News

Appalachia? Argentina? Adultery!!

~ lobablanca
No, I don't think you know what I want for Father's Day this year...
No, I don't think you know what I want for Father's Day this year...

So maybe you didn’t hear that South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford went a little AWOL for a while. He just ambled away one day and didn’t tell anyone where he was going. He kind of mentioned that he was thinking about hiking the Appalachian Trail, so his staffers assumed that this was what he was doing. They even sent out a press release indicating that this was indeed where he was.

SIKE. Just playing. He was really in Argentina. Schtooping his mistress.

That’s right, you’ve read correctly: GOP Governor Mark Sanford

Fail-Safe Failure

~ lobablanca

metroaccident

The impact instantly killed the train operator. All that’s left of her portion of the train is the husk protruding overtop the second train.

Last night the casualties were at 4 dead and 70 injured. This morning, the death toll is at nine.

Recovery efforts continue this morning.

I am routinely critical of public transportation in the D.C. metropolitan area. It’s supposed to be the greatest in the country, but it is consistently ill-managed, overpriced, and inadequate for the demands of the nation’s capital city.

However, this? This is just horrible. Each of these trains is fitted with “fail-safe” signal systems that are supposed to alert train drivers when they are in dangerous proximity of another train. “Fail-safe” and “fail-proof” are two distinctly different things, apparently. Right now it seems that the fail-safe system failed to alert the driver to the fact that there was a train stopped on the track ahead of her. However, investigators have also said that the driver failed to attempt a manual stop, even though she should have been able to see the stopped train.

At this point, it would be pure speculation as to why the fail-safe alert didn’t sound or why the driver didn’t take emergency manual action. Sadly, several questions regarding the “why” behind the accident may never be completely answered.

Metro maintenance has long earned itself intense ridicule and ire from riders. It seems that they are constantly locked in a no-win battle against failures and glitches and just plain stupid mistakes. The new trains, for instance, arrived a few years ago and were promptly placed in storage until maintenance could sort out the fact that the new train computers were not compatible with the older Metro systems. Then there was the massive failure of relay switches that were supposed to last 70 years, but had only been in use for 25 before they started sending incorrect messages to trains. About 4 years ago, there was also a similar accident to yesterday’s, in which a train collided with another train that was off-loading passengers at the Woodley Park station. No one died in that accident, which was an eerie foreshadowing of what happened yesterday.

All there is to do right now, though, is offer condolences for the families of those who didn’t survive and positive thoughts for those injured.

Defense Rests

~ lobablanca

Have you heard? GOP Golden Child Senator John Ensign from Nevada announced last night that he had an affair with a former campaign staffer. Ensign, the fourth ranking leader in the GOP who many speculated was eyeing a run at the White House in 2012, supports the Defense of Marriage Act and voted to add a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

A few years ago, Senator Ensign led the call for the resignation of GOP Senator Larry Craig from Idaho. You remember him, right? The senator caught trying to solicit sex in a Minnesota airport men’s room? Yeah. Senator Craig also voted for the Constitutional banning of gay marriage and supported the Defense of Marriage Act. He’s still married to his beard…I mean, his wife. But he’s no longer a senator.

All of this, of course, was started by Bill Clinton, who signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law while he was president. And we all know the length [ahem] of his marital indiscretions. (Oh, by the way, John Ensign was one of the loudest voices, along with then GOP Representative Newt Gingrich, calling for Clinton to resign for his marital dalliances).

Speaking of Newt, he’s another gay marriage opponent who was called out for diddling someone other than his wife. Well, Wife Number Two. He’s been married three times. His third wife is the one he was fooling around with while still married to his second wife.

And let’s not forget those very vocal media supporters of gay marriage bans and defending the “sanctity” of marriage. Mr. Rush Limbaugh, for instance. Married three times. Divorced three times. Bill O’Reilly. Only one wife. Also one sexual harassment suit filed against him in 2004 by a former Fox television producer, Andrea Mackris, who claimed that O’Reilly called her repeatedly for sexually explicit conversations involving, among other things, vibrators and falafel (the latter being what O’Reilly thought a loofah was called). The suit was settled out of court, with O’Reilly allegedly paying Mackris several million dollars, more than likely just to make her go away so he could continue on with his own “defense of marriage” ranting.

Hmm. Who else…how about another Democrat? Marion Barry, unrepentant crack whore. Married four times. Divorced four times. Last month, Barry was the only hold-out vote on a D.C. bill that would recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Although Barry claims to support gay rights, his vote was contingent upon the fact that “The Black community is just adamant against [gay marriage].” Hmm. There were lots of White people adamantly against desegregation back in the day, weren’t there, Mr. Barry? Bet you’re glad the politicians from those days didn’t use your lame-ass excuse when they voted.

