hyrcan

It's a good question that I think more people should ask more often.

Where am I?

Well, right now I'm at work. Back in DC. Thousands of miles away from where I was last week, Japan. (pictures soon)

It's fairly obvious. So the question is obviously simple right? Well, no. Not so much. I came back from Japan, to my home here in DC. That's what you do right? Vacation is over, back to the real world... all that. Maybe for some, but I think that's because they don't ask themselves the question.

Where am I?

The watchful eye of the a Police Box in Japan. This is something I
wish we had in the states. Every so many blocks or miles or whatever
here in Japan, you will find a small building (some smaller than the
one pictured) housing a helpful police officer. Be it help with
directions, or help of a more serious nature, help is there. Or at
least it seems that way so far.

I say... is that always a bad thing? You're faced with new challenges, new experiences. Good or bad. They help us grow.

What's the most impulsive thing you've ever done?

Did you regret it?

When's the last time you did anything impulsive? Last week? year? Ever?

Note: For those curious, I'll be on-line sporadically over the next 3 weeks. I'll likely post some pics... at odd hours

Here in the U.S. once we get healthcare coverage, it can be a challenge to keep it. We live in a society that puts a price tag on how healthy we can be.

I'm lucky in that I work for an organization with excellent health insurance (not that I use it very often), but I know lots of people who don't have any, or only have extremely basic and restrictive coverage.

Is healthcare where you live moving the right direction?

Recently, I moved into my own apartment. Just me, myself, my insane cat...

...and my stuff.

I thought I'd take this as an opportunity to get organized, to get rid of some clutter. I moved without any furniture, except for a drafting desk and a dresser, which means all of my things are currently laying in the middle of my living room. Books, gadgets, more books, robots, other random things... all of my possessions on the floor in front of me. I wondered about this, how many people could put all the things they own in the living room of a small one bedroom apartment, without it being piled to the ceiling? What the heck could I even get rid of?

Scratching my head, I turned my focus on things that I needed... dishes, eating utensils, glasses, couch, bookcases, bed... the list continued. Having worked for a non-profit environmental group I wanted to do this right, no toxic stuff in my home, keep low environmental impact, that sort of thing.

I would start with the easy stuff... Or so I thought.

Just a quick note, I'm going through several of my archived posts, as I get to it, from previous renditions of the site, and putting them back up. No not all of the old post... most aren't worth reposting.

Friday! Hey look, it's a video Friday post!

Every Friday I'll be posting 3 or 4 videos Friday morning, so you can watch them instead of doing real work. The videos that will get posted will be a collection of videos that I feel people should watch. That's about it. There's not likely to be any other rhyme or reason behind it, other that the fact I think you should watch them.

My hope is that you might discover something new, or enjoy a little inside peek at what I fancy. This particular Video Friday features two videos from my favorite projects, and a little bit of randomness thrown in the mix.

Now... On with the show!

If I were to say "Women should only wear skirts and heels and wear makeup, otherwise it's unladylike," you would be offended. "Women belong in the kitchen," might fetch me firm slap, and you'd likely wonder if you've slipped into a timewarp to the 1940s.

Are these things something I'm likely to say? Heh, maybe, only if I wanted to receive the reaction I outlined above. It's a silly notion that anyone should be relegated to only a single task, or look and dress a specific way. It's sexual discrimination plain and simple. No reasonable person would argue otherwise.

Yet, everyday reasonable people do exactly that. They actively participate in sexual discrimination and don't bat an eye. In fact they are quick to defend it. It's even socially acceptable, very few people recognize it as a form of discrimination. The victims suffer silently in fear of losing favor from loved ones (often the primary perpetrators) or being outcasts from society.

I'm speaking of gender stereotyping, and it happens everyday. The victims, our children, even ourselves, face daily subtle persecution from those held most dear, most trusted.

In the wake of the idiotic flip flop of Barack Obama on the FISA issue (see: 4th Amendment R.I.P.) I was looking to do something in protest. On my website, I've had a link to a Stop Illegal Spying website for sometime, and from some reason it's been down for a while. To replace the broken image/link I created this:

I've linked this to the EFF website on the spying issue. But this gave me the idea to create a t-shirt. With a slight twist of course:

I showed this image to a friend of mine and I wasn't met with the usual humor, they relayed that I should be careful because someone might take offense.

So I thought about it, and thought about it, and asked if I were African American would they have told me to be careful? Of course the answer was no. Somehow it would be 'ok' if I were African American and created this image.

This made me think about all the other situations where saying or doing things as one minority is ok but for other minorities (or the majority?) it's frowned upon, and even labeled as racist (or other -ist or -phobe).

This makes no sense to me at all, if one person or group shouldn't say/perform a word/phrase/action then no one should. right?

This also made me think about how using these possibly offensive things in a positive way is somehow perfectly ok. I haven't heard anyone crying out against the "Obama is my Homeboy" shirt or "Black is the New President" or even the "Yo Mamma" shirt. I'm not even going to begin to list of the questionable t-shirts that touch on gay topics.

So would me creating a shirt that promoted Obama... something along the lines of "A Brother for President" be ok, or is that like my use of the "put the X in X" joke to indicate he's aiding or becoming Big Brother something that should be considered possibly racist?

And is it possibly racist because I'm not the right minority or because it's racist for everyone?

Do you consider the image racist?

What do you even say to that.

I'm speechless really.

Sitting here trying to write something about what has happened and I'm at a lose for words. Could someone please explain to me how someone who taught Constitutional law could vote yes on a bill that strips us of the 4th Amendment? I'd really like to know.

Actually, I don't need anyone to really answer that, because I already know. I've talked about it before, and to be completely honest, I'm glad Barack Obama has lived up to my expectations. Once again, if American's turn away from America's Next Top Model long enough to notice, we get a glimpse at the fact that we don't have a democracy. They have no interest in the will of the people. Their allegiance is to corporations and covering the corruption.

I hope they continue on this path. The more fucked up this country's government gets, the more corrupt, the more out of control the better. Americans that sit back and allow things like FISA to get passed desserve it. We need drastic change, which will only come from some sort of catalyst. Chaney and the Project for the New American Century when they wrote the 2000 report Rebuilding America's Defenses.

"Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor"

They had theirs, eventually it will be ours.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~ Thomas Jefferson

If there is hope, it lies in the proles...