Sex and the Myth of Monogamy

I have just read (1) a brief description of Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha’s book “Sex At Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins Of Modern Sexuality”. I haven’t read the book yet, but will do so in the next few weeks. The point is this: once agriculture started us down the road to the current iteration of civilization, the sexual process quickly became a control issue. And men co-opted the control. Rules all over the place favoring men in multiple and frequent sexual encounters while women were relegated to monogamy. Why? Well, like so many other issues, science chimed in (probably more like pseudoscience really, because there is no quantifiable data) and made the case for men spreading genes far and wide while women limited the distribution of their genes to get security.
This flies in the face of the sexual habits of every species of primate. Primates breed freely. Period. Statements like “Bonobos are Promiscuous” carry not only a description of to whom a given chimp will breed, but also a value judgment that implies that there is something wrong with promiscuity. Well folks, there isn’t anything at all intrinsically wrong with it. It violates CULTURAL norms in many societies, but it doesn’t violate biological norms. In fact it IS the norm, biologically speaking.
So you got to take your hats off to Daniel Quinn one more time: before the agricultural revolution we were primates living like other primates. Afterwards, we invented rules and gods (Gods if you prefer) to impose slavery on each other. Women enslaved to men and men enslaved to other men and cultures enslaved to other cultures. In many ways we would be much better off if we never learned to grow things, and stuck with hunting and gathering. Better for us, better for other species and better for the planet as a whole.
1. http://www.npr.org/templates/archives/archive.php?thingId=131728279
Image: blog.newearthmusichall.com

Beaver Consultant? You Betcha!

My neighbor called the other day with a question about her beaver. I thought “now how does she know I am a Beaver Consultant?” I went over and took a look: Nice. Big too.
My career in beaver consulting got its start when a county recreation manager called and asked if I had any experience with beavers. I told him I had observed them on many occasions and knew something about them. The problem, he said, was with the county swimming lake. At times there were so many beavers visible that nobody wanted to swim. Instead they just walked around trying to get a good look or even a picture of a pretty beaver. I went out and I can tell you there were some fine beavers out there. Eventually we came up with a plan to solve the problem. It turned out that several neighboring counties had similar problems, and I became the “Resident Beaver Expert”.
I heard about another consultant who got a call: “Do you know anything about tits?” Well, he just happened to be a tit expert. The woman told him her tits were not as perky as they had been, and looked sort of dull. She said that she had done everything she could think of, including special vitamins, and nothing seemed to work. After taking a look at them, the expert recommended a diet of sun flower and millet seeds enriched with multivitamins and minerals, and some meal worms if available.
In a few weeks, a follow-up call confirmed that her tits were much perkier, their color was better and they were singing more than before.
(My neighbor’s beaver was a beautiful 3’ carved sculpture of a North American beaver Castor canadensis, and the tits in question were titmice and chickadees, respectively Baeolophus bicolor and Poecile carolinensis)
Additional information on tits can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_(bird)
Additional information on beavers can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver
Image beaver: paradeofflesh.com
Image tits: zazzle.com

Random Acts of Culture

Every one of these made me choke up a little. I know, I choke up easily, but I swear something about this kind of humanity cuts right to the center and just sits there and says “See, humans are wonderful after all.”
Yes, sometimes they are, and these are among those times. Take a moment out of your busy day to look at these events. And look carefully at the people that are being surprised by the music. Wonderful. Makes you think there might be hope for the human species.
In a food court: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE
In a train station: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k&feature=related
At Macy’s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU
Image: good-times.webshots.com

The Glass Bowl

Louisville; bitter cold walking back to hotel after some good beer, fish and chips and freezing our Southern asses off.
Sal and I were walking against the wind when we passed what looked like a glass blowing lab with picture windows to the street (1). There was also an art gallery with some interesting work, and a few people milling around in the gallery with glasses of wine in their hands. Private party? Open house? We decided to at least get off the street and warm up a little so went into the reception area and were offered wine and snacks (we just finished the meal so declined the snacks, not the wine). The glass blowing lab had two people working and we watched through a glass partition while a guy put a blob of glass on a pipe and began to form something. He saw us and gestured us to come in. We did, and spent the next half hour warm and watching him create a simple but pretty bowl. He and the helper alternated heating, shaping, adding glass, heating and shaping again and again until he had it finished. Then one cut and the bowl fell into waiting gloves to be placed into the cooling oven. The glass artist’s name is Tyler Gordon.
I told him we would love to buy the bowl because we liked it and we saw it being born. He gave me his cell # and told me to call the next day to arrange to pick it up. I didn’t. But, while sitting in Borders contemplating homelessness two days later I did call. No answer. So, I walked down to the building. Locked. A janitor saw me and let me in, and told me Tyler was in the lab with a class, and to go on in. Tyler looked a little surprised and I think he didn’t expect to see me again. We walked back to another small lab where the bowl sat on a shelf amongst other pieces. He said he would be happy if I accepted the bowl as a gift. I did, and he accepted a donation to his much depleted beer fund.
I can't know if Tyler Gordon will make it as a glass artist, but he made our day a bit brighter, and the bowl has a place of prominence in the kitchen. And I think he is happy too, not just for the beer money, but because someone valued his work. So thank you Tyler for your generosity, and we both wish you a long and productive career.
Image: iittala.com (image of our bowl delayed due to camera difficulties. Ours is much the same only opaque.)
1. The glass blowing lab is part of the Hite Art Institute at the University of Louisville

Homeless in Borders

I walked Sally to the session in blowing light snow and 25 degree (colder wind chill no doubt) temp. Then I walked about 5 blocks to the Borders for a quick look for a new book and coffee. My dress: ratty watch cap; old jeans; oldish shoes; reasonable coat with dog hair; no gloves; no shave.
Louisville has a lot of homeless men hanging around the civic center trying for a few bucks and someplace warm to rest. Mostly they are grubby and burned-out looking. Kind of what I looked like that morning. I walked into Borders warmth and started a tour around the first floor looking for discount books. Nothing interesting so up to the second floor. Nothing interesting there so back down to the coffee shop for a quick cup of Joe and then back to the digs. As I sipped the hot coffee the manager walked a homeless guy out the door and stood outside as he moved off. When she came in I gestured her to the table and asked her if she had to move out many homeless folks. She said this guy was smoking in the bathroom, against the rules.
Then she looked at me and said “As long as you follow the rules, you are welcome to stay as long as you like. I know its cold out there.” As she walked off I thought: “Time for a new hat and a shave.” And I also thought: “Being homeless must really be a bitch.”
Image: corbisimages.com

Beer: Not Only Food, but Medicine Too!

