Update to the story below

Turns out the boy was only suspended for one day. It was the principal who was the whistle-blower. He was horrified.

And now the best part. He was returned to the custody of his 'mother'.

Gawwd, I could have projectile vomited on the spot.

Seemingly he has a gran who cares muchly for him.

But that is really just trouble in the making.

I could go ON... but better hold my tongue. Am too reminded of another 'mother' who was a destructive force for evil too close to home for me.

Personhood

My father, aka 'the Venerable' sent me an e-mail the other day which was unusual, in that it was longer than a few sentences...

He told me a really vile tale about someone he knows of in his vicinity. A woman who had a child she didn't want. So she spent his first and formative years telling him she hated him, and she was only keeping him on for the added money on her welfare check. (yeah, a real hum-dinger of a 'woman')

She indulged her revulsion of this child she seemingly never wanted by beating on him. Police were called in, but she was clever, nothing could be proven, and social services' collective hands were tied, seemingly. (Have I got this all correct so far, Dad?)

Well the kid acted out, what could you expect, hey? Got forbidden to ride the bus to school, and then the school expelled him... which doesn't say much for the teachers in it... But they are probably too overworked to think... 'what's going on with this child?' And his mummy dearest beat him and left marks, and FINALLY, the child was taken into the social system which is gonna be even worse for him, from what I've read and seen per tee-vee.

It's a horrible and disgusting story, and unfortunately, I know it happens a lot in 'Murka, the bad version of it.

So what does this have to do with the clip below?

The Rethugs have a proposed law on the ballot in Mississippi to proclaim that the minute an egg is fertilised it is a person. It goes way beyond what has heretofore been proposed.... because it isn't just about abortion.

I can never figure out why that 'less government' crowd has the nasty habit of wanting to get into people's bedrooms in general, and regulate women's reproductive systems in particular. They can really creep me out with this shit.

So leaving all the moral and usual arguments aside, what does the one story have to do with what they are trying to do to women in Mississippi, and soon to try in other states?

The Rethugs just LURRV the idea of babies. They love them so much they would like to strike the child labour laws. To work cheap in coporation factories, or something. (Check out what they did in the Mariana Islands on Google... it is mind-blowing. Slave labour and forcing them to prostitute themselves, way to go, the Rethugs are very sick people in their heads...)

Now leaving all the other and usual questions aside... what do you think will happen to the child whose mother was raped and was impregnated and has to look at that child if she is forced to carry it to term? What do you think will happen to the children who were not wished for but forced by law to carry to term?

I see resentment at best, and abuse in every sort of variation at worst. And there would be a lot of 'mothers' like the one who obviously has upset 'the Ven'.

But hey, it's their vision, forcing themselves into the most private part of peoples lives, and all, but they are so against the government regulating anything. Hypocrisy reigns among those people.

Why aren't they creating jobs? Oh yeah, that's what they ran on, but the only thing they've done so far is trying to curb people's reproductive rights. They creep me out with their horrid fascinations.

As to jobs? Oh yeah, they said they were gonna strangle the economy so that Obama would be a one-term president. And they have. Fact is, they will do as much damage as possible, and if people get hurt? Well they don't care.

So when I saw this clip... it raised those issues in my mind. What is left of it...

Listen carefully.

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Just a bit of mind-surfing on the keyboard....

Y'know... one of those 2 a.m. things when sleep won't come.

For three days now, it is clear we are entering what I call 'the tunnel'. It's the weather, and lack of light.

It gets light later and later, and twilight earlier and earlier... and then all you get are days of twilight, and it won't get any better before January, mostly... with an odd day of sun here and there to break the monotony.

It didn't use to bother me, but of late, it is opressive. Weighs one down.

I crossed paths with my landlady today. She was friendly, even gracious. Out in the court. Which was odd. I thought she was really pissed off at me.

We were polite. She asked about my 'partner'. Which was purely greedy inquisitiveness on her part. (shrug) Didn't really matter to me one way or the other. I told her. I have this 'thing' about telling the truth.

I know her husband is in a similar state. And she said, 'Hey, sometimes you have to see the humour in it.'

I think my funny bone got shot off in the war against diabetes somewhere along the line. Never knowing when the next crisis would come.

So I slept part of the day, and now am up at the god awful night-time hour of 2 a.m. Just having the thoughts running through my mind... and Peter is always a constant.

Y'know... It is so difficult being so cut off from him after 35 years. In all that time, I think there were about four different weeks we weren't together every day, even if the time was short some days... we worked hard, and took that seriously too.
'
It is so disconcerting that we can take a relationship so for granted that we can also be neglectful, because, 'oh, there's a crisis here', or 'have to fix that.' And 'there'll be time later on'. And we miss the important part of the entire venture. To savour one another's company as much as possible. Because one day, you won't have that any more.

