The NY Fat Tax--hope you like water!

So the New York Fat Tax: it has its good points. But I know this is where people start screaming about their personal freedoms, yada yada yada. I'm all about personal freedoms when it comes to our basic civil rights, but (and I can say this as a bona fide baby with back) it's not right for people's personal freedom to eat themselves to death to infringe on EVERYONE financially--i.e., through the diseases and health problems obesity causes which eventually land the freedomlover in a hospital bed. Where I work, they actually implemented a semi-fat-tax by increasing the prices of the sugared drinks in the machine, and decreasing the prices of the diet drinks and water. Yes, people were pissed, and yes I was one of them. But, you can bet my cheap ass won't pay the extra 50 cents for a kidney-stone-causing Turkey Hill Iced Tea and will opt for the 75-cent diet version instead. And of course, there are many other cheapskates like myself.

But, it's another one of those gray areas--much like the debate about socialism vs. capitalism. How far do you take it? At what point in trying to act in people's best interests do you begin to deprive them of freedoms which are their birthright? Now we come full circle, back to the argument that it is unfortunately NOT people's birthright to eat themselves to death, myself included. We're like bad little toddlers that have to be disciplined, nutritionally. There's not nearly enough nutritional education in this country's schools, and we put McDonald's in school cafeterias and wonder why kids are fat. Portion sizes across the board are out of control as well. When going to your average restaurant, you can almost always guarantee cutting your serving size in half and taking it home. But if you're anything like me, you'll forget the other half is in the fridge and find it covered with something interesting but definitely not edible weeks later in the back of the fridge. What a waste! There are people starving all over the world, and Americans have to make mental notes while at restaurants to halve their serving sizes so they can fit in their jeans. What an astronomical and almost unfathomable difference. Makes you think.

On Woman's Best Friend

It's ridiculous how much a person can love an animal! But I've always been that way--I guess it was growing up with dogs all my life. I'd be perfectly happy to play with dogs, take care of dogs, even clean up dog poop (okay maybe not so much with the poop) all day instead of sit in an office--maybe I should think about an eventual career change! But since my husband and I don't have kids yet, our animals are our kids, as I'm sure many other pet owners can understand.

But seriously, look at that face. You bring them home, watch them grow, teach them, train them, get to know their personalities, find your inner child in romping around with them, and if you're lucky like our huge mammal Tucker, you snuggle up with them at night too. Oh, the snoring.

Tucker had a hard time learning to shake hands. Granted, he trained pretty well in everything else (except jumping up on visitors upon arrival! Grr.), but I knew he could learn it with repetition. I think part of his problem was that the awkward, lurching, cuteness of puppyhood carried into adulthood, so when he'd try to sit and I began by slowly picking up his paw, he'd literally fall over and look at me like, "why'd you do that and why am I on the floor?"
But, when he finally got it three times in a row, I knew he had it for good. Now, when he gets a doggy treat, he patiently sits, waits, shakes hand/paw, and politely accepts his reward! My boy's all grown up! *tear*

Tips for owners of large dogs:

• If the dog is so large that you cannot pick him up yourself, you'd better demonstrate who's boss from day one. This requires getting creative with discipline. My dog has responded best to small spray bottles placed around the house (1 for each floor--there used to be more). We don't even have to actually squirt him for the most part. Just picking up the bottle is enough to make him look at you like you killed his best friend, or ate his ham sandwich.
• A coffee can filled with some coins also works well. Anything (within reason!) that jars the dog's attention from whatever bad act they're doing and makes them focus on you as the leader is key.
  
• For walks, I found that Tucker was a real puller when he was a puppy. You literally had to be a STRONG person to walk him, even at 8 months old. He could rip your arm out of its socket! But I discovered something made by the Halti® Co. that basically acts as a bridle would to a horse, but without the bit in the animal's mouth. It places one strap over the muzzle, and a modified strap underneath the mouth, and both straps connect with the strap that goes around the head, with an attachment to the collar. It's really very simple, but the effect is that when the dog pulls, it also pulls on its own collar, which is slightly uncomfortable for the dog, but not in the least bit painful. It gives you full control over their head, as opposed to the minimal control you get from a leash just attached to a regular collar. The Halti® retails for about $15-20, depending on your dog's size and can be found in most pet stores. Tucker still tries to rub his face into the ground to get it off for the first 5 minutes of the walk, but he does not pull anymore in the least. It's wonderful to be able to walk with a completely slack leash with the dog walking lock-step next to you, on best behavior.
  

