Manchester Pride Sings Lily Allen

Let's close Pride Month with a BANG sendoff. Way to go, Manchester Pride! Why be polite when you can be GORGEOUS.

This is What Democracy Looks Like or The Great Dem Revolution

"I thought I was going to die a few times. On the Freedom Ride in the year 1961, when I was beaten at the Greyhound bus station in Montgomery, I thought I was going to die. On March 7th, 1965, when I was hit in the head with a night stick by a State Trooper at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, I thought I was going to die. I thought I saw death, but nothing can make me question the philosophy of nonviolence." - John Lewis

A Sit-In on the House Floor Over Gun Control

Congressional Democrats, led by Representative John Lewis, are protesting the House’s refusal to vote on gun-control measures. Read more...

Bullshitters Bullshittng

"Let's take America as an example. America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?"

- American-born al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn

I resolved to say nothing about the massacre in Orlando. Nothing I can say seemed meaningful.

Then, having resolved to say nothing, I read the quote above. When in pain, I return to the expressions of my childhood. No shit, Sherlock.

I feel powerless. I am horrified. I keep writing about guns. And mentally ill people (like me) go right on murdering gaggles of people. And the meaningless canned speeches, ready tears, and same-old-same-old stochastic terrorism crap goes down. We are buried up to our noses in rank bullshit, inane and ugly speeches, and salty tears. 

ISIS did it? Right. Sure. Uh huh. Be afraid. And Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, not.

Another colloquialism applies here. Do not piss on my shoes and tell me it is raining Muslims.

Toilet Laws #6 - Bomb Bomb Bomb - Bomb Bomb the Can

EVANSTON – "A small bomb exploded in the women's bathroom at a Target store in Evanston on Wednesday. 

Officials are investigating whether it’s connected to the company’s policy allowing transgender people to use the bathroom of their choice.

Commander Joe Dugan says no one was inside the bathroom when the small explosion happened a little after 4 o'clock. It caused minor damage and no one was injured.

Early indications are that a plastic bottle was used but no projectiles like nails or tacks were inside it. Investigators are gathering evidence including examining store security camera video."          

BY PATRICK ELWOOD 

Exploding a parking lot dumpster is the kind of prank Teens pull to celebrate auspicious occasions. Halloween? Finding a small bag of shrooms? Graduation?

I ask myself, Self:

• You think these are delinquent Teens at work? 
• You think these are Christian fundamentalist Teens doing God's work? 
• You think these are grown men who are "protecting their women and girls?"
• You think this is a political operative sent by Bryan Fischer?

I mention Bryan Fisher because he seems to find trans women and trans men alluring and dangerous.

I offer an illustration from his BLOG. 

I am female. I find this guy hot. If this guy exhibited brains as well as daring and fashion sense, I would be on him like pink on a rose. My sexual orientation HERE. 

And just to focus on the irony of it all - I give you the original joke. Ha ha ha, not. And the Music that inspired it all below. Covers of same may be in the comments. 

Friend of the Fetus

I just found this song. I had no idea it existed. The things I learn on the Net - just amazing.

Provided to YouTube by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings: I Am a Friend of the Foetus · Carole Rose Livingston and Mark Dann

Art by Favianna Rodriguez. 

Friend of the Fetus (Carol Rose Livingstone) 

1.
I am no friend of the fathers and mothers
I am no friend of the sisters and brothers
I am no friend to the weak and distressed
I am no friend to the poor and oppressed. 

Chorus
But I am a friend of the fetus,
A friend of incomparable worth
I am a friend of the fetus,
Right up to the moment of birth. 

2.
Once it's a baby I will not go near it,
I will not feed it and I will not rear it.
When it is crying I won't even hear it
For I have no room in my heart for a human. 

3.
I will not weep for it, I won't lose sleep for it,
I will not care for it, I won't be there for it,
I'll walk away from it, I won't go grey for it
I will not pray for it and I won't pay for it.

Sign of the Month - June 2016 - The Reason Rally

You choose the best sign from a surfeit of riches. I want to go to this rally next year. Got to be a hoot. 

I remain a theist. However, I think atheists have a damn good argument.

I want to give atheists some free advice. It probably does not help to call religious people crazy. Momma said "You get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar."

The first sign is from Reason Rally 2012. I like it so I put it in here anyway.

I am not sure what this sign has to do with reason or religion but it is kool. Kind of.

FEAR

Frank Herbert fans, do not slay me for using the Bene Gesserit litany this way. I mean it with all my heart.

LITANY AGAINST FEAR

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

Perfect Days

And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days...

- James Russell Lowell

                                          

                                                                                                                                                            "...dancing up a storm," Kelly says. It's a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. There's a little bit of mist in the distance hanging over the river. But it's a nice time."

This 1846 painting made George Caleb Bingham's career. Known around Missouri primarily as a portrait painter, he went national with The Jolly Flatboatmen with help from an East Coast arts group. Judith Brodie, curator of prints and drawings at the National Gallery, says, "If it weren't for the American Art Union, this painting may never have been painted."

READ MORE HERE...

The Toilet Laws #5 - Rebuking Target

I am at a loss for words. So I will let you see what is going on at Target and say nothing. Tell what you think, if you please. Or not. Shaking my damn head.

Okay, I lied. These folks seem to be trained carefully. They say "You cannot touch me." They leave before the cops come.

What other group can take a bullhorn and do this? Maybe we should think about doing this kind of stuff at their churches?

Seems like a dance. It is The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fundamentalists.

SuperBugs

I wrote two articles on SuperBugs. Sometimes I hate to be right. This is one of those times. I wrote one in 2013 and one in 2014.

The Poster Art comes from the WPA. I am just a small voice crying in the wilderness. 

SuperBugs in Our Food

and

A Vast Wasteland May Soon Be Upon Us

Guess what. SuperBugs are here now.

Superbugs are routine bacteria that have learned how to avoid being killed by antibiotics. When this ability extends across multiple different types (classes) of antibiotics, the bugs are deemed multi-drug resistant (MDR) and qualify as “superbugs”.

We are now entering a dangerous time in the control of superbugs. For each of the four superbug categories we know the control solutions but ensuring these get implemented is a key challenge to our health system and society.
-. M. Lindsay Grayson, Professor of Infectious Disease, University of Melbourne

Our government as a whole dithers around worrying about who pees where and does nothing. Worst Congress ever. To be fair, I must commend Obama for his actions during the Ebola crisis. But then, Obama is not Congress.

The pharmaceutical industry works only to develop drugs they can market quickly and make a huge profit on before the inevitable class action suits arrive. Many of these superdrugs, quickly developed and marketed on TV, kill and maim people. 

Work on new antibiotics, do they? GO HERE for a report on that and maybe tell me what you think. I think the large pharmaceutical companies are little more than legal drug dealers.

Congress works on keeping people from having drugs they need as a solution in the War on Drugs. See Mike Evans for how well that is working.

The Toilet Laws #4 - Some Sanity Enters the Scenario

Some sanity here from a Hispanic Republican. Good to see. We need more of this. More Hispanics in government and more sanity in Republicans.

I remember sane and dignified Republicans like Howard Baker and Margaret Chase Smith. Before LePage they were sane in Maine. Nice to be reminded that Republicans can be sane and intelligent. And bilingual. This woman is amazing. I can only repeat her sentiments in my second language. La famiglia è tutto

I am not far from the immigrant experience. My Grands emigrated from Italy. My Nonna never spoke English well. Many Americans are like me. We do not respond well to folks who trash immigrants. The KKK burned crosses in Italian neighborhoods when my Father was a toddler.

Art by Favianna Rodriguez.