On the nature of evil

The difficulty with evil nowadays, is that we no longer recognize it. This isn’t because evil has changed at all, but because we now have a warped understanding of what it is.
Evil isn’t, and never has been, a James Bond (or Austin Powers) villain who twirls his moustaches and threatens to cut our hero in half with a giant band saw while telling him the secret plans for world domination. Evil people in the movies and on television are proud that they’re evil, and they do what they do with malice aforethought, and they articulate their enjoyment at seeing other people in pain. In the movies, the hero never has trouble telling who the bad guy is, even if sometimes they have trouble convincing others.
Real evil people don’t want you to think they’re evil. They don’t want to think they’re evil themselves, so they come up with elaborate rationalizations for why they’re good, or why their bad behavior is someone else’s fault. Have you ever seen a criminal face his victim and apologize? They have a tendency to say things like, “I’m sorry this happened to you” instead of “I’m sorry I did that to you.” They don’t own their mistakes. They might be apologizing, but it’s the apology of an innocent bystander rather than the perpetrator of the crime.
Evil people often do good things to cover up their evil behavior.
Like the Phillip Morris commercials that talk about how the company is donating money to battered women’s shelters and children’s causes when we all know they made their money from a product that kills people. Or the Nike “Mrs. Jones” commercials that talk about supporting women athletes when Nike is under fire for using child labor to make their products.

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What do you want to be when you grow up?

I remember when I was a little kid, I read a book about Camelot and King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table–and because I was reading pretty far above my age level, I understood what I read, but I didn’t understand the context of it… meaning I didn’t really have a concept of history and timelines and things that happened in the past versus things that were happening presently.

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Central Park Attacks letter to the editor

I’m watching Dateline NBC… the special on the attacks in Central Park of women during the Puerto Rican parade.
I was outraged by this special, and not just at what happened, but at the way that you reported it. You blamed the victims and made excuses for the criminals, and that is wrong, plain wrong.
I can walk naked down the street with a rose in my teeth, and no one has a right to touch me without my permission. If they do, they should be arrested, and spend every second of the rest of their lives in jail. It’s as simple as that. The young women who were laughing and flirting before they were attacked were NOT at fault for what happened to them. They have a right to be out in public, enjoying themselves, and enjoying attention paid to them.
You practically apologized for the behavior of the men involved. You cited things like testosterone, beer, marijuana as the causes, not moral bankruptcy and total lack of conscience. Then you had the unmitigated gall to cite the squeaky clean backgrounds of some of the young men.
These young men were criminals. They’re bad and evil, and deserve to spend their lives in jail. I don’t care if his brother is a cop, or if he’s a barber.
Our society has this weird mass delusion that rapists are men that hide in the bushes and just jump out and rape women all day, as though that’s their job.
Rapists are people’s brothers, basketball stars, fathers and sons. They are regular people. The fact that we can’t realize this and deal with it is the reason that we can’t stop rape, and the reason that women can’t get justice when they’re attacked.
Watching this special, I got up several times and walked around my apartment, acting out what I would do if I were caught in this situation. I was raped in 1989, so this isn’t the first time I’m acted out this scene. And every scenario I came up with involves me attacking and hurting, maiming or killing one or more of these men.
I can’t begin to express the rage I feel that this can happen in our society and that we, rather than deal with the issue swiftly and punitively, make rationalizations about why it happened.

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Happy Birthday, Riley (vol. 2)

01 – The Ballad of Davy Crockett – Davy Crockett
02 – H R Pufnstuf – Theme Song
03 – The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams – Theme Song
04 – Land of the Lost – Theme Song
05 – Hong Kong Phooey (Number 1 Super Guy) – Theme Song
06 – Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah – Song of the South
07 – Candle on the Water – Pete’s Dragon
08 – Ev’rybody Wants To Be A Cat – The Aristocats
09 – Winnie The Pooh – Winnie The Pooh
10 – Heigh-Ho – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
11 – Someday My Prince Will Come – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
12 – Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo – Cinderella
13 – The Work Song – Cinderella
14 – So This Is Love – Cinderella
15 – Once Upon a Dream – Sleeping Beauty
16 – Something There – Beauty and the Beast
17 – Be Our Guest – Beauty and the Beast
18 – Spoonful of Sugar – Mary Poppins
19 – Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – Mary Poppins
20 – Let’s Go Fly A Kite – Mary Poppins
21 – I’d Do Anything – Oliver!
22 – Over The Rainbow – The Wizard of Oz
23 – Munchkin Land Sequence – The Wizard of Oz
24 – Ya got Trouble/Seventy Six Trombones – The Music Man
25 – Shipoopi – The Music Man
26 – Do-Re-Mi – Sound of Music
27 – Lonely Goatherd – Sound of Music
28 – So Long, Farewell – Sound of Music

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Happy Birthday, Riley (vol. 1)

