NewscomaGot A Two-Pack Habit And A Motel Tan

And at Panera.

I love Smiley. Dammit if I don’t because he’s more than groovy.

Well, it finally happened. I got my first “Cease and desist” request regarding my internet content. Yeah, I’m banned in China and apparently thedryspot.net is rated PG-13, but I never thought I would piss off his Royal Badness, Prince.

Me and Hutchmo. BANNED.

But, by golly, Pakistan likes me.

It kind of feels good and all being a rebel.

Because Aunt B. always breaks it down:

In other words, even though we tend to think of the military as a very conservative institution, it has, in many ways, been the catalyst for a lot of progressive change. That, I think, is one reason the fight over gays in the military has been so fierce, because both sides know that, if gay people are allowed to serve openly, it will mean shifting a lot of people’s fundimental attitudes. They won’t have to like serving next to gay people, but they will have to get used to it. And once they’re used to it, many of them are going to find it damn foolish to worry about working and living next to gay people when they get home.

All this brings me to women in combat. The arguments against letting women serve in combat have ranged from the criminally stupid (”Once a month, women are more prone to infections!”) to the old tried-and-true “It’ll ruin unit cohesion” to whatever else folks can think of at any given moment so that a fog of “women can’t/shouldn’t be in combat” shrouds the land and prevents us from looking at the truth:

Women are, right now, in combat zones–civilian women and female troops. There they are. Fighting and dying and living and going about their jobs, just like the men.

Yup. She’s right.

Progressive Nashville makes a point this morning about how a surgical strike into Somalia regarding an insurgent leader who was accused of having ties with Al-Qaeda barely made a blip in news this weekend.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this is that we took so little notice of the fact that America fired missiles into another country. If such a thing was done on our soil, even if it involved only one house, we would consider it an act of war. We wouldn’t be consoled by the fact that only one house was hit and only a few people died. We’d be outraged that another country dared to fire missiles into our country.

However, when America takes such steps, it’s of small notice. Most people probably didn’t notice.

I sometimes go back to what Jon Stewart said on Bill Moyers last year about we live in a world where everyone is “too busy” and doesn’t pay attention to the things going on around them. (I’m paraphrasing.) Lives are filled with so much information and things always seem out of reach. So folks grasp what is manageable. After years of war, presidential campaign that never ends and a financially frustrating time for average citizens, mainstream cable news still is guilty of focusing on what Miley Cyrus had for breakfast.

And sometimes the stark realities that are going on in this world are too much to handle.

I think we are basically a country that is overwhelmed to a large degree because those of us who have expressed concern about the war in the past were basically shut down although I must admit it’s better than it was a couple of years ago although it’s by no means great.

After awhile, screaming into the vortex becomes exhausting.

A Yorkshire woman was apparently murdered after her husband saw on her Facebook page that she was leaving him.

A husband is believed to have murdered his wife before killing himself after she told friends on Facebook they were splitting up, it emerged yesterday.

Tracey Grinhaff’s body was found in a shed in the back garden of the family home she shared with her husband, Gary, and their two young daughters, aged 14 and four.

Both had died of head injuries, although police said Mr Grinhaff’s were self-inflicted.

Less than a fortnight ago Mrs Grinhaff, 42, updated her profile on the social networking site, Facebook, telling friends she was “currently splitting” from her husband.

She added: “Been married for 16 years but together for 26!!!! God that makes me sound old.”

Neighbours in the town of Wombwell, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, yesterday described the couple and their children as “the perfect little family.”

I have a feeling that this is going to get a lot of play in the media over time. How much do you share on your facebook, live journal accounts, blog, etc?

I used to talk more about myself than I do now learning the hard way.