AnthroCon, the furry convention, is back again. And thus, people 'round the Burgh are either saying "Thanks for spending $5 million bucks here this weekend" (srsly!) or "Ewwwww! Those people freak me out."
I think the furries are...well, I can't say cool, as I have been inside furry costumes for parades and such, and they make you sweat like a pig (hehehe) and the costumes get kinda rank after a while. So, no, cool is not the right word. But whether or not the furries are fetishists or just fun-loving roleplayers, I like how they express themselves.
Of course a few of them are total geekazoids who still live in mom's basement when well into their thirties, but I suspect that most of them are peeps like you and me. The fact that they take time off and spend their bucks to come together for a weekend (some travel here from other countries), to mingle with other furries, shows that they're not loner losers. And I bet they're pretty uninhibited within their animal characters. Roleplaying can be very freeing.
I don't get the people who freak out about the furries...it's really no different than what an actor does. As long as furries aren't kidnapping nonfurries and forcing them to wear stinky plush costumes, what's the big deal?
Friday, June 24, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
If I were running for President...
...here's part of my platform, in no particular order.
Stop the wars and bring the troops home. I wasn't against the military actions in Iraq or Afghanistan when they started, but it's dragging on and on and we can't afford it. Get the hell out of Libya, too. Stop committing US troops to cleaning up other countries' business. If they want to kill each other, let them - they're going to do it regardless of whether or not we're there, and they hate us more when we try to "help", so let's stay home and spend the efforts on securing our own country. The only foreign aid from our government should be for humanitarian efforts after a natural disaster.
Stop the other war which has been going on for forty years with nothing to show for it. Yep - the war on drugs. Legalize, regulate, tax and enforce, just as we already do with alcohol. Use the tax monies to fund rehab programs for those who really don't want to kill themselves. Those who are bent on self-destruction may proceed with their wishes. (You'da thunk we'd learned from Prohibition that these efforts do not work and only create more crime.)
Keep the government's nose out of the bedrooms of consenting adults. Period.
The concept of "marriage" should be divided into two parts: the legal "civil union"(for any two consenting adults of either or both genders) and the religious "marriage" (for those who want a religiously-based ceremony). You could have a "civil union" without a "marriage", but not the other way around.
Enforce the laws that we already have that make sense, and quit thinking up new laws for Big Nanny.
No more bailouts.
The USA needs to stop kowtowing to every other country. We worry too damn much about what they think. There will be people who hate us no matter what we do, so let's do what's best for us and help others later. You know, like putting on your own oxygen mask first when the plane is going down.
Farm subsidies would be phased out over a ten-year period, with subsidies for ethanol ending right now.
The income tax code would be rewritten to phase in a flat tax over a ten-year period. No more loopholes, writeoffs or convoluted formulas - everybody plays X% of their income and that's that.
Get out of the UN and kick them the hell out of NYC.
Make Congress a part-time job, and enact term limits. (Ditto for the state legislatures that aren't already part-time. PA needs to reform the legislature like yesterday but since the foxes are guarding the henhouse, it'll never happen.)
Spend the tax funds for the military on truly supporting our service people - decent housing, decent pay, counseling programs, etc. - not on overblown expenditures for stuff.
Get the government out of the way of people who are trying to do business, except for the basics of how employees are treated and how the environment is treated.
Go back to the gold standard for currency.
Did I mention keeping the government's nose out of the bedrooms of consenting adults? ;P
Stop the wars and bring the troops home. I wasn't against the military actions in Iraq or Afghanistan when they started, but it's dragging on and on and we can't afford it. Get the hell out of Libya, too. Stop committing US troops to cleaning up other countries' business. If they want to kill each other, let them - they're going to do it regardless of whether or not we're there, and they hate us more when we try to "help", so let's stay home and spend the efforts on securing our own country. The only foreign aid from our government should be for humanitarian efforts after a natural disaster.
Stop the other war which has been going on for forty years with nothing to show for it. Yep - the war on drugs. Legalize, regulate, tax and enforce, just as we already do with alcohol. Use the tax monies to fund rehab programs for those who really don't want to kill themselves. Those who are bent on self-destruction may proceed with their wishes. (You'da thunk we'd learned from Prohibition that these efforts do not work and only create more crime.)
Keep the government's nose out of the bedrooms of consenting adults. Period.
The concept of "marriage" should be divided into two parts: the legal "civil union"(for any two consenting adults of either or both genders) and the religious "marriage" (for those who want a religiously-based ceremony). You could have a "civil union" without a "marriage", but not the other way around.
Enforce the laws that we already have that make sense, and quit thinking up new laws for Big Nanny.
No more bailouts.
The USA needs to stop kowtowing to every other country. We worry too damn much about what they think. There will be people who hate us no matter what we do, so let's do what's best for us and help others later. You know, like putting on your own oxygen mask first when the plane is going down.
Farm subsidies would be phased out over a ten-year period, with subsidies for ethanol ending right now.
