not THAT different

Mom Explains Decision To Let Son Live As Girl

2009-05-24T21:22:00.002-05:00

KETV television in Omaha recently aired a story about a mother's decision to let her 8-year-old son live full-time as a girl. Watch the story here. You can also participate in a poll about whether the mother did the right thing. (When I looked, the results were over 50% thought she was right, 30% thought she was wrong and the rest didn't know.)

IFGE says to APA ...

2009-05-18T17:38:00.000-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 18, 2009

Washington DC - The International Foundation for Gender Education has issued the following resolution calling on the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to reform its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. IFGE will be participating in a demonstration this evening at the APA's annual conference in San Francisco, where this resolution will be presented. We urge everyone to join us in calling for an end to the APA's pathologizing of gender non-conforming behavior.

Resolution

Whereas people are naturally endowed with a wide diversity of gender expression, identities, and sexual orientations;

Whereas, the distress felt by gender non-conforming people is fundamentally due to social prejudice and heterosexism, and is not a characteristic of their identities;

Whereas diagnosis of psychological disorders has been used as a form of social control;

Whereas, the inclusion of normal variations of behavior as diagnostic criteria has been widely used to justify discrimination against gender non-conforming people by individuals, governments, and corporations; and has resulted in material harm to people;

Whereas, the principle responsibility of medicine is to "Do No Harm;"

Therefore, be it resolved that we find the American Psychiatric Association to have a responsibility to ameliorate this harm, and hereby call for the following remedies:

(1) We hereby call on the Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association to issue a declaration stating that: Gender variance, and gender non-conforming behavior do not constitute a psychological disorder;

(2) We hereby call on the American Psychiatric Association to remove the diagnosis of so- called "Transvestic Fetishism," which explicitly pathologizes gender non-conforming behavior, from their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual;

(3) We hereby call for the reform of any diagnosis that can be made solely based on gender non-conforming behavior, specifically including “Gender Identity Disorder in Children.”

Resolved this day May 15, 2009 by the Board of Directors of
The International Foundation for Gender Education

The International Foundation for Gender Education promotes acceptance for transgender people everywhere through education. Founded in 1978, IFGE is the largest transgender advocacy organization with members worldwide. Providing educational outreach for the emancipation of all gender variant people from restrictive gender norms, IFGE is a non-profit educational corporation with offices in Waltham, MA and Washington, DC and is recognized by the I.R.S. as a 501c(3) charitable organization .

IFGE | 272 Carrol St NW | Washington DC | 20012 | 202-207-8364

Haiku Friday: Scared

2009-05-08T16:27:00.001-05:00

Two strange spots on her
Mammogram and ultrasound.
It's biopsy time.

Porcine Influenza

2009-05-01T12:14:00.000-05:00

Friday Haiku: Obvious

2009-04-24T19:42:00.004-05:00

Hey - wait a minute!
Isn't there supposed to be
A haiku here? . . . Oh.

Keeping us safe

2009-04-24T19:20:00.002-05:00

I heard DICK ~~Vader~~ Cheney saying the other day that all the shit that the Bush administration did to remove and suppress our rights kept the country safe. Because of all that administration's repressions, we weren't attacked ... after 9/11, that is. His little speech sounded familiar to me, though, and then I placed it.

There's an old joke about a guy walking down the sidewalk in Manhattan and every few steps, he stops and screams, "GO AWAY! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" After a little while, a cop stops him and asks him if he's OK, to which the man answers that he's fine. So the cop then asks him why he's screaming and the man calmly explains that his screaming keeps the wild elephants away. When the cop tells him that there aren't any wild elephants in all of Manhattan, the man just smiles and says, "See? It works."

See? The Patriot Act and Gitmo and WMD and Global War on Terror worked.

Holy crap! A baby in the road!

2009-04-24T14:47:00.004-05:00

(OK, I'll tell you right now that the title of this post has absolutely nothing to do with the contents, but if misdirection and come-on are good enough to sell used cars - and they are - who am I to argue with success?)

