It's a Comet!

NOOooo, not that kind. I meant the CAR; the lovely Mercury Comet, produced by Ford.

I took these photos of a beautiful old Comet (seemingly in mint condition) that I unexpectedly encountered in metro Atlanta. I'm gonna guess: 1965?

Any takers?



It's been awhile since I posted some old cars. (((waves at car-photo lurkers!))) As always, you can click to enlarge.

~*~

Its been boring in Blogdonia, except for my periodic political brawls with the kids on Tumblr. Most seem to have been born last Wednesday. They actually think a Walkman is an antique. (NOTE: I still use mine, yall.) They enthusiastically trash unfashionable, old stuff (ewww!) faster than you can say planned obsolescence. They talk a good game, but still seem unaware that Asian sweatshop children are manufacturing all of their gadgetry and clothing for pennies. In short, words like FAIR TRADE are notably missing from their vocabularies. And any discussion of Palestinian rights sends them into the proverbial tailspin.

They think they are radical, but when you ask them what they do in their communities? (((crickets)))

That probably shouldn't bother me so much, but see, I think the Tea Partiers and the Right Wingers and the conservatives ARE doing something in their communities. In fact, they are doing A LOT. And at breakneck pace. That is how we ended up with Nikki Haley. (More about which in due course, as William F Buckley liked to say.) This is how Eric Cantor lost the Senate. The Left is busily contemplating its collective navel as the Right Wing happily skips along, winning elections.

For example, the Men's Rights fellas are organizing. They had a real conference, which is more than feminists seem to be able to do these days.

(sigh)

~*~

Speaking of Men's Rights, I am linking the blog Toy Soldier, which I think might be classified as a Men's Rights blog? (Not sure how he categorizes himself.) In any event, TS deserves to be linked for this.

Marion Zimmer Bradley was a child molester. Holy shit, is all you can say. Holy. Shit.

I am relieved I was never a big fan and was never emotionally invested in her work... but it still pains me as a feminist, to learn of a famous feminist pedophile. And no, lets not start nonsense claiming "if she was a pedophile, she wasn't really a feminist" as if to say no feminist can EVER be one, just because. Bullshit. If priests who have sworn an oath to God Almighty can be pedophiles, so can feminists. So can anyone. In fact, that's the point: no demographic is immune.

Didn't feminists preach that, once upon a time?

And have you heard this story, of Marion Zimmer Bradley, defending her husband the NAMBLA member, even molesting her own three-year-old daughter? Nightmarish in the extreme. I came across the Guardian story almost by accident. Are any feminists discussing this? (Yes, some are.) On Tumblr, the legion of "radfems" certainly has downplayed this, hardly mentioning it at all. Bradley was a very influential and award-winning author, even the co-founder of The Society for Creative Anachronism, the named coined by her. Her work has directly influenced much of modern-day fantasy writing, both by men and women.

And she was a child molester.

Is this "bent" obvious (or implicit) in her work? I didn't follow it much, so I don't know. But I expect critics to tell me; I expect a full-on SEXUAL POLITICS-type of academic criticism, informing us if this trait is evident in her work, as we know misogyny is evident in Norman Mailer's work. Will it be up to men to do this? (THIS is the kind of thing the men's rights guys could be doing, not studying Miley Cyrus' selfies. See TIME article above.)

I am greatly disappointed at the resounding silence I see from so many feminists on the subject of Bradley's disgusting activities...it is certainly no match for the excited hubbub when The Mists of Avalon finally made it to TV.

(sigh)

~*~

Also--

Remember I told you Governor Nikki Haley was putting off ROAD REPAIR until the election, so us hapless South Carolina residents have been consigned to driving on horrible concrete ruts all the time? (Woodruff Road is a particular upstate blight, as is Highway 291, where I dodged potholes yesterday.)

Haley recently talked about a mythical "money tree" to pay for the roads--which has brought endless mirth to the Deadhead household, as my spouse and I promise to pay for various things with the MONEY TREE we are going to plant on the patio.

I think we need to call her GOVERNOR POTHOLE, which I hope to name a post soon.

~*~

Our local fundie-U, awful Bob Jones University, has a brand new president, Stephen D. Pettit. Appointed right before the summer break, he is the first president of BJU who is not a member of the Jones family, so its pretty amazing.

After the honeymoon and quick pick-me-up from this charismatic new prez and his flashy Colgate smile, the BJU-cult will inevitably reassert its primacy. Will New Prez leave when the Jones boys start bossing him around? Or are they paying him a lot to put up with it? I guess we'll be finding out.

And that should be fun!

Welcome, Reverend Steve. You will be hearing about ME soon enough. :)

Haley Watch: Watch out Canada, Queen Nikki is on the way

Photo of Governor Haley comes from her ex-boyfriend Will Folks' website, FITSnews.





I used to do most of my Haleyating on the radio.

During our broadcast-hiatus, I've greatly missed my regular chance to dump all over our hyper-conservative (but nonetheless pretty randy) governor. So, making up for that today.

~*~

Last month, Queen Nikki made a royal fool of herself by telling employers to stay out of South Carolina.

Wait, what?!? Stay OUT, you ask?

Yes, she told them to stay out... IF they bring those dreaded, scary unionized employees with them, that is:

GREENVILLE, S.C. — South Carolina loves its manufacturing jobs from BMW, Michelin and Boeing and wants more.

But Gov. Nikki Haley says they're not welcome if they're bringing a unionized workforce.

"It's not something we want to see happen," she said after an appearance at an automotive conference in downtown. "We discourage any companies that have unions from wanting to come to South Carolina because we don't want to taint the water."

In a recent vote at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., the company remained neutral about bringing in the United Auto Workers. VW had said it favors the creation of a German-style "works council," which gives workers a voice on a variety of products and other decisions.

U.S. law requires a union to represent employees for a company to form a works council.

State Sen. Vincent Sheheen, Haley's Democratic opponent in this year's gubernatorial race, said he thinks South Carolina should remain a right-to-work state where workers are free to decide whether to join unions.

"But I also think that if Ford Motor Co. wanted to bring 10,000 jobs to South Carolina, we would welcome them with open arms," Sheheen said.

"We need good, high-paying jobs in South Carolina," he said. "Part of leadership is putting ideology and partisanship to the side when there's something that could be good for South Carolina."

Haley isn't the first South Carolina Republican to reflect the South's traditional anti-union bias, but she's been especially outspoken against unions inserting themselves as mediators between workers and their employers.

GOP animosity toward unions grew red-hot in South Carolina during Haley's first year as governor after the National Labor Relations Board went to court to block the Boeing Co. from making its Dreamliner jet at a new factory in North Charleston.