The income tax code would be rewritten to phase in a flat tax over a ten-year period. No more loopholes, writeoffs or convoluted formulas - everybody plays X% of their income and that's that.
Get out of the UN and kick them the hell out of NYC.
Make Congress a part-time job, and enact term limits. (Ditto for the state legislatures that aren't already part-time. PA needs to reform the legislature like yesterday but since the foxes are guarding the henhouse, it'll never happen.)
Spend the tax funds for the military on truly supporting our service people - decent housing, decent pay, counseling programs, etc. - not on overblown expenditures for stuff.
Get the government out of the way of people who are trying to do business, except for the basics of how employees are treated and how the environment is treated.
Go back to the gold standard for currency.
Did I mention keeping the government's nose out of the bedrooms of consenting adults? ;P
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Karma
Karma, cosmic justice, "what goes around comes around"...whatever you call it, I do think it exists. I also think that sometimes we do live to see it happen, though that's rare.
I try to rack up good karma to negate whatever bad karma I created before I realized how things work.
And I also believe that things will work out for the best, no matter how bad they may get in the meantime.
I try to rack up good karma to negate whatever bad karma I created before I realized how things work.
And I also believe that things will work out for the best, no matter how bad they may get in the meantime.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Poplawski and the death penalty
The trial of Richard Poplawski started today...the POS lowlife scum who murdered three cops and wounded another in Pittsburgh in April 2009. Lots of talk on the radio today about how the DA is going for the death penalty instead of plea-bargaining for life in prison without parole, and how that is going to waste over a million bucks (the estimated cost of this first trial, assuming there will be at least one more on appeal).
Poplawski is guilty as sin - no question about that. PA doesn't execute anyway, so basically he will be in prison for life with no parole. The big difference is that apparently, because of the costs of the appeals trials and maybe special prison housing (I tried to find out if they keep the condemned folks in solitary, but the DOC website doesn't say), it costs even more to keep a death-penalty inmate than a regular one.
I wonder why the high costs in either case? And why we don't execute the felons that we KNOW are guilty? There is no way that reasonable doubt exists in this particular case. I say, one appeal, completed within two years of the original verdict, and if the original verdict stands, have a speedy resolution and carry out the execution. PA does lethal injections - or would, if they carried out any.
In Poplawski's case, I would volunteer to shoot the SOB. For free. He doesn't even deserve that quick mercy.
Poplawski is guilty as sin - no question about that. PA doesn't execute anyway, so basically he will be in prison for life with no parole. The big difference is that apparently, because of the costs of the appeals trials and maybe special prison housing (I tried to find out if they keep the condemned folks in solitary, but the DOC website doesn't say), it costs even more to keep a death-penalty inmate than a regular one.
I wonder why the high costs in either case? And why we don't execute the felons that we KNOW are guilty? There is no way that reasonable doubt exists in this particular case. I say, one appeal, completed within two years of the original verdict, and if the original verdict stands, have a speedy resolution and carry out the execution. PA does lethal injections - or would, if they carried out any.
In Poplawski's case, I would volunteer to shoot the SOB. For free. He doesn't even deserve that quick mercy.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Begin at the beginning.
I realize there are eighty million bazillion blogs out there but I'm not adding my two cents to the fracas in order to be recognized; I'd just like a place to sort out my views on current events, sometimes to figure out my own positions - I like things to be "fair and balanced" (I'm a Libra through and through) and I see way too many extremist rantings from both the right and the left. Not that I am middle-of-the-road. If I had to be labeled I guess I'd be a libertarian/capitalist/"twoo" republican/economic conservative/social libertarian. In short, I think government should be as small as possible and should quit sticking its nose in citizens' private business. Especially the Federal government. Yes, that includes people's bedrooms. As long as you're not harming anyone else - especially children - what you like to do and with whom, as consenting adults, is nobody else's business.
I am not anti-union (I was married to a union member), but I think unions have bloated themselves to the point of doing their members more disservice than service these days, to the detriment of efficiency and effectiveness. I think socialism is evil. I think that too many people fail to either think for themselves or to think things through (and I am also guilty of that, quite often). I also think that the USA is the greatest country based on the greatest idea ever conceived - government of the people, by the people and for the people. Now if the people would step up and use their brains in a consistent manner, we'd all be better off :D
I don't like name-calling by lefties, righties or in-betweenies. There IS such a thing as civil discourse, and by God I intend to practice it. So if I don't, feel free to call me out on it.
I am not anti-union (I was married to a union member), but I think unions have bloated themselves to the point of doing their members more disservice than service these days, to the detriment of efficiency and effectiveness. I think socialism is evil. I think that too many people fail to either think for themselves or to think things through (and I am also guilty of that, quite often). I also think that the USA is the greatest country based on the greatest idea ever conceived - government of the people, by the people and for the people. Now if the people would step up and use their brains in a consistent manner, we'd all be better off :D
I don't like name-calling by lefties, righties or in-betweenies. There IS such a thing as civil discourse, and by God I intend to practice it. So if I don't, feel free to call me out on it.
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