It's been a month since I was here last and I figured that I at least owed ~~both~~all of my readers a short update on my life. First, I'm still unemployed. I did go on one interview that resulted in an offer ... making a salary 60% less than I was making in February. I'm not quite that desperate yet, for a number of reasons I won't go into.

In no particular order, other than this is the order I thought of them, here are some other notable events in my life recently.

Red-headed Spouse fell and cracked two ribs. She essentially couldn't do anything that involved moving her torso, and the only place she was comfortable sleeping was on the couch because she could put her busted ribs over the gap between the cushions. That was a fun 5 or 6 ~~years~~ weeks!

Fireball learned to ride her bike without training wheels and then promptly wiped out on the asphalt road and tore up her hands and knees. Lots of blood then but she's healed now and has even ventured out into the street again.

Pink Guy is failing two subjects and has Ds in two more. He might be repeating seventh grade.

Our oldest dog died in his sleep. He was the same age as Pink Guy - 13.

I kicked a door in the dark with my little toe. The nail fell off a month later.

We still have not put all our Christmas decorations away. It's just the ones inside the house, though, so the neighbors don't think we're lazy or weird or anything. Not for that, anyway.

The automatic transmission in our 9-year-old car went out. We took it to a nationally-known transmission repair shop (BEEP! BEEP!) to get it fixed and were charged an exorbitant price - of course. (Although I will admit that the price wasn't as high as I had feared. So, while we still got screwed at least we got a kiss and lube.) The day after we dropped the car off, the mechanic was road-testing it and ran a red light at an automatic camera intersection. The camera took a picture of the violation, and the city mailed us the ticket. Now we have to go through the hassle of proving that someone other than the registered owner was driving at the time. Oh - and when we got the car back a week later the transmission was still fucked up; fucked up in a different way but still not working correctly. The car is going back to the shop on Monday.

I'm sure there's more good news but that's all I can think of right now. I've probably already repressed the memories of the rest.

Different Shoes

2009-03-23T17:29:00.002-05:00

Totally stolen from Alex Billings ... and Kenneth Cole:

(Yes, I'm still around. Don't give up on me yet!)

Friday Haiku: Music

2009-03-06T11:43:00.003-06:00

Magnolias rattle,
Oaks shush and bare pecans moan.
Live wind instruments.

Peeved

2009-02-27T14:46:00.003-06:00

Yes, I'm still here - I know you can't tell from the postings but I haven't slipped into the Abyss.

I'm pissed and even if you don't want to know why, I'm still going to tell you. I have applied for unemployment benefits from the great state of Texas. I've been approved for unemployment benefits. I will get the maximum benefit allowed by law of $392 / week. That's all OK - although I'd like more money. That benefit is doled out in the form of a cash card issued by Chase Bank that was sent to me and is renewed every week by the state. What has me peeved is that the card has a FUCKING SERVICE FEE assessed by the bank every time it's used! I can use it once for free and after that, every time it's used Chase sucks half a buck out of the card's balance. So, Chase Bank - who was one of the "bad" banks that helped to cause the current economic mess - is now not only getting billions of bailout bucks but also bleeding a little off of every unemployment account that they (indirectly) helped bring about. I wonder how many folks at the Texas Workforce Commission got blowjobs from Chase middle management to set up this sweet deal? And of top of everything else, umemployment benefits are subject to federal income tax! Welcome to the recovery!

Haiku Friday: Alive

2009-02-20T17:41:00.001-06:00

I drag my cute ass
Out of bed every morning
To spite depression.

Haiku Friday: Love

2009-02-13T11:57:00.003-06:00

She gently teaches
That love transcends obstacles.
Every day I learn.

