Atheist Quote Of A Random Day

A continuing feature of this blog brought to you by just another atheist

An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist believes that deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanishe- Justin Brown

More Queer Thoughts Before I Sleep

So fat white boy Glen Beck is going to hold a rally to ‘Restore Honor’ and ‘reclaim the civil rights movement’ on the 47th anniversary of Dr. King’s “I have a dream’ speech. A privileged self entitled white boy speaking to other privileged and entitled mostly white people. Yep that’s going to bring honor back to America the honor of genocide, slavery and empire.

Queer Thoughts Before I Sleep

I have always been an outsider except when with other queers. So in all my social situations over the years I have been more like an anthropologist then a native. So some reactions to straight bourgeoisie society from a queer observer.

One thing you quickly become aware of as an outsider is the assumptions of a culture when you cease to share them. As an atheist I notice the ‘everyone is a Christian’ assumption, especially when I get invited to someone’s church. As a queer there is the ‘everyone is straight’ and its flip side ‘if they make me uncomfortable they must be a fag/dyke’. The last one is especially common among the more self entitled set.

That was fun, I must do some more soonish.

I Am, However, Queer

Unlike the accommodationist gays and lesbians I revel in being queer and not fitting into mainstream anything. I’m consciously altering my appearance t please me not societies standards. I have 5 ear ring piercings, I ware polish on finger and toenails and light makeup. I am taking hormones to alter me mentally and physically while still presenting as ‘male’. Do I project gender dissonance? I don’t care, my gender is my own and I will express it as I please.

Thoughts For A Dying Empire

An occasional series, which I hope, will illuminate the twilight of the American Empire

n the United States, the political system is a very marginal affair. There are two parties, so-called, but they're really factions of the same party, the Business Party. Both represent some range of business interests. In fact, they can change their positions 180 degrees, and nobody even notices. In the 1984 election, for example, there was actually an issue, which often there isn't. The issue was Keynesian growth versus fiscal conservatism. The Republicans were the party of Keynesian growth: big spending, deficits, and so on. The Democrats were the party of fiscal conservatism: watch the money supply, worry about the deficits, et cetera. Now, I didn't see a single comment pointing out that the two parties had completely reversed their traditional positions. Traditionally, the Democrats are the party of Keynesian growth, and the Republicans the party of fiscal conservatism. So doesn't it strike you that something must have happened? Well, actually, it makes sense. Both parties are essentially the same party. The only question is how coalitions of investors have shifted around on tactical issues now and then. As they do, the parties shift to opposite positions, within a narrow spectrum. – Noam Chomsky

Given today’s situation can any one doubt this is true?

Yes I am an Anarchist.

No I Am Not Gay

I notice that Shaman of Hedon is re-fighting yet again the “your just a confused gay man’ battle. Cis gay men seem to love claming trans women don’t exist, that we are really just confused gay men. Well my answer to that is bullshit, there are a lot of trans women who are lesbians, many are bisexual and others like myself are spectra sexual. The point being that NONE of us are confused gay men. We are a diverse group of women who do not appreciate being erased by a bunch of clueless gits.

Yet More Movies I Like

It’s all Jerry Coyne’s fault. He put together a list of his 20 favorite movies and invited everyone to join in. I have not forgotten I only got half way through, so here are the third group of five that are favorites of mine.

Performance

This movie altered my view of reality and gender. It starts as a gritty British gangster movie and then, after a homoeroticly charged fight and killing, veers off into a exploration identity, gender and performance. James Fox is the gangster on the run who finds shelter with Mick Jagger and Anita Pallenberg. Jagger is a musician looking for his lost demon/muse who pulls Fox into a radical self-examination of who he is.

If... (Criterion Collection)


The movie that introduced us to Malcolm McDowell in a look at the British private school as a microcosm of the brutally conformist society at large with McDowell as a anarchic rebel. Like Performance this movie blurs the line between fantasy and reality and never gives you a definitive answer to which is which.

Blow Up

A look at swinging London in the 60’s and a murder mystery or is it? David Hemmings stars, as a fashion photographer who may, or may not, photographed a murder. A deceptively leisurely paced but totally sucks you into it’s world.

Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy

OK this one is pure fantasy. A very fun and quintessentially ‘60s fantasy of space ace Barbarella played by Jane Fonda. You have drugs, sex and angels, what’s not to like?

Vanishing Point

The perfect nihilist road movie. A super charged Dodge Challenger, a handful of speed, and fifteen hours to get to L.A. The hero, played by Barry Newman, is doomed from the start and there is no real reason but amphetamine fuelled monomania for the chase. For a veteran street racer like myself it’s the perfect movie.

