Now that persons openly homosexuals may serve in the military:
"’The bill's ban on use of military facilities and chaplains officiating at ceremonies for gay and lesbian service members is nothing more than plain, old-fashion discrimination.’" -- Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
A “coalition of rights groups” says it will “hold a summit on the rights of same-sex couples in the military,” pushing for housing, health care and other benefits for the “partners of gay troops.”
http://www.military.com/cs/Satellite?c=maArticle&channel=news&cid=1199433207262&col=1186032310810&pagename=News%2FnwsLayout&site=News
("Partners of gay troops"? Is that like not married? Oh. The US military doesn't recognize same-sex marriage. Not yet.)
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
We need a few more laws
Five years ago a car at a stop light here had a Kerry for President bumper sticker and a Heinz label with “First Lady Theresa.”
The interesting sticker, though, said: “The last time we mixed religion and politics, people were burned at the stake.”
Excuse me? “The last time we mixed religion and politics …”?
Just who constitutes this “we”?
Can anybody give an example of someone burned at the stake for religious beliefs in the United States or in the English colonies?
And, just to make sure we do not mix religion and politics, let’s make a few laws.
It shall be illegal:
• for any person elected or appointed to a public office to say anything regarding religion, including but not limited to, stating the names God, Jesus, Allah, Buddha; mentioning a specific religious denomination; quoting a passage from any religious book; mentioning any historical person whose major influence was in religion – for example, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther, or any pope.
• for any official public meeting place to have affixed or otherwise present any emblem of any religion, including but not limited to, a cross, a star of David, a menorah, a crescent moon, a five-pointed star or any animal associated with religion.
• for mention or display of the above in any public school assembly, speech or classroom.
• for any person in the Congress of the United States to mention or display any of the above.
• for any person given an oath of office to use as part of the oath any reference to any religion or deity.
• for any publication issued by the government of the United States, any of the 50 states, of the territories, of local governing bodies to mention or display any of the above.
Those are start points. Other laws will be necessary to ensure no one ever feels bad because of something said or written or thought.
The interesting sticker, though, said: “The last time we mixed religion and politics, people were burned at the stake.”
Excuse me? “The last time we mixed religion and politics …”?
Just who constitutes this “we”?
Can anybody give an example of someone burned at the stake for religious beliefs in the United States or in the English colonies?
And, just to make sure we do not mix religion and politics, let’s make a few laws.
It shall be illegal:
• for any person elected or appointed to a public office to say anything regarding religion, including but not limited to, stating the names God, Jesus, Allah, Buddha; mentioning a specific religious denomination; quoting a passage from any religious book; mentioning any historical person whose major influence was in religion – for example, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther, or any pope.
• for any official public meeting place to have affixed or otherwise present any emblem of any religion, including but not limited to, a cross, a star of David, a menorah, a crescent moon, a five-pointed star or any animal associated with religion.
• for mention or display of the above in any public school assembly, speech or classroom.
• for any person in the Congress of the United States to mention or display any of the above.
• for any person given an oath of office to use as part of the oath any reference to any religion or deity.
• for any publication issued by the government of the United States, any of the 50 states, of the territories, of local governing bodies to mention or display any of the above.
Those are start points. Other laws will be necessary to ensure no one ever feels bad because of something said or written or thought.
From a science fiction book
“The top news story was the mayor had been convicted of something. As long as Roberta could remember, mayors of North Orange were being convicted of something. And being reelected afterwards. One of them had actually run his campaign from his jail cell. And won. Why wasn’t there a law like they had for child molesters, where a politician would have to have his prior convictions advertised if he wanted to run for office?” – Michael Flynn, Firestar.
Flynn on why society has less respect for science:
“Partly, this is due to scientific hubris by which (mostly) fanboys of science set Science-with-a-capital-S as the colonial power of the intellectual world, invading other domains of human thought and disparaging philosophy, humanism, religion, and other endeavors. Partly, it is due to feminism, environmentalism, and government funding. Modern Science differed from Medieval Science in an important respect. The natural philosophers of old were in it to comprehend and appreciate the beauty of nature; modern science was redefined by Bacon, Descartes, and others to be subordinated to the production of useful products “to increase Man’s dominion over the universe.” They meant Man in a very masculine sense, and the exploitation of nature as completely open-ended. Hence, the feminist and environmentalist critiques in the Postmodern Age were not without some merit. Thirdly, as Eisenhower warned in his Farewell Address, the government-science funding complex meant that eventually science would be subordinated to political goals. All these strands contributed to undermining regard for science in the Late Modern Ages. When the American Chemical Society funded an exhibit on the contributions of science to modern life, they were astonished when the Smithsonian came up with an exhibit that presented American science as a series of moral debacles and environmental catastrophes: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Silent Spring, Love Canal, Three Mile Island, and the explosion of the space shuttle.”
http://michaelaventrella.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/interview-with-hugo-nominated-author-michael-flynn/
And now for something completely different.
