Hi, everyone! I've been a bit remiss in both my postings to this blog and commenting at all of yours, which I blame on a combination of frustration, anger, sadness, resignation, and just plain being busy with the holidays. Please bear with me, I'll get back on track!
Speaking of commenting, there are some of you, Karin, April, Cyrsti, Kelli Roberts, among others, who still have your comment section set to Blogger's default, which is incompatible with my system, and I'd love to stop by.
While we're still on the subject of blog posts and comments, I've got something that I've really got to get off my chest. As a socially liberal constitutional conservative libertarian who is an independet agnostic wicca buddhist nazarene pastafarian, I understand that I'm never going to have complete agreement with me from everyone all the time, and I accept that. I feel that disagreement and discussion is healthy and productive as long as it's not taken to the extreme of dehumanizing those who you disagree with. Deliberately and maliciously misgendering someone, whether it's Autumn Sandeen, Aria Blue, Jamiegottagun, June Hingle, or anyone else is unacceptable from anyone, especially when it comes from people who have a high profile in the community and should know better! We're better than that, or at least we should be!
Dani xxx
Friday, December 31, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Miracles
96 years ago, almost to the day, on Dec. 25, 1914, the machines of war fell silent on the western front as the armies of both sides of what we know of as World War 1, both German and Anglo-French, pulled themselves from the frozen muck, mud, and blood of the trenches and met each other in no-man's land in mirth and merryment, singing carols and exchanging gifts, in celebration of the birth of a very wise man who said
''But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those that hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.''
Luke 6:27-28
Perhaps those who are engaged in the bloody, and not-so bloody, conflicts of today could take those words and the example of those soldiers from nearly a century ago to heart.
Maybe the guns, both literal and metaphorical, can fall silent in spontanious acts of random kindness. Who knows, maybe it could even become a trend that carries over into the other 364 days of the year. Miracles can happen.
I, and my family, wish all of you and your's a very Happy Holidays!
Merry Yule, a bit late!
Happy Hanukkah, a lot late!
Happy Kwaanza!
Nollaig Shona Dhaoiba, Froelich Weinachten, Joyeux Noel, Feliz Navidad
Merry Christmas!
Dani xxx
''But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those that hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.''
Luke 6:27-28
Perhaps those who are engaged in the bloody, and not-so bloody, conflicts of today could take those words and the example of those soldiers from nearly a century ago to heart.
Maybe the guns, both literal and metaphorical, can fall silent in spontanious acts of random kindness. Who knows, maybe it could even become a trend that carries over into the other 364 days of the year. Miracles can happen.
I, and my family, wish all of you and your's a very Happy Holidays!
Merry Yule, a bit late!
Happy Hanukkah, a lot late!
Happy Kwaanza!
Nollaig Shona Dhaoiba, Froelich Weinachten, Joyeux Noel, Feliz Navidad
Merry Christmas!
Dani xxx
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Disclaimer
Okay, I probably should've done this a long time ago.
The views and opinions expressed by commentors on this blog do not necissairily express or reflect the views and opinions of the author of this blog unless otherwise noted, ie: I answer and agree with your comment.
I am the sort of person who tries to hear both sides of an arguement, then make my own judgement. This helps me define and adjust my own views on various issues, it may be that someone makes a point that I hadn't thought of before. I'm sure that many of you do the same.
For that reason, I have, thus far, not moderated comments here, and am reluctant to do so. I'm endevoring to provide an open forum here as I feel that most helpful to myself and to you, dear readers. This, however, could change if I decide that things are getting too out of hand.
I feel that moderating comments, or disabling the comment option entirely, would harm the usefullness of this blog to me, and to all of you, but this option is open to me, as is making my blog private, and I'll exercise these options if I decide that it's become necissary.
Dani xxx
The views and opinions expressed by commentors on this blog do not necissairily express or reflect the views and opinions of the author of this blog unless otherwise noted, ie: I answer and agree with your comment.
I am the sort of person who tries to hear both sides of an arguement, then make my own judgement. This helps me define and adjust my own views on various issues, it may be that someone makes a point that I hadn't thought of before. I'm sure that many of you do the same.
For that reason, I have, thus far, not moderated comments here, and am reluctant to do so. I'm endevoring to provide an open forum here as I feel that most helpful to myself and to you, dear readers. This, however, could change if I decide that things are getting too out of hand.
I feel that moderating comments, or disabling the comment option entirely, would harm the usefullness of this blog to me, and to all of you, but this option is open to me, as is making my blog private, and I'll exercise these options if I decide that it's become necissary.
Dani xxx
Monday, December 20, 2010
Mental Diarrhea
This post began as an answer to Melissa's comments on my previous post but it grew...and grew...and grew, so I thought that I'd devote an entire post to it.
