Anger Management and The Little Blue Pill

When I am angry, really, really angry, I have a number of coping mechanisms: A long walk, a stiff drink, or some other distraction to take my mind off things.


Sometimes, though, these things are either inconvenient or ineffective. This is one of those times, and calls for the bringing out of the Big Gun: Transference. See, when I'm so angry that I just can't think clearly, it sometimes helps to concentrate on another matter, one that also pisses me off, so that I can vent my excess anger onto that issue, thus clearing the way for me to be able to think about my current situation more rationally.

I have chosen for today's distraction the Republican War on Women, and my therapy consists of drafting a letter to my Elected Representatives.

To Whom It May Concern (and it deeply concerns us all):

Due to the increasingly restrictive measures on the reproductive and sexual health choices of women, I have come to the conclusion that something is sorely missing in this situation. For some time, now, the reproductive and sexual health choices of men have suffered badly from neglect. I believe that it is time to remedy that situation! For too long, men have done without the oversight by legislative bodies in making their health decisions, and we are the worse off for it. How can we expect the men of this great nation to bear the burden of making their own health choices without their other responsibilities suffering? Something must be done!

To that end, I am writing to ask that you immediately draft and sponsor legislation that will serve to correct this egregious oversight. I am not a wise Legislator such as yourself, so I will offer a brief outline, which perhaps you can use to draft the legislation in appropriate language:

1. In order to receive a prescription for erectile dysfunction drugs (Viagra, Cialis, etc.), a man must provide written, notarized permission from his wife. No, scratch that. The wife must appear in person before a Family Court Judge, and state not only that she consents to this, but that she actually will be willing to have sex with her husband (for the purpose of procreation, of course).

2. Having provided the above, and having received said prescription, the man and his wife must provide documentation that the drugs were used solely for the purpose of procreational intercourse, within the confines of marriage. This documentation must take the form of written affadavits from both parties, video tape of the intercourse (vaginal only!), and witness statements from two parties not related to either participant.

3. Obviously, it goes without saying that no prescriptions, under any circumstances, will be written for unmarried men, as we all know how detrimental to our society sex outside marriage is! This also applies to homosexuals, Mormons (One Man, One Woman!) and anyone whose wife is not of child-bearing age.

I hope that you will join with me in seeking to relieve our menfolk of the burdensome responsibilities they now face, and in ensuring the continued chastity of our people and the sanctity of life and marriage.
 

On, Wisconsin!

"Although it is true that only about 20 percent of American workers are in unions, that 20 percent sets the standards across the board in salaries, benefits and working conditions. If you are making a decent salary in a non-union company, ...you owe that to the unions. One thing that corporations do not do is give out money out of the goodness of their hearts." Molly Ivins




Since Molly wrote that, Union membership in the private sector has declined to about 7%. Union membership in the public sector is about 30%. The Unions are not the big, bad, power-hungry thugs that the Republicans like to portray them as. What they are is the last vestige of power that people have in dealing with their corporate would-be masters. People like the Koch brothers do, indeed, have a vested interest in breaking the public employee unions, as doing so would effectively end the right to organize in this country. As all good, Christian Republicans can tell you, you shall know them by their deeds, and the fact that the Koch brothers are sinking millions of dollars into this effort tells you all you need to know: They are very well aware that this investment in union-busting will pay off Big Time in terms of driving down wages. Instead of saying "You have more than me, therefore I want to take it away from you," you should be saying, "You have more than me; join with me and help me and everyone else get what you have." What it comes down to is a choice: This is either a "me" society or a "we" society.

Ever wonder where Glenn Beck gets his schtick?

That was easy!

I don't usually post music, but I'm in a mood.

Random Extra Thoughts on Egypt

Just a few thoughts that I've collected over the course of the day...

1.  I knew they were full of horse shit when I heard them say it, but to all the "experts," talking heads, pundits, etc., who fretted over the Egyptian protesters, saying that they had no chance of being successful because they "lacked leadership, someone to show them the way," a hale and heartly "Fuck you."  That's one of the problems we have right here in our own country, assholes:  People are always waiting for a leader or a savior of some sort to fix our problems.  Sure, leaders can be helpful, I'm not at all against them, but, you know, sometimes, all it takes is for enough people to get pissed off about something and commit to doing what it takes to make it change.  We could use a little of that right here at home. 

