The Goddess's Musings

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:36:00 GMT

lavon k painter fugit
july 3, 1917 - march 8, 2009
forever strong

the game continues ...

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:31:48 GMT

http://www.governor.ks.gov/news/NewsRelease/2009/nr-09-0216b-st.htm

Kan. suspends income tax refunds, may miss payroll

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:34:24 GMT

http://www.kansas.com/news/breaking/story/701750.html

the short of it (though it's a short article): state is out of money so isn't doing any tax refunds and probably will be paying employees late. the democratic governor wants to transfer money from another account, but the state republicans (who control both legislative houses) are refusing to approve it. unless she signs off on their budget.

so, um, the gop wants us all to have tax cuts and then uses our refunds as blackmail. NICE!

eta: http://kansasjackass.blogspot.com/2009/02/gop-leaderhips-blackmails-sebelius-puts.html

accidental deletes

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:01:20 GMT

somehow, i managed to remove all of my friends yesterday. if i haven't added you back and think you should be, just let me know!

ya ya, fuck you, too

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 05:15:10 GMT

yea, uh huh, bite me

oddly, i had just written a column about this very bullshit.

us election icons

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:12:45 GMT

and by that i mean just one design ...

share the voting love! FTW!

(steal, use, and for credit, use "voting for the win!")

days 'til gone: 98

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:03:08 GMT

heh, my kec signature

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 20:10:38 GMT

"Principles only mean something if you stand by them when they're inconvenient."

One of the saddest days of my life

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 19:10:03 GMT

To: Kansas Equality Coalition members
From: Carolyn Marie Fugit
Subject: Letter of Resignation

Over the past several months, the Kansas Equality Coalition has come to the brink of imploding but has managed to stay the course. We have had public successes and many internal failures. Over the past few weeks, this internal fighting has spiraled to an unmanageable point. And in the past two weeks, it has taken all I have to continue with this organization.

In the city of Wichita, an openly lesbian candidate we endorsed lost her bid for state representative. Her campaign was poorly managed by the Victory Fund, and her opponent used this to discredit her. There is no way to know for certain if her opponent really attempted to use her constituents’ homophobia against our endorsed candidate, but the event has left many in KEC and KEPAC with a bad taste in their mouth. The Victory Fund issued statements condemning the Kansas Democratic Party, and this story made the rounds among LGBT political bloggers all over the country. Many people said many horrendous things, and in the name of moving forward with our political agenda, an agreement was reached between party officials, candidates, and KEC.

The Executive Committee of the State Board agreed to a joint statement that publically condemns the Victory Fund and the actions of out-of-state money being used to support a Kansas election. I am appalled at the language used and the spirit of so dramatically denouncing a national LGBT rights organization that supports LGBT politicians. I am appalled that we would in one breath condemn the use of out-of-state funds to support elections in Kansas while working to accept very large sums of money from out-of-state organizations and individual donors to support our political and social goals to bring fairness and safety to all Kansans.

The internal bickering and fighting that has long been a part of LGBT movements in this state has sapped all of my energy from me. My goals for the chapter, for the Kansas Equality Foundation, and for the Fair & Safe Schools Campaign have been set aside as I attempt to manage and recover from the open hostility between our leaders and even between our members. I am ashamed that I ever participated in the back-room politics that have been conducted from the very highest levels of our organization, and I do not like the person I have become. I believe very much that we do not need to play dirty in order to win the rights we so richly deserve simply by being Kansans, Americans, and humans.

I feel betrayed. In the fall of 2005 when I voted with everyone else to officially form the Kansas Equality Coalition, I felt that it was a new beginning of cooperation. I felt that it was our chance to stand tall and proud and to struggle together for fairness. I thought we would be different. As it turns out, our internal struggle to recognize fairness among all LGBT peoples betrayed a large segment of our community when our legislative plan for 2007-2008 specifically did not include gender identity as a class protected against discrimination but instead hid protections inside the definition of sexual orientation. Our own inability to fight for non-discrimination completely has betrayed us entirely. We have also played a nasty political game not only in the halls of the capitol but with each other. The games played internally to push out leaders betray the very notion of our being a grassroots organization. I am not pointing at any one person or any one act but instead a series of acts that even I have participated in. It has not ever been for the good of the organization or the good of our community, and it betrays the words we say we stand for.

