Softcore amateur porn, or hardcore kill photos from the war front. I dunno, but I think the latter qualifies as truly obscene. But you be the judge. . .  

This just in . . .

Here are a couple of updates, thanks to some of my loyal readers.

1 – Regarding my 10/13 post entitled “Obscenity”, there’s been an update. This little piece dealt with the work of one Chris Wilson, who is the webmaster of a site called NowThatsFuckedUp.com. Apparently, the sanctimonious and zealously religious law enforcement officials of Polk County, Florida, have decided that the soft-core amateur pornographic content (adults and humans only, mind you) which the site offers to its members is much more obscene than the extremely graphic images of war which are also posted in some of the discussion groups on the site. And as such, Mr. Wilson has been placed under arrest. I won’t get into the details. Let’s save that for this article/interview:

http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=8406

I’d love to hear what ya’ll think after reading that. I won’t even offer up an opinion to sway yours. Incidentally, Wilson’s site is currently still operational. Big-up to Cin, once again, for doing the research and providing this information. Keep ‘em coming, girl!

2 – As for my latest post entitled “More Than a Handful”, I’d like to give a shout to the Dove Corporation for their most excellent work in promoting the virtues of true female beauty, sans size restrictions. Check this out (you may have seen their recent TV ads):

http:// www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/

Excellent. Props to Sue for bringing that to my attention.

3 – Wanna see what the Bush Administration is really up to? Care to be privy to the career atrocities that can be attributed to our auspicious President’s marauding agendas? I think you’d find it interesting to read about what it takes to have your political or bureaucratic career squashed or severely hindered at the hands of Bush and co.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1014-24.htm

Thanks to Mark for bringin’ it!

Not Lame. 

Lame. 

More than a hand-full

Well, life is all about transition. And having said that, this next bit is a transition to a greater or lesser extent from that last pic I posted (the one with the hot Kurdish babe voting). I’ll explain:

This past week, I was sitting around with the kids trying to choose what Halloween costumes they were going to wear this year. So I had received a circular in the mail from a retail establishment known as Party City. During the fall season, they have a vast selection of Halloween costumes available for the whole family, as it were. So we were going through the circular, and I happened upon a costume called “Lots of Luv”, or something like that. This costume is actually designed for men, particularly portly men. And it consists of a velvet blue cocktail dress, and a stuffing that will give the appearance of a woman who has a large belly, ample buttocks, and very large breasts. It also comes with a blond wig. Sounds nice huh. Very funny. Well, I didn’t think so.

See, here’s the thing. Anyone who knows me and knows me well also knows that I have certain tastes and proclivities with respect to the fairer sex (girls, that is). Mainly, I enjoy “natural” women. You know, rubenesque, zaftig chicks . . . big girls – BBW’s, as guys like me call ‘em. Some would even say that I’m a “chubby chaser” (I consider that to be a derogatory term, and I recently found out that apparently this term has been adopted by the gay community for some reason, so I’m happy to say it no longer applies to me and my straight brethren). But my tastes are more than sexual, and have even extended to the socio-political realm. I’ve been into BBW’s for years, probably since I was a kid. And I’ve been involved in the BBW community to some degree or other since the mid 90’s and have been known to speak out on behalf of the rights and fair treatment of big gals, as it were. And to that end (no pun intended), that’s why I’m penning this piece.

You see, Party City, and similar retailers, not only offer the outfit I previously described, but a fair amount of similar ones, which are meant to make fun of fat chicks. For example, there’s the “Wanna Nookie”, the “Bodacious Biker Babe”, the “Tacky Tourist”, and the “Moon Over Hawaii”, just to name a few. Amazing.

Now, it seems to me that this sort of parody is just plain insensitive and mean. I mean, it’s become politically incorrect to castigate and make fun of various racial groups and ethnic groups, particularly when it comes to retail marketing. But it seems to me that one of the last bastions of social bigotry exists with regard to not just fat people, but plus-sized women in particular. Generally, it’s become acceptable for men in our country (which boasts the highest percentage of obesity on the planet too) to be overweight. They still take shit for being fat, but not so much. We guys display our lovingly cultivated beer guts with much pride. But when it comes to women, we still have a tendency to not only make fun of plus-sized women, but make great strides in many areas of American society to make women in this demographic literally feel unacceptable. It’s to the point where women even trash each other for their body types and shapes. And from my observations, women can actually be crueler than men when it comes to this sort of thing. Sad.