2.  Americans don't have the exclusive rights to Democracy.  We didn't invent it, we haven't perfected it, hell, at this point, I'm not even sure we have it.  The facts that people look different, speak a "funny" language, and live in a country far away from our own doesn't preclude them understanding the concept.  And, don't be surprised when the Egyptian model of democracy doesn't look exactly like ours.  Hint:  They're not us.

3.  When will people in this country finally get fed up enough to take to the streets and risk their lives to stand up for themselves?  For all the "America, Fuck Yeah!" talk that goes on, we're actually pretty fucking servile and complacent.  I suppose that as long as we have football and American Idol and Jersey Shore, we'll be content with 10% unemployment, corporate dominance, the subjugation of women and gays...

4.  Richard Engel deserves a Pulitzer for his coverage of this.  And, he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for being able to restrain himself from cockpunching Brian Williams.

Egypt: May Peace Be Upon Them

Foreign policy is not my bag, really.  But, watching as events unfold this day, I believe the People of Egypt have proved a longstanding theory of mine:  Once we realize that there are more of us than there are of them, things will change, and violence is not necessary.

Those people have demonstrated, in no uncertain terms, the power of peaceful protest. Even at the risk of their own lives, they remained, and did not answer violence with violence. They simply stood their ground, and said, "No, this is not acceptable." Rather than storm the palaces and the museums and the state-run media, they formed human chains to guard them, and chanted "Peace, peace, peace." They did exactly the right thing. Their dictator wanted them to turn to violence, so that he would have an excuse to turn the guns on them, and they knew it, and refused to play the game. And now, they are there, and he is gone.

No one knows what the future holds for Egypt, least of all me.  But today, I will take a moment to thank the people there for reminding us all of the power of peace.

They Ask Questions

An earlier question, posed by Virg Bernero on his Facebook page :

"Why is it we are not afraid to fight for physical security, but allow our economic security to be stolen away with nary a whimper?"

prompted the following response from me:

"Because, it is much easier to make an enemy of, or categorize as "other" a threat from another nation, or as in the GWOT, a group of terrorists, than it is to create in the minds of the public the perception of an economic threat. This is largely due to the propaganda put forth, at least since Reagan, that Capitalism = Democracy. We are taught that "competition" is always good, and that restriction of trade is always bad, but this is not so, as evidenced by the race to the bottom that has been taking place for the last thirty years or so. Add into that the myth that "you, too, can become rich," which results in people opposing sane tax policies, and the demonization of unions, and you get what we have now: Stagnant wages and rising unemployment."

You see, in order to have a war, you need to have an Enemy.  The Right in this country is very good at conjuring up enemies.  Osama bin Laden wants to come and bomb your cities!  The Mexicans are taking your jobs! The Liberals want to take your guns!  They're killing the baaaaabieeess! Barack Obama wants to make you a Socialist!  See?  That's easy.  You choose a boogey-man, stir up a little fear, point it at your target audience, and, voila!  Political victory.  The Left (if there really is a Left in this country, but that's a rant for another day) is not quite so adept at this strategy.  They (we) tend to operate under the assumption that people can be reasoned with, but this is simply not the case.  This is how the Right has consistently, and very effectively, been able to convice a large portion of the population to vote against their own interests.  It's lovely and generous and very erudite to behave as if everyone is sensible and informed and able to form an opinion based on the facts, but the sad truth is that a considerable portion of the American electorate is not moved by logic or reason or facts.  They are motivated by fear and prejudice and hatred.  The lesson from all of this for the Left?   You cannot reason a person out of a position into which they did not reason themselves.

Booties!

A big THANK YOU to my friend Focus for the lovely, warm, hand-made slippers.  They're just like the ones Grandma used to make!  You wanted pictures, so here they are:

Simple Answers...

From now on, whenever anyone brings up abortion, I'm just going to link to Hecate.

It's ALIVE!

Once upon a time, I decided to try this blogging thing. It didn't last very long, as life tends to get in the way. I've decided to attempt a resurrection, as I may be at a point now where I have the time and inclination to pay a little more attention to it. I hope you'll join me.