Is it wrong...

8:09 PM Posted In , , , Edit This 1 Comment »
That my mind went straight to the gutter after seeing these?

Hilarity with traditional views of marriage

8:06 PM Posted In , , , , , , , Edit This 0 Comments »

More fun at a convenience store...

5:24 PM Posted In , Edit This 0 Comments »
I went into my local convenience store the other day and requested that my hot dogs not be placed in a styrofoam container. Because of the strange looks I got, I mentioned that it never biodegrades. This sparked a bit of chatter with one of the other employees about ecologically responsible practices.

The cashier who had been staring at us like we'd both simultaneously sprouted second heads, said in a rather disparaging tone, "Oh, I'm not green." Emphasis = sneer.

Unfortunately I had too much blood in my caffeine stream (thus the purpose of my purchases) to respond with what percolated through my brain as I walked out the door, which was: "Well, I'm rather attached to the planet upon which I live and am entirely dependent. But I suppose if I were as old as you, I'd say 'Fuck it, I'm gonna die soon anyway. Might as well take the planet with me.' "

I have got to stop shopping there, at least when uncaffeinated. Then again, I really shouldn't be surprised considering their entire marketing campaign is about how they're proud to be rednecks.

Honey, May I have control over my own body?

2:32 PM Posted In , , , , , Edit This 0 Comments »
Just a quick hit...
"An Ohio lawmaker has re-introduced legislation that would include a father's rights in the abortion decision-making process. Under Roe v. Wade, fathers are left out of the equation when a woman considers whether or not to have an abortion that would end the life of their child....
Adams told the Daily Reporter newspaper that abortion centers would "need to get consent from the biological father" before the abortion can proceed and he called the measure a "father's right bill" to protect the interest of fathers who are given no say in the abortion process.
He also said the bill provides for criminal penalties for women seeking abortions who do not obtain consent properly.
Adams told the newspaper that, in cases when the mother does not know the identity of the father, the abortion would be prohibited.
"There needs to be responsibility for actions," Adams said. "As someone who is pro-life, this is also an attempt and a hope to keep the two people who have created that child together, and I suppose if you just go back to the simple beginning, there is merit to chastity, and to young men and women waiting until marriage." "
I love the "PC" title of the article, "Ohio Bill Would Include Father's Rights in Abortion Decision-Making Process." In other words, the father has final say over whether there's an abortion or not, but is not held to any responsibilities in raising the child, whereas the woman is.
And you're screwed if you're raped while passed out drunk because you can't get an abortion unless you know who your rapist is, with severe fines for producing a false father.
Then Adams even says that the whole point is just to create happy little families, when reality, studies, and psychologists all say that children do not create a happy marriage. And the statistics on divorce largely pertain to the baby boomers rather than us 20-30 something's. I only know of two instances in my generation where divorce occurred, whereas of our parents' generation my parents are the only ones I know of who have never divorced.
I am hopped up on energy drinks and ranting. Check out Strollerderby for a more comprehensive critique.

Big Brother, coming to a town near you.

10:58 PM Posted In , Edit This 0 Comments »
Welcome to Tiburon.

Click.

Your presence has been noted.

The posh and picturesque town that juts into San Francisco Bay is poised to do something unprecedented: use cameras to record the license plate number of every vehicle that crosses city limits.

Some residents describe the plan as a commonsense way to thwart thieves, most of whom come from out of town. Others see an electronic border gate and worry that the project will only reinforce Tiburon's image of exclusivity and snootiness.

"I personally don't see too much harm in it, because I have nothing to hide," commodities broker Paul Lambert, 64, said after a trip to Boardwalk Market in downtown Tiburon on a recent afternoon.

"Yet," he said, "it still has the taint of Big Brother."
Not only is it Big Brother, but it's also xenophobic.

Americans are marrying "other species."

9:49 PM Posted In , , Edit This 0 Comments »

The look on the co-host's face is especially hilarious as she's trying to politely tell him, "Shut up, you idiot."

I also can't help but think he's one a Creationist and never learned what a species actually is, let alone the difference between species and ethnicity.

And my second thought is, "Inbreeding: Keeping Bloodlines Pure Since 3150 BCE."

