New Jail, Anyone?

The Board of Supervisors approved language for a bond referendum for this November's ballot for a new Jail this morning... to the tune of $48.1 million. It'll be top of the list of local issues this November and I don't think it has a chance in hell of passing.

I don't know... I could be wrong. Sheriff Pulkrabek managed to get the JECC established even though everyone with a lick of sense knew that consolidating dispatch centers is never cheap, it's always messy and it's always a gigantic pain in the ass. JECC's had growing pains but seems to be turning a corner pretty solidly at this point- (despite the fact they can't keep a director and the Board of Supervisors is engaged in a tug of war with their Policy Board about a variety of budget issues) but I think a lot of people tracking the issue aren't going to be in the mood to dish out $48 million for a new jail.

Then there's the wonderfully productive relationship Johnson County has with it's Law Enforcement agencies- a wide swathe of the population dislikes the po-po with a passion- and I mean beyond the usual, 'aw, shit man it's the cops' kind of attitude. (I get that cops aren't always the favorites of people in general.)

When you combine that with the bad aftertaste from setting up the JECC, I doubt people will be in the mood to finally divvy up for a new jail. It didn't work last time and I'm not betting heavily that it'll work this time.

But will I vote for it? I will. Why? Because we have a ridiculously small jail- and we genuinely do need a new one. I'm not wild about it but it's time. We gotta bite the bullet and get this done.

Forgiveness

Can someone ever be truly sorry for something? Stayed up a little later than usual last night with the Missus and stumbled upon 'The Redemption of General Butt Naked' on the documentary channel. Butt Naked was a warlord during Liberia's horrifying Civil War responsible for deaths, atrocities and war crimes (he claimed to Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he was responsible for 20,000 deaths though some dispute that figure now apparently.) Anyway, he repented, found God and became a Pastor.

I really hope they show this again on the Documentary Channel because I'd like to see all of it and not just half of it. Though the half I did see was fascinating enough- I was left wondering if Butt Naked had really repented or if it was just all a little too convenient... I'd like to think that people can really change but Liberia's Civil War was a nasty, vicious war that lasted fourteen years- and seeing someone responsible for some truly awful things actually go and seek out some of his victims to ask for forgiveness...

That's powerful.

Yep, going to have keep an eye on the Documentary Channel.

Summer Movie Fest: The Avengers

This was the movie that somebody should have screwed up. Marvel had been plotting this one out for what seems like forever and the hype, the build-up and the anticipation have all been insane. In short, it had 'POTENTIALLY HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT' written all over it and a lot to deliver on. And you know what? It totally rocked.

I suspect a lot of this has to do with all around bad-ass Joss Whedon taking the helm of the movie. He pulled this off with bells on. The dialogue is peppered with the usual Whedonesque wit (which sounds extremely awesome coming out of the mouth of Iron Man) and humor while letting the characters remain well-rounded and retain a health amount of soul and humanity (another Whedon trait.) Iron Man especially shines in this movie- but I think I have to jump on the critical bandwagon and agree that Mark Ruffalo infused his Bruce Banner/Hulk with a new take on the role that makes it worth noting that there appears to be a new rule in the superhero business: the Hulk works better in carefully controlled doses. And Ruffalo's Banner is deeper, more nuanced than he predecessors in the role (Eric Bana and Edward Norton) making Banner a man who is constantly fighting- himself.

The unsung and maddeningly interesting duo in all of this is Black Widow and Hawkeye (played by Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner respectively.) The hinted at backstory, the enigma of their relationship to each other is mainly played out in hints, winks and nudges- but all of that MAKES ME WANT TO KNOW MORE. I get that Black Widow and Hawkeye probably aren't going to carry a big-budget Marvel release all by themselves but maybe together? Can we learn more about these dashing pairs of assassins? Pretty please?

Thor is back in all his Viking glory, doing things with his hammer and flinging lightning around the place. It's pretty awesome- he gets to rumble with Iron Man and Hulk in turn but he's also dealing with some serious family drama- as the bad guy Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is his brother. Hiddleston is having fun with this role managing to chew the scenery with more panache that you usual find in these roles.

If there's one minor quibble I have with this movie, it's the beginning. We kind of get dropped into the middle of a kind of muddled story about the Tessarect (crazy blue cube) but you know what? It doesn't slow down the story at all- and the movie more than redeems itself with the rest of the story. (Speaking of which: the story? Basically, Loki shows up, opens a portal to another dimension that lets an invading army of the Chitauri that the Avengers have to assemble to destroy/save the world from- of which is courtesy of the Tessarect- and that's all the plot I'm going to inject into this review.)

