Gender Confusion

Man and woman. We have, at our most basic, defined ourselves along those line since the rise of Homo sapiens. Our outer covering, our biological form, our morphology, was the most obvious division that could be made between human beings. That difference was used time-and-again to create rules, tell stories, and try and mold human societies, large and small. Women were often placed in the inferior position, treated more like cattle than people, prized for their power to create children and for their beauty. Men, bigger and stronger, took on the tasks of hunting, scouting, and providing. At the time of the evolution of true humans, these differentiations perhaps provided the necessary framework for the growth of humanity. But now they are an impediment, in more ways than one.

We Have Shutdown

And so, with the clock ticking inexorably toward a shutdown of the Federal government, the principals in the drama continue their sparring. It's not so much a matter of the final number, given how close the sides are, but of ideology. It boils down to this: the Republicans want to cut the budget by cutting social programs. The Democrats want more structured cuts, across the board, including defense. The gap is small, in budgetary terms, but may as well be the Grand Canyon as far as party dogma goes.

The hour approaches, and with it, trepidation. What will the morrow bring?

Why Rape Is Not About The Victim

There are two parties to a rape: the perpetrator and the victim. The perpetrator performs the act of rape on the victim; this means, that the rapist forces the victim to have an act of sexual congress without their tacit assent, or having withdrawn previous assent. It is, short of murder, one of the more horrifying crimes in the world, because at the end, the victim has something taken from her (or him) that they cannot so easily get back: their dignity and sense of whole self. The shame and humiliation that come with being raped, however, are mainly a function of society, not the rape victim. Society, throughout history, has deemed rape a form of "victim-less crime," through the tired and absurd idea that "she was asking for it." This perplexing idea, that simply by the way a woman dresses or acts, she completely unhinges a man's sensibilities to the point of forcing her to have sex, is as baseless as other discredited ideas, such as the flatness of the Earth or the Sun and planets revolving around our home, or the universe being made of crystal spheres.

Where The Right Gets It Wrong

I might be tarred as criminally insane by some for attacking the conservative movement in America so vigorously, but I take any damnation of my calling out their hypocrisy as solid praise, for I have struck a nerve to have bothered anyone by my admonitions. For surely, in a world where reason was ascendant, it would be obvious when the fool and the huckster were attempting to woo us with sweet lies and grand obfuscations.

In our world, though, reason has taken a back seat to ignorance. The masses are more concerned with the petulant bombast of drug-hazed actors and the latest tiny glowing box to be foisted unnecessarily upon them to eat up their remaining credit limit, than they are the real and important state of their government and their nation. The victory for independence won over two hundred years ago, they feel no need to be engaged, considering all the important work done as long as they can continue to buy their over-priced, faux-Italian coffee.

The Man Who Will Never Be President

As the Presidential Election circus approaches, we take a moment to consider one act under the political big top that has outlived its useful life. I speak of none other than Newt Gingrich.

As Speaker of the House of Representatives, he engineered and steered the Republican victory of 1994 that saw them sweep into power in Congress. He of the “Contract For America,” proceeded to do a dance with President Bill Clinton, hamstringing him when convenient, attacking him when necessary, and compromising as little as possible. He would have been more successful, too, if greed and over-arching pride had not gotten the better of him. Ethically-challenged and morally-suspect, he went from Republican avatar to his own worst enemy in the matter of a few years.

Now, he wants to be President.