Rising Gasoline Prices

US gasoline prices continue to rise. I say let ’em rise. Go to $5.00, even $6.00 per gallon. While I realize the increase would be very hard on the poor, it would also cause the whining class no end of “hardship,” and the poor are generally hardy stock, and will be fine. It’s those precious people in their SUVs motoring from suburb to suburb who I want to see have to sacrifice a bit in this new economy (a new economy they more than likely helped bring to fruition by voting for that awful George W. Bush and his cronies in God’s Own Party ^®).

My commute to work is less than 10 minutes by car, and public transit isn’t out of the picture for me. Those high prices would, if fact, be just the push I need to make me use public transit. So I would welcome the change. (Yes, I know I should have the willpower to use public transport myself without an outside influence, but I don’t.) Anyway, it wouldn’t impact me directly as I don’t use much gasoline to begin with. However, the indirect impact would be a bit more obvious to me as it would cause prices of pretty much everything to go up. The trucking industry, for example, would have to charge more for transporting groceries and other consumer goods.

But ya know what? Necessity is the mother of invention, and we as a society would begin to invest in other, more efficient and less costly means of transportation. Perhaps the public transit systems in middle-tier cities like Atlanta would get the funding they need to be really good, usable systems. Perhaps we might see the use of cleaner fuels developed. Perhaps trains may be used to transport more and more goods. Shipping and distribution centers would be moved to areas accessible by train, creating, at least temporarily, jobs to construct those centers and to manage the logistics of the changes. A whole new segment of society could come to power, as the Oil Barons of Texas would finally be left choking on the dust of progress. That new segment could be those intelligent enough to adapt, to create a new way of doing things.

These changes wouldn’t come about without pain or cost. But it might be worth it to see this country a bit cleaner, a bit greener, and a bit more concerned for the greater good, not just for those on the other side of the tempered, tinted glass of the monstrosity on wheels that nearly rear-ended you on your way to work this morning.

Disengagement Revisited

Back in February, Alan and I got into a bit of a discussion about isolation/awareness of one's surroundings in the new iPod culture. I wrote that I was interested in the why of the iPod's popularity, and that of an "isolationist" culture in general.

In today's Kingsport Times-News, columnist Jim Welch addresses similar themes when he writes about his new iPod. He expands the idea, though, to include cellphones, satellite radio, and even e-mail. He opines that we are disengaging (I had used the term isolating; his word is the better choice) ourselves because "[s]urrounded by a world we do not know, we choose to answer a phone call [and Todd adds: or listen to a song or read an e-mail] from a world we already know."

Interesting thoughts, his. I encourage you to read this column. Registration is required, but I've made it easy for you. Just sign in as noone@bugmenot.com with password bugmenot.

Podcast Reviews!

Over the weekend, I spent some time learning about podcasts – what’s out there, what software is used to access them, what it takes to create them, etc. Like many of you, I’ve been reading lots about podcasting recently, but I hadn’t done any research to learn the ins and outs of the technology. But when I stumbled upon an article in Budget Living magazine, of all places, that recommended Madge Weinstein’s Yeast Radio, I had to investigate. So I downloaded iPodder, and off I went to listen to Madge Weinstein’s podcast. I had no idea what I was getting into.

You have to have a sick and twisted sense of humor to enjoy Madge in all her drag queen lesbian (or is it lesbian drag queen?) glory. I personally think she’s a scream. Others might not like her humor so much. She’s absolutely disgusting when she interviews a Mystery Guest in L.A. about, among other things, her yeast infections. And she appears to have great affection for the word ‘cunt,’ for she uses it every chance she can, as in “America is a great cunt-ry,” so be prepared for that. But she also offers more-than-just-a-sound-bite political and cultural commentary that is quite dead-on in its analysis. I highly recommend checking her out.