In my last act as chair of the Kansas Equality Coalition of Wichita and Sedgwick County, I name Jeff Wicks as one of our two representatives to the state Board of Directors.

I hereby resign, effective immediately, as chair of the Wichita chapter, founding chair of the Kansas Equality Foundation, as our chapter representative to KEF, as director of the Fair & Safe Schools campaign, and my position on all committees. This is not an organization I can comfortably say I support as it betrays beliefs I have held most of my life.

Carolyn Marie Fugit

caterpillars!

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:39:06 GMT

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Pristine_Black_Swallowtail.jpg

i have caterpillars eating my dill. have found thirteen so far. these are what they'll turn into! yay! :)

and now for a political post

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 17:28:45 GMT

the kansas democratic caucus is coming up in just over a month so it's probably time i actually supported someone, no?

(and where the image doesn't work, it's dennis kucinich.)

My wonderful and fantastic day

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 20:41:17 GMT

Today, I traveled to Topeka to watch Kansas's Governor Sebelius sign an executive order banning discrimination for state employees that work for the executive branch. KEC worked hard on this, and many other organizations have worked long and hard on it. It's ... well, it's fantastic :) The Kansas Traditional Republican Majority's chair said "It's about time."

2. A strong program prohibiting discrimination and harassment on account of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, military or veteran status, disability status, political affiliation or any other non-merit factor. This program will include training, and a prompt and confidential method for expressing complaints.

Needless to say, I'm a little happy.

ETA:
No one, however, bothered to talk to me, but that's okay.
And there's more great gay news today!

Hooray for a casino

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 21:02:37 GMT

This past winter/spring, the Kansas state legislature decided to allow gambling, including a casino, in Sedgwick County (there's another casino being built elsewhere, too, but I don't remember where). There's been talk about such a thing before. It'd be run by the Kansas Lottery from which much of our public education funds flow. On August 7th, there's a special election by Sedgwick county voters about whether or not to include slots at the Wichita Greyhound Park and whether or not to build a casino, likely in Wichita. If the casino fails, it'll be built in Shawnee as they already voted to build one should Sedgwick turn it down. It'll be run by the Kansas Lottery so I'm sure the state of our public education system depends upon a casino doing well, just as scratch tickets selling well.

So ... the Yes campaign is being run by Phil Ruffin and Jim Ward. Phil Ruffin is a property owner 'round here. Owns lots of shit. Why the county Democratic party's working with him is beyond me as he kinda fucked them over on the new hq. At any rate, he also owns the building where CCH and AccuTel is, and way back when Adecco was staffing for CCH and AccuTel, we had lots of people fall on the ice in the parking lot and hurt themselves because Ruffin refused to clear the parking lot. Jim Ward is my current state representative, and I dislike him so much, I'm going to take his state seat from him some day (could be 08, could be 10, don't know yet). Massive, massive asshole. He's house assistant minority leader and a real ... asshole. Both he and the minority leader are both conservative fuckwads, for the most part, and definitely make the party look more conservative than I like parties to be. I feel dirty supporting something they're running.

I also feel dirty voting no because the Religious Right is running one of the three campaigns against a Sedgwick county casino. And I have no problem with a casino in theory.

But.

I really, really don't trust the city council and county commissioners deciding where to build the casino. They're already talking about turning the Kansas Coliseum into the casino. And their agreed upon placing of the ill-conceived and entirely too expensive arena? Right next to the Commerce Street Art District. And every time I mention it to people that it'll ruin the art district, I'm reminded the council and commission both agreed not to destroy the art district. Because, yanno, a several thousand seat sports and music arena isn't going to do *anything* to the art district, it'll remain untouched. Uh huh. Wichita totally needs another big money thing. Around here, we're really desperate to 'revitalize' the city, even not giving a chance to those things we're still in the middle of trying. Besides, Sumner county is really economically depressed, and a casino, even 2% of the revenue, might help. *shrug* If it were here, 2% would go to Sedgwick with 1% to Wichita. *sigh*

It has been pointed out that voting against the casino could risk the the legislative seats of those that voted for it, and a lot of them are actually reasonable people.