Although the average dress size for women in America is between a 16 and an 18, and along with that, the average cup size is a healthy D (which to me looks great on big girls and downright bizarre on skinny chicks), why is it that plus-sized fashion is an exception and not a rule? Why is it that good, current plus-sized fashions are not only comparatively rare, but significantly more expensive than the unreasonable small sizes (like sizes 2 to 8) that are widely available? That makes no sense. But I digress. With these issues on the table, why add insult to injury by making costumes like the ones I mentioned available that are meant to exclusively make fun of big girls? That sucks.

You know, just as a point of information, there is a growing plus-size modeling industry that exists. And that’s pretty fucking cool in my book. And it makes sense. It’s about time that the major modeling agencies like Ford Modeling Agency finally recognize that the overwhelming majority of women in American, who fit the plus-sized demographic, need to have current fashions and products targeted toward them and made available to them. And though it’s happening slowly, mainstream marketing is recognizing this reality. If you look, you’ll notice this here and there in TV marketing and advertising, and so forth. And there are even a fair number of women in the modeling industry who have been given the illustrious title of Plus Sized Super Models. Check this out (if you can stand it):

http://www.judgmentofparis.com/

Among the stable of prominent plus-sized women in the fashion industry and media are celebrities such as plus-sized Super Model Mia Tyler, daughter of Aerosmith front-man Steven Tyler, model and actress Christina Schmidt of Canada, musician and actress Dana Owens, a.k.a. Queen Latifah, plus-sized super model Barbara Brickner, Disney studios staple Raven Symone, and of course, plus-size modeling pioneer and Lane Bryant spokes-model Emme.

You know what I find irritating? Despite these women’s accomplishments and incredibly alluring and classic beauty, I’ll bet you any amount of money they still get dumped on for being “fat”. And of course, even fat chicks think guys like me who dig ‘em to no end, are all around freaks of nature. That always amazes me. I’m sure a fellow “FA” (that’s our secret little politically correct term for “Fat Admirer” – a guy who loves big girls) D. Trull would agree with me. Check him out.

http://www.lardbiscuit.com/

Anyway, lay off the fat chicks, folks, would ya? You’d be surprised at who you might be trashing.

Ah, Democracy in action in Iraq. Never mind that. It's just one wacky man's opinion but, that's one hot Kurdish babe!

This is the image which is being referred to in the chain Email which was quoted from below. BTW, anyone with graphics expertise, I'd love to hear your weigh-in. Is this thing "Photo-Shopped", or what?? 

Sick Propoganda, Part II

Yes, yes, my sweet sexy little lamb chops, I’m back again! I’ve got more tasty tid-bits from the land of First Amendment joy and love to share with you. This first bite harkens back to a post I laid on you a few days ago called “Sick Propaganda (Sometimes I really Chain Emails)”. A dear, excellent friend of mine who we’ll just refer to as “Mrs. G.” was motivated by that bit to the point that she wrote one of her own, which deals with similar topicality. And here it is. Check it:

The other day, a confirmed Shock-Jock listener (we'll just call him "Jock") says to me, "What is your opinion on racial profiling?” My definition, later confirmed, of racial profiling is that say a member of law enforcement is harassing a particular person for no reason other than their race. This person then says that isn't right, but that it is that race is included in a description of someone that said law enforcement personnel might be looking for, for a particular crime... AND that there are a bunch of people trying to get race taken out of the list of attributes when looking for a particular criminal. I said that having race on the attributes list was constitutional, and questioning people as long as harassment was not in the picture was legal, whereas adding harassment, and just picking, say "white bald bikers" up and beating the crap out of them was not.

My issue with all of this is that I find that many people who get way too caught up in the media to the level of extremism and those who use the media to spout rantings and extremist opinions rather than considering multiple sides to a story and actually doing some reading and become a little knowledgeable of actual definitions and goings-on before announcing to the lowest common denominator of society their idiot rantings is one of the most profoundly horrific acts one can perform. This sort of garbage keeps people focused on keeping honest people from doing their job and from keeping the rest of us relatively safe in our communities. Rather than listening and actually believing this crap, I say, and rather loudly and wholeheartedly, "READ A BOOK!"

Knowledge is power. Work for peace. Who cares who is what religion and that you can't say aloud in the morning your prayers in front of a bunch of people? Practice your own religion and keep public buildings friendly for everyone. Have we become so complacent that we find this stuff more important than communicating with our spouses and spending time with our children?

And there you have it. “Read a book.” A directive of true wisdom. Oddly enough, I had another similar situation dropped in my lap this week involving the spreading of a piece of poorly contrived right-wing propaganda that definitely proves that certain individuals would most definitely benefit from the reading of at least one book rather than literally making shit up to try to besmirch certain organizations and people of certain political persuasions. This is the crap I was exposed to. Please direct your attention to the pic that’s at the top of this post and the read the following:

If you look closely at the picture above, you will note that all the Marines pictured are bowing their heads. That's because they’re praying.

