I consider myself a Democrat. Been called a Socialist. Definitely a bleeding heart liberal.
As a child from a traditional southern family, playing Barrel of Monkeys on the floor, church every Sunday, doing well in public school, learning a trade; in every sense privileged .........
Comfortable in middle age, an avid news reader, on learning the tragic story of a full grown chimpanzee destroying the face of a woman who offered a toy, only trying to help it's owner coax her surrogate child back into his cage......
Today being confrontational, ribald, offensive, restless, rebellious.......
An engaging twelve hours of lectures broken into twelve one-hour episodes. Before passing up on listening to these lectures, ask yourself, what was it you chose to do with those twelve hours instead? Next time you add your two cents worth to a political discussion, was it worth even that? When it comes time to vote, should you even be allowed?
If not all twelve lectures, I ask you to at least consider watching Episode One ".....philosophy doesn't teach you anything you don't already know. It's takes what you already know from familiar settings and presents it in a way that makes it strange. But once thought, cannot be unthought again" and Episode Eleven which basically has to do with loyalty; how it conflicts with morals.
"A truly virtuous man would come to the aid of a complete stranger no less than he would for a close friend. However, a truly virtuous man would have no friends."
Below are some fun trivia that came from the lectures:
Did you know.....
Bill Gates,
when figured out on a hourly basis,
makes more than $150.00/sec.
If he were to drop a $100.00 bill
&
stops long enough to pick it up,
he LOSES
money!
Did you know.....
Sandra Day O'Connor & The Supremes
each make less than $300,000.00/yr
while Judge Judy
makes $25,000,000.00/yr.
Did you know.....
one woman's egg
under the right circumstances
could fetch $50,000.00
while
one man's toss
would be lucky to make
$75.00!
****
Turns out,
Harvard doesn't know the answers either.
Like the Bible,
raises more questions than answers;
answers vague at best.
***
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. The important thing is never to stop questioning."
a.a property of space; extension in a given direction: A straight line has one dimension, a parallelogram has two dimensions, and a
parallelepiped has three dimensions.
b.the generalization of this property to spaces with curvilinear extension, as the surface of a sphere.
c.the generalization of this property to vector spaces and to Hilbert space.
d.the generalization of this property to fractals, which can have dimensions that are noninteger real numbers.
e.extension in time: Space-time has three dimensions of space and one of time.
2.Usually, dimensions a.measurement in length, width, and thickness.
b.scope; importance: the dimensions of a problem.
3.unit (def. 6).
4.magnitude; size: Matter has dimension.
5.Topology.a.a magnitude that, independently or in conjunction with other such magnitudes, serves to define the location of an element within a given set, as of a point on a line, an object in a space, or an event in space-time.
b.the number of elements in a finite basis of a given vector space
6.Physics. any of a set of basic kinds of quantity, as mass, length, and time, in terms of which all other kinds of quantity can be expressed; usually denoted by capital letters, with appropriate exponents, placed in brackets: The dimensions of velocity are [LT−1]. Compare dimensional analysis.
7.dimensions, Informal. the measurements of a woman's bust, waist, and hips, in that order: The chorus girl's dimensions were 38-24-36.
con·scious
n. In psychoanalysis, the component of waking awareness perceptible by a person at any given instant; consciousness.
One day on my way home from work, I stopped at Home Depot to pick up a few bales of pinestraw for some yardwork I planned to do that weekend. As I was waiting for someone to come unlock the gate to the cargo bay where the straw is kept, a big expensive looking car pull up besides my Jeep Wrangler. Out steps an elderly man and woman looking as if on their way to church. Though tastefully done, it was obvious the woman spends a lot of time putting on her makeup.
Very friendly, she starts chatting with me as we waited. She was obviously very curious about me; too friendly for my comfort. It didn't cost me anything to be nice, so I politely humored her. Then she laid the big one on me, "there was a nice girl at her church she would like me to meet?" Probably thought I was a real doctor, maybe a dentist, because I still had on my scrubs.
"That's mightly sweet of you mame," I answered. But, I'm atheist."
Like letting the air out of a ballon, I watched the friendly expression drain from her face. She mumbled a few words; don't remember what they were, but nothing mean. She backs off to join her husband waiting by the car.
I can't help but wonder how she would have reacted to "I'm gay" instead. Possible she may be wiser and kinder than I give her credit and thinks I'm just another liar. Either way, no means no. She got her answer. That alone can be awkard.
Boy is "not being quick to judge" hard work! Something you have to constantly consiously practice. Impossible to do while multi-tasking. Sometimes, it's best, just to back off.
****
So....what's my point?