Free time

2009-02-06T13:52:00.002-06:00

Well, it appears that I'm going to have some free time now - I got laid off about an hour ago. Seems the company is having a hard time financially now that its two biggest clients have declared bankruptcy, and I and one other support person were the most expendable. No, I don't know who is going to finish the stuff I was doing. Want to guess if I care? So, I've got about a month to find another job before things get really tight. Wish me luck! (Guess I need to be careful what I wish for, huh?)

Update

2009-02-06T10:00:00.006-06:00

So, what's been happening? Where have I been? Well, I've been right here but have been so busy that blogging has taken a back seat to everything else. Hell, blogging hasn't even been getting in the car, much less the back seat!

As to what's been happening - obviously a lot. At work, the company is moving to a new accounting system and I was tasked with finding all the data in the old system's database, figuring out where it's supposed to go in the new database, converting it and loading it into the new system's database, all under the direction of the accounting gurus. The fact that no one knows anything about how the old system's database was organized hasn't helped. The additional fact that the new system requirements are constantly changing hasn't helped. The fact that I'm the only one doing this work (because I'm the one with the experience) hasn't helped. I feel like I'm trying to stop a charging rhino with a disassembled BB gun - underpowered, moving target, trying to put things together. It's not over yet, but I think I've figured out how to put the gun together, how to aim it and where to shoot to have a chance of succeeding. Then yesterday, I was informed that the work I had been doing prior to the conversion work I'm now doing is going to become a high priority item. Also. I keep telling myself that this is all good in these hard times because it means that I'm working. But ya know sometimes I wish it was simply work and not WORK!

On the personal front, everyone at home has been sick at least once in the past 6 weeks or so, some of us twice. My second go-round started last night and while I'm at work today, I plan on playing the sick card this weekend. Pink Guy has been having some problems with school and life in general, and while it's nothing more than his turning 13 - and all that that implies - to him they are very real issues and need to be dealt with. The tenant at one of the two condos we inherited from Redheaded Spouse's dad quit paying rent and moved out - after trashing the place, taking the refrigerator and leaving all her garbage behind. I so do not like cleaning up other people's shit ... literally! One of our dogs may have to be euthanized, we're experiencing a drought (still!), one of our cars needed major work and on and on. R.S. has been putting in a lot of time taking care of her mom who is recovering from another minor stroke so I've been shouldering most of the domestic chores. We won't talk about the perpetual pile of clothes to be washed, OK?

And on top of it all, I decided to put a tile floor into the upstairs bathroom where the toilet overflowed and destroyed the carpet last year. (BTW, whose stupid idea was it to put carpet in the bathroom, anyway? Oh - that would have been the folks who built the house: us.) Anyway, I just couldn't take the wooden subfloor any more! Here's that:

That's right - I hocked the toilet to buy tequila and Prozac! OK - not really; here's the finished result.

It's not a really big space but I'm proud of the way it turned out. Something good to show for my efforts. Of course, now we're thinking about redoing the REST of the room ...

Haiku Friday: Waiting

2009-02-06T09:33:00.002-06:00

Anticipations
Evoked by hard little buds;
Spring is almost here!

It wasn't really all that much

2009-02-03T13:37:00.003-06:00

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, aka. The Mormons, has maintained that the church was not REALLY involved in the recent California initiative to disallow marriage equality in that state. Oh, really? It now appears that not only were they directly involved but that they also reimbursed others for the expenses incurred in working to pass the initiative. To the tune of close to a million bucks! Didn't one of the commandments have something to do with being honest?

Haiku Friday: Peace

2009-01-30T14:35:00.001-06:00

I need to unwind;
Peace and calm are what I want.
Nastiness begone!

I seem to remember ...

2009-01-27T16:39:00.002-06:00

"Jami? Hmmm...Jami. Yeah, now that you mention it, I seem to remember a blogger by that name. Wrote 'not THAT different'? Yeah, that's her. Whatever happened to her?"

I'm sorry, y'all, but I have been (and continue to be) busier than a cat covering up shit in a stockyard and simply don't have time to do all the things I HAVE to do, much less the ones I WANT to do. So, blogging and bathing have temporarily fallen by the wayside. OK, OK - I'll admit to showering a couple of times. But as soon as things slack off at work and something approximating peace returns to the domestic scene, I'll be back!

