United we stand, Divided we small

News flash:  Republicans disagree with everything President Obama has ever done or will do, and they will fight him to the end, regardless – on health care and education reform, recognizing gay marriage, immigration reform, prison reform, opening trade with Cuba, negotiating with instead of bombing our enemies.  To acknowledge these accomplishments would only make Obama look good.  Y'know, "United we stand, divided we…" how does that go again?  Apparently you can’t be a Republican unless you are pro-gun, anti-choice, anti-immigration, believe in “trickle-down” economics (seriously, did any of you actually buy that crappola?), and are willing to wage full-on war with any country to validate your dick size.   You can’t be a Democrat unless you want everyone to have affordable health care and a solid education, support personal choice, believe the science behind global warming, and seek tax reform that doesn’t exclusively benefit rich people.   Oh yeah, “Divided We Small”.  That’s how it goes.

Flying Colors

Lots of conversation these days about the Confederate flag. Some are confused about what a flag of any kind actually means. Oxford dictionary definition: “a piece of cloth, varying in size, shape, color, and design...used as the symbol of a nation, state, or organization, as a means of signaling.” If you fly a flag then, you are signaling you believe in what it stands for. The confederate flag symbolizes the credo of the states which seceded from the Union and fought against the North in the Civil War. One of the main reasons the war was fought was to keep slavery legal in those states, and in the states which were being quickly assimilated. Here is an excerpt from the Confederate constitution: “No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed.”
--So if you want to display this symbol on a tee shirt, mug, or fly it in your yard, I 100% support your right to do so. Just understand that the message you embrace deeply offends many people, especially African Americans. Flying such a symbol over a state capital suggests that everyone in that state agrees with the Confederate ideology, which probably isn't true. As for NASCAR, they’re really just concerned with losing sponsors.

Now what?

I think the worst and best of the gay marriage ruling is, gay people are no longer "special". You can't even talk about "gay marriage" anymore really - it's just merely "marriage". On the good side, my gay friends can now be completely open about their relationships. On the bad side, it's no longer such a cool, semi-radical thing to be gay. You just have relationships and marriages that are good or fall apart. Welcome to ordinary, boring life! LOL I love it.

Gray Gay Areas?

The current discourse about gay marriage is conjuring up some old issues. How we are permitted to express our moralistic views in this country, for one. If, as a baker, I feel it’s morally wrong to be gay, can I refuse to bake a lesbian wedding cake? What if I don’t like the notion of a black person marrying a white? Can I refuse to put little black and white candy people on top of that cake? If I own a printing business, can I say no to briss invitations? Can I open a sushi restaurant and refuse service to anyone except Buddhists?  As a business owner, in other words, can I be forced to do business with anyone who walks in the door - or can I demand to know their moralistic and religious beliefs first, and based on that, decide whether I am comfortable serving them or not?  And if I do business with only those I approve of, should I be prosecuted and fined?  Unfortunately, these absurd questions are not going away.

Black on White

The issue of Rachel Dolezal living successfully in the world as a black woman opens up all kinds of intriguing questions. It may seem cut and dried on the surface, I mean, she is NOT of African-American heritage, and that is irrefutable. I am so Northern-European white that I don’t tan, my freckles simply connect – yet somewhere in my genetic background there exist some American Indian genes, and who knows what other genetic mish-mash. Do I get to claim membership in that tribe and collect some percentage of their tax-free gambling income? If someone surgically alters him or herself to look like another race, is that different from surgically altering themselves to become another gender? Must we accept Bruce Jenner as a woman, then? What if he had decided to re-pigment his skin and adjust his eyes to look like an Asian person, and call himself Seiko? Could we then accept him as a geisha girl? Is race about how someone looks, their genetic heritage, or how they “identify”, as Dolezai claims? She is expected to give up every job she has ever held because she checked a box on employment forms identifying herself as “black”. I say – in our melting pot of America, where the line grows fuzzier every day between race, gender, religion and sexuality – we are going to have to reach the point of accepting everyone as what they believe and say they are, not what they appear to be on the thin, delicate surface of the skin.

You can't explain Nice

I was on my way home from the gym and a bunch of errands when the clutch on my Honda finally gave out.  I had foolishly been putting off having it fixed for weeks, adding more brake fluid to keep it going, but when it wouldn’t go into gear approaching the intersection of Park and Taft Streets, I rolled it halfway onto the grassy median, a couple car-lengths before the stoplight.  I didn’t know what else to do…

I immediately called my roadside repair service, which I’ve paid for every month for years and have never used, and waited.  And waited.  For almost two hours, calling every twenty minutes to be put on hold, transferred around, and finally told that it would be twenty more minutes before the tow truck arrived.  But during that time, as I played games on my phone and read my e-book, I found out something awesome.  Most people are nice.

It’s rare that I’m in so vulnerable position in a car, parked with flashers flashing, half-in and half-out of a busy lane of traffic, worried that someone would crash into me on general principles of road rage.  But to my astonishment in two hours, only one person angrily honked at me, and that was a school bus driver, who also screamed curses at me as she sharply cut in front of me to turn left.  (I know that’s a stressful job, honey, but take it out on the kids, will ya?)

In that two hours, at least a dozen people, all strangers, slowed down or actually pulled over and stopped to ask if I needed help.  These included young people, old people, men and women, black people, white people, a FedEx driver, a school crosswalk guard, and finally a policeman who finally helped me push the car fully onto the grass.  I’m often not a fan of police – but this guy was so super sweet, and he really didn’t have to do it, legally.   

I know that I often do the same thing - offer to call someone, or push a car off the road, or tell someone they have a flat, or hand a couple dollars to a median beggar.   Without thinking.   Why?  Because compassion doesn’t need a reason.

even more Communistic Cast

Well well well.  I recently quit cable TV cold turkey, and it has been something of an adjustment - but I'm happier every day that I'm not paying these greedy bastards any more of my hard earned money.

Besides spending more time doing more creative and productive work generally, I have proven that every bit of media I care to watch can be watched without Comcast, and watched at a time that I choose.  But of course, the tete a tete with Comcast is not over.

I found out that they've been over-charging me for "high speed internet" for more than ten years, to the tune of $10 per month (plus tax).  I've been monitoring my average download/upload speeds, and it's far below the level I'm paying for.  When I pointed this out to a phone representative from, I assume, Bangladesh, I was told that I would be given a "promotional rate" from now on.  That's not good enough, considering I've over-paid them about $1200 so far - but it will have to do for the moment, as I can't prove that they've been short-changing me in that regard; I only noticed it recently.  In looking at a number of blogs and complaint sites - I find that I am not an aberration, but the norm.

But as big of an idiot as that makes me, I must confess, I'm a much bigger wanker than I myself would have ever believed.  Who among us rents a "cable modem" from the cable company?!  Being in this business, I knew I was being ripped off, but Jesus, I got out the calculator and added it up today.  As a minimum, I have paid about $5000 for a modem that costs $55 at Best Buy or even Walmart.  And yes - it's the same one.  So I ran the numbers today.  If all of Comcast's 23 million subscribers have done the same thing, for let's say 10 years (and that's an absolute minimum for most people) - this company has raked in $184 billion dollars for "modem rentals" in the past decade.

People, I implore you - let us send a message to these media conglomerates - these mega-monopolies who aspire now to even charge us for viewing web sites,  charge us for every single page view - send a message and let them know, we can and will find our entertainment somewhere else!