The NLRB argued that Boeing had built the plant in right-to-work South Carolina in retaliation for past union strikes at the company's Puget Sound operations but ultimately dropped the complaint.

Haley has continued to remind voters of what the agency tried to do and did it again Wednesday while appearing here at the South Carolina Automotive Summit, an annual conference for the state's auto industry.

The governor urged more than 200 people at the conference, many of them auto industry executives, to keep up their guard against unions.

"They're coming into South Carolina. They're trying," Haley warned. "We're hearing it. The good news is it's not working."

Haley promised to keep fighting against union penetration.

"You've heard me say many times I wear heels. It's not for a fashion statement," she said. "It's because we're kicking them every day, and we'll continue to kick them."

State Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt said he couldn't recall the last time a company with a unionized workforce approached his agency about establishing a new plant in South Carolina.

"Companies that are traditional union companies don't seem to come looking for an operation in South Carolina," said Hitt, a former BMW executive whom Haley appointed. "I think our brand and our image precedes us in that regard."

Commerce officials inquire about an economic development prospect's labor traditions, he said.

"But we've never told someone outright no," Hitt said. "I think we've never gotten to that."

President Lewis Gossett of the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance, which has organized the automotive conference here the past three years, said he thinks Haley is "dead on" about unions.

"Organized labor has no place down here," Gossett said. "We don't need them. We don't need them to replicate what they've done in the Midwest and the Northeast. The governor gets that. And she's taken some very strong stands about it, and we love it."

However, Erin McKee, president of the South Carolina chapter of the AFL-CIO, said she doesn't think Haley is helping.

South Carolinians "have the right to have good jobs, and if those are union jobs, they're union jobs," McKee said. "And to keep jobs from coming here because they're union, I don't think she's representing the people."

Well, at least the unions can recognize a direct insult when they hear one. Any word from the Dems, besides that rather lackluster, lame-ass reply from Sheheen?

Hello, but are you kidding? (Welcome to South Carolina!) The Democrats here are busy pretending to be Republicans, so they do not criticize Governor Haley. The Democrats here, with extremely few exceptions, do not say BOO to Queen Nikki. They are terrified they might actually get elected and have to do something.

I mean, nothing they have done "works" (gets them elected)--so you figure they might try something different, right? Like actually going after Queen Nikki before she totally bankrupts the state? If Haley is re-elected, we can count on four more years of total neglect of this state's roads, agencies, fire departments and schools... which is apparently acceptable to the Democratic party, since none of the Democrats seem too awful worried about it.

Governor Haley was also recently bragging about another junket, another fun new vacation for the Queen, on our dime. But looking at her web page, I can't find it. Hm. Her last weekly schedule was posted on March 10th. I guess she finally remembered she was running for re-election, and decided to shut up about the junkets.

Oh wait, here it is (and why isn't this posted on the governor's official news site?):

COLUMBIA, SC — Gov. Nikki Haley is heading to Canada to recruit jobs [in March], her office said Tuesday.

She will join three S.C. Department of Commerce officials and former U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins on the three-day trip that starts March 31 in Toronto before she heads to Ottawa and Montreal.

Wilkins, now an attorney in private practice in Greenville, is paying for his portion of the trip, the governor's office said.

Haley will meet with companies already in the state as well as new prospects. She also will speak to business groups.

She is going to Canada for "jobs"--uh huh. Just like she went to Germany and France (page down HERE for the gory details) to the tune of $127,000--also supposedly for "jobs"--and um, where ARE those jobs, Governor?

(((crickets)))

I'm sure this Canadian trip will be just as successful as that one was.

At least it's cheaper and she isn't taking a delegation of two dozen with her this time. At least she isn't just flushing a million dollars of our taxes down the toilet. Then again, if there are no immediate results for South Carolina, she HAS flushed more of our money down the drain, she just isn't telling us HOW MUCH this time.

Please, get rid of this woman. Please, please, please...

Three Feet

... and I wouldn't be here.

I can't stop thinking about that fact. It seems so... arbitrary.

Suddenly, life seems quite tenuous and so very precious.

On Friday, a 15-year-old driving an enormous Dodge Ram pickup and sporting a Ferris Bueller t-shirt (you can't make this stuff up), ran a red light and totally sheared the front end off my car. KABOOM - it sounded like a fucking locomotive. And there I was, turned at an angle in the intersection during perilous rush-hour traffic (I did manage to hit my brakes) and all these people loooooooking at me like, is she alive? I managed to chug my smashed-up little car into a nearby parking lot. Somebody dragged my flimsy Saturn-bumper out of the road and brought it over to me. Automobile-detritus and various pieces of metal and glass were all over Haywood Road, and people kept running over them, crunchcrunch... eventually both Mr Daisy and my radio producer/Carolina consigliere came to my aid, so that was good. (Needless to say, I missed Friday's radio show.)

After local police pronounced him the officially-guilty party, Ferris drove away, his bad-ass redneck vehicle unharmed and ready to shear off more bumpers. Mine is a total shambles, one of those words you hardly ever hear anymore, but was popular in 60s comic books. Let's bring back the word: SHAMBLES. (One of those great words that sounds like exactly what it is.) However, the engine sounds okay, and I think it could well be salvaged, so we shall see. The car has already been totaled once. (In fact, that was the subject of my second-ever blog post.)

If I had not hit my brakes. If I had accelerated a few seconds faster into the intersection. Just a few seconds. He sheared the front end of my car clean off... and if *I* had been sitting in the exact spot where he sheared off my car?

Three feet. Just three.

As I said, I can't stop thinking about it.

THREE FEET has become a very intense thing for me, the subject of major meditations throughout the weekend. Our life can end at any time. We know this intellectually, but somehow, coming so close, brings the fact home in a very real way.

And you know, some things just don't seem as important as they did a few days ago. They just aren't. And other things are somehow, suddenly, far more important.

My vision has been sharpened, and I hope to keep this new, acute vision as long as I can. I want to see clearly. And I don't want to waste time. I don't want to spend the time I have on nonsense, on arguing, on unhappiness.

I am reminded of a quote by Thomas Carlyle that Harlan Ellison once taped onto a mirror in his home:

Produce! Produce! Were it but the pitifullest infinitesimal fraction of a Product, produce it in God's name! 'Tis the utmost thou hast in thee; out with it then. Up, up! Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy whole might. Work while it is called To-day, for the Night cometh wherein no man can work.

(The last part of that quote is from the Gospel of John.)

Yes. That is exactly how I feel.

Sunday links and round-up

At left: State Senator Karl B. Allen, District 7, was one of our guests on Wednesday's edition of OCCUPY THE MICROPHONE.