On the road again, this time in Looaville, Ky. A few quick observations pointing to essays to come: Good breweries here, with interesting IPAs, a very nice Bourbon Barrel Stout, some barley wine; a university glassblowing program set in a downtown parking garage (with an art gallery included); freezing weather and snow; White Castle slyders; homeless people in Borders. This lists the high points. Low point: Sally picked up a "tummy bug" (her description) that was probably classic "food poisoning". We ate pretty much the same thing for the last couple of days, so my conclusion is that hoppy beer, in addition to being a wonder drug for all kinds of things, is also good at curbing food poisoning. Remember this: Beer: Not Only Food, but Medicine Too!
See, I think the combination of alcohol (disinfectant), hops (calmative and restorative agent), water (hydration) and grain byproducts (food and fruit group) is indispensable in any therapeutic regimen. Taken as a preventative it is unbeatable. I drank more beer, she drank more wine ( more alcohol, no hops, less water, grape byproducts (fruit group only) and no grain byproducts.)

(M & J: Look at the location of photo)

Image: http://www.thebeerguys.com/

Babe, You Sound Like a Baby!!

Women with baby voices:
Today I heard an interview with a senior partner in a law firm, but before the interviewer identified her, I thought he was talking to a 5 year old girl. Not what she was saying, but her baby-like voice.
Am I the only one concerned about American women increasingly sounding like babies when they talk? You know what I mean: high in the throat, quick and annoying sounding. Just like a little girl. Why do they (you) talk like that? Europeans don’t. Asians don’t. Africans don’t. But American women from these groups do. Conclusion: This is a cultural phenomenon. A LEARNED habit
Think. A woman is interviewing for a job and sounds like a baby. Strike one before she says anything. She sounds whiney and tentative. Strike two.
The normal human voice is produced in the larynx, low in the throat. Anyone can make their voice sound like a little girl by moving the sound up into the back of the throat. But why the hell do that? American women need a good dose of speech therapy to get back to a melliferous sound. A purring murmur. Sexy or direct, anything but babyish. Come on women. Listen.
Read the LA Times article cited below for a more complete discussion. See? I’m not the only one the notices these things, and, gets concerned.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-daum7jul07,0,7903770.column
Image: www.babytalk.co.za/babyTalkLogo.jpg

Doctrine of Unintended Consequences

I sit here this afternoon, humbled and teary (Oh Search, not again!). The little essay on ratemyprofessor was, as many of my musings, a way for me to work through something. It helped, and publishing seems to be part of the help, at least for me. After I posted, I thought “Well, there was some whining Woody. (Searchie-pie to one of you)” But I don’t take down things I post, so there it sat. The responses were humbling. And yes, very pleasing too.
As I move away from the center of my career to the fringes, I can’t help wonder sometimes what good has come of it? I have been known to be a bit pessimistic about some things from time to time, and recently more than earlier. But not here. Not with My TU Students. I know to the marrow how hard you worked, in fact how hard I worked most of you. I know you left my domain knowing a lot of content and for many knowing how to think analytically. Still, as most teachers know, you let them go with a hope and prayer and mostly never hear how they did.
I did not write the essay to winkle kind thoughts or praise or anything really. I wrote to clarify in my own mind the seeming decline of Me. And I think I got it: different venue, different perception. Many of my Students will remember me talking about the “Doctrine of Unintended Consequences”. This is a perfect example.
Thank you for the unintended consequence. And the blub.
Image: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=254327

RateMyProfessor: Oops, Is That ME?

The last time I looked at my TU ratings I scored 4.7 out of 5. Not too shabby. The comments were positive with words like “Awesome” “Great” and other superlatives. Great for the ego.
So today I looked at my TCC ratings from 3 students based on my classes from the spring of 2010. I scored 3.4 out of 5 with comments like “He doesn’t teach much, but gives bonus points.” What the HELL? Is this the same professor? Then it hit me. Yes, it is the same professor, but TCC is all labs with no real chance to teach content. All show and tell. All models. And, my classes were way above the average in both grades and retention. Disconnect? I think so. My lab teaching technique, developed over decades of teaching (too many decades maybe?) is to NOT give people the answers to questions like “Is this the right or left clavicle?” My answer: “I don’t know. Let’s try to figure it out.” Then I show them how to figure it out, without ever telling them the answer. Works like a charm and before long they burrow into material on their own. And they don’t realize they have learned to learn. Probably the most important thing anyone can learn.
So I feel bad about the ratings and comments, but understand that learning to learn is not as apparent as memorizing a list of bones. I can’t wait to see the ratings from this term. Maybe I will soar up to 3.5.
Image: www.flickr.com/photos/wakingtiger/3157622170/

Thanks.

Thanksgiving. I have been thinking about thanksgiving and all the church signs I see around with some variant of "Thank God" for something. That got me in a really negative mode because there is no doubt that if you thank some being for the good things then you must hold that same being responsible for the bad things. At least as I see it. Then I read a blog (1) posted by one of my favorite authors, a woman suffering and possibly dying from MS. She shamed me with her long list of “thanks” without once thanking any kind of god. I went back over my own thoughts and did after all find lots of things to be thankful for. Thank you to Sally for all the years you have put up with and loved me. Grateful for being alive and relative healthy, not rich, but not poor either, good friends, and the list got longer and longer.
With deities off the table, anyone can be grateful for anything. Or appreciative even. Like a beautiful sunrise or powerful storm. A poem or novel or play or symphony. Anything. Negative just slips away.
So I think my point is this: If you feel the need to thank some god for everything good that ever happens, then you should hold some god responsible for the times when things go wrong. “Thank you God for the food on our table, but where are you when people are starving in the Sudan?” And “Thank you God for protecting my child while she was deployed in Afghanistan, but where were you when other children were shredded by IEDs? And by the way, why are we at war anyway? If you are so powerful and loving, surely you could solve that little problem without butchering thousands of innocent people?”
Get the point? No praise without responsibility.

1. “A Writers Thanksgiving” : http://asknicola.blogspot.com/2010/11/writers-thanksgiving.html
Image: iskcon.net.au

WIC and CIGS

He was ahead of me in the line at Harveys. Three WIC vouchers four piles of stuff. I don’t know how WIC really works, but obviously each of the vouchers either had a dollar limit or a food type or he saved them up. He got milk, eggs, cheese, some cereal and a few other things on the vouchers. Each pile had to be checked out separately, each voucher signed separately. The fourth pile was beer, and the cashier got a couple cartons of cigs. Out came the wallet with a wad of 20s. That really pissed me off. Essentially I paid for his kid’s food and he paid for his beer and cigs. It still pisses me off.
Sally pointed out that with the vouchers, at least his kids got fed (and so did he, the greedy bastard) because he would have bought the beer and cigs anyway, and not food. She is undoubtedly right. It still pissed me off. If this guy makes enough to wave that kind of cash around why the hell is he getting the vouchers in the first place? Maybe works for cash so no paper trail? I don’t know. And maybe when he gets home he will sell the groceries to a neighbor, send the kids to eat a free lunch at school and sit around watching his flat screen drinking beer and smoking. Just the thought of that pisses me off.
More good news: the economy in Florida will generate 1.3 million jobs in the next few years due to the recovery that is well underway. So the morons in Florida that “Threw the bastards out” threw out the wrong bastards. No accounting for morons.
Image: http://farmdirectmarket.powersites.net/files/2010/09/WIC.jpg

Breaking News: Blurred Groin Syndrome!!

