Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read

Ban and Burn: the way to disaster.
Ever notice the connection between banning and/or burning books and totalitarian take over? Think of these examples:

Muslims take over Egypt and order all material in the Library of Alexandria that offends Islam to be burned;
Spain and Portugal invade the Americas and destroy all the Quipu strings, the history of the indigenous people;
Hitler and his boys ban and burn Jewish and other books that are not “correct”:
Stalin destroys books that are unfavorable to his vision and rewrites history;
Fundamentalist Christians burn books that mention Evolution in a positive way.

The list goes on and on. It seems that the easiest way to control a people is to remove their sense of history and replace it with your own, and control what they read. Look at the last 50 or so years in this country. The list of the 100 most commonly challenged books is very long and includes such titles as “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London and “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. Shocked? How about the Harry Potter series and the Clan of the Cave Bear series (officially “Earths Children”)? Why these fun series? Or “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston and “The New Joy of Gay Sex” by Charles Silverstein and Felice Picano? Yes, somebody wants these and thousands of others banned.
It turns out the nearly everything that has been written is on some bodies list to be banned or burned. The way to counter this is to find all the banned books you can and read them. See why someone doesn’t want you to know something. You will quickly find the thinking of bigots and extremists out to control the agenda of us all, and sometimes for sinister purposes.

Banned Books Week is September 25−October 2, 2010. Go ahead and make your day: Read a banned book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-commonly_challenged_books_in_the_United_States
Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sungazing/galleries/72157622581205178/

UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!! Thank you Log Cabin Republicans

What? Not the ACLU?
Whatever is the world coming to? It looks like millions of conservatives who decry liberals as “card carrying members of the ACLU” will have a new mantra. Yes indeed. “Card carrying members of the Log Cabin Republicans.” I like the sound of that.
The issue is easy. In 2004 the Log Cabin Republicans sought an injunction to ban the implementation of “don’t ask don’t tell” arguing it has no effect on readiness and drives highly qualified personnel out of military service. (1) This is a liberal agenda if I ever saw one, and these LCRs are gay and lesbian Republicans (don’t ask me why any GLBTQ would EVER be a Republican). John Boehner and his boys must be writhing in angst over the outcome of this suit. A federal judge has declared the policy UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!! My god, we will all die in our sleep or have our dipsticks fall off as a result of this activist liberal (probably feminist and lesbian) judges’ decision.
The beauty of this is that the very group that supports the agenda of the Republican Party has finally bitten the hand that strokes them. I know, the suit started in 2004, and who knows how they feel now. Maybe elated. Maybe embarrassed. Maybe most of them forgot they had sued. But sue they did, and got a stunning LIBERAL decision.
And about time too. Anyone with half a brain could see this policy was wrong and mean-spirited. A half-assed compromise. Well, hopefully it is gone. But don’t count the bigoted Republicans out yet, though. There are probably countless more appeals to come. Meanwhile the LCRs still send checks to the RNC and cuddle up with the likes of Boehner at fund raisers. Time the LCRs came out again and declared themselves Democrats or Indies or maybe Intellegents.


1. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129763013&sc=nl&cc=brk-20100909-2215
Image: thespiritofthelaw.blogspot.com/2009/09/us-rec...

Burn a Holy Book for Christ

The “Dove World Outlook Center” in Gainesville (Florida) is planning to burn a Koran (sic) on 9/11 to support their radical view that Islam is a religion of the devil. There are so many things wrong with this that the mind boggles. First and most obviously the only devil in this picture is the pastor of the “church”. A nutcase with about 50 followers.
Islam is an Abrahamic religion like Christianity. The holy book, the Qur’an, is as important to millions of Muslims as the Bible is to Christians. And it is subjected to much false interpretation, as is the Bible. Much has been said and written about the terrible things Muslims do to themselves and others in the name of Islam, but the religion itself does not support these deeds.
Burning any book is as lame a way to protest as is flag burning. It only ignites a rage in the “believers “of whatever symbol is being burned, and more trouble follows. Burning a Holy Book is a bad idea in any context, but burning a Qur’an is guaranteed to get mobs of Muslims whipped up into a killing frenzy and innocent Americans and other non-Muslims, soldiers and civilians, will pay the price. Not the pastor and congregation of the DWOC.
The only question that need be asked is the now-famous “WWJD”? Damn sure not burn anything. I wonder if the DWOCers have ever actually sat down and thought about Jesus and what He would do. I seriously doubt it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100907/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan
Image: http://www.doveworld.org/

Toto the Magnificent!!