~*~



Wednesday's radio show was titled, "Putting the brakes on violence in South Carolina"-- and many community activists were highlighted, as they shared their personal experiences with our listeners. (Our guests also included Traci Fant, one of my favorite people and local powerhouse activist.)

This was a major landmark for us; I don't remember having that many people in the studio at once before! Gregg was absent, so it was all up to me and my fearless co-host, Double-A.

If you'd like to listen to the show, check us out at our radio blog. And remember to catch us everyday, LIVE AT FIVE, livestreaming HERE.

~*~

Interesting links, that I meant to share earlier:

Yes, I'm nothing if not prompt!

[] Worst house you've ever seen. (Curbed) Really! Apparently, it was designed by a pimp, and ... well ... it totally defies description.

It seems to be hemorrhaging money, too, which just makes it all the more incredibly bad.

[] For the two or three of my readers who are theory-heads: Marxist feminism as a critique of intersectionality. (Neo-colonialism and its discontents). I have some issues with intersectionality (the new trend in feminism, and suddenly everyone's new favorite word) and Will Shetterly accurately outlines some of my issues HERE.

[] Ayn Rand-loving CEO destroys his empire (Salon) If you've been wondering what's wrong with Sears, and why it looks like a dump these days, here's your answer.

Something else to blame on Ayn Rand.

[] Peter O'Toole has passed on, and here is a pretty good obit. (Los Angeles Times) I loved him in the film The Stunt Man, and if you've never seen it, you might want to hunt it down for a viewing. It's rather surreal, and O'Toole is perfect.

[] Why we need grandpas and grandmas (NPR) Required reading if you are an animal lover, or an anti-ageism activist... or both.

[] And finally: here is your DEAD FROM CUTENESS pre-Christmas video. I've been posting it everywhere, so if you've seen it already, you can probably blame me! (I want that puppy!)

~*~

CAR OF THE MONTH: Buick LeSabre, outside the Publix.

What year? Not sure, but appears to be Third Generation, possibly 1971. If anyone has any better estimates, let me know.

(((waves to car-photo lurkers and wishes you all Happy Motoring Holidays!)))

~*~

Hope you are all doing well at this crazy hectic time of year. I attended a great Solstice/Yule celebration last night, although I passed a dead body (covered up) in the road on my way there, which brought me up short and reminded me of what's important.

Gratitude.

Happy holidays!

Random worries over the future of online social justice

VINTAGE CAR OF THE MONTH! Any guesses on the year? I will take a wild guess and say 1975. (Can Volkswagens last that long?)

I took this shot at Greenville County Square on Saturday, right before the March Against Monsanto.


~*~

My wee Tumblr blog doesn't get much attention... not sure why I started it, except that now I can officially "like" other people's entries. Still no comments allowed though! Such a weird system; I still find the 'nesting' thoroughly confusing and I frequently can't decipher who has said what.

I recently posted THIS on Tumblr... to me, some of the most shocking content I could ever have posted. (Then again, that statement probably just shows my age.) It's a photo I took at the Fort Sumter museum in Charleston, of a slave tag. Lots of people don't realize that enslaved African-Americans wore identifying tags (like animals), so I thought I would share the photo. I also included a slavery-era poster warning northern blacks (in Boston) against approaching police, who were then-empowered as bounty hunters (aka "slave catchers"). These two displays in aforesaid museum had the cumulative effect of shooting me right through the heart. I may even have shed some tears. But on Tumblr? Not a big deal--I got one "like" and one reblog. And that's it.

History is bunk, as Henry Ford schooled us.

I recently read a Wiki about a Tumblr blogger I have been following for some time. I consider this individual little more than an amusing hysteric/abusive psycho-nuisance, but when she has emotional meltdowns (often, as psycho-nuisances usually do), she unwittingly provides us with some first-class comedy relief. I was startled to read that this person is regarded as "serious social-justice" (is "social-justice" now a noun for a certain type of radical poseur on Tumblr?). And I am wondering--how is that possible? Serious social-justice?!? Saints preserve us.

This person has done nothing but vent endlessly (several times a day, usually) in a self-righteous, pseudo-political fashion, using all the trendy lefty buzzwords of the day. She has never done ANY political organizing or actual community-work in real life. At least, if she has, she has never mentioned it. And since every single wayward hypochondriacal symptom and every meal eaten and every DVD viewed is carefully cataloged and shared with her legions of fans, I think we would have heard all about any ACTUAL SOCIAL JUSTICE work by now. In excruciating detail.

And yet, this person is considered "serious social-justice"; its enough to make you want to tear your hair out.

This might go a long way towards explaining why this current generation faces endless wars (plural) they seem disinclined to stop, much less actually protest against. After all, it's been left to their poor and immigrant peers (along with computers and drones) to actually fight these wars, so what is the harm? They have far bigger fish to fry, like picking apart other bloggers for using the wrong trendy words and/or having the wrong opinions. (And even though they loooove to see racism and ethnic bias under every rock, they don't see their blatant disregard for the people their country is bombing, as racism and/or xenophobia, as it certainly is.) This explains why there are all these "social justice warriors" on Tumblr, and yet they have had no impact at all, ZERO INFLUENCE, in the public square. None. Zip. Tumblr is like a fantasy-land, a computer game, and "social justice" is one of the colorful environments chosen as background, just like choices of locations in Farmville.

Very, very few Tumblrites have even commented on the current government shutdown, so it seems obvious none are receiving WIC (as I once did, which I mentioned on the air last week) or utilizing HEAD START or are immediately affected by government in any other way. In fact, very few mentioned the long-awaited roll-out of Obamacare. I have not seen any of them discuss the pros and cons of Obamacare... in fact, its all fulminating, with little mention of real life events or the ramifications of various political policies.

It's disheartening, even frightening. I hope this is not the future. If it's only one FRAGMENT of the future, I can handle it. But I hope this is not what "social justice" eventually devolves to: SOCIAL JUSTICE FARMVILLE! GET COOL CARTOON IMPLEMENTS FOR VIRTUAL COMPOSTING! BUY CHICKENS THAT LAY ONLY FREE RANGE VIRTUAL EGGS! And don't forget to put down the people with the ordinary chickens for not being cool. Otherwise, where's the fun in that?

(War? What war?)

August update

Above, left: State Representative Leola C. Robinson-Simpson (District 25 - Greenville County) speaking at our local 50th anniversary celebration of the Civil Rights March, in Greenville's Cleveland Park on Saturday.

Above, right: Traci Fant, event organizer and local activist extraordinaire.

