rant alert…

Back story… I wrote a previous post but it was heavily self censored because as I said it was not coming out in print as well as it was intended. It sounded so profound, but I suspect that it was more of a 'laboratory' profundity than a profundity that could hold up under the weight of the real world.

A reader called me on what was clearly a less than authentic or well executed post and this was my response to her in an email. She encouraged me to post it here. I was a bit concerned about that in as much as it was in an email and I don't know all the ethical rules regarding posts and emails and all that. So here it is… Oh and I did include her comment for understanding of some of the references to stew and I did Dr. it up some for spelling and readability and the like.

This is the comment

Big Geek, it seems like you are playing fast and loose with the semantics of wording.

Acceptance; noun: a disposition to tolerate or accept people or situations.

Tolerance; noun: willingness to recognize and respect the beliefs or practices of others.

I do not believe we are a melting pot at all. If you were to take several different metals and melt them down, the characteristics of those individual metals can no longer be distinguished. They are all blended together.

With people when acceptance and tolerance is used to appreciate the cultural differences between people we are more like a stew. Everyone still seen as individuals appreciating our own cultures and religious beliefs but each new person enhances the flavor and injects all new perspective to the dish.

So pour a glass of white or red wine and enjoy the stew!

This is my response: I have to say I am a little nervous about this... I was informed that she is going to re-comment on it because she love being challenged... I don't know if I should get some Preparation H or Aloe Vera for this.

Quite possibly you are right.

Like I said... it sounded so much better in my head while I was thinking about it than when I got it written out.

I used the Melting pot phrase in as much as it is a phrase that is thrown around all the time. I am not a fan of the phrase myself. It's too "quaint" (I think is the right way to explain how I feel about it.)

I should say that the post was leaning toward what you are about to read, assuming that you choose to read it, but I deleted the bulk of it several times and tried to just state the basic premise with no tonality and color painting. But this is just a whitewashing of the same old problems anyway, so as I said at the very end... never mind.

Now for the RANT

I think that too often cultural differences cause friction and tension that manifests itself in hate crimes and racism and whatever other bad result that comes to mind because so often there is no acceptance of differences. I imagine that religion is a part of it, but anymore everyone seems to be so touchy about their right to Not be offended any more. (See side bar warning) Somehow everone thinks "I have the right to... Insert cause here". There is no responsibility any more to the culture or the society it's all about ME. No one is willing to tolerate anything anymore. Everyone wants their apologies public, meaningless as they are.

The Shiites and the Sunnis and the Kurdish will, in my opinion, never get along with each other and by extension with the rest of the world because they are deeply steeped in their religion. How huge was the up roar over the Danish Comic strip? How often is Jesus slammed, shammed, defiled, mocked,satirized or displayed in an aquarium of urine? Does anyone die over that, did any one burn anything? I don't even think there was a law suit brought by any one. Before you say this about that I know that the wackjob Christian Fundamentalists blow up abortion clinics and that is hate full in the extreme and the Federal building thing in Oklahoma. Fundamentalist religious people are susceptible to that sort of thinking, but somehow I don't recall reading in the bible anywhere, where Jesus says to kill thy neighbor if their theology is mixed up or an irreverent cartoon is drawn by some none believer, and I never read any where Thou shalt blow things up? In general that was supposed to be left to God. "Vengeance is mine sayth the Lord", I think is the line.

This whole diatribe was a result of some news story I heard, about tolerance and quite frankly I have heard enough regarding how we all need to 'tolerate' this or that... shoot now I don't even recall the story. But the world is full of stories where in some "minority" feels slighted, diminished, ridiculed or oppressed somehow and EVERYONE has to accommodate their new "taste contribution" to the stew, especially the Muslims right now. It aggravates me no end that a Muslim family can take a School to court to force a first grade girl to stop using her "Winnie the Poo and Piglet Too" lunch box because there is a Muslim girl in her class who is twisted out of shape about seeing the pig on the lunch box. Unarguably Winnie the Poo and Piglet Too have been a part of American tradition for many decades and is a children's favorite. I still have my daughters Winnie The Poo bed sheets. Sears Makes Plenty of money on that franchise which implies that it is a Huge part of American traditional school age up bringing... but now suddenly Piglet is no longer tolerable because some "new" flavor has been added to the stew, which in my opinion renders the stew bitter and unpalatable, bordering on inedible.