This incident took place at a recent ceremony honoring the birthday of the corps, and it has the ACLU up in arms. "These are federal employees," says Lucius Traveler, a spokesman for the ACLU, "on federal property and on Federal time. For them to pray is clearly an establishment of religion, and we must nip this in the bud immediately."

When asked about the ACLU's charges, Colonel Jack Fessender, speaking for the Commandant of the Corps said (cleaned up a bit), “Screw the ACLU." GOD Bless Our Warriors, Send the ACLU to France.

Please send this to people you know so everyone will know how stupid the ACLU is Getting in trying to remove GOD from everything and every place in America. May God Bless America, One Nation Under GOD!

What's wrong with the picture? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING GOD BLESS YOU FOR PASSING IT ON!

I am sorry but I am not breaking this one.....Let us pray.

Isn’t that special. Lately I'm noticing an odd and frightening trend. Many extremist right-wing fundamentalist Christian "freedom ain't fer free" types who are more than willing to piss away our 1st Amendment rights (and other rights) for some mysterious reason, have been passing crap like this around. Some of it was downright bigoted in its slant (I just wrote an article about a similar piece of shit that someone else forwarded me). The first thing that I would recommend to anyone is this: If you receive a chain Email of any sort advocating ANYTHING, check it out first before blindly forwarding it. These individuals are not doing a public service, and in fact, may actually be contributing to a public nuisance. You see, some crazy computer guys came up with this thing called Google, for example. These cats should learn to use it. Use any search engine. Do some fucking research, for goodness sake. As “Mrs. G.” pointed out, “read a book.” Hell, read anything factual.

If you take a moment, you'll find out, as was just pointed out, that most of this putrefied propagandist bullshit is just that . . . bullshit. Check it:

http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/marinepray.html

And this:

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:iXk4L_bIwgYJ:urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_aclu_marines_praying.htm+(Military+bowing+heads+in+prayer+ACLU+urban+legend)&hl=en

And to kill two birds with one stone (hardliners like killing stuff):

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/cemetery.asp

And of course, a half-way intelligent and responsible citizen can always check hard-copy and online news media sources like the major network affiliates (to those who may be confused by that terminology, that’s NBC, CBS, ABC and yes, FOX), any major news publication (for those on the East Coast, the New York Times, for example), and AP (Associated Press) and so on.

Pardon my stringent tone, but enough, already! Jeez, this shit used to happen in pre-WWII Germany!

Obscenity

Take a look at this. I'm not sure, but I hear this site was developed for servicemen overseas to view illicit photos of their wives and/or girlfriends. But if you search through some of the posts that don't require registration, you'll find pictures that far transcend the level of obscenity of any pornographic material you may be offended by. War. . . what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Good gawd.

http://www.nowthatsfuckedup.com/

I also hear that the DOD is trying to shut this site down. Probably because they don't want to be embarrassed by the war pictures that are contained within. Can you say Abu Ghraib?

Yee Haw. Real salt of the earth, ain't they? Yikes. 

Sick Propoganda (sometimes I really hate Chain Emails)

Occasionally, I receive these chain Emails from folks who somehow assume that everyone in this godforsaken country is a staunch, hard-line conservative who is blindly and dangerously “patriotic” and fundamentally Christian and intolerant of anyone who isn’t. Normally I just look a these things briefly and then delete them. They are often of a pro-war or pro fundamentalist Christian slant. Sometimes, I fire something smart-assed back. I’m pretty sure this sort of thing has caused one person or other on the distribution list of these chain Emails to turn my sorry-assed E-mail addy into the office of Homeland Security. Whatever. But one day, I got one of these Emails, forwarded from a dear old friend of mine who I value very much as a human being. I don’t think she fully grasped the gravity of the contents of this Email she forwarded (I think she got it from a relative), but when I read it, I have to admit, I got just a bit agitated. So much so that I not only got into it a little bit with her about the racist slant of this chain Email, but I even saved this thing for a couple of months with the full intent of doing what I’m doing now. . . bringin’ it to ya. You HAVE to see this thing. It’s like a sociological train wreck”

“Subject: Try This

• Try driving around as a Gringo in Mexico with no liability insurance.... and have an accident...

• Enter MEXICO illegally. Never mind immigration quotas, visas, international law, or any of that nonsense.

• Once there, demand that the local government provide free medical care for you and your entire family.

• Demand bilingual nurses and doctors.

