Mayhem

First, I have to say that I hope that the people in New Orleans and Mississippi are all able to find the help that they need. Its a terrible thing that has happened. I really hope that help starts getting there as soon as possible.

In other news, I hate the media. I hate all the human angles that they feel that they need to report on. On MSNBC tonight they had an entire segment on two EMT nurses that saved premature babies. Thing is that the nurses both didnt seem to think that what they did was that impressive. The reporter however wanted them to elaborate on their trial on saving the premature babies. The nurses seemed more concerned about the full grown sentient humans wallowing in the filth and destruction rather than the babies they saved. Leave it to the media to completely misrepresent everything.

Aaron Brown is such a tool. He has no emotions. He has to really try and show his emotion. He is such an android. I honestly believe that he does not care that a hurricane devastated the gulf coast. Aaron is safe, dry, and rich. He has nothing to worry about. I hate you Aaron Brown. Stop spewing shit.

Furthermore, prayer wont make the water go away. Donate to the Red Cross, donate some money if you have it, help somehow other than talking to the air.

Scientific Humor

This is a dialogue that transcribed in a talk that I attended last week at work.

Questioner: How old are the thymuses that you are analyzing?

Presenter: They are neonatal thymuses.

Questioner: What does that mean?

Presenter: Well we get the thymuses from an abortion clinic.

Host of The Talk: So, they are VERY young!


Only a handful of people chuckled at that. I was among them.

Today at lunch a large group of us were sitting in the lunch room. Two women were sitting across the table from me. One of them young and thin, the other young and pregnant with twins. The young thin one turned to the young pregged one and asks, "Do prenatal multivitamins make you fat?" The preg replied, "What are you getting at?"

Turns out the thin one wanted to know if she took prenatal vitamins (because she saw that prenatal vitamins have more of everything in it and thought it would be good to get more vitamins) if she would get fat. She then recounted a story of how in college a girl down the hall from her in her dorm didnt eat but instead subsisted off of prenatal vitamins.

CNN: Robertson: U.S. should 'take out' Venezuela's Chavez

....because Christianity is a religion of peace.

Pat Robertson's advice is not just limited to foreign policy. If you ever have time to view his show he also doles out advice on working out, finance, and vacation tips! He knows everything. It's like he's God!

BBC NEWS | Americas | Bush makes well-worn case on Iraq

I wouldnt even call what W is doing "defending" policy. He is just plugging his ears and screaming loudly what he has always been saying. A defense is where one would take into consideration the opposition and then rationalize your point of view with specific examples of why you think your stance is correct. Simply stating that, "we must stay the course," or, "finish the task," is no where near a defense. Its more puerile slop spewing forth from his mouth. Furthermore, this new round of speeches he's making as a form of damage control is so tacky and uncalled for. If he really wanted to take the wind out of Sheehan's sails he should meet with her on live TV and talk with her face to face. What a coward.

Between John Kerry and W, Yale's status as an ivy leauge institution should be called into question. These men are most likely incapable of drafting a 5 paragraph essay on why they like ice cream.

I deplore censorship but there were some comment posts that were advertisements and I deleted them. I hope that the blogger people took care of it. I would never censor comments from actual readers.

