These are the things that make me hate everyone with a penis

7 dead in California shooting rampage called 'premeditated mass murder'

This is what happens when some men take the "friendzone" thing too seriously. So some women rejected him and he decides to go on a killing spree to "punish you all." THIS (along with innumerable other acts of violence against women) is the end result of a society who teaches men that they deserve to have the attention of any woman they choose by virtue of the simple fact they were born male. Instead of teaching that woman are you know, human beings, and as such have the rights to associate or not with whomever they choose and if one doesn't want to be with you, you have to accept that and move on to someone who DOES want to be with you. No, no. Get all hung up on the ones that don't want you, decide that means all women really want bastards and not "nice guys" like you. Then, when that attitude seeps out in your interactions with women, blame THEM and use it as further confirmation you're correct. (Because really, what woman doesn't want to be with a man she can tell really believes she should be *grateful* a man like him would give her the time of day?) Stew in that for a few years, then snap one night and kill half a dozen people.

Also, anyone want to take bets this was a white guy that did this? They described him as "mentally ill" which anyone who has been paying attention would know means white boy. People of color never get the benefit of being considered mentally ill. They get listed as thugs, terrorists, madmen. No one ever suggests they are an outlier and not a representative of their race.

(Also, please please please, do not make me qualify Not all Men. Yeah, clearly, Not all Men. But ENOUGH men that it's a discernible pattern. Seriously, when are the genuinely nice men gonna deal with their people? If you're a decent man, do not let your fellow men get away with blaming women for their lack of dating luck. No one is owed anyone else's affection or regard. Full stop.)

The past is never really past

The trouble with a traumatic breakup like the one I had is that it leaves some serious scars. Even once you get past any feelings you have for the Ex, the damage just doesn't go away. You think it has. You think you're ready to move on, start seeing people again, but it just...doesn't seem to work.

It's been a year and a half since my marriage broke up. I have no feelings for my Ex anymore. I can actually see her name without flinching and having flashbacks. I can look at her pictures and just think, no, it's ok. I'm ok now. I don't seek her out, but if a mutual friend mentions her or I see a comment she left on someone's Facebook, it doesn't send me into panic attacks or crying jags anymore. It took a very long time to get to this point, but I'm there.

I'm at the point now where I'd like to start dating again. Nothing serious, I think, but you know, getting out, seeing people, feeling like a desirable person again, that would be nice. So, as you do, I have been looking at lots of dating sites, setting up profiles, seeing what happens. And I've gotten some responses that seem quite promising. The problem? I just can't seem to do it.

I look at the profiles of people who are interested in me and I think: there's no way they'd really like me. I look at profiles of people I find attractive and I think, there's no way they'd want me. There's a sense of innate rejection and worthlessness that overcomes me and I just...can't. And it doesn't make sense, because I'm pretty awesome. I'm smart and funny and I think I'm kinda cute. I have opinions and ideas and a really good heart. I'm generous and supportive and I know how to be a really good partner.  No, I'm not terribly exciting, but I know who I am and I know how to accept others for who they are, but I'm left with the feeling that that just isn't enough.

And I know that comes from being in that place, in that room in Australia and hearing the person I loved more than anything, more than myself, tell me she was leaving for someone she'd never even actually met. It comes from being so disposable, so worthless that she couldn't even wait until I was out of the country before she was meeting up with the other woman. And I know, I KNOW, that I'm not worthless or disposable. I know I married a horrible person who did a horrible thing and that was on her, not me. But that doesn't stop the feeling. That doesn't make it any easier to put myself out there.

Better not get sick in Louisiana...

Fear Not! Boby Jindal has a plan for all those Louisiana residents he's denying healthcare!

http://jindalcare.com/

And now for something completely different

All is not gloom and doom down here on the bayou. Sure, our politicians are loco, the weather is trying to kill us and our public schools openly teach Creation Theory, but it's my second Sneaux Day at home and I'm nice and warm, with a couple of snuggly cats to keep my company. And so, because it is funny, I present to you True Facts about the Illusive Bisexual.

Maybe he can get a Huggies plant to open shop in La.

David Vitter is going to have to talk about his diaper fetish now that he's running for governor

Here's the thing: Normally, I don't give a rat's ass what consenting adults do behind closed doors.  I pass no moral judgement on anyone who has a diaper fetish, or foot fetish, or leather fetish, or scarlet red nails fetish or you know, any fetish. Different things work for different people, as it should be. I do pass judgement on people who cheat on their spouses, but that's still not my business unless you're MY spouse. If you want to forgive a cheater and stay married, that's all up to you. I don't even necessarily have a problem with prostitution, in those rare instances where being employed as a prostitute is a free, voluntary choice. The problem with the Diaper Dave scandal is the all-encompassing hypocrisy.