It is my fervent belief that if you decide to move to America you should understand what it is you are signing up for. If you have a belief/idea/thought that is outside the norm it is YOU who has to do the tolerating not the rest of the world around YOU. And if you have a belief that is illegal in this country I feel that if You are moving here and want to BE here You should be resigned to give that up... ritual sacrifice and the like. If you move to any other country in the world, Mexico for example, You have to learn Their language. The Mexican government is not going to have English speaking teachers for your kids so they can understand what is being taught. The Mexican Government is not going to provide you with Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Brazilian, Ecuadorian, Honduran or any other of the two dozen or more languages that our government prints driver's license paperwork. YOU better have your papers on you and in order every minute of every day because if you do not and are picked up for even the slightest infraction, even if the infraction is imagined and NOT real you are... well unpleasantness shall befall you in a great hurry and relief is not coming in great hurry. The same conditions exist in any other nation on the planet. I am DOUBLE sure that is the case for EVERY Muslim country like say Saudi Arabia and I am Triply sure about Iran! I happen to know about Korea and Algeria... do not get sideways with those law enforcement agencies!

In the past when you moved to America you wanted to be an American and all that comes with it. You wanted to embrace the culture the holidays including Christmas, the work ethic, the language and… well all else that comes with being an American. If you were going to add your flavor to the stew you didn't do it by JAMMING it down the throats of your neighbors with legal action at every turn. This very much spoils the stew and leaves a bitter taste on everybody's pallet. If you want your heritage on display or preserved You opend a restaurant or a shop or have a festival celebrating Your cultural heritage by INVITING people to Participate. ***I say all that...about the America typified by the industrial age beginning shortly after we finally did away with the natives that were here LONG before we hit the Rock at Plymouth to make some beer because we ran out of water on the boat. Another rant for another time.***

The whole gay rights thing another area where "Tolerance" is called for/demanded. It is something that I am softening up on rather quickly. I have read the bible and So far as I recall there was only one reference to homosexuality, and it was strictly speaking not a very direct reference. I was anti gay marriage for a long time, hanging my belief on the idea that Marriage is a religious thing and that the bible and by extension God was anti gay-ness... I don't see that so black and white any more. And marriage is principally a government sponsored thing anymore anyway. You just have look at the divorce rate to see that. It's been said that Gay people should be able to share in the heart break and misery of divorce as much as anyone else. In general Marriage has become a meaningless institution anymore any way. Which is a shame because many people take it very seriously but not from a religious point of view… I don't think.

SOOoooo...I was trying to change, somehow, the reference to "Tolerance" because in my mind to "tolerate" something is to put up with no recognition or acceptance of differences or respect of any kind because you are forced to by some outside influence, law or threat of harm or terror, to put up with the situation.

When I look up Tolerate I find words like endure and discomfort and bear all of which imply the idea that you would much rather NOT be tolerating this whatever IT is. Tolerate has a much more of a negative connotation and or distasteful word in my opinion. (color painting)

When I look up accept I find words like willingly, approval, favorable all of which implies that this is a softer more fitting/hopeful word for this situation. Accept has a much more positive connotation, again, just my opinion. (more color painting)

But again in the final analysis it was just a whitewashing of this idea/concept any way. It was my feeble attempt to say that if we explained our differences to, say, Osama B. that he would say "OH now I get it, So you're not the Devil. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, lets have a beer on me... sorry about the whole Trade Towers thing. I had no idea that would happen. I really got my moneys worth out of that little joke didn't I, never mind then." and turn himself in for trial. Aint a gonna happen.

And again like I said at the head of this thing and the post... it sounded so much more profound while I was thinking about it than after I got it written... same with this I guess.