And what is it exactly that these staunch “defenders” of marriage are fighting against?

  • One of the first same-sex marriages to legally occur in San Francisco was between 83-year-old Phyllis Lyon and 87-year-old Del Martin. They were only married for just shy of three months before Martin passed away. Prior to their legal nuptials, however, they’d been together for 56 years.
  • Actress Lily Tomlin has been with Jane Wagner for almost 40 years.
  • Actor George “Sulu” Takei recently married his partner, Brad Altman. Prior to their nuptials, they’d been together for 21 years.
  • Wisconsin Representative Tammy Baldwin has been with Lauren Anzar for more than a decade.
  • Actor Richard Chamberlain has been with Martin Rabbett since the mid-1970s.
  • Mary Cheney, daughter of former vice dick President Cheney…er, former vice president Dick Cheney, has been with Heather Poe for almost 20 years.
  • Playwright Tony Kushner has been with Mark Harris for more than a decade as well.

Wait. I’m sorry. Who exactly is defending the sanctity of marriage again?

Hate is NOT a Crime

~ lobablanca

The phrase “hate crime” has always made me uncomfortable in a very Orwellian way, and the feeling has returned in full force in light of the recent events at the Holocaust Museum. Hate is not a crime. Hate, like love or fear or anger, is an emotional response. Hate cannot be policed. Hate cannot be arrested. Hate cannot be punished by the law.

Oh but wait. It can be. In fact, there are several documented instances in which those accused of hate crimes have received stronger punishments than those who have committed comparable “non-hate” crimes. What I do not understand is this: Are not all criminal acts driven by some kind of emotional urge? Lust for money, lust for power, lust for control, crime of passion, crime of regret, crime of greed, crime of hate. How is murdering your neighbor because you hate him for being Black any different than murdering your neighbor because you hate him for having a Lexus and a Rolex? How is raping the woman at the bar who refused to dance with you because she is gay any different than raping the woman at the bar who wouldn’t talk to you even though she was dressed “provocatively”? Isn’t the end result the same in both scenarios? One crime was committed under the emotion of hate, the other under the emotion of greed and/or lust. Should one receive a sterner punishment than the other?

I think it is incendiary and intolerable to allow any government entity to label an emotion as a crime. This is as close to the Thought Police as we have ever come in this country…and that’s saying a lot considering who our last president was. Policing who we hate is as dangerous as policing who we love. Hate is not the crime. The action inspired by hate is what should be policed. But how is the policing of a premeditated “hate crime” any different from the policing of any other premeditated crime? It’s not, and it shouldn’t be. As disdainful as groups like the Ku Klux Klan or the Aryan Nation are, they are protected under the First Amendment. Their hatred is bilious and corrosive to their members…but what they believe, what they feel is not a crime. It only becomes a crime when they act on it, and only then can the law step in.

Of course, that begs the question, how can we step in before the hatred leads to a criminal act, as it did at the Holocaust Museum. You want to stop “hate” crimes? It’s the same as stopping any crime. Try investing less money into prisons and more into schools. Try spending less time writing bills to police emotions and more time writing bills to increase funding to afterschool programs, accessible housing, improved community facilities, access to suitable employment and the training to perform these jobs. Try spending less time feeding the emotional blood lust and more time feeding the intellect

The Malignancy of Hate

~ lobablanca

I don’t really know what to say about today’s shooting at the Holocaust Museum beyond condolences and questions for which there couldn’t possibly be any satisfactory answers.

We come unhinged so easily, we humans. We think we’re the superior life form, the top of the food chain, and yet we fail at something so seemingly simple as respecting our own kind. Not that I am in any way making light of this tragedy, but wasn’t this one of the prime Laws of Dr. Moreau’s Island? Not to spill blood, that is the Law. Are we not Men? Are we not Humans?

And what sort of malignant hatred could drive an 89-year-old man to do what James Von Brunn did today? A lifetime of anger, bitterness, and blame of all others for his place in life. Blame only goes so far in any situation and in the end, it rests upon our own shoulders how we live the life we’re given. His choices obviously ate away like a cancer any vestiges of reason and compassion. It’s a shame his choices weren’t limited to only destroying himself.

I had hoped to come online and leave a happier entry to reflect my improved health state. Now, however, there is a sadness and a disdain inside that goes far deeper than any physical ailment.

Give Me Liberty…Or Give Me Free Will

~ lobablanca

It is the duty of every student to respect Liberty’s Statement of Doctrine and Purpose. They may not engage in any activity on or off campus that would compromise the testimony or reputation of the University or cause disruption to Liberty’s Christian learning environment.

