Month: March 2023

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A principal at a private school in Florida was fired because she allowed students to see Michelangelo’s David. Ironically, this school emphasized a classic education. To which I ask, what could be more classic than Michelangelo’s David? Michelangelo is one of the greatest artists, if not the greatest artist, of the Italian Renaissance. The statue is based in a Biblical story. People come from all over the world and stand in long lines just to see this statue. The problem, as far as I can tell, is David stands naked before the world and some children shouldn’t see naked people.

To be fair, the principal has some fault here. There was some kind of problem with notifying the parents that their children would be seeing the naked David. The parents failed to get the communication. This was handled poorly and, certainly if the communication had been better, any parent who found David’s nudity disagreeable could have opted out. But the reaction to the mistake is disproportionate to the damage done.

If the disagreement was that David’s brazen nudity was too much for young eyes, I could agree with the parents who didn’t want their children to see the image. Unfortunately, it was more than that. One parent used the word pornographic to describe David. David as pornography suggests that David’s value is of a prurient nature only. So this small minority of people, against the judgement of almost all of Western society, are redefining Renaissance Art as pornography.

So, like clockwork, another controversy engulfed, unsurprisingly, another Florida school. A parent objected to the showing of a film called Ruby Bridges which is about a six year old Black girl integrating the New Orleans public school system. The school pulled the film because, well, Florida. The complaining parent was concerned that 2nd graders might learn about racism and actually start hating Black people. Yeah. Right. On the other hand, the movie is a tad bit embarrassing to White children as it show White people as bigots who threaten a six year old. Not exactly the image of great grandmother you want to hand down. Ironically, almost all of these stories are rich with irony, protecting White children from the past is vital. We can’t have white children questioning the actions of their forefathers. Yet, little Ruby Bridges had to walk through a crowd of hostile White people screaming racists chants. Hmm, which is a more traumatic experience.

This is why I get nervous about the all powerful parent and curriculum. Parents have a right and should have some say in what their children learn but there has to be a limit to their guidance. This is particularly important when the parents represent a small minority within the community and what they want is out of step with the rest of civilized world. We can quibble about whether it is age appropriate but David is a masterpiece and Ruby Bridges was subjected to vicious racism when going to school. Few will debate these points so both have historical importance. When is it appropriate for the youth of America to learn more about them?

Then there is the grooming going on here. These parents want to control what their children learn about the world. In the process, other people’s children are just collateral damage in their struggle. They are, in fact, trying to groom all children into their narrow view of America and Western Culture. This means no nude art and a no problems America. They will nitpick every disagreeable comma until they drain history and art of what little life is left in these courses. They believe that if they maintain this control over what a child learns that child will adopt their world view and all will be right afterwards.

Perhaps but it also fails to address the possibility of what happens when the child eventually encounter different ideas. Creating the illusion of a perfect world and, then, being unable to provide one, doesn’t prepare a child for the world they live in. It doesn’t help the child sort out good information from bad information. It, in fact, hobbles the child, and future adult, with the notion of a black and white world. America is good. Nudity is bad. Education, for these groomers, is not about thinking but about the recitation of canned responses. They will give you the answers that you want. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it. They will protect children from anything that might make them squeamish or excited or rebellious. We won’t have to worry about these children thinking outside the box because they will be so tightly jammed into a nice little box they will have trouble breathing much less thinking.

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This mother’s letter to Slate amused me because she thought her son wasn’t having enough fun at college. He wasn’t drinking, getting high or screwing around enough for her. Furthermore, she suspects he is still a virgin. Do you hear me — a virgin. He is studying, for Christ’s Sake, why would he be doing that at college when he could be chugging beer, hitting on bongs and fucking strangers?

She asks the Slate Advice Columnist whether she should intervene. What exactly is she going to do? You are going to that keg party, Mister, you are going to get drunk and you are going to laid or else I stop paying for your tuition and I don’t mean maybe. It’s sweet, in a way, that she wants him to have fun but she is taking this hip mom routine way too far.

Here is a thought maybe he is having all that fun but he is just better at hiding it because he knows his snoopy Mom wants to know absolutely everything about his life.

