Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The Politics of Bread...

The little red hen called all of her Democrat neighbors together and said, 'If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?''

'Not I,' said the cow.
'Not I,' said the duck.
'Not I,' said the pig.
'Not I,' said the goose.

'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did. The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain.'Who will help me reap my wheat?' asked the little red hen.

'Not I,' said the duck.
'Out of my classification,' said the pig.
'I'd lose my seniority,' said the cow.
'I'd lose my unemployment compensation,' said the goose.

'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did. At last it came time to bake the bread. 'Who will help me bake the bread?' asked the little red hen.

'That would be overtime for me,' said the cow.
'I'd lose my welfare benefits,' said the duck.
'I'm a dropout and never learned how,' said the pig.
'If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination,' said the goose.

'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen. She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to see. They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said, 'No, I shall eat all five loaves.'

''Excess profits!' cried the cow. (Nancy Pelosi)
'Capitalist leech!' screamed the duck. (Barbara Boxer)
'I demand equal rights!' yelled the goose. (Jesse Jackson)
The pig just grunted in disdain. (Ted Kennedy)

And they all painted 'Unfair!' picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities. Then the farmer (Obama) came. He said to the little red hen, 'You must not be so greedy.' 'But I earned the bread,' said the little red hen. 'Exactly,' said Barack the farmer. 'That is what makes our free enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those who are lazy and idle.'

And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, 'I am grateful, for now I truly understand.' But her neighbors became quite disappointed in her. She never again baked bread because she joined the 'party' and got her bread free. And all the Democrats smiled. 'Fairness' had been established. Individual initiative had died, but nobody noticed; perhaps no one cared...so long as there was free bread that 'the rich' were paying for.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

People Can Be Scary...

Monday, July 14, 2008

Small Town Gay Bar

Apparently there was a movie made about living as a gay person in my hometown of Meridian, Mississippi (and another Mississippi town), where they are "forced to deal with the struggles of ignorance, hypocrisy and oppression." The movie is called "Small Town Gay Bar" and I had never even heard of it until today. (I have, however, heard of the bar the movie is featuring.)

Kevin Smith was the producer, and he actually has the audacity to say, "It's a film that is a portrait of small-town gay bars in rural Mississippi," Smith said, straightening up. "Which is probably the hardest place in the world to be gay. It's a portrait of how people will create their own community, even in the middle of a community that ostracizes them and wants nothing to do with them. They can still collectively come together and create an oasis for themselves to just chill out and be themselves and be who they can't be in this particular buckle of the Bible Belt."

1. As one of the larger cities in the state, we are not exactly "rural Mississippi". Shockingly, we have paved roads and we don't all live on farms or ride tractors everywhere we go. I even shop at places OTHER than Wal-Mart.

2. I have some gay friends and never once have I heard them complain about being so oppressed, ostracized or anything else by the people or society in our hometown (nor do they act like it). Even if someone did have a problem with it, I have certainly never seen them act on it!

3. After reading the movie description on Wikipedia, I am now completely offended by the comments made by those involved with the film. I mean, I'm glad that homosexuals have their own place to go if they feel so inclined, but it's not like we ban them from all other bars and "oases"!!!

Yet another stereotypical strike against Mississippi in the eyes of those who do not live here, have never visited or just don't care to educate themselves about who we really are. So tell me, who is the one who is really being unfairly judged here?

Talk about writing your own version of history... Grrrr... (I did, however, add it to my Netflix queue so I can at least see for myself.)

Friday, July 11, 2008

i absolutely adore this picture -- that genuine smile! good stuff, good stuff...

Sunday, July 06, 2008

I have been so swamped, overwhelmed and just plain busy as hell since returning from Belize LAST weekend (for example, we just got in from Panama City for the 4th and it's almost midnight). Since I have not had a chance to give a detailed account of our *fabulous* week on Ambergris Caye, chock full of hilarity, good times & relaxation -- which was capped off with being delayed overnight in ATL and being physically assaulted by a waiter at the hotel's restaurant (I kid you not), I can at least link to the photo set I uploaded to Flickr... Still, I have some good stories to come, but I'm just too exhausted right now... Belize ~ June 2008

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Tuesday, July 01, 2008

* one of my favorite shots *

Isn't it beautiful? Ahh, deliciously so!!! I miss it already. Good thing Jon is already talking in terms of, "...when we go back..."