The votes for ENDA probably weren't there, but I'd feel a lot less bitter with Barney ''Uncle Tom'' Frank and the rest of the dems if they at least made it appear that they fought the good fight, but they don't even attempt that. Trans gets thrown under the bus every single time, for DADT, for their precious marriage, or whatever the hot cause of the day is for the gay community, while we don't even have the right not to be fired from our jobs or thrown out of our homes, the most basic of rights, just for being trans. I'd realy like to support the dems but until their deeds and actions match their words they're not giving me much reason to. Their failure to deliver on ENDA has at least as much, and maybe more, to do with them looking for political cover as it does with the weird procedural rules of the Senate. One can hardly imagine the civil rights giants of the 60's failing to show courage to act in the face of almost overwelming opposition to racial equality. Today's dems can't even hold a candle to those couragous men and women. RFK must be rolling in his grave!
Repeal of DADT IS good news, I'm just afraid of the unintended and possibly disasterous consequences of the repeal. When the military was desegregated back in the 50's Truman already had the draft, so racist soldiers had no choice but to get over it unless they wanted to face a court martial or dodge the draft. That's not the the situation that we have today. Today, people can choose to enlist or re-enlist... or choose not to. Estimates are that we could loose 25-30 percent of our current service members when DADT is repealed, they just won't re-up. This figure is probably higher among potential recruits, who may never join to begin with. Losing 30 percent without replacement when we're already streached thin with the Afghan war, Iraq, and our other commitments around the world, and the looming probability of military confrontation with North Korea AND Iran is unacceptable. If the draft has to be reinstated to make up for losses you can be sure that the GOP will blame the GLBT for it. That would probably be enough to stall future GLBT legislation and could lead to a lot of Matthew Shepards.
Many have compaired DADT repeal with military desegregation in the 50's but it's not quite the same. I'm sorry, it's just not. We're talking about a whole different dynamic here. For obvious reasons, no one would think that being Black is a choice. Now I know, as do most of you, that being gay, lesbian, or trans isn't a choice, either, but not everyone sees it that way. Many people, and not just homophobes and transphobes, but also some tolerant and otherwise enlightened people, see being G,L,B, or T as a lifestyle choice. The education level just isn't there yet and it'll probably take another generation to turn this preception.
Dani xxx
The votes for ENDA probably weren't there, but I'd feel a lot less bitter with Barney ''Uncle Tom'' Frank and the rest of the dems if they at least made it appear that they fought the good fight, but they don't even attempt that. Trans gets thrown under the bus every single time, for DADT, for their precious marriage, or whatever the hot cause of the day is for the gay community, while we don't even have the right not to be fired from our jobs or thrown out of our homes, the most basic of rights, just for being trans. I'd realy like to support the dems but until their deeds and actions match their words they're not giving me much reason to. Their failure to deliver on ENDA has at least as much, and maybe more, to do with them looking for political cover as it does with the weird procedural rules of the Senate. One can hardly imagine the civil rights giants of the 60's failing to show courage to act in the face of almost overwelming opposition to racial equality. Today's dems can't even hold a candle to those couragous men and women. RFK must be rolling in his grave!
Repeal of DADT IS good news, I'm just afraid of the unintended and possibly disasterous consequences of the repeal. When the military was desegregated back in the 50's Truman already had the draft, so racist soldiers had no choice but to get over it unless they wanted to face a court martial or dodge the draft. That's not the the situation that we have today. Today, people can choose to enlist or re-enlist... or choose not to. Estimates are that we could loose 25-30 percent of our current service members when DADT is repealed, they just won't re-up. This figure is probably higher among potential recruits, who may never join to begin with. Losing 30 percent without replacement when we're already streached thin with the Afghan war, Iraq, and our other commitments around the world, and the looming probability of military confrontation with North Korea AND Iran is unacceptable. If the draft has to be reinstated to make up for losses you can be sure that the GOP will blame the GLBT for it. That would probably be enough to stall future GLBT legislation and could lead to a lot of Matthew Shepards.
Many have compaired DADT repeal with military desegregation in the 50's but it's not quite the same. I'm sorry, it's just not. We're talking about a whole different dynamic here. For obvious reasons, no one would think that being Black is a choice. Now I know, as do most of you, that being gay, lesbian, or trans isn't a choice, either, but not everyone sees it that way. Many people, and not just homophobes and transphobes, but also some tolerant and otherwise enlightened people, see being G,L,B, or T as a lifestyle choice. The education level just isn't there yet and it'll probably take another generation to turn this preception.
Dani xxx
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Now, the bad news
Okay, the Senate has passed DADT repeal 63 to 33 and Obama is anxiously waiting to sign it, yada, yada, yada.
Whatever.
Don't misunderstand me, this is truly great news for gay and lesbian members of our armed forces, who have been living under a cloud for far too long.
