like a fiddle. They are puppet masters to your puppet.
Good. That will make the re-election of POTUS that much easier. Please, keep the negative ads flying to give more ammo to the Democratsl later this year. Can’t you just hear the ads? “Republicans say he is untrustworthy and a flip-flopper. If they don’t like him, why should you?” and more and more. Eating their young. Shooting themselves in the crotch. Drinking
their own Koolaid. Good. Go for it. The world could use a few less morons, and
then I wouldn’t have to “give up” so often.

Image:
: http://www.powerlineblog.com/admin/ed-assets/2012/01/RAMclr-011212donner.jpg.cms_.jpeg

Straight or Gay? Or One of a Million Other Possibilities?

Hanne Blank has written a book on the history of “straight” and found that the heterosexual-homosexual dichotomy is fairly recent. Like mid
1800’a recent. Hmmm. No labels. So that must mean that I have been right all along.
From my earliest years teaching human sexuality I have maintained that the sexualities of people, with the possible exception of people that really want to hurt other people, are normal. Hell, the hurters may be normal too, in the sense of genetically driven, but I don’t have the data on that. The variations are numberless, with “none” and “pure something” probably the extremes. But you know something? There is a lot of ground to cover between these bookends of human desire. Way more than the usual GLBTQ -----.
Consider this: If we didn’t need a category for “straight” until the mid-1800’s, then what were we before that? What was the stick to measure against? Beats me. Probably none. Ok, the Bible and other writings categorize people by sexual orientation. Laws likewise do it, mostly but not
exclusively Bible based. But why? What is it about sexual orientation that is
so threatening to so many that they devises laws and punishments for everything
but “normal” (their normal of course)? Why should someone worry about someone
else under the sheets? Who cares? Clearly a lot of “someones” care.
The answer is a glaring one: we are taught to be as we are, mostly, and to revile, ignore or seek to heal all who are different. We individually are the stick we use to measure against. And it is not a natural stick either. It is a society-based and learned set of values or rules to be followed or ostracized. Or killed (think Matthew Shepard).
The world is changing somewhat, and that is good. The gains
made by the spectrum of people who are not considered “normal” are in some
cases real, but are they enduring? Time will tell, and personally I think not.
Hope? Yes. Work for? Yes. Expect to last? No.
In the next few weeks I am going to explore my own history of “straight” and see where it takes me. It isn’t as straight a path as I once thought.

Image: http://www.hanneblank.com/img/book_straight_176x272.jpg