This is a man who routinely decries abortion, gay marriage, sex outside of marriage, proposed increases to the minimum wages, any effort to strengthen the social safety net, and supports governmentally-sanctioned public prayer, parental notification/permission for abortion, a constitutional ban on flag-burning, banning gay adoption, tax subsidies for corporations that move US jobs overseas, a broadened use of the death penalty and  vouchers for private and/or religious schools, among other things. He's proud of his pro-family Christian image and is generally first in line to throw stones at anyone else who fails to live up to his unrealistic standards. And yet....his indiscretion? Eh. Made him a better man, he says. No need for him to resign. No need for him to genuinely apologize to the people he betrayed. It was a learning experience, you see.

This man is bad, bad, bad for Louisiana. NOT because he has a diaper fetish, not because he likes to engage prostitutes. He's bad for our state because he believes he is better than the people he represents. He is so disconnected from the realities of the state, from the people who live here, from their actual needs, it's scary. He's bad for poor people. He's bad for working people. He's bad for anyone with a shred of genuine compassion for their fellow human beings. We should be talking about how his policy affect the poor, the needy, the mass majority of people in our state, but instead we're going to spend all our time talking about his damned diaper fetish.

David Vitter: On the Issues

The Gods are clearly punishing us

Louisiana is currently undergoing some seriously weird weather. Friday, it was snowing in New Orleans. Tomorrow, we're slated to get between 2 to 3 inches -- and it's supposed to accumulate. No one here knows what to do! The whole bloody state is shutting down. No one can drive on these roads, there are accidents everywhere and the shelves are devoid of bread, water and beer.

Clearly, we are being punished. But for what?

I have some ideas:


Who Needs Science When You've Got God? -- This is why we can't have nice things, Louisiana.

Sabine Parish School board vs. Buddhist Student -- What could possible go wrong for a Thai Buddhist student in rural Sabine Parish?

Gov. Huggies? -- Diaper Dave wants to take over for Bobby Jindal

Accountability, schmountability! -- Tax dollars to send students to Voucher Schools with no accountability? Sounds like Louisiana to me!

My state is trying to kill me

Abortion in Louisiana going the way of the Dodo if conservatives have their way

No one with even a passing familiarity of Louisiana politics will be surprised at the way these new TRAP laws were passed. Over a busy holiday, little fanfare, backroom deals with no public input. That's pretty much par for the course around here. What is surprising is just how brutal these new regulations are.

How brutal? Every single clinic in the state could be closed.  Every. Single. One.
Should a clinic avoid the closing, and you find yourself in need of an abortion, pray you had certain blood work about 30 days ago. Why? Well, because the new regs require that everyone seeking an abortion "undergo blood tests at least one month before an abortion procedure. That means that unless a patient happens to have gone to the doctor previously and had those tests done by chance, she will face a mandatory thirty-day waiting period."

Add to that the fact that Louisiana forbids abortions after 20 weeks and this gets really dicey. Say you don't find out you're pregnant until you are about 8 weeks along. You're uncertain what you want to do, so you take some time to think over you're options. (As women are wont to do, regardless of what certain portions of the population believe.) So, ok. You take a few weeks, decide you aren't in a position to birth a child at this point. So, that's 10 weeks. You call the clinic and make an appointment. Only to be told you can't get in for at least another 30 days, because you have to have some blood work. Ok, you make an appointment that week to get the blood work done. So now you're at 11 weeks. The blood work gets done, you call back for the appointment. At this point, you're at 15 weeks (because you had to wait for those 30 days to pass.) You've got five weeks left, so it's later than you'd like, but you can still do it. Except that because there is only one clinic left open in the entire state, they can't get you in under the deadline. Or they can get you in, but the cost at this point is prohibitive. What was once a few hundred dollar procedure had morphed into $1,000+. What are your options? Well, if you're very very lucky, you have access to funding to go out of state and have your procedure done. (Although, given the state of TRAP laws in Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi, good luck with finding a place with a day's drive.) Most women in this state will not be so lucky. So they either are forced to have a child they did not want or they'll be forced into more drastic measures. People like to pretend that a woman will just give up and have the baby, but there are many, many , many woman who will do ANYTHING to no longer be pregnant. The Pre-Roe septic wards and deaths prove that. It's just been so long since we've seen that, we've forgotten.