The following is a strong and moving letter written by the mother of a gay boy in Vermont...
"Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I've taken enough from you good people. I'm tired of your foolish rhetoric about the "homosexual agenda" and your allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as advocating sex with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been robbing me of the joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny.
My firstborn son started suffering at the hands of the moral little thugs from your moral, upright families from the time he was in the first grade. He was physically and verbally abused from first grade straight through high school because he was perceived to be gay.
He never professed to be gay or had any association with anything gay, but he had the misfortune not to walk or have gestures like the other boys. He was called "fag" incessantly, starting when he was 6.
In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should be doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it to be sure his family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he choked out that he just couldn't bear to continue living any longer, that he didn't want to be gay and that he couldn't face a life without dignity.
You have the audacity to talk about protecting families and children from the homosexual menace, while you yourselves tear apart families and drive children to despair. I don't know why my son is gay, but I do know that God didn't put him, and millions like him, on this Earth to give you someone to abuse. God gave you brains so that you could think, and it's about time you started doing that.
At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the belief that this could never happen to you, that there is some kind of subculture out there that people have chosen to join. The fact is that if it can happen to my family, it can happen to yours, and you won't get to choose. Whether it is genetic or whether something occurs during a critical time of fetal development, I don't know. I can only tell you with an absolute certainty that it is inborn.
If you want to tout your own morality, you'd best come up with something more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing your story, because my own heterosexuality was a blessing I received with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so woven into the very soul of me that nothing could ever change it. For those of you who reduce sexual orientation to a simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or something that can be changed by a 10-step program, I'm puzzled. Are you saying that your own sexual orientation is nothing more than something you have chosen, that you could change it at will? If that's not the case, then why would you suggest that someone else can?
A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont has been infiltrated by outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in Vermont for generations. I am heart and soul a Vermonter, so I'll thank you to stop saying that you are speaking for "true Vermonters."You invoke the memory of the brave people who have fought on the battlefield for this great country, saying that they didn't give their lives so that the "homosexual agenda" could tear down the principles they died defending. My 83-year-old father fought in some of the most horrific battles of World War II, was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart.
He shakes his head in sadness at the life his grandson has had to live. He says he fought alongside homosexuals in those battles, that they did their part and bothered no one. One of his best friends in the service was gay, and he never knew it until the end, and when he did find out, it mattered not at all. That wasn't the measure of the man.
You religious folk just can't bear the thought that as my son emerges from the hell that was his childhood he might like to find a lifelong companion and have a measure of happiness. It offends your sensibilities that he should request the right to visit that companion in the hospital, to make medical decisions for him or to benefit from tax laws governing inheritance.
How dare he? you say. These outrageous requests would threaten the very existence of your family, would undermine the sanctity of marriage. You use religion to abdicate your responsibility to be thinking human beings.
There are vast numbers of religious people who find your attitudes repugnant. God is not for the privileged majority, and God knows my son has committed no sin.The deep-thinking author of a letter to the April 12 Valley News who lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about "those of us who have been blessed with the benefits of a religious upbringing" asks: "What ever happened to the idea of striving . . . to be better human beings than we are?"Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that?

The first week of my new job went well. Everyone that I have met so far is very nice and seem to have amicable personalities. One thing that strikes me in particular is that everyone says how great it is to work there. One of the guys I met is leaving next week to move to Virginia and he is actually sad that he has to leave. I have also met people that worked where I used to work and they exclaim with alacrity how much better it is now that they work at the BIIR. It all seems to be very promising. I really dont want to have to change jobs again in two years. I'd like to make a place for myself somewhere for a while.

Which Rock Chick Are You?

I get really mad when people believe that a single person's struggle to change things is a fruitless endeavor. I was talking with someone about how I like to support gay owned businesses or businesses that contribute to the advancement of equal rights for everyone. This person responded to me with skepticism about how there is no way that I could possibly live my life only supporting or patronizing those businesses and that even if I avoided certain companies that it wouldnt make a difference to them. Then he began to tell me about how that kind of change takes a long time and look how far gay rights has come in the past ten years. "Fucking RED HERRING!" I said to him. I have never heard such bullshit in my life. The government wants to increase military spending by 300% and they do it in a fucking heartbeat. People want equal rights and protection under the law and we have to wait years before we are even able to make a dent!? So I'm supposed to rest on the laurels of the work of previous generations and be satisfied with the scraps that they have been thrown?! Not a fucking chance.

I know that in this era of globalization and consolidation of corporate wealth and power that it is difficult to avoid funding ruthless conglomerates. However, it is possible to be conscientious of where you shop and where your money is going to. It is possible to sit and think and ask yourself, "Who made this? Where did the materials come from? What is this company going to do with my money later on?" Then it is possible to avoid companies, like Wal-Mart, that are perpetrators of human rights or that fund groups that are against equal rights campaigns. Furthermore, corporations are about making money. They want everyone to buy their goods so if I'm not buying their product it will show on their bottom lines. I cannot stand it when people disregard boycotting as a futile form of protest. As long as you believe in your cause, no matter how small, your protest is not in vain.