Sorry kids, you're the wrong colour to swim here.

9:42 PM Posted In , , Edit This 0 Comments »
"More than 60 campers from Northeast Philadelphia were turned away from a private swim club and left to wonder if their race was the reason.

Kids at Creative Steps Day Camp were thrilled to go swimming once a week at the Valley Swim Club. But after only one trip to the private club, they were... "I heard this lady, she was like, 'Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?' She's like, 'I'm scared they might do something to my child,'" said camper Dymire Baylor.

The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers' first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.

"When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool," Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. "The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately."

The next day the club told the camp director that the camp's membership was being suspended and their money would be refunded.

"I said, 'The parents don't want the refund. They want a place for their children to swim,'" camp director Aetha Wright said.

Campers remain unsure why they're no longer welcome.

"They just kicked us out. And we were about to go. Had our swim things and everything," said camper Simer Burwell.

The explanation they got was either dishearteningly honest or poorly worded.

"There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club," John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement."

Fort Worth Police Chief: That Faggot Had It Coming

9:28 PM Posted In , , , Edit This 0 Comments »
"Most residents of Fort Worth have never even seen the inside of a gay bar. Fort Worth's police chief Jeff Halstead is counting on that fact—counting on the average person's ignorance about gay bars and certain stereotypes about gay men—to get a half a dozen Forth Worth police officers off the hook for conducting a violent raid on a Forth Worth gay bar, the Rainbow Lounge, late last Saturday night. Seven men were arrested during the raid, which took place on the 40th anniversary of the raid on the Stonewall Inn that kick-started the modern gay rights movement, and one of those men—Chad Gibson—remains in intensive care with a brain injury. Gibson may not survive.

The officers who raided the Rainbow Lounge claim that the men in the bar made "advances" on them—and Forth Worth's police chief is backing them up:

Monday, police chief Jeff Halstead said the officers' actions are being investigated. However, he also said that officers that entered the bar during the scheduled inspection were touched inappropriately.

"You're touched and advanced in certain ways by people inside the bar, that's offensive," he said. "I'm happy with the restraint used when they were contacted like that."

Allow me to translate the chief's comments: "Them faggots in that thar bar touched mah officers and now they're complainin' about some rough stuff and one little ol' faggot with a brain injury? Those perverts should be grateful they're alive."

This is a classic example of the Gay Panic Defense. In the very recent past all a straight man who brutally murdered a gay man had to say was, "He made a pass at me!", and the jury would ignore the evidence and let the murderer off. The Gay Panic Defense doesn't fly in many courts of law these days but it still has currency in the court of public opinion. And the chief of police in Forth Worth, a major U.S. city, is attempting to use the Gay Panic Defense to convince the citizens of Fort Worth to ignore the evidence—to ignore photographic evidence and credible eyewitness accounts—and let his officers off."
I think the "accused" should use the classic defense of: "He deserved it, coming into a gay bar dressed like that. I couldn't help myself, and he knew what he was getting into. Wriggling his butt all sexy-like in that uniform..."

Would you like a side of homophobia with that?

9:13 PM Posted In , , Edit This 1 Comment »
"Two gay men kissed at a Chico's Tacos restaurant, prompting guards to eject them and a police officer to endorse their ouster.
Civil-rights lawyers say the security staff was out of line. Police, though, contend that a business such as a restaurant can refuse service to anybody, any time.

In all, five men were ordered to leave the restaurant. They say they were forced out by homophobic guards.

"It was a simple kiss on the lips," said Carlos Diaz de Leon, a gay man who was part of the group.

He called police at 12:30 a.m. June 29 because he said the guards and restaurant had discriminated against the group after two of his friends kissed in public.

The five men, all gay, were placing their order at the Chico's Tacos restaurant on Montwood when the men kissed. All five sat down, but the two guards at the restaurant told them to leave.

De Leon quoted one of the guards as saying he didn't allow "that faggot stuff" in the restaurant."

Funny, that's the same excuse a lot of places used when they refused service to African Americans.

"She said the city anti-discrimination ordinance protects people on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation in public places. Perhaps more troubling, she said, was that the police officer chose not to enforce that ordinance and might have contributed to discrimination."