A newly discovered physical/anatomical disorder is called blurred groin syndrome or BGS. Men have wondered for years why the shape of some men’s “junk” was obvious even through clothing, while others could wear anything for jeans to Speedos and still not have that “come and get it” look. Now we know the answer to this perplexing problem: BGS. That’s right; there is something about the anatomical and electrophasic distribution of the body’s meridia that cause a blurring of the groin area, resulting in a nearly invisible set of genitalia. This syndrome was confirmed inadvertently as comedian Dave Barry was directed by TSA into a pat-down room because the full body scanner could not image his “package” (1). He was told he had a blurred groin. It seems that this strange combination of anatomical and electrical phenomena affects not only the retinal imaging of genitalia but also the X-ray imaging.
So after years of carrying equivalent junk and getting ignored by everyone, men finally have an answer: BGS. Laboratories around the world are currently at work to provide a drug to relieve the symptoms of BGS. Early tests of one drug showed great promise: mice that have notoriously blurred groins were given a two week course of experimental drug “X”, and were observed to have rat-sized genitals! Who Knew? The drug is scheduled to move directly to phase three trials because many of the top regulators in the country have been accused of not having any balls and they want to prove that they have. We shall all see very soon.
(Secret research for this breaking news report is secret, so don’t ask. It is, however, copyrighted)
Image: http://www.aclu.org/files/images/client/BodyScanner.jpg (note that the gun is easliy seen, but the "junk" is invisable!)
1. http://www.npr.org/2010/11/15/131338172/humorist-dave-barry-and-the-tsa

Effie

Effie in the Middle with Greta and Yuyu on either side. Young Matt Search in lap.

And that (story about Corky below) reminds me of another aunt, Aunt Effie. She was my father’s youngest sibling and in many ways the hell raiser of the crowd. Effie was born sometime in the early 1900’s and grew up in the flapper and depression days. She never missed a chance to have fun. She wandered from job to job and man to man, marrying one twice, and scandalizing the family. She borrowed money when stuck in some dive of a town, and made the rounds from brothers to sisters when she was “between situations”.
Aunt Effie had one son, Wallace, who had lots of children and grandchildren, so in her later years Effie was always surrounded by family. She started every phone call with a sighed “Oh Kids” and went on to complain about everything possible. Sally and I stayed with her on one occasion and developed a particular mode of “sleeping”, since her bedroom and ours were connected by a closet with no doors. She was often fun despite herself and as Aunties go she was OK. A bit of hard work sometimes, but then who isn’t.
There were many legends about her, but the one most whispered about and never directly confirmed by me was the tattoo. Now you have to remember that in the 20’s and 30’s only thugs, sailors and very loose women had tattoos. Sometime during that time she got a tattoo. But not a butterfly on her shoulder or ankle, or a Celtic knot on the small of her back. No, she had a simple one: initials of someone, presumable a boyfriend, and an arrow pointing up. So far so good. The shocking part (to those who knew about it) was not only the tattoo that couldn’t be seen easily but the place where it resided. On the inside of her thigh. Remember the design, then think of the location, then think of the information content. Shocking.
Good old gal though.

Corky: KIA

Korea 4 June 1951. Corky Wray jumped with his 5th Ranger Company buddies into North Korea and was killed not long after hitting the ground. He was an only son. Corky had a great personality, always laughing and being goofy. He used to pick me up and ride me around on his tall shoulders, and sometimes let me ride with him on his paint horse. He never had a chance to do any of the things I did as an adult, but he was passionate about his country.
I just watched a video of an old guy who raises a casket flag from a different KIA each day from Memorial Day to mid October. It was touching, and I thought “I wonder what happened to my cousin’s flag after my aunt Greta died?” No matter. Nearly 61years later I remember Corky well, and in the way that adults think about their childhood years I still miss him. Maybe the shock of his death and the life-changing affect it had on Aunt Greta was part of the reason why I resisted the draft.
Ranger John G. Wray is buried in Wymore, Nebraska near his mother. If you ever get out that way, look him up and say “Hi” from me.
Image: http://www.ricarangers.org/images/05th/KIA/WrayJohnG.jpg
KIA/MIA/POW information: http://www.ricarangers.org/kiamiapow.htm

Just for Fun.

While I was looking around for an image for the post that follows this I stumbled on the website of a really incredible photographer. His name is Robert Rodriguez Jr. Here are three examples of his work and believe me his web site has much more. Take a few minutes to visit http://robertrodriguezjr.com/blog/ and enjoy your self.

Images used with permission

Cobscook Bay Spirits

We were looking for a place to have a quiet hike, and turned into Cobscook Bay State Park, an out of the way place in Northern Maine. The park and campground was closed for the season, but the boat ramp was open so we drove down there and parked. The 17 foot tide was out making it easy walking along the beach. The beach was covered with wrack weed nearly up to the high tide line, and there were lots of mussels and periwinkles everywhere. We found a trail leading up into the woods and hiked it for about 10 minutes. The trail came out around the bend from the ramp and led down onto the beach. Before us were two small “islands” that were truly islands at high tide but with care, accessible at low tide. We made it to the first island and decided to scramble over boulders and a small beach to the second. Directly in my path was a seagull feather. Naturally I picked it up (see earlier essay) and put it in my hat to honor Bird who left it for me. When we got to the second island I felt strongly that this was a sacred site, probably a burial place, where spirits were still present. I felt their interest and felt at peace. I needed something to leave to honor them and their dwelling place and thought of the feather. I pulled it from my hat and buried it shallowly at the edge of the small woodland. The feeling back to me was immediate and strong: Good. Go in Peace.
Who knows what this kind of encounter means or where it emanates from? All I can tell you is that everywhere you go you will find places like this, and any gesture of honor will be met with respect.
Image: www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=379028429194

"If" is for Children Building Daydreams

If's an illusion.

“If only time would trickle slow
Like rain that melts the falling snow
If only Lord, if only.” (1)

I have been reading the brilliant thinking of Daniel Quinn and have been struck many times how his ideas synchronize with my own. Most Biologists probably agree with his central premise that our civilization is headed over a cliff of unthinkable height to a fall of unthinkable depth. In the end he posits a way to avoid the ultimate disaster by invoking the If-Then solution. You know this solution to problems very well: “IF I could only get a better job THEN I could pay off all my bills.” The problem is with the IF. In the vast majority of cases, the IF doesn’t happen, and if it does, the THEN morphs and itself becomes illusionary. To whit: you get the better job with more salary, BUT the bills just keep coming in and may even get bigger.

In Quinn’s instance, although the premise of reverting or going forward to a tribal civilization is a compelling scenario, it looks like the world just isn’t going to do that. There seems to be no appetite for change or even capacity to recognize that we are in real trouble and need real global solutions now.
The IF in Quinn’s plan is compelling. The THEN is a good outcome. But as Roger Whittaker sings, “If’s an illusion . . . If is for children building daydreams.”