For those of you that brush off protest as being ineffective, wake up.

I'm back at work as of today. I started my new job and it was your typical first day of work at a new place. Its an established environment so there are already ways of doing things that I have to learn which I didnt have to do when started my previous job. Its kinda sucky though that they didnt have a desk ready for me. I took the job over a month ago so I was kind of expecting that they would have everything ready for my first day. On top of that, this week is the last week for a person in the lab that seems to have been really important. As a result I'm having to learn half of what he is responsible for in his last days here and there is just so much so its going to be a challenge. It will be some time before I dont feel like a useless piece of biomass that asks stupud questions and is in the way.

I've learned not to get too excited about a job on the first day. At previous jobs I was always very excited about my first day and after the day was done I would be overly optomistic. Since I had that attitude about my last job I want to keep a low key expectation level so that I'm not horrified if this one doesnt pan out. I think thats a smart thing to do with any job.

The people at my new job are really nice though and I think that will make a huge difference no matter what. At my last job people didnt talk to eachother very much. Part of the problem was that most everyone in the department was Chinese and they had a propensity to only socialize with eachother in mandarin. I can understand why they would do that but at the same time I always thought it was a bit rude. There are a lot of Franks where I work and they speak French to eachother but if there is a anglophone nearby they tend to translate. Its great for me cause I'll get to practice my French. I dont think that i'll let people know that I speak and understand French just yet. It will give me the opportunity for some great eavesdropping!

Which Golden Girl Are You?

I dont go out often in Dallas. Being that I live here and that my partner and I are pretty much homebodies, we dont really frequent the gay bars here, also known as the strip. However, when we travel we make it a point to sample the gay areas so we get an idea what its like in different countries and in different cities in the US. Now that we have been to several places I have come to a conclusion that Dallas has one of the most diverse gay scenes of any place that I have been to.

Although, I really enjoyed the gay bars in New York I felt that there was a certain homogeneity amongst the patrons. Everyone was very well coifed, well dressed, and spoke intelligently. I enjoyed that and I felt very comfortable and at ease in that setting. In Barcelona the men were all gorgeous and again well dressed but again there was a sense of homogeneity. This might be the effect of cosmopolitan living and also the provincial insulation that results from the large metropolises. The byproduct of which produces a heard mentality that tacitly dictates that everyone must look a certain way.

Even though Dallas is a cosmopolitan city and is fabled for its fashionistas and pampered socialites, the gay scene is quite mixed. On a busy saturday night on the strip you will see cowboys, leather daddies, twinks, jocks, preps, trannies, black, latin, asian, everything! Some of my favorite regular fixtures include a transvestite that is on the sidewalk every friday and saturday night with a guitar, an amp, and a microphone. She opens her guitar case and preforms rock hits for the passers by. There is also the crazy balck woman who talks to herself and then kneels down in front of the original Black Eyed Pea and meditates on the sidewalk. It also helps that a lot of gay people come in from Oklahoma and smaller cities in north Texas. They add a charming backwoods touch that juxtaposes the uptight Dallas queens. I have been hard pressed to visit any other city where the bar lineup includes one man donning dungarees, a plaid button down shirt, and a cowboy hat standing next to another man in Prada shoes, Diesel jeans, a Roberto Cavali shirt, and an overly moisturized brow. Throw in some fierce latina, black, and asian transvestites and you have yourself a truly diverse scene.

