THERE IS NO CODE INTENDED BY ME ON THIS PAGE.
I AM A DEMOCRAT. I FEEL THAT PERHAPS IT'S TIME I REITERATED THAT, FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE NEW TO MY BLOG. I'VE BEEN A DEMOCRAT MY ENTIRE LIFE.
May 10, 2011
--Sexuality is a choice
Sexuality is supposed to be an individual's choice. It's supposed to be an individual's decision to be sexual or not, and to welcome or reject other people being sexual toward him or her. Sexuality isn't supposed to be forced on people, rampant in the workplace, school, or in social situations where it's not welcome.
No matter what the terminology or symbolism is, I've been saying about myself that the references and the comments aren't wecome, that I find them offensive and that I want them to stop. You're supposed to stop when someone says "Stop."
Nobody deserves to be harassed.
@1:33 p.m.
--Farmstand
There's a local farmstand that still, as of today, has a big sign out front that says:
"HAPPY MOHTHER'S DAY
LEEKS
FIDDLEHEADS"
It's interesting how the threads of humanity bind us all. I am not a great speller; I have that in common with the farmstand people, despite our socio-political differences.
Also; the slur that's been used against me is "leak" or "leaks." The farmstand doesn't sell "leaks," does it?
@ 1:37 p.m.
--Stamp Out Hunger is a front for pedophilia by the United States Postal Service, the National Association of Letter Carriers, the National Rural Letter Carrier's Association, and a bunch of corporations. If I thoughtlessly did or said anything to lead those organizations to believe that I feel tolerant of pedophilia, I'm truly sorry.
Anyone who looks through the Sunday copy of the Times Argus, at the Parade magazine supplement, can see the ad for "Stamp Out Hunger" on the last page just before the back cover. There's a picture of a little girl holding a paper bag full of groceries. The groceries are showing above the top of the bag. One one side of the girl's face is a bag of Goldfish crackers and a bottle of V-8. On the other side of her face is a bigger bottle of V8 called V-Fusion. The rest of the groceries showing are cans of soup. There's more in Parade along those lines; the opposite side of the page to the page that has the picture of the little girl is called "Sunday Brunch," with another caption saying "Mother's Day Delight." There's a recipe shown, for "Tomato, Pepper, Bread and Ricotta Frittata." The caption under the name of the recipe says:
"The bread soaks up the egg and cream and gives the frittata a firm but tender texture, while the ricotta brings a certain sweetnes to the dish."
Ricotta is cheese, for one thing. I think that anyone who's been following this story can figure out the rest of it.
There's more of that kind of thing throughout the magazine.
"Parade" is created and published by Gannett, the same media company that owns the Times Argus and the Burlington Free Press. "USA Weekend," which appears in the Sunday Burlington Free Press, is also created and published by Gannett.
@ 1:49 p.m.
--The Monday, May 9, 2011 Boston Globe had a front page article about the price of coffee. The article coincided with the appearance of new signs that Cumberland Farms had distributed and displayed in its stores here. The two sets of new signs show either a human-sized cup of iced coffee driving a red motorboat in the water or a human-sized cup of "Chill-Zone" swinging in a tire-swing. The caption says "FUN is in season." They've also got another sign that has one of the human-sized coffees driving a red lawnmower.
People who are new to my blog won't know about the "Made Me Laugh In Spite of Myself" prizes. It may be completely inappropriate for me to give one to Cumberland Farms for the lawnmower sign. I haven't given out a "Made Me Laugh In Spite of Myself" prize for anything having to do with the situation in Iran, so far, so if in fact I'm going to do that now, this is a world-wide "Made Me Laugh In Spite of Myself" hall of fame event that I just thought of doing right now.
Back to being serious, because this is serious.
Last week, before the signs appeared, I bought an iced coffee at Cumberland Farms. All of the sizes of the iced coffee are 99 cents. (Where is the "cents" sign on this keyboard? I don't think there is one. You know, I think that the key that should have the "cents" sign on it might just be where a mythical, other key that I mentioned once before is. As in "sense.")