I feel like something has been amputated out of me. So often in the day, my first reaction to something is, 'oh, wouldn't Peter love that', or 'wait till I tell him this',

Except I can't and I won't be able to.

Gawwd, how I miss him, despite all his faults, but he sure overlooked mine...

Which evens things out. More or less.

And I think, whether gay or straight, if you get through three decades without wanting to kill one another and only have mostly good feelings... well it was probably 'lurvvv'.

What I miss most right now? Falling asleep with him holding me, and waking up to find him watching me. I felt safe and loved. And yeah, he used to love watching me sleeping in his arms.

How extraordinarily pornographic.

If we'd filmed it, people would have fallen asleep watching it. Maybe there is a market for it somewhere in this dumb world.

Not being able to visit regurlarly and being so strapped is making me feel neglectful. And guilty. But the last time... it was such a strain on him, and my allotted time was so long, it wore him out.

If I call, five minutes is all he can take.

It's tragic.

I really wanted to become very old with him and scare a lot of horses.

I guess as a couple, we were pretty disgusting. Finished one another's sentences, laughed at the same things, sometimes so much it was side-stiching.

Odd thought... one of the first times we were alone, he was gong ON about a new Peggy Lee album. He'd seen her in Copenhagen in a bar, and she was so drunk she fell off the bar stool. She was singing, by the by...

He loved the version of 'Is That All There Is' on it.

Tja, Is that REALLY all there is? Depressing.

And on that note...

historical context

interesting...

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Trick or Treat.....

The programmers of the game I play in Berlin are always inventive. Every Tuesday they turn off their servers for a few hours and fix bugs, or add something new or make an 'event' , as they call it. Some of them are lame, some are interesting. Yesterday they took longer than usual, and had to wait for a huuuuge patch to install itself once they were back up.

The theme of the week is: Halloween! Yay...

They really went all out this time. You always begin in the same place, the town square in an idyllic realm's largest village. And I learned per special notice that there were empty baskets all over the place. And if you got one, you were to go to the 'Halloween Narr (fool)' and you would receive 'candy'. The Halloween Narr is an effigy scarecrow on a crossbar with a pumpkin head and flaming eyes.

Trick or treat in other words. Normally if you have to find things they are few and far between, but not this time. You are generously given all sorts of candy, and I guess there are six sorts.

As is appropriate, the candy is Halloween 'creepy'. Frogs on a stick, dead eye-ball chewing gum, sugar skeleton bones, pumpkin drops, moldy lollipops, candied worms, and so on.

Normally in the game, if you are given 'sweets', they are to be used in the dungeons, and enhance your life force or abilities somehow. So instead of telling you what the candy does, all you get is, 'you have to taste it to find out'. So I tried 'em out.

Takes 'Trick' or 'Treat' to a whole new level. Activate one and it can say 'eeeewwww, horrible'... and you suddenly have minus 20% of your attacking force for two minutes, which isn't good if you're in a fight. Or 'ooh, delicious', and you get a 50% life force increase for five minutes, which is a real 'treat'.

And even within one sort, they aren't uniformly the same effects. Each one is different. Won't go on, just giving you the idea of how it works. I think this is the best Halloween in a long time. Very clever, and I get a week of trick or treating. Who else can say that, right?

Whoever thought this 'event' up really put a lot of work into it, and I think it is as funny as hell. Whoever it was, they must have Halloween as the top 'horriday' of the year.

Apropos Horriday... today is our national one, come around again. You're supposed to go out hiking and take in the beauty of the country. Except the weather is dreary, and there's a fine mist, so will be in-doors. Because we all know what 'mist' means now, right?

Happy trick or treating when the day comes.

And oh, the selfishness....

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And after the War on Christmas... now Halloween

Ahhhh Faux News.... ya gotta hand it to them...

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Oil... in another context, i.e. Iraq

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The elephant in the room

Ghaddafi is dead, which is the 'best new thing in decades'.... for the Libyans...

But there is a huge black elephant in the room which, in all the reporting only got one mention, and that in a dramatic whisper... by Jon Stewart. '....and oil, they have lots of oil...' He was the only one to mention the elephant.

And so it is more than disingenuous for even good reporters to profess 'wonder' and a sort of surprise that Dumbya had tried to rehabilitate Ghaddafi in the international community, which enranged the relatives and friends of the victims of Lockerbie and many other people.