While searching “North Orange New Jersey,” I learned: (a) there is no North Orange, but Orange and the three other directions are; (b) Orange has some really ugly-a$$ houses; and, (c) if you go to http://stoopidhousewives.com/2010/11/16/melissa-gorgas-video-vanishes/ and scroll down to the picture, you will see four women whose IQ total might bump 100. Just for entertainment, don’t you know. Or, why society has less respect for television. Vaster than a vast wasteland. Twenty-four-hour news means everyone is politically educated, and TV in general means “reality shows” are.
Flynn on why society has less respect for science:
“Partly, this is due to scientific hubris by which (mostly) fanboys of science set Science-with-a-capital-S as the colonial power of the intellectual world, invading other domains of human thought and disparaging philosophy, humanism, religion, and other endeavors. Partly, it is due to feminism, environmentalism, and government funding. Modern Science differed from Medieval Science in an important respect. The natural philosophers of old were in it to comprehend and appreciate the beauty of nature; modern science was redefined by Bacon, Descartes, and others to be subordinated to the production of useful products “to increase Man’s dominion over the universe.” They meant Man in a very masculine sense, and the exploitation of nature as completely open-ended. Hence, the feminist and environmentalist critiques in the Postmodern Age were not without some merit. Thirdly, as Eisenhower warned in his Farewell Address, the government-science funding complex meant that eventually science would be subordinated to political goals. All these strands contributed to undermining regard for science in the Late Modern Ages. When the American Chemical Society funded an exhibit on the contributions of science to modern life, they were astonished when the Smithsonian came up with an exhibit that presented American science as a series of moral debacles and environmental catastrophes: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Silent Spring, Love Canal, Three Mile Island, and the explosion of the space shuttle.”
http://michaelaventrella.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/interview-with-hugo-nominated-author-michael-flynn/
And now for something completely different.
While searching “North Orange New Jersey,” I learned: (a) there is no North Orange, but Orange and the three other directions are; (b) Orange has some really ugly-a$$ houses; and, (c) if you go to http://stoopidhousewives.com/2010/11/16/melissa-gorgas-video-vanishes/ and scroll down to the picture, you will see four women whose IQ total might bump 100. Just for entertainment, don’t you know. Or, why society has less respect for television. Vaster than a vast wasteland. Twenty-four-hour news means everyone is politically educated, and TV in general means “reality shows” are.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Does the Navy actively seek stupid people?
Cmdr. Robert Brown was removed from command of Beachmaster Unit 2 “in part for making his Sailors work on a Sunday to help him host a family reunion at which he allowed his relatives to drive military vehicles and go for rides on a landing craft, according to a Navy investigation report.” The commander also allowed unauthorized and improper purchases using naval funds, the Navy said.
http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-ex-co-made-sailors-work-at-family-reunion.html?col=1186032325324
“Cmdr. Jay Wylie was given a 10-year term” after pleading guilty to two sexual assaults and rape of two sailors ‘but will serve 42 months as part of a plea agreement,’ said Sheila Murray, Navy spokeswoman.”
http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-news/navy-cmdr-gets-prison-in-rape-of-female-officers.html?col=1186032325324
“Cmdr. Jonathan Jackson of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 134 was relieved Dec. 8, aboard the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.
“Jackson was relieved as a result of an investigation that confirmed his failure to obey a lawful regulation by creating and condoning an intimidating, hostile and offensive work environment in violation of Department of the Navy policy on sexual harassment.”
http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-fires-deployed-prowler-squadron-co.html?col=1186032325324
Twenty naval officers were relieved of command in 2011.
http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-ex-co-made-sailors-work-at-family-reunion.html?col=1186032325324
“Cmdr. Jay Wylie was given a 10-year term” after pleading guilty to two sexual assaults and rape of two sailors ‘but will serve 42 months as part of a plea agreement,’ said Sheila Murray, Navy spokeswoman.”
http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-news/navy-cmdr-gets-prison-in-rape-of-female-officers.html?col=1186032325324
“Cmdr. Jonathan Jackson of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 134 was relieved Dec. 8, aboard the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.