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Idaho Republicans oppose providing free tampons in high schools because this would be too woke. This is beyond meaningless. I understand we don’t have enough money. I understand I don’t want to pay for them. I understand it isn’t our responsibility. Now I may not agree with those positions but I do understand them. I also believe I could have an intelligent disagreement with anyone who takes those positions. I may not change their mind but I can talk about it. But too woke? There is absolutely no there there.

Sometimes a girl attending high school will need a tampon. The question is will the school provide one for her free of charge. Woke has absolutely nothing to do with it. Christian women need tampons. Conservative women need tampons. It is a universal need for most young women. When the government provides a high school education to girls, there is a pretty good chance that, at some point some girls will need one while at school. There are three possible positions — the school provides them free, the school provides them at a cost, or the school leave it up to the girl to provide her own. But the school will have to take some position on the matter because it happens.

So when you say too woke, you are saying nothing. What does too woke mean here? It is an evasion. It is meant to shut down arguments with people who are afraid of being called woke. And nobody likes to be called woke these days. Well, fuck it, so I am woke. Now tell me why you don’t want to give free tampons to high school students who need them?

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I became sad after reading about this group that discourages young men from masturbating. For some reason, these young men want to stop masturbating and watching porn. I get there is such a thing as sexual addiction and that it is a bad thing to have your life taken over by it. On the other hand, it seems a bit unrealistic to completely cut sexual imagery and masturbation out of young man’s life. This treatment for sexual addiction seems close to how an heroin addict is treated as opposed to someone with a food addiction. You don’t tell people with weight issues that you can never eat again, why would you do this with sex. More importantly, it is wrong to make these young men feel so bad about any backsliding that they feel suicidal and depressed. An interest in sex is, after all, quite natural for most men.

Also, it is natural for most young men, at some point, to become totally obsessed with sex. I know I was. During this extremely short time in a man’s life, he will, particularly if he lacks a sex partner, indulge in a lot of porn and masturbating which might lead him to think he is some kind of pervert because he thinks non-stop about sex and, as a result, spends a great deal of time with his hand. This short-lived obsession passes all too quickly and most men will find a balance between their sexual interests and all the other aspects of his life. This is also quite natural.

These anti-masturbation groups want men to quit masturbation completely which seems unrealistic and counter-productive. Human beings have sexual urges that require some attention. For men not in a sexual relationship, masturbation and pornography seems like the most reasonable solution to address this strong desire. For a short time, young men might be singleminded about masturbation but it changes as they get older. Until then, how does giving up masturbation make the young man’s situation any better? It doesn’t stop him from having sexual thoughts. Wouldn’t it be better for him to just to rub one out so that he can return, at least for a few moments, to Algebra II?

What concerns me is the anti-sexual tone of these movements. Masturbation is a problem and must be stopped. Looking at sexual imagery is wrong and must be stopped. Neither is likely to happen and making men feel bad about their very nature isn’t likely to help men move to more balanced sexual life. The aim, as I see it, is how do we incorporate a healthy sexual interest into a man’s life and not eliminating sex from his life.

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I am conflicted with those Academy Awards acceptance speeches when an actor, who has struggled for years, finally gets his due. Don’t get me wrong, it is nice to see someone finally making their dream come true. Never give up on your dream is the winner’s refrain. Anything is possible if you keep trying. Great sentiments, very motivating and not exactly true for everyone. Most great actors will never receive an Academy Award. There are, in fact, more Academy Award losers than winners and an even greater number of actors who were never nominated. This is an awful lot of people who had to give up on their dream.

Therein lies the problem. Actors getting Academy Awards is an exception to the rule and not the rule. Americans have internalized this idea that if you work hard enough all your dreams will come true. We believe the dream despite knowing plenty of hard working people struggling to keep their heads above water. So let’s be clear, some people will work hard and not live to experience their American Dream.

These don’t give up on your dream speeches usually include all the ingredients of how Americans view the American Dream. There is the personal struggle, the persistence to overcome any roadblocks, the years of hard work without recognition and then the eventual achievement. So when Americans hear these speeches, we think isn’t that great, this person struggled like me and see what happened to them. These people didn’t give up on their dream and look what they achieved. I just need to work harder. The subtext there is that if you don’t get your Academy Award that you just need to work harder and not given up on your dream. But, it’s all your fault. That other factors like money or education or race or just plain luck might affect whether an individual succeeds is ignored. They have nothing to do with the American Dream. All you got to do is work hard and anything is possible.