There were enough reports at the time that Libya sits on a HUGE reserve of oil, and conglomerates in England, France, Germany, the US and China were just dying to get licenses for drilling rights. So Ghaddafi played them, and they were all just fine with it. Anything to get a toe-hold and drill there.

There were enough reports about it at the time in the MSM, so.... why the confusion and wonder now? The dictator got what he wanted, and he limited what they could do. He may have been weird, and ruthless and crazy, but he wasn't dumb.

The present administration took a different view of things, and the uprising of the Libyans gave them the really unique opportunity of getting what they really want obliquely. So they 'helped' the people throw over the dictator and Ghaddafi lost... everything, including his life. If you gamble long enough you hit a losing streak.

That isn't to say I regret his demise. I'm sure he's rotting in some sort of hell...

I'm just irritated by the way things were presented in the media... as if it were all a mystery, or something. Do they really think that in our fast-moving world we have the attention span of two-year-olds, and no long-term memory retention?

It was brilliant on the part of the West. They keep their own troops out of it, the Libyans are grateful, and the corporations are finally going to get everything they've always wanted. One should never underestimate them.

In comparison, no one has ever given a flying fuck about Somalia and all the death there. Do we see an international effort? Course not. Call me cynical.

(Talk about rhetorical questions, hey....)

Nope, Jon Stewart was the only one to mention it... in a whisper. He sees the elephant in the room.

Firefighters get screwed... again...

Ohio... Jeebus.

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I've always found John Kasic deplorable, but thought it was because I really don't like Slavs, having been duped by them so often.

oh my... Cain? Really?

The guy is a nut job.

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Unsung heroes....

For every movement there is an antecedent. People think that the gay rights movement just spontaneously ignited the night of the Stonewall riots. There were people who were pushing for their rights waaaay before that.

Magnus Hirschfeld, for instance, who was a doctor and psychologist in pre-30's Berlin and died under the Hitler regime. The incredibly gifted Christopher Isherwood, whose books influenced me, especially the autobiographies, and who led an amazing life. The poet W. H. Auden. Even Walt Whitman in a way. They and so many others were influential, and knew EVERYONE who was anyone. They built a foundation for what came later.

In America, there was Harry Hay, who formed the Mattachine Society to better conditions for gays in the US. One of his members and an activist all his life was Frank Kameny. Mr. Kameny just passed on at age 86.

In MY corner of the world, when I was a kid and teen and young adult, the local rag and the only daily 'newpaper' in the state, vilified the Mattachine S0ciety as a bunch of pedophiles. (It's always the easiest thing to do, isn't it?) They weren't. They fought for equality. They said, 'this isn't right.' And they fought.

If you were to ask any young gay or lesbian person today, they would tell you the gay rights movement came about like... oh god, brain fart... some god springing out of Jupiter or Zeus' head. Or cite Harvey Milk, who was assassinated, and I don't even want to get INTO the Twinkie defense, that absolute low-life Dan White.

People laid the groundwork. People were jailed. People were killed for what they believed was right. People suffered and were still able to fight.

And THAT, my Precioussessssss... is what is needed now in a very different context. Vote next time. Examine your conscience. It won't be about gay rights. It will be about your reproductive rights, and many other things.

Rachel gave a fitting tribute to Mr. Kameny. It's to the point.

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Am not sure, but I think when I embed these there are commercials from Mobil Exxon and Goldman Sachs first, which drive me totally crazy.

Especially Mobil Exxon, and that pock-marked Eric Oswald and his 'reassuring' message on fracking... (all praise HD) and saying it is so safe, well, I usually yell 'Tell THAT to the people who can take a Bic and light their tap water on fire, you git!' But that's just me... Everything has a price, doesn't it...

Oh my.... New Hampsha gets Rachel upset!

She has a point... New Hampsha always gets picked on... I think it was the Daily Show where the line fell... New Hampshire is so white, they think snow is camouflage.

The lead was good, but it's about what Rethugs have been doing instead of creating jobs, and all about 'the other', and abortion. But she's right... shortening the actual legislative period is getting out of hand. And I agree with that...

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And I was crushed.... yes crushed, when The Old Man of the Mountain collapsed in 1993. It seemed to be something amazing, lasting. It should have told me something. On the other hand, maybe they should switch the trademark to Indian Head. It would be fitting, maybe.... (for those who don't know, it's a similar natural rock formation.) And for young people now... I would still recommend the short story about the Old Man by Nathanial Hawthorne. It is beautiful.

Words again....

I swear I'm going to get certified one of these days... was thinking about this entry as I went to get my cigarettes and 'groceries'. And there was a very fine mist, not really rain, you know?