Unless you live on an island, completely cut off from society, no way to leave or be found; one has to interact with others in order to acquire the basis essencials of life. Totally dependent on adults (not necessarily our parents) at birth; through trial and error, gravitating toward those who provide our needs the best or we fear the least, to learning how to spot those only being politically correct in the work environment to those who tolerate only in time of need; to our network of friends, somtimes genuine, sometimes just to avoid being alone.
I see life as a bunch of overlapping circles, constantly in motion, all contained within one big circle. How we use stereotyping, in choosing whom we interact with (or not). Man/women. White/black. Heterosexual/homosexual. Religious/atheist. Preppy/redneck. Masculine/feminine. Rich/poor. Atheletic/overweight. A list that goes on forever. As people walk by each other on a city sidewalk, to try mapping the circles for each pedestrian as an outside observer, would be impossible. Even if you freeze the motion briefly, you still have the illusion of circles moving as your eyes scan the picture. You can get sections to stop spinning if you focus your attention on one spot; but it's difficult and fleeting.....like trying to figure out what someone thinking without clouding it with your own thoughts.
As faulty as stererotyping can be, and it's potential to be abused; it does have it's place. Raised a southerner, even though gay, I do my best to smile as I open the doors for all the ladies. In general, older ladies are polite in return, black one's seeming the most appreciative. Mixed results with younger ones though; prettier ones tending to be downright rude at times. But I understand, smiles can be deceptive, and stalkers don't stop until they hit a dead end or get what they were after.
As far as the younger, unattractive ones...........I try my best to smile just as big.....but it seems like I'm stuck holding the door open longer then I intended. I like to believe it's them and not just another illusion created by impatience.
If still not making sense, think World War Two, battleships, U-boats, and commerce as usual. If an enemy has you on their radar, you pray like hell someone in your circle has them on their radar if not you.
Producing a comedy series is a lot like mixing a pitcher of lemonade. First, choose the lemons you want to use. Next, you squeeze in as much as you can, spicing it up with sugar, diluting it with water, to taste. The bulk of the juice being tossed along with the lemons.
"Intelligent Design" is like a little bit of juice believing it was created in the image of one BIG LEMON."
."WE'VE ALL GONE THROUGH THIS BEFORE!"
Picture this:
Two kids, brother and sister, playing a board game in the living room. Both aware of the the tears behind closed door to their parent's bedroom. Both frequently looking at the clock.
As another working day comes to an end, the sister becomes much more cheerful with her focus on the front door knowing, soon, both doors will open and everything back to normal. The other focuses on the bedroom door, still concerned, an uneasy feeling, that somehow, this fight was different.
Tradition tells us:
Barbie,
with all of her clothes, is suppose to be behind closed door number one; coming out looking her best, either wearing something pretty or pretty much...almost.....nothing......but one big smile
as
G.I. JOE,
the great protector, provider
walks through the front door after such a long hard day of doing whatever it is he thinks he's gotta do; someone usually being picked up off the floor. In my case, the youngest of three, being picked up by the hair.
As lemons go, I think my parents did a pretty good job. My dad never stripped down less than his boxers big enough to fit a cow, settling into the Lazy Boy to watch his war movies till it's time to go to work again. My mom did a pretty good job of spicing (and diluting) where needed to keep the family functional....as well as looking pretty. But damn, wish she would stop taking baths with the door open and lights out. You wouldn't know someone's in there till it's too late. I screamed everytime.
There was talk of "D-I-V-O-R-C-E ". Nothing serious, just enough to make us behave. She once asked me, when I was little, if I thought she should leave dad. I said, "yes!"
With other people's families, seen some unexpectedly colorful things come and go through those doors; enough over time, to realize, that all families once you get to know them, were pretty much the same... no more or less perfect than mine.
A mother's tears altogether different.......Mother Earth's. Can't help feel this fight is different. Be comfortable with doing nothing; everything will be alright, "We gone through this before."
As to what OMNIPOTENT would wear through those doors..........all bets are off! As I can only imagine within the realms of what I've seen; to even try would be believing, "I've seen it all."
YOU EVER WONDER WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF EVERYONE SPOKE ENGLISH?
Jericho's Wall
EVER WONDER WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF DAY AFTER DAY YOU LISTENED TO A BAND THAT NEVER PLAYED A SONG THE CROWD DIDN'T LIKE?
DUMB-FUCK-ISTAN!
"Markos Moulitsas, publisher of the influential progressive Web site Daily Kos, commissioned a poll, which he released this month, designed to show how many rank-and-file Republicans hold odd or conspiratorial beliefs -- including 23 percent who purportedly believe that their states should secede from the Union.
Moulitsas concluded that Republicans are "divorced from reality" and that the results show why "it is impossible for elected Republicans to work with Democrats to improve our country." His condescension is superlative: Of the respondents who favored secession, he wonders, "Can we cram them all into the Texas Panhandle, create the state of Dumb-[expletive]-istan, and build a wall around them to keep them from coming into America illegally?""