My question is how possible. Is it a 50/50 chance? Or is a long shot? If it is a long shot, then perhaps a more realistic discussion of the odds are in order. I mean it is possible that I will win the lottery jackpot however I also understand that is it highly unlikely. Is the American Dream a long shot or a pretty good bet?

Dreams have a peculiar hold on Americans. The American Dream of economic prosperity. Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech. Dreams speak to the possibilities of our country and of us as individual citizens. It is important to keep in mind when we use the word dream it is aspirational not reality. Let’s keep dreaming because I am certain we will come up with better ways of doing things. Let’s also be realistic about what is happening to the vast majority of people and give them a way to help some of their dreams come true. Until then, just keep on working hard and, of course, buying lottery tickets.

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I missed my PT appointment. I knew I had one because I was preparing to leave when the therapist called and asked me where I was. This has happened before so I knew I must be wrong. I sheepishly tried to tell her she was wrong as I rifled through the confirmation emails trying to prove her wrong. But she was, as expected, correct. I threw myself on her mercy and she kindly fit me in for the following day.

I vowed that I was going to be early and make a big show of it. Even talk a little with the office lady, who I generally avoid because she is too chatty, so everyone knows I am here before my appointment and ready for PT. I gloried in my redemption.

I left early the next because the building parking was sparse at best. The office lady even reminded me in her confirmation texts that parking might be difficult and I should plan ahead in order to get one. I did. It was raining. No bother, I brought an umbrella. I drove our compact car because not only was there limited parking spaces, there was also a limited amount of space between the two lines. The lot had a disproportionate number of compact spaces to monster truck spaces. The smaller car also had the added benefit of being easier to maneuver into a tighter space and was older than our other car so it was the car that we preferred getting dinged or scratch as it already suffered from previous wounds. So, I was ready — I left early, drove the best car for limited parking and I had an umbrella for the rain.

Except there was no parking Wait, there was parking but the compact spaces that were left had been truncated by monster trucks using the compact spaces and overlapping into the next parking space. This shrunk the parking space available to me to ridiculously small proportions. People who drive monster trucks, for some reason, have no trouble parking in a compact space. In fact, every space I found, 7 of them to be accurate, but then who’s counting, a monster truck was somewhere in the mix in preventing me from using it. Not to be too hard on monster truck drivers, they were probably in a similar position trying to find the monster truck spaces and since there were none, they finally gave up and said fuck it, I am parking in the compact spaces. Whatever the reason, there simply was enough room for me to comfortably park my car.

Did I panic? No, I cooly appraised my situation and determined that there was a steady flow of cars in the garage. I could see cars moving on all 4 levels of the garage. It was only a matter of time before I would get lucky. I staked my claim at the top of the garage because it was uncovered and it looked like most people, because of the increasing strength of the rain, were trying to find a space in the covered parts of the garage. Hopefully with less competition, I would reap the benefits of my daring decision more quickly.

My calculation about the flow of traffic was badly mistaken. There indeed was a lot of traffic into the parking lot but absolutely none leaving the lot. So as more and more cars entered the lot, the greater the competition for the remaining spaces and the desperation of the drivers looking for those spaces. I began to seriously consider the spaces with overlapped monster trucks. I knew these spaces were tight because I wasn’t the only one passing them up. When I returned to these spaces, they were still available despite a caravan of cars following me.

Occasionally a brave soul would attempt to park in one but they were thwarted due to the maneuvering required to successfully complete the task. The back and forth necessary to know if you could actually had enough space to park also required that at some point you blocked the road to calculate your strategy. This did not endear you to the other drivers. Patiences were tried, tempers flared, horns honked and people gave up trying under the intense pressure to get their car parked quickly.

I began to be concerned about what to do as I was nearing my appointment time. I had to make a decision on — attempt parking in the incredibly tight spaces or try to find a parking space on the street which was further from the building and would require walking through puddles and pouring rain. I opted for maneuvering into a tight spot. I found one that I thought I could manage in a few attempts. I eyeballed the distance between the two trucks and the width of my car and wished I had paid more attention in math class. I did a quick sign of the cross and made my move and and after about 5 minutes of back and forth, a wiggle here, a wiggle there, honking horns, clenched fists, I managed to park.

