“Love it or leave it” is pure BS
Of course, if they had, perhaps we wouldn’t have wiped out millions of native indigenous peoples from the entire freaking continent. From that perspective, I am actually pretty cool with this bumper sticker. Sure I’m happy that I live in America, but the fact that my ancestors made my life possible by slaughtering others isn’t lost on me.
In terms of our current nation, however, I can’t help from laugh at the irony of so many of my Bible belt friends and relatives—who complain about President Obama whenever they get the chance—retorting “America: Love it or leave it!” whenever we want to complain about anything from our healthcare system to immigration laws or anything in between.
For example, when I mention how our country ranks lowest among other developed nations in terms of worker rights—from time off to sick leave and a plethora of other rights guaranteed in many nations—I’m met with this stupid bumper sticker redneck phrase.
Could you imagine if Dr. Martin Luther King, Susan B. Anthony, and so many of our ancestors had lived with this mentality and opted to watch NASCAR and drink beer instead of change our nation for the better?
I’m not stereotyping here, either; the people I’m referring to do these things instead. Of course, they’re more than happy to complain about our “Muslim” president. I’m so not kidding.
Maybe this is why so many of them hate their jobs—love them or leave them!—or their spouses—love them or leave them!—or themselves. They don’t believe in change (or perhaps they simply fear it?), they wish we could all live in the 1950s forever (forgetting that lots of change occurred from our country’s conception to that decade, of course; I guess the phrase didn’t apply until the White Picket Fence Syndrome established itself in American suburbs), and anything that anyone suggests to help improve our country—our very lives—is met with a disgruntled retort of, “You don’t like it here? Move!”
You know, the union folks who preceded them in life, who fought for their rights to a weekend and a 40-hour work week, certainly didn’t have this mentality. Neither did the people who fought for us to have garbage collection, for God’s sake! Even if they don’t want to lift a finger to help, you’d think they’d support people trying to better their lives rather than give them a boot in the ass.
Of course, according to Toby Keith, it’s just the American way…
America is the best!
Out country is pretty amazing in many ways. We have freedom of religion and speech, as well as the press, when some countries don’t. Women don’t get stoned to death for dishonoring their families or being raped most of the time (though rapists don’t serve jail time in more than 90 percent of the cases…), and most of our kids will not be kidnapped or sold to work in mines for no pay to extract metals to use in making products for… well, us.
But we like to think we’re number one when we’re just not. I get it; we’re brought up in schools with heavily nationalistic propaganda as history textbooks, we pledge allegiance to our country’s flag on a daily basis—something that many of us find suspect, at the very least, years later—and most of us never even leave the country to find out any better. Ignorance is no excuse, as they say, but it’s probably the root of our blind love and devotion to our nation, here.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t love our country! I’m saying we should acknowledge the fact that other countries may have better ideas for us to adapt. We used to do it—just look at our ideas about democracy from the Greeks (yay!) and our education system from Prussia (boo!). There are some really cool ideas we could adopt in our country to make it better if we could, you know, open up our minds a little. For example…
Some countries guarantee a minimum of 20-30 paid vacation days per year, no matter what job you have. Nice! Their bosses probably get that you’re a better worker—and you’re probably healthier and use less sick days, if even applicable—if you get a break. Speaking of which, the U.S. ranks the lowest among developed countries for offering sick days, too—since, you know, that’s not required, either.
Most of the other developed countries of the world also offer between 5-13 guaranteed holidays off work. Boom—no black Fridays for them! At least, not in the sense where it conflicts with time off for Thanksgiving or another holiday. The U.S. does not guarantee one paid holiday off for anyone. In fact, about 25 percent of Americans do not get any holidays or vacation time. That’s pretty unsettling.
That first paragraph also applies to most of these countries, by the way.
These are just some of the basic requirements in other nations. Many of them also offer legal same sex marriage, long paid maternity or paternity leave (and even childcare in some countries), and of course, health care. Do we not have these because we really don’t care about our fellow citizens and our own families as much—or are we just that ill informed?