Thank you for calling me on this... It forces me to think through more thoroughly the ideas.

Big Geek.

muffins

I don't know for sure what women are looking for in clothing but I assumed that they looked for clothing that would minimize bulges and rolls and bumps. I hear that all the time on TV commercials. But I see something totally different. For some time now women have been buying low wasted pants, tight low wasted pants. These pants create the "muffin top" phenomenon. It's the roll that spills out over the top of their pants that are too low and too tight. They bite right in to her hips below the iliac crest. Some women can get away with this because they have a very shallow pelvic bowel. I , rightly or wrongly attribute this fashion phenomenon to Britney Speers. When she had her head shaving psychedelic freak-out. I hoped that she was gone and her hip hugging pant stylings were gone with her. My daughter had a high waste and it was ooOH so Difficult to get her pants that fit even remotely well.

Any way… how is it that women have bought into this fashion trend.

Is it that they have bought into it or is it that like my daughter there is just nothing else because "Fashion Designers", who are designing for their 13 year old shaped gay boy friends, are just not interested in what looks good on women?

Hope and fear

There is a trend developing that I hope for and fear at the same time. It sort of started several years ago. Sitting here, the first person that I can recall that is involved with this is Jennifer Lopez. It's no secret that she has a magnificent posterior. And low and behold she is remarkably popular and in no small part for that posterior. Not shunned or marginalized for her shapely ass-ets. No doubt that you have heard the rap tune "I like big butts and I cannot lie". When I lived in a much majorer metropolitan area, magazine racks sported magazines featuring women with abundant posteriors. So by now you are seeing a thread developing here. I am a fan of the pulchritudinous posterior. And while the adjective pulchritudinous doesn't necessarily mean plentiful it sure sounds like it could. Words like bootyliscious are popular now referring to a shapely posterior. There is actually an authentic word for this… callipygous. Not quite the same though… doesn't just roll off the tongue and rappers would have a tough time rhyming with that. If I had my way Cosmo would be shut down tomorrow or be taught that if they want to help women be attractive to men they should be advancing the cause of the bounteous bottom. Interestingly enough the blog I mentioned before (I guess it's no secret that this blogger is a woman) had a similar post now that I think about it. The blogger in question was lamenting the fact that she herself apparently does not have a colossal keister. She had posted a picture of a woman with a remarkable behind. Not one of those Lawyer's Girlfriend's behinds. If women want to know what men want them to look then like they should STOP looking to Cosmo for advice. Cosmo is filled with designer stuff. Designers are mostly homosexual. Nothing wrong about that except that they are designing for their 12 year old boyfriends, not the stuff of heterosexual men's fantasies. If you want to know what heterosexual men want to see in a woman's physique look at a porn star. Good porn stars not skanky Crack addicted porn stars. Much as I hate to say this, look to a Rap Star's music videos. These are women with SHAPE! Lots of Shape! Jenifer Lopez has it. Kate Moss does NOT! In my mind Kate moss, Paris Hilton and Calista Flockheart and her skeletally prominent sisters are the poster children for what is wrong with American fashion and body image. Tyra Banks; tall, one time, Victoria Secret supermodel, has a remarkable figure, and doesn't seem ashamed of it. I think her figure made Victoria Secret what it is today. Tyra had an onstage breast palpation to dispel the myth that she has breast implants. Another tall woman Aisha Tyler laments the fact that she as no behind in a riotously music video titled "Nowassitall". Aisha is a Great comedienne. And the woman's behind for whom the word "Bootyliscious" was coined Beyonce Knowles. Kim Cardashian is in this list of shapely women in pop-culture. Some years ago there was a bit of a splash with the plus size model Emme Aronson. Just try to tell me that Queen Latifa, Cristina Schmidt, Kate Dillon or Chloe Marshal don't make your dick hard. I wonder that the term plus size might be re-written plush size. I prefer the term plush. I mean when you go to buy something that you want to be comfortable you pay extra for the plush. Who wants to lie naked with a scrawny woman? It feels like laying on or next to a bicycle frame not a woman.