01 – Octopus Garden – Beatles
02 – Yellow Submarine – Beatles
03 – Puff the Magic Dragon – Peter, Paul and Mary
04 – Unicorn – The Irish Rovers
05 – Teddy Bear – Elvis Presley
06 – Snoopy and the Red Baron – Royal Guardsmen
07 – The Lion Sleeps Tonight – Robert John
08 – I Am The Lion – Neil Diamond – Tap Root Manuscript
09 – Little Shoemaker – Petula Clark
10 – Witch Doctor – David Saville
11 – Purple People Eater – Sheb Wooley
12 – Joy To The World – Three Dog Night
13 – Banana Boat – Harry Belafonte
14 – Jump In The Line – Harry Belafonte
15 – Splish Splash – Bobby Darin
16 – This Land is Your Land – Peter, Paul and Mary
17 – Weave Me the Sunshine – Peter, Paul and Mary
18 – Put Your Hand In the Hand – Ocean
19 – Spirit in the Sky – Norman Greenbaum
20 – Whole World in His Hands – Odetta
21 – Chapel of Love – The Dixie Cups
22 – I’m a Believer – The Monkees
23 – Daydream Believer – The Monkees
24 – Lone Ranger – The William Tell Overture
25 – Happy Trails – Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

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Questions from my sister

Pontification requested:
1. Is there really good and bad/black and white/ right and wrong in the world, or is everything in shades of grey/gray? (deeds, not people. People would be a whole different discussion)
2. Jealousy: Your thoughts?
Brief update: not yet married. Kittens are healthy. Hair is short.
Thoughts from the pontiff:
1. Ranges from dark, dark greys to very light greys.
2. When I am jealous, it is an indication that:
a) I care deeply about the relationship I’m in.
b) I have an instinctive feeling that someone’s motives aren’t trustworthy. Usually it isn’t the person that I’m involved with, but rather the person who seems to be intruding into the relationship that I feel isn’t trustworthy. In retrospect, my instinct was correct 100% of the time; those persons were indeed trying to intrude.
In these situations, the response I expect from the person that I’m in a relationship is: “I respect your instincts. Therefore, I will tell [intrusive person] to bugger off.” I’ve gotten that response from my partner only once.
Steph

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A Midsummer Night’s Bootleg CD

01 – Tribute to King Tubby – Beats International – The Fatboy Slim/Norman Cook Collection
02 – Renegade Master – Wild Child – The Fatboy Slim/Norman Cook Collection
03 – I See You Baby – Groove Armada – Vertigo
04 – Beng Beng Beng – Femi Kuti – Shoki Shoki
05 – Darkside – Crazy Town – The Gift Of Game
06 – Sound Wars – DJ Shortee – The Dreamer
07 – Better Than The Superbowl – Errortype:Eleven – Amplified To Rock
08 – Head On – Jesus And Mary Chain – Automatic
09 – The Aging Young Rebel (Featuring Ken Nordine) – DJ Food – Kaleidoscope
10 – Point Breeze – Marah – Kids In Philly
11 – Goodbye Earl – Dixie Chicks – Fly
12 – Sometimes I Don’t Mind – Suicide Machine – Designs For Automotion
13 – Before You – Chantal Kreviazuk – Moving And Still
14 – Twist The Knife – Neko Case And Her Boyfriends – Furnace Room Lullaby
15 – Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues – Eels – Daisies of the Galaxy
16 – Peace And Rest – Saturnine – American Kestrel
17 – Playground Love – Air – The Virgin Suicides Soundtrack
18 – Breathe – Faith Hill – Breathe

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Gay/Straight Marriages and the Georges tragedy

This is in regards to Ruth Holladay’s recent column on the Georges murder tragedy. (excerpted below)

I think we as a community, and Ruth Holladay, need to separate our issues here, because we’re talking about several different issues as though they’re a single issue.

  1. We’re talking about people, regardless of their orientation, being honest with their partners (and themselves) about health-related issues.
  2. We’re also talking about people being monogamous within their relationships.
  3. We’re also talking about people being honest about their sexual orientation.
  4. And finally we’re talking about people finding ways to live together with other people’s orientations.

How any given person (gay or straight) in any kind of relationship (same sex or opposite sex) chooses to handle each of these four issues individually will determine the success of their relationship.

I can show you PLENTY of gay/straight marriages where there’s no dishonesty whatsoever — AND vice versa, lesbians married happily to straight men!
And there are PLENTY of relationships of all kinds where people are not honest — that’s the issue, really, not gay/straight but honesty/dishonesty.
And as far as the Georges go, we DON’T KNOW how they chose to handle each of these individual issues. It may very well be the case that:

  1. Lloyd Georges was completely honest with his wife about health concerns; his own and hers.
  2. Lloyd and Judy may have had an agreement that non-monogamy was okay as long as there was honesty about health, emotional, and safety concerns. Or Lloyde may have been completely monogamous — we don’t know that he ever had a sexual encounter with a man.
  3. Lloyd may have been totally out to Judy, and to their family and friends as well.
  4. Lloyd and Judy may have been happy with their arrangements.

****And this tragedy could still have occurred even if each of the above four assumptions were true. ****

The tragedy was a ROBBERY gone wrong, and nothing more. It was sad and unfortunate, but it had NOTHING to do with the fact that he was gay and she was straight. Lloyd could have met and befriended some shady characters at a gas station, rather than the Unicorn club. People, gay and straight, trust the wrong people every day.