“Jackson was relieved as a result of an investigation that confirmed his failure to obey a lawful regulation by creating and condoning an intimidating, hostile and offensive work environment in violation of Department of the Navy policy on sexual harassment.”
http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-fires-deployed-prowler-squadron-co.html?col=1186032325324
Twenty naval officers were relieved of command in 2011.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
A Different Kind of Girl
Cindy said it couldn’t have been as bad as people believed. “Ray Gene ... You remember Ray Gene, he’s my first cousin?”
“I remember Ray Gene,” Tom said.
“Ray Gene was at -- Oh, it’s one of those places I can’t pronounce. You’d think they’d have real names for places. Nah or No or something like that. Anyway, it had an air base.”
“Nha Trang,” he said.
“That’s it!” She reached across the car seat and touched his hand and then took back her hand. “How do you remember all that stuff?” She turned in the seat. Tom looked at her face. He remembered her eyes, colored like blue ice, but he couldn’t see her eyes in the darkness of the car.
“I don’t know. After a while, you know the names,” he said.
“Well, they have funny names for places,” Cindy said. Her hair was longer than Tom remembered, but that was the fashion now. Not that he minded her hair being long. He had seen pictures in magazines, and all the girls in the pictures had long hair. He didn't mind her short skirt, either. When he was last home, girls didn’t wear skirts that short, and he thought it was a good thing they did now.
“Some places I remember, you know, from the news on TV?” Cindy said. “They had lots of stories about Saigon and a place that’s pronounced Whey, but it’s spelled like Huie. Are all the places spelled different than they’re pronounced?”
“Not all of them,” Tom said. Cindy was two years younger and a college sophomore. He and Cindy had not been particularly friends in high school, but Cindy was her mother’s daughter and oftentimes acquiesced with what her mother asked. Her mother and his mother were best friends, and one or the other or both decided Cindy and Tom should go out before his leave was finished. He didn’t mind. Cindy was a pretty girl. The girls were different now, though, and he would not have asked out any girls he remembered knowing. On the plane home he thought about the girls he remembered, in a different way than when he thought about them before he came home. Before he came home, he thought about every girl he had ever known, and the ones he had gone out with. He remembered what he wished had happened when he was out with those girls, even though none of it had happened. On the plane home he thought about different girls and maybe if he asked one or two out, it would happen. But when he came home, the girls were different than he remembered.
“Ray Gene said he worked eight hours a day,” Cindy was saying. “Just like when he worked at the garage. Sometimes he had to work extra hours, like overtime? But he didn’t get paid overtime. I guess they don’t pay overtime.”
“No,” Tom said. “They don't pay overtime.”
“They should,” Cindy said. “I mean, somebody works more than eight hours a day, he should get overtime.”
“It’s the duty,” Tom said, but he knew she wouldn’t understand. “You’re on duty twenty-four hours a day.”
“They should pay overtime,” she said. “Anyway, Ray Gene said when he got off work, there was a club he could go to. On the base. He said they had beer and records. There weren’t any girls to dance with, so they drank beer. Ray Gene wasn’t much for beer before he went over there.”
“Some guys weren’t, I guess.” He hadn’t been much for beer either, but he learned to drink it when it was available, because ... But that was all over now.
Tom parked the car in front of the movie theater. He put the transmission in Park and turned the key. He got out and closed the door and walked to the other side. Cindy said “Thank you” when he opened her door. Tom watched as she swung her legs from the car. He took her hand as she stood. She had nice legs and her hair was thick and dark brown and reached the small of her back. He wondered how it would be, her hair streaming through his fingers, and how her lips would taste. He closed the door. She took his arm. Her fingers were light.
At the ticket window, he said “Two, please” to the woman behind the glass. He paid for the tickets and held the door open. “Thank you,” Cindy said. He asked if she wanted popcorn and a coke. She said she would like a coke. He got two, and they walked into the theater.
They would see “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” On the phone the day before, when he called and asked if she wanted to see a movie with him, although it all had been arranged by her mother and his mother, and he told her which movie was playing, she said, “That’s the one where the colored man is marrying the white girl.” He said it was. She said she wouldn’t mind watching that movie. On the phone she asked, “Do you think that’s happening a lot these days?” He said he didn’t know.
“I remember Ray Gene,” Tom said.
“Ray Gene was at -- Oh, it’s one of those places I can’t pronounce. You’d think they’d have real names for places. Nah or No or something like that. Anyway, it had an air base.”
“Nha Trang,” he said.
“That’s it!” She reached across the car seat and touched his hand and then took back her hand. “How do you remember all that stuff?” She turned in the seat. Tom looked at her face. He remembered her eyes, colored like blue ice, but he couldn’t see her eyes in the darkness of the car.
