The patriarchs are addicted to violence because...

And we wonder why we have the level of violence on earth that we do....

"It's well known that TV violence holds an attraction for most viewers and this attraction translates into ratings and profits. Because of this most media executives have been reluctant to admit that media violence is in any way responsible for violence in our society.

If it weren't for the ratings and profits involved, producers would undoubtedly be much more willing to acknowledge the harm in TV and film violence and do something about it.

Instead, we have such things as the American Medical Association finding that shows that in homes with premium cable channels, or a VCR or DVD... '...children typically witness 32,000 murders and 40,000 attempted murders by the time they reach the age of 18.'"

"Because ours is a puritanically-based society and we have problems with depictions of sex, we tend to eroticize violence. For many people this creates an unfortunate, often even unconscious, link between sex and violence." from Sex Research, Censorship, and the Law)

The puritanical roots of our culture, mixed with a steady dose of violence coming at us in high-def, have made sex inseparable from violence. It seems only logical to assume that the same is going on under the robes of the islamic fundamentalists, even without the benefit of a daily dose of fictionalized violence. Their doses come from what you might call extreme reality tv. Every time I read about another woman (especially rape victims!) whipped or buried in sand and stoned, I smell extreme patriarchy, barely camouflaged raw sexual sadism.

The patriarchs of this "religion" prescribe sadistic whippings, stonings, and murder as "religious" punishments for male-defined infractions of religious code. Who benefits from this "religion"? Men. Who enforces the bizarre, blame-the-victim rules? Men. Who pays the price? Women, mostly, but both women and men all around the world pay it, too, in many ways.

If you peek under the robes of history, you'll find sado-masochism in nazi germany, the reformation, the crusades, the burning times, sharia law. These political and/or religious episodes, cleverly disguised as religion or state, institutionalize the physical abuse of the "weak" (women, children, jews, homosexuals -- whoever the dominant male designated as "other").

The primary output from these events is sexual sadism. No wonder the mullahs wear robes -- they need them to cover up the state of arousal they enjoy as voyeurs.

Yes, I know the following information comes from a "right-wing" web site, but it pretty well sums up what I'm trying to say. Why otherwise would male islamic soldiers voluntarily become suicide bombers if it weren't for the promise of a rewarding afterlife raping virgins???

The following quote is from Islam is to religion as sadism is to human

"Comparatively, it is imperative to comprehend that a sadistic person is not after sex, he seeks a sick way of dominance and pain over his victims, he wants to be in control of the action. A person being raped, for example, really has no control over the situation, the subject literally being coerced.

Violence, weapons, injury, or torture fascinates a sadistic person just as it fascinates an Islamist. Both enjoy getting their subjects (be it humans or animals) to do what they want them to do by frightening them through a series of intimidation, fear and terror. Both take pleasure in the psychological or physical suffering of others.

This is exactly how the Islamists have been ruling over a peaceful and sophisticated country, Iran, for 30 years. They have completely restricted the activity and independence of the people of Iran. In the cycle of prison horrors and terrors, the Islamic Republic of Iran uses many old Soviet techniques, ranging from harassment, intimidation and tortures, to mechanical devices designed to inflict gross tissue damage. They employ psychological and physiological techniques, (an example is Ziba Kazemi's case, an Iranian-Canadian journalist), such as solitary confinement and sleep deprivation. The Islamic Republic's lackeys are commonly using these techniques on the Iranian youth while the Islamic Republic dreams of world Shi'a domination."

God save me from your followers!

Too big to fail? Then it's too big, period

Too big to fail? Then they're too damn big. The gluttonous era of one corporation swallowing another whole, and becoming mega-international conglomerates that are too big to inspect, govern, audit or correct, must come to an end.
I never thought I'd agree with anything published in Business Week, but this issue of bailing out monster corporations that have looted and pillaged the global economy has me and millions of others seething and hopping mad.
"The last time I got screwed I at least got kissed"
Who said it first? I dunno, but it sure fits the current situation. Sure...let's give bonuses to the bastards who brought down the house of cards. They certainly deserve more money...more money out of MY pocket. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Thanks, Bush, Cheney, and all yer buddies. And now back to blaming Obama for this mess.

Is it Spring yet?

It's about time to take up the keyboard again. I admit that getting through the last several months of the dubyah regime took everything I had, and even in the waning days I kept expecting him -- er, Dick -- to pull some National Emergency crap and completely suspend the Constitution, what's left of it, that is.
Oh well, sign the Indict Bush petition here: http://www.impeachbush.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage

and let's hope Obama keeps at least one cell open in Guantanamo for George, and one for Dick. Let's not forget DH Dick.

Oh yeah, and while you're on the web signing things, join the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (http://www.vhemt.org/). I did. "Phasing out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to breed will allow Earth's biosphere to return to good health. Crowded conditions and resource shortages will improve as we become less dense."

I'm not sure about that "as we become less dense" part -- we humans are pretty damn dense, if you ask me.

"Come from the Shadows"

One of the best albums Joan Baez released was "Come from the Shadows." Full of songs about people resisting the powers that constrained and tortured them, listening to it always makes me hope that humans can indeed get their butts up off the couch, turn off the friggin' plasma tv, and take action against the liars and looters. Sadly, the album is out of print. Little wonder...gawd forbid the people should organize....
Anyway, in my own attempt to turn off the tv and organize, I'll be adding links to this site to groups of women organizing for women. Wimmin for wimmin. Womyn for the planet. Women for human rights. Wimmin doing wonderful, inspirational things with nowhere near $700 BILLION dollars. We need to inspire ourselves, because the boyz certainly ain't gonna do it for us.
See "SisterLynx" in the right margin...and go ye therefore and RAISE HELL. Make Mother Jones proud.

Today's rant - September 27, 2008

The early days of Autumn, the last blast of 80-degree days, and cooler nights. Not to fear, though. We've still got six more weeks of hot air as this two-year-long election campaign finally winds down. This campaign for u.s. p-resident has been going on too long, mostly because the current p-resident became such a huge liability that even his own party was in a hurry to get beyond the bush era. I've almost worn out the Mute button on the remotes in the house, trying to avoid the yammering that masquerades as news and as analysis anymore.

Lard hep us. Now we're in the home stretch and the talking headz are besides themselves talking over each other. Just what we need -- more White Men Talking. Who won the debate? Did McBush's attempt to duck the debate cost him? Did his joke in Scranton offend enough Irish to make a difference for Obama? Does Palin's living in proximity to Russia qualify as "foreign policy experience"?

Here's a couple things I really want to know: Do the evangelicals give a crap about anything but their self-fulfilling armageddon prophecies? Do the anti-abortionists give a crap about any of those babies after they're born? (Rhetorical question...no need to answer....) Why am we, the working people, elected to pay for the looting and pillaging that has gone on since Raygun de-regulated the whole stinkin' country?

Do any of you feel like your needs will be addressed by EITHER of these two candidates? Have you seen who's financing both of these campaigns??? What do you expect when we get candidates bought and paid for by the rich, the lobbyists for global corporations, and the RWNCOA (that's Right-wing Nut-Cases Of America)? As Molly Ivins always said, "Ya got to dance with them what brung ya."

Change is coming, alright. Yup. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

still think they count all the ballots and count them correctly???

http://www.molvray.com/acid-test/2008/07/evidence-of-election-tampering-reaching-critical-mass/