A View from A Broad

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Hey, who got me the Mother Earth News? It's so cool and it just makes my geeky hippie heart flutter with, well, geekiness.

Oh, who's a big fluffy ~~puppy~~ cow?

I think he's cute. But I still am going to have some form of meat for breakfast.

Fuck the IRS
I made less than two grand last year. My refund is less than four hundred bucks. I filed online. When I checked, they said I should have my refund electronically deposited by today. It wasn't. I called. They said they 'were working on it.' How much 'work' does it fucking need? No deductions, no interest, nothing. I had zippo. What the fuck are they doing, chiseling it on stone tablets in ancient Babylonion cuneiform?!

So no tax refund until they're damned good and ready.

And if I have to hear "The Waltz of the Goddamned Snowflakes" one more fucking time, I'm going to throw stuff and that scares the cats.

How not to be a troll
Don't address a woman thusly: My, aren't we the entitled little cunt today?

How to spot a nice guy
There's a mammoth thread over at Shakesville right now that features the lamest bunch of losers you could imagine----whiny white boys who took offense at a discussion of sexism on a feminist blog of al things! My God, the horror! Why, white guys suffer, too, you know! The thread is nine hundred comments long, and it's like a bingo palooze, featuring the guy I linked to last night and dozens of other dudes, calling women cunts, telling us to go get laid, and being twitchy and paranoid. They share a complete inability to actually listen to what women say, leaping to conclusions and filling in sentences with whatever they need to suit their purposes. This last is a classic trollism, because trolls and some men like to ignore what women say in favor of what they'd like women to say. (When you put words into a woman's mouth, what you're doing is the same tactic that 'no means yes' apologists are doing. Of course, clueless assholes like to say that being called on racist, sexist, homophobic dogwhistles amount to putting words in their mouths, but that's bullshit. "Welfare queen" is not a phrase that indicates a royalist revolution, asshole.)

Here, for your amusement, I bring you the classic Nice Guy.

Women- please read this short true story from my life.
1. "Now gather round and listen to the story of a man named Jed..." Oh, sorry. He only wants female attention, see that? Get lost, men.

I had a very good friend growing up. 2. I DO TOO have female friends! She used to call me the nicest guy she ever met. She was very quiet but friendly. I too was a quiet and friendly guy... not without my flaws but certainly not offensive in any way. 3. I was a NICE guy! Who better than to call them than myself?! Well as it so happened, we part ways after high school, seeing each other a lot less. She decided to major in women's studies and sociology. 4. DAH DAH DUM! As time went on, our occasional phone calls and hanging out turned into more and more of her political views. I listened as any friend would, the conversations initially were interesting and nothing seemed at all unusual. After some time she seemed to start treating me differently... no longer the close and personal friend, I felt more like an outsider.5. SHE WAS TURNING INTO A FEMINAZI! Also, she wouldn't fuck me or get me beer or listen to my rants about Playstation and how I got fired for hygiene problems. I found out why when one day it came out-she said I was sexist, ignorant and uneducated. Although you might think I'm omitting an important detail, I promise you I'm not. 6. All right, Mr. Nice Guy, that totally settles it. I'll take your word for it! This all was very unwarranted. Several of our mutual friends also had similar problems and I finally decided it was enough and simply stopped talking. 7. My imaginary friends, let me show you them. I tried reason. Nothing worked. 8. Hysterical bitch. Luckily, years later, she moved near me and I got the guts to call and try to make amends. She had since graduated and moved on to other things, even got married. 9. Even though she was a ball busting bitch. She regretted how she treated me those years earlier and apologized. It was a good feeling to have that friend back.. but I'll never forget what it's like having a best friend who I grew up with call me all these names and suddenly become very hostile. 10. And it's TOTALLY TRUE! An anonytroll said it, so it MUST be true!

I only tell this story because I wonder if some of you are reacting the same way my friend did?11. You overly emotional, stupid cunts. I won't defend every guy out there, but one fact does strike me as interesting... and that is the number of "democrats" who support Hillary but will vote McCain if Obama gets the nomination. 12. TOTALLY TRUE! It's a lot different than the number of Obama supporters who will abandon ship. 13. ALSO TOTALLY TRUE!11 So what does that say about these people? 14. Well, considering they're your imaginary friends, Sparky, why don't you give us the creator's eye view? What is this? Gary Stu and his playmates? I don't know, but my guess is that to them, sex is so important of an issue to them they would rather see Hillary's short term competitor (Obama) fail than see her, and the democratic party's opponent (McCain) fail... simply because they percieve Obama's success as being directly linked to percieved misogyny. 15. Of course! It's only perceived sexism, because Einstein here doesn't see it, had a female friend once who was mean to him---wouldn't you love to get her side of it, if she existed?----and those vicious cunts would rather let ~~Darth McSame~~ win than untwist their panties and get over their perceived sexism.