I'll vote for slots. Dunno about the casino.

So! It's time for a poll!

View Poll: Yes for Progress or No to Casinos?

(from tiki22cal's 'Top 10 Things To Say To A Non-Indian Upon First Meeting': 1. What's your feeling about river-boat casinos? Do they really help your people, or are they just a short-term fix?)

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 03:22:19 GMT

so, dubya had this brilliant idea and communted scooter libby's sentense for obstructing justice when people started investigating the administration's outting of an uncover cia agent because they were mad at her husband who said 'uh, buh, i gave you that report on yellow cake and said it was false, yo. why you lyin', bro?'

and on an auspicious day.

on july 2, 1776, the second contiental congress voted to approve the lee resolution, expanded by 'the committee of five' and mostly written by thomas jefferson. the edited version was approved on july 4th and was signed eventually by 56 men who knew signing it was a death sentense should independence fail.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should decalre the causes which impel them to separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instututed among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizaing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dicate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, tna to right themslves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."-- Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britian is a history of rpeat injuries and usurpations, all having i n direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be sumitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accomodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representatation in the Lgeislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into complaince with his measures.

He has disolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of theses States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amoung and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat o ut their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the Military independant of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constutition, and unacknowledged by our laws; givening his Assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Provience, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into the Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislature, and declairing themslves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War aginst us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, and already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the Head of a civilized nation.

He hs constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Bretheren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongs us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our fronteirs, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistiguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We h ave Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.

Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethern. We have warned them f rom time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrentable jurisdiction over us. We h ave reminded them of the circumstances of our emigeration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we ahve conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enimies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Surpreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, and with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutally pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 01:22:47 GMT

ow.

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 18:34:56 GMT

ow.

ow.

jesus fucking christ ow.

ow.

ow.

ow!

fuck ow!!

ow!

stop!

fuck ow!

goddamnit.

ow.

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck ow.

ow.

erg.

ow.

why are you being so stab-- ow!

ow.

ow ow ow!

fuck ow.

meh.

ow.

finished?

ow.

it's aids walk time again!

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 02:13:24 GMT

it's aids walk time again! kemp might donate too much money again this year ;)

eta: he did, and he told me my goal was too low.

death of a dictator

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 04:36:40 GMT

it appears saddam is dead. died before dawn tomorrow morning. brought to a fall by the very country that brought him to power. there's dancing in the streets and around the 'net. disgusting display of joy ...

Weapons are the tools of violence;
all decent men detest them.

Weapons are the tools of fear;
a decent man will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint.
Peace is his highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be content?
His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He doesn't wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?

He enters battle gravely,
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral.

--Dao De Jing, chapter 31

and here i am looking up names that mean 'peace'.

ETA

lyrics for today - steppenwolf - monster/suicide/america

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 01:07:24 GMT

bastard me, i can't find my steppenwolf cd to listen to this one.

(Monster)
Once the religious, the hunted and weary
Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new vision
Far from the reaches of kingdom and pope
Like good Christians, some would burn the witches
Later some got slaves to gather riches

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light

And once the ties with the crown had been broken
Westward in saddle and wagon it went
And 'til the railroad linked ocean to ocean
Many the lives which had come to an end
While we bullied, stole and bought our a homeland
We began the slaughter of the red man

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light

The blue and grey they stomped it
They kicked it just like a dog
And when the war over
They stuffed it just like a hog

And though the past has it's share of injustice
Kind was the spirit in many a way
But it's protectors and friends have been sleeping
Now it's a monster and will not obey

(Suicide)
The spirit was freedom and justice
And it's keepers seem generous and kind
It's leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind
'Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
And now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told
Yeah, there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin'

Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner
We can't pay the cost
'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watching

(America)
America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

changing

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 03:10:59 GMT

Every now and again, I will look into a friend's journal and read old entries, usually when I first friend someone. But it is sometimes random. I just open up their journal in another page and look through, see who you were and who you are. To see how you became, in part, some of who you are today. Normally, my attention span makes this a short trip. Knowing that I can barely read through entries more than a couple of paragraphs, I'm genuinely surprised when people read through all of my rambles.

