Random Thoughts

Just... just so much bugging the shit out of me lately...

I think the worst thing I heard of all week, though, was this shit in Fulton, Mississippi. It was bad enough that they wouldn't let Constance McMillan go to the prom because she was bringing her lesbian girlfriend. It was petty and terrible when the school decided to cancel the prom when the ACLU got involved, and then blamed Constance in an attempt to make her a pariah and get back at her for daring to make waves when confronted by that particular irrational hatred people tend to call traditionalism. But to send Constance and her girlfriend to a separate prom and then have the real prom in secret at the same time is just needlessly humiliating. Can they not see the parallels to segregation, or--much more likely--do they just not care? Certainly Fulton, Mississippi--a place I am ashamed to say is in the nation I call home--is willing to go to incredible lengths to satisfy their hate and to protect their rights to trample over civility and decorum in the name of hate.

And the Fulton kids now bragging about this on Facebook... What the hell is wrong with people? The people of Fulton, Mississippi are vile and cruel.

:: Speaking of stupidity in the South, Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia has declared that April is "Confederate History Month." Why are so many Southerners so damn proud of their slave-owning past? Get this through your heads: the Confederacy was treason, not a government; it was an insurgency, not an actual nation; it does not deserve it's own celebration anymore than Shays' Rebellion does. How about you guys stop electing officials who look back on a white-dominated past when women and blacks were property with such naked wistfulness?

Yes, you are celebrating a criminal act defended with violence in order to keep people enslaved. Be fucking honest about it.

(Oh, and the group that lobbied the governor for "Confederate History Month" are white supremacists who predicted race wars if Obama were elected because, of course, he would press hard for reparations. So, really, this could be construed as yet another idiot reaction to a black man being elected president.)

:: Thanks to the Texas School Board, I'm really afraid that America is going to lose all ability to compete in the world. Why are there so many people in this country that are just hellbent on turning America into an isolated country gnawing on the slipper of religion? We already have a pretty shitty standard of education in this country, but now it looks like it's going to actively be made worse by a few people who demand that their ancient sky mythology be published alongside actual scientific research as though they are both the same thing. It is, to me, the equivalent of listening to someone whine endlessly that their theory that a little man pops out of a box and turns off the refrigerator light when you close the door should be published in refrigerator repair manuals because we need to "teach the controversy!"

THERE IS NO CONTROVERSY WHEN IT COMES TO EVOLUTION! The idea that there is a controversy has been baked up by religious fundamentalists as yet another attempt to get creationism into schools. Sadly, it's going to work this time. So congratulations, you're setting every child in America up to fail in the future. Well done.

:: Bristol Palin starring in a PSA promoting abstinence. Good to know that Sarah Palin's hypocrisy didn't skip a generation, I guess...

:: According to a new Gallup poll, only 37% of Americans view the Tea Party favorably. That's lower than Russia, which is devolving into an organized crime operation, and Communist China. Sarah Palin is only slightly lower in approval ratings: 36.8%. That's still too high for both Teabaggers and Sarah the Quitter. Obama's at 55%.

:: Surprise, when it comes to net neutrality the federal appeals court has sided with the corporations, ruling in favor of Comcast's ability to gouge whatever it wants from online operations in order to keep content flowing at a fair pace. Now this is going to become a Congressional issue, and I don't see Congress voting to cut off anyone's slimy revenue stream.


And I'm ending with this footage that's been going around of American soldiers killing Afghan civilians, including a couple of guys from Reuters. This would be bad enough if it were just a case of mistaken identity or a cultural misunderstanding. But there are now stories coming out about the lies and cover-ups surrounding this and other such accidental killings. It was only a matter of time; war breeds immorality as it breeds a sense of authority and infallibility. And the extremely disturbing video does not show a battle, but an unprovoked slaughter.

For those who kept saying this war is not another Vietnam... well, there are battles, and there's My Lai. I expect we'll be hearing a lot more about this and Feb. 12 slayings of three women which were lied about. There have been too many lies, and this is what we're going to be left with from this mishandled war. We need to stop this thing. It's gotten out of hand, and we can't win it. It's naive to think that innocent people don't die in war. But that doesn't make it okay.