There you have it, 'women'. He has female friends, and one of them was mean to him, graduated from college---which makes him at least ten years older than I get from this tale of woe----and now he jsut wants to help us.

God, I need more bingo cards.

How to be a troll in one easy lesson
Tell her this:

I've seen some stupid shit written on the internet, but claiming that the United States is misogynist has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. I'm not going to say that being a woman in the US is easy, as that would be equally ridiculous, but to say what you did when there are societies that thrive on misogyny is just mind boggling to me. Open a history book or do some research
about the laws in a few other countries before you post something like that, maybe you won't look
like such a tool next time.

Do I really need to go into this? My favorite is a tie between: YOU'RE LUCKY, BITCH! and how he doesn't get that telling a woman that she doesn't know anything about her own history and country is not just a teensy bit sexist and assholish.

I went down the block to ask my neighbors to turn their car stereo down, picking up bottles and cans as I went to put in the recycling. When I got to the passenger side window, I found myself looking into a handful of meth and a guy who looked like Kevin Federline, the inbred edition. "Um, can you turn that down?"

"Thank you," said Kevin.

Dude, if you're going to be doing drugs in broad daylight, do you think you should keep your fucking stereo down? Morons.

Then, to really underline the point, I get back home, wipe my hands off, and get a whiff of weed coming in the window from the little house where the other Kevin Federline lives. Then comes a huge BANG as they set off something that makes a rather loud explosion. Dude, anything that large is probably illegal, plus I have a suspicion you're dealing, too. Why not just wear a sign?

Sheesh.

And now I'm left with Kevin #1's buck teeth, lack of chin, unibrow, and pocky skin in my mind. Yuck. Imagine if your family tree of full of Carrot Tops, what the end product would be. Yikes. That was him.

Huh. YOu know, it just amazes me how disingenuous my conservative trolls are. They say that I 'don't deserve the gift that is life', or host people who say shit like that----

atomicsappertom I'm looking at you---and then they pretend they're all neutral and shit, when in fact, they were predisposed to hate me or any liberal or feminist, and broke my rules so they could whine about how mean and cruel I am. Of course, then the hatred just piles on and then you have people looking to find out who I really am, where I live, and so forth. They whine that I'm mean to conservatives; what they always neglect to mention is the asshole, say, who called rape victims frothing man haters so he could tout his sexual assault as the one, true, only sexual assault. They also ignore the fact that this is my blog, I set the rules, and if you break those roles---i.e,. coming here specifically to get banned---then the fault is yours, Mr. Conservative Moral Neutral Logically Perfect asswipe.

So I don't deserve to live and you think you can diagnose what's wrong with me. Here's what's wrong with you: you're all cowardly assholes who think you're too special to respect someone's rules, someone's privacy, someone's standards. The funny thing, the inescapable difference between these conservatives and me is that I'm not interested in invading their privacy, finding their real identity, locating their home address, threatening their safety, or any of that. Time and again, these people have threatened that, and tried to accomplish it. YOu know what? There's several people with my name on the web. To find me, you had to either pay for the information or somebody gave it to you. You guys all have the same friends and spout the same bullshit. Guilt by association is nothing but appropriate here. I can't tell one asshole from another one, not when they say the same shit, make the same threats, and parrot the same conservative talking points.

Guilt by association? You all have been doing this shit for years, regurgitating the same lies and bullshit about me from blog to blog, all the same, and now you're trying to track me down? I've never done that. I never will. I guess that's what passes for conservative honor these days.

Do try and justify this shit. Really. Come on. I dare you. By hosting it in your blogs, letting people post it in your comments, allowing it to go unpunished, you've fostered a community of stalkers and you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Bitch and moan all you want about OMG SHE'S SO MEEN but you can't get around the fact that it's you guys who've been winking at this stuff for years. Bitching at me wasn't good enough because I just decided to ignore you assholes, ban you from my blog, and get on with things. Then this malevolent shit began. How do you live with yourselves?

As examples:

Number one: PSA #1: Public availability of information
I get the impression that some people really don't get just how... transparent the universe has become. Between google, public directories, and a few other tools, there's more information about you out there than you really want to face up to. Public personnas, especially, are _easy_ to track down. At that point, it very much becomes a matter of what you choose to do with the information.

