Is your sex life as weird as your music?
“What makes you think my music is weird? You need to let go of your prejudices. You’re talking to a human being who seems pretty smart, who works hard to do what they do, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Remember, I'm rational. I think you're the weird one. Whats wrong with my music? What makes my music weird is that people always listen to one type of music on the radio. It’s the background of their lives, acoustic wallpaper. There’s an acceptable joke, there are three progressions of acceptable chords and acceptable words: baby, love, tears, yat yat. Just because I don't address these terms doesn't mean I'm weird. So tell people I'm not weird, I'm rational. I am a person who can choose to write such things or material that includes all the piano notes played simultaneously, followed by a concrete truck going over the piano and a small atomic explosion. Nothing strange about this as long as you do it in a meaningful way.” —Frank Zappa, 1979
1.
I read my first Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) book this year titled Lavinia. Here’s a passage I pulled from it: The old guard Verus was dead, and Aulus, every one of the young men who had been my suitors was dead. My mother was dead. Almost every household in Latium grieved for a father or brother or son killed or crippled. I think one cannot be left alive among so many deaths without feeling unendurable shame. They say Mars absolves the warrior from the crimes of war, but those who were not the warriors, those for whom the war was said to be fought, even though they never wanted it to be fought, who absolves them?
Are you familiar with the Marginalian? For many years the Bulgarian-born, American-based essayist, book author, poet, and writer of literary and arts commentary and cultural criticism Maria Popova has published this labor of love provided to you free of charge on the World Wide Web. She recently posted bits of a conservation between Le Guin and polymathic marine conservationist Jonathan White, from his book Talking on the Water: Conversations about Nature and Creativity, published in the 1990s. A couple quotes from Le Guin I include below but please take some time to check out Popova’s site.
History is one way of telling stories, just like myth, fiction, or oral storytelling. But over the last hundred years, history has preempted the other forms of storytelling because of its claim to absolute, objective truth. Trying to be scientists, historians stood outside of history and told the story of how it was. All that has changed radically over the last twenty years. Historians now laugh at the pretense of objective truth. They agree that every age has its own history, and if there is any objective truth, we can’t reach it with words. History is not a science, it’s an art.
The daily routine of most adults is so heavy and artificial that we are closed off to much of the world. We have to do this in order to get our work done. I think one purpose of art is to get us out of those routines. When we hear music or poetry or stories, the world opens up again. We’re drawn in — or out — and the windows of our perception are cleansed, as William Blake said. The same thing can happen when we’re around young children or adults who have unlearned those habits of shutting the world out.
2.
Iowa just surpassed most others in the abortion ban bandwagon. Crazy travel agent and bar & grill owner, oh, and also a state representative, Shannon Lundgren is beating her drum furiously across the state to make sure the unborn are registered for sainthood. In 2018 she was first in line to champion the Iowa fetal Heartbeat bill from the pen of the also loony governor Kim Reynolds. And, of course, she is proud to endorse former President Ornageman Kahooie for re-election to the highest office in the land.
So, just this week, the state passed a 6-week fetal heartbeat abortion ban which Gov. Kim Reynolds has announced she will sign today at the Family Leadership Summit, in front of an audience of conservative Christians. (current law allows abortion up to 20 weeks after conception, or 22 weeks after the last menstrual period) Says Lundgren, "This bill protects unborn children in Iowa. This bill sets a clear standard where the state has an interest in the life of the child: when the baby’s heart starts beating. Where there is a heartbeat, there is life."
Only three Republicans voted against the bill; Reps. Mark Cisneros, R-Muscatine, and Zach Dieken, R-Granville, although ten representatives were conspicuously absent. In a statement of extreme clarity, and to enter the deep zone of the Republican mind, Rep. Brad Sherman, R-Williamsburg said if someone doesn't want to get pregnant, they shouldn't have sex. "Everyone is free not to have sex. If they’re not prepared to have a baby they shouldn’t have sex, if they’re that concerned about it. I will stand for everyone’s right to practice abstinence." That’s some serious FREEdom there, pal.
As Charles Pierce says of this mess, Victims of rape and incest have to be force-marched into the police station, and they have to do it within a certain period of time because, as we know, family dysfunction and psychological pressure rarely make victims reluctant to report the crime to the cops. No victim of rape or incest should be made to carry the child of the rapist or of Uncle Cletus to term. Period. Clowns. Saddle. Mankind.
And, just to top her own self, Lundgren is also arguing for a return to child labor. Yes, gotta love the late 1800s. From an article in the Iowa Capital Dispatch: The family of Rep. Shannon Lundgren, R-Peosta, owns a bar and grill. While she was concerned about minors being able to work at some bars in her district, Lundgren said family businesses would benefit from the bill by being able to give minor workers more responsibilities. Lundgren disagreed with Democrats who said teens could be at a higher risk of sexual assault when serving inebriated customers, saying women are “sexually assaulted in doctor’s offices, in grocery store parking lots, in shopping malls.”