Sounds like a great idea to me! But.....would make one little change. Would save us lots of money too!
Let THEM build the wall! That's right, THEM! It will be bigger, taller, stronger than anything we could ever build. Instead of digging our holes, let them defy the law of physic (gravity) and physiology (osmosis), and build this wall.......ON THEIR WAY TO HEAVEN!
"If we were honest with ourselves we would see that our attitude toward immigration reveals the hypocrisy in our praise of the economic dogma of 'the market'."
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
After watching both videos, will have to agree; every counterpoint he made is correct......technically! That makes all the difference whom you choose to believe or not; how science, a very discipline objective approach to knowledge, finds itself the messy middle of two passions. Like the rope in a game of TUG-A-WAR. Like scriptures from the bible in a war of words between fatally flawed primates and cafeteria christians.
Having had more exposure to the sciences, more familiar with the techno jargon, I would agree with his critique that she overinflated (or deflated) the numbers to support her stance; her use of overly graphic words that produce strong imagery. To be honest with you, as a man, even though a bleeding heart liberal, don't think I would like being in the company of this woman...PERIOD. She strikes me as parent who would not vaccinte her kids, in spite of, the overwhelming data supporting the public benefits of the herd health approach. In other words, taking advantage of the fact, that because most parents do vaccinate, the risk of her child becoming sick is less than a possible vaccine reaction, though rare, can be quite severe. I can't picture her living an uncomfortable lifestyle either; making any serious sacrifices. However, I do agree with her overall message: our current lifestyle is not sustainable doing business as usual.
Even though everything he said is correct, he only pointed out where her numbers were wrong (inflated or deflated), inappropriate word choices (more theatrical then objective), the benefits that came increased standard of living (not the cost of maintaing that standard of living). But that only to the present. He never address how our current model of doing business can continue having the same benefits for future generations.
He changed the numbers used to do the math. Obviously we are going to come up with a different answer. This is the point where his job gets easy. He just stops. He doesn't continue the math out. He doesn't tell you what the outcome turns out to be. Like a court appointed lawyer for a criminal, he doesn't have to; it's not his job to do the math for you. He has a professional responsibility to his client he must uphold as well as winning the case to attract paying clients. With the wind of human nature blowing from behind; sowing doubt is all he needs to do. Where difficult lifestyle changes will have to be made; all that's needed with the "average uninformed American voter".
Like a squirrel in a forrest surrounded by an abundants of acorn trees, he's just wants to be left alone to enjoy his nuts he's worked so hard to collect; no reason to not unload, "pop a nut", each chance he gets.
As a bleeding heart liberal, see that as cheating, self serving, immoral. As a man, he would have to be awfully good looking for me to take him up on his offer of a ride of a lifetime. What can I say...all men are pigs!
****
"Narrow-minded economists emphasize 'production' and virtually ignore what happens to the source of nature's resources, as well as to nature's sink, which has to absorb the unwanted, so-called 'by-produces' or 'production'."
- Garrett Hardin -
****
(hell, if we are going to end up at the bottom of the cliff either way....I'm going with air conditioning!)
(Link to the controversial commercial denied a slot during the SuperBowl Game)
When I first saw this commercial,
even I found it uncomfortable to watch.
But when I hear the objection,
an offensive lifestyle is being crammed down unwilling throats,
I think of all the
Matthew Shepperds seeking companionship left dying on fences,
Jesus'es cruxified for preaching unsanctioned sermons that drew ever expanding crowds,
Martin Luther King's assasinated for a insisting on respect for one's dignity,
I get really pissed!
Realizing anything seen as different can be a matter of life and death,
there's a place for
preemptive offending!
Don't feel sorry for offending these overweigh, dumbass, ex-jock, couch potatoes one bit.
But I do feel sorry for the kids
with parents such as these for role models.
Whether
"not like the other kids", "the bullies", "the suicidal ones", "the runaways", "behavioral problem kids", or just
"helpless (even amused) witnesses",
it's the kids who end up making the front line
of this proxy war...
it's losers.
****
It's strange how the Pro-Life Tebow commercial was allowed to air during the SuperBowls. It was an up-lifting, sweet, happy, feel-good ad celebrating life........THEIR LIFE!
Couldn't be happier that her choice.......that's right.....CHOICE.......she was given a choice to either abort or not..........it was her life at risk .......SHE was given the opportunity to make that choice......she was the one who was going to have to live with it (OR NOT).........worked out perfectly for her and Tebow (not to mention the potential $$$$ endorsement looming). I'm glad they shared their story with us. It would be great, as long as continuing to give women the choice like she had been given, to hear more heart warming stories as a result of this commercial. Everyone loves a happy ending. Who doesn't?
