I Poke Badgers With Spoons

Keeping Warm

As I walked to my office yesterday, I saw something on the sidewalk that looked like a pile of blankets. It wasn't. It was a man sleeping six inches from the very busy street so he could keep warm over the steam grate.

How can we, as a civilized people, move on with our daily lives while that is happening? How is it that we all manage to put out of our minds a scene like that? I realize I sound a bit naive here and I know that many facilities exist for the homeless, but anyone with half a brain knows those facilities don't work for all people.

I know there aren't any easy answers to the problem of homelessness, but damn...it's so hard to wrap my head around a prosperous country who lets its citizens go hungry and sleep on steam grates.

Meme!

1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, liposuction and air conditioning.

2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britney Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans...

via Norma

Anti-war protest

I didn’t really want to go to the anti-war protest last weekend, but it was just too important to miss. Dan was sick, so it was just LeeAnn and me. We made it downtown in plenty of time and found the Smeds with no problem.

There were so many people. It was unreal. Everyone was so nice (except for the few people who need a lesson in march etiquette.) and it was a pleasure to be around so many like-minded folks. As always, there were lots of great t-shirts and signs. I wore my “Regime change begins at home” shirt and this nice old lady stopped and told me her husband would get nervous if she wore a shirt like that. Tehehhehe

There was a group carrying a blocks-long rope from which hung the names and pictures of the soldiers who have been killed in this war. At one point in the march, we were almost at a stop and we noticed this very bald man walk over to the rope and grab one of the pictures. He opened his shirt to reveal a t-shirt underneath on which was printed a picture. “That’s my son,” he said with tears in his eyes, “That’s my son.” He kept hold of the rope above his sons picture and started to march with it. We were all crying at that point and Vicki and I stepped over to him to express our condolences. He was trying so hard to keep it together. That’s why we’re here, I thought.

Towards the end of the march we saw a fairly small group of pro-war people standing on the sidewalk. There were some protesters standing in front of them, but most of us just held up our fingers in a peace sign and kept walking. They had some great signs. Among them were Hippies Smell (profound, that one) and Communism Only Killed 100 Million People—Let’s Give It Another Try. Did I miss something? Are we fighting communism? Another gem was Freedom Isn’t Free. Once again, did I miss something? Do these people not know that their fearless leader is the one responsible for our loss of liberty? THEIR FEARLESS LEADER! Not the goddamn commie pinko towel head bastards.

All in all, it was a great experience and I was struck by diversity of the anti-war group: little old ladies, Catholics, Unitarians, Republicans, families, disabled folks, veterans, college kids…everyday people. Finally, WE ARE THE MAJORITY.