This is about toilets, so if you are not up to the task of straight talk maybe you better pass on this one.
Years ago we moved into an old farmhouse that had a toilet with the tank bolted to the wall. This was an early 1900’s era fixture and glazed into the porcelain was the name: “Standard Ejecto”. And boy did it eject. We called it “Ejecto the Magnificent”. Only once in 25 years did it fail. Since then we suffered through 4 Kohler units that would fail to perform if you tried to flush a gnat. Terrible action considering the reputation of the company.
What to do? Ahhh, the internet!! And after some deep digging the solution emerged: the best rated unit on the market, hands down, was the Toto “Drake”. Best rating in all categories. I ordered the ADA version and installed it last month and WOW!! What a beauty. I think you could flush a small cow without getting out the plunger. And on only 0.75 gallons of water. How the HELL do they do that? You know what? I don’t know and I don’t care. What I know is the plunger is lonely in the garage and I am a very happy camper. (I know, it doesn’t take much to make some people happy, does it?)
Image: www.midvalleyplumbing.com/toto_toilet.htm

An Unfortunate Beauty

There on the roadside for dozens or maybe hundreds of passersby to see and enjoy: a coal black fox squirrel just sitting erect in the grass in rural Georgia. As I drove by and slowed down I thought “you are beautiful with your lustrous black fur and nearly white nose .“ This morning I told Sal about the black beauty and thought (and said) “some hunter would love to kill that squirrel for a trophy, to lock away in a room somewhere, get dusty and finally go in the garbage” An unfortunate beauty. The price paid for standing out is high, no matter what the species. Trophy deer, fish, rodents, snakes and yes, women and to a lesser extent men are all captured and displayed. For the crime of being beautiful.
Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3112/3332167524_0c79a401e1.jpg

Yesterday

“Yesterday came suddenly”. (1)
Ever stop to think about that? How many times have you said or thought “It seems like only yesterday- - -“? Well, think about it again. Except for a nano second or less, your entire life is “yesterday”. The illusion of “now” is, well, an illusion. You finish a great meal and think “that WAS a great meal” (yesterday) or have great sex and think “Man! That WAS great sex” (yesterday) and the list is endless. “Yesterday” is really a stand-in for any past and every past in this context and not literally the day before today. What is the point here? Well, the point is that before you even notice or know it, yesterday is here and gone so you better live your “today” like there is no “tomorrow”.
A word of caution though: everything you do “today” will live in the memories of “yesterday”, not only yours but everybody else’s too. The urge to enjoy the moment without regard to the future is not necessarily a smart urge. Planning for the eventual “today” that will follow the stream of “yesterdays” is a good idea. That way at least you will have some resources to get through the next “today”. Ha.
1. http://www.metrolyrics.com/yesterday-lyrics-beatles.html
Image: http://www.yesterdaythemovie.co.za/

Polka dots and Moonbeams

A wonderful old song that has been covered by Sinatra, Denver, Vaughn, and probably dozens other artists over the years since it was introduced:

“A country dance was being held in a garden

I felt a bump and heard an 'oh, beg your pardon,'

suddenly I saw polka dots and moonbeams

all around a pug-nosed dream”

The interesting thing about this song is the total lack of gender identification of either the persona “I” who felt the bump or the “pug-nosed dream” being bumped. And it never computed until yesterday when I heard a woman jazz vocalist sing a really good jazzy version and it was pretty obvious by her intonations that she was singing about a woman. Then I got to thinking about all the other times I have heard this song, mostly by men, and wondered if they could have been singing about a man? Why hadn’t this occurred to me before? The lyrics certainly open the door: Why wouldn’t there be “questions in the eyes of other dancers” if a same-sex couple was in there midst?

“There were questions in the eyes of other dancers

as we floated over the floor

there were questions, but my heart knew all the answers

and perhaps a few things more”

The answer I think is not that the song or delivery has changed, but my “life filter” has changed. I always viewed the world as a heterosexual and made all the assumptions that fit that view. For many years my view has been drifting toward a more inclusive and less dogmatic one.
And once I shed the filters of prejudice (1) (malignant or not that’s what we all have) and simply allow the realities of life to express themselves without filters, the whole world suddenly shifts and lots of new possibilities open. What I wonder and worry about is the sudden understanding of something that has been staring me in the brain for decades. Maybe we are never too old to learn, huh?

http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/cassandra_wilson/polka_dots_and_moonbeams-lyrics-1229273.html
1. http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/findword?query_type=word&queryword=prejudice
Image: http://keltic.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/1st-dance.jpg

The Darwin Award For: Cleansing the Gene Pool.