Number twoi disagree. whatever problems ginmar has, they are no excuse for behavior unless she is well and truly an unmedicated paranoid schizophrenic. she has proven to me that she is not worthy of her gift of life, and i'm not going to apologize for that judgement. and i'll only retract it when she decides to 1) medicate and/or 2) become a useful person, instead someone who's sole interest seems to be spreading hate and poison.

i honestly don't think you need to apologize to her, tom. the only one you need to apologize to is yourself, for wasting so much time on her.

Number 3: Eat shit, you fucking cunt. Iraqis could have raped your lying bitch ass up, down, and sideways for all I care, but I wouldn't even ask them for the film footage because a whore as repulsive as yourself would only be of sex value as a slash film, which clearly they never bothered to make. Since your life is of more value to them as an American traitor than it is as as a rotten corpse. (Wait, I just now realized that they got both. You stink of societal decay.)

Redacted: my first name, which only my friends use: you can kiss my filthy white capitalist ass, you dog-munging fuckwhore. Eat shit and die.

(PS - I'd be honored to be banned by you. All the best people seem to be on that list. Thanks!)

Number four, same person as three

My name redacted. This person threatens me, then addresses me like we're buddies?

I'd like to apologize for the postings I made last night on your LJ, and for descending to that level again in our exchange of comments this morning.

I was inebriated and stupid. Excuse number one! I intended to insult you in the most offensive way possible. You've attacked my friends in this way, and at the time I thought it was justifiable Excuse number two! It was not. I do not stoop to that level sober and I should not have done it drunk. Excuse number three!

If I don't like someone, I avoid them. The only reason I'm posting here is to do that. I understand there's a firestorm of comments about me. I haven't read them and am not interested in doing so. I *would*, however, like to apologize - as a civilized person - for not having been one last night. That level of offensiveness is never justified; it is beneath my dignity as a writer and a professional.

An apology, however, is not.

But blaming it on the person you threatened is.

Here's a clue, conservatives: blaming your behavior on the victim and on booze is not okay. It's on you. Funny, in all the years I've been blogging, I've never revealed someone's identity, or threatened them with stalking or rape.

Here's another clue: telling somebody they're crazy and too angry is a double-edged sword. If they're genuinely crazy, then you're an asshole. If they're not crazy, you're a liar. If they're justifiably angry, you're a tool. If they're not angry you're a manipulative shit for denigrating them. Oh, yeah, and calling women 'too angry' has a long history to it, whether or not you're a woman. Women who do this to other women are just sucking up to men. Men who do it are, as I noted above, manipulative assholes.

I've not been shy about writing about my struggles with PTSD. My detractors want to blame it on my PTSD, but also want to claim that I'm a bitch to begin with.

How do you live with yourselves? You're sane, adult, and like to consider yourself logical, fair, balanced, and superior. You disgust me.

Dear VA:
Is it too fuckin' much to ask that you remember one single goddamned thing I tell you, like the fact that I need a week's lead time to get a van ride with the DAV? Huh?

God, they don't even bother trying. Three years now, and it's like I hvae to fuckin' repeat every goddamned thing every time. I'm so sick of this.

The medication is not working well any longer, either. Here comes another fight with the nurse.

doryllis and I ran some errands yesterday, and I actually survived. We went out to the PX to see what they had in gardening stuff---not much---and also made stops at Half Price Books and the dollar store. Ah, cheap toilet paper, yay. Their candles were not nearly as nice as the one near my house.

Today I was supposed to put out canned goods for the mailman to pick up, but I missed him. Bummer. It's a dark and sullen day with rain expected, but I have some good books to read and the girls stopped by. C gave me a violin recital with the tiniest violin I have ever seen, and K planted some pots. C practiced her violin in front of the house, and mom drove by, looking for someone to take J, the three year old boy. Nope, not me.

I was watching The Today Show yesterday when I saw the horror show that is the Duggars, the Quiverful family that has seventeen kids and counting. They are such a scam. They run seminars that talk about 'financial independance' but what they leave out is that they rely on donations and sponsorships and things like that. The girls are expected to do all the housework, and won't be going to college. The kids all have names that begin with J---after their dopey-looking dad, which as trollprincess noted, makes it seem like the kids are all the dad's work. God, if ever a guy needed a vasectomy, it's Jim Bob Duggar. When Mom announced she was pregnant again, some of the kids couldn't conceal their horror. They're probably going for an even twenty, which is just obscene in terms of ecological footprint and selfishness. The planet has more than enough people, thank you very much. Ugh. I If they were black, the outrage would be utterly stupendous. Eighteen black kids, the horror. These people could adopt, but they want to raise an army for God, and that requires their own genes.