Somehow I doubt that the same restaurant and police officer would have had a problem with two heterosexual teenagers doing the hormonal groping octopus thing.

And finally, the coup de grace:

"De Leon said he and his friends left the restaurant after an officer threatened to issue a citation for "homosexual conduct."

Hrm, I didn't realize that being gay is a crime in Texas.

Heterosexual Privilege

11:56 AM Posted In , , , Edit This 0 Comments »

On a daily basis as a straight person…

  • I can be pretty sure that my roomate, hallmates and classmates will be comfortable with my sexual orientation.
  • If I pick up a magazine, watch TV, or play music, I can be certain my sexual orientation will be represented.
  • When I talk about my heterosexuality (such as in a joke or talking about my relationships), I will not be accused of pushing my sexual orientation onto others.
  • I do not have to fear that if my family or friends find out about my sexual orientation there will be economic, emotional, physical or psychological consequences.
  • I did not grow up with games that attack my sexual orientation (IE fag tag or smear the queer).
    I am not accused of being abused, warped or psychologically confused because of my sexual orientation.
  • I can go home from most meetings, classes, and conversations without feeling excluded, fearful, attacked, isolated, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance, stereotyped or feared because of my sexual orientation.
  • I am never asked to speak for everyone who is heterosexual.
  • I can be sure that my classes will require curricular materials that testify to the existence of people with my sexual orientation.
  • People don't ask why I made my choice of sexual orientation.
  • People don't ask why I made my choice to be public about my sexual orientation.
  • I do not have to fear revealing my sexual orientation to friends or family. It's assumed.
  • My sexual orientation was never associated with a closet.
  • People of my gender do not try to convince me to change my sexual orientation.
  • I don't have to defend my heterosexuality.
  • I can easily find a religious community that will not exclude me for being heterosexual.
  • I can count on finding a therapist or doctor willing and able to talk about my sexuality.
  • I am guaranteed to find sex education literature for couples with my sexual orientation.
  • Because of my sexual orientation, I do not need to worry that people will harass me.
  • I have no need to qualify my straight identity.
  • My masculinity/femininity is not challenged because of my sexual orientation.
  • I am not identified by my sexual orientation.
  • I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help my sexual orientation will not work against me.
  • If my day, week, or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it has sexual orientation overtones.
  • Whether I rent or I go to a theater, Blockbuster, an EFS or TOFS movie, I can be sure I will not have trouble finding my sexual orientation represented.
  • I am guaranteed to find people of my sexual orientation represented in the Earlham curriculum, faculty, and administration.
  • I can walk in public with my significant other and not have people double-take or stare.
  • I can choose to not think politically about my sexual orientation.
  • I do not have to worry about telling my roommate about my sexuality. It is assumed I am a heterosexual.
  • I can remain oblivious of the language and culture of LGBTQ folk without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.
  • I can go for months without being called straight.
  • I'm not grouped because of my sexual orientation.
  • My individual behavior does not reflect on people who identity as heterosexual.
  • In everyday conversation, the language my friends and I use generally assumes my sexual orientation. For example, sex inappropriately referring to only heterosexual sex or family meaning heterosexual relationships with kids.
  • People do not assume I am experienced in sex (or that I even have it!) merely because of my sexual orientation.
  • I can kiss a person of the opposite gender on the heart or in the cafeteria without being watched and stared at.
  • Nobody calls me straight with maliciousness.
  • People can use terms that describe my sexual orientation and mean positive things (IE "straight as an arrow", "standing up straight" or "straightened out") instead of demeaning terms (IE "ewww, that's gay" or being "queer").
  • I am not asked to think about why I am straight.
  • I can be open about my sexual orientation without worrying about my job.
  • Growing up straight means that I have abundant suitable role models on which to model my behaviour.
  • Growing up straight means that I have appropriate socialization to show me the rules of the dating game, and how to come on to some that I want to attract.
  • Growing up straight means that I will not be rejected by family for my sexual orientation.
  • Growing up straight means that I am dramatically less likely to be driven by bullying to take my own life.
These are some great points that apply to privilege of any sort. I mean, add in Pagan and poly and then privilege is just a fun great big barrel of monkeys!