I found an old friend just now. The Darwin Awards, given for stupidity that results in either death or removal of the ability to procreate. Here is an example: "Picture this: A young couple driving on Via Dutra, the major freeway in Brazil with tons of heavy traffic, at 6AM under heavy fog the couple decided to park the car for "dating," according to the charming Google translation. And yes, they parked in the right lane of freeway, not on the shoulder or at a gas station -- and naturally, a huge cargo truck comes by and runs right over the car, immediately killing both inside during the act. Double Double Darwin! Two (2) people making two obviously stupid decisions, and natural selection acts at the very moment the two are reproducing . . . Textbook Darwin Award." (http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2010-06.html )

Today I was also playing around in a quotation site and found: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” I would say “---try stupidity.” There are so many ways to be stupid it is a wonder anybody survives to adulthood and then to old age. For a laugh and to see just how stupid some people can be, look around on the "Darwin Award" site. And in closing I offer this wisdom from Forest Gump:”Stupid is as stupid does.”

(Forest Gump Quote: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109830/quotes )Image:http://www.shortsshortsshorts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/jackass-award.jpg

Why Don’t I Feel "Bucked Up"?

Let’s Look for some Good News
Ok, so we agree that we should look for some good news to “buck us up”. Where to look? Hmmmm. We could look at politics where Tea Partiers are doing pretty well in primaries. That is good news for somebody. And a multimillionaire Doctor (spent $38 million of his own money) under a cloud of suspicion for being involved (CEO) in a company that did some Medicare fraud won the Republican primary in Florida for Governor. That is good news for somebody. And, microbes are eating the undersea oil plumes. That must be good news for somebody. And the Feds are printing money to shore up the economy. That must be good news for somebody. And a Federal Judge stopped embryonic stem cell research to save all those potential babies (that would be defrosted and thrown away anyway) from helping cure disease. Thats just gotta be good news for somebody. And the USDA is getting on top of the biggest Salmonella outbreak ever, after dealing with deadly outbreaks of other disease-causing organisms for the past few years. That must be good news for somebody. And the floods in Pakistan are subsiding in the North but getting worse in the South. That must be good news for somebody. And there are 3 storms in the Atlantic right now, one hurricane, one tropical storm and one tropical depression. That must be good news for someone. (Maybe the “global warmers?) Wild caught fish have more PCBs, Mercury and BPAs than ever before. Is that good news for somebody?
Gee. There is good news all over the place.

So why don’t I feel “bucked up”?

Image and Undershorts available from: http://www.webundies.com/nb242g2m.htm

The Pendulum and Real Americans

The nature of a pendulum is to move one way for a while, then move back through the middle of the arc to the other side, then back then back then back - - - - .
The political pendulum had been in all the possible places in the last 200 or so years. In simplistic terms this means it has been to the right (conservative) to the left (liberal) through the middle and back and back etc. We have come to expect this and only those of us who are experiencing the “away” part of the swing get upset. Cooler heads prevail and sooner or later back it comes, then “they” are upset. No problem with that.
No, the problem I see developing over the last 10 or 20 years, and continuing into the future is the seeming tendency of the pendulum to keep going right. Growing political intolerance (tea party), growing religious intolerance (ground zero Mosque debacle), growing influence of minority religious views on freedom of choice (stem cell/embryo research, gay/lesbian marriage, abortion), growing influence on public school curriculum (scientific creationism, abstinence only education), growing distrust of medical science (vaccination avoiders), growing irrationality in border security (Arizona in a German accent: let me see your papers) all point to the pendulum going farther to the right than it should.
Here is a horrible thought: What if it should go so far to the right that it sticks in the wall and never comes back? The very places and practices we revile will look like us. Now that is a scary thought. And just who are the “real Americans" anyway?
(Read the following OpEd by Dick Cavett for more on this at: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/real-americans-please-stand-up/)
Image; helix.gatech.edu/.../Swarner/definition.htm