~*~

Back from Texas! (Did yall miss me?) You can see my purty family-photos HERE. My grandchildren (below) are both huge. And my grand-cat Napoleon is almost 9 years old! (as always, you can click all photos to enlarge)



~*~

And hey, I got old cars! (waves to the car-photo lurkers) You knew I would. (below)



I barely managed to get the first photo, as we went zooming by at breakneck pace. (Texans all drive like maniacs, including my beloved daughter.) I have no idea of the make, model or year of first one (it was for sale) or even the exact location--except that I snapped the photo somewhere between Fredericksburg and Kerrville. I am thinking: 60-61 Buick? It has fins!

The second photo, a Monte Carlo (75 or 76?), was taken in back of the Mellow Mushroom after the rally on Saturday.

~*~

Lots going on, as our awful Governor Nikki Haley (spits for emphasis) announced her re-election campaign right here in Greenville yesterday. When in trouble (as Haley certainly is), conservative state politicians ALWAYS run up here to hide amongst the GOP faithful. (As I have said many, many times, this IS the most conservative county in the USA, according to Rick Santorum's former campaign manager, who should know.) Haley's decision to announce here signals that she is in trouble in her own backyard, which is Columbia. (She avoids the coast at all costs.)

At yesterday's event, Texas Stoner Governor Rick Perry was on hand for comedy relief and her other good buddy, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (I mentioned here how chummy they are) was also present, for back-up.

She needed it.

Our own Double A, one of my two dynamite radio co-hosts, attended the demonstration against Haley, and reported on the foofaraw. Other than a few small, brave news outlets, the counter-demonstration was mostly ignored by local media.

~*~

HEAT and TRANS update, all in one

Recently, whilst sitting and baking in the ungodly heat, I have read/seen a good number of young trans men ecstatically bragging that they are post-op (known as "top surgery" i.e. mastectomies) and now, ohhh happy day, they can jump in the pool topless and sit around the house topless and at long last, go without a shirt! As if it is somehow intrinsically impossible to do these things unless one is male. These statements are utterly infuriating, and incidentally, feed the (unpopular and oppressive) radfem perspective that gender IS entirely a social construct (and therefore, they believe, surgical/hormonal transition should be unnecessary, and society itself should change or "transition" instead). Because going shirtless is not an intrinsically male or female activity, but IS entirely socially constructed, as we all learned as children, leafing through National Geographic and seeing photos of topless women in the Amazon or wherever.

The fact that these young trans men do not question their cultural environment, and make a big point of bragging about their newly-acquired social superiority (i.e. they are FINALLY FREE of having to do what those NARROW, CONSTRICTED, REPRESSED, GROSS WOMEN ARE FORCED TO DO: keep their shirts on), is very reactionary, offensive and sexist.

Wanting to shed one's shirt does not make you a man, it makes you conscious of the goddamn heat. Living in the broiler that is summer in South Carolina, I want to take my shirt off every single day. Every. Single. Day. And I am not a man and have never wanted to be one. As regular readers know, this is one of my big FEMINIST ISSUES--that men have this right and women do not, all because the almighty sacred titties are arousing to men and obscenity laws were written by men. (NOTE: This is rightly called PATRIARCHY, since the laws were written by MEN, using men's desires as a guide to what is regarded as obscene; women's desires have not been a factor.) I see no reason why WOMEN should not enjoy these so-called "male" privileges too. Instead, as in THIS VIDEO, it is simply understood that men have this seemingly-God-given right and women do not, period. Consequently, the young trans man brags that he can now, finally, at long last, hallelujah, take off his shirt.

(sigh)

And so, instead of properly fighting for everyone to have this right, it is presented as evidence of manhood (and in this context, transgender feelings), thus preserving the patriarchal status quo. This is backward, not forwards.

And further, radfems rarely (if ever) mention trans men and these kinds of sexist statements they make... its only when a high-profile individual like Chaz Bono is openly misogynist that anyone speaks up and says WHOA. I am tired of trans women taking all the heat for their choices, as trans men get off the hook, which by the way, perfectly mirrors our cultural sexism. As Julia Serano writes:

[The] media tends not to notice—or to outright ignore—trans men because they are unable to sensationalize them the way they do trans women without bringing masculinity itself into question. And in a world where modern psychology was founded upon the teaching that all young girls suffer from penis envy, most people think striving for masculinity seems like a perfectly reasonable goal. Author and sex educator Pat Califia, who is himself a trans man, addresses this in his 1997 book Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism: “It seems the world is still more titillated by ‘a man who wants to become a woman’ than it is by ‘a woman who wants to become a man.’ The first is scandalous, the latter is taken for granted.

Which brings me to the matter of Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning, now known as Chelsea Manning.

I said most of my piece on the radio yesterday. As I said then, I fully support Chelsea, and I am very proud we have a woman-whistleblower (go team!), which took all kinds of nerve. Although I must admit -- as a blogger, my first thought was, how on earth do I change all the tags on my blog (LOL) to CHELSEA when they already say BRADLEY--including some headlines and photos. Indexing nightmare! I remember the same problem back when I worked in a record store and we had to figure out what to do with Walter/Wendy Carlos. I finally lettered and inked a sign myself, that said Walter/Wendy Carlos, since people would come in asking for both (no internet in those days) and often believed they were a married couple, not the same person.

Speaking of sexism, sometimes classical-music freaks would actually inform me (haughtily and knowingly) that Wendy wasn't nearly as talented as her husband Walter (!), totally unaware that Walter and Wendy were the same person. When I tried to tell them they WERE the same person, they often refused to believe me, since you know, Walter is a serious musician who would NEVER do something crazy like change his sex! I mean, this was the 70s.

In response, I would simply tell them to look it up, since as I said, there was no internet in those days. So it was difficult to prove my assertion, since Wendy was/is a pretty private person. I hung around bisexual-circles even then, and I heard about Walter-to-Wendy through general gossip. And my record-store boss also seemed to know by community-osmosis (wink-wink), so he never argued with me.

In all my time there, only one of the aforementioned snotty classical-music crowd came in to apologize to me and tell me I was right... and come to think of it, I realize now that he was probably gay.

~*~

I am tagging this BRADLEY MANNING until I figure out a new tag. Blogger used to make it fairly easy to change a tag (you could change them all at once), but now, they make you do it one at a time. Ugh.

Does anyone know how the "big blogs" manage this type of situation?

Glad to be back, hope your week is going well too.

Name that car!

Another old car, for you antique-car fans who sometimes drop by (((waves at car-photo lurkers))) ... and I profusely apologize that I don't know what kind of Ford this is. Falling down on the job. (ashamed)

My late father, proud UAW-member and GM-assembly-line worker, would chuckle at that and say Fords are not worth remembering, so don't sweat it. (However, he WOULD know the make and model just the same, which makes me jealous.)

He would then add that Ford stands for "Found On Road Dead."