Overall: **** out of **** Joss Whedon pulled this off which is impressive in and of itself but The Avengers is one of the finest entries in the genre of the Superhero movie. The build up, the hype and the anticipation were huge and Marvel delivered the goods. (It's going on my Amazon.com wishlist as soon as I post this.)

Bookshot #46: The Stone Canal

This is the third Ken Macleod book I've reviewed in what seems to be a very short time, so I'll skip the usual plaudits- regular and semi-regular readers of the blog should be well aware of them by now. 1. He's an awesome writer, 2. He writes thought-provoking science fiction which is the best kind of science fiction and 3. He is well worth reading.

Now that's out of the way- The Stone Canal. The second book in Macleod's Fall Revolution series (I'm reading these all ass backwards, I know. I'm sorry) it tells the story of Jon Wilde an anarchist who mysteriously arrives on New Mars, where the Free Market rules everything, machines (even intelligent ones) are enslaved and only the abolitionists object to that. Wilde has a past with the leader of New Mars David Reid and recalls their long history together from 20th Century Scotland out to the stars of the 21st Century and beyond-- Macleod weaves a tale of what awaits those that survive the wars and revolutions that are to come that's compelling, readable, thought-provoking and challenging all at the same time.

Macleod plays around with notions of trans-humanism, the technological Singularity a lot more in this book and in ways that I was surprised at how disturbing I found some of them. At this point, not having the technology in front of me, I'm more inclined to support life extension than I am uploaded or out and out post-humanism. There's something about the idea of dying and then waking up in a computer that makes my skin crawl and when that happens to Wilde in the book, it takes him a lot of time to get adjusted to the notion. Personally, I think my first thought would be wondering where my wife would be and nothing else would matter after that. I don't want to live forever. I think things end for a reason. I think I'm just looking for reassurance that when my end comes, I'm content with the life I've lead and ready to move onto what's next. Whether that takes 80 or 200 I don't know. But it won't be forever- at this point, in 2012, I'm pretty sure of that.

Wilde proves to be an engaging and interesting character- especially since he's a determined anarchist in a Macleod's world that's not too friendly to the notion- at least at first. From the collapse of the British Monarchy and the formation of a United Republic (a Federalist solution- how novel!) to the Third World War which Wilde gets a large chunk of the blame for when he refuses to sell his privately held nuclear deterrence policy to the Germans. (Kiev, Berlin and Frankfurt all get nuked in this particular World War 3- before the US intervenes and gets all 'Evil Empire' on everyone's behind.) Macleod has a way with building realistic dystopias that's admirable.

Overall: Plays with some frankly weird and disturbing ideas that might just be possible one day- but as always, Macleod makes you think. And I really like that.

Bookshot #45: Snow Crash

Neal Stephenson seems to be very good at confusing his readers, then intriguing them and before you know it, you're off on a crazy, cyber-punkish, near future thrill ride that by the end convinces you that Stephenson is pretty much AWESOME and can do very little in the way of anything wrong.

Snow Crash is one such book. It took me a little bit of work to get into this book- like The Diamond Age, it takes a couple of chapters to wrap your head around the ins and outs of the world that Stephenson is dropping his characters into but once you do, you're good to go. In this case, Snow Crash takes place in 21st Century LA, where the federal government has ceded control of pretty much everything to private enterprise and the country is dotted with burbclaves (suburban enclaves) and small franchise micro-states that protect their 'citizens' that are willing to pay membership/citizenship fees. Into this are flung our hero, appropriately (and wittily enough) named Hiro Protagonist, hacker, sword fighter and all around bad ass. And YT a young Skateboard courier.

When Hiro (who was delivering pizza for the Mafia, a successful franchise in this world) finds himself in a jam, YT bails him out and although he loses his job, the two of them partner up to gather intelligence and track down the mysterious virus known as Snow Crash- something that's threatening the survival of the Metaverse (the full immersion internet hacker playground a la TRON where Hiro is a 'warrior prince') but the world itself.

And that's where this book takes a random left turn and dumps you straight into Sumerian mythology. Near as I can understand it, the Snow Crash is an ancient neuro-linguistic virus (the original Sumerian language being presented as firmware for the brain) and Snow Crash is trying to spread that virus throughout the world again. It's complicated, needless to say- perhaps overly so. But needless to say, Hiro and YT are in a race against time preventing this virus from causing the infocalypse- the end of all information as we know it.