Which brings up some interesting contrasts with the FLDS cult. In the FLDS, excess boys are competition, not valued soldiers in an army of God. It's all about raping little girls. I suppose one could say for the Duggars that they aren't killing their kids, which the FLDS appears to have done in at least some cases. Bad as the Duggars are, they aren't murdering anybody, and they started their family after both partners were adults. Rusty Yates was another one of these Quiverful sorts, but he was so cold hearted and selfish that he didn't care what it cost his wife. I have to wonder at the pillow talk in the Duggar household. Hell, I have to wonder at the sleeping arrangements. Those kids sleep in dorms without any privacy. The girls haven't had any childhood. Statistically, there's got to be two gay kids in that bunch. I wonder how many of them will rebel?

I'm reading Under the BAnner of Heaven and while I'm doing that I think I'll put Cloverfield on the computer so as to have a counterweight to all the murder and frightening freakiness in the name of raping little girls.

Here's a picture of a tiny house.

K's been over a few times this week, but I finally got tired today and told her she was not going to be allowed to snap at me. I sent her home. If you don't repeat stuff a jillion times she just hears what she wants, but if you dare repeat something she yells. Bye; off you go. One day she cried on my shoulder after her mom yelled at her for doing something her grandmother had said was okay. The next day she brought her little brother over, which made me blanch because the brother already thinks it's cute if he misbehaves. He gets into everything. I don't want to take care of him and K just brought him over. She's been taking the rules more and more for granted, and I've been very cross with her. Argh. I've been reminding her for quite some time not to ask for anything without the word 'please' but there's some other manners lessons that need to be enforced. I'm going to have to be more of a hard ass, because just because she thinks of this place as a refuge from her family does not mean it's a refuge from rules and good manners. She thinks she can come in here, take food without asking, look cute, and I won't mind. She's smart enough to know better but it just doesn't seem to register.

Dealing with the girls has made me realize just how different the thinking processes of a child are and how wrong it is to judge most of them as adults. I'm not sure how much of K's behavior is deliberate or indifferent, but it's definitely due to her age and her bringing up. C makes the case clearer. She's very much the product of her upbringing and it shows. I'm still trying to break her of the notion that saying 'sorry' makes her continued flouting of my rules somehow acceptable. No, it just gets you sent home.

Jezebel actually got the cupboard open the other day, which scares me because she doesn't differentiate between cat food and food stuffs. I stocked up on staples and they're in the same kind of containers as her cat food, and she's not shy about knocking them over to see what's in them. Then again, she must be hiding her thumbs from me or something because she can open screw top containers. That's enough to make you break out into a cold sweat.

Rape is not a crime; at least eight more rapists walk around free
You remember the De Anza rape case, right? Three female soccer players rescued a gang rape victim from eight members of some of the school's sports teams, who were gathered around a naked, vomit-smeared, unconscious girl. "She did this to herself," said a basketball player.

May be triggering.

( Read more... )

The Sheriff's Department declined to interview the three women who saved the girl, so, duh, they didn't have enough evidence to pursue the case. That means at least rapists are wandering around, to say nothing of the men and women who have spent the year since then harassing the three rescuers.

Deborah Saunders doesn't try and deny that what these men did is rape. The boys will be boys excuses don't take long to appear, though.

But then she truly goes off the deep end. She questions the victim's decision to file a civil suit. She quotes an attorney who represents the son of the owners of the house where the rape took place as saying, "The issue isn't whether it's acceptable conduct, the issue is whether it's a crime," and then follows with this stunner:

And if it is a crime, is it the same as premeditated rape? It may well be that civil courts are better suited to redress what happened at that March 2007 party.

According to Grolle and another source, the vomit on Jane Doe was not hers. Is it in society's interest to prosecute kids who are months older than Jane Doe for doing things in an alcohol-fueled atmosphere that they never would have done sober or alone? I think there's reasonable doubt.

If it's a crime? Jesus wept. When is rape not a crime? Oh, yeah, that's right. The past week has been full of rapes that weren't taken seriously, plus one accusation of rape made under duress to a murderer.

Eight more rapists are free, and God only knows how many men who sympathize with them, want to be them, want to rape if they could. The difference between Western society and the supposedly primitive societies we criticize is this: those societies don't make any pretense of being fair to women. We do. Deep down, it's just a matter of degree. Western women have rights that don't get taken seriously, don't get enforced, and don't do any good. Western societies offer women hope where there is little to none. Our population is full of rapists, rape victims who never got justice, and men who love the idea of rape so much that they defend it by blaming the victim for it all.

