Why I Love My Dad

Me and my mother argue a LOT. It's mostly quite friendly mind you, we just differ on a lot of things and we both like debating. But I've noticed when I'm around for any extended period of time she nags him way more. I know I'm not mistaken - it happens. And as I'm currently 'between houses' (which really just makes me sound like i'm homeless) I'm staying with my parents..And yet my father always insists that I can stay with them whenever I need to and I can tell he means it. I can tell because he tells jokes and lies all the times and so his serious face is contrast face! My mother of course offers the same support and I love her just as much.

I am... a Vegatrain.

I'm a vegetarian. My girlfriend calls me Vegatrain. Well, that explains the title, here's the rest.


I became a vegetarian about three years ago, just after my 19th birthday. 2007 that makes it.  I'd been considering it in a very offhand way for quite a while, maybe six months or more. I'd several times spied a book by Peter Singer and Jim Mason at Borders (sidenote: I really love Borders for their great range, although they have about halved the size of the philosophy section and that is really where i spend most of my time in there. What i dislike about them is their prices. They're not gouging per se, but they're not so good.) called "The Ethics of What We Eat". It looked really interesting and I had seen from the subjects of several of his other books that Peter Singer published material that was relevant to my interests. This is probably the closest thing I've had to a religious experience (although it was only similar in that they're both sudden snaps into a different point of view). I bought it and read it over about three days. By the time I'd finished I think I had pretty much decided that I was going to be a vegetarian. 


I remember, the day I'd finished it, I was having fish for dinner. I had two pieces on my plate. I ate one, and gave the other to my house-mate, and I haven't eaten any meat since that. No fish, no any remotely animal. I have on occasion eaten things with byproducts, because by the time it gets down to 1% chicken extract powder in gravy or something, the presence of the byproducts is more of an inconvenience. But the idea behind vegetarianism is usually one of two, depending on the individual. It can be a personal conviction that you do not wish to participate in the unfair standards and cruelty of the meat industry, or a more general view that killing animals for food is morally wrong. There's also a growing third bullet point, that of environment issues stemming from the carbon dioxide emissions factory farming produces in a very major way (live stock accounts for "28% of global methane emissions from human-related activities"*). I fall into the first group, but I also agree with the third. However, there are multiple causes of Global Warming to reduce, and there are also other ways to restrict cows methane emissions. 


When I became a vegetarian though, I did so out of simplicity, knowing that it did not quite line up with exactly what I thought, but so easy to explain, and adopt, with clear cut rules. I was lacto-ovo, meaning I ate both dairy and eggs. Here are some of the discrepancies between pure vegetarianism and my position:


1 Probably the most major point is although I have mixed feelings about how okay I am killing certain animals so I can eat them, I do not care even a bit about fish. They show rudimentary signs of knowing what is going on, but they spend most of their life in the water and are reasonable routine based, not-too-complex creatures. Some fish are amazing, but you'll find them mostly in the tropics, and we don't eat them. The reason I declined to eat fish was because mass fish farming really fucks up the environment in a big way. If I were to eat fish, I would have to go the route of seafood from sustainable fisheries. And to be honest, I couldn't be fucked.


2 As I'm not against the killing of animals in principle; I think there's a way it can be done humanely, so the animal gets a reasonable and healthy life and then in return after a set time gives up it's meat. If it was done right I would probably still be eating meat. The closest I come to ruling out an animal for my plate forever is pigs. They're really quite smart, one of the smartest animals there is. And they are really for the most part living a fucked up life in this world. I'm not sure I can reconcile that totally. Sheep... I've had a sheep, and they're stupid.


But now I am starting to get into cooking lots at home, I really enjoy it, I want to branch out a little and use some of the stuff I used to, like animals. At the moment I am stuck a little in the mindset that to eat any animal now would be like a kick in the pants to those three years. A broken streak. But that's stupid, surely. My position was out of convenience and there are conditions under which I would buy at least fish and seafood: if I could find a sustainable fishery, or a supplier who carries their produce.


One last note on vegetarianism - I'm not one of those people who scowls whenever anyone takes a contrary position, but I really dislike it when people disparage vegetarians as being soft or effeminate. It's totally ridiculous to even draw that conclusion and being a dick to people just because they made a decision about what they do and do not want to take part in does not license you to be a shit.


I will tell you if I end up buying a tasty fish.


-Saxon


*http://www.epa.gov/rlep/faq.html

Standing in the closet, yelling at the outside of the closet.

I know I'm not alone in thinking this, in fact, I'm sure most people must think similarly about it to me. Someone spends large amounts of time declaring the evils of homosexuality, insisting, insisting, it's a disorder even though we actually have quite reasonable explanations for it - I immediately think they are probably a big huge homo. 