I have been reading a lot of blogs lately and I am reading something very disturbing. Apparently, even before the war had officially started, while Bush was saying that he was going to try diplomacy first, our air force was already bombing Iraq. It has been surfacing from many air force veterans that there were secret bombing missions done before the official start of the war, while Bush was trying to make a diplomatic effor, where the objectives were to soften the Iraqi air defense and also to goat Saddam Hussein into attacking the US military in Kuwait first. In other words they were taunting him. That is what Bush calls, "trying diplomacy." Of course you will not see any news of this or any mention of the Downing Street Memo in the mainstream media because they have been silenced. Seek out the truth yourself people because Wolf Blitzer, Brian Williams, and Aaron Brown want you to be happy by eating lots of pizza and taking prescription pain killers.

Truthout.org is now my favorite place for news. They have been doing fantastic coverage of the protest going on in Crawford. There is a very moving video that is a series of testimonies of the families of fallen soldiers that have died in the illegitimate occupation of Iraq. One woman in particular said something that I have always believed to be true and something that I have always said: We can support our troops but still be ashamed of our government. Supporting the troops and protesting the president are mutually compatible. The neo-cons, with their distortionary tactics, have convinced many americans that if one is against the war or against the president then that person does not support the troops. I want our troops to come home so that families dont have to lose their children anymore. I want the troops to come home so that the Iraqi people dont have to suffer from the terrorism that the presence of our troops is causing. What has this all accomplished? I really dont know.

I would urge anyone who reads this to go to truthout.org, there is a link on my sidebar, and look at the videos from Crawford. That site is real news. There are no talking heads analyzing and spinning every word that comes out of peoples mouths. It's pure documentation of profound events.

I would like to point out that certain psychotropic substances have the ability to hone your senses and allow you to see things that you would not normally otherwise. This is one such example. One night, Heather and I were watching Fatal Attraction with the phenomenal Glenn Close and the man who was typecast in roles after this film as the naieve cocksure and brainless man who falls for dangerous women like a moth to the flame, Michael Douglas. However, as you can see in this battle scene Michael Douglas is not Michael Douglas, but instead Jerry Seinfeld. Because Jerry Seinfeld looks so much like Michael Douglas, he was his stunt double for this movie. This is why certain psychotropic substances are so valuable, they allow us to really see whos doing what. Imagine watching other films under the same influence. Patrick Swazye in Ghost might actually be sensually fashioning a clay pot with Kathy Griffin.

Furthermore, how much of a pussy is Michael Douglas that he cant do a fight scene with Glenn Close? Or is it that she is too much of a man? Or is Jerry Seinfeld enough woman for Glenn. The possibilites are endless.

I was watching Martha Stewart today and I think it had to have been the most architypical example of her over-the-top luxuriousness. This entire show was dedicated to beds and bedding. When asked she slept on top of or underneath a particular kind of feather bed by her uber uptight style editor she replied in a breathy sultry voice, "Oh...under it!"

The show progressed with her and a stout man representing a mattress company showing us, the viewers, how to properly flip a mattress. I just know that Martha lays awake at night troubled by the fact that many people do not flip thier mattresses, and when they do they do it its not in the correct manner!

My favorite part of the show was when Martha recieved a letter from a viewer asking a question about bedding. The letter was from Cindy Fister from Anticock, CA. Upon reading the name of the person who wrote the letter you could see that her style editor was squirming with delight over the name and origin of the author of the letter. Fister from Anticock.

DefenseLINK News: 'Freedom Walk' to Commemorate 9/11, Celebrate Freedom

If there ever was a more blantant form of pro-war propaganda it was this. Rummy, Bush, and that Cuntilisa Rice have no shame. They have no problem turning 9/11 into a themed extravaganza event complete with country music provided by Clint Black.

I am suspicious of the "private" ceremony for the 9/11 family survivors. Its probably a deprogramming that they do to the family members every year to make sure they tout the party line that the war is good the war is great. They get so brainwashed that they think they are getting handed bars of solid gold but in fact its just a paperweight leftover from the 80s that reads, "Arms For Peace."

MoveOn.org:
Statement of Support to Cindy Sheehan


Sign this one too!! Daily KOS has reported on their blog that Cindy Sheehan has been informed that she will be arrested tomorrow if she doesnt stop protesting when Rice and Rummy show up for barbeque in Crawford.

http://elandslide.org/elandslide/petition.cfm?campaign=iraq1

Please go to this site and sign the petition so that Cindy Sheehan can present a petition with 100,000 signatures to Bush to show that we have had enough of his lies and that the occupation of Iraq must end.

