One thing. If I don't like the premises on which you operate--or your ideological make up, its most likely that I don't give a shit what you think about me.

We had a great CCDS meeting today. I have always enjoyed CCDS. I am glad that I have participated in their meetings here.

Jazz lee is one sharp cookie! It was great to have her here!

I often operate, not knowing what to do...second guessing and placing myself in betweel two parallel bars. I need to learn not to be conflicted within my self and to trust my self.

Hows This for the Pro-Lifers?

The Progressive reports that a woman was ticketed the other day for improperly using a carpool lane. She protested the ticket in court, at which a judge ruled that fetuses do not count when using carpool lanes.

No Comment--From the Progressive

The Progressivereports that Qantas airline chairwoman, Margaret Jackson was frisked and searched by a security officer in an L.A. Airport who suspected that she was a terrorist. When he found documents pertaining to airplanes in her bag, he asked her why she had them. When she told him that she was the head of an airline, his reply was "but you're a woman."

Here is a bio of Veronica Franco.

Tonight I sat down and watched the wonderful film Dangerous Beauty on WGN(what a wonderful station).Alas, I identify a,love, and cheer for the courtesans of old--and for the independence that those women had in that time. Ode to Veronica Franco, Ode to all of the creole women who made use of French,Spanish,and Portuguese men of wealth,Ode to Diane de Poitiers,Ode to Madame du Barry!

My task now is to get in touch with my erotic.

From the Huffington Post

138 Iraqis dead in the past 24 Hours. Iraq is on the verge of Civil War, their government is almost in collapse, and there is nothing approaching security in that country. Chaos is about to become the rule and not the exception(was it ever any other way since this damned invasion?!) Someone should force Bush to resign or impeach him. Or castrate him. I don't care which one. Oh how depressing.

New Slogan

"Castration is the Key to Our Liberation."

South Dakota is about to pass a ban on abortion. The bill, which was just passed by the South Dakota legislature, only needs the signature of the governor,who is anti-abortion. What I would do: Move to South Dakota and have an abortion and the cut off the penis of which ever man tried to stop me from doing it.

Depressing Things

There is so much violence in the world today. And Bush is still here.

I met this beautiful boy today at the coffeeshop. Interesting experience. We had quite a long conversation during which I was completely intrigued, so much so that I was going to blow off meeting Melissa to collect my hat and gloves: "honey, you may keep them." Today feels like a good day.

I LOVE Project Runway-- and Heidi Klum!

The Guardian reports that Iraq is on the cusp of civil war.

One thing I want to mention, as I have thought about this a lot as of recent, It troubles me that such vile people as Gonzales and Bush are being seen trampling into and over such precious landmarks such as the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and Coretta Scott King's funeral. It seems that all sense of decency and justice have flown out of the world. Something sacred has been violated when these people are not only present, but speak and come to bear a commanding presence in these places that have seen the tears and agony and struggle for humanity, freedom, and justice. It is an outright disgrace and an utter violation.

Further Probing into Horowitz

I am really wondering who is taking this man seriously and who, among the people that he is attacking, are paying any attention to him. Looking at his "list of dangerous professors," he has listed, Howard Zinn, bell hooks(and Im sure he intentionally capitalized her name!),Leonard Jeffries, Eve Sedgwick, Eric Foner,Manning Marable, Todd Gitlin!(Wtf, Gitlin is about as conservative as he is!),Noam Chomsky, Tom Hayden,Cornel West, Amiri Baraka(ha!),Bettina Aptheker and Angela Davis,Ward Churchill, Bill Ayers,Mary Frances Berry(wtf?),and Michael Eric Dyson. This is a mess. I am not going to pay much attention to it myself, at least not until the real McCarthyism starts--then I'll be ready to castrate. I am wondering what Baraka is saying about all of this?

Further on that note, I wonder how Angela Davis and Bettina Aptheker are responding (if at all) to Horowitz, as he has attacked them as well.

David Horowitz is stupid and evil. I can't believe he would attack Harry Targ on national television. Of all people? and Harry? Oh my, what a mess. I would dare him to mess with me.

I am very pleased that the medical community, at least in part, is taking such a strong stand against the death penalty! Alas, I am quite pleased with the Judge's stay of the Morales execution in California. Abolish the death penalty!

My Opinion

I personally do not care whether they sell these ports to a Dubai owned company--and I do see some racism among those who are opposed. However, Bush is absolutely stupid as he keeps saying that Congress has nothing to worry about because "the government has already looked into it." Congress is the government! He is a dumbass.

Last night, I also watched a wonderful Israeli film called Yossi and Jagger. Quite beautifully done.

Mercy Mercy Me

by Marvin Gaye

Oh, mercy mercy me
Oh, things ain't what they used to be
No, no
Where did all the blue sky go?
Poison is the wind that blows
From the north, east, south, and sea
Oh, mercy mercy me
Oh, things ain't what they used to be
No, no
Oil wasted on the oceans and upon our seas
Fish full of mercury
Oh, mercy mercy me
Oh, things ain't what they used to be
No, no
Radiation in the ground and in the sky
Animals and birds who live nearby are dying
Oh, mercy mercy me
Oh, things ain't what they used to be
What about this overcrowded land?
How much more abuse from man can you stand?
My sweet Lord
My sweet Lord
My sweet Lord

So tonight I satisfied my curiosity and saw the film, I am Curious (Yellow), which I have wondered about ever since I was in the eleventh grade when I read about it in a history book. My initial reaction could be best expressed with some kind of phrase like "Wow" or "Oh My God" , but needless to say, I found the film to be absolutely interesting. Wow. To have been released in 1968. Im surprised we still have an FCC, I thought they would have killed over from heart attacks after this one.