• Demand free bilingual local government forms, bulletins, etc.

• Procreate abundantly. Deflect any criticism of this allegedly irresponsible reproductive behavior with, "It is a cultural United States thing. You would not understand, pal."

• Keep your American identity strong. Fly Old Glory from your rooftop, or proudly display it in your front window or on your car bumper.

• Speak only English at home and in public and insist that your children do likewise.

• Insist that all products' labels, owner's manuals, instructions, etc., be written in English as well as Spanish.

• Demand classes on American culture in the Mexican school system. Demand a local Mexican driver license. This will afford other legal rights and will go far to legitimize your unauthorized, illegal presence in Mexico.

• Insist that local Mexican law enforcement teach English to all its officers.

• Good luck! Because it will never happen. It will not happen in Mexico or any other country in the world... except right here in the United States... Land of the naive! If you agree, pass it on. If you don't, go ahead and try the above in Mexico or Iran, or just about any other country in the world, for that matter.

Words of Wisdom: Support the country you live in..... or live in the country you support.”

Somehow I get the feeling that if there were a picture attached to this chain Email, it would probably be of a hooded Klansman standing in front of a burning cross. I mean, c’mon! Yikes!

First off, never mind trying this crap in Mexico. One of the reasons that Americans are some of the most despised people on the planet, especially now, is because we behave similarly to this everywhere we go. We’re always forcing our customs and values on people from other countries, as tourists in other countries. We’re always insisting that people speak English when we’re around, disrespecting their local customs and ways in their won native countries. We got to other lands and assume that the people living there are barbaric, primitive, backwards or somehow just “wrong” because they don’t live and think as we do in our own beloved Amerikkka. In fact, our very country was founded on the perception that the European visitors who first settled here through one means or other were superior to the indigenous people who inhabited this place long before any “civilized” man. And as such, these settlers promptly corrupted Native Americans, and inevitably coerced, cheated, murdered, plundered and literally pushed them into a state of extinction. The true Native American is now the only strain of human that is almost completely wiped off the face of the Earth. So in a way, the bullshit that the author of the above hate-mongering chain Email is spewing is to my mind, just deserts.

Recently, I moved away from a community called East Windsor that has, over the years, become largely Hispanic. I grew up very close to this place, which had been largely Jewish in population back in the 80’s, but has since morphed into a haven for transplants from Mexico, Central America, and South America. The specific neighborhood that I lived in was so infiltrated by Hispanics that I was a minority in two ways. Not only in the fact that I am of African descent, but in that community, I spoke English and hardly anyone else living around me did. Now most garden variety Caucasoid standard-issue “Americans” would feel very uncomfortable and even resentful (not unlike the guy, and I assume it was a guy, who wrote the chain Email) living in such a community. But you know, I didn’t really feel all that threatened. Generally, I didn’t really see much about these people that I didn’t dislike. They were working-class citizens like me. They had aspirations of trying to get to a better place in like, like myself. They struggled, like me. A couple of the fellas around the corner from me partied a bit much and had some less than suitable living habits, but having lived in South Jersey, I gotta tell you, I’ve seen much worse amongst poor white people. Come to think about it, my first wife was more of a slob than any of these guys. But we’ll not go there. My point is, people can be slovenly and disgusting no matter what ethnicity they are or where they come from.

The other thing I realize is twofold:

1 – Sure, a good number of my Hispanic neighbors were more than likely illegal aliens. But as such, I don’t think they were simply hopeful of feasting on the fat carrion of American opulence and capitalism. They were probably trying to escape intolerable living conditions in their native country and didn’t want to raise children like that.

2 – I really don’t have enough academic or intimate knowledge about the plight of Hispanic immigrants or illegal aliens to know why they’ve come here specifically or what the general situation is. But I know something about the history of why so many illegals live in East Windsor today.

Growing up in the areas in the late 70’s and 80’s, I remember one thing. I lived in a neighboring farming community, and many of my friends had fathers who hired illegals as migrant workers and farm hands. And as such, these people lived like fucking slaves. They were paid slave wages and put up in intolerable living conditions. And it more than likely took at least a couple of generations of these folks to finally obtain service industry jobs that would allow them to save enough to afford apartments and even, in some cases houses, and even education and the ability to not only learn English, but learn more diverse trades, etc. Even today, the migrant worker plight can still be experienced. Try taking a drive down South to a place called Hammonton (the so-called Blueberry Capital of the world). In the summertime, you HAVE to see the bus-loads of migrant workers being shipped into town to pick up weekly provisions from the local Wal-Mart on Sundays. It really looks like a scene from a deep-south pre-Civil War cotton plantation. Sick. Interestingly enough, the second largest ethnic demographic in Hammonton is Hispanic people, at a reported 14.9% of the city’s population. My guess is that the population is probably bigger than that. That’s just the “reportable” numbers, if you can dig what I’m saying. But I digress. East Windsor is similar. The people have essentially been exploited for cheap labor, and oddly enough, the average blue-collar tool slinger is resentful that the “wet-backs” are taking “their” jobs. To my mind, it would make sense for the Hispanic migrant workers to galvanize, unionize, and demand fair wages to their white counterparts.