Guess what Liberty University now considers to be compromising to their testimony. Nope, it’s not the evangelical porn club. It’s not even the Jews for Jesus pig roast.

It’s the LU College Democrats Club. You can read the entire e-mail sent to the head of the Democrats Club at theWashington Post. Or, if you’d rather read the news from a more fundamentally approved paper, you can read the article at the Washington Times.

Am I surprised by this move? Not one bit. After all, Liberty was Jerry Falwell’s baby. And as we all know, Jerry Falwell was many things in this life…but a good Christian was not one of them. Good hypocrite, yes. Good manipulator, of course. But I refuse to believe that he correctly represented Christianity with the hatred and castigation that he spewed throughout his lifetime. Let’s just review some of his “greatest hits” in his honor:

  • AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals; it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.
  • It appears that America’s anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men’s movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening.
  • The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews.
  • There is no separation of church and state. Modern U.S. Supreme Courts have raped the Constitution and raped the Christian faith and raped the churches by misinterpreting what the Founders had in mind in the First Amendment to the Constitution.
  • Good Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions.

That last one I added just because it represents to me the keystone of why people like Jerry Falwell get away with peddling their hate and ignorance to misguided masses: Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you exactly what I want you to believe. And since his death, his like-minded son has been running his legacy, including Liberty University.

Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster I didn’t go to this Offred Reprogramming Center like I was supposed to. I’ve changed many of my opinions since I last blogged regularly. I’ve even changed many of my opinions regarding religion. But one thing that has not changed is my absolute intolerance for this kind of manipulative mind fucking. Jerry Falwell represented everything I saw wrong with organized religion, everything that I still find vile and reprehensible. I’m so very glad that I have met others beyond the scope of Falwell’s narrow and bigoted religious views who have helped me see hope for the future of the religious finding its right path in this country.

Unfortunately, however, schools like Liberty University (or worse…let’s not forget that Bob Jones University is still pumping out its own Baptist sock puppets) continue to mold young minds into the shape of religious perversion that these fundamentalists have decided is God’s will and God’s message.

Too bad Reverend Falwell can’t give us a little sign as to what that message should really be…

Lame Fox

~ lobablanca
She'd get my vote...
She'd get my vote...

Wonder Woman is a lame superhero. She flies around in her invisible jet and her weaponry is a lasso that makes you tell the truth. I just don

Seriously?

~ lobablanca

I keep coming back to what I want this new lair to be. I know that’s strange to say at this point since I’m steadily closing the gap on my first 100 posts, but that’s just the way I am. I can worry a hole into any issue imaginable (or imagined).

I actually do still feel very passionately about things like politics and society, and I suppose most of how I feel is still positively negative. But when I come here to vent, I always get sidetracked by all the pretty, shiny WordPress things like widgets and plug-ins. Case in point: Do you all like the pretty progress meter I snagged for my 50 Book Challenge? It’s originally a meter to chart progress for those who participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), but it works in this instance as well.

I suppose I also feel a certain sense of “what’s the point” regarding venting about things over which I have no control and no way of changing. Politics, for example. What’s the point? Our political system is interminably corrupt to the point that we shouldn’t believe a single word that passes from the lips of any of them, Obama included. How many times have we heard him beat the “difference between campaigning and governing” horse? It’s dead, Mr. President. Stop kicking it. Besides, I don’t think there should be a difference between the two. If you don’t think you can carry it through in reality, don’t promise it. I’m tired of ample servings of empty promises. Give me honesty or give me four more years of same shit, different party.

Speaking of parties, I’m so glad to see that my political party is still full of jackasses. Nancy Pelosi, WTF? We’ve already got Joe Biden sticking his foot in his mouth every other sentence; could you maybe STFU? And, yes, I’m going to be incredibly hard on the Democratic party here at the lair, probably even more so than the GOP. Why? Because I expect better from my party (whereas my Republican expectations have always been more than exceeded, which should let you know just exactly what I expect from them).

Here, however, is a recent GOP disappointment. Today’s WaPo has an article about how Republicans are worried about how to approach the task of opposing Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter:

An all-out assault on Sotomayor by Republicans could alienate both Latino and women voters, deepening the GOP’s problems after consecutive electoral setbacks.

As a woman, I take deep offense to this statement. I despise that we have become a society that accepts granting preferential treatment or kid glove treatment based on one’s gender. Guess that’s why I also have a huge problem with affirmative action in action. As a law to level the playing field in the job market, affirmative action was a remarkable ruling. Then they added quotas. Quotas don’t level anything. And I can only speak for myself on this one, but I would rather lose out on potential employment if I lose because my competition is more qualified than receive the job because I happened to be born with “girl boobs.” Just like it’s not cool to knock me out of the competition because I’m a woman, it’s equally unfair to give me bonus points for being a woman. It almost makes me feel like there’s justification to the ridiculous notion that I am inferior because of my gender and that I need bonus points in order to compete. Screw that mindset.