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbfR2l0LzfI&feature=related
Image: http://merchnow.com/store/graphics/00000006/MSI0IFEX00-CD001.jpg

The Miracle of the Woods

We went out the day before to find sign and places to wait in ambush. We found plenty of rooting on the edge of a dry swamp, and I found a hollow tree big enough to hide me and best of all it had a crack that looked out over the swamp. Perfect in every way.
We got into place before dawn the next morning, me in my tree and the other guys where ever they found. We waited. Slowly the sun crept up and the sky lightened. Now I could see the edge of the swamp. Wait. Wait. Then, low but real, the sound of slow movement. Rustling in the dri-ish saw grass. Next came a hunters dream: a huge black pig slowly walked out of the brush towards me. Twenty five yards or so. NO!! TWO!!!! One behind the other. My old Fox double barrel was loaded with magnum 00 buck. Perfect. Two shells, two pigs. Wait. Wait. They came closer and got bigger and bigger. I stepped out of the tree, aimed and fired twice. Perfect hits squarely in the head of both, and both went down.
Then the Miracle of the Woods happened. As I walked up to them, shaking with adrenalin (these were after all my first and second pigs), they started to shrink. The closer I got the smaller they got. Damn. How big are they? Closer, still shrinking. By the time I got to the bodies, or what was left of them, they had shriveled to about 15 pounds each. Babies. Just trying to be big and tough. Walking like adults. Puffing themselves up to look like 200 pounders. I felt like a real dick (pardons all around).
On the way out of the woods later that day, I passed two people coming into the woods with a camera or something. The woman muttered “Jerk. Why kill babies? Stupid hunters!” I wanted to scream “I DID NOT KILL BABIES. THESE SUCKERS WERE 200 POUNDS EACH WHEN I SHOT THEM!!!” But of course I didn’t. And of course they weren’t. They were tasty, though, cooked slowly in a smoker. Sort of pre-pulled pork.
Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3065/2716321404_f860af82da_z.jpg

Abraham, Martin and John

And don’t forget Bobby, and Edgar, and Malcolm and all the rest. (Some might even put all of our military dead in with these martyrs.)
I heard this again over the weekend and had to wonder what the hell we were thinking way back then? And then it struck me like a bolt from the blue: whatever it was, the times are getting there again. Division so deep you can’t see the bottom, lack of respect for the other side, lies flying in all directions, money controlling everything.
Watch out for the next wave of assassinations.

And speaking of songs, don’t forget that there is indeed a bad moon rising.

Image: http://www.b2bfineart.com/nss-folder/pictures/im14_a.jpg

Who Would Elect Morons Like This?

The Impact Trickles Out
Restrict access to abortion, reduce broadness of social safety net (reduce food stamps, rent subsidies and access to health care) reduce the size of state payrolls by cutting and privatizing state functions, cuts to education at all levels, roll back gay marriage/gay rights legislation, get rid of pesky regulations like development area restrictions and waste dumping. According to the news services this morning these are the priorities for most of the newly Republican state legislatures. There are a number of different reasons why each is in the list, but the effect remains the same: return to a period when the environment for both people and the natural world was less friendly, less caring, less careful and less concerned with individual rights. The Christian Right and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce along with BIG BANKS and BIG BUSINESSES are all singing “Happy Days are Here Again”.
And why not? They all will get what they wanted when they poured BILLIONS of dollars into Republican campaigns. And the rest of us poor schnooks get screwed, again.
America has the lowest tax rate of all the first world nations on earth. The LOWEST!!! The cheapest gas, the cheapest food, the cheapest housing, the cheapest, ooops, make that the most expensive , medical costs (but by far not the best care), and the list goes on. You would think that someone would take a look at the failing State budgets and figure out that cutting property taxes, already the cheapest of all first world nations, makes things worse. You would think that putting hundreds of thousands of state workers out of jobs (and there goes their purchasing power) would make things worse. You would think - - - . Ah HA! THINKING!!
These morons aren’t thinking past the next election. They don’t care about your future, they care about THEIRS. I wonder what moron would consider electing jerks that would do this kind of destruction to our comfy country.
Image: http://janeheller.mlblogs.com/moron_button_pic1-255x229.jpg

Science and Morality.

Science: fixed truth such as the Law of Gravity which states that if you jump off a cliff without restraint or some lift mechanism, you will fall downward. No interpretation.
Morality: pliable concepts such as the Old Testament stricture “Thou Shall Not Kill”. No interpretation right? Wrong. Mercy killing by Christians. Executions by Christians. Murder by Christians. Rules for how and when to kill. So this is a moral issue.
But, can Science inform morality? You bet it can. It was considered immoral to dissect human bodies, to desecrate the temple of God, and so was a punishable crime both morally by the Church and by civilian authorities who drew their laws from the moral opinions of the Church. Fast forward and find that it is no longer a mortal sin to work on a cadaver. Science trumped morality.
What about the issue of embryonic stem cell research? Opinion on the morality of this prevents the Science of it from being fully realized, in this country. The issue of insoulation (moment when the soul enters the body) and when conception occurs blur the moral arguments, but the fact that thousands of frozen embryos will die anyway and could be used to seriously help people is a fact. No ambiguity. Is a fertile embryo a person? Who knows? When does the soul enter the person? Is there really a soul? Who knows? These questions are argued by religious agents with no basis for ever getting a factual answer. Ambiguity.
Global climate changes? Science is quite clear on the facts. Deniers make up facts and ignore reality in favor of clichés like “I don’t trust Science” or “Not all Scientists agree.” or “You can’t believe what they say.” So deny penicillin or heart/lung transplants.
I vote for Science. Obviously many of you didn’t.

Image: http://www.greenberg-art.com/.Illustrations/.Serious/qq1sgMosesMorality.jpg

Courage Comes in Many Forms.

Here is a tale of a kind of courage. Courage comes in many forms, and I saw one the other morning. Sometime in the past this man had his entire nose, the middle of his upper lip and jaw, and part of his pallet removed, leaving a large hole in the center of his face. I don’t know why.
When I first met him he wore a prosthetic device attached to a pair of glasses that mostly hid the destruction. It had a little tab in the middle that sort of fit in the space where his moustache grew, and the sides more-or-less covered the hole. It looked like a rubber nose, the kind you see kids wear as a costume, and that is what it essentially was.
The next time I saw him was about a year later, when he arrived at my house to do some repair work. He got out of the truck with his glasses and nose in place, and walked up to the back door. We shook hands and talked about the job. As he went back to the truck I noticed him take off the glasses and throw them through the window onto the seat. He turned. Not pretty. But a major repair was underway. The jaw and lip surgery was healing nicely and the hole where his nose had been removed was now smaller and less ragged.
I guess he wears the nose at first to keep from shocking or frightening people. And I hope he took it off because he sensed I wouldn’t be shocked. I wasn’t.
This guy has the courage to face the world as he is. Unless challenged we can never know if we have that kind of courage. But we know it when we see it. And I saw it up close and personal. There are thousands of people meeting the world on their own terms. Courage to overcome fear and prejudice comes in many forms. Celebrate it when you see it. Or live it.
Image:http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/05/15/300_tank_080514014816328_wideweb__300x300.jpg

Change of Pace

I just watched a music video (Search? Music Video? Has he Cracked?) of “The Highwayman”. Take a moment out of your day and watch this. Doesn’t matter if you don’t like Cash, Nelson, Christopherson or Jennings. This transcends musical taste and cuts to the heart. The message is plain: have faith.
A lesson for us all, this day especially.
Enjoy;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VST2KKIYn50&feature=related
Image: http://smithyboy.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/thehighwayman.jpg

Just a Thought

Kumbaya? Not any time soon.