I used my food stamps card to buy the iced coffee. Cumberland Farms accepts food stamps for iced coffee; it's the policy of the stores to do that. If I were going to be punished for using food stamps to buy their coffee, why did they make it possible to buy iced coffee with a food stamps card?
All of a sudden, almost immediately after I bought the one iced coffee, the new signs appeared, along with the article on the front page of the Boston Globe, which newspaper seemed again to be flaunting its invasions of my privacy.
Before I'd even looked at the new CF signs, I had decided to try to drink less coffee in general. Yesterday, when I finally looked closely at the signs and realized that the corporation was trying to give me the message that I wasn't welcome in their stores, I went in and bought another iced coffee just to show them that I'm not afraid of them and that they CAN'T stigmatize me in a way that's going to make me think that they're right.
I said last year that women's rights are worth dying for. To say that I'm not scared at all of being attacked isn't true; the signs, both formal and informal, are everywhere that that could happen to me at any time. However, if my being attacked is an inevitable result of my insistence on equality, it's preferable to willingly capitulating to a life of repression.
--Syria
Is there a reason that the U.S. isn't helping the Syrian rebellion more? Whether or not I'm successfully handling my life at any given time doesn't and shouldn't have anything to do with whether or not the U.S. is helping populations that want to become democratic to reach that goal.
Today, the Boston globe is still trying to denigrate freedom fighters. Page A3 has a story about the Syrian rebellion and the opposite page, A2, is all about "flooding" in a way that is obviously meant to be about my personal life.
This has been a very consistent theme with the bullying faction of the media; combining contempt for democratic uprisings with symbolism that degrades women.
I believe in democracy and even in my poverty I recognize that poverty in the United States is much more comfortable than is poverty in a lot of other countries. Even as broke as I am, I reap the rewards of capitalism. However, no political or economic system is without risks; as I've said before; if the risk to the media in an obviously totalitarian society is that the media is usually a tool of the government, it seems to me that the media in a capitalist democracy is at risk of being dominated by corporations that find the cost of business cheaper when they negotiate with foreign, totalitarian countries than when those corporations keep their business in democratic countries that at least have the ideal of treating people with some decency. Those corporations, which exist only because of capitalist democracy, can make a lot more money by keeping the populations of countries outside the United States enslaved than those corporations can make if the whole world becomes a mosaic of democratic nations.
It seems to me that oil is one of the common denominators in the reluctance of governments such as the United States government to intervene on behalf of democratic uprisings in places such as Syria. Certainly in 2011, I think that oil has been a common theme.
Yesterday, I briefly saw in an NYT article about Syria that the Obama administration has expressed confusion about how to help democracy gain hold in Syria. I find that confusion unconvincing, given the investment of time and energy that has been made by the Obama administration and its cast of bullying supporters in the abuse of women and children. Even though it must be that White House staff create all of the blog posts for White House officials, how many hours in a day do various members of the U.S. and other governments, not to mention the bullying faction of the media, corporations and other organizations, spend thinking about the situation involving me and my protests about the human rights abuses now led by the U.S. government and looking for ways to continue those abuses?
It seems to me that a lot of worthy causes are being sacrificed in the pursuit of unworthy ones.
---Where has this story been, and others like it? It seems to me that a media which is repressive and abusive isn't going to work at trying to prevent abuse of free speech.
It's a "Guardian.co.uk" article. It was the first search result I got from a Google search of the term "editors arrested."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Protests at Sri Lankan editor's arrest A 68-year-old journalist suffering from diabetes has been arrested in Sri Lanka for allegedly threatening a man.
But press freedom campaigners believe the arrest of Benette Rupasinghe, news editor of the Colombo-based LankaeNews, is the latest example of government attempts to silence the website.
Reporters Without Borders has called for Rupasinghe to be released. He is being held in the infirmary of Colombo prison.
Since the website's creation in 2005, its staff have been the target of intimidation, threats, smear campaigns and abduction.
Source: RSF"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (with noted exceptions) L. Kochman May 10, 2011 @ 2:39 p.m.
