Yay! For Barney Frank

Congressman Barney Frank (D) called justice Frank Scalia homophobic today. Now if only more congresspeople would suddenly discover their own courage and finally just declare the ongoing debate against gay rights and marriage as a debate not based on preserving the sanctity of marriage or the morality of our country (People have an EXTREMELY narrow view of marriage in this country which perfectly highlights the idea that so many Ameircans can not manage to break outside their solely ethnocentric ideals on a variety of issues..Marriage is NOT a religious institution. If you disagree with this tell me why atheists are allowed to get married.) rather, the arguments against LGBT rights like marriage are solely based on homophobia and blind hate.

I feel like the arguments against gay rights are shallow and have absolutely no basis in reality. I am perfectly aware that the majority of people in this country are Christians. Some use their Christian believes as an excuse to hate (huh? what would Jesus have to say about that). What does the Bible REALLY say about homosexuality? Not much really. The issue of having sex individuals of one's own gender really is not a big issue in the Bible (the Bible focuses on men having sex with other men...I suppose the people who wrote the Bible felt that sex only occurs when penises are involved? ). It is absolutely mind boggling that people continue to focus so vehemently on denying an entire group of people their rights. I almost feel like perhaps people feel compelled to do this based on some sort of animalistic urge to thin the herd, so to speak, of undesirables who might put the health of the whole at risk because of the asinine belief that gays are unnatural simply because sex between two same-sex individuals doesn't produce children. Homosexual behaviour is seen in more than just humans. There is no reason to believe homosexuality is unnatural.

Anyway, let's look at the Bible, Leviticus mentions men lying with men twice. One section calls it an abomination and another declares that men who sleep with other men should be killed (along with men who sleep with their daughters-in-law and a variety of other people). What makes the idea that people use the Bible to justify their hatred and persecution of gays outlandish then? These statements decrying gay relationships are buried deep within a book of the Bible outlining the proper way to sacrifice animals and how to deal with various discharges. (Did you take a sacrifice to the alter after your last period? Leviticus says to). Obviously, the point is, Leviticus is out of touch. What worked over 2000 years ago for a group of people living in the middle east with an affinity for animal sacrifices without modern technology doesn't necessarily work for us.


All in all, people refuse to admit that their lack of acceptance of the LGBT community is based on blind hate and misconceptions. It's not a savory idea but I think people really NEED to realize this. I don't think they realize how hurtful these ideas can be because, perhaps, they have never met a gay person in their lives and the idea that they are actually living breathing people who should have rights has never entered their heads.
We need to stand up and be vocal of our support for the LGBT community instead of floundered around and saying things like "I have nothing against gays but I don't think they should marry). That's ludicrous! I think people, in their gut, realize that it is, yet even our president, the most powerful human being on the planet, can't just come out and declare his support for gay marriage. I suppose that would be political sucide... just like admitting to being an atheist or, to a lesser extent, having a vagina.

Hair Hegemony and "Good Ol' Boys"

My shoulders are thoroughly sunburned and I managed to get myself stuck knee deep in pond muck today (long story) so I consider that a day well spent!...... & it's spring break (I'm here in Blairsville not on a beach in Mexico somewhere...yeah, I know I'm awesome) ....so one would think I would have nothing to complain about. haha. There is always something going on that I can babble and rant about so here goes.
I need to get a trim. My hair has steadily been getting shorter and shorter as the months have gone by. I almost feel like I'm...uh...sticking it to the man so to speak wearing my hair boyishly short....which is silly I know. It's so ridiculous that a person's persona can be so contingent on her hair but I feel like people focus on hair so much it's really hard not to care. I'm sick of women being so incredibly attached to their hair that they feel the need to hold on to it and jealously guard it ...as if with its loss they lose all their power and all traces of femininity and would suddenly sprout penises. hahaha....Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic....and I've decided to allow mine to grow out again because I'm sick of constantly having to get it trimmed. The problem with the pixie cut is that it is cute for about a month and a half and then it grows you wake up one day with a thing that resembles a mullet. I'm not kidding. It is slightly terrifing....So I'm getting rid of it. I need to get the back trimmed to let the other parts catch up I guess. I'm glad I got that out of my system though ;)

Hair hegemony isn't so bad here....In 2005 North Korea decided it would regulate citizens' hair. Apparently, men must have hair under two inches long. Poor guys.
"State-run Central TV last week declared that the more hair one has, the more one’s brain activity is hampered by oxygen being drawn away from nerves in the head."
http://www.stanford.edu/class/comm273/Fall2004/rlowe1/Breasts.html
hahahahaha

In other news. This summer might really suck. Back before school started I had got it in my head that I must absolutely go to Australia this summer to study abroad. Believe me, I still really, really want to but it's not going to happen. First of all, I would only get to stay for about a month if I went during the summer and if I'm going to pay over a grand for the flight alone I want to stay longer....much longer. A month isn't long enough to see anything AND take 6 hours of classes....so....Even though I feel, literally, sick to my stomach as I watch the summer drawing nearer and I know I will not be traveling to the South Pacific to visit the Great Barrier reef and learn about sustainable development I HAVE A PLAN! I have decided that, at all costs, I'm going to Australia and New Zealand for spring semester next school year (they don't offer the program for fall).
My dad informed me last week that he knows a guy who knows a guy who might be about to get me a good job with the government somewhere in Blairsville for a few months this summer. haha. He said something about asking the commissioner for getting the necessary funds to pay me.....WTF? The whole thing just sounds bizarre. Whatever. If I can find a job this summer I will be grateful...as long as it's not an office job like I have now. Totally mind numbing. I despise office politics and paper work.
My dad walked in today with a bag of ammunition that his buddies at the sheriff's office gave him...for free. hahaha. Thanks tax payers for buying my daddy some ammunition. I guess there are many perks to being a "good ol' boy": free stuff, being able to get out of speeding tickets and other run-ins with "the law", and getting your teen-aged kid a government job while people with real credentials are collecting unemployment (or at least thinking you might be able to). I'm not counting on it. If all else fails I'll be taking a few classes at North Georgia or online and...uh...who the hell knows? I guess I'll figure out something eventually. :/
...

The Art of Lying

I just watched Louisiana gov Bobby Jindal's response to Obama's speech (Yes, a little late I know. I adore YouTube). I was absolutely infuriated. How can Politicans present just blatent bull shit to the public and get away with it? Rebublicans are the masters of bull. Indeed, I am stating the obvious, or so I would like to think....but no. Half the country still supports the Republican party. Why? People don't seem to mind that they are being exploited and lied to because I suppose it is too much trouble to question any one who sounds as sweet and folksy as Bobby Jindal.

In his speech, Jindal spoke about his parents, immigrants from India (or as he says "a distant land"), as if they came to the US in a cramped ship with nothing but the clothing on their backs. His father had "SEEN extreme poverty" and struggled to find a job. He may have seen it but did he actually expierence it? I don't know, but that is what Bobby would like us to assume regardless. Many of us have SEEN poverty. That doesn't mean we have felt it. Bobby decides to neglect the fact that his father came to the United States to attend Graduate School and his mother now works as an information technology director for the Louisiana Department of Labor. I suppose the fact that his parents are well educated would make him seem like an elitist and would make his struggle to appear like an average Joe who simply worked hard to achieve his position as a leader in the US an uphill battle.

Now that he has made the viewing audience believe that he can actually relate to their expierence or that he might actually care about their lives he moves on to actually attempt to talk about policy. I say attempt because he seems to be having quite a bit of trouble actually saying anything that makes any sense.

...For more I give you Rachel Maddow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3u11VC7s7M