Not withstanding the lengthy diversions into Sumerian mythology (interesting but totally not my thing), this is another great yarn from Stephenson. The ideas of the Metaverse- a sort of virtual reality, possible future internet that sounds a lot like either TRON or the Matrix not to mention the idea of a virus that can not only mess up your computer to a fare-thee-well but actually infect your brain as well? It turns into an exciting, thought-provoking mish-mash of technology, religion, culture slapped onto a 21st Century Los Angeles that has just enough ties with the present day to be believable.

If I've got a bone to pick, it's with the extensive discussion of Sumerian mythology. I mean, I get it- I understand why it's important to the story and all that jazz and it was interesting it just seemed to take an extensive amount of time away from the story itself. (Which I found to be a lot more interesting.) But having said that, I doubt that Mr. Stephenson writes these books to be easy reads. They can be difficult to read but challenging yourself now and again isn't something that I consider to be a bad thing.

Overall: It's Neal Stephenson-- so in general, it kicks ass. This one wobbles a bit here and there but it was still an engrossing, enjoyable read.

Summer Movie Fest: One For The Money

A new summer tradition here at The Cigar, I'm going to take these lazy, dog days of summer and watch a few movies...

I remember seeing previews for 'One For The Money' and remember being slightly intrigued by it. It didn't look horrible. Katharine Heigl looked pretty appealing and to be totally honest, it looked like the kind of movie that the Missus and I might enjoy going to together so I made a mental note to check it out when it came out.

Only, it never did.

Seriously, it was the oddest thing. There was preview after preview and then there was... no movie. I saw release dates, I saw television promos and then it didn't show up here in Iowa City at all. That struck me as unusual. Normally it's the semi-interesting looking arts-indy films that you actually want to see that don't show up not mainstream rom-com potboiler types. Yet it didn't show up, so I was curious about it.

So the Missus snagged it from a Redbox and I sat down at watched it and you know what, I'm not sure what's wrong with this film. Seriously. Weirdest experience ever. There were known names in this movie. Debbie Reynolds as the crazy Grandma. Jason O'Mara showing flashes of a young Mel Gibson. Fisher Stevens and John Leguizamo showed up as well. I couldn't help thinking that if this movie had been made in 1995 it might have been a box office smash. Or at least shown up in a theater nearby. It had flashes of 'Stakeout' and a spicy bouquet of 'Kindergarten Cop' about it and it should have worked. Yet curiously, it didn't...

Based off the series of best selling Stephanie Plum novels by mystery writer Janet Evanovich, 'One For The Money' introduces us to Stephanie Plum (Heigl) who's out of a job, out of money and needs cash fast. Pointed to towards her Bail Bondsman cousin Vinnie (Patrick Fischler) for a job, Plum enlists the help of Ranger (Daniel Sunjata) to teach her how to be a good bounty hunter so she can bring in ex-crush Joe Morelli (Jason O'Mara) a cop whose on the lam for shooting someone. Plum, is of course, in over her head and still nurses a crush on her old flame Morelli and the usual hijinx ensue.

Maybe that was it- the 'usual hijinx' the movie was formulaic but not bad by any stretch of the imagination- but neither did it show up with anything new. Plum just seems kind of clueless and seems to achieve her successes through blind luck more than anything else. As a bounty hunter it seems like kind of a stretch for most of the movie but by the end she seems at least believable in the role.

Overall: A curious enigma of a movie, it feels slightly underdone. I think it would have made a fantastic made for television movie or been an excellent box office draw. In 1995. Rotten Tomatoes gave this 2% and said that 49% of the audience liked what they saw. That seems about right to me.

Bookshot #44: Cyber War

I decided to do some reading about cyber warfare after I had written 160,000 words of a draft novel and realized that one of my main characters was a hacker and I knew nothing about either hacking or any concepts of cyber war. So being a good wannabe writer, I did some searching, found a book on the subject and did my homework.