Atheist Quote Of A Random Day

A continuing feature of this blog brought to you by just another atheist

History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.- Robert Heinlein

I know easy wasn’t it? Yes the common thread is all three of the last atheist quotes were from Robert Heinlein the Dean of Science Fiction.

Atheist Quote Of A Random Day

A continuing feature of this blog brought to you by just another atheist

God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash and in small bills.- Robert Heinlein

There is a theme to this set of posts and it’s not that they are all atheist quotes.

Atheist Quote Of A Random Day

A continuing feature of this blog brought to you by just another atheist

The most ridiculous concept ever perpetrated by H.Sapiens is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of the Universes, wants the sacharrine adoration of his creations, that he can be persuaded by their prayers, and becomes petulant if he does not recieve this flattery. Yet this ridiculous notion, without one real shred of evidence to bolster it, has gone on to found one of the oldest, largest and least productive industries in history. - Robert Heinlein

A Cry From A Gnu Atheist

As atheists have become more vocal we are being accused of wanting to suppress religion. While I can only speak for myself this atheist does want to suppress religion but zie does want to de-privilege it. For instance I don’t care what a priest or imam preaches rather it is peace and love or all too often hate and bigotry. I just don’t want them doing it on my dime so no more automatic tax breaks for churches. If they are doing charitable work then they can apply as a non-profit if not they can damn well pay taxes like any other for profit enterprise.

When preachers step out side to pronounce on the issues of the day they don’t get to hide behind their holy book, justify their policies on their own merits if they can. And no more special exemptions from civil rights laws for them or from any other law at all for any church.

Maybe a couple of videos can express this best



and

Weeping In Depresion

I suffer from depression. Depression is no joke it can paralyze you and drive to you despair and self destructive behavior. I’m lucky that I have, with the help of my therapist, learned to control it. Still today my depression caught me and left me crying in my bed and wondering if living was worth the trouble. I recognized what was happening to me and worked through it. Without the training and work I have done I probably would have been down for the week at the least.

The point of this little tale is if you are walking in the shadows of depression get help. I know that’s easier said then done under our idiot health care system but seek what

On Being Queer

As I said recently I like being Queer and am proud of it. But what does it mean to be queer? I can only answer for myself, as the beauty of being queer is it is a different experience for every one of us. For me my Gender Queerness means my gender identity is more of a probability cloud then a point on a line. You might know where I am on the Butch/Femme, Male/Female, Queen/King line but not all at once. My fashion sense is more mix and match then men’s or women’s. I can be and have been sexual attracted to cis men, cis women, trans men, trans women and those like me who don’t fall into any of these categories. It is realizing that while our sense of gender is innate and part of who we are gender roles are societal constructs. For me it is walking in the spaces between.

Before I Sleep

It’s hard times baby, even China is starting to feel the pinch. Of course this is nothing new to those of us who are queer, gender queer and or transgender. For us it’s always hard times. Maybe that’s why we can deal with the current times better then a lot of people. If freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose then we’ve been free for a very long time.

Night Thoughts

Late, for me, and random thoughts run through my head.

Afghanistan is supposedly our longest shooting war. True if your counting overseas wars but we have been waging war on ourselves for nearly 80 years now. It is called the War On Drugs. It got rolling under Harry J. Anslinger who demonized Marijuana to give his Federal Bureau of Narcotics more power. The war was formally declared by Nixon in 1971. The U.S. Government has been losing ever since. Of course fighting a war against its own citizens has lead to high casualties such as the largest prison population in the world. It has also created a lot of very rich criminals. Way to go.

Well Prop 8 has been ruled unconstitutional for the moment so gays and lesbians are free to marry again in California. Hopefully this is a step on way to recognizing all forms of family. A girl can dream can’t she?

An Apology To The Shrub.

It seems I owe an apology to G.W. Bush. As much as it pains me to admit that smirking drunken frat boy can actually learn from experience I am forced to admit he did. He apparently learned from the disaster that is Iraq and when Cheney and the neocon’s wanted to bomb Iran in 2007. The shrub actually was bright enough to realize what a unmitigated catastrophe that would be and refused to sanction it. So props to G.W. for doing one reasonably intelligent thing as president

Another Late One

It's late again and I'm still shattered. I'm fiercely proud of being queer but don't really show it externally. So a request, I want ideas on presenting as queer. Not necessarily gender queer but queer in general. So all ideas appreciated.