He has lied to us. At his hand our soldiers and innocent people of Iraq have died for the lies that he has told to the world. I ask Bush (I refuse to address him as the President): Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Where is Osama Bin Laden? Explain to me how the occupation of Iraq has made us safer? Why does Karl Rove get to commit treason without any consequence?

You must hear Cindy Sheehan and you must hear the people of this nation! Wer're not asking you Bush, we're telling you to listen up!

I'd like to commend my city councilwoman, Angela Hunt, for her speedy response to an inquiry that I made to her via email. My partner and I had noticed that our water the last couple of days had been somewhat sudsy coming out of the tap. We learned from the D Magazine blog, Frontburner, that there was a fire at a nearby chemical plant and that the chemical used to put out the fire had seeped into the water supply. I was livid when I heard this and immediately contacted my councilwoman and explained to her that I wanted to know the name of this compound and be provided with the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for the chemical. In less than 24 hours I recieved a phone mail message from the Dallas department of water saying that I can call them back and they will fax me the MSDS and any other information that I would like on the fire retardant. I was quite pleased.

One more thing concerns me. The fire was at a chemical plant near the Love Field airport. If the fire retardant seeped into the water supply what about the chemicals at the chemical plant? Why is there a chemical plant even on the the aquifer for the city of Dallas?

I hear from a lot of people who read my blog on instant messenger and they say they enjoy it. Well, please post your comments here. I'd love to have many comments on each post. I want to hear your opinion, if you have any, on the topics of my rantings. Comment!

We're back from our trip. San Antonio was a bomb. Its like someone took all the chain restaurants in the world, put them all in a couple of blocks in the middle of a nondescript city and added a drainage ditch and called it a riverwalk. Totally gross. I was hoping that maybe there would be tiny cafes and a myriad of mexican cantinas to choose from. Instead I was assaulted by Dick's Last Resort, Joe's Crab Shack, and a plethora of Italian restaurants with underwhelming menus. To add to all of that its touristic hell on the river walk and one must make a conscious effort to avoid being pushed into the cesspool river by screaming children and their overweight parents. In short a relaxing stroll along the river or simply enjoying a romantic dinner along the river is out of the question.

Bush%u2019s neocon friends shocked as he backs the Darwin-doubters - Sunday Times - Times Online

This is priceless. I love the argument that more than 50% of Americans believe in "intelligent design" so therefore its something that we should teach in our schools. Most people on the planet used to believe that the world was flat. When Rome ruled most of the known world most people used to believe that Jupiter was the king of the gods. What makes "God" more true or real than the gods of the ancient Greeks, Romans, or Egyptians? In school children are taught that those gods aren't real and that the beliefs of the ancients are myths. Where is the proof for the judeo-christian myths?

This is an abortion curio shop in Wimberly, TX.

The Salt Lick Barbecue Restaurant

This is one of the best barbeque places I have eaten at. Its outside of Austin in the Texas hill country. After Brad and I had lunch here we ventured to the town of Wimberly.

I have been to many small towns in the US and I find that they are all the same. There must be a formula for them somewhere in a conservative cookbook for how make money off of rich white women. These towns all consist of stores that sell lots of shit that no one really needs. How many wind chimes can a person possibly have? How many wrought iron mice with bonnets holding a tray of freshly baked brownies represented by small pieces of obsidian need grace the living rooms of America? Its a travesty that pieces of burlap are being fashioned into bipedal bunny rabbits wearing a child's dress.

Furthermore these towns are riddled with people that somehow have never seen a gay person in their lives. While Brad and I were eating some sub par pie at the Wimberly Pie Co. (recommended by the guide book that we have now thrown in the trash), a man glared at us as we got up to leave. I glared at him all the while I threw my trashy pie out and as I walked out of the trashy pie company.