Yeah, we're so superior.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/rnr/670373958.html

Death Toll in Myanmar may reach 60,000
There are some good links in the comments.

Sixty thousand may be dead, while millions are homeless and injured.

Post links of your own if you've got them.

Self defense for women
This is what happens when women defend themselves. Women, aware of an earlier case where a woman was stabbed to death, defend themselves.

And here's a scorned man. Much like Tracey Roberson's husband, he found his wife cheating. He killed her and got eighteen months.

How exactly, does a five foot three, hundred pound woman have a confrontation with a man who's more than a foot taller than her and a hundred pounds heavier? Where are women in the self defense laws, anyway? Self defense appears to not apply to women at all. Good women, of course, don't act on their own behalf. They have men to do it for them, because a good, non-uppity woman is not an independent actor. A good woman has a guy to fight a duel for her. A good woman, of course, never finds herself in a dodgy situation because she's so good she stays at home.

Men, of course, are happy to act this way on behalf of women because of course this means that they get to prey on other mens' women. It's a good ole boys' agreement, and it works for everyone with penis. Men get to control some women and attack others; women are kept in fear. Then the feminists came along and ruined the whole deal.

Anybody know how to set up a defense/appeal fund for Tracey Roberson? Anybody got more links?

Woman doesn't shoot guy, gets convicted of killing guy

Oh, how nice. They even used the loaded, classic phrase, 'cried rape', which I believe goes back to the Bible, and subtly twists the Bible's demand that a woman cry out when a man rapes her.

Long story short: man finds wife cheating on him, wife claims she's being raped, husband kills guy, then grand jury refuses to indict man for murder while convicting the wife 'for making her husband kill the man.'

That's funny. How many wives make their husbands do the dishes?

How abusive was this guy, anyway? He kills somebody and gets away with it, I'm finding it really hard to believe the wife didn't have good reason to be afraid for her life. Now the rest of us can be scared of this murdering asshole walking around instead of just her because the grand jury decided to teach the bitch a lesson. The way the hubbie killed the guy smacks of possession rather than protection. Who has a loaded gun at the ready like that? Who shoots four times when, frankly, one would do? The article says the daughter told the father that she thought her mom was outside--and that's enough to get the dude to come driving back home from miles away? What's between all the gaps? How often does this guy carry a gun? Was he abusive? How often? What lesson did hubby learn from this incident?

Not a good case to illustrate the idea that the bitches lie. I have to say, too, that the fact that Tracey Roberson is black no doubt played a role in the harsh grand jury decision, because sexism is so much more fun when you can pile more toppings onto it. It's sexism squared! Then there's the whole 'babymama/welfare queen' stereotype, along with the Tawana Brawley case---another case of a woman who was afraid of violence---and the Duke rape victim, who was actually victimized. Funny how those stereotypes obscure the reality that black women are something like ten times more likely than white women to get raped, and that's despite the fact that white women outnumber black women. No, the stereotype of black women is that they're both sexually voracious----which dates back to slave days, and neatly excuses white rape of black slaves----and lying bitches. You can't lose with that combination.

If Tracey Roberson had actually been raped and had shot the guy herself, she'd probably be in jail right now, whereas if she'd gotten a man to do it for her----her owner, for example, such as a husband, father, or even a son----both of them would still be free. Funny how women are still property to men and the idea of women tossing off those chains and acting on their own behalf is so horrifying that even men who were once regarded as property themselves have no trouble laying a claim to women around them. Other mens' property is fair game, though. Keeping men as property----bad. Keeping women as property----business as usual.

How come nobody's asking why she was so scared she accused her boyfriend of rape in front of her husband?

The belief that women lie, that women lie for the sheer joy of lying, and that a woman will maliciously lie to get another man killed is the reason nobody's asking why Tracey Roberson was so scared.

So a man is dead and the murderer is free, while a terrified woman faces jail for the rest of her life. Justice has been served.

"You think that was sexual assault?"
Trigger warning: A woman fights off a sexual assault and it offends a crowd of men.

I hate people. That is all. They were offended that she fought back.

I need to punch something right now.

Things I want to bitch about today
1. People who hate TV Shows, yet keep watching the damned show, then clutter up message boards with shit about how the show sucks and so forth and so on, ad nauseum. Go write some fucking fan fic, literally, in which Spike or whoever bones somebody who's not canon, then. Go do anything except watch the damned show and then be an asshole about it. Christ, get over it. God almighty, why do people do that? I mean, you hate the goddamned show. Change the channel. It's hard. We've all been there. Who hasn't watched Horatio Caine intone something in an octave-deeper voice, snap on his fucking sunglasses, and then stride off so he gets the last word? The horrifying fascination can't last, though. If you don't like Smallville, don't watch. And if you don't like it don't be an asshole and try and spoil it for other people. You're not Dorothy Parker and "OMG THIS SHOW SUCKS" does not an intelligent analysis make. Why do people do this?