I did dutifully read the name of the car when I first spotted it on Laurens Rd (and you can SEE the name next to "500"--but so hard to read, even when you click to enlarge) ... and I told myself that of course, I would remember it when it came time to blog it. Weeks later, having forgotten totally about the cool car, I also forgot the name of it. (embarrassed)

I have done some random sleuthing, to no avail. Although it would certainly help if I knew the year too! I have NO idea what it is, but if you do, speak up! I love CHERRY RED and I love this vehicle, although it was not in the best condition, I still enjoyed the ancient steering wheel, radio, and general AMERICAN GRAFFITIesque interior.

~*~

We have been doing a bunch of radio shows about the NSA and Edward Snowden, in case anyone thought I had been noticeably delinquent on the subject. I assure you, I have been doing my share of fulminating, and probably your share too. Other recent radio shows:

[] The trial of our radio consigliere Gregg Jocoy, for carrying a sign that was officially TOO BIG (really). Yes, he was found guilty in a jury trial and had to pay $55.

[] An interview with Richard McIntyre, the US Trade Representative for the Green Shadow Cabinet, discussing the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement.

[] An interview with the redoubtable Rev. Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping. Great inspiration for activism and street theatre, you can find the Church HERE.

YALL TUNE IN, we are on every day, LIVE AT FIVE ... you can listen to us on the radio-livestream HERE. (Podcasts are HERE.) Yesterday, I had to do without my usual opening music and I sailed through it like a pro. Only a few months ago, I would have had a nervous breakdown. (There IS something to be said for 'practice makes perfect' and getting fairly good at it... that 10,000 hour rule and alla that.) As we get better, we cut down on DEAD AIR lapses (we all think its pretty damn funny that my blog was named this YEARS before I started in radio); have almost stopped interrupting each other... and have nearly eliminated the dreaded brain-fart, during which *whatever* you were thinking (and had planned to say) just EVAPORATES into the ether... as you stare at the radio mike in front of you: DUH!

We are also getting fairly good at rescuing each other when this happens.

~*~

In a couple of weeks, I am having finger surgery, which I realize sounds mildly ridiculous. But really.

I figure something incredibly blog-worthy will happen around that time, and I will want to type and find it impossible. So, I am making up for it now and apologizing for not using my fingers for GOOD whilst I have the chance.

I briefly mentioned HERE (another car post!) that I had this thing on my finger, which turns out to be a mucous cyst ganglion. As time goes on, it gets angrier and angrier, and has started rupturing with regularity. GROSS STUFF (which looks remarkably like vaseline) pops out, which at least makes the nasty swelling go down. For awhile. And then it starts all over again. (sigh)

At the current rate, its been popping open (spewing its gross vaselinesque material) every week or so. Although I have had this thing for years now, it is only currently causing problems beyond the general warping of my fingernail. Since it stays 'open' (sorry for the TMI, yall), it is an active infection risk... and this could quickly morph into a JOINT infection, not just a lil ole fingernail/cuticle infection. Apparently, it has something to do with having osteoarthritis. (sigh again)

Ah, aging, the fun just never ends. From Web MD:

Mucous cyst ganglions usually occur when osteoarthritis symptoms develop, at middle age or older. This type of ganglion is more common in women than men.

Mucous cyst ganglions are found at the joint nearest the fingernail (distal interphalangeal [DIP] joint). The ganglion is firm and does not easily move under the skin. These ganglions may be painful and may break open, increasing the risk of infection. The fingernail may grow irregularly or be misshapen because the ganglion is near the growth cells for the fingernail.

Because of the risk of infection, a mucous cyst ganglion should not be broken open on purpose. Occasionally a ganglion opens on its own. Home treatment may be all that is needed.

Treatment measures include removing the ganglion fluid with a needle (aspiration) to temporarily shrink the cyst, injecting the cyst with hydrocortisone to reduce inflammation and possibly lower the chance that it will return, or removing the ganglion with surgery. The ganglion may return after treatment. Bone spurs (small, bony growths that form along a joint) are often present in the joint next to a mucous cyst, and removing the bone spurs makes it less likely that the cyst will return.

I've had the cortisone shot into my finger already (certainly not pleasant, but not nearly as bad as the thing itself, if you can believe it) which did shrink it for awhile, but it regrouped and planned its next massive assault with a real vengeance.

I'd even suggest it got MAD that it got a shot and decided it would show me whose boss. And so it has.

I am soon getting the joint and bone spurs scraped, as well as the cyst removed. I'm sure it sounds like lots more fun that it is!

I will keep you posted. (For those of you who have missed my periodic gross TMI posts, you should be in for a real treat, whenever it heals enough for me to type!)

~*~

One of my ALL TIME favorite trees is currently blooming! It is called Calliandra surinamensis and is also known as Surinamese Stickpea, Pink Tassel-Flower and Pink Powderpuff. I used to call them "bottle brush trees" because the bloom looks just like an old-style bottle-brush. My daughter finally looked it up at the library (long before there was the internet) and found the name for me. (Thus, I also associate it with her childhood.)

These beautiful trees are all over the upstate, and I took the photos below while hiking the Swamp Rabbit Trail. (you can click to enlarge)



So purty!


~*~

I now have a very lax and anemic TUMBLR of my own. I mostly did it to keep up with the various SJW-wars that have broken out online, and to lend my name to the truth-tellers who are sick of dopey, politically-correct excesses (as well as the attempted wholesale silencing of opinion). After dealing with THIS LATEST DEBACLE (see comments for gory details) -- I wanted to vent with others of a like mind, and decided to START A TUMBLR, God help me, even after declaring the place a total sewer. NOTE: I still think it is, but then, I used to contribute to DIGG and other sewers, so I am not above mucking about in the sewer... I mean, I'M BLOGGING, right? (I have declared Reddit a bridge too far, and although I've looked at it from time to time, try not to make a habit of it.)

The gangpiling, which I used to put up with as the price of admission to Blogdonia, has lately reached the level of patent insanity. In fact, TUMBLR would seem to be ONE LONG EXERCISE in gangpiling and dumping verbal abuse on people you simply disagree with... and usually the disagreements are not very serious or profound. Nonetheless, the stakes are raised immediately by issuing countless fatwas and edicts declaring that various bloggers are evil/genocidal/fascist and what-all. Thus, when something truly IS evil/genocidal/fascist and what-all (i.e. the prison-torture of Bradley Manning, the calls for the prosecution of Edward Snowden for being a saint, the shooting of Trayvon Martin by a vigilante-wannabe, etc etc) the 'social justice warriors' (not) are already bored by their own overwrought-language-feuds and therefore... DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

In fact, they don't even seem to have any opinions about these incidents, they are too busy honing their victim status and obsessing about themselves and their 'otherkin'. Real activism (even just writing about it), local political issues that need addressing and in general, real life, does not enter into their little just-so stories.