Your goofiest mummy moment
As I was putting the remote in the refrigerator, I stopped to think about how motherhood has changed my brain. It’s not temporary, though it is worse when your child is a baby, at least from my experience. I forget words—I’ll point at the couch and say, “Get your jacket off the—um, the…” and snap my fingers as if it will come to me. My husband, who has never missed a night of sleep from post-hospital parenting, prods, “Couch?” and sometimes I just want to smack him.
He knows I love him.
We do some pretty goofy things as scatterbrained moms, and if you have multiples, you work, or you have school—all full time jobs, by the way, whether you have one child or more—it’s probably even worse. I remember getting annoyed when both my grandmother and my mother would shout out names to get our attention—“Gale! No, Cynthia! Argh, you, you there!”—and they’d list every child except the one they want. Now I totally get it, ladies. And I only have one!
So what’s your goofiest mummy moment? No judgment here! Feel free to share among other moms who find their keys in the cleaning closet or their cell phones in the laundry basket…
Review: Dexter - “Argentina”
When last we left our beloved anti-hero, Dexter was shacking up with another serial killer and pretty much lying to everyone about everything in order to keep his bases covered. His sister wants him to kill his new girlfriend, Isaak is fresh out of jail and looking to take Dexter down and, to make matters even more complicated, Dex’s son Harrison and his two step-kids are showing up in town for a bit.
To solve these problems, Dex first tries to tell Deborah that he’s not going to go around killing people for her. He gives the excuse that it will compromise her and she won’t be able to live with it. While this is true, Dex’s motives aren’t so pure, since he’s trying to cover up his own affair and keep the murdering Hannah alive.
But the façade only lasts for so long. A few slips and Deb has figured out what Dex is up to, and she’s not happy about it. She berates Dexter over his decision and, at long last, finally breaks down and confesses her love for him. Dex is, to say the least, a little bit stressed by all these new developments.
In the meanwhile, Isaak takes a shot at Dexter but fails to kill him. This prompts our serial killer to go on the hunt, eventually tracking the Russian mobster to a bar. They have a nice conversation and we finally find out exactly why Isaak is so intent on revenge. Also, LaGuerta discovers more evidence linking Dexter to the Bay Harbor Butcher and Quinn gets in even deeper with the Russians.
This season is shaping up to have some of the most interesting characters the series has seen thus far. Hannah is a likeable serial killer, even if she is evil at heart. Isaak makes a great villain and I find myself regretting the final confrontation that will inevitably leave him on Dexter’s table. Even Quinn and LaGuerta are proving more interesting than usual.
And more kudos to Jennifer Carpenter and her acting. The break-down scene where she confesses to Dexter is some of the best work I’ve seen on television. She seriously deserves at least an Emmy nomination, if not a win. Everyone else in the series is doing equally well with what they have and it’s creating what has to be the best season of the show ever.
Only four more episodes to go, and someone is going to have to die soon. We know it won’t be Dexter, but at this point pretty much anyone else is fair game. As season 7 prepares to move onward to a long break and the eventual coming of the final season 8, Dexter is kicking butt and taking names.
Review: Walking Dead - “Hounded”
At the end of the last episode of The Walking Dead, we are left with a scene where Rick hears a nearby phone ringing. In this week’s episode, he picks it up and discovers a person on the other end. The person talks to him, explaining that she is part of a group of survivors and that they have a safe place where the zombie outbreak is not a problem. Rick tries to chat with this person and convince them that they should take in his group.
On the other end of the story, Michonne has left the town of Woodbury but finds herself hunted by Merle and a few of the Governor’s men. But Michonne is, of course, a freakin’ bad-ass ninja and manages to take down half the group and make good her escape.
Merle refuses to give chase after a certain point, but on his way home runs into an unsuspected Maggie and Glenn as they are out on a run to get some formula for the baby. A brief conflict ensues and Merle takes them back to Woodbury, to interrogate them and find out where the rest of the group is. Luckily, Michonne sees the whole thing and makes her way to the prison to inform Rick and his pals of what went down.
In the meanwhile, Andrea gets a little closer to the Governor, eventually shacking up with him. Her place in Woodbury is pretty much a given now, though once she finds out about Glenn and Maggie being prisoners she might just have a change of heart.
As the story comes to a close, Rick finds out exactly who is on the other end of the phone and that they can offer him no help after all. He pulls himself together and gets back to leading the group, finally not (as) crazy anymore.
