The things that go through my head

*Tanya will use any excuse to post a picture of demon weed.  Doesn’t it look sweet against my blogs’ background colors?

Yet again, the reefer madness against my favorite plant is debunked. After all this time and all the studies that have been done about the medical uses of cannabis, you would think that it would have been legalized by now. Hell, in my perfect world, where everybody gets a pony, use of cannabis will be mandatory. OK, maybe forcing unwilling people to ingest cannabis may be problematic but still. There is no way in a rational world that this beautiful, sweet-smelling plant should be so demonized. In this case, use of cannabis has been shown to reduce dementia in rats. Long story short, you know what I will be doing when I’m old. For the full scoop, follow the link.

Oh no! I have written my Friday 4:20 post early! What on earth will I have to write about tomorrow?

Let me start by saying that as any reader of this blog or friend of mine knows, I hate most movies. There are a few exceptions, but in general, I just can’t be bothered to watch them. However, I have always been a bit of a Star Trek nerd and I have many fond memories of spending Saturday morning watching Capt. Kirk and his crews’ adventures in re-runs. I fumed at their terrible treatment of Uhura, the space secretary in hottie gear. Why don’t they put her in a real uniform? I would fume, as Kirk romanced yet another green alien, that he would leave behind as he jetted off to the stars.

How can you possibly do a prequel to this show? Star Trek was a classic, ground-breaking show, a historical TV series. It perfectly encapsulates the way that people thought at the time. Remember how they portrayed women as bumbling, shiny-eyed, penis-worshipers with big hair and the men as infallible? Remember the cheesy stage make-up, remember what special effects were like before CGI and all that other computerized crap? Remember the inclusion of the token Russian commie and the way he pronounced the word “wessels”? Remember the bad technology, the clocks with the mechanically flipped numbers? My gramma had one of those old school alarm clocks on the side of her bed. Remember the styrofoam rocks and the mood music? “Da-da-da-da-da dadadada-DAH” during the intense fight scenes and some sappy mood music when Kirk is romancing some naive alien girls. All females are naive and need educating about love, don’t-you-know?

Why, just think how much science fiction has changed! Strong female characters pervade the science fiction genre. Except for Star-Gate, with their token female character, brainiac Major Carter, who is conventionally attractive and totters around in high heels and skirts and makes cutesy comments like “Just because my reproductive organs are on the inside of my body instead of the outside…” Ha ha ha that crazy Carter, doesn’t she know that we live in a post-feminist society? Oh wait. I almost forgot about Seven of Nine, who they had to sexify in order to make her less scary. Even Captain Janeway had to be beautiful. Can you imagine what would have happened if Roseanne had played that role? Voyager would have been laughed out of the pilot stage.

But I digress. You see, the fact that sci-fi has just as much ridiculous sexist nonsense as it has ever had is one of the reasons why the Star Trek prequel is going to be terrible.

They have Kirk and Uhura hooking up. How could those bastards do that? It’s a crime against humanity. What the hell were they thinking? Whatever you do, don’t go see this prequel. It’s phail with a capital P. No amount of light and magic is going to overcome the inherent wrongness of such a plot line.

Anyway, if you want to waste a couple of minutes of your life viewing the trailer, here is a nice link for you to follow. In the meantime, I have more useful things to do, like pick lint out of my belly button.

I don’t know why but I find this story hilarious. A couple split up because of an affair that the male half of the couple had while on Second Life. The couples’ whirlwind romance which led inevitably into the trap that is known as the nuclear family and monogamous marriage, began on the internet while the couple were playing Second Life. They met and fell in love but did not live happily ever after. I have no right to make fun of these people for falling in love while indulging in an incredibly nerdy game, as I myself met my life partner (but interestingly enough non-husband) while interacting with an online community. But I really do have a difficult time imagining myself getting upset because of what my partner does online. Maybe I am not nearly clingy enough. Oh no, he had imaginary sex! I can’t imagine having imaginary sex on Second Life either, though. It’s just weird. What is the point? Give me the real deal anytime.