For this reason, I often find myself wondering if they are real or just decided to take on certain 'oppressed identities' to have something to whine about.

I would like to collectively paddle all of their spoiled asses and send them to Time-Out. I can't, so I have climbed onto the Tumblr soapbox to join the choruses making fun of them instead.

I mean, what else can you do?

~*~

In happy news, our beautiful FALLS PARK here in Greenville, was just voted one of the top 10 parks in the country (includes the big cities, peeps! WOO HOO!) by TripAdvisor, whatever that is.

We already knew that. :)

Cadillacs

Black Cadillac - Lightnin Hopkins



~*~

Pink Cadillac - Bruce Springsteen



Cadillac Ranch - Bruce Springsteen



~*~

Freeway of Love (the Pink Cadillac Mix) - Aretha Franklin



~*~

Brand New Cadillac - The Clash



~*~

My great-uncle Kenneth, may his soul rest in peace, had a purple Cadillac.

Really.

Midweek updates

Time for an old car! DEAD AIR regulars know all about my enduring love of old cars, and this cherry-red Chrysler Plymouth parked next to the Peace Center in downtown Greenville, absolutely made me swoon. (As always, you can click to enlarge.) Any guesses on the year? I am guessing 1952. The license plate on the front says "Southern First"--which is a local bank.

Obviously, that license plate proves you have to be a well-paid banker to afford a car like this.

~*~

Some people are having issues finding the radio show's new location... it comes in best on 910 AM here in upstate South Carolina. We are on every weekday from 5-6pm on WOLI, the Source. Drive-time radio! Live at Five! Hope you will tune in. If you miss us, we are also on Spreaker.

I didn't do a proper obit of movie critic Roger Ebert (whom I admired) here on the blog, but I did do one on Occupy the Microphone last Thursday.

And speaking of our show, we interviewed Cynthia McKinney on Monday and Dr Margaret Flowers today. This was our second time talking to Dr Flowers; she was on the show last April as well. (You can also listen to her regularly on Clearing the Fog radio.)

Tomorrow we will be re-interviewing Efia Nwangaza, Greenville Occupier, radical lawyer and tireless activist (our March interview with Efia is here), about her recent trip to Switzerland to lobby the UN Human Rights Committee on behalf of US political prisoners, including the Angola 3. (Efia was also on the Daisy Deadhead show last year, see graphic below!) We will be taking phone calls and questions.



On Friday, we will be interviewing Jill Stein, 2012 Green Party candidate for president. (Last year's interview with Dr Stein is here.)

Give us a listen, and we sincerely hope you are having a good week.

Check those spots!

We were in Atlanta around October 12th, and I saw this AWESOME ANTIQUE AUTOMOBILE! (As always, you can click to enlarge.) DEAD AIR regulars know how much I love old cars, and simply can't resist snapping a photo whenever I see them.

Not sure of make and model, since I didn't get a good shot of the front.

~*~





I had a BIG BROWN BLOTCH (I guess that would be the most accurate description) surgically removed from my left calf yesterday. They are biopsying it and I will find out if its harmless or not. I also had cryosurgery on another strange-looking facial spot diagnosed as seborrheic keratosis. As a middle-aged blonde, I am finally taking all the admonitions about skin cancer seriously and having my various odd skin-blotches looked at. And the big one on my left calf got chopped off in short order... yow! Four stitches, which isn't so bad.

But hey, they don't waste any time, do they?

I also learned the name of the THING on my finger: myxoid cyst. (That sounds so much more impressive than, the thing on my finger.) This happened after I smashed my finger in a drawer, years ago. Now, my nail grows just like a canoe, as Roseanne Roseannadanna once said. (And she described it perfectly!)

You know all those online skin-cancer questionnaires? The question that made me laugh hardest is, "Have you ever had a blistering sunburn?" Are they joking with that one? I mean, they aren't serious?

How many blistering sunburns a YEAR would be the question.

The dermatologists look suddenly GRIM when you say that. They do not find this amusing AT ALL.

Thus, duly chastened, I am being a serious person and finally getting my skin examined and taken care of. I feel so responsible, like when I quit smoking in 1989.

~*~

Flipping through all the post-mortems of the debate, as both sides claim success... drinking delightful Pumpkin Spice Silk (it's SO good)... getting my laundry done and intermittently enjoying relaxing Yoga Sol, a music compilation by Shiva Rea.

The fact that my leg feels like a huge animal bit me, doesn't bother me too much at all.

Public health notice: Get those blotches and bumps checked out, especially you blondes and redheads. We were supposed to be living in Ireland, where it rains all the time, not hiking the Appalachian Trail and/or hanging out at Myrtle Beach and scorching! Wear hats and sunscreens, and start answering those unpleasant questionnaires directed at baby-boomers that ask funny questions about those hundreds of sunburns.

At some point, you will think, OMG! and do exactly as I have done. Better safe than sorry.

I'll keep you posted. :)

Cinco de Mayo!

It's been a tough week for blogging. But at least I saw another antique Chevy when I went out to grab a bite earlier in the week!




I am grateful I woke up this morning without any notifications of direct threats, as I did last Saturday. It is not a day I am likely to forget. Five people sent me messages as soon as I signed on, several making sure I TOOK THE SCREEN SHOTS. I obediently did as they told me to do, but I did not visit the hate-page after I initially took the shot, because I found it too unnerving.

I have spent the last week decompressing from disaster, even though I gained a parcel of new Facebook friends and radio-show listeners. At the same time, I have been extremely careful, looking over my shoulder. Is this what it's like to be well-known and controversial? Apparently so. I have been wondering if I am up for this.

I was blocked from Facebook for about 24 hrs. I am not sure of the specific reason, since all my requests for clarification were totally ignored. One of my comments was deemed "threatening"--which is pretty ironic under the circumstances (as stated above, there was a whole Facebook page threatening me physically), and my questions ("Why or how is this a threatening statement?") sent to the proverbial round-file. I have since learned that if your comments are deliberately targeted (as mine have been) and reported X number of times, THAT is what deems it offensive, not the actual content of the comment(s) in question. It's all about the clicks. The warnings and blockages are executed by Facebook-bots, not by actual people. This explains the wildly-varying standards: on one Facebook page, you can talk filth and nobody cares, but on another, a simple factual statement such as (for instance) Bob Jones University-affiliates are covering up for rape-apologists is considered "offensive."

The truth is now subject to censorship for being "too offensive" for certain overprotected, neurasthenic people to be able to tolerate. And their intolerance is what makes it "offensive."