Noted policy wonk, counter-terrorism expert, noted detractor of Bush The Younger Richard Clarke joins forces with a younger hipper colleague Robert K Knake to deliver a slim, readable volume that pretty much encompasses everything you ever wanted to know about cyber warfare but were afraid to ask- and manages to do so without boring you to death. The first and most interesting way they manage to do this is with real world examples of how cyberwarfare has already been used. It's very 'inside baseball' and very cool. Case in point: right off the bat they lead with Israel's raid into Syria in 2007. The media reported it as a strike on a possible nuclear facility- what they didn't report was how it was that Israel penetrated into Syria so deeply- through the use of cyber warfare, according to Clarke.

(Personally, although Clarke has several decades of Washington experience with this stuff which makes him a credible and most likely knowledgable source, I tend to take stories about Israeli military operations with a grain of salt- not because I don't believe them, but because I doubt anyone actually knows the ENTIRE truth about them.)

What I was startled to remember were Russia's attacks against Estonia (in 2007) and their use of cyber warfare during the brief war with Georgia in 2008. Of course, I remember hearing about the latter- everybody does. I think the war in Georgia got it's fifteen minutes of fame during the 2008 Presidential Campaign as Americans everywhere breathed a sigh of relief when they realized Senator McCain was talking about Tblisi and not Atlanta. What I didn't realize was how Russia integrated cyber tactics in with their military operations, hackers effectively crippling Georgia's banking industry and governmental websites- that meant that Georgia's ability to communicate with it's military forces not to mention the outside world was severely compromised.

The attacks against Estonia were somewhat more subtle. When Estonians began to object to the presence of a large bronze statue commemorating the Soviet forces that fought there in World War II (to the Estonians it brought up less pleasant memories. Like the decades of Russian occupation) what Moscow insisted on calling 'patriotic' Russian Hackers went after Estonia's banking industry and websites a plenty, essentially shutting the country down. (I wonder how many equally patriotic hackers find themselves running afoul of Putin's new goons?)

All in all, the first half of the book contained quite a few 'Whoa, I didn't know that' moments which I enjoy immensely. Knowledge being power and all that jazz. The second half of the book threatened on more than one occasion to dip down into the realm of the dry, dusty and policy wonkish but Clarke keeps the readers' head well above water, pointing out that we have serious vunerabilities in our infrastructure that other countries (like North Korea or China) do not- so that if it came to an out and out fight, we might be kind of screwed. Banking, utilities, maybe (although I hope not) even air traffic control could all be easily attacked and severely damaged if someone wanted to- and with things like logic bombs, botnets or malware all too easily planted we could be a ticking time bomb right now and not even know it.

It's a powerful wake-up call for the American people and for our policymakers. They're a pretty sorry bunch of people right now but maybe some of them will stop promoting things like SOPA or PIPA and actually start contributing useful ways to deal with this issue- because Clarke has one thing dead to rights: this is going to be a HUGE issue. And we need to start planning for it- right now.

OVERALL: Awesome little read. Informative, lively and hums right along without drowning the reader in policy minutia. Provides a good wake-up call for policymakers. Will they listen? The sad part is, given how wonderfully Washington is working right now, probably not.

Bookshot #43: The Sky Road

The Sky Road is one of my favorite books. It may not scrape the top of my all-time list, if assembling such a list would be possible but it ranks right up there. First of all, it's Ken Macleod. Talk about a great writer- I just posted a review of The Cassini Division that pretty much detailed some of the many reasons why he's awesome. I'm not going to bother repeating myself again here. (Just to say again: for serious sci-fi fans, this guy is a MUST read at some point... for people who just like interesting, well-written books- he's worth checking out.)

But back to the book: What Macleod did with his original 'Fall Revolution' series of 'The Star Fraction' (review forthcoming) 'The Stone Canal' (also forthcoming) and 'The Cassini Division' was to add a fourth novel, 'The Sky Road' which posits an alternate future based on one of the protagonists making a slightly different choice in 'The Stone Canal.' (I know I'm reading this books in a random, truly effed up order and for that I apologize. It's my own personal summer reading festival and I'm just grabbing and going!) That concept alone is kind of cool to me. Change one little thing and spin off a whole other book from it? Very 'Sound of Thunder.' I like it.

And the resulting book is excellent as well: roughly half is set in the far future, where a young scholar by the name of Clovis is working on humanity's first space ship in centuries when he meets his mysterious new lover Merrial who convinces him that in order to protect the ship, they need to seek answers in the past... where we find the other half of the book- Myra Godwin is facing the collapse of civilization as we know it, her rockets are redundant, her borders defenceeless and the West is too decadent and weak to help her as she confronts the terrible decisions she has to make. Decisions that Clovis and Merrial must work to uncover centuries later as Merrial's mysterious people 'the tinkers' know what Myra left behind in her files... (DUM-DUM-DUM!!!!!!!)

