a new job

My son applied for a new job and is both excited and apprehensive as he waits for news as to whether he landed it.  So being a loving parent I thought that I would send him a supportive email.  I thought that I would share it with you all.

"

I think you get it.  But the boss is a major asshole and you break under the pressure.  You become a raging alcoholic, addicted to Molly, and fall to depths of deprivation seldom experienced by a human.  Then one day, when you can fall no further, you find a battered baseball in the gutter with a scuff mark on it that looks like the face of Jesus.  You remember all of those great days when you were an All Star in the Little League and thank Christ for saving you.  You found a mission dedicated to saving all the former Little League All Stars who have, like you, fallen to the wiles of the demon rum, albeit not as far as you fell.  You are so successful that Oprah picks you as her charity of the month.  The President awards you the National Medal of Honor and you win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Or you die of ebola next week.  No matter. It's all random.
"

The never ending story.

Thousandth verse, same (and worse than) the first.

I sound like a broken record.  However, I didn't write the fucking song!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will it ever change?????????????????????????????

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/14/world/middleeast/us-casualties-of-iraq-chemical-weapons.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Banner&module=span-ab-top-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news



But Hey, c'mon.  We do honor our veterans by singing "god bless amerika" during the 7th inning stretch at Yankee games.  What else do you want?

this saddens me

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/10/us/pentagons-web-timeline-brings-back-vietnam-and-protesters-.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

WOW $15 million dollars to the Pentagon to whitewash, er, I mean commemorate the VietNam war.  I don't even know how to begin.  Maybe with this: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Lejeune_water_contamination

I was in Nam, briefly, and I was in LeJeune, not so briefly.  I am covered by the VA for a gazillion unpronounceable diseases because of exposure to Agent Orange and I drank the Camp Lejeune water.  That is, of course, if I could even get an appointment at a VA hospital.  My last application for an appointment was rejected because they can't find my military records, even though I sent them copies.

So nothing will be said about the Johnson Tapes in which he admits that the Gulf of Tonkin incident never occurred and that the war was being escalated for political reasons.  None of the perpetrators of these war crimes will ever be brought to justice.  Monsanto will continue to make billions of dollars on one of the two ingredients of Agent Orange, AKA Roundup.  You, know, the spray that kills the weeds on your lawn, the genetic modification made to most GMO crops that you and livestock ingest on a daily basis.  And it doesn't stop there.  In the Gulf War it was DU (Depleted Uranium) that the Pentagon said was safe and wasn't making the Gulf War troops sick. 

So yeah, I maybe don't quite trust the Pentagon to use that $15M to create a fair and balanced history of Nam.  It sound a little too much like "We report.  You decide."

As the saying goes:  "I am already against the next war." 

DANGER WILL ROBINSON - EBOLA!!!!!!!!!!!

This one is a no-brainer comment on the ebola death yesterday.

Cause of death        US Deaths per year         Public Response

Tobacco                     380,000                 Ban on advertising to minors
Automobile                   35,000                 Mandated safety features that add profit to manufacturers
Alcohol                         90,000                 Ban on advertising spirits, no beer advertising aimed at minors
Guns                             30,000                 HA HA - Yeah right
Ebola                            1, only 1               WIDESPREAD PANIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WE'RE ALL

GOING TO DIE.  HELP US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm back (maybe) with a Feminist Twist (at least for today)

I just read this article. 

http://m.runnersworld.com/womens-running/do-i-look-like-a-man?cid=socMOT_20141007_33080086

By coincidence this subject came up in a discussion I had with a dog walking friend last evening.  Obviously, not having my surgery until my mid 50s meant that I had all those years of testosterone poisoning.  She and I were talking about how masculine I am and how I felt as a child.  She thought that I must have been very feminine as a child but as my cousin said when he found out that I am trans:  "Wow, I never would have thought that of you.  You were the biggest badass I knew growing up."  And I was.  And I still am and I am proud of it. 

Masculinity and Femininity are social constructs that have nothing at all to do with a person's body/mind connection.  As Lauren stated so much more eloquently than I can.  When did being strong become a masculine trait?  Man up?  Don't make me laugh.  Big strong professional football players, who are stronger and tougher than 99.99% of the general male population still have to beat up on woman to "prove their superiority."  If that's "manning up"  who would want to be a part of it.

I agree with Lauren as far as doing away with any gender reference relating to strength or weakness whether it be mental, physical, or emotional.  Grow a set should refer to boobs and balls equally.