History in the making

2009-01-20T10:00:00.003-06:00

We all know that today is the day that Barack H. Obama will say the following words and become the 44th President of the United States of America:

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

In so doing, he becomes the first person to be elected to that office while openly acknowledging his African heritage. (There is still debate as to whether Warren G. Harding had an African heritage but even if he did, he was totally secretive about it.) Needless to say - although thousands of pundits WILL say it - that's historic.

I'm proud of my country for once again demonstrating what democracy really is with the peaceful handing over of power from one of the most divisive leaders to one of the most uniting ones in a spirit of co-operation. I'm also proud of the American people for doing (what I think is) the right thing and electing Obama, and I'm wondering if his election will elevate not just the country of America as an entity but also its individual citizens in the minds of the rest of the world. Not only has this country lost an enormous amount of respect and prestige over the last 8 years, but I also can't help thinking that the citizens of the world had to be wondering, "How could the American people elect such a shitty leader?" I think we Americans have proven once again that while we might fuck up - sometimes in a big way - we are also capable of stepping up and doing the right thing. I'm proud to be an American citizen.

Haiku Friday: Problems

2009-01-16T12:39:00.002-06:00

Harried and horny -
The banes of my existence.
Neither will endure!

A little story

2009-01-15T11:09:00.003-06:00

From my friend Andy comes this little story.

One sunny day late in January, 2009, an old man approached the White House gate from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He stopped and spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard saying, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine looked at the man and said, "Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer President and no longer resides here."
The old man said, "Okay. Thank you." and walked away.
The following day, the same man approached the White House gate and said to the same Marine, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer President and no longer resides here."
The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.
The third day, the same man approached the White House gate and spoke to the very same U.S. Marine, saying again, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you repeatedly that Mr. Bush is no longer the President and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?"
The old man looked at the Marine and said, "Oh, I understand perfectly. I just love hearing it."
The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "See you tomorrow, sir!"

Dr. Phil is phull of it!

2009-01-14T14:25:00.003-06:00

Truth Wins Out
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009

Contact: Wayne Besen
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
Web: www.TruthWinsOut.org

Disgraceful Show Elevates Fringe Anti-Gay Activists To 'Expert' Status, Says TWO

NEW YORK - Truth Wins Out (TWO) harshly condemned the Dr. Phil Show today, claiming that it exploited Toni, the mother of a transgender child, and placed her in a psychologically abusive situation - which nearly drove her to tears. The episode, "Little Boy Lost," also falsely portrayed notorious anti-gay activists, Glenn Stanton and Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, as "experts" on gender and homosexuality, says TWO.

"Dr. Phil damaged his reputation by choosing sensationalism over professionalism and he ought to be ashamed," said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. "Instead of exploring this issue in-depth, Dr. Phil sunk to new depths. He exploited a loving mother by ambushing her with disreputable anti-gay activists well known for theories far outside mainstream psychology."

On the show, Toni explained how she and her husband reluctantly decided to let her son transition into a girl after unsuccessfully forcing strict gender roles on the child. Such efforts backfired and her son tried to jump out of a window. Even after hearing such a real life story, Nicolosi and Stanton argued that Toni should have continued a "treatment" that nearly lead her child to suicide.

Dr. Nicolosi tried to humiliate Toni on national television, blaming her parenting skills for causing her child to be transgender. Nicolosi said that her child was transgender because the father was detached and Toni was overly "enmeshed." But, Toni's response undermined Nicolosi's unproven and dubious hypothesis.

"Dad wasn't there after the transition...my son, I wasn't close to at all," Toni replied. "I wasn't enmeshed with him, so I think your theory sucks."

Having their bizarre and outdated ideas effectively rebutted, Stanton chimed in to save face, glibly stating, "No human being is cookie cutter."