No more spoilers... you'll just have to read it for yourselves. I liked the structure of this novel. Alternating chapters between Myra's past and Clovis and Merrial's future keeps each side of the plot clear and easy to understand. Plus, it makes understanding the connections between them easier as well. But to me, the past makes for a much more compelling read than the future in this book. Myra Godwin is a tough, strong, powerful woman haunted by her past and forced into making a terrible decision- but it's the world that Macleod builds around her that I find to be all too believable somehow. Almost post-apocalyptic with the United States balkanized and torn asunder, Europe weak and powerless and a Sino-Soviet Union plowing eastward with nobody powerful enough to stop it. And Macleod leaves Myra's fate unknown at the end of the novel, despite the fact that she's hailed in Clovis and Merrial's time as 'The Deliverer'

Overall: Another great read from Ken Macleod... (just as a side note- I find that while it's helpful to read his Fall Revolution series in 'order' it's not necessarily a requirement. 'The Sky Road' stands alone just fine by itself as well as within the larger story of the series.) Characters are well drawn and compelling, the story is one that pulls you in and keeps the pages turning. Excellent stuff!

Bookshot #42: The Cassini Division

To me, the best science fiction is science fiction that makes you think. Not many authors can do that and it's not always what you're in the mood for all the time. Sometimes, you just want an alien-space opera-shoot me up or a fantasy-quest-swordplay type of a read and other times you want to be challenged and you want to find yourself really thinking about what you're reading. Never mind science fiction: not many authors can do that successfully full stop. Ayn Rand was good at idea but to be frank, her ideas were, well, how do I put this? A little nuts. Well written, no doubt, but nuts.

In the world of science fiction, Heinlen, Kim Stanley Robinson and one of my true favorites, Ken Macleod stand out for writing vivid thought provoking fiction that's driven by ideas. Noted sci-fi master Vernor Vinge called 'The Cassini Division' 'a brilliant novel of ideas' and I can say with absolutely certainty that this book more than lives up to that.

The final book in Macleod's Fall Revolution series, The Cassini Division is set far in the future where an utopian communist Solar Union rules Earth and the Cassini Division is the self-defense force holding the line against the mysterious post-humans that vanished centuries before. Ellen May Ngewthu has centuries of experience being a leader and soldier in the front line of the Division's fight against the post-humans and she's stumbled across a plan that could rid humanity of the post-human threat once and for all- she just has to convince the right people to distrust the post-humans as much as she does.

Where to begin with this book? I mean wow... Macleod plays around with ideas that are going to be incredibly important over the next century as technology builds towards an expected 'Singularity' moment sometime in the next century. If, as predicted we will have the ability to upload ourselves into a computer or to extend our life beyond our current imagination, what then will it mean to be human? When it someone sentient and when is someone a machine? This is a theme that runs through 'The Cassini Division' and it's maddeningly thought provoking one because at this point... nobody really knows!

The politics are also interesting- especially with Earth being ruled by the an Utopian Communist state with only a smattering of 'non-cooperators' confined to the ruins of London or on the outskirts of society. By and large, phrases like 'go employ yourself' are considered by the characters to be almost pejorative terms and they literally can't comprehend a return to the capitalist system some of them having been around in the prior two centuries that witnessed its fall. The counterpart to the Utopian Communists of Earth is the extra-solar colony of New Mars. A bit of mystery throughout the book, as they're on the other side of the wormhole that the post-humans vanished through some centures before, when the main characters finally do make it through to New Mars, they find it's at the opposite end of the political spectrum from their Utopian Communist society- it's a free-wheeling anarcho-capitalist society, a nice juxtaposition of the supposed idealized extreme at the other end of the spectrum away from the utopian communism they're used too.

How does it all end? Well, it'd be a spoiler normally but the back of the book makes no secret of the fact that our protagonists kicked some serious post-human ass. Whether the apparently (according to McLeod) never-ending struggle between utopian communism and utopian capitalism ever gets resolved is another question entirely. And as for whose side you find yourself sympathizing with more- in the end, you might surprise yourself...

Overall: It's Ken Mcleod. Serious sci-fi nuts should already know who he is- but in general, if you're looking for thought-provoking writing bristling with ideas about our future, this guy is a must read. And entertaining to boot. I devoured this book in about three days while in Florida.