One time, after reading Jesus General, I decided to join Second Life to see what all the fuss was about. I downloaded the game and I started making myself an avatar. As a delicate fragile female creature, I only had the option of being a dainty, skinny hotty. That prospect did not sit well with me, as I am hot and skinny enough in real life and I wished to have a different body type while playing make-believe. But that was not an option unless I went to some extra trouble. Then I got bored because there was a picture of a kitten in my RSS feed and that was the end of that. RPG’s bore me to death. But I sure do like my Wii that my BFFFL bought for the family. I can drive race-cars and throw turtle shells at my family members and pwn them off the race track. I can also play rock songs badly and shoot blocks for points.

What’s the point of this rambling post? Oh yeah, marriage is pointless. Don’t ever get married, not even if you’re lavish marriage ceremony takes place on a computer server and doesn’t cost you a cent. Even on Second Life in a fantasy world, marriage confirms to troublesome patriarchal societal values. The bride still wears a white dress and the groom wears a tuxedo. He probably swept her off of her feet and made her wait for a hokey marriage proposal on bended knee where lifelong allegiance was pledged in exchange for control of sex organs. It’s still an ode to male dominance and female submission. Romantic rituals make me itch. Don’t do it! Run while you can, ladies. Only get married if you like being a complete and utter tool of the patriarchy.

There sure are a lot of things going on in the world of drug policy these days, just like always. Trying to keep track of everything is next to impossible. But I will attempt to give a round up of the things that interest me right now. First of all, add me to the list of successful pot smokers. It appears that I am in good company. Also, is Barack Obama really going to make an impact on drug policy? Especially when you consider that he has Joe Biden, king of the Drug Warriors as a VP? I doubt it. Pete has a lot more eloquent thoughts on this matter than I do. Obama has stated opposition to the medical marijuana raids that the DEA engages in, but I just can’t see him doing anything once he gets sworn in. Bush once opposed raiding med pot gardens before he was elected and then promptly changed his tune once in office. Prove me wrong, man!

Remember last week when I was all happy that Massachusetts voters wisely chose to lessen the penalties for possession of less than an ounce of weed? Well, the police in Berkshire county are very concerned that this measure will cost the taxpayers money and lead to an increase in stoned drivers. What do they base their opinions on? Nothing. Or maybe they are just worried that they will have to find something more useful to do with their time than hassle pot smokers. Just check out this quote:

“If I see a guy standing on the corner smoking a joint, that’s illegal,” McDyer said. “But, can I search him for other drugs? Do I write him a ticket? Are we going to bring scales out and measure every seizure we make? No one has thought this out.”

If this is your worst problem, consider yourself lucky. Also, don’t the boys in blue have anything better to do than hassle pot-smokers? Are they worried about air pollution? Because the last time I checked, smoking pot produces a lot less pollution than running your car.

Why not leave the poor pot-smoker in peace if he isn’t bothering anybody? Get a life, already.

Note to self: Write the 4:20 posts before 4:17.

I haven’t been posting lately. I started writing a post for Remembrance day but I messed it up and deleted it. It’s too bad because I have lots of smart things to say about it but every time I try to write about it all I get is WAR IS BAD!!!11

But who cares about that? I bought a car! A fabulous car. This should help me get over the pain I experienced when I lost the old car. I succumbed to peer pressure and here I am driving a very beautiful Geo Metro, which is a shinier version of my old car, with less mileage. Hooray!

Too bad I still haven’t settled with SGI. Just trying to get an appointment with the insurance adjuster is turning out to be much more difficult than I imagined. Why don’t they ever return my phone calls? HOW RUDE!

Also, here is a pic of someone parked way too close to my fabulous new car. What is wrong with some peoples’ children, I tell ya.

It’s a good thing for my weekly feature, the Friday 4:20, or I might never post a thing on this blog! Today, I thought about posting about the recent victory for medical marijuana in Michigan in this recent presidential election. However, I already wrote about that the other day, when I whined about the election win. So instead of enlightening you with any good news from the world of drug policy, I bring you some reefer madness from the Star Phoenix. What could the SP possibly write about drugs, if they didn’t do it from a reefer madness point of view? In this feature, we can read about how fighting the drug trade by sending out the troops to Kabul is the best way to deal with the drug problem. I have to admit I couldn’t stomach reading the whole thing, so it’s possible that they mentioned changing our drug policies. But I highly doubt it. I don’t even have to read these things anymore. It’s all reefer madness, all the time. Just look at this prize quote:

