the ACLU lost their fight with the administrators of Hunt High School in Raleigh, NC to reinstate a student's campaign posters...the student who is gay was forced to remove his posters which included statements like, Queer Guy For Hunt High, and Gay Guys Know Everything...what a shame...while the slogans were a bit tacky, yet catchy, seems unfair that he had to pull them down...i guess being honest is not always the best policy, especially when it comes to politics, or at least when it comes to high school politics.
damn....6 months thill the general election...with all the mud slinging already going on, we will have drowned in it long before the election comes...wish that they were limited to a month, no a week, better yet, a day of campaigning...sure would be nice to pick up the paper without having to read this shit.
well i went out and voted yesterday in the primaries...having done so, i have renewed my right to bitch about politics for the next 8 months until the general election...i hope you all have/or will be voting as well...after all you have no real right to complain about the state of our nation if you don't vote...voting is important, even if you feel your vote is wasted...for it is only wasted if you don't use it.
three cheers for the Massachustts Supreme Courts' ruling of the state's ban on same sex marriage being unconstitutional...no doubt this will stir up even more furor than the recent texas sodemy ruling, but once again the courts are showing that law can sometime triumph over ignorance...while this seems to have stirred up more vocal support for a national law banning same sex marriage, i think that rhetoric is likely to be more prevalent than actual legislation in this direction...it's about time that we as a nation step into the current century and provide the same rights and benefits to all citizens of this nation that the constitution declares should be...discrimination of any type, legal, or otherwise runs contrary to the principles on which our great nation was founded...being persecuted for being different runs against everything we are supposed to stand for, and i for one celebrate every victory in defeating those narrow minded obstacles to equality and justice.
read this very cool article in this morning's paper about former Cowboys' center Mark Stepnoski having taken over as the head of Texas NORML...it was quite refreshing to actually see the paper print a balanced and fair look into the subject of legalisation...i admire his determination to stand up for his convictions, especially given that doing so may cost him a place in the hall, and did prevent his former high school from honering him for his accomplishments on the team when he played there...i was also struck by his blunt honesty when discussing his reasons for deciding to smoke in the past, avoid problems with drug tests, and deciding to become the state's spokeman for NORML...it takes a fair bit of courage to be willing to jump into the spotlight as an advocate of legalizing marijuana, especially given the current government's attitude towards legalization and rights...at least his former teamates, and the press are not yet treating him as a pariah for this...wonder if the patriot act nazis are keeping close tabs on him.
proving once again that Texas is fighting to reenter the 1950s, our new abortion laws went into effect...unable to outright outlaw abortions, they are content to use intimidation, lies, and sophistry to stop them from happening...state officials deny that requiring women to present valid id, which is copied and kept on record is merely to prevent minors from getting illegal abortions and will in no way intimidate women, or prevent them from getting an abortion they might otherwise get...i'm not buying that for a minute...while it is one thing to show proof you are legally entitled to do something, or confirm identity, it is something else to have said proof filed permanently when doing so...i'm betting if all the assholes who thought up and supported this, were required to follow similar rules to buy a 6 pack, underwaer, or personal hygeine products, they would throw screaming shit fits, and many would not buy these things, as they would be intimidated by the thought of records being kept.
the other part of the new law requires that all women be given written materials, which include color pics of fetuses in various stages of growth, which is bad enough, because the decision is already hard enough...worse they contain false assertations linking abortions to breast cancer...this claim btw was refuted by the National Cancer Institute, and just about every other reputable medical orginization...while i doubt this will sway most anti-abortion believers opinions in any way, it should, because this sort of thing is bad for all of us....government needs to quit fucking with our rights....my last words on this are to all you men fighting to deny women their right to choose on this issue, is to shut the fuck up about this until you get pregnant...we may in one sense certainly have the right to voice our input, when asked, we don't have the right to force a woman to endure a pregnancy she doesn't want.
i have been following with great joy the story of the successful surgery on the twins from Egypt...it is things like this that may provode the best bridge between the cultures of the west and the middle east...the generosity and dedication shown by the medical personnel, and the people who have donated the large sums of money required to make it happen, are a shining example of the best things we have to offer, and of doing the right thing for all the right reasons...while this will not erase the hatred towards us by so many in the muslim world, we have made lifelong friends of the family, their entire village, and many of the average people in Egypt...when taxi drivers in Cairo are watching this miracle of modern medical science, and their prayers and thanks are sent our way, we have taken a large step in the right direction towards peace and understanding...if we truly want to an end to all the hate and misunderstanding then we need to spend more effort building bridges like this one, and less in blowing things up.
latest is the embarrassing redistricting frenzy....agreement on a map will now most likely be delayed by, yes, the Texas OU football game...seems that they won't be voting on Friday, as too many legislators will be out of the office preparing for this weekend's game...way to go guys...now that the California recall is done you can be the butt of world humor on your own...thank you for continuing to provide ample fodder for said humor.
well the Texas state legislature continues to find new lows in the ongoing redistricting battle...not content to take second place to California in the exercise of state humiliation, we are not witnessing republicans fighting each other over how to redraw our congressional districts...seems that the house and senate can not agree on how to slice and dice the sate into new districts....the fight now centers on how to divide up central and west texas properly....of course our stalwart governor is not dismayed, he will just call another special session, or as many as it takes to get a new map...he is now talking of delaying the primary elections, as it is unlikely that a new map could be certified in time for the scheduled march primaries....how nice of him to offer us up to be the butt of the nations humor, in addition to continuing to spend money we do not have in the budget for this all...three cheers for the texas republican party....spend spend hooray, spend spend hooray, spend spend hooray.
