Monthly Archives: May 2008

Cleansing

I posted this in comments at ObWi. I'm gonna copy it over here.

"OCSteve", a Republican-in-exile said:

For the record: Here is my cut-n-paste reply to every lefty charge of sexism/racism against the right for the rest of my life:

2008 Democratic Primary

People disagreed with him, citing the fact that the Republicans' record of nominating white men continues unbroken. A fair point, but not against what OCSteve was saying. The Democratic party in general likes to think of itself as the party where racism is anathema - we like to make fun of Republicans as being the racist party. But, this primary clearly shattered that myth - or at least broke it into big chunks.

I wrote (slightly cleaned-up):

Nah, OCSteve's 100% right.

The Dems, to their credit, can now say they've given either a woman or a black man as much of a chance to make it to the top as either major party in the US ever has. But too many of the rank-n-file the Dems have proven unquestionably that they are as racist as anyone could've imagined supporters of any party could be.

Personally, I don't see much sexism in the base (though I can see it in the media, esp. clowns like Chris Matthews), and I've never heard anyone quoted saying they'd "never vote for a woman". I know the many of the most vocal of the Clinton supporters on-line see sexism everywhere, in everything anyone does that isn't explicitly pro-Hillary; but they're also innumerate, illogical, disingenuous, hypocritical and frankly, fucking crazy. So I pay their arguments no heed (and, just to be clear, I don't think everyone who supports Clinton is crazy - I have friends who like her who are perfectly sane - only the people who dominate the on-line discussion). But the racism has been front and center in the Dem base. And to her eternal shame (I hope) Clinton is banking on it.

It's terribly embarrassing to me that people like that call themselves Democrats. And, though the country will probably suffer for their decision, I'm a little happy that they've declared that they'll go with McCain instead of a Obama - get them out of the party for good. I hope they leave and never come back. As far as I'm concerned, the Republicans can have the racist scum. So here, GOP: take them. Enjoy them.

Choke on them.

John McCain Points

John McCain wants you to go out to blogs and spread the good news about John McCain. He even tells you what to talk about, in case you have trouble coming up with anything nice to say:

Today's Talking Points
The Issue: Time for Solutions
John McCain will put the national interest ahead of partisanship, he will work with anyone who sincerely wants to get this country moving again. If John McCain is elected President, the era of the permanent campaign will end. The era of problem solving will begin.

Awsm!

And, if you send a link to your blog comment back to John McCain HQ, you can earn "points" ! Not sure what you can do with those points. Maybe you can save them up and get cool stuff like thongs, or coffee mugs, or ponies.

Fantasy Vacations

Jeff VanderMeer asks:

What places would you want to visit? Not as a reader, but if you could physically go to locations in books you’ve read?

1. Rivendell from The Lord Of The Rings - especially the art nouveau version from the Peter Jackson movies.
2. Verna, from Jack Finney's 1955 old short story "Of Missing Persons", sounds nice:

I don't know how you knew this, but you realized, staring at that forest-covered valley, that this was very much the way America once looked when it was new. And you knew this was only a part of a whole land of unspoiled, unharmed forests, where every stream ran pure; you were seeing what people, the last of them dead over a century ago, had once looked at in Kentucky and Wisconsin and the old Northwest. And you knew that if you could breath in that air you'd feel it flow into your lungs sweeter than it's been anywhere on earth for a hundred and fifty years.

Under that picture was another, of six or eight people on a beach — the shore of a lake, maybe, or the river in the picture above. Two children were squatting on their haunches, dabbling in the water's edge, and in the foreground a half circle of adults were sitting, kneeling, or squatting in comfortable balance on the yellow sand. They were talking, several were smoking, and most of them held half-filled coffee cups; the sun was bright, you knew the air was balmy and that it was morning, just after breakfast. They were smiling, one woman talking, the others listening. One man had half risen from his squatting position to skip a stone out onto the surface of the water.

You knew this: that they were spending twenty minutes or so down on that beach after breakfast before going to work, and you knew they were friends and that they did this every day. You knew — I tell you, you knew — that they liked their work, all of them, whatever it was; that there was no forced hurry or pressure about it. And that — well, that's all, I guess; you just knew that every day after breakfast these families spent a leisurely half hour sitting and talking, there in the morning sun, down on that wonderful beach.

I'd never seen anything like their faces before. They were ordinary enough in looks, the people in that picture — pleasant, more or less familiar types. Some were young, in their twenties; others were in their thirties; one man and woman seemed around fifty. But the faces of the youngest couple were completely unlined, and it occurred to me then that they had been born there, and that it was a place where no one worried or was ever afraid. The others, the older ones, there were lines in their foreheads, grooves around their mouths, but you felt that the lines were no longer deepening, that they were healed and untroubled scars. And in the faces of the oldest couple was a look of — I'd say it was a look of permanent relief. Not one of those faces bore a trace of malice; these people were happy. But even more than that, you knew they'd been happy, day after day after day for a long, long time, and that they always would be, and they knew it.

Well, it sounds like the life of every character in all those old 50's advertisements. And that doesn't sound too bad, for a vacation. But, of course, you can't take a vacation to Verna- all tickets are strictly one-way.

Chocolate Penis Craving

The Local, ("Sweden's News In English"), has this story:

A 28-year-old man is headed to court after being unable to control a strange urge that overcame him while visiting a condom shop in Gothenburg with his fiancee last November

As he was strolling through the store, the man became so enamoured with a chocolate penis and a Playboy bunny that he decided to stuff both in his pocket and exit the store without paying.

“I lost my head. I even had money with me. I don’t know why I took the stuff,” the 28-year-old said to the Göteborgs-Posten newspaper.

The man had thought of giving the items to his fiancee as a present until he was caught with the chocolate penis protruding from his back pocket.

During questioning the man admitted to taking the dildo delicacy, but initially denied snatching the bunny.

Had the man come clean and pleaded guilty to stealing both items, which have a combined value of 148 kronor ($25), he could have resolved the matter by simply paying a fine.

Instead, the man’s lie has landed him in court, where he will once again be asked to explain why he attempted to pilfer the chocolate penis.

"Pilfer the chocolate penis". I love it. It sounds like something somebody would make with one of those refrigerator magnet poetry sets.

But, this story, on the same site, has the better headline.

(via Fark)

Hey? WTF?

FYI, I'm playing with new themes today, so this blog is going to keep changing appearance until I find something I like...

Later .... nope, couldn't find anything.

Later Wait... on second thought, Ugh had a good idea: Fafblog Classic!

Later OK. enough of that...