"The entire program of Nicolosi and Stanton is predicated on baseless cookie cutter ideas that support their extreme beliefs," said Besen. "It is disingenuous to say otherwise when the very heart of their work is confusing stereotypes with science," said Besen. "We question why Dr. Phil offered a platform to men so at odds with every respected medical and mental health association in the country? And why didn't Dr. Phil inform viewers that these men were considered fringe religious figures with peculiar views on sexuality?"

Stanton, who is hardly qualified to discuss gender issues, has served as a spokesperson for Focus on the Family - an anti-gay organization that believes people can "pray away the gay." Scientists throughout the world have condemned Focus on the Family for distorting research on human sexuality. Yet, this was not mentioned by Dr. Phil. Recently, Dr. Lisa Diamond of University of Utah accused Nicolosi of distorting her work - but this information was conveniently omitted from the show.

Nicolosi is the founder of the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). In 2006, NARTH had two major controversies. In the first, psychiatrist Joseph Berger, MD, a member of their "Scientific Advisory Committee," wrote a paper encouraging students to "ridicule" gender variant children.

In the second controversy, Gerald Schoenwolf, PhD, also a member of NARTH's "Scientific Advisory Committee," wrote a polemic on the group's website that seemed to justify slavery.

Nicolosi is also known for his strange theories, such as encouraging his male clients to drink Gatorade and call friends "dude" to become more masculine. He also believes that "Non-homosexual men who experience defeat and failure may also experience homosexual fantasies or dreams."

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that defends gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people from anti-gay lies. TWO also counters the "ex-gay" myth and educates America about gay life.

-30-

© 2008 Truth Wins Out. All rights reserved.

What if ...

2009-01-13T14:14:00.003-06:00

Not that I'm paranoid or anything (although I'm sure I do have enemies out to get me), but it occurred to me that the sad state of the economy and the need to immediately start fixing it pretty much will be distracting the new administration from doing much in-depth investigation of other things - like how badly Bushco has fucked the country and how many laws may have been bent, broken or circumvented in the process of transferring money and power to the hands of corporations and fat cats. Kind of like not being able to tell that you have stepped in a big pile of dog shit when you're in a huge room full of horse shit. Surely, it's only a coincidence that all of this is happening just as Duhbya and his minions (and handlers) are exiting. Right? Right?

worst. president. ever. Thank the goddess that it's almost over!

What it is

2009-01-13T13:29:00.005-06:00

In a previous episode, I asked if you could identify certain antique items that just happen to be in my home. If you missed that post and want to play along, it's still not too late. Just go make your guess now before proceeding.

OK?

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Answers coming up!!!

Seriously, don't proceed unless you want to know what that stuff is.

OK - even though I didn't make it back with the answers yesterday as promised, I'm back now, so here goes!

You're looking at a turn-of-the-century state-of-the-art washer/dryer combo with optional sock drying forms.

The copper thingy on the right in the picture is a steam washing machine.

It was placed on a stove burner (any type of stove, although I don't see electric listed), water was added and heated,

the laundry to be washed was placed in the perforated drum inside and the lids closed. When the water began to boil, the handle was turned to agitate the laundry and voila! Clean laundry without using any soap! When the washer was removed from the heat and the lid opened, the contents could be removed, allowed to cool, wrung out and then hung on

the indoor collapsible drying rack. Each arm could be manually lifted up and extended and the wet laundry draped over or pinned to them and allowed to dry. All without having to go outside in bad weather.

We also have a double iron set with kerosene-fueled heater (aka. a small tailor's iron) which allows one iron to be heating while the other is in use. (See here if you are unfamiliar with the term "ironing".) All of these things help in motivating us to actually do the wash by imagining how much worse the chore could be.

So, did you get it right? I know at least one person who gets partial credit (Jen).

Haiku Friday: Today

2009-01-09T12:35:00.002-06:00

Do you want to know
Why I live here in Houston?
It's eighty outside.