The Same Old Culture War

Re: The New Culture War http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/12/the_new_culture_war.html

The very last lines of Mr. Lowry's trashy prose say it all:

Ah, yes, "gracefully step aside." That's essentially what the cultural left has been asking traditionalists to do for 30 years now, to politely shut up while it goes about redefining the country's mores. The answer must now be, as it has always been, "No way, no how."

This is how a bigot rationalizes hate. Read it again. See how it's done.


While Mr. Lowry clearly thinks his sarcastic wit is oh-so-charming, let's unveil it for what it really is: discrimination, bigotry, hate, and an elementary-level understanding of the world.

As far as I'm concerned, the cultural left has put up with way more shit than it should have to for the past 30 years while hate mongers hide behind their bibles, pounding away at scripture, hoping it will make their fallacies true. It won't.

Someone, PLEASE, PLEASE explain to me how allowing gay couples to marry and raise their families under recognition of law impairs any straight person's marriage? I have yet to hear a response to that question, and I've heard it posed a hundred ways. Never is a straight answer returned. Because there isn't one.

Why are people so unbelievably determined to not question the validity or applicability of their Holy Books? These books, whether the Bible, the Q'uran, etc, have multiple versions, translations, and misconstruable meanings, yet so many are so willing to take every word at face value. I'll never understand that. The Bible, for instance, was translated before you or I were even a part of the earth, by men who were primitive in their thinking compared to now, if only for lack of education (i.e., no one other than clergy could really read, and any clergyman's reading abilities even then were questionable), and complete lack of mass communication. This was not anyone's fault, it was just how things were at that point in time. The Bible was a useful tool for controlling wanton masses, and I'm sure that in that age, desperate times called for such desperate measures. But let us not forget that the words of the Bible still came through the interpretation of man, with all of his faults, fears, and ill-education.

So how can we now, all of these years later, still follow it word for word? If that were true we'd still be selling our daughters into slavery, and stoning people for working on Sundays. That's insane. Yet when it comes to so-called "moral" issues, cling tightly to that Bible, because it's going to "SAVE" you and your children from "THE GAYS!"

Sure, I'm biased. My best friend is gay, and he and his partner rent a room from myself and my husband in our house. And I love them both like family. When they get married, I'll be the one leading them through their vows, whether a government or a church recognizes it or not. I didn't always feel this way. I grew up believing in the Bible, that "man lying with man" was wrong. But then comes exposure. The more you're around it, the more comfortable you become over time. And then you start researching. And you find out there have been gay men and women in public life forever--it was just never mentioned or was hush-hush. And you put yourself in their shoes. When you do that, and I mean REALLY do that, you think "why would anyone want to subject themselves to such persecution and misery if they really could choose?" If you look deep inside yourself I think you know the answer to that. There is no choice. The choice is yours and mine, as heterosexuals, to stop being so goddamn afraid of everything we don't understand, and try to understand it.

I feel truly sorry for these people who continually say 'oh I don't have anything against the gays, but I don't think they should be able to get married.' That is such BS. Who says that with a straight face? If you can, you are kidding yourself. Another word for this would be DELUSION.

You cannot say you have nothing against someone and in the same breath deem it unacceptable to legally spend their lives with the person they love and have decided to become a family with. None of this bullshit about equating homosexuality with incest or polygamy or pedophilia either--everyone knows that's not what this is about. Stop lying. No one believes it but the liars themselves.

I love my husband. Marrying him, to me, meant marrying my best friend and having some small possiblity of living out the remainder of my life with the one person I'd give my own life for. If someone stood in front of me with a Bible or any other Holy Book and said their beliefs can't allow me to do that, I'd say "look the other way then." But this is all just conjecture, I know. Regardless, it still makes me SICK to watch people rationalize what is, to me, irrational if you look at it outside of emotion and tradition, without the lenses of fear, misplaced self-righteousness and hypocrisy.

what right do these people have to play the VICTIM? oh waaaaa, they're villified for publicly coming out as homophobes--good! I'm so glad. They deserve it. Do not expect pity from those who've been villified EONS longer than you, poor little Rick Warren.