This episode was pretty good, but it felt a bit like nothing happened, other than the reconnection of Merle with the original group. Rick’s crazy-phase could be seen as vital to the character’s development, but it’s taken two episodes now and doesn’t have the same impact that it could have had it been cut down a bit. With so many characters in The Walking Dead, and audiences having their own favorites, to dwell on one person’s battle with sanity for so long is a bit of a drag.
As for the rest of it, I’m glad they’re finally bringing Michonne into contact with Rick’s group. The conflict between the prison folks and the Woodbury folks is inevitable and with only a few more episodes to go (two in fact), it will be nice to at least see something happen between them before we have to wait another 4-5 months for season 4. While this episode was not as well-done as the last few, it’s still a good season and I look forward to what the finale has to offer.
Lady Gaga: Satan’s Bride
Lady Gaga is scheduled to perform in South Africa next week. No big deal—unless you’re one of the protestors claiming that she is the bride of Satan, in which case I guess you’d be offended that the Dark Lord’s succubus misses is here to take away your soul. Or something.
This group of Christian protestors claims that Gaga is just destroying their values and religion with her music. That is weird enough for me; it takes a lot more than music to destroy something, in my opinion. Okay, if she were blowing up churches and rewriting the gospels or something, maybe I would consider the idea. But singing isn’t going to change your thousands-of-years of controlling people politically through your religion, folks. Don’t worry; your massive dominance is still number one!
This SA Council of Churches claims not only that Gaga is a self-confessed Satanist; but that her name is the name of a demon and that she is the devil’s bride. Even if this were all true, by the way, she should still have the right to sing where she wants to sing. I mean, concerts by Satan’s harem are always the best, especially when the pyrotechnics start!
Seriously, though, these folks seem like they’ve got nothing better to do. Why not just sit at home and pray about it or something? Wouldn’t God’s will stop her from playing if you’re right? You guys confuse me.
GOP leader calls for equal marriage rights
Conservative Ken Mehlman, the former RNC chair, is now calling for GOP support of same sex marriage. I hope in my heart of hearts that it works and his buddies jump on board with him. I know plenty of people, little and big, who pretty much have huge hunks of their lives—indeed, from many perspectives, their whole lives—on hold until fairness is legalized in America.
While homeschooling, teaching co-op classes, and generally having our home open for play dates all of the time, I meet a lot of really fun, cool kids. I know some very young people who aren’t of legal marrying age yet who want to marry people of the same sex someday, and when two of them found out that it wasn’t legal in our state yet, they were absolutely outraged.
A long discussion occurred about how some states have legalized it and how we are working very hard to change it, but the hardest part of these discussions so far is explaining why. Why do people not want people who love each other to get married? That’s a very, very good question, kids, and I think it should be asked of these leaders—and of the far right parents who claim they don’t know what to tell their kids if they see two men or two women get married. I’ll tell you what, folks; I try my best at playing the “not understanding” card, but it’s really hard to not just call y’all monsters who just hate people who are different from you.
And I guess that makes me as bad as you, that I want to do that.
It just crushes me that you work so hard to prevent them from having the same rights you do—hell, their pets have more rights than they do; one of my lesbian friends just found out that even after their marriage in another state, she still can’t get medical coverage under her wife’s plan but their dog can!—and there are these young, hopeful faces just falling in front of my eyes.
Of course, some of my daughter’s friends also think same sex marriage is “wrong”—we do live in the Bible belt, after all—which is even more confusing for the kids who don’t. I’ve told the kids who are just baffled by it that we don’t want to bring it up on play dates—that or mythology, with one parent who doesn’t come around much anymore, actually—with our friends who aren’t “comfortable” with it, which makes me feel like an idiot, too. If any other equal rights-supporting parents have experience with having friends (or kids of friends) with these perspectives, I’d love to hear how you handle it.
Mars Curiosity discovers an “earthshaking” mystery
The latest news from the red planet and the Mars rover, Curiosity is that it has made a great discovery. And though NASA refuses to release any information regarding this discovery until they can confirm it, there is much speculation. The most popular bit of guesswork is that Curiosity stumbled upon the very thing it was sent there to discover - evidence of whether or not Mars supported life as some point.