There are things in others that we accept as nature. As something that cannot be separated from who they are. We see people as they are now and don't realize that who they are now is not who they always were (or always will be). And when you read someone's journal now and then, you see how they've changed and wonder how that change occurred. That change isn't always growth. Not all of my change has been growth.

Yesterday in alientje's journal, I mused about Star Trek VI's title, "The Undiscovered Country". As is mentioned in the film, the title is a reference to Hamlet. Hamlet's famous 'to be or not to be' soliloquy. 'but that dread of something after death, / The undiscover'd country from whos bourn / No traveler returns, puzzles the will / And makes us rather bear those ills we have / Than fly to others we know not of? / Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;' I wonder if the writers of The Undiscovered Country intended to draw the parallel between change and death. We tend to fear change because we don't know where it will go, because we are comfortable where we are. We sometimes look back on change and see it as having been a fool's errand. But we also look back and see change as a great benefit.

Without consideration, I pursued a huge change in my life. At the time, it didn't seem like change. And even now, while I recognize the change, I wouldn't take back that decision or the instinct that brought about the change for anything in the world. And throughout, I figured changing back would be easy as what I was before came naturally to me. And, now, this newfound role is just as natural. It is almost more difficult to go back to my meetings, which oft times end up being meaningless. I wonder if I pursue a couple of avenues now because I don't want to change all the way back.

And there are other changes that I hope to bring about in my life. I have abandoned some of my values. I have abandoned some of myself. I have closed off some avenues I shouldn't have. But then there are avenues I wanted (and still want) to keep closed that I have opened. I'm afraid of hurting people's feelings. I'm afraid of losing good (or perhaps only decent) things in pursuit of myself. I realized tonight that I have advocated something in others that I would never advocate in myself nor advocate towards myself. People, knowingly or not, have been hurt.

I like what I have become, in many ways, but I dislike some of what I've unbecome in order to get here.

I wonder what fears keep me from certain things, or if they are fears at all.

There is nothing about me that is fully realized, and I question how much I hold myself back versus how much of it is really my inability.

I wonder if I have shut some people out, welcomed others in, as a reflection of myself.

I wonder if I happened into this change selfishly, through guilt, or if it was as genuine as I wish it is.

And I wonder what I really want out of myself, out of others, out of life. And I wonder if I have what it takes to get there.

And I wonder if that's important at all.

the future of war

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 18:20:09 GMT

a week or so ago, i was waiting for my pizza at il vicino, and i wrote this thing on the back of my atm receipt. see there seems to be some confusion over the peace center's mission. so the question came up, do we always advocate non-violence, and what exactly does that mean? so i wrote this little diddy while waiting. apparently, it's quite impressive that i did that. i didn't work on it. i just wrote it. and i didn't edit it. it just is. so, um, here it is :)

"We cannot advocate war as a viable option of solving problems between nations, even if we find the war just. We cannot advocate violence between individuals, even when necessary. We can acknowledge the right to self-defense while simultaneously advocating peaceful resolution of differences and issues. If we advocate one war, when does it stop? We must always mourn the use of violence and the subsequent harm or else we advocate the use of force. We must strive for the ideal even if it is prone to fail. Reality is somewhere in between."

i fully believe that the american war for independence was a just war. the british empire became an invading force once the colonists asked them to leave (this is entirely not addressing the issue of the american occupation of north america). but that doesn't mean i think the war should have been fought to its logical conclusion. what is the logical conclusion of war? until the day both sides agree to stop fighting and have non-violent resolution, the only thing that can happen is annilation. even if the war is just, we must always advocate its end and a peaceful resolution to the conflict, both the war and the conflict that compeled people to war. and assigning blame doesn't help. blame is always directed to individuals, and while individuals are responsible for their actions, the real blame lays in society and the way we handle our own beliefs. the annilation of native peoples of this land didn't come about because george washington hated sitting bull. it wasn't a personal grudge. we can say it was a fight for the land, but the real cause was white people's assumption that we are better and everyone must live like us or else. it was the idea (superiority, especially in the form of the manifest destiny) that caused the beliefs (we can have this land) that caused the issues (we're going to take this land) that caused the violence (we'll kill them to take the land). everywhere everyone marches, they have their own manifest destiny. while war might solve a quick problem, it is not a lasting solution because the ideas still exist. wwii didn't end racism. the civil rights movement of the 60s didn't end racism. only we can end racism when we take responsibility for our own beliefs and our own actions. and it isn't a quick solution. when i believe it's wrong, i can pass this on to people who will push it further.