“I don’t know. After a while, you know the names,” he said.
“Well, they have funny names for places,” Cindy said. Her hair was longer than Tom remembered, but that was the fashion now. Not that he minded her hair being long. He had seen pictures in magazines, and all the girls in the pictures had long hair. He didn't mind her short skirt, either. When he was last home, girls didn’t wear skirts that short, and he thought it was a good thing they did now.
“Some places I remember, you know, from the news on TV?” Cindy said. “They had lots of stories about Saigon and a place that’s pronounced Whey, but it’s spelled like Huie. Are all the places spelled different than they’re pronounced?”
“Not all of them,” Tom said. Cindy was two years younger and a college sophomore. He and Cindy had not been particularly friends in high school, but Cindy was her mother’s daughter and oftentimes acquiesced with what her mother asked. Her mother and his mother were best friends, and one or the other or both decided Cindy and Tom should go out before his leave was finished. He didn’t mind. Cindy was a pretty girl. The girls were different now, though, and he would not have asked out any girls he remembered knowing. On the plane home he thought about the girls he remembered, in a different way than when he thought about them before he came home. Before he came home, he thought about every girl he had ever known, and the ones he had gone out with. He remembered what he wished had happened when he was out with those girls, even though none of it had happened. On the plane home he thought about different girls and maybe if he asked one or two out, it would happen. But when he came home, the girls were different than he remembered.
“Ray Gene said he worked eight hours a day,” Cindy was saying. “Just like when he worked at the garage. Sometimes he had to work extra hours, like overtime? But he didn’t get paid overtime. I guess they don’t pay overtime.”
“No,” Tom said. “They don't pay overtime.”
“They should,” Cindy said. “I mean, somebody works more than eight hours a day, he should get overtime.”
“It’s the duty,” Tom said, but he knew she wouldn’t understand. “You’re on duty twenty-four hours a day.”
“They should pay overtime,” she said. “Anyway, Ray Gene said when he got off work, there was a club he could go to. On the base. He said they had beer and records. There weren’t any girls to dance with, so they drank beer. Ray Gene wasn’t much for beer before he went over there.”
“Some guys weren’t, I guess.” He hadn’t been much for beer either, but he learned to drink it when it was available, because ... But that was all over now.
Tom parked the car in front of the movie theater. He put the transmission in Park and turned the key. He got out and closed the door and walked to the other side. Cindy said “Thank you” when he opened her door. Tom watched as she swung her legs from the car. He took her hand as she stood. She had nice legs and her hair was thick and dark brown and reached the small of her back. He wondered how it would be, her hair streaming through his fingers, and how her lips would taste. He closed the door. She took his arm. Her fingers were light.
At the ticket window, he said “Two, please” to the woman behind the glass. He paid for the tickets and held the door open. “Thank you,” Cindy said. He asked if she wanted popcorn and a coke. She said she would like a coke. He got two, and they walked into the theater.
They would see “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” On the phone the day before, when he called and asked if she wanted to see a movie with him, although it all had been arranged by her mother and his mother, and he told her which movie was playing, she said, “That’s the one where the colored man is marrying the white girl.” He said it was. She said she wouldn’t mind watching that movie. On the phone she asked, “Do you think that’s happening a lot these days?” He said he didn’t know.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Deer season
A man in the barber shop today was talking about the deer he got this season, his first ever, after 14 years of hunting.
“Two hundred twenty-five yards and running,” he said. “Dropped him.”
I grinned when he said that. I grinned and almost – almost – said, “First man I shot was 100 yards and lying down. Of course he was shooting at me, so …”
I didn’t say that because (a) it would have been one-upmanship, and (b) I don’t really know if I hit the man I was aiming at. It was at night and I saw a blink-blink-blink light from the edge of the rubber trees, the light about the size of the burning end of a lit cigarette, the light muzzle flashes probably from a Russian or Chinese DP light machine gun, that looks like a rifle, but has a bipod near the end of the barrel and a round pannier magazine on top.
When seeing the muzzle flashes, I was surprised. I thought: “I’ll be damned. There really is somebody out there, and he’s shooting at me.” That last part was important. He was shooting at me. He was not shooting at the 30 others in my platoon, nor at the M113 Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle that sat near my bunker. He was shooting at me. A realization: “He’s trying to kill me.”
So I aimed my M16 low and fired 18 rounds in just over a second. The rifle climbed and the bullets went some into the red dirt road and some into the tall grass and maybe … maybe … into the man who wanted to kill me.
Maybe I shot the man, maybe I came just close enough, and he went to his commie sergeant or commie lieutenant and said, “I don’t want to do this anymore tonight.”
