s-cubed
s-cubed's JournalJoe Biden will become one of our greatest ex-vice-presidents,
Just as Jimmy Carter became our greatest ex-president. He will not go quietly into the night, but will continue to work to improve the world.
On the trolling concerning transgender women using the women's bathroom.
Almost 29 years ago, one of my employees came out to me as a transgender man. I say this only to establish that I have some experience here. (I didn't even know the word at the time).
Notice that the "concerns" are almost always about transgender women using a women's bathroom. This is a red flag to me, that we are still in a patriarchical society. A society which looks at women as possessions to be guarded. A society that protected women, versus guarded, would do much more to prevent sexual assault of women and children.
That said, I will say that bathroom use was a major issue in the case of my employee. My company was wonderful in how they helped ease the transition. My employee voluntarily chose to allow an open presentation and discussion, and to voluntarily restrict his use to a few bathrooms. Note I said, voluntarily. The company would have backed him if he had not chosen this.
I think there is little evidence of transgender women being a threat to other women, but there is certainly danger for a transgender person using a men's bsthroom.
I have been in places which have had unisex bathrooms, equipped with completely enclosed stalls, no separate public urinals. Some public facilities have changed their labels on separate bathrooms to include both genders, rather than one for each. (I've always wondered why men wanted to urinals so publicly). There are solutions which ensure the safety and dignity of transgender people, but there has to be the will to use them.
There is not now, and never will be, a perfect Democratic candidate for president.
Every one has flaws, which are being pointed out repeatedly. Frankly I'm tired of it. Digging up what someone said 15 years ago is not helpful. I want to know what their position is today.
I also want a candidate who can alter course when the evidence calls for it, who can admit error.
I am just happy that we have a number of very good candidates. No one is talking about a Democratic clown car.
I will support, work for, and vote for whomever is the nominee.
Call Mike Pence to tell him you will boycott Indiana.
The governor's office number is 317 232 4567. I called to say, politely, that I personally will boycott the state. That this law is the antithesis of the Constitution's freedom of religion clause It is discriminatory and imposes certain religious views on others. The tourism office is 800 677 9800.
Here's a deal for Senator Tillis:
We won't require food handlers to wash their hands, but a sign must be prominently posted:
"Your food is contaminated by fecal matter because our employees don't wadh their hands".
Sort of like the warning on cigarettes. Maybe include a few pictures of nasty bugs. Wonder how long it would take the few market to shut the place down? 
Let's stop the black or white thinking about sexual abuse.
Some things can indeed be one or another: in my time zone it's evening, not morning.
Woody Allen may be a great director. That doesn't mean he can not possibly be a child molester. Nor does Dylan's brother's denial prove anything.
For at least six years, one of my brothers sexually molested our younger sister. This was in a small house with lots of people. I can't imagine how he got away with it. But he did. If you were to have asked any of us during those years, we've have denied the possibility. We know better now, though we have chosen to keep it from our mother.
Yes, a few people are wrongly accused: most of the time an accusation is true. It is extremely difficult for a child to go against the threats of his/her abuser to report abuse. It is extremely difficult for an adult to report prior abuse, for the same reason rapes are not reported. The victim is further victimized by the reactions.
The "truth" of Woody vs. Dylan will probably never be known, unless Woody confesses. So please stop attacking Dylan, as this only makes it harder for other victims, of any age, to come forward.
A personal story about Pete Seeger.
When my son was about 6 years old, we were at a Pete Seeger concert. Pete asked for requests. My son wanted "Zippity Do Dah". I knew Pete would not sing this, but my son was adamant. So I let him walk to the stage by himself to make the request. (We didn't believe in coddling him). Pete bent down to listen, (the audience couldn't hear my son). Pete then stood up and very kindly said he didn't know that song, but he would sing something else for my boy. I've always been grateful to Pete that he respected a little boy enough not to embarrass him.
RIP, Pete.
Huckabee has it backwards.
At the risk of being obvious, it's not women who need to control their libido. According to the White House report, 22 million women but only 1.6 million men have been raped. While it IS possible for a woman to rape a man, no one claims this is a frequent event. So we have to assume that most of those 1.6 million men were raped by other men. In addition, the armed services have discovered that many male soldiers have been assaulted, most by men.
HUCKABEE, LOOK IN THE DAMN MIRROR TO SEE WHICH SEX NEEDS TO CONTROL ITS LIBIDO!
Why no tracking dogs?
One of the police brass at last night's briefing said they had found blood a few blocks from the shoot out early Friday morning.. It would have been an easy matter to have had a tracking dog follow the scent from that point, and would have saved. Lot of effort and time. The same thing happened in the Chandra Levy case. Hundreds of officers looked and missed her body, but a search and rescue/cadaver dog would have found her in time to get forensic evidence.
I'm not trying to second guess here: I just don't understand why dogs aren't used more. Obviously they can't follow a suspect in a car, but they certainly could follow a bleeding suspect on foot.
In all the talk about mental illness,
we seem to be assuming that better access to mental health care can solve all these problems. NOT TRUE! There are many kinds of mental illnesses that we do not know how to treat, or our treatments are in a very early stage.
I will use depression as an example, as I have suffered with this for years. As I was growing up and into mid-adulthood, it wasn't even discussed. In the 1980's (I think) , we started getting the first really effective drugs and i and many others found a name and a diagnosis for what plagued us.
Fast forward to 2012 . There are a lot more drugs out there, most of which have side effects, and we know more about what causes some depression. But if you go to a psychiatrist for treatment, usually they will keep trying drugs until they find one that works. Even then, after a few years, it may stop working, and no one knows why. So, try something else. In addition, there are people who are not helped by drugs and/or therapy. Even electroshock treatment is not effective.
So, what happens to people who can't be helped, because of finances, no family support, and the lack of mental hospitals. Sometimes they just kill themselves, sometimes they live on the streets or under bridges. We do not take care of them. We are failing them as a society.There are people - including some children -who need to be in a humane mental hospital for their own protection and for the protection of others.
I am not trying to make any assertion about Adam Lanza: I am only saying that it is wrong to assume that there was effective treatMent available for him.
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Gender: FemaleCurrent location: McLean VA
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