That giant sucking sound that you hear, is the hole in the ground where the GOP used to be. The Christian Reich (CR) took them over and instead of spreading out to envelop the entire country, the greedy, intolerant, deceitful hypocrites have killed the GOP. Moderate and independent citizens have spoken with their votes. It turns out that Americans really do want equality for all.
(Cross-posted at The National Gadfly)
VAHALLA, NY. Recently, there has been a stream of people quoting Ayn Rand and her novel, Atlas Shrugged as justification for the economic policies that created the current financial crisis. Ms. Rand’s polemic novel which assaulted altruism and government has been quoted and promoted by CEO’s, government officials, lobbyists as well as print, radio and television – and apparently, they’ve all got it wrong.
I am beginning a new blog that deals with individuals and communities that identify around some aspect of Sex, Gender or Body. I have pasted a copy below of a post I just published on my blog.
I hope that it is not in bad form to announce it here on an existing community blog. Since this blog focuses on politics, and my new one will only deal with politics as it pertains to the larger body of conversations on SGB, I do not believe that I am undermining this blog’s reader base. If anyone has an objection to my posting this, please let me know and I delete this entry.
– gadfly
My ‘day job’ has me traveling today. I am in rural MA, but I could be anywhere. Looking at this hotel and the surrounding…um…civilisation, I am actually nowhere. That has nothing to do with the city, though. It has everything to do with the effect this economy is having on the people.
I’ve got a few things to get off my chest, in no particular order. I was reading my favorite new blogger VaginaDrum. She has a weekly wrap-up of likes entitled Shit I Like Sunday. Wouldn’t you know it though, my old, crabby ass is taking it in another direction. This also seems to be a great way to clean out all the posts I’ve started and not finished this week.
That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do (The Door)
Ivan Albright
1931-41
Oil on canvas; 97 x 36 in.
The Art Institute of Chicago,
Mary and Leigh Block Charitable Fund (1955)
I have taken to throwing myself under the bus lately and tonight is no exception. Somewhere in my mid-late 30’s I was walking around in The Art Institute. I came upon this painting and my world stopped. A large painting, I paused to take in all the detail and for the first time in my whole life, a painting ‘hit me’. Like a ton of bricks.
(Cross-posted at The National Gadfly)
My wife spoke to me this evening about my blog. She finally read one of my posts. As fate would have it, the title that lured her in was “My Rape Story“. I asked her what she thought of it and she proceeded to tell me how pissed off she was that I had not shared this with her first. I was devastated. I had shared it with her, but never in my life had I revisited all the details – until this post. I thought to myself that I have just opened up the single most painful experience of my life and all she can think about is ‘first dibbs’!
I was 12 or 13 years old, back in ’72 or ’73. It was summer. I played outside with my friends and did whatever young boys do, with time on their hands and no supervision. My friend Bob and I were outside goofing around. We ran into Jimmy, a man that lived in the neighborhood. He was tall, thin, had a mustache and long hair, in his late 20’s or early 30’s. He often said hello to me as he walked by. Bob and I saw him and we got to talking. There was a forest preserve across the street from my house, where I often played. As we walked along talking, we entered the woods. I had no reason to be suspicious. I was always in those woods.
(Cross-posted at The National Gadfly)
I am an alcoholic.
I got sober almost 20 years ago. Before that, I abused alcohol, drugs, sex and money in order to ignore the damage I had done to my life, deluding myself . I crawled through life in a cycle of being drunk or not yet drunk, making more mistakes that would need more drinking to erase. I am nobody special. Absolutely nobody. Everyone on this planet has problems and I have mine. I chose to deal with them by ‘feeling better’, one glass at a time. All day. Each and every day…week…month and year – until I turned to someone for help.
This week, I attended Clarisse Thorn’s Sex+++ Film Series at Hull House in Chicago. This feature was a film on polyamory, entitled: When Two Won’t Do. The film is a documentary created by two people exploring polyamory for themselves. There was a discussion group afterward. The response to this film series has been overwhelming and Tuesday was no exception, with upwards of 70 people crammed into a room that expected maybe 40.
(Cross-posted at The National Gadfly)