Getting out of then car became the next challenge. At one point, I thought about exiting through the window but I was worried that my 65 old body didn’t quite have the dexterity of my 19 year old mind. I opted for a door exit. I opened the door and it, of course, tapped my intruding neighbor’s door. I had already decided if the person who as trapped me in my car had the temerity to complain about me dinging their door, I was going to lose it. I didn’t care if the guy was bigger and could beat the shit out of me, this was a cause worth dying for. Also, as there was very little space between my car and the truck that, even if I wanted to, and I wanted to, there wasn’t enough space to do any real damage.

Fortunately for me, the other owner never reared his ugly head. so I sucked in my stomach as much as I could while still getting a few mini-breaths in and, much like parking my car, wiggle here, wiggle there, a back and forth with my body to try and break free of the car. Holding the umbrella became a challenge in that I had to suck in my stomach, hold the umbrella and squeeze through the limited space between the vehicles. It just was impossible, at least for me, to coordinate all three actions at the same time. I opted to give up on the umbrella.

But where to put the umbrella. I couldn’t leave it in the car because the distance would be to great to retrieve it later after I broke free. I couldn’t leave it on the ground because there were puddles everywhere. I decided to leave it on top of the car. This was based on the now unreasonable expectation that I would quickly free myself from my situation which, hardly mattered, because the moment I set it down a gust of wind took the umbrella and flung it into to a large puddle near the entrance of the building.

So now I am trying to squeeze by my car door while getting soaking wet. I did however gained some leverage now that my hands were free so that my pushing and wiggling were now in tandem and I seemed to be making progress towards the end of the door. I prayed that this new force plus gravity might take me over to the other side.

It was touch and go there for a moment and I must confess that I reached a point where I thought I was hopelessly stuck. Fortunately this provided just the adrenaline rush I needed. I thought God damnit, I refuse to be on the 6 and 10 a’clock news as the stupid asshole who got stuck getting out of his car. I sucked in my stomach, stopped breathing completely and rammed my between the doors and somehow managed to get through to the other side. Soaked to the skin, breathing hard but free from my encumbrance. I shuffled as fast as I could, running at my age would only create more problems, sloshed my way to elevators with my tennis shoes squeaking at decibel shattering levels to my PT appointment. But damn I was on time.

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Florida legislators are discussing further limitations on what teachers can and can not talk to children about. Yesterday they debated whether it is OK to talk about menstruation with girls who are already menstruating. These laws are protecting no one because, as far as I can tell, no one has ever proven that talking about sex with children is damaging. No child has become gay. No child has become a drag queen. You can not groom a person’s sexual nature. There is no danger.

But innocence, you have to protect a child’s innocence. What do you do about children’s legitimate interest in sex? After all, playing doctor isn’t just about the child’s future career options. They want to know where babies come from, why boy’s bodies are different from girls bodies. What is a teacher to do? Refer them to their parents who, by the way, just might tell them about the stork delivering babies instead. Which is, I guess, OK because the child’s all important innocence is preserved even though they are getting incorrect information.

It also creates a stigma regarding conversations about sex that might impede the child feeling free to talk about it. How do you warn children about sexual predators without talking about sex? What it is so important about preserving a child’s innocence? Children need to learn how to take care of themselves and this means a free flow of information is imperative. If a child senses that talking about sex is somehow wrong then how will they feel comfortable talking about it when they have questions? At some point, preserving a child’s innocence is counter productive and is no longer in the child’s best interest.

These same Republican legislators, so worried about preserving children’s innocence, also vigorously defend the right to bear arms. This means that children, for their own safety, must go through drills on what to do if gun man enters their school. How is discussing sex any more dangerous to a child’s innocence than explaining that some day some crazy gun man might start shooting up the school some day and you will need to protect yourself. I suspect that after learning that someone might want to murder them for no good reason that a child’s innocence is pretty much shattered so spare me the concern about a child’s innocence.

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Wall Street Journal believes that trying to attain diversity sidetracked the management of the Silicon Valley Bank to focus on diversity as opposed to managing the assets of the bank. What really happened is that WSJ didn’t want to place the blame on bad management working in a banking system that is lightly regulated. And what better villain in this little disaster drama than diversity. Not bad investments. Not bad management decisions. Not that nobody is really looking at them despite the fact that they will be backed up by the Federal Government. No bad business practices couldn’t possibly be the problem here. It makes much more sense to say that management was too focused on diversity goals to do their real jobs.