MSTKing, however, should be encouraged. Any and all forms of wit should be encouraged, rewarded, and funded.

2. Women who can't disagree with other women without pulling sexist shit and then (2)denying it; and/or for bonus points (3) getting all passive aggressive and finally (4) claiming that women can't be sexist against other women. In fact, this is why I so love the Internet and all my weird Internet friends, every last weird one of you. That's a compliment, duh. Mundane women can be absolutely vile. Every time I venture away from feminist boards it's shocking to me how vicious some women can be to other women, all vying for some imaginary guy. Dude, you're never going to bone that imaginary guy. That imaginary guy is never going to bone you, even if you did meet him in real life, because you're not mature enough at the age of fifty to not treat him like he's a human being. No, he is not going to ride up to you on a white horse? Do you know horses sweat? Imagine that in your fantasy. Also, put in: spooge, and what to do with it, birth control, erectile dysfunction, vaginismus, giggling, burping, farting, the fact that you're insecure about your looks and shouldn't be, the fact that you your desire to be yourself has been stomped on for your whole life, the fact that you think that babies bring couples together, and the fact that the guy has a girlfriend in real life and is not, in fact, a tortured vampire. Or a witty vampire. Or whatever type of fantasy guy he is who wuvs you, does all the housework, and brings you roses every day and rides white horses around.

Oh, yeah, and you know what else? The heroine is not your rival. She doesn't exist. If she's well written, she has flaws and not cute ones. You know, the things you bitch about in other women? Yeah, you have them, too. Isn't that refreshing? We're all fucked up. Mr. Happy Butt of the vampire fantasy with the perfect Golden Globes probably has ratty old underwear, too. YOu're not perfect! Neither is anybody else! Hey, don't let that stop you from being vicious to other women, though. (Watch the trolls accuse me of that. Like this is the worst I'm capable of.)

The truth is, contrary to the oft-repeated accusation that feminists hate housewives, it's housewives who hate feminists. I hate it when women call other women sluts, whores, skanks, and so forth. Don't oppress other women. Don't be passive aggressive about it. Yes, you can be sexist even if you're a woman. And frankly, some of these mundane women are so vicious because they know how to hurt other women. Whether they're doing it for a real guy or a fictional one, it bites. Women who bury their aggression and hide it behind sweetness and light can be scary. At least feminists are aggressive enough and confident enough to be in your face and blunt.

3. People who keep getting reality and fiction confused. You're bitching that the heroine of a fucking TV show doesn't act like you would. Well, you know what? You're a fucking moron and it's a TV show about vampires so I kind of think the rules are a wee bit different, okay? Does it take thirteen pages of fucking qualifications and those damned polite prefaces that women have to do to really figure that out? Same goes with monster movies, zombie movies, and so forth. Don't be so anal you threaten to warp the space time continuum. Sure, nitpicking here and there can be fun. Being so anal that you apply the rules of real life to a fictional universe is annoying and reveals just how little imagination you have. Does it work in the fictional world of that particular verse? Yes? No? Then bugger off.

4. Myself for venturing out amongst fandom n00bs. God help me, but after a few minutes' exposure to the romantic-novel poisoned mundane demographic, I have a whole new appreciation for the kinkiest, weirdest, sickest, stupidest fans out there. Wymym type feminists? I love you. Fluffy unicorn-and-butterfly pagans? C'mon and have tea. Wiccans who do it because they saw a few Stevie Nicks videos? You're adorable. Stevie Nicks fans? Well.....Yeah, I went through that phase myself, let's have booze. Wincest, twincest, what have you, I love you all. No shocked expressions of pearl clutching, no mincing words, no pretense, and knock-down, drag out fights? Thank God for all of you, even the weird SPN fans.

Fandom n00bs tend to be pearl clutchers. Look, once you get online there's going to be sex mentioned. If you're fifty years old, have six kids, it's pretty obvious you've had sex. I don't care what you fancy sexually as long as you can write your way out of a paper bag. Sell it to me.