And then it hit me, and I busted out laughing in the middle of the intersection.

In German, the word 'Mist' means garbage, or when used as an expletive, as in 'Ach, MIST!' it means, 'oh crap!' It only borders on the vulgar...

This after we have had five weeks of the finest Fall weather I have seen in years, not that I go out much. But warm, sunny, just beautiful. It finally broke last Saturday with a thunderstorm, and it cooled down enough that people turned on their heat a little for the first time this year, but only in the evening to take off a bit of a chill.

Mon-Weds it was cool nights and in the mornings, but comfortable throughout the daytime.

Whatever, I used my little 'joke' on the tobacconist and the cashier at the snoopermarket, so-called because everyone checks out whatever everyone else is buying.

It got some smiles and a laugh. 'Is that really true?' one girl asked. 'Honest, it is...'

Well--- over the weekend, I found that my take on Apple was sort of well-founded, but it was worse than I had thought. I'd assumed that their products were purely American-made. Turns out they aren't and the German press is still lamenting the late St. Steve Jobs, gawwd love 'em, the vultures....

Chris Hayes had a very interesting guest on his show UP over the weekend. Guy named Mike Daisey. He has a one-man show called 'The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs'. Hayes played a short clip and it looked quite funny... about the planned obsolescence aspect of the products. Biting satire...

But Daisey once posed as a businessman in order to tour the factory producing I-phones, and Tablets, and what-not------ in CHINA. (He was researching his show..)

Tha's right, only the designs and the know-how originate in the US. And factories in China produce them for a song.

The working conditions are horrific. Twelve hour shifts on an assembly line... and no breaks, if you please. The company had to put up netting along the roof because they had several cases of people jumping off of it and killing themselves. (gee, I wonder why...) And there was something a bit murky about minerals used in the products which can only be obtained from the Congo, but they really didn't go into that.

And of course, China doesn't have EPA regulations, so they can pollute as much as they please. This guy talked to people who had sent their children to school in other provinces because theirs had become a 'cancer cluster'. But anything to make a living, right?

The discussion made a lasting impression, and others kept asking, 'why is this coming out NOW?' Hmmm, I dunno, maybe because the company loves to litigate?

So when I think of all those shiny, pretty things which the company made people think are so indispensible in their lives, and the vast amounts of profit they made with their astronomical prices for the consumer... it sort of makes me throw up in my mouf.

Let's see, what else in new? Herman Cane (Cain? have never seen it written and too lazy to check...) is a real hum-dinger example of what I meant below about if you're poor, it's your own damned fault.

He's bought it hook-line and sinker, all right. Telling some asshat on a Sunday show that they should stop wanting to take from the rich and word-for-word gave the Rethug manifesto... if you fail, it's your own fault.

Bill Maher was more than disturbed with his comments, it really got him.. To paraphrase, he said he tells jokes, someone can play ball well and get paid obscene amounts of money, but teachers, police and firepeople aren't 'worthy' of being paid better? He got very agitated. That was on Rachel Maddow's show.

And have been turning an eye to my own backyard this week. It's as I thought... the financial crisis is gonna blow up nationalistic animosities and fuck everyone over.

Our own rabble-rousing 'newspaper', and I use the term loosely, had screaming headlines because the mess we're in is because of the 'lazy Greeks'. (errm, hey guys, ever heard of Goldman Sachs?) The Czechs are accusing the Germans of Großdeutsche ambitions... sort of like, wanting to take over Europe and the word has Nazi subtext to it. Slovakia's government just toppled because they couldn't agree on a bail-out plan, and no one ever writes anything about who is really the catalyst in the whole mess. (Schlamassel, I love that word, sounds like what it means....)

If the animosities bubble up to the surface... well, a house divided will weaken the Euro, and the US would 'lurrv' that. But there are other dangers involved.

And I see they want to reinstate customs at borders again... mostly to stop illegal immigration, because the countries on the outlying areas 'aren't doing enough' to stem the tide. Sound familiar?

As my beloved Mom used to say, 'I tell ya and tell ya... do ya listen? NO.'

(Her 'sayings' are still in my head to this day... and they were smart and for every occasion you can think of.)

It's always 'give 'em what they wanna hear', or to quote Billy Flynn in 'Chicago' 'Razzle-dazzle them, and they'll never catch wise...'

In other words, and it's the word for it... it's 'show-biz'. It's MIST in the German sense of the word.

Peter update

I called, finally.....

He knew who I was. That was good....

No one's been to visit. That is bad.

I told him G. and D. are moving into the Mühlgasse, the unit they bought years ago.