Mitch McConnell is quoted thus: "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." (1) With this as a starting point, it is difficult to see how the party of “NO” can possibly understand anything other than their own power. The incoming chair of the oversight committee (house) said something like “We will bury the White House in subpoenas”. The Republican leadership in the Senate has said something like “We will use every parliamentary maneuver to stop the Democrats in their tracks”. Can’t the Republican Party see ANY other issues of importance?
In 8 years of the Bush daze I never heard any Democrats say anything even close to these outrageous things. Why you ask? Simple. The Democrats are slow and stupid when it comes to fighting for their own survival, and the Republicans are quick and deadly when fighting for theirs. The President has already conceded that in order to move the country forward he and his will have to compromise with the Republicans. The Republicans have already said “NO”.
So don’t look for any “Kumbaya” moments any time soon. And for you liberals, women, gays, poor and others towards the bottom of the food chain out there, don’t look for any sympathy from the Republicans. But, you bankers, oil men, CEOs and other power brokers and super rich folks, start up the Victrola and put on “Happy Days are Here Again” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf53oFb4IKA).

1. http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/republican-leader-says-gop-s-number-one-goal-is-defeating-obama-2012
Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/His_Master%27s_Voice.jpg

I don’t give up. I throw up.

Fifty one percent of registered voters in Florida did not bother to vote. According to the supervisor of elections for Leon County, Ion Sancho, most of these were Democrats. That’s right, Democrats. Who didn’t vote. Makes me want to puke in their dinner. This country is all about “the People”. We hear “the People” this and “the People” that. But when it comes time to actually hear from the people, half of them don’t bother to vote. And this time that disgusting apathy got a full slate of Republicans elected.
So now the ball is in their court to play, as the newly elected Governor said “- - - for all the people, not just the Republicans who elected them.” Well, Scott, it’s like this: the Republican minority did not elect you and your party. The apathetic, pathetic and worthless Democrats that didn’t vote elected you. Personally I recommend that you piss on them. They deserve nothing less.
Sorry, got to go. Got to throw up again.
Image: http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40949000/jpg/_40949974_vomiting416300.jpg

Biuka: The Voice of Freedom

Listen to this link then come back and read: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKy_uZCC-Ko .

Thanks to NPR, I heard this incredible woman this evening. Wonderful in all qualities of singing, she said that freedom liberated her voice. Parents from an oppressive African country, raised as the only black in a gypsy enclave in Mallorca, a Spanish island, openly bisexual and a single mom. Talk about a few strikes. This woman didn't strike out. Her voice is amazing. I now have a new artist to listen to. And to learn and learn from. Don’t miss this one.

Bio information: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130920420

A Time for Good Will and Prayer

“Friends can disagree and still be friends.” “When two people of good will argue from opposite sides of an issue, one usually wins and one loses;” “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition."
These familiar phrases echo and resonate during the political season. Friends who have radically differing political views argue, taunt, point and laugh at each other. Then, the election is over and reconciliation usually happens. I was talking to a friend of mine just today, a quite conservative Republican, and he was teasing me about the probable outcome of the elections today. The “So, what’s your boy gonna do now?” kind of stuff.
The election isn’t over as I write this, and I will probably have more to say tomorrow. But for now I would offer this: If the Republicans win and can somehow manage to overturn and turn back what I see as progress in regulating the banking industry, and kill the healthcare effort, kill the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency and attenuate other moderate efforts to curb the excesses of business, then in addition to celebrating, I think my friend should get down on his knees and pray. Pray that the outcomes of these reversals won’t kill his grandchildren or send the country into a morass of unregulated greed. Pray that the air stays breathable, the water stays drinkable, the food stays eatable and the money stays spendable.
If they win we all should pull together to try to educate the electorate, if possible, and hope for a reversal of the reversal next time around.
Otherwise we are in very, very deep doo doo. (See, I can play nice.)
Image: http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2008/01/03/rg_sewage_wideweb__470x335,0.jpg

M-I-C----K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

The setup: STEMtech conference at the Swan and Dolphin in Disney country; families from all over the world staying at the “cheapest rates this hotel has ever offered” (desk clerk); walking on the Boardwalk and around the grounds (humming “Mrs. Robinson”?); Mouse ears everywhere.
This paradise destination for so many families is moderately crowded and bustling along nicely. Families having fun, coming back from fun, going out to have fun (whatever that may be). The place is noisy in a conference-e way. Lots of conversation (none overheard) some laughter, but always in the background the signature sound heard everywhere: children crying and whining. “I wanna go - - - - and see- - - “ or “I don’t wanna go - - - - etc.” or “No” or just whining. I cannot remember being anywhere in the place where some child wasn’t crying or whining. Walking along the 7th floor hall to our room on the third hallway we passed many doors. From behind some of them? You guessed it : crying or whining. I thought “what the hell? This is supposed to be fun (Whatever that is.) These parents and children are ragged out.”
It finally struck me: When I was a kid, we went places and had fun (whatever that was) and my brother and I probably cried and whined a bit, but we had lots of time. Time. We had a cabin for a week in the mountains, or spent 3 months in the summer house, or spent weeks driving to Nebraska to spend time with family. We didn’t have to pack all our “fun” into a 3 day pass and exhaust ourselves in the process. I didn’t, not once, hear my mother or father say “Damn it, we are here to have fun and we are GOING to have fun!!!”
So, are we having fun yet?
Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh73q5EX7-pIF4HVs7cVDoy3VdymU4nSHAfnU6PtnuMlEVg_1MSi44GVY6nyOcKkp-Lmi24yQRdkXdOcsoNVRCVGl4oelx7kjU8In3c3lmJLNuzSwx58y4QntyIrwkxvAThJPna47uWyd8/s400/sad_disney_mickey_mouse.jpg

Today I gave up “giving up”

For months, or is it years, or maybe decades of seeing the moronic knee-jerk responses of the American public (and somewhat also many people in the world outside our borders) I have responded “I GIVE up!!” Today I said it again, as usual over some political crap, and though “Giving up doesn’t work Woody. It takes too much energy to give up. You have to do something to change this attitude.” So I decided to give up giving up. No more will I turn with disgust from the pages of the NY Times, the Washington Post, The Sydney Daily Telegraph, Reuters and NPR. Not worth the effort. So I will just say “Hmmmm, more morons doing moronic things. Let’s see what Science News has going on today.’ I grant to the rest of the world the right and privilege of “giving up”. As for me: count me out.