I am suddenly reminded of a bone-chilling line in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by the legendary Philip K Dick, a line that (tellingly) did not make it into the screenplay of the film, which became Blade Runner. Paraphrasing: What proof do we have that empathy exists, asks the android, except the humans' word for it? Isn't it something they just made up to prove they have this special thing?

And the Bob Jones University-apologists similarly ask: What proof do we have that your truth exists, except your word for it? Isn't it something you just made up, to say something bad about us?

It's scary, isn't it? After all, they already say this about science and evolution, global-warming and gay people.

I've long been claiming there is no such thing as objectivity, and I think this whole debacle is proof of that. The word "offensive" is no longer about unacceptable cuss words and sexual terms; the word is now assigned to any statement that bothers you, for any reason. Whether the statement is "objectively true" is of no importance in this determination.

Empathy is next. What proof do we have that it exists? OOOPS, is that an offensive statement? BOOM, down the memory hole.

You should NOT have to read such disconcerting, disorienting notions.

~*~

I attempted a joke on my show this morning, off the cuff, and it bombed. Nobody's perfect. Better luck next time and thank you for playing!

Podcast of bad joke and other topics, is up.

And last night, saw another cool car and took another picture. My favorite color! I am not sure of the make/year of this very lovely, cherry-red beauty, but if you know, speak up.

Biographical aside: I used to work in the purty pink building, which is at the corner of Main and East North Streets in Greenville. It is now a clothing store, but was a GNC when I worked there.

~*~

Lots of interpersonal ups and downs in local Occupy groups, including mine, as well as groups in Spartanburg and Columbia. (I haven't yet checked the astrological charts, but I am sure something must be going on.) I shall refrain from bad-mouthing liberals and their inability to SUBMIT TO COLLECTIVE DISCIPLINE (Yes, Barack, I am lookin at you too) but.... well, they DO have a problem submitting to collective discipline.

Simply put, if a whole group votes that you are disruptive, stay your ass away. Is that too difficult to understand? People seem to get this concept in ANY endeavor but politics. It appears that some folks think they are just so wonderful that they deserve to be heard and listened to (including their sorry excuses) more than other people, certainly more than they have ever listened to anyone else. How does that work exactly?

In any event, I am once again reminded of my mentor, Steve Conliff, and his rule of thumb for the Yippies, that I know I have quoted numerous times previously, in this space: If you let anybody in, anybody WILL come in.

And yes, they do. The confused, the argumentative, the power-tripping, the lecherous, the whole Hee Haw gang is present and accounted for. I always take their presence as a given. I can easily accept these people, if they are aware of their personality-issues, as I am (mostly) aware of mine. I want people to cut me slack, so I cut others slack, too. But I notice many of these people do not think they have any personality-issues, in fact, they think they are just peachy-keen and wonderful. Unfortunately, that is often where the liberalism comes in: they have been believing their own press. They believe they are compassionate, aware and kind, just because liberals are said to be compassionate, aware and kind. (By contrast, radicals never get this kind of good press; radicals are dangerous, crazy, insane, outside agitators, etc.) Thus, when these folks go off the rails, you also have the attendant spectacle of other liberals going into catatonia: But I thought he was... NICE!

And there is often no evidence that this person was EVER "nice"--except that they agreed with us. We tend to assume a lot about the people who agree with us: they MUST be good, since (it goes without saying!) WE are GOOD!

Maybe the operative difference is, I don't think I am particularly good. I try, but I fail repeatedly. Thus, I assume others are trying and failing, repeatedly, all the time. And as we know, passing the kid who has consistently failed is ultimately a mean thing to do and sets them up for more failure. So it is with people who repeatedly fail us.

At some unavoidable juncture, it is time to send them back to Decency 101, that class they obviously missed. We tolerate their continued failures at our peril.

~*~

Greenville Occupiers, bringing the radicalism! Yeah!







There will be an Occupy Picnic in McPherson Park this afternoon, 3:30pm, be there or be square. General Assembly is tomorrow at 2pm in Bergamo Square; Main and Coffee Streets, across from Coffee Underground... which is especially handy for quick coffee-junkie fixes, also a very good refuge for bad weather, which has only happened a couple of times.

Bergamo Square is currently under construction; it will soon be the home of some monstrous new building, currently given the ominous title of PROJECT ONE. (Wasn't Kampuchea named that by Pol Pot?*) It is growing fairly enormous by the day, and we usually picket right in front of it.

The Greenville Antiwar Society used to have our yearly candlelight vigil exactly where the construction is now, but the small building with two giant flights of steps (where I took this photo from) is now gone.

Since we are standing there with signs, several people have asked us if we are protesting the construction.

They seem disappointed when we say no.


*Correction, that was THE YEAR ONE. I always get capitalism and communism mixed up, sorry about that. ;)

Weekend update

At left: a fabulous vintage Chevy Bel Air, which I saw parked nearby yesterday. Any estimates on the year? I am thinking maybe 1957 or 58, which makes it as old as I am. It was bee-yoo-ti-full!

As I was taking the photos, people passed by and nodded approvingly, one announcing that it was right purty. It sure is. ((swoons)) A small consolation prize for no pink Packard, though! (I am still kicking myself for not being able to get that photo.)

~*~

Yesterday, I attended the WXMP Community Radio Meet and Greet at the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination. (photos here) I would love for Community Radio to become a reality in the upstate. We watched a video about the Prometheus Radio Project, which was exciting and got my hopes all stoked up. In addition, we learned about the Media Access Project and the series of cases known as Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC -- which challenged radio-monopolies, making community radio a real possibility.

Efia Nwangaza, director of the Center, has the transmitter already and basically just needs to get it moved... but the costs can be staggering.

Right now, my show is on WFIS, which is commercial radio. Community radio is much more free-form, and as long as you keep the FCC rules (no cussing!), you can say any kind of crazed radical stuff you want. Then again, the wattage is not usually too high, so the listening-area isn't as large as commercial radio.

I'd love to try both, but that is likely over-extending myself.

Speaking of over-extending, just came from the dentist (ugh) and will not be making it to the meeting with Rep. Bakari Sellars; I am hoping mainstream media will cover the event halfway decently. (But if they don't, I certainly won't be surprised.) Recently, there has been a huge discussion about the various versions of Stand Your Ground laws across the USA, and I am very pleased my show was part of that. Folks are busy evaluating and re-evaluating South Carolina's Protection of Persons and Property Act (which has a "Stand Your Ground" provision included), and lots of ideas and alternatives are currently being proposed and exchanged.

I have heard from several people that our Saturday show was the best yet! You be the judge.

Thoughts on Fake Schooling

This lovely Wisteria patch is blooming beautifully--right outside the WFIS radio studios in Fountain Inn--home of the Daisy Deadhead radio show. (Podcast is up!)