I just got through rereading the excerpt, "Serving in Florida," from Barbara Ehrenreich's book Nickle and Dimed:On Not Getting By In America in which she details her account of going undercover to work in the minimum and low-wage paying jobs around the country. Econmics is so important. Even more so class. Class is definitely one of the most important factors in American society. We are definitely behooved to be aware of class and those who are oppressed within this society. We should all be aware of our privilege.

Further on thinking about class, I overheard two black girls on the bus today talking about one of the locals who is homeless, an eighteen year old Latino kid named Joshua, who with his father, Abraham, are regular sites all around town. Their conversation was interesting and somewhat amusing. To paraphrase, the conversation went something like this: "GirlThat boy Joshua is a mess! To be homeless he lives better than me! He's always dressed in nice clothes, and he's got that portable CD player which he is always walking around with--which means that he can A: afford the batteries and B: buy the CDs!" Other Girl--"Honey I saw him the other day at McDonalds--somebody had bought him an ENTIRE breakfast!"

Designer Humans

This is an article concerning the government's efforts to enhance human capacity and tamper with our genetics, technologies,and other things. This article, along with thse books uner urgent materials, definitely need to be read and discussed.

Troubling

In San Juan de Sabinas, Mexico, where they earn on average $60 a month, these poor miners are trapped and probably on the verge of death due to the lackadaisical concern of the corporations that own the mine's towards these people's well-being. I will pray for them and hope they make it out alive. God, just to think, if they can do what they do to workers here in the United States, I can only imagine what corporate greed is able to do in Mexico. What a horrid situation.

I am absolutely saddened by the state of Afro-American/Black peoples, specifically here at Purdue, and I am speaking somewhat specifically to those who have come up from a lower socioeconomic background. It pains me that they are caught up on money/in capitalism and totally place too much value in the capitalist system. They define sucess by white male, business terms and live to achieve along those avenues. It pains me. There is one that I see all the time who is constantly caught up in "business propositions" and "the fast trak to wealth." I am horribly saddened. WE NEED A TOTAL REVOLUTION IN VALUES!! I think bell captures a lot in Where We Stand: Class Matters.

I am Quite Moved

My cousin Clarissa and I have been going back and forth about geneological stuff with my family. I have blogged about them before. Anyway, I had previously found an obituary for my great-great-great-grandmother Caroline Roper's father, the white methodist minister(indeed, she herself was a white woman),the Reverend John Thompson Roper, at my alma mater. I didn't copy it then, but I just recently wrote to the United Methodist Historical Collection and they sent it to me. This is my g-g-g-g grandfather, the Reverend John Thompson Roper's, obituary:


REV.JOHN THOMPSON ROPER was born in Mecklenburg *county, North Carolina,
March 30, 1810, and died at his home in Chilton county, Alabama, June 4, 1885. He
was reared principally in Gwinnett county, Georgia, and moved to Algama in the
winter of 1834-5. In the year 1836 he was converted and joined the Methodist Churr 11
A friend writes this concerning him: l' His conversion was of the old Methodist tyne -
cleargut, instantaneous and attended by the witnes~ of the spirit." He was licensed
to preach in June, 1838; joined the Alabama Conference in Januan, 18'39, and remained
a member of this Conference until his death, Jnne 4, 1885.
In 1858 he was superannuated on account of temporary blindness caused by
cataract. In this relation to the Conference he remained until called to his rest in
heaven. This man was a "pioneer preacher." If there are easy places in the life
of an itinerant Methodist preat her, he never found one. On large rircuits, on mlssions
to whites, on missions to blacks, he held on his way until his poor blind eyes
could no longer find the way. He wa8 made of firm stuff. Naturally firm as. the
storm-defying oak, he could become as flexible as the willow where no principle was
involved. Touched and fashioned by Divine grace, he learned to weep with them
that weep, and to rejoice with them that do rejoice. His saintly wife. the companion
of his toils and trials for fifty-four years, still lingers in age nnd feebleness extreme.
awaiting the call to go up higher. John T. Roper is with the dead who died in the
Lord, and his worka follow him

Oh for the sake of castration.

I met this interesting elderly man on the bus this afternoon who wore a fabulous black London Fog coat and a great grey scarf. Interesting the people that you meet.

Perk Your Ears--More Efforts to Disabuse People in the United States of Their Civil and Human Rights

I am providing a link to J. Edgar Hoover's Emergency Detention Program which came about in the 1940s and which is being revived by the Bush administration. HungryBlues' post Vague and Overbroad Powers provides a great analysis.

I wonder what would happen if the state of Israel were dissestablished and the entire area of Palestine were made into an international territory--as one plan had it--with equal rights and equal everything for Palestinians and Jews? No more Israel?

Michael Lerner gave a great talk today at American University about returning a sense of moral urgency to the Left. Very inspirational.

My sister played Double Dutch with the Thompson girls. Mr. and Mrs. Gordon had a daughter, but I don't know if she played or not.