Category: society

Critical Mess

For my readers who aren’t local, critical mass or critical mess as we call it, is a monthly gathering of cyclists from all over the bay area to ride the streets of SF. It is held the last Friday of every month and varies from 1 to 5 thousand cyclists. The event started some years ago over problems w/vehicle/cyclist roadrage incidents. Or more correctly, it started over the refusal of motorists to share the roadways of SF w/cyclists.

I am a regular cyclist and am a firm believer in the original ideal. However, the event itself has turned into a chaotic disgusting excuse for hoodlums and radicals to wreck havoc on anyone in a gas-powered vehicle. And the calls run the gambit from simple harrassment to all out assaults on any readily available person in a vehicle.

My question is, what purpose does this serve? Vehicles aren’t going away. And this attitude certainly doesn’t foster any sort of cohabitation of the roadway. I mean clogging up traffic is fine in my opinion but attacking people’s vehicles just because? Standing in front of an ambulance trying to get to someone in need? Come on, that’s childish at best. I’ve heard the argument that “they [motorists] deserve it for all the years cyclists had to be leary of cars.” Well last time I checked, two wrongs don’t make a right. Instead of protesting peacefully and making a powerful point, you get a bunch of juvenile wanna-be’s acting out like petulant children. Grow up already.

Micro Bigot XP

Just in time for 2006 Micro Bigot XP!
Credit goes to Pam’s House Blend for the artwork and to Ameriblog for the link

Haven’t you heard? Microsoft has done away w/its new operating system Longhorn for a much more ‘christian-friendly’ version dubbed Microbigot XP. Don’t worry fellow ‘mo’s. It is only on-sale to ‘god-fearing-bible-thumping-wackos’. No more updates, no more viruses ever. Why? Well, since it is based on good wholesome ‘family values’ there won’t be any need. Besides, who needs a virus protection program when Jehovah is on your side? You can just open up your bank account and “tithe” accordingly and remain virus free.

All I have to say is FUCK YOU Microshit! They actually think that this shitstorm is gonna blow over if they pretend like it was all a ‘misunderstanding’. Riiiiiiiiiight!

In case you are completely clueless as to what I’m talking about, check out Ameriblog on the scandal. The short version: Billy & CO originally endorsed the bill to end discrimination against gays/lesbians and then lo and behold after a meeting w/ONE christian fanatic and being threatened w/a boycott, Microsoft suddenly never meant to endorse the bill. They are only neutral. *This neutrality effectively killed the bill* Then the “official” excuse by CEO Steve Palmer was down right insulting in its blatant disregard for the facts, past and present. The real pisser is he actually never thought it would go public and make a big deal. Of course, now the more they try and rationalize it away the bigger it is going to get. lol

I guess we aren’t the only ones w/an ‘agenda’.

Who Are You?

I took this personality test from Republic of T’s blog. I’m completely the opposite of him it seems.

My results.

ENFJ- The Teacher
Your Type is 100% Extroverted, 12% Observant, 6% Logical and 50% Structured
Your type is known as the teacher, or the educating mentor. You also
belong to the larger group, called idealists. You tend to bring out the
best in other people. You lead without seeming to do so. People are
naturally drawn to you. You expect the very best from people which
takes the form of enthusiastic encouragement which is so charming that
people try their best not to disappoint you. You share your personality
type with 3% of the population.
You need to feel a deep and meaningful connection to your romantic
partners, and go to great lengths to understand and please your mate.
Harmony is vitally important to you, and you often put others’ needs
before your own. You have a pretty thin skin and are easily hurt.
Although you strive for harmony, when your values or ethics are
violated, you can be very emotional, confrontational, and even
punishing. However, you are very insightful about the underlying cause
of conflicts, and an excellent communicator, so you have the tools to
bring about a quick and peaceful resolution as long as you can keep
control of your facilities. You want to be appreciated for your
thoughtfulness and compassion. You need your partner to make a real
effort to get to know you. Above all, you need to be able to express
your feelings and have them taken seriously.
Your group summary: idealists (NF)
Your type summary: ENFJ

vincex’s shorter version of this test.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
You scored higher than 79% on outgoing
You scored higher than 9% on observant
You scored higher than 4% on logical
You scored higher than 75% on structured

Link: The Quick and Dirty Personality Test written by unpretentious2 on Ok Cupid

Check out his blog to see how he did. How did you score?

Random Tidbits

Lets see, not much to report today. Mostly random crap that I feel worth mentioning.

First, Republic of T had a great post regarding the Shiavo case and the Democrats total lack of a voice during the whole process. While I’m normally of the mindset that the “christian-not-right” drive more people to my side than against with all their madness, it would be nice if more than a few Dems. would grow a spine and voice an opinion once and awhile. As I’m writing this, I am thinking originally the Democrats probably thought it was a non-issue and the fact that the republicans latched onto it w/such fervor caught them completely by surprise. As a result, the Dems. are caught w/their jaw open staring in total disbelief at the sheer ignorance of the republican party. Well, thats my hope anyway.