This about sums up what this is about sort of… Jenifer Love Hewitt was paparazzi-ed in Hawaii while on a honeymoon vacation. This is a woman who has been in the maxim magazine top sexiest women for several years in a row. FHM magazine even longer. She was caught in what were considered not so very flattering pictures which exploded on the internet and the gossip magazines. She defiantly answered back in this statement but then not too very long after she showed up on 'Shape" magazine's cover reduced (18 lbs) back to a somewhat smaller more Cosmo-esque body shape. I am somewhat disappointed by that. I had hoped that she would, as she admonished young women to do, '…stand strong" against the Size Zero Nazi's out there. Tyra Banks had a similar incident so has Kim Cardashian. I don't advocate that a woman should be overweight, health issues and all, but public opinion should not dictate to a person their shape. I understand that everybody wants to look attractive but by who's standards. And standards change. I hope the apparent current trend of the re-fleshing of American (women at large) is going to continue. There was a hint of that in some Milan fashion show where the judges or some other governing body indicated that the models had to meet some height to weight ratio minimum. This caused quite a stir. Some of these models make Kate Moss look like positively normal. She is NOT normal! Most of these runway models look like they "summered in Auschwitz" while the Nazi's still were still running the place.

I hope that fashion finally pulls its head up out of its ass and realizes what women are supposed to look like… curvaceous and swervaceous. I hope women pickup on this too. I hope it but I fear it at the same time. About the last thing I need is a nation of women running around being all shapely and gorgeous. The only butt I am really interested in, though, is my sweety's butt. oooOOOooo… now she has a Butt, Bountiful and Delicious. I just love her butt and no buts about it!

I didn't mean for this to turn in to such a long winded pontificating treatise about women's shape. But I am apt to pontificate. And as I recently found out I come by that trait naturally. My mother informed me that my father did the same thing.

Oh I almost forgot… what brought this all on was a commercial that I just saw… Reebok is apparently making shoes that will help with your butt and thighs. Yippy!!!

…guess we all know where I stand on the subject of behinds now…

Politics... and the press

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that promote or perform abortions, officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

Some stuff deleted here for readability sake

The Democratic official and senior U.S. official who disclosed the plans did so on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to pre-empt Obama's announcement.

...more stuff deleted here for the same reasons as above.

I put this up because of the second paragraph...

"We", our government, cant keep a damn secret.. not even a small one. "Officials" what ever that really means, are shooting their mouths off even though they are expressly NOT authorized to shoot their mouths off. It galls me to read this. Either this un-named official is a right fuckwitt for speaking against a Presidential order or... well I cant think of anything else that you would be... "pre-empting" a Presidential announcement. If an employee did something like this in most any company you could name they would be fired pretty quickly (instantly) and no good recommendation would be forthcoming. How is it that the "press" gets away with this sort of thing. How is it that they can print these stories on the 'word' of a person who clearly has a lack of ethics so profound that they will say things that the President is supposed to be saying. That to me is a LESS than credible source. But the source must at all costs be protected. Its one thing if there is wrong doing going on and there needs to be a whistle blower... but pre-emting a statement as banal as this. What "scoop" is that? I think the 'source' and the writer should be forced to take some "waste of time ethics class" something like an anger management class but for assholes who cant keep their mouths shut, for 1000 hours and have their dirty little family secrets "leaked" to the press. Of course no one would give a crap and you couldn't sell papers that way.
This is not news that needs to be 'scooped' in advance of its time. Most news is not in my opinion. The only time sensitive news that I can think of is the weather and market issues, but I leave room on that list for other potential news worthy issues. Beating the President to the punch on this is just ridiculous. I say ridiculous in the truest sense of the word... not the hip new definition they sling around on 'So You Think You Can Dance'. Those that engage in this sort of soft squishy ethics, for no good reason other than to say that they knew first, are contemptible.
The truly frightening thing to me is this: if they "leaked" this story... what other stories are they "leaking" and to whom are they "leaking" that information to?
I read no less than three stories this week with that disclaimer tag line at the end.