fueled by still simmering rage over being spammed yesterday, i thought i would share some resources for any of you who hate them slime sucking bastards as much as i do (or as much as a normal person does), and were not aware of these sites...there are three that i highly recommend you visit, or better yet join...at least use them to keep up on the battle and to find good tools and such...they are:
CAUCE Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email
i especially like Counterexploitaion, as it has information on fighting not just spam, but all forms of advertisement and other annoying things.
boy texas politics just keeps sinking farther every day...this redistricting/partisan politics is just getting worse every day...bad enough we are now on our third special session, called strictly so perry can get his redistricting pushed through, but this bullshit of putting the democrat senators on probation is idiotic...the republicans in the house and senate don't even agree anymore on what the new map should look like...this whole ugly mess has completely trashed any spirit of bipartisanship, and the rancor generated by our governor keeps spreading.
the house and senate republicans are no longer in agreement....the comptroller, a republican, is fighting to keep the core duties of her office, because she had the gall to do her job honestly...our budget deficit keeps growing, thanks to special sessions of legislature...air quality just gets worse and there appears to be no hope of improving it...voters stupidly approved a cap of 250,000 dollar damages for lawsuits...what next...i'm almost afraid to see where this all ends
another one of those situations where i hate being right....i felt from day 1 that the patriot act was a mistake, and that it would be abused, and i guess i was right...despite all the assurances that it was only going to be used to fight terrorism, it came out that various agencies have been taking advantage of the act to gather evidence used to pursue non-terror related alleged criminal acts...i knew we couldn't trust them not to violate our 4th amndment rights...for all the claims of how the act has prevented terrorist actions, there has been little specifics detailing how many, by whom, and such....what a shit trade we got in this deal...i wonder how long before they decide to just snoop on us all, because they can...we need to get this act repealed before it is too late....fight to have your rights restored....don't let fear justify the theft of our freedom in the name of security or patriotism.
big story in this morning's paper about the "growing" drug problem in Mexico (which i am not gonna talk about), which had a smaller followup focused on the growing Mexican rave scene (yup this is it)...i'm pretty sure that i will now shock some of you, piss a lot of you off, telling many others what you already know, and hopefully convincing at least one person to discard their preconceptions...while i am focusing on misperceptions of the rave scene, the real subject here is that lack of knowledge/understanding/experience often leads to fear, which frequently becomes condemnation and hate, and that is root cause of the worst problems in our world.
back to the focus....once again the bonehead media, missed what was right in front of them (i know this, because they mentioned it), and in focusing almost completely on the fact that drugs are consumed by some, add more fuel to feed the fires of fear, hate and refusal to accept we don't all look/think/want the same things, except to be who you are.
i will say this as plainly as can be, THE RAVE SCENE IS NOT AND NEVER HAS BEEN ABOUT DRUGS...yes, many people do drugs there...ummmm, if you haven't figured it out yet, many people do drugs just about everywhere people congregate...you know, bars, restraunts, sporting events, movies, parks, plays, concerts, school, church, work, and on and on....you can believe this or not, but it is true, nothing will change this fact, and you are just fooling yourself if you think otherwise...discussion on rightness and wrongness of drugs another time, please.
the rave scene is about music, and a belief often stated using the acronym PLUR...Peace...Love...Unity...Respect...any of you who truly think this is wrong need to take a serious look at who you are and what you believe in, then find a way to change, because you are fucked up, and unless you're living in a cave (in which case, i doubt you're reading this), you inflict your fuck upness on the rest of us...btw, if you haven't read the pointless facts, or better yet "First Words", i am 44, eductated, help employment considered socially acceptable, and my judgement trustworthy enough to have the responsibility of making decisions affecting hundreds of millions of dollars, even people's lives...so please, consider that what i'm saying may have some validity...obviously i'm not your "average" adult, although i'm not so atypical either...there are many other like me out there.
there is not and never will be anything wrong with ravers, their beliefs, or their music...you will never know if you don't give it an honest assesment...i'm not saying you have to start going to parties, but you might try really listening to your children's, friends, neighbors, stranger's music, before deciding it is not "real" music, evil, and should be wiped from the face of the earth...more importantly, try embracing the belief that that the world, your life can and should be a better, happier, nicer place, and if enough of us believe it, it will be...ravers are not bad people, they just strive to create a place where they can have that better world, if only for hours at a time...there is an excellent documentry on the early days of the techno scene, raves and the culture called "Better Living Through Circuitry", check it out.
no doubt, many of you are now thinking i am nuts, the antichrist, or a hypocrate...i'm not, i honestly believe everyone is worthy of respect (until they prove otherwise) reguardless of age, race, religion, culture, sex...that everyone has something of value to teach me...that peace is better than not...love is a key to happiness...that unity based on, respect, love and peace will provide a more satisfying existance than the solitude of fear, distrust, hate, and misunderstanding....those of you who believers, or claiming to be so, of Christianity, Judeism, and Islam, should already agree, as this forms the core of your religion...btw, don't waste your time, or mine proclaiming what a good "place religion here" you are, if you truly are , it shows in your actions, in how you live your life.
PLUR
they got it right, amazing...in a decision that restores my faith in the court, they struck down texas' sodemy law as unconstitutional...about fucking time...maybe our right to privacy will be respected some day soon...if you wonder, i am not gay, but i totally support people's right to be who they are without fearing persecution...so i rejoice the court righting a huge wrong inflicted by the not so great state of texas...two sad asides on this decision...first, no surprise that clarence "long dong silver" thomas disented, his comments however, were cruel and thoughtless even for him, the law was not "silly" you fucking creep, they were cruel and unfair...second, our not so illustrious governor, perry, bush's little lapdog, said he will abide by the courts decision, as if it were a matter of his choice and not a matter of law