It's especially virulent in religious circles, mainly Christian religions but I'm sure there are plenty of representative from many religions out there. Just this week, Tom Brock, the guy who gave us the good news that gayness causes hurricanes, and also runs a GBLT support group (support as in 'supporting you as you leave your life of base sinful wickedness and come into the warm arms of God, hey do you like tithing, I like tithing') was outed by Lavender magazine, which I think is just lovely.

In the video in which he explains that the passing of a vote to accept gay and lesbian clergy as part of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) caused a hurricane which was present at the time of a vote, he also claims that the statement passed with 66.6% of the vote. I've got the numbers right here, and they're 559-441. Click on the link above to see the article, it's a corker. 

There have been some complaints about how it was run, given that Lavender went undercover in Brock's support group. I can see this point of view, and there are ethical doubts about that sort of thing - the reporter would have privy to sensitive information from the members of the group and it should be presumed that at least some of them truly did want to rid themselves of homosexuality. But two points - why did they think that? Well, they probably think they need help because they get told so, by Brock and his church.

And my second point - does anyone care if someone throws a marble in a hailstorm? Yes, Lavender magazine's ethical duty is on shaky ground, but come on, compare it to what they were investigating and it looks like an act of charity compared. And it kind of resembles one too - this sort of ball-busting publicity can only help ease taboos about gay people - hey, even the anti-gays are doing it!

I'm not going to spend any time convincing you that all anti-gay protesters are gay, because quite frankly they aren't, but, man, the incidences of anti-gays who ARE gay, well... there's alot of them. Here's a few.

In 1989, Matthew C Manning claimed to have been 'rescued' from the grips of homosexuality by Jesus, who also did him the super big favour of curing Manning of that pesky AIDS. A truly amazing case - although it's a pity that Manning has no evidence, of any kind, anywhere that he ever had HIV, AIDS, HIV/AIDS, or anything, anything at all wrong with him. People wanted these claims confirmed, naturally, so they went looking for information and, oh no, what's this? 

Manning has been caught and arrested for having sex in public three times  since 1998, the latest event leading to him being banned from a 24 Hour Gym in Santa Rosa. Oh, and it was totally with dudes, EVERY SINGLE TIME.

How about U.S Republican Senator Larry David? He has supported amendments banning same sex marriage, 'telling his colleagues that it was "important for us to stand up now and protect traditional marriage, which is under attack by a few unelected judges and litigious activists."' Also, in 1996 he voted in favour of the Defense of Marriage Act, which basically stops gay and lesbians from having their legal marriages recognised in states that haven not legalised gay marriage.

Oh, and he tried to pick up a plain clothes police cop for a little bit of dirty fun in a public toilet. After entering a guilty plea, Craig continued to deny the, well not allegations, because he admitted to it, but whatever you call it, he denied it. He claimed the pressure caused him to capitulate to avoid a greater punishment., and that he was a completely innocent part of all that had happened.

Except that when he enterted the stall, he blocked the front portion of the door with his suitcase, repeatedly flicked his hand under the stall to get the attention of the occupant and even tapped his right foot against the officers' left foot repeatedly! He later claimed he was picking up a piece of paper when his hand could be seen (3 times?), and as for the feet thing, well... let's just say that from now on I'm going to remember him as Senator Larry "I have a wide stance when going to the bathroom" David.

And because it's so fresh and juicy, I simply must end with the classy George A Rekers. You may well know about this one - in early May some photos of G.A. Rekers taking a fully subsidized trip to Europe with a rent-boy surfaced. Rekers claimed he had recently had surgery and could not reach his luggage, hence, rent-a-boy, right? 

Did I mentioned the site Rekers found 'Lucien' on was a little-known website that helps connect people* - Rentboy.com! And it's so ambiguous, anyone could get confused, I mean when you use such vague language as "smooth, sweet tight ass" and "perfectly built uncut 8-inch cock", anyone is going to get confused! I can see why Rekers made his mistake though, as Lucien's profile says he is "Up for anything!". Carriyng luggage counts as anything, right?

For a pretty comprehensive history of people with more than their fair share of sexual hypocrisy, see this awesome article that I kicked myself after finding right after I wrote this article!

-- Saxon.

*Yeah, connect them from the dick to the butt, maybe.

Julia Gillard, First Female PM of Australia

So, late last night Julia Gillard was made the first female Prime Minister of Australia.

Alot of people are asking though, is it an equivalent step forward as having actually voted in a party whilst they they were being lead by a female, as opposed to a female PM simply coming about through a leadership challenge?

No, it's not, really. It would have been much more reassuring if we'd specifically and intentionally bought a woman into power. But - and here's the important part - big fat who cares.

It doesn't matter how it came about. The results are the same. We have a female PM, and the first step is the most important one, and I'm sure we'll see the results in years to come.

Julia Gillard is a lot of firsts, too!: First ginger, first woman, first never married before and first non-religious PM! It's not just a good day for women, it's a good day for everyone.

[Correction: Bob Hawke and Gough Whitlam were agnostics but I still think it rocks!]

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