But the sad truth; they had to make it to the happy ending before it was worth being commercial material. Dead people make TERRIBLE commercials. When it comes to pushing a product.......to have a dead person making a claim that their product is the healthier choice......just doesn't work. Even kinda hard to find one that has a heart warming story to tell. If this commercial ends up switching enough vote, taking away women's right to abortion, it becomes a heart "WORMING" story (btw....'worming' showed up as a typo...but it was such a perfect fit...had to work it in).
You can't take credit for a happy ending if you weren't given a choice. That leaves only the stories most people will go out of their way to avoid hearing, pretending it never happened, unwilling to discuss; almost as if it never happened. You won't find a single pro-life voter willing to accept responsibility for their share/contribution to the problems associated with unwanted pregnancy.
Another sad truth, right choice or not, once the baby's here, either camp, pro-life or pro-choice, cannot be counted on to help a mother and child in need. It's off to the next undecisive pregnancy. It's not about the best interest of the mother and child; it never was. It's about them. It's their belief what God expect of them to win his favor, taking undue credit for not having gone with abortion (obviously unwanted pregnancy but not giving credit the situation was not as dire/ungrateful instead of thankful actually), lower crime rate associated with increased abortions, increased taxation with decreased abortions, etc., etc., etc. All that energy, all that money being spent, one side claiming "God's Word" in their defense of an unborn child the other claiming "Victimization of Women" as their right to be given the choice, just to cancel each other out. Not a bit of it directed to the underlying causes that lead to abortion being considered an acceptable choice by those who have considered it,
and those who have followed through.
Back to the Tebow ad, no matter how you do the math, the numbers favor the pro-life camp.
Not only do dead people make lousy commercials,
They Can't Vote!
That's not even counting those who end up in jail........ born into a life of poverty, abuse, inadequate schooling, surrounded by crime.....the felons........who have lost their right to vote. I'm talking full blooded Americans here; not immigrants(legal or illegal) (welcomed or unwelcomed), who much like our ancestors seeking a better life in order to provide for their families, also entered our country against the mixed emotions of current inhabitants.
America,
land of opportunity (acquired at the end of the gun), land of the free (cleared by slaves), governed "by the people" / "for the people" (voting rights denied/voter registration discouraged (A.C.O.R.N.)) Find it odd that so many people say with a straight face that breaking the law is reason to barr someone from voting.
So much for the one man, one vote principle.
What about women?
Anyone here in favor of taking away women's right to vote?
If conservatives want to claim the moral high ground,
then we might as well do it right and erase all the gains made by liberals.
It's would be the right thing to do!
Not talking about since the election of Obama either.
I'm talking ALL the way back to the birth of the biggest liberal who ever walked this earth.....JESUS. Not like he was preaching a novel idea or anything like that. He was just the first to come up with a gimick successful enough, his CRUCIFIXION to get him noticed by the critical mass, (helped that lots of people during those tough times identified with his suffering), needed to propel him to fame.
Personally,
I don't think.....being CRUCIFIED..... was his intention.
NO SIR!
NOT AT ALL!
I'm beginning to see most Americans no differently than the crowd who voted Jesus's fate.
*****
I just don't get it.
History books are full of famous liberals.
How come it's so hard to find one alive
"“But since there’s only so much water in the world, and it’s been through somebody’s body or some other place over the past 250 million years, maybe it’s not that bad. At least, it might be better than desalination.”"
"The loss of the little brown myotis and other bats affected by white-nose would be particularly catastrophic for humans, Frick said, because bats eat their body weight in bugs each night. Many of these bugs are agricultural pests or carriers of human disease."
Like most kids of my generation,
southern ones anyway,
grew up watching lots of war movies.
One television.
One man of the house.
One LazyBoy.
What he wants to watch
we watched!
That is,
until he starts snoring
A scene from one movie, a civil war one, stands out in particular.
Group of Confederate soldiers, being chased by Union soldiers,
had managed to escape being captured,
when my sister starts cheering not for the blue, but for the grey soldiers.
I was horrified.
How could someone so UN-AMERICAN be chosen
HOMECOMING QUEEN!
*****
Ridiculous the fuss conservative blogs are making over the movie
AVATAR.
Don't remeber anyone fussing about:
PLANET OF THE APES.
White man got his ass kicked in that one!
INDEPENDENCE DAY.
Basically an AVATAR with roles reversed.
Almost got our ass kicked!
Next time we may not be so lucky.
On a positive note,
at least they can't be accused of being
CLUELESS!
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
Get over it.
"You've done it before!"
****
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
- Abraham Lincoln
"One thing I like about the Digital age: having the dictionary at my fingertips, how easy it is to look up unfamiliar words as I go along reading."
"At least....... until, I played my first game of SCRABBLE on the internet. Wow! I had no idea you could spell so many words with seven letters every time."
"Now I feel pressured to catch up!"
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