(By the way, that YouTube clip contains the only things that were actually funny in that craptastic TNG episode of Family Guy).

Oh, and screw you, Senator Schumer for saying “[Republicans] oppose her at their peril…. I think this process is going to be more a test of the Republican Party than of Sonia Sotomayor.” Again, right back to my original argument: If the GOP have justifiable reasons for opposing her based on their party’s dictates and standards, then they should do so. And we should not assume that they do so because she is a woman or because she is a minority. I should also like to point out that it was under Republican presidents that the Supreme Court received its first woman justice and its second minority justice…you know, just in case anyone out there is keeping score of things that should come secondary to actual qualifications.

Stupid Is As Stupid Sexts

~ lobablanca

I can only imagine what the instigating text must look like: “shO me w@ uv got! b00b pix plz!!1!”

And what do the recipients of such a text do? Take the requested shots with their mobile phones and text them, or as I’ve learned through this article, “sext” them back, of course! I’m still not sure, though, when the common sense factor comes into play in this equation.

Look, we’ve all had lapses in judgment, and sometimes a camera is involved. Bourbon Street was home to some incredibly poor moments in Loba judgment and, yes, photo evidence does exist of said judgment lapses. Some involve test tube shooters and others involve a fellow reveler dressed as Hong Kong Phooey. I’m not telling you about any of the others.

Why tell you this at all? I suppose to acknowledge that everyone does stupid things (even your friendly neighborhood white wolf) that sometimes involve cameras that record moments you might not even remember until you’ve sobered up and seen the proof.

However, these cases involve not even one drop of booze. The only thing that seems to be incapacitating these teens is the combined absence of common sense and inhibition. And this particular cocktail is landing them in a whole shitload of trouble, including some who have landed on their state’s list of registered sex offenders. That is a stain that will follow you for the rest of your life.

What’s most disturbing about this article is the fact that detectives are finding evidence of sexting going on in elementary schools. The oldest you can be in elementary school, barring that you haven’t failed any grades, is 13.

I guess this is comparable to when I was a teen and the Internet was rapidly becoming the focus of our lives. We became the first truly plugged-in generation, doing things online that our parents had only considered possible in sci-fi books and shows. So they didn’t really know how to protect us from what was going on in that brave new world.

That’s only a partial excuse, though because, just like then, this latest trend in stupidity can fall into the “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should” file. Also, anyone who has grown up in this time of instant access knows that once you put it out there, there’s no way of getting it back, and it spreads with the destructive swiftness of a California brush fire. Some are even driven to suicide because of the fallout.

So, really, if you get a sext asking you “show us your bits!”? Don’t. It’s just that easy. Oh, and those Bourbon Street photos? I’ve got ’em. And, no, you can’t see them.

Facing A New Day

~ lobablanca
The two faces of Connie Culp
The two faces of Connie Culp

Modern medicine is AMAZING.

I continue to be as awed by these full face transplants as I was when I first heard of Isabelle Dinoire, the first person to undergo this reconstructive surgery.

Now, doctors have successfully performed the first face transplant here in the United States, on Connie Culp. Ms. Culp was severely deformed in 2004 after her husband shot her in the face with a shotgun. The blast obliterated the center of her face, leaving what almost looked like a meteor crater where her nose used to be.

I didn’t place any of the “before” photos here, because…I don’t know. Silly reasons, I suppose. It felt too exploitative (but writing about her on my blog apparently isn’t). but look at these side-by-side shots. Yes, the “new” Ms. Culp is in for a few more surgeries to tighten up some areas and smooth out others, but it’s just…amazing. She has a new outlook and a new face.

This is only the fourth full face transplant ever done, and so far the most comprehensive. Surgeons replaced 80 percent of her face with the donor face. This raises all sorts of questions. She’s 46 years old. For slightly more than 40 of those years, she saw the same face staring back at her in the mirror, and friends and family saw the same face looking at them. Then her total dick of a husband obliterated that person. Or at least the physical representation of that person.

What sort of psychological ramifications come along with these surgeries? What is it like to look into a mirror, knowing that it’s you, but not seeing your own face? How do you process the fact that you’re now looking at a stranger, about whom you knew nothing prior to their untimely death that has now granted you their face? What do you do if you ever encounter someone who knew that stranger?

My mind is abuzz with all sorts of Twilight Zone scenarios and stories, but then I pull back and remind myself that this isn’t some science fiction concept. This is real. Connie Culp has another person’s face and another chance to be as extraordinarily normal as she wants to be.

Like I said before: Modern medicine is AMAZING.