Bread and Circuses

Well, I guess the diversion worked, and was well worth the cost of a few business class roundtrips to Thailand. Thanks, John Karr! It's ironic that AT & T are professing such concern about their customer's privacy, after letting the Feds have their wicked way with them.

Apparently, boys don't need a daddy to turn out to be decent human beings. Though I wish they hadn't cited Tom Cruise as one of their examples. I think a good parent is a good parent is a good parent. And of course it is easier to share parenting, but I think being a good single parent is entirely possible. I can't believe the vitriol directed towards Peggy Drexler. That vitriol should be directed at the sometimes very respectable seeming men who have walked away from their children.

Wouldn't this be cool - free energy? For some reason though, this reminds me of all the fuss about Ginger.

Loks like Keef was abusing an illegal substance when the Stones played at Hampden.

What will us Scorpios do now that our planet has been demoted?

Sunday, Sunday

Did anyone else have the same thought when they saw this picture of Castro? "Just bring your fist up under your chin and imagine you're weightless and surrounded by seahorses".

OK, maybe I have a dirty mind, but Stand 'N Stuff is a very bad name for a product. Especially a taco shell. Hope it holds a lot of meat.

Even further down on the food chain is McDonalds, who have a lovely warm, fuzzy promotion of a Hummer with your Happy Meal. What a lovely message for children - not only is it ok to eat a nutritionally and environmentally deficient meal, but let's push the most gluttonous vehicle that you can drive as well. Not what Jesus would drive.

This is just dumb.

Guilty as charged

Do you feel guilty? I feel guilty about so many things that I think guilt is a permanent state of being for me. Here are all the things that make me guilty:

Not spending enough time with my son

Not spending enough time at work

Not having the same things my son's friend's families have

Being an inattentive daughter, sister and friend

Living away from my family

Wanting to move near my family

Using up too many natural resources by having air conditioning, throwing away food and having too much stuff

Perpetuating sexism, racism and discrimination by not calling people out on tasteless jokes or remarks

Perpetuating sweatshops and bad working conditions by not seeking out ethical products or by being cheap

Bitching about other people

Having a shitty car

Not working out enough

Spending too much money

Being fat

Caring about being fat

Being too lazy

Spending too much time doing housework

Not dating

Having a libido

Acting like a submissive girlie

Being boring I know these make no sense at all, and that feeling guilty is pointless, but yet, I am. Of course, I feel guilty about my feelings of guilt.

I do feel a little less guilty about the number of shoes I own. My God, I am a neophyte compared to some of these women, owning maybe twenty-five pairs. I figure in North Carolina, you have to have a lot of shoes - a good collection of sandals for the summer, and good winter shoes too, that can handle ice. Of course, I have huge feet, which might temper any shoe addiction I might have. I have a hard time embracing high heels, which would make me six feet plus.

This whole terror plot that was foiled this week is fascinating to me. Here is a really interesting article about the roots of European Muslim extremism - basically a push-pull between two radically different cultures, mixed with poverty and discrimination, that affects second and subsequent generations Muslims. It certainly highlights to me that a war in Iraq does nothing to combat terrorism, and that perhaps addressing the socio-economic concerns that breed a generation who feel sufficiently disconnected from both their home country and their parent's ideology to embrace such extremism might.

He Said, She Said

Here's an interesting perspective on the much vaunted shortage of women in science; a man who used to be a women, and some feedback about it. I think this is fascinating; in my workplace, although it's fairly egalitarian, certain tasks seem to fall along gender lines. And even though it shames me to admit it, I contribute to this by unfailingly taking on documentation and testing in lieu of more 'technically challenging' tasks. I think this is due to my own insecurity about my intellectual abilities, and so I want to do useful things. Somewhat akin to offering to do the dishes.

In Britain, both the church and the government are recommending giving up flying in order to have an ethical vacation, due to the vast amount of fuel burned in flight. It's a far cry from these recommendations, which although worthy, don't demand this kind of uncomfortable life change, which somehow seems un-American.

But those big house and big cars sure make people happy. Though high taxes and parental leave seems to make people VERY happy (see Denmark, Iceland and Finland). Whatever happiness is.