which is why i rather like extremes. i know that my ideal isn't possible. yet. or if ever. and even if some day my ideal happens, i would hope for change. not because my ideal is bad but because by time that happens, it'll need to be pushed. change is good. but i digress. every time i call for non-violent resolution, a more pragmatic solution can be stated by someone who doesn't necessarily agree with me but can see how something i say might have a point. and when we take that step towards me, that means someone else learns it's a viable step. they'll take it first, see that it doesn't quite create what they want, feel that closer to my point will. and they'll take another step. there are extremes on my side of the scales that even i don't agree with. or cannot yet attain. i don't ride my bike everywhere (though i'd like to). so i still drive an environmentally-unfriendly car. i'd really like to go completely vegan, but i just can't yet. i don't feel that i should force that on others nor do i have the time to cook to do so. even acheiving our own ideals is difficult, if not impossible, but we should still strive. and we shouldn't feel guilty when we don't get there. doesn't mean we should feel good when we fail. but we must continue to move forward, even if we stumble.

war is stupid. violence is stupid. the idea that we should mourn the death of civilians above the death of military people is stupid. death of unnatural causes is death of unnatural causes, no matter who dies. we should always mourn our dead, and we should always mourn the violence that brings it about. not because we love our enemy but because the continued use of violence sets the precedent that we are not rational creatures that can resolve our differences without blowing each other up. the continued idea that 'they' cannot do it is a racist assumption because 'we' are just as prone to violence as 'they' are. since i was born in october of '79, has there been a day that my country has not been in conflict? 'we' are never better than anyone else, even if we are closer to our ideal than 'they' are. because we all have the same ability to succeed, the same ability to fail, and the same ability to stand still. for us as a people to move forward, we must begin to assume that everyone has the same ability and desire to move forward. we must accept that people's differences is what make us strong. defending the idea that one side or the other can't is only going to hurt us. we must listen very long and very hard before we ever speak. and we must do it together.

stargate is taking over the world

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 01:03:35 GMT

the airforce is closing cheyenne mountain. i'm thinking the sgc grew too big and forced norad out.

yes, that's what i'm thinking.

perspective on iraq v. israel-lebanon

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 05:31:50 GMT

from juancole.com:

Frank Rich, one of our most perceptive intellectuals, points to the odd downplaying of Iraq news what with the advent of the Israel-Lebanon crisis. But Rich is being a little unfair. If they tried to cover two important issues like Iraq and Israel-Lebanon, the television news producers would ask, how could they fit in the missing white women and the small town murder mysteries?

*snark*

it's a sad day ...

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 04:02:45 GMT

it's a sad day when fox news is praised by the left.

she called the fox news gal a bimbo.

there's this insane concept that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. i don't believe that for a second 'cause fred's enemies include fox news and jerry farwell. seriously, with friends like them, who needs enemies? sometimes, though, you just have to laugh at fred. there's nothing left to do after a while. you just have to give in and play the little game on his website that asks you to save the children (represented by bottles) from the sodomites (represented by pink nazi swastikas ... seriously). (make sure you don't accept any cookies 'cause fred really doesn't need to know, no? why does he need to give you cookies anyway? oh, yes, and god hates america, canada, and sweden. thank god i'm atheist, no?)

pink nazi swastikas? i mean ... that's worse than calling a dyke a fag. get your insults at least somewhat correct!

next time i'm in topeka and lawrence for work, i'm gonna have to go out there to the phelps compound and make out with random women on the street. maybe i'll get laid there, too.

but i might feel dirty :(

that's why i need my own sodomobile. i need a sign that says 'sodom is for lovers'.

glaciers on the attack!

Tue, 16 May 2006 04:08:35 GMT

what part of 'lockbox' don't you understand?!