It also gives them a chance to take a dig at one of their favorite bugaboo — diversity. If only the company wasn’t so woke, this would have never happened. Being woke caused the management to worry more about diversity than making money. It is also a subtle dig at minorities and women who, of course, make up a portion of the management team. Women and minorities are, as you all know, more concerned about diversity than making money. If only the bank had been run by old white men, who only care about making money, this wouldn’t be a problem.

There is no way to prove them wrong. It is impossible to measure. And nobody would ever admit to it, at least, no one who wants to continue in banking. And, don’t cry for these managers because I bet these managers will find future employment in banking. Which is a shame. Nobody with real power will get punished because banks will always be rescued. The people who run banks know that. So taking risks won’t be punished because the government will bail out the banks because, well, if they didn’t, the whole economy would go down the tubes. So why not bet the house on number 7? What’s there to lose?

The irony is that WSJ reported the real reasons the bank collapsed in their article which is actually quite easy to understand. The bank invested too much money in Federal Bonds. This means they could be affected badly if interest rates rose. The Fed has been signaling for months that they were going to raise interest rates. The bank management didn’t make any changes in their investments that might have protected their assets. The Fed raised the rates. Somebody publicly pointed out their weak position and a bank run ensued.

But, no, upon reflection, diversity goals are so distracting to management teams. How could they focus on their investments when they needed to hire a diverse work force? That is far better explanation. It’s in the Wall Street Journal after all.

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Radical trans activists claim that you can’t choose the genitalia that you are attracted to. If a born woman now claims she is a man now even though she hasn’t had the actual operation, her still present female genitalia shouldn’t stop people who like men. Once a trans man says he is a man, people should treat that person like a man even though he still has female genitalia. It doesn’t matter that some people may prefer a person with actual male genitalia. The only gender that matters is the one that the individual says they are. So if a person likes men, anyone who claims to be a man becomes dateable.

This baffles me as, I suspect, it baffles you. I am not a machine. There is no switch than can be flipped that will make me suddenly accept someone as a man who still retains female genitalia. My actual taste is even more refined than genitalia. I prefer a certain body build and an age group. Now, I am open to change but the very reason I am gay is I am attracted to the male body. I can’t explain it. It just is. If I could change to preferring the female body, I would have flipped that switch years ago when I was trying to be straight.

I don’t believe this to be a transphobic statement. Except I am being told that because I prefer bodies with male genitalia over trans men who still have female genitalia, I am being transphobic. The genitalia of a person shouldn’t make a difference. Well, then if so, why would I come out as gay, with all of the doubt and confusion surrounding this recognition, only to end up with a trans man who still has female genitalia. Why wouldn’t I just have stuck with heterosexuality and skip the trauma?

I think I am sympathetic to trans people so I try to understand the arguments regarding genitalia attraction. These articles are densely academic. Often I am not even sure that what I am reading pertains to what I want to learn about. They are that obtuse. If you find one that clearly states the argument, by all means, let me know but, at this point, I am unconvinced. I also am not saying it’s impossible. I am saying it hasn’t happened.

Which is where I begin to have problem with trans rights activists. In your mind you have created a perfect world and everyone should play by the rules of this perfect world. We don’t, however, live in your perfect world and, because of that, there needs to be a rather broad respect for people with varying opinions in this very flawed world. Given that I am a gay man who runs with a liberal group of individuals, I would say trans activists still need to do more work on convincing people. They are welcome to continue making this argument but until they sway large numbers of presently unbelieving Democrats and Liberals, they might find a better way to disagree with these allies on other issues in order to get good things done for everyone.

Trans people need good education, good health care, good public transportation and livable communities. In an evenly divided electorate, we need everybody on board. Trans activists have called both J.K. Rowling and Martina Navratilova transphobic. Well, OK, but they really haven’t convinced me and it doesn’t look like they intend to try. This is a problem. If Ted Crus, J.K. Rowling and Martina Navratilova are all transphobic, what they are saying is 100% compliance with their perfect world. There is a rather big difference between what Rowling believes about trans people and what Cruz believes, and there is even bigger difference between Navratilova and Cruz. The whole world is in transition about trans people. Not all people are in the same place.