Considering how excited the folks at NASA seem to be about the latest information coming back from the rover, it’s a distinct possibility that evidence of life is indeed the mystery they speak of. The only information they’ve released is that the data in question was taken from soil samples. Other than that, it’s a bit of scientists claiming that the discovery is “really interesting,” “…one for the history books” and “earthshaking.”
Being has how they need to double check their data in order to avoid putting their foots into their mouths, it will be a bit longer before they make any sort of official announcement about the details of the discovery. So, we shall all have to wait until December to find out the truth of the matter. Hopefully, they have all their analysis done by then, as they’ve already announced that they’ll be talking about their findings at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting that takes place from December 3rd to the 7th.
Until then, people will just have to guess at what the mystery is. Though if it’s not the discovery of life, it better be pretty big, cause the hype caused by all the speculation is out of control at this point. After this mystery is taken care of, scientists have plans to send Curiosity off on its next mission, testing out other bits of equipment on the rover and hopefully bringing even more useful and history-worthy data back to NASA and the planet Earth.
Reading Pile: 11/24/12
Journey Into Mystery #646- While I’m sad to see the Loki run go away, I am looking forward to what Kathryn Immonen can do with Sif. Adding another book about a strong female hero who isn’t all about T&A is nothing but a good move from Marvel, plus I think it’s great to keep it within the fantasy genre. I also really liked Valerio Schiti’s art as it’s clean, well-paced, and very dynamic. Plus hey, at least it’s not more than $2.99 for the twenty pages of story. A-
Number 13 #0- This collects the short stories published in Dark Horse Presents, so if you already pick that series up then you can skip this package. I do love these packages though as I find it a smart marketing move to re-release these stories in a single issue right before the launching of a main series. Robert Love and David Walker offer up a post-apocalyptic mix between Bone and Tank Girl, creating something unique and interesting. There’s a lot in the art style that reminds me of Jeff Smith’s simple line work, and a lot in the over-exaggerated characters and grotesque deformities that reminds me of Jamie Hewlett. It’s a strange/cute sort of sci-fi story that looks like it’s going to expand into something fun, so if you get the chance to check out this first heaping of story it’s worth the $3.99 price tag as it clocks in at forty-pages of story with no ads. A-
Daredevil #20- I’m just realizing how many Mark Waid books I’m reading and I’m impressed that pretty much all of them are enjoyable. It’s no surprise that this was going to be an fun issue as well, but what’s really impressive is that Waid continues to throw enough new concepts and curve balls out there to make things dynamic and fun. The subtle horror of what the villain Coyote does to people is a disturbing and innovative touch to add to the introduction of this character. Plus hey, gotta love Chris Samnee art. Eagerly waiting for the next issue. A
Rocketeer Cargo of Doom #4- A solid ending to a great run by Waid and Samnee. You can’t really go wrong with dinosaurs, jet packs, and the promise of more developments and background stories. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with IDW’s handling of the Rocketeer property and even though Waid/Samnee aren’t working on the next run I think it will be well worth checking out. B+
Andong International Maskdance Festival
In South Korea, in the Andong region, there is an age-old event that celebrates the country’s traditions of dancing and masks. It’s the Andong International Maskdance Festival and it’s been going on for many years. As the legend goes, in the year 1300, the spirits visited a person and told them that they needed to design masks and then ritually dance to appease those spirits. The man obeyed, and since then the tradition grew into the festival that exists today.
The highlights of the festival are, of course, the traditional Korean mask dances, which are performed a number of times each day. The troupes consist mainly of South Korean dancers, though the international nature of it means that the best of other countries are invited to come to South Korea and put on their own performances in order to show off their commitment to their heritage. During the performances, dance troupes often try to include the audience members as part of them, making it an interactive event.
In addition to the mask dances, there are many other things to see and do. There is a
mask competition and many workshops to teach people about the masks and the dances, including how to make/perform them as well as what they mean culturally. There are a number of theater performances and again these attempt to include audience members. There is also a puppet theater and an exhibition of the best masks.
This event is more than just a series of performances, it’s a cultural tradition that South Koreans are very proud to show off to visitors. Attending during the Mask Dance Festival can be a great way to see some amazing acts, learn all about this aspect of South Korea and get a look as some amazing and beautifully crafted masks.