I AM A DEMOCRAT. I FEEL THAT PERHAPS IT'S TIME I REITERATED THAT, FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE NEW TO MY BLOG. I'VE BEEN A DEMOCRAT MY ENTIRE LIFE.
May 10, 2011
--Sexuality is a choice
Sexuality is supposed to be an individual's choice. It's supposed to be an individual's decision to be sexual or not, and to welcome or reject other people being sexual toward him or her. Sexuality isn't supposed to be forced on people, rampant in the workplace, school, or in social situations where it's not welcome.
No matter what the terminology or symbolism is, I've been saying about myself that the references and the comments aren't wecome, that I find them offensive and that I want them to stop. You're supposed to stop when someone says "Stop."
Nobody deserves to be harassed.
@1:33 p.m.
--Farmstand
There's a local farmstand that still, as of today, has a big sign out front that says:
"HAPPY MOHTHER'S DAY
LEEKS
FIDDLEHEADS"
It's interesting how the threads of humanity bind us all. I am not a great speller; I have that in common with the farmstand people, despite our socio-political differences.
Also; the slur that's been used against me is "leak" or "leaks." The farmstand doesn't sell "leaks," does it?
@ 1:37 p.m.
--Stamp Out Hunger is a front for pedophilia by the United States Postal Service, the National Association of Letter Carriers, the National Rural Letter Carrier's Association, and a bunch of corporations. If I thoughtlessly did or said anything to lead those organizations to believe that I feel tolerant of pedophilia, I'm truly sorry.
Anyone who looks through the Sunday copy of the Times Argus, at the Parade magazine supplement, can see the ad for "Stamp Out Hunger" on the last page just before the back cover. There's a picture of a little girl holding a paper bag full of groceries. The groceries are showing above the top of the bag. One one side of the girl's face is a bag of Goldfish crackers and a bottle of V-8. On the other side of her face is a bigger bottle of V8 called V-Fusion. The rest of the groceries showing are cans of soup. There's more in Parade along those lines; the opposite side of the page to the page that has the picture of the little girl is called "Sunday Brunch," with another caption saying "Mother's Day Delight." There's a recipe shown, for "Tomato, Pepper, Bread and Ricotta Frittata." The caption under the name of the recipe says:
"The bread soaks up the egg and cream and gives the frittata a firm but tender texture, while the ricotta brings a certain sweetnes to the dish."
Ricotta is cheese, for one thing. I think that anyone who's been following this story can figure out the rest of it.
There's more of that kind of thing throughout the magazine.
"Parade" is created and published by Gannett, the same media company that owns the Times Argus and the Burlington Free Press. "USA Weekend," which appears in the Sunday Burlington Free Press, is also created and published by Gannett.
@ 1:49 p.m.
--The Monday, May 9, 2011 Boston Globe had a front page article about the price of coffee. The article coincided with the appearance of new signs that Cumberland Farms had distributed and displayed in its stores here. The two sets of new signs show either a human-sized cup of iced coffee driving a red motorboat in the water or a human-sized cup of "Chill-Zone" swinging in a tire-swing. The caption says "FUN is in season." They've also got another sign that has one of the human-sized coffees driving a red lawnmower.
People who are new to my blog won't know about the "Made Me Laugh In Spite of Myself" prizes. It may be completely inappropriate for me to give one to Cumberland Farms for the lawnmower sign. I haven't given out a "Made Me Laugh In Spite of Myself" prize for anything having to do with the situation in Iran, so far, so if in fact I'm going to do that now, this is a world-wide "Made Me Laugh In Spite of Myself" hall of fame event that I just thought of doing right now.
Back to being serious, because this is serious.
Last week, before the signs appeared, I bought an iced coffee at Cumberland Farms. All of the sizes of the iced coffee are 99 cents. (Where is the "cents" sign on this keyboard? I don't think there is one. You know, I think that the key that should have the "cents" sign on it might just be where a mythical, other key that I mentioned once before is. As in "sense.")