Broken

It takes a lot of strength to be a trans man or women. Strength I don’t seem to have right now. Maybe I’ll feel more up to this in the morning but maybe not.

To anyone who doesn’t want to give trans women there due as women, Fuck Off And Die!

Fuck it all I can’t even achieve incoherence tonight

Thoughts For A Dying Empire

An occasional series, which I hope, will illuminate the twilight of the American Empire

We were not talking about the average white person: we was talking about the corporate money rich and the racist jive politicians and the lackeys, as we used to call them, for the government who perpetuate all this exploitation and racism.” – Boby Seale

Yes I am an Anarchist.

The Return Of The Random Saturday 13

Thirteen songs as served up by iTunes. A look inside my head via songs I like

Goliath And The Vampires by Monster Magnet
The Guns of Brixton by The Clash
Locked And Loaded by Halford
I Wanna Grow Up To Be A Politician by The Byrds
Some Heads Are Gonna Roll by Judas Priest
The Best Is Yet To Come by Scorpions
Take Hold Of The Flame (Live) by Queensryche
Anarchy In The U.K. by Sex Pistols
I Was Made For Lovin’ You by Kiss
Get Up And Get Out by Iggy Pop
You Can’t Always Get What You Want by The Rolling Stones
Black Velveteen by Lenny Kravitz
I Think Of… by Afro Celt Sound System

A Terrible Anniversary

65 years ago to day the first nuclear bomb was used operationally on the city of Hiroshima. The bombing killed 80,000 people outright. The lingering effects have brought the death toll up to 125,000 eventually.

My father was a aircraft engineer during World War II and worked on the design of the tail of the second bomb Fat Boy. He never talked about his work at Los Alamos and considered nuclear weapons pure evil. He was right they are.

The Japanese, by all accounts from their side, were as motivated to surrender by the Russian entry into the war as by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I can think of only one good thing that came out of these bombings, they were the perfect horrible example. 65 years later and no one else has used a nuclear weapon. So keep the memory of the evil that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki represent and hope that is enough to keep nuclear weapons from ever being used again.

Late Again

As in too late to do the post I wanted so you get some late night ramblings again.

Drop Dead Diva had a great episode last Sunday featuring a trans woman in one of the story lines. Not only did a trans woman play a trans woman but she wasn’t either a villain or a victim. It was the best & most realistic treatment of a trans person I have seen on TV ever.

I hate elections when neither choice can be called good. In California the governors race is between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman , neither are even vaguely good and both will sell out to the highest bidder at the drop of a hat. All that being said Brown is still the better choice. I really whish the Green Party or the Peace and Freedom Party had any chance at the ballot box.

I leave you with this song that tells what we really need;



Peace and Love to you all

Atheist Quote Of A Random Day

A continuing feature of this blog brought to you by just another atheist

In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.– Friedrich Nietzsche

Reflections On A Month Of Estrogen

I am only taking a very low dose of Estrogen, only 0.05 mg a day. This compares to the 4 mg a day my friend Carla is taking. For the moment I am more interested in the effects on my mind then my body.

I have been generally euphoric and laughed easier and more then before. While my breasts are even more sensitive then before I haven’t seen much development so far despite what Alexander and Carla say. Mostly I feel more balanced then before. I still have episodes of depression but they are far milder then before. I am still exploring the changes but so far so very good.

The Nuremberg Laws Revisited

In 1935 the Nazi Nuremberg Laws striped Jews of their citizenship in the Third Reich and also defined who was a Jew. Jews had only gained their citizenship rights in 1870 in Germany and had never been accepted by large parts of the German population like the Volkisch movement .

The British Equality Act 2010, while far more noble in purpose, does something similar to the Nuremberg Laws to trans women. In the Gender Recognition Act 2004 trans women finally got official recognition of their gender and full rights as women. The Equality Act 2010 now strips them of their true identity as women and redefines them as transsexual women whom it is legal to discriminate against in certain circumstances. Given the long history of violence and murder against trans women and men this is a very disturbing law.

We need to rally and fight this before it spreads and undoes what progress we have made. It is bad enough to have no legal protections against discrimination but it is worse by far to be picked out as a class of people who it is legal to discriminate against.

Update: As pointed out in comments I left out a vital links that explain why I find the Equality Act 2010 so problematic.

Take 357 - Back to first Principals

OK the last attempt at regular blogging failed miserably so back to the beginning I thin k. A few posts to re-introduce myself to start, then on to other things.

To those of you who have continued to come back in the until now, forlorn hope of new content thank you.

Stay tuned the queer girl is just getting warmed up.