There was a bright pink Packard parked in a yard on East North Street for about three weeks or so... I kept meaning to park and take a photograph of it, but the neighborhood gave me pause. Not for nothing do Catholics call the area around Bob Jones University "Ulster"--and I try to whiz through Ulster fast enough that nobody can take a shot at me. Even though I really wanted a photo of the pink Packard (something I'd never seen before), I knew the only places to park would be (eeep) church parking lots. And they'd likely ticket me for trespassing, if their security cameras got a good look at my dreaded lefty bumper stickers. Ulster plays for keeps!

So, I am sorry to say, I did NOT get a photo of the fabled pink Packard. I wonder what the sale price was?

For more news of Ulster, check out the new blog "BJU News"--which actually gives us the real news, not the okeydoke offered up by local BJU-subsidiary, the Greenville News.

And speaking of the Greenville News, Sunday's piece on tech colleges offering job training was SHAMEFUL in its lack of reporting and total acceptance of the status quo. It was one long commercial for technical colleges, as their recent piece on BJU's spring opera season was one long commercial for Bob Jones University. Do they even understand the difference between reporting and press releases? Do they have any clue what real newspapers write about? Have they ever seen the New York Times, or even the Spartanburg Herald?

Sometimes the Greenville News reads like a series of gushing travel pamphlets, advertising the upstate.

Here is my correction to the comical piece titled Tech schools offer path to jobs, lure for industries:

Once upon a time, companies trained their own employees. Really! But as they grew bigger and bigger (read: greedier and greedier), they didn't like paying people to learn, and decided to cut out this (pricey) introductory first step. So, they successfully dumped this expensive first step onto the tech colleges.

Greenville Tech has a Michelin building, for instance, paid for by Michelin to train the Michelin employees. This way, the EMPLOYEE must pay for their own training! Is that capitalist ingenuity or what? The tech college makes a profit and Michelin has a continuous stream of already-trained, job-ready applicants. You can get hired right out of school, just like Goldman Sachs hires kids right out of Harvard.

Unlike those mad Harvard skillz, however, working-class skills do not always transfer to other jobs. Michelin and BMW manufacture things their way, using their own patented materials and procedures, and have their own corporate culture. Experience in these companies may or may not transfer to another job. But that is not the concern of the tech schools. They've made THEIR profit, after all.

So, you have a continuous stream of working class people who must be constantly trained and re-trained. This sets up a revolving door of tech college attendance, as workers must PAY to receive job-training that may not even get them hired, especially in today's economy. It's a pretty good racket, and the Greenville News obviously wants to do their part in keeping that revolving door moving, and keeping those profits rolling in.

But a RACKET it is, and wouldn't it be nice if someone came out and said so?

Sitting here sorting laundry and watching LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT reruns, I am inundated with TV ads for countless cheapy tech schools that offer various vague degrees in "management" and so on. They invariably feature an almost-middle-aged woman of color who looks triumphant and borderline-weepy as she graduates, all while talking about making life better for her children. They know exactly who is unemployed right now, and they have geared these endless commercials for THE TECH COLLEGE RACKET, specifically to them.

Yes, I know someone must draw the blood, style hair, take care of the very old people, change oil in vehicles, prepare restaurant menus and all of that... and they need to be trained to do those jobs. Thus, I suppose these commercials should not make me as angry as they do... but they do. I resent the naked emotional manipulation of desperate unemployed people; the idea being communicated that this economic situation we are all in right now, can be instantly fixed, just by paying a fee to a fly-by-night school nobody ever heard of. All we need is MORE TRAINING.

All we need to do, say the commercials, is STAND UP AND TAKE CONTROL of our lives, at long last. Right?

Right?

Until the next economic crisis, that is. Who, I always wonder, will these people from the fly-by-night colleges be managing with their spanking-new phantom management degrees?

Are there any employees left to manage?

Volkswagen sucks

Volkswagen is using Ted Nugent's misogynist "Stranglehold" in a commercial. The major controversy online seems to be why the Motor City Madman (as he is known), would endorse a German car, which is some major Detroit heresy. Nobody cares about the woman-killing in the song.

This isn't the first time the song has been used in ads (the instrumental parts of the song are great), but it IS the first time the lyrics, "I got you in a stranglehold, babbehhhh!" have been included.

It makes me furious enough never to buy a VW for as long as I live, and yes, I AM poor and I WAS considering it, so your loss, Volkswagen!!!

Time for some pertinent questions to all the 'men's rights' folks (anti-feminists, mostly) I have currently been arguing with online:

When is the last time a woman's song about strangling a man was in a TV commercial? For a major world corporation?

Further, when did any woman even RECORD one?

Has a woman ever strangled a man in the history of the WORLD, who wasn't safely drugged or ASLEEP? (The song is obviously about the sheer delight of violent struggle; if she was asleep, he never would have written it, too boring.)

If a woman did indeed write and record such a song, would it be a big million-selling heavy-metal album? Would the woman who recorded it be accepted as a rich Republican donor in good standing (as Nugent is) and given a steady gig at the Washington Times (as Nugent is), or would she be considered a major loony-tune man-killer?

Totally laughable, isn't it?

There simply isn't any equivalent, and that is why I use the word PATRIARCHY: because we live in one.

~*~

Blogger is currently all screwed up and has been for about a month now. It will not allow me (and lots of other bloggers) to update the blog-links list. So if you think your blog belongs on it, and it's not, you are probably right.

Blogs I have tried to add to my illustrious list:

Cheap Signals (Hi Gretchen!)

Shuffle (Carolina's indie music scene)

The Good Men Project (sometimes I can post there, and sometimes I can't, for mysterious reasons)

ClarenceGrad72 (Hi Becky!)

Consider this a consolation prize for not being able to update my link list.

~*~

A little fun on the website titled your past life diagnosis. Here is mine:

I don't know how you feel about it, but you were male in your last earthly incarnation. You were born somewhere in the territory of modern USA South-West around the year 800. Your profession was that of a map maker, astrologer, astronomer.

Your brief psychological profile in your past life:

Timid, constrained, quiet person. You had creative talents, which waited until this life to be liberated. Sometimes your environment considered you strange.

The lesson that your last past life brought to your present incarnation:

Your main task is to make the world more beautiful. Physical and spiritual deserts are just waiting for your touch. Keep smiling!

Do you remember now?

Well, okay, that is a random computer program and relatively dopey... but... do you remember my Groundhog Day post here and how I described feeling unaccountably drawn to Chaco Canyon? That would be the place and time-frame described above, the time of the Anasazi, and now I am a bit spooked. (I love maps AND astrology.)

Probably just a coincidence, she muttered, reaching for her Tarot.