Image: http://www.themillionairesecrets.net/images/2008/07/never-give-up.jpg

Right Now I'll Settle for a Good Rain

An old friend of ours from Australia has a song on her album “From the Heart” that has a line “All we need is a good rain”. Today, here in good old Havana we finally got a good rain. Still raining in fact. The soil is very thirsty. As it started to rain, the refrain from the song played once again in my mind (we play the album often, and still blub through most of the songs). And I thought, no, we need more than a good rain. We need civility and trust, and we need time to sort out all the problems facing us as a nation and world. We need solutions that curb populations and help to reduce poverty. We need to empower women all over the world, yes, even here. We need so very very much just to survive.
But I’ll settle right now for a good rain. Thanks Dianna. You and yours are a constant with Sal and me.
Image: Dianna Hammond at http://www.australiaday.com.au/ambassadors/ambassadors.aspx?AmbassadorID=175

Science is better than Politics

“The more carbon that gets released into the atmosphere, the higher the average temperature rises.
That's a scientific fact.
Human activities, such as driving, flying, building and even turning on the lights, are the biggest contributor to the release of carbon.
That too, is a fact.
And yet the majority of Republicans running for House and Senate seats this year disagree” (1).

I know some of you agree with the ignorant and science-hating people mentioned in the article quoted above. And if the national action to curb greenhouse gasses is stalled by a recalcitrant congress we will all suffer, including the morons that deny the science. I am sorry for those of us that know the truth yet will probably suffer for the stupidity of the deniers. I am not sorry at all for the deniers. They will suffer along with the rest of us, and it will be their fault. Unfortunately the entire world is watching us make utter asses of ourselves while they take the problem seriously. Even China and India are preceding with carbon reduction programs. While we screw around with politics.
A student told me the other day in response to a discussion on this: “Well, we are all in God’s hands.” If that is true, then God just washed them. We are on our own. No Deus Ex Machina on the horizon for us. Just a lot of suffering. Thanks guys for ignoring the science. I hope you lose your elections, because if you don’t, we all lose.

1. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130776747&sc=nl&cc=nh-20101024
Image from same source as above citation.

"The Meeting"

Ever think about how economics work? No? At the roots of economics is this: You make or do something that you sell to someone else to get money that you can then use to buy what they make or do. Barter works the same way. You grow pigs and trade them for veggies or pots or fripperies that were produced by people who wanted pigs.
I have come to believe that the same system exists within many if not all organizations. This system is organized around “The Meeting”. In Educational Institutions meetings are the currency. Meetings occur on a daily basis, and the outcome of many is to set a time to meet again, and to refer issues to groups that must have meetings that in turn report back to the first group in, you guessed it, a meeting.
Periodically there are meetings to bring the results of other meetings together for review. These meetings usually result in the distribution or redistribution of tasks back to the groups that reported, thus safely generating more meetings to keep everyone employed.
In fairness, sometimes something emerges from a meeting that is not immediately sent to another group to meet about. These things are called “Decisions”. After all is said and done, Decisions are usually the product of one or two people who actually run the highest meetings, and ideally, but not always, are reached using the consultations derived from all the other meetings. Naturally, after a Decision is reached, the impact must be thoroughly reviewed and evaluated in a whole series of? You got it: MEETINGS!

Image: http://www.yavel.com/always/images/hp_dilbert.jpg

Let’s have a party.

What is WRONG with this damn weather?
In San Diego last week several locals told me that they had never seen such weird weather. Seasons seemingly switched: rain when it should be dry; dry when it should be wet; bleak and cool when it should be a glorious fall. You get the point. Same all over. Raging fires. Endless droughts. Huge storm systems.
I can’t wait to see what this winter will bring here in the VERY SUNNY SOUTH. Hasn’t rained in weeks and I am watering more than ever before just to keep things from dying. More water evaporating from the ponds than ever before. Damn weather. Weird weather. Ooops. Could we be in a “weather weirding” cycle predicted by the global climate change morons? You know, the ones Fox news says are crazy and have no scientific evidence of change? Hell, who needs science? Just look out the window or listen to the news (even Fox reports on the never-before-seen floods, droughts, fires, famines etc.) Oh, I get it! This is all NATURAL! No connection at all to the massive destruction of the world’s forests, the acidification of the ocean or the gigantic load of carbon dioxide added each minute to the atmosphere. NATURAL. Whew. Now I feel so much better.
Just sitting here waiting to go to a meeting organizing a group that is trying to get Thomasville to set aside forever a beautiful 200+/- acre forest. We need another industrial park like I need another dog. Have to wonder though: with the climate in the South getting progressively warmer earlier and staying warmer later if the forest will not change itself. The answer is “of course it will”. So why bother saving it? I agree it is probably just a “finger in the dike”. But why not try to keep what we have a little longer? Why not try to stave off the inevitable. Why not go down fighting? We are in the process of conquering nature.
Let’s have a party.
Image: http://users.skynet.be/oakcity/2006/CD/CD1.jpg

Ishmael

The certainty of the extinction of any species that overcomes the rules governing the steady-state of population and adopts as its goal the conquest of nature and the ever-expansion of its population is set.Nothing new here, but elegant in its presentation. Malthus said it. Ehrlich warned about it. Futurists have known about it for a long time, but mostly don’t see the inevitability of the end of the story. The key word is “certainty”. It is time to stop smelling the roses and realize that the ultimate end of human kind who have left nature behind is extinction. Period. There is no coming back from this. There is only heartbreak. Sustainability is a worthy goal that cannot succeed in a world obsessed with growth.
Is it possible for the others, those that are in sync with nature to survive? Absolutely. If there is a world left that they can live in harmony with. That is the rub. When the Takers fall, and they will fall, will they “Take” the Leavers with them or leave them behind? Don’t know. Hope so. It will be a very tough world to live in.
Image: http://www.roumazeilles.net/news/fr/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/gorilla.JPG
Ishmael: Novel by Daniel Quinn

San Diego: Land of Good.

San Diego. The land of good beer, good food and good times, the USS Midway, California girls but no sunshine. None. Never saw it. So much for “sunny California”. Smog yes. Sun, no.

We were driving up historic US highway 101 on the way to a couple of breweries (where else) when I suddenly noticed that all the people were “bobbling” on the sides of the road. Up and down, up and down. Everybody was a bobble doll. Then it struck me. They were all jogging. Whew, I thought. Then I noticed that they were all young. The percentage of obviously older people was almost zero. One crossed the street in from of me and I though “I should run him over to put him out of his misery”. I didn’t though. And the surf. Dozens maybe hundreds of bobbling torsos on surfboards just gently rocking in the water. Up and down. Up and down. No waves, just gentle small swells. At first I thought they were seals. But they were surfers with no surf.