Now, the bad news.
That's all it is. No protection for trans service members, who will continue to suffer as they always have. No trans inclusive ENDA, either. Zero. Zilch. Goose eggs. Nada. Nothing for trans equality at even the most basic and fundemental level after 4 years of dem controled congress because useless POS's like Barney Frank, who are our ''allies'' are only too ready to sell us down the friggin' river at a moment's notice if there's any hint of them being given membership in the ''normal'' club. We keep hearing ''Don't worry, we'll come back for you'' from our gay and lesbian ''allies''. BULLSHIT! Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen! They told us that here in NH, just before they got marriage equality, then they fell dead silent as trans equality lost unanimously in a dem controled state senate!
In the great scheme of things, this repeal may cause more harm than good. The general public, already pivoting to the right, as we saw in Nov., is apt to be pushed even further there now. In the inevidable backlash, future legislative gains for GLBT, already made difficult at best, may now be impossible to achieve in our lifetime.
I'm not too sure that our military is the place to be experimenting with social engineering, anyway. We have a volunteer military, they CHOOSE to serve. It takes a sort of patriotisim that is largely confinded to those from rather conservative segments of our society to be willing to pick up a gun and blow people away for love of God and country. The vast majority may not be willing to serve with openly gay members. Retention and recruitment could become a very, very big problem very, very quickly. If the cost of DADT repeal turns out to be a return to the draft, then the price was too high.
Dani xxx
Whatever.
Don't misunderstand me, this is truly great news for gay and lesbian members of our armed forces, who have been living under a cloud for far too long.
Now, the bad news.
That's all it is. No protection for trans service members, who will continue to suffer as they always have. No trans inclusive ENDA, either. Zero. Zilch. Goose eggs. Nada. Nothing for trans equality at even the most basic and fundemental level after 4 years of dem controled congress because useless POS's like Barney Frank, who are our ''allies'' are only too ready to sell us down the friggin' river at a moment's notice if there's any hint of them being given membership in the ''normal'' club. We keep hearing ''Don't worry, we'll come back for you'' from our gay and lesbian ''allies''. BULLSHIT! Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen! They told us that here in NH, just before they got marriage equality, then they fell dead silent as trans equality lost unanimously in a dem controled state senate!
In the great scheme of things, this repeal may cause more harm than good. The general public, already pivoting to the right, as we saw in Nov., is apt to be pushed even further there now. In the inevidable backlash, future legislative gains for GLBT, already made difficult at best, may now be impossible to achieve in our lifetime.
I'm not too sure that our military is the place to be experimenting with social engineering, anyway. We have a volunteer military, they CHOOSE to serve. It takes a sort of patriotisim that is largely confinded to those from rather conservative segments of our society to be willing to pick up a gun and blow people away for love of God and country. The vast majority may not be willing to serve with openly gay members. Retention and recruitment could become a very, very big problem very, very quickly. If the cost of DADT repeal turns out to be a return to the draft, then the price was too high.
Dani xxx
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Did ya miss me?
Hi, everyone, it's been awhile! I hope that I haven't lost any of you!
Thanks to my ongoing financial difficulties I have been unable to get online for the last month or so but now, for the moment anyway, normal transmissions have been restored. I hope that you have all been doing well and that you had a happy Thanksgiving. I am SO far behind on your blogs that it's not even funny, I'll be days catching up!
Nothing new or positive to report on the job hunting front, and in a small town, with no car, with national unemployment numbers hovering near 10 percent, that's not apt to change anytime soon. Since I also have two hernias that need to be repaired that lowers my odds even more. As much as I hate to, I think that I'm going to have to go and get some help to pay for that surgery. That may be just as well, though, maybe it'll cover therapy, too. The disphoria continues unabated and my depression and anxiety are getting worse. I rarely even go out anymore, I just sit around in the house. I need help!
Anyway, I'm back! I'll probably be sending out some emails in the next few days.
Dani xxx
Thanks to my ongoing financial difficulties I have been unable to get online for the last month or so but now, for the moment anyway, normal transmissions have been restored. I hope that you have all been doing well and that you had a happy Thanksgiving. I am SO far behind on your blogs that it's not even funny, I'll be days catching up!
Nothing new or positive to report on the job hunting front, and in a small town, with no car, with national unemployment numbers hovering near 10 percent, that's not apt to change anytime soon. Since I also have two hernias that need to be repaired that lowers my odds even more. As much as I hate to, I think that I'm going to have to go and get some help to pay for that surgery. That may be just as well, though, maybe it'll cover therapy, too. The disphoria continues unabated and my depression and anxiety are getting worse. I rarely even go out anymore, I just sit around in the house. I need help!
Anyway, I'm back! I'll probably be sending out some emails in the next few days.
Dani xxx
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