We CANNOT sit around and make generalizations about all gay/straight relationships and marriages, any more than we can about gay/gay relationships or straight/straight ones.

There is no reason that we can or should assume that gay men married to straight women are always dishonest about their health issues, about their orientations, about their emotional and safety concerns.

We can, and should, strive to be honest and concerned about our own health and emotional well-being, and the health and emotional well-being of the people around us.

I think Ruth Holladay’s article was homophobic, even if unintentionally. She suggested that Lloyd Georges was dishonest with his wife because he was gay, that gay people live unsavory and dangerous lives, and that this alleged dishonesty was the reason they both were killed.

None of these things are true.

Ruth Holladay, May 25, 2000, Indianapolis Star:

It was not Lloyd Georges’ homosexuality that caused his death, said the veteran cop. It was his indulgence for guys with criminal histories, his fondness for men with mean streaks.

So the retired 60-year-old educator is dead, a victim of bad choices and worse company. But so is Georges’ 58-year-old wife, Judith, who had taught third grade and collected dolls and was, by all accounts, a quiet woman who left their Greenwood home on weekends so her husband could take part in “Saturday night fever.” That phrase refers to the personal ad Georges placed in an alternative newspaper; it was his invitation to party.

This is a tough one to make sense of, by anybody’s belief system. It’s even tougher in the context of conservative Midwestern family values. But it happened. It happens.

Specifically, what happened is this: The Greenwood couple, wed 32 years, were stabbed to death last Friday in their home, then their bodies were set on fire. In a community that averages one murder every six years, it was shocking. In a community where normal is the norm, it was a bombshell.

Police Chief Robert Dine liked Mrs. Georges. He’s a past president of the PTO at Isom Elementary School, where she taught for 35 years. “She was a dedicated teacher,” he says.

So he made a promise to the couple’s son to find the killer, and on Monday, he might have delivered: Detectives arrested Fernando Griffith, 22, also known as Valentino. That’s his stage name at the Unicorn, a private Indianapolis club where he worked as a stripper. The retired teacher and his friend had known each other about a year, Dine says. Sometimes, Dine says, both Mr. and Mrs. Georges invited Griffith to their home for dinner. But the relationship soured last week, police say, when Georges refused to play sugar daddy.

So much for the allegations. Now, for an effort at insight.

In the past, gay men often married: Peter Tchaikovsky, Oscar Wilde, Charles Laughton and Cole Porter come to mind.

But that was then, when just being gay was a crime. Given that the only exit from the closet was jail, it’s understandable that gays hid.

While we haven’t created utopia yet — don’t hold your breath, and keep in mind that everybody’s utopia is different — we have changed. Gay men and women can live together openly.

Despite this, old patterns and fears continue, says Amity Pierce Buxton of El Cerrito, Calif., a 71-year-old founder of the Straight Spouse Network. Buxton speaks from experience: Seventeen years ago, her husband of 23 years told her he was gay.

Now, she uses her pain to help others heal. She understands the double-edged stigma, both from the perspective of gay partner and straight spouse. She understands that gays still marry — less so today, but it happens. And it doesn’t take a degree in gay studies to realize that a teacher, like Georges, would be fearful of exposure, especially during his career.

But the bigger the lie, the harder the fall. When the truth finally comes out, as it always does, everybody gets hurt — especially the straight spouse.

As stated, it’s tough to make sense out of this. But if one message should come through, it’s this: Intolerance exists — look at Matthew Shepard, who paid with his life. Still, if you are gay or bisexual and married to a straight person, be honest. If you are absolutely petrified by that, keep your vows: Don’t have sex outside marriage.

And if you are a straight person who suspects she is married to a gay, you need to know that your choice could carry a cost.

Get out. Life is too short.

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Feller breaks collarbone in butch football play

Douglas E. Feller, 4445 Bevington Lane, Indianapolis, broke his collarbone this afternoon while playing touch football at Barb and Michelle’s cookout.
Displaying the butch, masculine qualities for which he is so well-known, Doug was going out for a pass when he swerved to avoid a tree, did a half-somersault in the air, and landed on his right shoulder, breaking his collarbone. The pass was incomplete.
After a spending several eventful hours at St. Vincent’s Hospital, (for drugs and x-rays), he’s now a home with a sling, icepack and bottle of Vicodin. Doug will be required to wear the sling for approximately four weeks.
With the help of the wrongful death lawyers for hire, Doug has stated that this is the last time he will attempt to play football due to his injury.  As stated by Maryland slip and fall attorneys, injuries are inevitable especially when we travel in vehicles and now a days it is easy to consult lawyers from law firm for slip and fall charges, But accident in games can make situation worse . Unfortunately, due to his untimely injury, Doug’s football team lost the game. You can hire car accident lawyers from here!
While there are no pictures or video of the injury occuring, there are pictures and video of Doug at play during the game. Just in case you don’t believe it. This evidence is enough for any experienced lawyers who can be found in this https://halelaw.com/sarasota-personal-injury-attorney/car-accidents site, to file a injury claim that will be very helpful for the athlete to recover soon and to see him back into the field again, playing for his team.

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