In the meantime, A Nebraskan mother accused of giving her 17-year-old daughter abortion pills and helping her bury the remains of the fetus pleaded guilty on Friday to violating a 2010 state law that makes it a crime to provide an abortion after 20 weeks of gestation. Jessica Burgess, 42, now faces up to two years in prison—as does her daughter, Celeste, who pleaded guilty on related charges last month.
Thank god the Fetus Americanos are protected, at least until they’re teenagers…then fuck ‘em. Hey, maybe fucking Vote Blue.
3.
I’m all for the loony, crackpot, conspiracy theorists to walk amongst the normal folk and live their lives as they see fit. It’s when they foist their ideas on others, and especially if they happen to become lawmakers and policymakers in the public sphere, that it’s problematic. Such is a woman called Kari Lake, a troubled soul, her. Once upon a time she was a normal, Democratic news anchor who then fell under the orangeman’s spell, and now she’s still unwilling to concede defeat by the Democrat Katie Hobbs in the 2022 Arizona governor’s race.
Lordy, she’s released a book. It’s titled Unafraid: Just Getting Started, where she blows a “birther” racist dog whistle to supporters, claiming Barack Obama had a “mysterious past” when he ran for president. She whinges on about Pete Buttigieg writing he “couldn’t even fix the potholes in South Bend, Indiana”, where he was mayor, but became “the United States transportation secretary just because he was gay”. Of Karine Jean-Pierre, Lake says the White House press secretary “can’t string a sentence together” but is “in charge of briefing the American people on behalf of the president, just because she’s a black lesbian”, and Rachel Levine, the head of the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, is called “an overweight, middle-aged pediatrician” who got the job “because he decided he wanted to be a girl”.
Does that make you thirsty for a beer, or what? Well, just don’t go to the Firetruck Brewing Company, 4746 E Grant Rd, as they hosted a book signing on Wednesday for this steaming hot mess. And don’t support any of the other locations at 9155 E Tanque Verde, 9630 N Oracle Rd, or the Firetruck Pizza Company at 800 N Kolb Rd. Boycotts work. You can even email them at gotbeer@brewtucson.com or call at 520-777-9456. Be nice to the employees as they might’ve been as disgusted as you or me, but go for upper management. And since the Grant Rd location is next door to a Trader Joe’s, you may have to smudge the parking lot on your next visit.
4.
For a bit of good news, in Maine a new law has been passed that allows transgender youth to seek gender affirming care at the age of 16 without involving parents. This law is a game-changer for the transgender youth of Maine, distinguishing the state from numerous others where access to gender-affirming care is banned, even with parental consent. This year has seen an alarming surge in regressive legislation targeting trans people, with more than 530 anti-trans laws introduced across the country. In contrast, Maine is charting a decidedly different course for its trans youth, allowing those who have attained the age of 16 the authority to manage their own reproductive healthcare decisions.
Tiny Tidbits of Goddamn!
1. There’s a reason banks make so much money, and one is the exorbitant money-gauging system called mortgages. Robbery in plain sight. But on a smaller scale the Bank of Amerika, the nation's second largest bank, has been ordered to pay more than $100 million to customers for double charging insufficient fund fees, withholding reward bonuses and opening accounts without customers' knowledge or permission. The bank is also on the hook for an additional $150 million in penalties for the same violations. The OCC said it found that the bank charged "tens of millions of dollars" in fees in resubmitted transactions, in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prevents financial institutions from using unfair or deceptive acts and practices. You know that thing that Republicans want to get rid of…oversight? The free market will regulate itself? Bwwaahhaaaahahaaahaaaaaaa…Goddamn!
2. Perhaps those “popular” soccer coaches need to be vetted a little closer. The not-so-smart Camilo Hurtado Campos of Franklin, Tennessee, left his phone at a restaurant and employees went through the device, looking for information about the owner so they could return it. Close your eyes if you don’t want to read this but the guy had “recorded himself raping unconscious boys between approximately 9 and 17 years old.” For the past two decades. Goddamn!
3. While Democratic lawmakers are trying to get shit done for the masses of ordinary folks, Republican lawmakers are still focused on laptops and any other conspiracy theory that comes along. On Wednesday the House Judiciary Committee hearing was a farce of epic proportions with the MAGA-infested Liz Cheney replacement Rep. Harriet Hageman attacking FBI Director Christopher Wray by saying, The American people fully understand that there is a two-tiered justice system that has been weaponized to persecute people based on their political beliefs and that you have personally been weapon, that you have personally worked to weaponize the FBI against conservatives. It’s all well and good to question people in positions of power but Wray is an Orangeman-appointed, overly conservative Republican his own self…heh. Wray replied “First off, I would disagree with your characterization of the FBI. Certainly your description of my own approach. The idea that that I am biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background.” Goddamn!
And now…
So glad you saved us from going to Firetruck Brewing! I’ll send them a nice note explaining why.
GODDAMN indeed !!! Thanks for the news.
Was just reading about the abuse of the Rohinga in Bangladesh and your posts describe the same type of horrofic abuse in this country. Truly disgusting religious bastards.