Also, how is it that those who would legalize gay marriage are telling conservatives to shut up while we "redefine the country's mores"? Hasn't it been the other way around for...oh I don't know...FOREVER?

You actually think there weren't homosexuals in Jesus' time? And that it didn't seem convenient and productive to the clergy's cause to insert a few choice lines to make the homosexual lifestyle seem "wrong"? Why is that so hard to believe? Because these people were perfect? Yeah, they were perfect enough to string Jesus up on the cross. Maybe they were just confused and thought Jesus was homosexual. Hmmm.

What I also find funny...

These both tickled me in very, very different ways. Also a cockapoo is neither fowl, nor feces. Discuss.

What I find funny

I'll openly admit that I was OBSESSED with the Democratic Primary before it even began. Remember Obama's 2004 speech at the DNC at Kerry's behest? I remember sitting there that night, listening to this bright young man (though he was older than I) and thinking, "he's the one to watch." And all through the year leading up to Obama's declaration of a Presidential Exploratory Committee being formed...I was watching and listening. Then, the Primaries began. In our house, (which consists of myself, my husband, my best friend Bob and his boyfriend Steve, our dog and two cats) one could always count on coming home to the sound of CNN or MSNBC blaring in the kitchen, living room, and downstairs, spouting the latest poll numbers or gossip.

We watched every single speech.

I mean EVERY. SINGLE. SPEECH.

So much that you really began to memorize their platforms, talking points, points to avoid, canned jokes, and anything in between. If you saw it on one station, you saw it rehashed on the next.

But through watching all of this (and reading his books), I personally thought I'd come to quite a multi-faceted understanding of Barack Obama. As much as the right painted him as an extreme liberal, I knew this was not true. Even as much as Hillary painted him as a liberal (HA!) when it was to her advantage, I knew this was not true.

I'm no political savant, nor a sheep (I'd like to think). But one thing I'd like to say I have is an affinity for attention to detail. And Obama's devil was in his details. He never tried to hide just how conservative he could be (I'm sure many conservatives would find that thought laughable, but pffft to them) but he did try to downplay how liberal he was. Some on the right thought it was intentional for the benefit of the election--I, however, saw it as preparation. Preparation=warning for those who so wholeheartedly supported the first black Democratic nominee for President for only those reasons--that he was black and/or a Democrat. I think those in this country who fit into that category wanted to believe that a President Obama would mean social/civil freedoms as far as the eye could see--and they may be right--eventually. But make no mistake, the changes will not be automatic nor easy. Obama's essential understanding is that no progress has ever been made without compromise. No compromise has ever been reached without hard-fought idealism and more than a little pain. So while he may well agree with many of America's liberal leanings, he is nowhere near stupid enough to voice it, even if it is true. There are a lot of people in this country still who are not ready for the America that we're going to be. It doesn't make them any less American than we are. But it does make for slow progress--though it is progress nonetheless. And so Obama will continue to appoint Republicans to his cabinet, and he well should. Because no one side has all the answers, although both would like to think they do. It doesn't have to be only socialism v. capitalism, or liberal v. conservative, Democrat v. Republican. We CAN take the best of both worlds on all fronts--we just have to get out of our own way long enough to do so.

This is what I find funny--that Obama continually told the electorate what they could expect from him, yet now they keep expecting different results--that he's going to be the magical liberal they'd hoped he would be, and the first black President to boot!

Sorry guys, but I'll take a President who at least attempts to be honest (even when it's hugely unpopular) any day. If it moves us further toward that promised land in The Glorious Center, I'm there.

OMG

So how much does it suck to lock your keys in your car accidentally...

...while it's running?

And then have to wait...and wait...and wait...for someone to come and unlock it?

Done at work @ 6----->home @ 8.


Yeah, it sucks A LOT.

Sigh.

So my coworker, who's a bigot, continues to try to brainwash me...

Below is an email this coworker sent--my reponse it posted first.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: xxxxx
From: xxxxx@comcast.net


The writer says:

"I am proud...But you call me a racist.

Why is it that only whites can be racists??

There is nothing improper about this e-mail...Let's see which of you are proud enough to send it on.

