“They’re saying I’m not gay enough. They say I lied because I said I love Tom Cruise. I do love Tom Cruise. What do I have to do, have sex with Angelina Jolie on TV?” — Rosie O’Donnell, lashing out at people who quibble with her coming-out technique at a benefit for ovarian cancer in New York on Monday night.
Yes, Rosie, yes you do. Please. Go ahead; I’ll watch.
Every day, I find more stuff out about the world I live in, that pisses me off.
National Geographic — Thousands of Women Killed for Family “Honor”
Hundreds, if not thousands, of women are murdered by their families each year in the name of family “honor.” It’s difficult to get precise numbers on the phenomenon of honor killing; the murders frequently go unreported, the perpetrators unpunished, and the concept of family honor justifies the act in the eyes of some societies.Most honor killings occur in countries where the concept of women as a vessel of the family reputation predominates, said Marsha Freemen, director of International Women’s Rights Action Watch at the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
Reports submitted to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights show that honor killings have occurred in Bangladesh, Great Britain, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Pakistan, Morocco, Sweden, Turkey, and Uganda. In countries not submitting reports to the UN, the practice was condoned under the rule of the fundamentalist Taliban government in Afghanistan, and has been reported in Iraq and Iran.
But while honor killings have elicited considerable attention and outrage, human rights activists argue that they should be regarded as part of a much larger problem of violence against women.
One of my favorite cartoons… Homestarrunner. Check out my newest role model, Strong Bad. He answers e-mail every Monday.
Okay, so I’m all moved into the new house. Well, except for the handful of extra stuff like cleaning supplies that I need to use first then bring home. 🙂
The cat is thrilled by the new place. When I moved in the past, she hid under the bed for a day or two before coming out and exploring. This time, as soon as I let her out of the cage, she was off. She runs up the stairs. Then down. Then up. (she never had stairs before). Then back down. In the master bedroom, where there are three windows, she spent three hours just laying in the sunlight. She crawled under the clawfoot bathtub, then out, then under, then out, then under. She’s so happy. I’m so happy. I love the master bedroom. It’s so huge. I like the way I have the dining room (currently acting as the living room) arranged. There’s so much stuff I want to do. I don’t know what to start on first. Except that I have to clean the old place to get my security deposit back.
The move went well. It took 4 hours, which was really understandable considering how many books I have. Jones Movers Inc. of Indianapolis. I’d definitely recommend them. They worked hard, did a great job, and it was a very good price. I was impressed.
Some stuff I’ll have to photograph – Discovery Channel’s Engineering the Impossible – someday.
Tokyo’s Sky City
It would house 35,000 residents and host 100,000 daily workers, students and visitors. This space-age city in the sky might seem like science fiction, but it answers some questions about where humans might live as our most crowded cities become even more densely populated.City in a Pyramid
Imagine a self-sustaining pyramid-shaped city in the air. And imagine that it is built by robots and with little help from human workers.
And if it’s not enough that the right-wing nutjobs are trying to kill us and attempting to steal our children away, now they are blaming gay people for the fall of Enron Corporation.
Enron was YOU GUYS. Republicans. With all your deregulation, and your corporate welfare, and tax breaks for the rich, and thwarting campaign finance reform… the conservative republicans are responsible for Enron. Not us homos! When all else fails and it looks like you might get caught or the pidgeons will come home to roost, blame it on the gay people.
E-mail Target and tell them you want a store built in downtown Indianapolis.
And as an apology for ranting so much today, here’s a site with the funniest, most interesting movie reviews I’ve ever read. Before I go see a movie in the theatre, I read the review here first.
Okay, time for another rant, on the subject of gay people getting their children taken away from them:
I have reproductive organs, I’m going to use them, and I don’t give a flying god damn what anyone thinks about it. I’m a lesbian, I’m going to have kids, I’m going to raise them well, and if you want to try to take them away, you’ll be attempting it at the end of a shotgun. I’m sick to death of hearing all these religious people saying shit… your religion is just that: your religion. It’s not mine, so keep it to yourself, or shove it in my face at your own peril.
I’ve pointed out to my family members, at various times, that there are people who want to kill me, and that these people have connections to the Republicans they keep putting into office, but I don’t think they’ve ever taken me very seriously.
“Let us give thanks,” Army of God “chaplain” Rev. Michael Bray proclaimed on the Army of God Web site, after sword-wielding officials in Saudi Arabia beheaded three gay men New Year’s Day. The official Saudi Press Agency reported that the men had “committed acts of sodomy, married each other, seduced young men and attacked those who rebuked them.”
Best known for its terror campaign against abortion providers, the militant Army of God has lately displayed a virulent antigay animus in recent postings on its Web site. The sudden trend has set off alarms among human rights groups.
“This is really chilling,” Surina Khan, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, told Salon. “It really disturbs me, in terms of the rhetoric and what effect it has.”
Ironically, the Army of God is expressing new solidarity with Muslim extremists just as the right-wing extremists have come under new scrutiny by the U.S. government for their own links to terror, post-Sept. 11. The violence-prone Army of God drew intensified federal attention thanks to its praise (“great idea!”) for the anthrax scare at 550 clinics and abortion rights organizations last fall, perpetrated by self-described antiabortion “terrorist” Clayton Waagner. Waagner signed his threats “Army of God.”
On the Homefront: This weekend, I moved most of my breakable stuff, all my framed artwork, most of my electronics, and some small pieces of furniture. Also one of the bunk beds, so if I want to stay over at the new place, I can. Still to pack: clothes, office supplies, rest of kitchen stuff. I’ll try to get as much of that done tonight as I can. I procrastinated on the packing, which I hate to do, by moving stuff that didn’t necessarily need to be moved. And I think I’m afraid to move in, which is another reason I’ve avoided the packing. I’m really kind of freaked out.
I need to be careful when moving paperwork — got to keep track of stuff I need to do, like send in my first mortgage payment. That would suck if I forgot that. 🙂