More Ramblings from The Sunshine State

After my second visit to Florida, I still don't really know what to think of the place. The Missus and I avoided the central Orlando area like the plague, which I think helped a lot- there's nothing like the experience of being stuck in a swarm of tourists/residents on the I-4 to make you really detest a place- which happened last time but despite how beautiful it was, I was left with the nagging verdict that Florida is an awesome place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.

First of all, there's the staggering number of people. People, people- everywhere you look- PEOPLE! Maybe it's just a central Florida thing but the roads always seem to clogged with people and the local news seems to be full of stories about people getting shot not to mention what I would consider to be an unhealthy number of commercials for ambulance chasing type lawyers. (Including one enterprising individual who is a JD AND an MD... a Doctor and a Lawyer. What a hellish combination that must be...) While I tend to be charitable and easy-going with my fellow mammalians the sheer number of people combined with the heat and the irritation of how long it seems to take to get anywhere must make people a little crazy. (Interesting factoid: they drive like bats out of hell down there... going from Daytona to back to Sanford the Missus was doing 85 and barely keeping pace with traffic.) (Second interesting factoid: saw a Subaru at the Kennedy Space Center covered with 'Got Granola' type bumper stickers and got up to Daytona Beach the next day only to be greeted by the sight of an overweight Grandmother wearing a t-shirt that loudly proclaimed 'OBAMA SUCKS.' For some reason that seems to be very appropriate for the Sunshine State.)

Second of all, the beaches are beautiful. I'll give Florida that- they've got that going for them. Cocoa Beach/Melbourne Beach was beautiful but the really excellent beach was Daytona Beach. Both the Missus and I agreed that next time, we'll stay there. And I have to admit, spending a day on the beach, safely slathered with sunscreen under an umberella reading a book was totally and utterly relaxing. I could have done without quite so much rain but on balance, one solid day on the beach plus a visit and a beautiful afternoon at Daytona Beach made for just the recharging/rebalancing of chi I was looking for. There's a lot to be said for beaches.

Finally, the 'nerd-alert' highlight of the visit was the Kennedy Space Center. Having spent $32 on Graceland and leaving with the uncomfortable notion that I had just been screwed somehow, the KSC's general admission price of $43 made me nervous. But they give you your money's worth- the main complex had more than enough to keep you busy and going out to view the launch pads and the Saturn V center was awesome. The endless montage of musical scores/inspirational music from every space movie ever made got to be a little much... but it was super cool nonetheless.

But, Florida... I have a feeling I'll be back- with bells on! Perhaps Miami next time...

WMP

The notion of white male privilege is something that I find irritating from time to time. Not because I don't believe it exists but because people tend to boil down to fortune cookie wisdom what tends to be more complex than people realize. Scalzi (as he is apparently wont to do from time to time) posted a piece entitled 'Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is.' He's not wrong. But I don't think his metaphor is as sturdy as he'd like to think it is and I for sure have issues with how little he takes into account socio-economic class. A straight white male born into a middle class family in Iowa, for instance (such as myself) is in a far different position than a straight white male born into a middle class family say in West Virgina, for instance.

But leaving that aside (and Scalzi handles the usual array of comments in this piece) in general, I find it irritating to be categorized and labelled and blamed for the wide array of woes that society grapples with on a day to day basis. It's like the slogan 'Men Can End Rape.' Fantastic. But in my book, real men DON'T rape and I'm irritated by the implication that just because I share the same biological characteristics with the scum-sucking assholes of the world that rape/beat women that it's somehow my fault just because I have a penis. In general, being a straight white male is easier. But everybody else gets to shit on you for it. And maybe that's just the way the cookie crumbles and I'm OK with that. But please don't ask me to join a discussion where my role is to be at the bottom of the Porta-Potty of Oppression where all the finger pointing, victim-blaming shit lands on my head. You want to know where I stand? Fine:

Racism is bad.
Sexism is bad.

And I do my utmost to be neither of those things every single day and if see someone being openly racist or sexist I like to think I treat them with the contempt that they so richly deserve and call 'bullshit' on their 'bullshit.' I could probably do a better job of that from time to time, no doubt, but I try. Which is more than a lot of people do. But understand that it cuts both ways: being, well, an asshole is something that cuts across creed, color and gender. And if you're being a true asshole about something please don't expect me not to call you that. And please don't tell me I'm oppressing you when I do.