He advised me not to go there. I told him not to worry about it.

Said he misses me muchly, and worries about me. (Now?)

I think most of what I told him left him 'vague'.

Broke my heart all over again.

I really have to get myself together and go down there.

And eat sardines for three days...

Sad? Yes.

But have nothing much more to say on the subject. He said he loves me. And I know he does, and did in his weird way. The horrible thing? I still love him as well. It didn't do me a lot of good, that call.

It was the first time he got tired quick and said, 'We'd better stop, this is costing you money.'

Floored me.

I'm gonna teach you a new word today....

because there isn't one in English.

Leichenfledderei.

Sort of --- robbing from the dead, but REALLY taking everything usable or of value.

It's a very negative word.

Yahoo German news reports a HUGE pre-sale and orders for the new I-Phone, even though it is only a bit faster, and has minimal things that are 'better'.

But hey, Steve Jobs died, and what better way to make a buck, hey?

Sour grapes? Probably.

I was always 'sour' because even in my best earning days... I couldn't afford a non-crashable Apple product, and had to make do with Microshit. It wasn't for 'poor' people, in other words.

It was for 'elites'.

It's not surprising they are gonna make one helluva profit on his death.

Which is Leichenfledderei.

Interesting how the media can play into a group's hands

as unwittingly and as ignorant as they sometimes can be. Which, in this case, is a good thing. I thought the occupy Wall Street demo would be a flash in the pan, but things seem to be taking hold nicely.

But the main stream media was all, 'dirty fucking hippies', and 'whadda they want?' They finally answered. I thought it was ok. Good list of grievances, but waiting to see what they propose as solutions... Countdown has been covering it heavily. And the same grievances can be heard here as well. It is, after all, the global corporations' doing.

Tja.... Saturdays's news wasn't worth commenting on, but

I spent a great deal of time this morning seeing how 'Lambchop' has been doing.

Am speaking of Chris Hayes, editor at the magazine 'The Nation' and an economic whiz, and I believe he is a good friend and protogé of Rachel Maddow... she's graced the beginnings of his own show. The 'Lambchop' thing happened one of the first times he was on Rachel's show, and he was nervous and said, 'Hey, Mad!' Then excused himself. And she said, 'It's ok, Lambchop.' The rest is history.

He did some guest hosting when she was on vacation, got good ratings... so now he has his own show. Only early mornings on weekends for now....

But am very much liking what I see. He's still nervous and a bit giddy, and there are glitches in his production team... like not smoothly putting up a clip when he needs them, but it's endearing, somewhow to watch something coming together.

The show is called UP... and I still don't know why, but hey, why not?

It is a much-needed counter-balance to MSNBC'S insidious Morning Joe, where pompous bloviating and self-aggrandisement are the order of the day.

UP is immensely 'watchable'. And informative. It's sort of an informal round-table discussion with the sort of people I would love to join in and have discussions with. Geeky and charming. And Hayes has the audacity to have on conservatives... real ones... who make the discussion lively by injecting actual ideas rather than 'talking points'. I guess they are the disaffected middle who have been disowned by the right-wing. That in itself is refreshing. Everyone is polite, no one cross-talks or interrupts, and there is a lot of back and forth where people can concede that the others have a point and aren't basically wrong.

It used to be called polite discussion... way back in the mists of time before everything polarised.

It's a breath of fresh air, hey....

There is a lot of emphasis on economics, because that is what Chris Hayes really knows best, and I hear you yawn.. But it isn't like that at all. Everything is explained in layman's terms, and it is all easy to follow. And actually entertaining.

It's like being in college, or young, and in on a clique, and they throw ideas around... And there are interviews. He had one on yesterday who wants to ban Planned Parenthood... and was way too polite. That woman was a horror. The only thing missing was a string of pearls at four a.m. as she was in San Francisco and was on the 7 a.m. segment eastern time. He was way too polite. Only faux pas so far. He could have really gone at her, although he did have the facts to refute her allegations.

He just didn't state them strongly enough.

That was the only jarring note this past month. Yeah, I watched a month's worth.

So... if you're up early on a weekend, I'd recommend watching that other than the pompous idjits on the weekends who think they run the world.

Am interested in how the show will develop.

When I pulled up my browser?

Top search of the moment on German Yahoo was depression, and I don't think it was about the financial crisis. I didn't wanna look. I'm sure my dearest friend would agree. She just lost her long-time pet companion, Boy, a beautiful, beautiful black cat.

It's gonna half kill her.

And am so sorry for that.

Best news of the day?

No one was drunkenly singing in the courtyard. They gotta work tomorra...

Tja.