5. Sickeningly sweet sex scenes, also written by n00bs, who are uncomfortable with peepees and vajayjays and who think Britney is a slut. See subclause of number 4, above. Let's call it for what it is, okay? If I see the phrase, "Crushed her lips with his one more time", as written by somebody who's read way too much Harlequin and not enough anatomy I will scream so loud that dogs will perk up. Getting your lips crushed would result in a bloody mouth, which is not attractive. You're horny! Speak up and shout from the mountain top! No, it's not bad. Yes, real women do want to fuck. Yes, they do. Honest, really. Don't listen to what that preacher says. Don't listen to people who want to hold you back.

Sigh.

6. Women who can't debate and who simper and smile, then claw---yes, I said claw---subtly at other women, saying offensive things with a smile, then saying sweetly that oops, just a big ole misunderstanding, would you like a mint julip? God, do I hate this shit. I'm sorry, non feminists just bug the fuck out of me, but dammit, I'm not going to quit a fandom because some ex cheerleader is bottling up a lifetime's frustration and rage and won't let it out on the guy who actually pissed her off.

I used to work in fast food before I got a really good job at a factory. The other women at the fast food joint were either students or mostly divorced older women, unhappy and struggling to make ends meet. The most vicious one was a woman who delivered papers, had teenagers, and worked long hours. When these women found out I was dating the Boytoy---who was ten years younger than me, good looking, and nice---they acted like the Whore of Babylon with a cradle-robbing speciality. The clucking and the tutting and the bullshit coy remarks only got worse when he came to pick me up at work one night. Instead of pretending the coy remarks were harmless---which according to the rules of the game, was the accepted response so we could all get along---I kept calling people on their bullshit. This culminated in an ugly little incident when I got mugged and my chief tormenter answered the phone when I called in sick. Keep in mind, my knuckes were cut open, my eyes were black, my nose was cut and scratched, and I'd lost two teeth completely and parts of two others. "Well," said this woman. "No wonder you got mugged."

Yes, she actually said that.

"What?!"

"Well, you're always so aggressive and rude. Are you sure you can't work part of your shift?"

"I quit."

At the factory, my supervisor was an older, childless, and rough-hewn woman who nevertheless took it upon herself to tell me I should have kids. "I'm flying to Paris for the weekend," I replied. "I will certainly give it a shot, though." When I went to Moscow, I brought back souvenirs for everybody, even her. Shortly thereafter, my father died suddenly. At work, I had little to say of course and concentrated on doing my job. Then my boss confronted me. "Everybody has problems," she snapped at me. "You're just sitting there and feeling sorry for yourself." It was common for collections to be taken up for grieving survivors; my boss actively stomped on such an activity after my father's death----and then aggressively encouraged it when her own father died.

The first group of women were perfect examples of good girls gone awry, in the various stages of good girlhood, with the college girls not yet realizing that they weren't going to get much for not challenging the patriarchy, and the older women realizing they'd gotten screwed. Good girls to the end, they didn't blame men but took great delight in bashing other women who dared make choices that they had not dared create for themselves. The second woman, well, I think she was just a jerk, but still. Just because somebody's a woman doesn't mean I have to tolerate any shit from her. You have to earn my sisterhood, and the one way not to do it is to be passive and vicious. Being passive means you float along with the current, not responsible for your fate, knowing that you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't. Rather than fight, you drift along, blaming the only people you feel you can---other women.

I've always had female friends and allies, so I'm always gobsmacked when I run into these male-centered women who'll do anything for a man---even if or especially if he's fictional, kind of sisters in spirit to those women who marry death row inmates. Fictional or unattainable, the distant guy you don't have to consumate the relationship with is perfect for women who long after puberty are disturbed by sex and intimacy. This is as a result of the straitjacket women are put into regarding sex. Be sexy, but not too sexy; be approachable but not too approachable; be safe but not a bitch about it; be virtuous but not a prude. Some women chuck it all for feminism and do what they want. Other women just turn passive.

7. Oh, and while I'm at it I hate stereotypical roles for men and women. That means no 'boys will be boys' for guys and no infantilized helplessness for women. Phyllis Schlafly likes the latter and so do the Rules girls, but for anybody but a rich white woman, it's worse than useless. Also, in stereotypes, I've found that many 'perfect gentlemen' can be absolute assholes, while many rougher types are gentlemen in other ways. I hate the whole rigid roles for the genders anyway. Duh, feminist.

I've had dealings with the Sparklepony role models and you get the feeling they snorted up a whole romantic novel like it was cocaine and they're still wondering why they don't shit rainbow and fart fairies. They demand a great deal of men and think that if they obey the rules--be docile, pretty, skinny, have big boobs, be obedient and non-feminist---then they'll be rewarded. It doesn't work that way. They frequently ally themselves with men because, well, men are where the power is. It's a bad bargain all around. Saying good bye to old and familiar things is frightening but it's exciting too. It's like dating my old boyfriend. He was a passive aggressive jerk and I got horrible headaches for the first time in my life. It was a momentous decision to end the relationship---he was my first boyfriend, after all----but I trusted my instincts and the headaches disappeared. When women believe that their only refuge in a frightening world is a man, of course they're going to be freaked out by women who've jettisoned at least some of that fear and need.