To the person who originated this filthy, disgusting chain Email, know this: While we are expected to “support the country you live in..... or live in the country you support”, it is the “alien” described in the chain Email, and those like she or he, who essentially built this country. This country was not only supported but it was Stolen from the native man, farmed and tilled by the enslaved African, developed, sculpted and built by immigrant men and from all over this planet while immigrant women raised and taught the slave masters’ children. We have all been exploited. Truth be known, it is the hard-line white male rich ultra-Christian conservative who simply lived off of the fruits of our labors and who is the true minority in this country. And to that end, the person who wrote that chain Email should sit down, shut the fuck up, and thank his sanctimonious god that we’re all living here. If it weren’t for all of us, there would be no great country to support.

Ok. . .I’m done now. I’ll take my militant hat off for a bit.

BTW, shouts to everyone who sent me articles and bits of information in the past couple of months that have provided me with grist for my rantings and articles. Keep ‘em coming! A special Big-up to Cin and my dad for their meaningful contributions.

An Interesting Read

I'd like you all to read something, if you have yet a few more moments to spare.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091705Z.shtml

This is a Speech by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. entitled We Must Take America Back. It's pertinent.

Chief Arthur S. Lawson, Jr. of Gretna City, Louisianna, you get the SuperFinger! 

The Eye of The Hurricane Sees All

After a few months of procrastination, here’s yet another installment in this crazy running commentary of American society and politics that I lovingly refer to as The Zen Existentialist Free Ranger Medicine Show. A lot has happened since my last couple of posts. The thing I feel compelled to focus on at this particular moment is the latest string of catastrophic events that have occurred in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of Hurricane’s Katrina and Rita. After observing these events by way of our illustrious media, and receiving numerous pieces of information from various friends and acquaintances that aided in my research toward these issues, I’ve come to a conclusion. The handling of the situation in New Orleans and the surrounding areas certainly serves as a glowing example of what I’ve been saying all along. Quite frankly, our current administration is, well, fucked up. To say the least. Just observing the New Orleans situation and how the damage done to it by the hurricanes has been handled by the federal government provides me with the opportunity to transcend from decorum and shout one big, loud “I told ya so!!” to our cancerous conservative contingent.

Let’s see if I can provide at least one or two pertinent examples.

I know we’ve all seen countless accounts regarding the mishandling of emergency measure toward New Orleans on the part of FEMA and the federal government. And we’ve all heard the various commentaries and editorials regarding the suspicion of racist agendas in allowing thousands of minorities and poor people to essentially be left to their own devices. I invite you, the humble reader, to take a gander at the following gem:

http://www.gretnasucks.com/

The above link is to an article detailing the outright racist policies carried out by one Chief Arthur S. Lawson, Jr. This person is Police Chief of a little town called Gretna in Louisiana. And he decided that it would be a good idea to deny aid to certain hurricane victims. Namely those of African American descent or anyone who might be accompanying such a person. What is this . . . fucking post-abolitionist, post-Civil War America? Jeez! Chief Lawson, I think if anyone were to receive comedian Dane Cook’s patented “superfinger”, it would have to be you.

And then there are the outright classic comments that the First Grandma, Barbara Bush (or as I like to refer to her as, “George Washington Jr.”) decided to spew to National Public Radio interviewer regarding the transplanting of victims of Hurricane Katrina to the Astrodome in Texas this pas August, “What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.” And that’s just a small helping of the garbage that came out of her mouth during that interview. Apparently, the presidential mom’s remarks were so ignorant and inflammatory, they even initiated outcry from conservatives. Take a gander at this article from John Kass of the Chicago Tribune:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0509070253sep07,1,6154573.column?coll=chi-navrailnews-nav

Now you KNOW things are screwed up when conservatives are making THOSE types of comments about each other! WOW! Maybe there’s hope yet. . . .

Anyway, let’s open our hearts to those affected by Katrina and do whatever we can to support these folks and help them transition into a situation of normalcy and safety. Donate time, money, resources, your voice, your knowledge, whatever you can. Thanks!