It is no secret that my favorite television show of all-time is the classic comedy “Bewitched”. I found this fan made clip on YouTube and thought I would share it. It contains several rare clips that Sony inexplicably won’t include on the DVD releases.
November 2008
Start The Day Right.
I had been in my cubicle for approximately 23 seconds when I was informed that the telecommunications service for an entire section of the city was down and more importantly, I needed to print out my time sheet immediately so that it could be sent to payroll by noon.
It was 9 a.m.
Still charged from the weekend and not really feeling the moment, I let out a low, rumbly growl that came from somewhere deep inside this bear. Everyone that was talking to me scattered and went back to their desks.
I am not a morning person. I am not a Monday person. When I was in a managerial role at a previous job, everyone that reported to me knew the golden rule: give me five minutes to get my bearings before bombarding me with the business of the day. I can handle the stress, I can handle fires, I can handle the crisis; just let me make sure my caboose is on the track so I can head in the right direction.
Now they know.
STFU.
I am going to use very strong language in this post. If this offends you, please feel free to disembark this ride and find the bumper boats or something instead.
Earl and I went to one of our local haunts for supper tonight, where we couldn’t help but overhear a tirade of someone sitting close by. He was obviously upset about the results of the presidential election and he was sharing his dismay with the others in his party. To this man I say: Shut The Fuck Up. Just Shut Up. You have a right to free speech and you have the right to think what you think but my God, to hear you say that the only reason President-Elect Obama won was because “those blacks” were bullying “all the blacks” to vote for him on Tuesday is absolutely ludicrous. Here’s the thing. On Tuesday, like many, many, many of my fellow Americans, I voted for the candidate that I thought could handle the task of reuniting and rebuilding out country. I didn’t care if he was black, white, green, blue or chartreuse. I am sure that there are many that voted for our President because of his race and if that’s their choice then so be it. By my God, if you truly cared about your country, if you truly cared about the world, then you would just Shut The Fuck Up and support the new administration. If he starts to fail us, then you can open your trap again. Until then, sit down, eat your supper and think happy thoughts.
And while I’m ranting, to all the people that think that “Pro Choice” is the same as “Pro Abortion”, why don’t you Shut The Fuck Up as well. I am sick and tired of you walking back and forth in front of the local Planned Parenthood intimidating the hell out of the scared people that are trying to visit the clinic in an attempt to get a foothold on their life. I am pretty sure there are not a lot of people out there who exclaim “Oh, I’m pregnant now I can get an abortion! Whoo hoo!” A woman’s right to say what can or can not happen to her own body does not mean that she wants to run out an get an abortion. And while you’re at it, after you Shut The Fuck Up you can take the horrific posters down that terrorize the street passing in front of Planned Parenthood. I don’t care if you’re old, young, male, female, a priest, a nun or a bag lady – if you want to take the rights away from people to suit your own cause then just Shut The Fuck Up until someone asks for your opinion. And why is it that you “Pro Life” people are usually in favor of the death penalty? Do you enjoy celebrating contradiction?
You know what else? For all you people in California, Arizona and Florida that voted to amend your constitution to define marriage to be exclusively between a man and a woman, here’s the thing: you need to Shut The Fuck Up. I believe the founding fathers set up this whole United States thing so there would be NO mingling between church and state. If a CHURCH does not want to marry two men or two women then so be it. That’s your choice. But here we are again with the whole “let’s take their rights away” concept. If you voted “yes” on these amendments then I see you as uneducated, scared sheeple that are doing their best to impose your beliefs on everyone. Taking away my legal right to marry my partner is not going to make me go away, and I can tell you that you’re not going to make the other millions of gay men and lesbians go away either. You’re going to make us louder and madder and more determined than ever to gain the legal right to marry the person we love. So until someone asks for your opinion, just Shut The Fuck Up. If anyone, and I mean ANYONE ever tried to stop me from visiting Earl in a hospital or any other time of need because we aren’t legally married then the only way to stop me is to kill me. I will smash and trash everything in sight and make my way to my partner’s bedside if it is the last thing that I do. So you can just Shut The Fuck Up and save us all the hassle.
And to the woman on the tinny AM radio who was going on and on about how this was a dark time in the United States because of the election on Tuesday, you can Shut The Fuck Up too. It wasn’t that long ago that you were bare-footed, pregnant and had no means of making your voice heard or your vote count. It is the liberal, progressive thinkers that got your ass out of the kitchen a century or so ago so just thank your lucky red, white and blue that you’re seen as an equal in our country and not stowed away wearing pearls and making cookies all day.
Thank you for your attention.
National Anthem.
I stopped singing the National Anthem after Bush Lite was re-elected in 2004. Where I used to stand proudly and sing the National Anthem at ball games and such, heck, I even performed it for local sports teams on a couple of occasions, I didn’t feel like I fit in with the whole American thing we had going on during the second term of the Bush Administration.