So what did I learn in San Diego? Everybody jogs on Saturday or rides a bike in very colorful costumes or floats on the calm ocean. That everybody who isn’t jogging, biking or “surfing” is driving on the freeways. That they either eat there seniors or ban them from the streets. That there are more world class microbreweries per square mile than anywhere I have ever been. That there is great Chinese (the goose intestines were particularly alluring) and good Mexican food. That the USS Midway is there and is a National Treasure to be enjoyed by all. And that you can’t prove it by me that the sun ever shines in Southern California. Can’t wait to go back. Seriously.

Image: http://californiadaytrips.blogspot.com/2008/08/kiss-statue-uss-midway-in-san-diego.html

India Pale Ale and the Afterlife

This is an ale made with lots of hops, Humulus lupulus (1), used to impart a bitterness and/or a “hoppy” aroma to the brew depending on the variety. Hops is also an important stabilizer and acts as a preservative for long-term storage. By the mid fifteen hundreds the British were using hops to improve the shelf life of ales, and when the empire expanded into the tropical parts of the globe, hoppy ale was brewed to survive the long sea voyage to the destination ports of India and other places.
In the early 1800’s, a particularly strong hoppy ale was brewed and it was called India Pale Ale or just IPA(2). The combination of the malt, hops and other ingredients varied by brewer, but a steady feature was the very strong bitter flavor indicating more than the usual amount of hops. The high amount of hops used to brew IPA assured that it would survive the long and rough ride to India.
Today this style of brewing is gaining favor all over America, even as it wanes in Brittan. Most small breweries create their own versions, and competition for medals is fierce. IPA is my favorite brew.
So, having sampled no less than 9 different IPA’s in 4 days in San Diego, it came to me last night that the perfect solution to being deprived of IPA after death was obvious: Find a funeral home that would agree to embalm me with a good strong double IPA like Strauss’s “Big Barrel Double IPA” (3). Finding a director with a love for good beer shouldn’t be a problem. The problem would be getting the smile off my face.

Image: http://www.karlstrauss.com/index2.html
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hops
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Pale_Ale
3. http://www.karlstrauss.com/index2.html

Come out, Come out, Whoever You Are!!

Coming out day. Today and I almost missed it. I have had a few friends and my son come out to me, and it is a real honor and privilege. It says “I trust you. I value you. I open myself to you in a way that scares the hell out of me”. Thanks for your trust. I will do my best never to betray it. If I could come out, it would be to one of you. I love you all.

Image: http://lgbtq.uchicago.edu/images/outoberweblogo.jpg

ZADARUM

There is a well know phenomena to do with giving up. Take a rat and throw it into a tub of water and it swims and tries to climb out until exhausted and then it sinks and drowns. Hold a rat tightly until it stops struggling and place it in the tub and even though it is not in the least exhausted it sinks and drowns. No struggle. Why? It has been conditioned to understand that struggle will not free it from its circumstance.
I am beginning to feel like the second rat. Not constrained by force, but by sheer stupidity and apathy. This week: “I am not voting this time because Hillary isn’t there.” “I’m voting Republican this time because I won’t get a COLA in my Social Security check next year.” “I’m not voting in this election because the Democrats bailed out the banks and auto industry, and the stimulus hasn’t worked.” “I thought the Democrats would fix the economy. They didn’t so let’s let the Republicans try it.” “We need a party in there that will cut taxes and put more money in my pocket.”
I get so tired of thoughtless morons who think one vote will fix the world. Or that the party that screwed up the dream will somehow dream it again. Years ago I learned a Ukrainian word that defies translation, but means something like “give it up - - - there is no point”. I can’t find it in any on line dictionary so maybe it didn’t exist. It does now. “Zadarum”.

Image: http://www.erichufschmid.net/Piper/HelpUsDrownTheRats.JPG

"I love living life. I am HAPPY"

Crap. Another viral email. Oh well, better open it since emails from my friend are usually interesting. YouTube link. Copy. Paste. Stunned.


No other way to put it.

You probably have seen Nick Vujicic, but I never did.

Catch my breath. Get that kind of gasping feeling. Tears of wonder.

If you have never seen this guy, you must. And by God (something for me, eh?) when you feel like complaining about something, think again. Think WWND?


Here is a YouTube link. Do it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8ZuKF3dxCY&feature=related

Quote: Nick Vujicic from YouTube
Image: http://www.girlsheartpoint.ca/events/BreakThru2010/NickGreenbkgd.jpg

Is there a future worth living for?

Another kid kills himself. This time a college student “outed” by his roommate on YouTube. Check the link below to get a quick update from Ellen DeGeneres and you will get the names of a few more, driven to suicide by bullying.
I was bullied as a child. From about 7 to 14 I got pushed around, used as a punching bag, suffered verbal abuse because I was overweight and always chosen last for everything. Not fun. But I didn’t even consider killing myself. Not then anyway. I don’t know why I could take it and others could not. I didn’t like it and was unable to fight back. No help from my brother or parents or friends for that matter. But, at about age 14, I topped six feet tall and got an attitude. Not a bully, just not quite such an easy target.
I suspect that weak and different children and adults have always been marginalized and bullied, and I suspect that is a part of human behavior that won’t change much. So why the uptick in suicide? Maybe the rate hasn’t changed, but the media has. Maybe not. We had a suicide in my school, 9th or 10 grade. The guy was quiet, a good student, maybe gay, maybe just a loner. He was a good looking boy, shy, no friends, boy or girl. Maybe somebody bullied him, but if so I never saw it. Maybe his home life was abusive. I just don’t know. One day he went home from school and hung himself in his room. Gone in a flash. No press. No nothing.
If there are more suicides from bullying, could it be that the world as a whole is getting so contentious, so many negative campaigns, so much carping about everything, that the bullying is just the last straw, or the future looks so bleak that there isn’t anything to look forward to anyway? When I was being “done”, we were getting under our desks to try to survive the A-bomb attack we were sure would happen any day. Other than that, though, the future seemed bright (except for getting the crap kicked out of me from time to time).
Don’t get me wrong: bullying anybody for any reason is a foul and stupid thing to do. I don’t support it and I do support efforts to find and “correct” the bullies. But I do think there is a sub-set of people that ARE foul and stupid, and these will always be with us. What we need to do is get out of this miasma of negativity and give our youngsters (there, I’ve said it. God, it doesn’t feel good to say “youngsters” knowing full well I ain’t one any more) some hope for a future.
Question: Is there a future worth living for? I think so, but boy sometimes it is hard to see it.
Image: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/galleries/2007/1969240/full/hanging_man.jpg
Ellen on bullying: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C85QQTXAtnY

"Real Men Don't Buy Girls"

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher team up to start a campaign against the trafficking in young girls for sex. WHAT? you say? Young (11-14 years old) girls sold into slavery in America? The Land of the Free?
Yes, that is correct. According to the Thursday September 30th USA Today (1) more than 100,000 young girls a year are victims of criminal gangs that sell them for sex use. Do the math. More than 100k per year adds up to a tremendous number of young girls seized and abused over many years.
I was going to write an essay on the capture and sale of women for the sex trade. Women from Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Women promised a better life with a job, home and the possibility of freedom only to find them selves locked in small rooms, or chained to beds or pallets and used as receptacles by men. When these women are too sick or broken to be of interest to even the crudest customer, they are tossed out on the street or killed, or just die. Those that live are ravaged with starvation, disease and physical abuse, and broken psychologically. No job, no home and no freedom. Just a short life on the street and a paupers grave.