Whichever, the light machine gun did not fire again.
Two hundred twenty-five yards and running is a decent enough shot. So is 100 yards and lying down when you are the target.
“Two hundred twenty-five yards and running,” he said. “Dropped him.”
I grinned when he said that. I grinned and almost – almost – said, “First man I shot was 100 yards and lying down. Of course he was shooting at me, so …”
I didn’t say that because (a) it would have been one-upmanship, and (b) I don’t really know if I hit the man I was aiming at. It was at night and I saw a blink-blink-blink light from the edge of the rubber trees, the light about the size of the burning end of a lit cigarette, the light muzzle flashes probably from a Russian or Chinese DP light machine gun, that looks like a rifle, but has a bipod near the end of the barrel and a round pannier magazine on top.
When seeing the muzzle flashes, I was surprised. I thought: “I’ll be damned. There really is somebody out there, and he’s shooting at me.” That last part was important. He was shooting at me. He was not shooting at the 30 others in my platoon, nor at the M113 Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle that sat near my bunker. He was shooting at me. A realization: “He’s trying to kill me.”
So I aimed my M16 low and fired 18 rounds in just over a second. The rifle climbed and the bullets went some into the red dirt road and some into the tall grass and maybe … maybe … into the man who wanted to kill me.
Maybe I shot the man, maybe I came just close enough, and he went to his commie sergeant or commie lieutenant and said, “I don’t want to do this anymore tonight.”
Whichever, the light machine gun did not fire again.
Two hundred twenty-five yards and running is a decent enough shot. So is 100 yards and lying down when you are the target.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Woman breaks up with man who used to be a woman; prefers him as a man
(And, yes, I am lifestyle insensitive.)
Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Chaz Bono was born Chastity Bono, to Sonny and Cher. She (Chastity) at age 13 decided she was lesbian. In 1998, she (Chastity) wrote that coming out "catapulted me into a political role that has transformed my life, providing me with affirmation as a lesbian, as a woman, and as an individual.” (Family Outing, Little-Brown, 1998). In 2008, she (Chastity) began “gender transformation,” that is, changing from what she was (see the above “affirmation as a lesbian, as a woman …”) to a man.
Now we get to Jennifer Elia, who “began seeing Chaz before his gender reassignment process began, when he was still Chastity Bono, in 1999.” http://www.zimbio.com/Jennifer+Elia
She (Jennifer) began dating her (Chastity) because both preferred women rather than men as sexual partners. But then she (Chastity) decided to become Chaz. Six months ago, she (Jennifer) said she preferred her/him (Chastity/Chaz) as a man. “Jennifer, who says she is a bisexual woman, said that their intimate relationship as a now 'straight couple', has improved 'for the good.'"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1386590/I-prefer-man-Chaz-Bonos-girlfriend-Jennifer-Elia-speaks-sex-change-pair-discuss-wedding-plans.html#ixzz1h5dbO53b
But now they have broken up, boo-hoo.
So. A girl decides she prefers other girls as sexual partners. She enters into a relationship with another woman who likes women. A time later, though, the first she decides to become a he, and the second she prefers “him” with new parts.
Welcome to the New World.
Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Chaz Bono was born Chastity Bono, to Sonny and Cher. She (Chastity) at age 13 decided she was lesbian. In 1998, she (Chastity) wrote that coming out "catapulted me into a political role that has transformed my life, providing me with affirmation as a lesbian, as a woman, and as an individual.” (Family Outing, Little-Brown, 1998). In 2008, she (Chastity) began “gender transformation,” that is, changing from what she was (see the above “affirmation as a lesbian, as a woman …”) to a man.
Now we get to Jennifer Elia, who “began seeing Chaz before his gender reassignment process began, when he was still Chastity Bono, in 1999.” http://www.zimbio.com/Jennifer+Elia
She (Jennifer) began dating her (Chastity) because both preferred women rather than men as sexual partners. But then she (Chastity) decided to become Chaz. Six months ago, she (Jennifer) said she preferred her/him (Chastity/Chaz) as a man. “Jennifer, who says she is a bisexual woman, said that their intimate relationship as a now 'straight couple', has improved 'for the good.'"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1386590/I-prefer-man-Chaz-Bonos-girlfriend-Jennifer-Elia-speaks-sex-change-pair-discuss-wedding-plans.html#ixzz1h5dbO53b
But now they have broken up, boo-hoo.
So. A girl decides she prefers other girls as sexual partners. She enters into a relationship with another woman who likes women. A time later, though, the first she decides to become a he, and the second she prefers “him” with new parts.
Welcome to the New World.
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