The BCC contest this past Thursday went well. We got 3 more really good contestants. *I’ll have photos of the contest posted by Sunday on the BCC site. There are two more preliminaries to go before the finals so any of you locals who are having thoughts of making a go of it, get off your duff and get down to The Powerhouse next Thursday. You can even download an application to compete here.

TH’s family is in town for the weekend so I won’t get any solo time w/him until at least Monday. I know it is selfish to want him all to myself but at least someone I know has good family ties.

roblog is doing a bit better in his drama as of late. I’m very happy to hear that. I’m trying to squeeze in another lunch in w/him so we can catch up.

I think I discovered a way to create a static html/php page using a plugin I found for WordPress. WTF you say? Static just means its one page instead of several. It would make it much easier for me to copy/past code into the layout of the new template. Thats is kind of low priority right now but I promise I’ll eventually get to it.

I’ve been hitting the gym sporadically but I’m almost back into my normal routine. I’ve lost some strength all over but not as much as I had feared. I got a nice pump today from my chest workout and that put me in a good mood. *G* The eye candy today was better than usual as well.

I was released on the fire side at work which means I can work solo over there now. *We are in the process of taking over dispatching from the Fire Dept.* The down side to that means I’ll be back on the PD side Monday and no more getting off early.

I think thats about it. No deep thoughts today. Just sort in the moment.

Ignunce At Its Finest

I’ve been quiet about the whole Teri Shiavo case as I’ve been waiting to see how it unfolds. Let me say for the record, if I was in Teri’s shoes, I would not want to be kept alive that way. I am of a firm belief that there comes a time when you are faced w/a quantity of life vs a quality of life. Even if she does get ‘better’ as some limited few have stated. Better does not mean she will recover people. Their version of better means she would be confined to a bed the rest of her life and only be kept alive by the machines attached to her. Thats not living!

But, I can’t say who is right or wrong because I don’t know. What I can say is Congress’s actions are beyond deplorable. They have turned this horrible case into a political statement to appease their conservative base. Even with public opinion polls showing a whopping 75% of Americans would not want to be kept alive. I was reading some comments on Dunners’ blog and stumbled across a ‘holier-than-thou’ mentality. These people crack me up. They feel no shame in meddling in someone else’s life because of their own misguided beliefs. Let me spell it out for you. Keep your nausiating beliefs in your own backyard and leave me alone.

Today is a scary day indeed folks. This case will set a precident that could haunt us for decades. Congress does not need to be meddling in our personal lives. Once the line is crossed, there is no turning back.

On a side note, this article might be of use. If you do not have a living will or at the very least a DNR (do not resuscitate) in place, you are asking for the same thing to happen to you!

You Should Die Because Your Bad

I left my first derogatory comment on someone’s blog today. But it wasn’t directed toward the owner, nay. It was directed towards a very insensitive fuck who thinks he has the right to say someone deserves to die over having bad habits. I know, I know, “moby your rambling again, please focus and explain.” Well, I’m getting there, keep your panties on.

Feeling a bit euphoric from such a great evening, I was trying to catch up on my blogroll. I’m scrolling thru Andymatic, whom I love reading, and I come across this post about the San Diego Diocese blocking a catholic funeral because the deceased was gay and owned a gay night club. I’m not surprised at this point until I’m reading the comments and schmucko aka Mark Ness left this lovely comment.

# Mark Ness Says:
March 19th, 2005 at 3:10 pm

John died of a drug overdose, not congestive heart failure. Anyone in the ‘industry’ knows what really happened here.

While I don’t agree with the Diocese in this case, the guy got what was coming.

Of course, he didn’t leave an email or web address. I can only surmise because his balls are about the size of snow peas but I digress.

Let me first say, anyone who knows me, knows I have zero tolerance for drug use. I can honestly say I’ve never even smoked a joint and I have no desire too. I make no secret about the fact that I have zero respect for people who use drugs. I also have the greatest respect for people who realize the destructiveness of what their doing and clean up their act. Point made? Having no respect for someone in no way translates into saying I think they deserve to die. I’ve only wished death on one person in my life and I’m sure the very few of you who have been with me since the beginning of my blog can guess who.

I can’t help but be reminded of the Lord of the Rings. I know its a cheesy reference but I find the statement very relevant here. The quote goes almost like this

“..many live that deserve to die. Many die that deserve to live. Do you have the power to give the latter their life back?”

So my point to you Mr. Goody-two-shoes, is don’t be so quick to deal out such harsh judgment to people, gay or straight. The same comments have been made about gays and PWA’s too often for my liking. By making this horrible statement, you sink to the level of the very hate-mongers we oppose.

Enough said? Good, moving on….

Boy Scouts Having Their Way w/You

This just chaps my hide.