I used my food stamps card to buy the iced coffee. Cumberland Farms accepts food stamps for iced coffee; it's the policy of the stores to do that. If I were going to be punished for using food stamps to buy their coffee, why did they make it possible to buy iced coffee with a food stamps card?
All of a sudden, almost immediately after I bought the one iced coffee, the new signs appeared, along with the article on the front page of the Boston Globe, which newspaper seemed again to be flaunting its invasions of my privacy.
Before I'd even looked at the new CF signs, I had decided to try to drink less coffee in general. Yesterday, when I finally looked closely at the signs and realized that the corporation was trying to give me the message that I wasn't welcome in their stores, I went in and bought another iced coffee just to show them that I'm not afraid of them and that they CAN'T stigmatize me in a way that's going to make me think that they're right.
I said last year that women's rights are worth dying for. To say that I'm not scared at all of being attacked isn't true; the signs, both formal and informal, are everywhere that that could happen to me at any time. However, if my being attacked is an inevitable result of my insistence on equality, it's preferable to willingly capitulating to a life of repression.
--Syria
Is there a reason that the U.S. isn't helping the Syrian rebellion more? Whether or not I'm successfully handling my life at any given time doesn't and shouldn't have anything to do with whether or not the U.S. is helping populations that want to become democratic to reach that goal.
Today, the Boston globe is still trying to denigrate freedom fighters. Page A3 has a story about the Syrian rebellion and the opposite page, A2, is all about "flooding" in a way that is obviously meant to be about my personal life.
This has been a very consistent theme with the bullying faction of the media; combining contempt for democratic uprisings with symbolism that degrades women.
I believe in democracy and even in my poverty I recognize that poverty in the United States is much more comfortable than is poverty in a lot of other countries. Even as broke as I am, I reap the rewards of capitalism. However, no political or economic system is without risks; as I've said before; if the risk to the media in an obviously totalitarian society is that the media is usually a tool of the government, it seems to me that the media in a capitalist democracy is at risk of being dominated by corporations that find the cost of business cheaper when they negotiate with foreign, totalitarian countries than when those corporations keep their business in democratic countries that at least have the ideal of treating people with some decency. Those corporations, which exist only because of capitalist democracy, can make a lot more money by keeping the populations of countries outside the United States enslaved than those corporations can make if the whole world becomes a mosaic of democratic nations.
It seems to me that oil is one of the common denominators in the reluctance of governments such as the United States government to intervene on behalf of democratic uprisings in places such as Syria. Certainly in 2011, I think that oil has been a common theme.
Yesterday, I briefly saw in an NYT article about Syria that the Obama administration has expressed confusion about how to help democracy gain hold in Syria. I find that confusion unconvincing, given the investment of time and energy that has been made by the Obama administration and its cast of bullying supporters in the abuse of women and children. Even though it must be that White House staff create all of the blog posts for White House officials, how many hours in a day do various members of the U.S. and other governments, not to mention the bullying faction of the media, corporations and other organizations, spend thinking about the situation involving me and my protests about the human rights abuses now led by the U.S. government and looking for ways to continue those abuses?
It seems to me that a lot of worthy causes are being sacrificed in the pursuit of unworthy ones.
---Where has this story been, and others like it? It seems to me that a media which is repressive and abusive isn't going to work at trying to prevent abuse of free speech.
It's a "Guardian.co.uk" article. It was the first search result I got from a Google search of the term "editors arrested."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Protests at Sri Lankan editor's arrest A 68-year-old journalist suffering from diabetes has been arrested in Sri Lanka for allegedly threatening a man.
But press freedom campaigners believe the arrest of Benette Rupasinghe, news editor of the Colombo-based LankaeNews, is the latest example of government attempts to silence the website.
Reporters Without Borders has called for Rupasinghe to be released. He is being held in the infirmary of Colombo prison.
Since the website's creation in 2005, its staff have been the target of intimidation, threats, smear campaigns and abduction.
Source: RSF"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (with noted exceptions) L. Kochman May 10, 2011 @ 2:39 p.m.