“It’s not possible to draw a watertight line between narcotics and the insurgents. Sometimes, they are the same people,” she said in an interview. “You can’t say ‘First, we take the insurgents, then we take the narcotics.’ “

All I have to say about that is NO SHIT SHIRLOCK! Jeez louise, could we be any more stupid if we tried? Of course the drug trade is fueling the insurgency! What good is it going to do to crack down on it? You aren’t going to stop people from using drugs with these punitive measures. It just doesn’t work. Even if they managed to make an impact on the drug supply in Afghanistan, it will just start coming from another place, like Columbia, for instance. Legalize all drugs and suddenly there won’t be an illegal drug trade anymore. Heroin will be sold in a heroin bar or whatever and all the harm caused by drug prohibition will end and insurgents will have to find a new way to make money.

I am so damned smart, solved all the drug problems just like that.

Via Violet Socks, a very astute comment.

The rules are different for women than for any other oppressed group. Consider if the shoe were on the other foot: if this were the election of the first (white) woman president, but she’d won by waging a grossly racist campaign against not one but two African-Americans. A campaign where the word “nigger” became the standard term of reference for the two AA candidates. A campaign where the AA candidates were ridiculed and slandered as shiftless and lazy and dumb, where the historic nature of their achievement was completely denied.

In those circumstances, would African-Americans be expected to put all that aside and weep with joy that a (white) woman had finally been elected President? Of course not.

In a patriarchy women are expected to abase themselves utterly. But I don’t play by that rule.

Damn straight. It puts all the joy expressed on many of the feminist blogs I frequent into perspective. I certainly don’t feel right calling myself a “feminist”, if this is what it means.

Found it at Feministing.

I wish I could be happy about the United States electing it’s first black president.  I understand that people are happy about it and that it’s a symbolic victory and all that sappy stuff.  Obviously, Obama is an imperfect candidate for many reasons that I don’t have the time or the inclination to write about.  He loves sexism and had absolutely no problem using it to his advantage against Hillary Clinton.  But really, that’s all besides the point right now, isn’t it?  What really gets my goat are the gay marriage bans that passed in Arizona, Florida and California.

I truly believe that nobody should get married as it is a highly flawed institution which institutionalizes and legitimizes male dominance and the state meddling in private, non-abusive relationships.  Marriage is a tool of the patriarchy!  I say it as often as possible and I truly believe it.  I stopped accepting wedding invitations this year.  I used to use excuses like, “Sorry, I’m going to be busy that day” to get out of going to weddings.  Nowadays, I explain my misgivings with the institution of marriage.  This is a huge turnaround for me, as I came close to getting married a couple of times in my life and I am really damned lucky I dodged that bullet, as I would have deeply regretted it later.

But I digress.

I am really ticked off that the rights of gay people were up for popular vote in the first place.  Should we take rights away from any group of people based on popular opinion?  Hell no!  The other thing that pisses me off is the fact that so many people think that gay marriage is a bad thing and wanted to take that away from people.  While in my ideal perfect world full of puppies and unicorns, marriage would be in the history books, I do not approve of banning gay marriage.  It just isn’t right.

On a more positive note, Michigan now has medical marijuana.  I would have expected that gay marriage was more acceptable to the populace than medical marijuana, especially when you consider the constant reefer madness campaigns that the American tax payers are subjected to.  It’s the only small light for me on a cloudy day.

I’m disappointed in you Americans.  A black president does not make up for the further institutionalization of bigotry.

I neglect this blog for a week and when I come back there are 79 spam comments.  WTF?  Only about four people, besides myself, care about this blog.  Why would anybody waste their time leaving 79 Viagra/drug/beauty spam comments on my blog.  I just don’t understand!!!!!

Also, I am glued to this train wreck of an election.  I’m like Bambi staring into the headlights of an oncoming car.

Also, my super nerdy project that I started on isn’t going so well.  But I am going to keep working on it anyway.  What else can I do?  I don’t want to quit, after all.  I think I will go back to blogging more regularly, as my life is pretty exciting and it is lots of fun sharing it on the intertubes.

But first, back to the election!  I want to see by what margin McCain gets stomped by Obama.