(snip)
Senate Majority leader Bill Frist has introduced legislation that would make it illegal to bar the Boy Scouts from using pubic facilities.

(snip)
If Frist’s ”Support Our Scouts Act” becomes law the federal government would be obliged to support the Scouts and state and local governments would be required to give Scouts access to their facilities if they make them available to other groups.

Frist (R-Tennessee), a former Scout, tried to pass a similar bill last year, but he found little support at the end of a busy year in Congress.

Other Senate co-sponsors include Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander, Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning, Montana Republican Conrad Burns, Idaho Republican Larry Craig, Nevada Republican John Ensign, Florida Democrat Bill Nelson and Oregon Republican Gordon Smith.

I’m happy to read that the bill has no where near enough support to pass but balls of this guy is astounding. First off, even if it did pass, it would get shot down in the courts as it would cleary be unconstitutional. DUH! Leave it to a dim-witted, narrow-minded republican to come w/a brand new way to waste tax payer dollars.

I got a tickle out of the rest of the story though. Apparently, since their “come to jesus” decision to exclude gays, the scouts aren’t doing so well. Go figure.

(snip)
Meanwhile an FBI investigation is continuing into allegations that the Boy Scouts of America is inflating its membership to gain funding. (story)

The number of scouts has dwindled since it became embroiled in the dispute over gay scouts.

Membership in the BSA has declined since the Supreme Court ruling. But, in cities where agencies like the United Way continue to fund the BSA it is alleged that troops are being encouraged to list fake names as members to boost enrolment making the group eligible for more money.

Poor things, they have to resort to lying to boost their numbers..Wait! Isn’t lying a sin? *checking the holy-roller text* Why! yes it is! SCANDAL.

New Definition for Terrorism

I’ve seen this happen quite a bit but I’ve kept quiet about it. With the new legislation passed after 9/11, the term ‘terrorism’ has taken on a life of its own in this country. Every time someone thinks a crime is heinous or serious they refer to it as terrorism. I offer a big….WHATEVER!

So now your thinking, “WTF are you rambling about Moby?” Well, I’m catching up on headlines this AM and I stumbled across this story about the accidental release of a list of names involving people who are HIV positive. Apparently, some of the folks on the list received a harassing letter stating that someone knew their names was on the states list of HIV positive people. While I am of the firm belief said person who did this is a big time coward, sending someone a harassing letters is not an ‘act of terrorism’. For clarity I’ll say it again, I think the person responsible needs his ass whooped. Clear enough? Good…moving on.

For the record, the word terrorism is defined as the calculated use of violence (or threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature.

All I’m saying is we have a habit overreacting as a society at times and this a is a glaring example of such. Don’t even get me started on the whole “patriotic” issue anytime someone w/half a brain disagrees w/our not so brilliant leader & chief.

I’m all for punishing the pathetic waste of skin that did this however, yelling “wolf” every time only serves to diminish the belief that the wolf exists.

A Day of Days!

Today is a Day of Days folks! (Bonus points if you know where I stole this quote from) Ok, so apparently I should watch the news more often. I got to work and plugged in before I knew this ruling came out!

San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer ruled that keeping gays and lesbians from getting marriage licenses is unconstitutional.

If the ruling is upheld on appeal, it would pave the way for the nation’s most populous state to follow Massachusetts in allowing same-sex marriages.

Kramer’s opinion came in a pair of lawsuits that were trying to overturn the state’s statutory ban on gay marriage.

Talk about a scandal and a half. Someone call Martha! I can only hope it survives the appeal. Ok, scratch that, I didn’t actually find out on the news. I read it on T’s blog. Dunner and Towleroad got in on the act too. Check’em out for more details if you haven’t already.

Painful Reminder

I’m killing two birds w/one rant today. I’m trying to distract myself from my life and be more a “topical blogger” today. Taken straight from Towleroad comes today’s idiocracy. [1]yes, I know it is a made-up word.

(Story) A group of delinquents decides to go out for a wholesome day of fag bashing. They beat up a couple of fags and then get arrested. I’d blame the parents but that wouldn’t do any good. I’m sure by now they absolved themselves of any moral responsibilities by claiming the ‘fags’ were asking for it. Meanwhile, the main culprit tries to turn into a ‘gay panic’ defense. How 80’s can you get? Forgetting for a moment, there was no mention of the victims approaching the suspects at anytime. But hey, who needs facts right? Tish! Tosh!

Wait! I think I’m channeling Miss Cleo. . .I’m having a vision. . . Boys beat up fags, boys get arrested sent to jail, news station does a biased interview and edits out all of the real facts for the their own more wholesome version, public is outraged. Film at Eleven. Oh wait, nevermind. That’s already happened. Maybe I’m channeling Martha from prison. Oh well, so much for my psychic abilities.

References

References
↑1 yes, I know it is a made-up word.