Last night’s victory for President-Elect Obama changed that feeling considerably last night. However, there is a bittersweet element to the news today: California’s apparent vote to constitutionally ban gay marriage kept my “good vibe” from going all the way to the finish line. Because of this there is still a part of me that feels like an outsider. I suppose as a loud and proud gay man I will always be an outsider. I won’t stand for being merely ‘tolerated’. I don’t even like the word ‘acceptance’; I don’t choose to accept heterosexual people, why should they choose to accept gay men and women? It’s just the way it is. I am who I am and I’m not going anywhere, getting any quieter or going on the “down low”. So I guess that makes me a bit of an outsider. I know that my personality and assorted quirks will also make me seem somewhat eccentric, but even eccentrics should be granted the same rights as everyone else. At least I’m in good company.
Don’t get me wrong, I am once again very excited about the future of our country. I believe our new President is able and willing to fix the mess that the last administration has created. Will it happen quickly? No. But it will happen. I have no doubt about that.
And I will once again proudly sing the National Anthem.
Bears In Bed.
When Earl and I were in Buffalo a couple of weeks ago, our friend “Angry Alan” did a photo shoot with us. Angry Alan is a brilliant photographer currently studying at RIT.
Here is one of the shots. (The others are not really safe for work/relatives viewing).
National Security
Aside from the customer who called our call center today because “the Internet is sticky and jerky today” (that was an interesting call), work has been relatively stress free and quiet today. I guess everyone is focusing on the U.S. elections today. We have been following various news sources on the events as the day goes on. Earl and I will be voting tonight after work. I’m excited to see how long we have to wait and what my number in the big book of signatures will be. I hope it’s a high number. In 2004 I was number 384 at around 6:15 p.m. That’s not a very good turnout.
One of the comments I read on CNN or MSNBC intrigued me. A woman in Arkansas told the pollster or reporter that she based her vote on “national security.” The nebulous concept was her number one priority when it came to selecting her choice for President. Her vote went to McCain.
I have often said that I am wired very differently than most but I haven’t even considered “national security” as one of my bullet points in formulating my vote. The economy? Absolutely. Energy policy? Naturally. Gay rights? Of course. There’s a smattering of other subjects that I have considered as well but national security? No. And here’s why.
I am an American. I believe that at one time the United States of American was THE best place to live on the planet. Today I believe it is ONE of the best places to live. Our policies have been a little wonky during this last administration. The liberties that we so often tout as being wonderful are slowly being taken away from us, all in the name of national security. Granted, the events of 9/11 were horrifying. A lot of people died. But how many have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since? We can not live in fear for the rest of our existence because of that. We can’t be afraid of terrorists. We can’t be afraid of immigrants. We can’t be afraid of people that are different than the some concept of the “American way”. We just can’t. There are ‘bad guys’ everywhere, on both sides of our borders. And to fear these bad guys is unproductive.
The individual that lives in fear must lead a very sad existence. Bad things happen. Bad things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. This is what happens and that’s just a fact of life. I blame this fear on organised religion. “If you don’t do as I say you are going to hell and you are going to burn forever.” An all loving God, damning his own creation to eternity in hell. That doesn’t even make sense. Being a reincarnationist, I figure if you screw up this life you’re coming back to learn better lessons the next time. When I was a youngster I asked my mother what hell was. She told me she believed that THIS is it and explained why. I know that she was absolutely right.
Living in fear. So sad. And so unfortunate that you base your vote in this historical election on the fear that you’re being fed. “Vote for me or bad things will happen.” So unfortunate.
Don’t live in fear. Live full of hope. But most importantly, vote!
Did You Hear?
I don’t know if you have heard the news or not, but tomorrow there is a big election in the United States. There may have been something mentioned on the news. Not only are we voting in a new administration, but several key decisions are being made tomorrow as well.
I overheard someone say that they were still undecided and that they would like to hear what the candidates have to say tonight. Um, o.k. I think that if you haven’t decided your choice yet then you’re probably completely clueless or really dense, but by god it’s your right to vote and you should exercise that right.
Though the polls are currently showing this all going to Obama’s favor, I have to admit that I don’t put a lot of faith in polls. I know it’s all scientific and all that but I don’t completely buy into it. The only way we’ll know who is going to win is when the other guy concedes or the Supreme Court hands down another decision.
As a technology geek I have to say that I do not trust these electronic voting machines that do not print out a receipt for the voter. We’ve all seen the videos of the “vote jumping” on the touchscreen systems. I truly believe that’s just bad software decision and screen calibration; a malicious programmer would never make the vote jumping or false tallying so obvious. I would have no problem with electronic voting machines if the code (the program) was open source and available for all the world to review. Personal agendas would be irrelevant in that case; proprietary equipment and programming allows for personal agendas to become commonplace.
My vote tomorrow will be for the Obama/Biden ticket. I don’t agree with his 100% of his policies but I sure as hell know that he’s a better choice than McCain/Palin. The latter two worry me.
Blue Marvel.
Blue Marvel made his annual appearance at the Halloween festivities at the local bar. This little known member of the Marvel family has a different lineage than Captain Marvel, CM3 and Mary Marvel. The son and only child of mortal science teachers Rick Mason and Andrea Thomas*, Blue Marvel has inherited the intelligence of his father and the supernatural powers of his mother and leads his quest for truth and justice with the guidance of the great wizard Shazam.
* “And unknown to even her closest friends, Rick Mason and Cindy Lee, she became a dual person, Andrea Thomas, teacher and… Isis, defender of the weak, champion of truth and justice.”
