Bus Fumes

The Administration doesn't want it. The Republicans don't want it. The Democrats don't want it. Our men and women in the military don't want it. So how in the hell does this flogged-to-death draft meme keep bobbing back up to the surface? Arghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(P.S. -- A tip of the cap to Eugene for the only post I've read worth reading on that stupid Huffington blog.)
_____

If I see one more commercial where the dad is the but of the joke or dissed by his wife and kids, I'm going to put my size 8-1/2 right through my TV screen.

The two worst offenders, in my opinion?

1. Mobile phone service providers. Every time I see the ad with the smartass black girls sarcastically back-talking their parents because they don't have a mobile phone I practically levitate right out of my seat. Why? My father would have flattened me where I stood... AND I WOULD HAVE DESERVED IT. I grew up knowing that my father worked very hard to provide us a good living, and that something like having a cell phone was a privilege, not a right. Believe you me (Yikes! I'm channeling the Princess Mom here...), it would have been a cold day in Hell in our house before that kind of behavior brought me a reward.
2. Insurance companies. State Farm's recent commercial about the couple who got married and he gave up just about everything but his insurance company (State Farm) instead of her insurance company ("the Gecko"), because his is cheaper... but she still comes off as a bossy, know-it-all, ball-busting bitch. He makes an excellent financial decision and she treats him like the village idiot. Great message.

While I don't agree with a everything this guy says, I'm going to point you towards this essay written back in 2003 that contains a helluva lot of truth:

"Out there, there is a huge number of men who are sick of it. We’re sick of being made figures of fun and ridicule; we’re sick of having girly-men like journalists, advertising agency execs and movie stars decide on “what is a man”; we’re sick of women treating us like children, and we’re really fucking sick of girly-men politicians who pander to women by passing an ever-increasing raft of Nanny laws and regulations (the legal equivalent of public-school Ritalin), which prevent us from hunting, racing our cars and motorcycles, smoking, flirting with women at the office [Note: there's a big difference between harmless flirtation and sexual harassment. Kim would be the first to be protective of his female coworkers if it was happening in his office. And, yes, he does know the difference.], getting into fistfights over women, shooting criminals and doing all the fine things which being a man entails."

The feminist pendulum has swung entirely too far to the left. While I'm not ready to don a burka and live under sharia law, I am also sick to death of the utter emasculation of men going on in western society today.

There is a beauty in men -- real men -- and women working in partnership. There is a rightness in playing to each other's complimentary strengths. When we weaken one half of a partnership, we undermine the entire partnership.

I am sick to damn death of the messages the media gives us in both advertising and sitcoms that men are buffoons. I'm done with bitching about the problem, though, so here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to boycott any television show that gives that message. I'm going to boycott any advertiser that gives that message. They're not getting another red cent of my money and not one more second of my attention. I mean it. Care to join me?
_____

I have leftwing friends who accuse me of being a Republican. I have rightwing friends that accuse me of being a Democrat. Once more for the record, folks: I am an independent who is conservative on fiscal issues (if I have to stick to a budget, my goverment had better damn well stick to a realistic budget, too) and progressive on social issues (and by progressive, I mean I want programs in place where the goal is for individuals to graduate from public assistance to independence... and in the shortest possible period of time. I want to see progess, not just money thrown at a problem in hopes it will make it better. It never does).

Bill Whittle has written an outstanding essay entitled "Sanctuary" about the war on terrorism. Part I is here. Part II is here. Please try to read it with an open mind; then if you and I don't agree on this issue, let's discuss it in civil tone and language. Otherwise, I really don't care to discuss it with you any more. I know what I believe, and I'm comfortable with it.
_____

Update: Aw, fer cripes sakes! Rush Limbaugh can get Oxycodone by the gross and the Supremes are concerned about doctors overprescribing medical marijuana? Give me a break! While my mom got good anti-nauseal drugs during her chemo, if it would help get her appetite back and stop her from losing so much weight, I'd be pestering her docs to get her on it right now... but it's not legal in Illinois.

Shit! It's proven to help stop the progression of glaucoma and it's proven to stop nausea and assist the appetite for food. It's cheap, and it could be readily available.

Fucking hell! Mom paid over a thousand dollars a month for a cancer drug that didn't even work... and she couldn't get something with proven benefits that would cost less and do more to help her??? Ooooooo... this makes steam spout out my ears.
_____