So this is what happens when conservatives in small towns try to be artistic. Note how the "Dancing Bear" is tightly bound in christmas lights while its genital area is totally exposed and ready for entry. The heard of rusted cattle need no explanation.

Today we toured around the Texas hill country. We took some backroads and drove to a cave called, "The Cave Without a Name." Apparently the young men who found the cave in the 1930s thought it was so beautiful that no name would capture its beauty. Well it was indeed an impressive site. I had been to caves before but this one was 95% alive (as in the formations are still growing). I love going to natural wonders because it makes me realize that there is so much unknown about our own world, let alone all of existence. The guide said that there are tons of other caves in the vicinity of the cave without a name that have only been seen by a handful of people and there are probably ones that are being kept secret. My favorite part of the visit was when the guide turned off all the lights in the cave. I have never experienced that kind of darkness and I thought about what it must have been like for the people to discover that cave with only a kerosene lamp. To think that for hundreds of thousands of years these caves have been forming, in the dark, underground, blows my mind.

We arrived in Austin today. After our bearable and not so long not so short road trip from Dallas we rested in our hotel a bit. We then ventured out to the state capital, just a few blocks from our hotel. It is truly a magnificent building, I was very impressed with the structure and the grounds around it. As an added bonus the Texas State Troopers that patrol the building are brimming with Texas testosterone whilst clad in tight militant uniforms, in other words HOT!

Later in the evening after we had melted in the sun, we set out to go eat somewhere. I was under the impression that Austin might be a culinary schmorusboard given that its a college town and its the state capital. The reality is that we were hard pressed to find any restaurants. We had some recommendations but parking is impossible in Austin so as big city Dallasites we passed. We eventually settled for a burger place that turned out to be very good. The burgers are tasty and fries were fresh and homemade. I will tell you this. There is no shortage of coffee shops or organic food marts. I hope y'all like organic cappucinos.

On another note the penis ratio here is very skewed and the straight men are HOT! If you're a single woman looking for a rugged hunky man Austin is the place!

First impressions: Austin is a very aesthetic city but lacks some of the urban comfort of a varied restaurant scene that Dallas excels at. Hot troopers and hot breeder males.

Quote of the day:
Upon looking at the brochure for the Texas state capitol and seeing a picture of door hinges, all of which say,"Texas Capitol," Brad asked, "Can you buy that?" Spoken like a true American

YEE HAWW!!! Brad and I are heading down to Austin and San Antonio for a couple of days. Im very excited because this is the first trip we are going to take outside of Dallas since we have lived in Texas for two years. I'll take lots of pictures and eat lots of food and of course blog all about it here. I should I hope that I get to see some celebreties like Tom Delay....oooohhh that would be a juicy moment for me. I'd love to walk by that purse-lipped pruney faced conservative and grab his package real good and give him a nice wink! Spray me with your chemical love YYYEEEE HAWWWWWW!!!

"When you talk about a great actor, you're not talking about Tom Cruise."
-Lauren Bacall

My parents were in town and so we visited the Sixth Floor museum here in Dallas. I had been to Dealy Plaza before and seen the "X" in the street where Kennedy was shot but never had I been on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book depository. I would recommend this museum to anyone who visits Dallas. Its purely informational and gave excellent background on the Kennedy administration and the events leading up to and after the assassination. I like how the snipers perch is not accessible by the public an the boxes are set up they way they were found after the assassination.

They have many video exhibits in the museum however one video of a speech by JFK struck me in particular. He was making a speech about how he wants an America where "achievement in the arts is rewarded as much as achievement in business." It just struck me because no one has even come close to upholding the beliefs and values of JFK. Politics has become so thick and so chained to business and the public has become so distrustful of the government that I don't know if this country is, #1 capable of producing another leader such as JFK, or #2 able to trust someone that speaks like that even if they are utterly sincere. I probably would question the motives of someone who spoke like that today because I have been tainted with years of governmental scandals and wrongdoings. Is this good or bad? I have no idea.