I was going to write about adult (is a 15 year old girl an adult?) women until I read the article in today's USA Today about Demi Moore. I thought "My God, this is even worse (is that possible?) than adult slavery." What must these girls go through? The fact is I can't imagine what they go through. I know it must be beyond pain and suffering. Beyond abuse.

Then the real anger begins to get me. Who are the sick bastards that use these girls? They are the ones that need to be targeted. Sure, get the gangs that capture and "run" and sell the children, but go after the users. These perverts need eliminating. Oh, but wait. Some of these are undoubtedly rich and powerful men. Men who can protect networks of slave sellers. Men who live beside you. Men who manage your money and preach to you. Men who make laws and judge you. Men who protect you. Men who none-the-less need eliminating. No compromise.

Am I angry? You bet. Support the goals Demi and others have articulated. Don't let these bastards get off.

Image: Demi Moore from "G.I. Jane".

1. www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-9-30-sexads30_ST_N.htm

Who would drink “Skunky” beer?

I would, that’s who.
Back in the old days when I first started drinking Ballantine XXX ale, it had a noticeably short lived skunky aroma. The source of this is from the action of light on the ingredients of the beer. My Ballantine XXX was never in the sun, yet every bottle had a delightful whiff of “Flower”. The ale itself was, and still is, flavorful with a satisfying and lingering aftertaste of bitter hops. Not as much as a good IPA, but enough to differentiate it from ordinary lager-type beers. The reason for the whiffiness was the green bottles, and it didn’t take much sunlight to change the hops iso-alpha-acids into skunkiness. It goes away quickly, though, so get ready for it.
Ballantine XXX Ale and other Ballantine brews had a long and twisted history, summarized nicely on the Falstaff fan site linked below. The beer industry went through a major shake-out after Prohibition, and many wonderful brews went away. The Ballantine lable and some of the brews were repeatedly sold and still managed to survive. So look for it and try it if you can.
Sometime, somewhere when you least expect it, you will open a bottle of good ale, hopefully Ballantine XXX, and get a whiff. Don’t be put off! Enjoy the moment. It may never come around again.
Image: http://www.falstaffbrewing.com/_borders/ballantine.jpg
http://www.falstaffbrewing.com/ballantine_ale.htm
Skunky beer: http://www.evansale.com/skunked_beer.html

FGM - Not for the Squeamish

A 7 year old girl takes her mother’s hand as they board the plane in DC. They are headed for Nigeria, to visit the mother’s family and introduce the girl to her grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins. The streets of Abuja seem strange to a child born in Washington. Her uncle drives them out of the city to a small village where the family lives, and a wonderful dinner celebration welcomes the new comers. The next morning the women tell the girl that she is being taken to the “woman’s place” for a special ceremony, and she is excited. She will become a woman!!!
They arrive at a small hut away from the village and all go inside. The child is frightened but consoled by her mother. Next, she is undressed and told to lie down on the ceremonial blanket, made especially for her. She willing does so, though she is still frightened. She doesn’t understand what the women are saying in their foreign tongue. The next few minutes are a blur of fear and pain as the women pin her to the blanket and her grandmother shows her a rusty knife and chants something. Next, her grandmother saws off her genitalia, both pair of labia and her tiny sensitive clitoris. She screams and screams, and passes out from fear and pain. Her mother tells her that now she is a woman.
This true story describes a process called by many names but commonly known as Female Genital Mutilation or FGM. This disgusting, degrading, and utterly unnecessary mutilation is practiced in many countries around the world, mostly by Muslims of certain sects, but also by some African tribes. This little girl was one of the lucky ones. She went home to medical care and didn’t die of shock or infection. Thousands of children are not so lucky. Mutilations done with rusty can tops or broken glass shards often result in death. But hey, these are only girls, right? More where they came from, right?
WRONG!!!! These are children being abused in a most savage way. What have you done lately to oppose these practices? Read the article from UNICEF linked below for more information, and for the sake of a little girl somewhere, DO SOMETHING!!!
(Oh, and on the wedding night? The most badly scarred brides are “opened” with a sharp dagger, providing the husband proof of virginity, and lubrication. That make you feel any better?)
Image: diasporadical.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/fgm.jpg
UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_genitalmutilation.html

Empowering Women.

Recently, experts on the role of women in society met at a United Nations sponsored forum. Interviews with several of these women have been aired and published in print, and there is a common thread in all of them. It is simply this:
"The ability of women to control their own fertility is absolutely fundamental to women’s empowerment and equality. When a woman can plan her family, she can plan the rest of her life. When she is healthy, she can be more productive. And when her reproductive rights—including the right to decide the number, timing and spacing of her children, and to make decisions regarding reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence—are promoted and protected, she has freedom to participate more fully and equally in society." (1)
The lack of these rights leads to early death of women from health issues related to childbirth, large and poor families, a disregard for girl children and a growing number of young men with no chance for education or success.
You think this is a 3rd world problem, don’t you? Well it is, and, it is also a problem here in the good old US of A. Any culture that denies a woman the right to control her reproductive decisions fosters the same problems as seen in the 3rd world. And worse, in a free society where anyone is (within limits) free to express their opinion, groups that oppose the freedom of women attempt to make EVERYBODY in the society subject to their limited view of women.
The history of reproductive freedom is filled with examples of legislative attempts to limit access to birth control, sex education, reproductive services, pro-birth control counseling and other issues. So far they have all failed in favor of individual rights. The push for “Abstinence Only” sex education attempts to limit the rights of woman to control their fertility in a way THEY choose. Abstinence is a very good way to limit live births, but it is not the only oneby a long shot.
The last time I looked, this wasn’t Russia or Iran or China. This was America. I really hope the “was” in the last sentence doesn’t mean that this isn’t America any longer. Where freedom of choice is limited, the America I know and love is diminished. Remember the bumper sticker “America - Love it or Leave it”. Many folks claim to love it but want to change it to their restricted idea of what it should be. Maybe THEY should leave it, and try to get their ideas implemented in, say, Saudi Arabia. And, they could get cheap gas.

Bye Bye.

1. http://www.unfpa.org/gender/empowerment.htm
Image: http://www.cherieblair.org/women/I%20am%20powerful.jpg