Right now, the best we can do is have civil arguments about the place of Trans people in our society. For some reason, this is increasingly difficult to manage. It is nearly impossible for Democrats and Republicans to argue civilly, it would be a shame if this dying art disappears within the ranks of Liberals and Democrats.

In the meantime, it is annoying to tell people who they should lust after. I know what arouses me and I don’t need your help, thank you very much.

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I can’t believe drag shows are still in the news. But Republicans have latched on to them as if they were the gravest danger the nation now faces. Witness –Bill Lee, Tennessee governor, joining Florida Governor DeSantis, in stopping drag queens from entertaining children. The good news is that the Republican clearly have run out of scare tactics because, if you take away Republican governors, there is absolutely no one worried about this.

It is not the first time that Republicans hyperventilated about non-issues. It is, after all, what they do best. How can we forget the problem of a nine months pregnant woman deciding to abort right after she goes into labor. This simply doesn’t happen and no doctor would proceed with the abortion even if it did. Even though it never has happened, Republicans demanded answers and Democrats stupidly answered them. In the end, the Democrats looked like people who would kill a new born baby if the woman wanted to obtain an abortion just prior to delivery. Why Democrats continue to fall for these hypothetical question about something that never happens and never will is beyond me but sadly they do.

This is why I am concerned about the drag show debate currently going on because awkward opposition to these laws might give people the impression that the Democrats are encouraging parents to take their children to drag shows. This isn’t the case at all but any time you involve yourself in a ridiculous debate, you risk saying something stupid like parent’s should decide whether their child should go to a drag show. Well, yes, this is absolutely true but it really isn’t something that most parents need worry about in the first place because drag shows are adult entertainment usually performed in an establishment that serves alcohol. Children won’t be attending even if, God forbid, the parents approved of the child going.

That doesn’t stop Republicans from getting upset about it. These new laws will have little impact on anyone. Drag shows will continue unimpeded for their adult audiences and children will continue not to see them. That the drag show issue continues to be debated, only shows the sorry state of American politics. A heated debate is going on about something that doesn’t affect anyone, that no one cares about, and that no law is likely to change the current situation. But, by all means, let’s continue to talk about the dangers of children at drag shows.

It is a a rather clumsy ploy by Gov. DeSantis and his fellow Republicans to put the spotlight on non-issue with which they think they damages Democrats. I doubt seriously if this is true. This is an issue that only is of burning importance to true believers. DeSantis and company might be able to shore up their own numbers with their fellow Republicans but everyone else? Have you heard anyone expressing concern about the dangers of children at drag shows? I haven’t.

It does however move the spotlight to an issue that, at best, is of peripheral concern to most Americans. The media loves talking about drag shows because drag queens are entertaining. Drag queens are much more fun viewing than say a spot about the origins of the war in the Ukraine. This also means, if the media is talking about drag shows, they aren’t talking about Healthcare, Jobs, Education, the Economy, the War in the Ukraine, and well the list goes on and on. Issues that actually affect people. But then the media isn’t about news, it is about selling ad space. The media prefers scandals over meaningful information about what is going on in the world. In other words, they prefer controversy and sex than news. This is why the Republicans are rampaging over drag shows and this is why the media is happily reporting about them.

It also shows that the Republicans are politically bankrupt. Concern about the dangers of drag shows is smoke and mirrors, a sleight of hand to draw attention away from these other more pressing issues. Do you think that Republicans would be talking about drag shows if they had any credible policies to deal with the the array of problems facing this country? Why would they spend so much energy on such a non-problem like drag shows if they could actually attract voters with winning policies regarding the economy or education or healthcare? Or protecting children, for Christ’s sake. They want to protect children from drag queens, which isn’t a problem, while ignoring the dangers of crazy men with guns shooting up schools which actually is a problem. And they are getting away with it.

This is where the Democrats need to confront them. Can Republicans show the damage that drag queens have had on children? How does that compare with gunmen? Would teachers and students need special training if a drag queen entered a school? How about if a gunman entered a school? Given the difference in dead children that gunmen cause in schools and the damage that drag queens do what would be a more prudent way to spend our time and money? Let’s ask them awkward questions about their empty priorities and see how well they respond.