8. While I'm at it, just for the hell of it, fake libertarians. There's no equal playing field, so dream on and leave me alone.

9. The grown ass man who keeps riding his loud fucking mini bike thingie up and down the goddamned street like a fucking grade schooler. Try reading a book.

10. Add your own.

Argh.

More caffeine, dammit.

Monday, Monday
With tax refunds coming out, I thought I'd mention these kind people again:

rays of hope

Like a lot of little charities, they offer items on Ebay. I just got a receipt in the mail for a vet visit that I helped fund.

If you can't donate, you can click!

The charity is located in a small Kentucky town, and the husband is another veteran like me. Taking care of animals can be very healing, at least if they're not Jezebel in one of her moods. That cat is like Lindsay Lohan with more body hair.

Please click and help.

Go to petfinder.com and nominate us to win the $ 5,000 That would be a great help as well.

www.petfinder.com/contests/petrescue

Our shelter id is ky239

I'm trying to find something to write about, but frankly, it's all too damned depressing and there's too much of it. There's the news from Pandagon that a woman in a wheelchair was tazed to death, while a man having a grand mal epiletptic seizure was tazed. Also, from Pandagon, for the sixth year running, the LAPD found that not one accusation of racial profiling was justified. The newspapers are referring to the "Incest family" in Germany, while it seems the word 'rape' only gets mention in reference to natural disasters or unfair tax burdens or burdensome child support payments. A female soldier got a Silver Star for bravery in combat---then her commander removed her from the unit to put them in compliance with the 'no women in combat' rule, which I fear might be the start of a conservative strategy in dealing with women in the war. A dockworkers' strike on Mayday that closed all 29 ports on the West Coast received no coverage whatsoever in the mainstream news, thus keeping from people an example of people fighting powerful interests---and succeeding.

The only good news is that Eugene Beale, notorious coward, hypocrite, and Xtian, got convicted for tax evasion and is going to be put in the slammer. Read all about it at Shakesville, where the groupies of his son, Vox Day, have shown up to defend their hero.

No news from the VA, but I did manage to pay bills this week and have thus far kept my water on, my phone connected, and my internet up and running.

I just have to find a new zombie movie or something. I'm watching Diary of the Dead, the new Romero flick, and wondering why it didn't get released in the theatres? It's pretty good. What's the deal with that?

T took me to the dollar store the other day with the girls and I wound up blowing eighty bucks on stuff that would have cost hundreds at the regular grocery store. It was heaven. I got cat food and canned veggies and detergent, plus candles and even potting soil. K persuaded me to get her some cookies and something revolting called "corned beef hash', which---to judge by the picture on the label----was pre-chewed for your convenience. I loaded up on spices and spaghetti sauce, tuna and water, even orange juice, shampoo, conditioner, and plastic plates to put under the plant pots. K also talked me into vienna sausages, which looked kind of scary, and I told her that there was no way in hell I would buy something called 'potted meat food product.' I think Dave Barry did a column about it.

It was not so sunny at the regular grocery store. Unfortunately, I'm addicted to grapes and a particular kind of sausage, so I indulged, as well as getting diet coke and some baking potatoe, one of which I had for breakfast today. Holy cow, that was good. I stocked up on more cat food---the dollar store only had dry food----and also on bird seed, because I am a huge geek. Within moments of putting out a suet cake and a finch sock on my maple tree's branches, I had both a finch and a woodpecker, and Jezebel had gnawed through the bird seed bag in the belief that it contained her crack of choice: dry cat food.

K came over for the night and we finished watching the first part of Kingdom of Heaven before going to bed. This morning we gardened and then her grandfather---T's dad----stopped by and looked over my garage plot and said he could probably build me a garage on it. And a vardo. At long last, I could have a spot for all my gardening stuff, a place to store pots and things, and maybe a haven for the strays. I saw a new one this morning, a beautiful reddish gray cat that looked like a wild animal. It ran when I put out food for it but it had evidently found the dry food I also put out. There was another new one this week, too: a gorgeous black tuxedo cat, who was eating food out of the can with its paw.

K's a bit different since T came back; brattier and needier. I see less of the girl who wants to learn new words and hear about history and more of a brat who just wants to do fun things before she cleans up after herself.