I sadly don't think many will. That's why we have lost most of OUR RIGHTS in this country. We won't stand up for ourselves !
BE PROUD TO BE WHITE!
It's not a crime yet, but getting real close!"

This kind of crap going around doesn't help anybody, although I'm sure it helps assuage your little bit of "white guilt" that you feel when a black person passes you on the street and you inwardly try to remind yourself that not every person of color wants to shoot or rape you.

I agree that affirmative action has spawned some strange bedfellows, but you can't pretend that there was no reason for these organizations (such as the Black and Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, etc.) to exist to begin with. They were created in a time where the interests of minorities were not as equally represented as they are now. This same logic applies to colleges, cable TV stations, and the like. Not a single one of those black colleges denies entrance to white applicants. I just read an article about a white student (the ONLY white student) attending a black college in the DC area. He said he feels absolutely no racism, prejudice, no discomfort. He was completely welcomed. They also do not deny scholarships to whites--it is simply that whites do not apply for them. Funny how intellectuals can rise above this kind of crap, huh? And yet you and your brethren cannot.

Your slanted view of the history of this country amazes me still. Why don't you go talk to some Native Americans whose heritage was indigenous to the Georgia area, whose relatives died on the Trail of Tears so more "entrepreneurial" white men could have the gold from land that wasn't theirs to begin with, and then tell me how perfect white history is.

It is the denial of OUR shared history that perpetuates racism. Anyone who spits racial epithets at ANYONE ELSE on the street is a racist, whether they're black, white or brown. They are all less for having done it. It has nothing to do with color of skin--it has to do with fear. OF COURSE some people are "black, brown, yellow, and orange" and "not afraid to announce it"--because they can do that now without fear of attack or retribution, but we are not far from the days when this was not so. Do you really expect people not to be exuberant about this freedom? If it were you, you would be. It's a natural human reaction. Why is it not your natural reaction to celebrate it WITH them? Joy is not exclusive.


I'm proud to be a human being--I just happen to be white. It's important to know our history, the good and bad of all sides, in order to accept it and build a lucrative future for everyone. That's why America, even despite the wars we're in right now, still stands for liberty across the globe. We are the ONLY COUNTRY built on an idea--freedom and liberty for all of its citizens. That's what we should be proud of--that despite continued attacks on that premise from people of your way of thinking, we've still prevailed. And future generations will prevail as well, because the sad, tired rhetoric of older generations who grew up learning fear is passing, to be replaced by generations who learned and will learn acceptance.

I pity you for the wealth of knowledge that you continue to deny yourself. Good luck with that.

----- Original Message -----
From: xxxxx
To: xxxxx@comcast.net
Sent: Thursday, December 4, 2008 8:18:30 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Fwd: Proud To Be White

ha ha - sorry, but this is true - glad you are there Kramer of Seinfeld: I have been wondering about why Whites are racists, and no other race is. Proud to be White Michael Richards makes his point... Michael Richards, better known as Kramer from TVs Seinfeld, does make a good point. This was his defense speech in court after making racial comments in his comedy act. He makes some very interesting points... Someone finally said it... How many are actually paying attention to this? There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, etc. And then there are just Americans. You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You call me 'White boy,' 'Cracker,' 'Honkey,' 'Whitey,' Caveman' and that's OK. But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towel head, Sand-nigger, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink ... You call me a racist. You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you...so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live? You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King Day. You have Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day. You have Yom Hashoah. You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi. You have the NAACP. You have BET... If we had WET (White Entertainment Television), we'd be racists. If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists. If we had White History Month, we'd be racists. If we had any organization for only whites to 'advance' OUR lives we'd be racists. We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Wonder who pays for that?? A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American pageant, but any color can be in the Miss America pageant. If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships...You know we'd be racists. There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the U.S. Yet if there were 'White colleges' That would be a racist college. In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists. You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists. You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug-dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist. I am proud...But you call me a racist. Why is it that only whites can be racists?? There is nothing improper about this e-mail...Let's see which of you are proud enough to send it on. I sadly don't think many will. That's why we have lost most of OUR RIGHTS in this country. We won't stand up for ourselves ! BE PROUD TO BE WHITE! It's not a crime yet, but getting real close!