Another podcast I really, really want to like more than I already do is Gay Sexcapades, which documents “the social life of a twenty-eight year old gay man [pause] with an enormous penis.” This podcast is essentially the retelling of this man’s sexual encounters. After listening to three of his casts, I have to say that he can tell a good story, but I’m left feeling like the tales could be told just a bit better. For example, he uses a lot of parenthetical expressions, mainly “…and that’s fine…” to explain away a particular occurrence. He doesn’t need to insert “…and that’s fine…” into the story. It is his story, after all, so any justification isn’t necessary, in my view. And not that it’s necessarily a bad thing, but this guy really likes himself. He says he’s a top with all the gusto of someone having issues with being a bottom. Sure, everyone has preferences, but his tone is a bit, um, mighty, let’s say when he discusses his positional preference. Also, I wouldn’t really call nine inches enormous, for example. Big? Sure. Huge? OK. But enormous? Seems kind of forced to me. But those are my only criticisms. I really do like his story-telling and I have to admit, listening to porn on the way to work is an interesting way to spend one’s commute time!

Check out these podcasts when you can. And let me know about the great podcasts you’re listening to!


The Word of Todd
Madge Weinstein’s Yeast Radio rating: out of 5 iPods

Gay Sexcapades rating: out of 5 iPods

Baton Bob

Baton Bob has made the Atlanta Journal-Constitution!

I first became familiar with Bob when Kenny posted a link to an article in a St. Louis newspaper about Baton Bob. The article talked about Bob's impending move to Atlanta. I wrote the author of the article, telling him that Atlanta really needed someone with Bob's joie de vivre. Well, I was quoted in the followup article!

Because of that early knowledge about Bob, I feel a special closeness to him and was so happy when I first saw him twirling in Piedmont Park.

We saw him just last night on our way to dinner. He was at the corner of Juniper and 10th, twirling and whistling, dressed in a majorette's uniform. As we passed by, he wished us "Happy Spring" (it was a sunny, almost-80-degrees day -- woo hoo!).

Happy Spring back to you, Bob. You really do bring a much-needed smile to the collective face of Atlanta.

Betty on Terri

Betty Bowers has an excellent (as always) commentary about the Terri Schiavo situation.

Personally, I think it would be fun to really piss off the reich-wing by using a stem cell to clone Terri Schiavo. But that's just me.

All grown up

My younger brother is a football coach at the high school we both attended back in the day. He’s 33, just a couple of years younger than I am.

Yesterday, a car crash killed two students from the high school, one of whom was a football player. This isn’t the first student death my brother has had to deal with.

If memory serves correctly, no students died while I was a student there. I remember at least one high-schooler being killed in an accident when I was in middle school, but none while I was in high school. If there were any, I didn’t know them.

So I can’t imagine the feelings my brother must be having. To know this 16-year-old boy who had his life in front of him and seeing it wiped out in a flash must be incredibly difficult. And, in his role as teacher, to have to keep it together enough to be a support to the other students has to be stressful too.

I never thought I’d think of him as an adult, but he has grown to be quite a fine person. And given our totally opposite personalities and interests, I never thought that I could say that about him. Sure, he does all those disgusting straight-guy things. But he puts his special touch on them. Like teaching his not-quite-two-year-old daughter to answer “Poop!” when he asks her “What does mommy do?” But he also taught her to growl like Chewbacca, too! Both are quite endearing to watch, believe it or not.

But today, he’s hurting and having to be the grown-up that I never thought he would be. I’ve come to be quite proud of him.

Finally

Someone has said it on the record. Let’s give credit to Republican Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut for telling it like it is. He is quoted in the New York Times as saying, “This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy.” He is, of course, talking about the recent Congressional vote to move the Terri Schiavo case to the federal-level courts. The conservatives who are pushing for her to be kept alive are merely using her as a pawn to further their own agenda. Representative Shays also said, “My party is demonstrating that they are for states' rights unless they don't like what states are doing.” These people are not for states’ rights, or individual rights at all. They want to get their way. End of story. And they will lie, distort, and mislead on any number of levels to get their way. The hypocrisy boggles the mind.

These are the people who decry “judicial activism” except when it’s in their interest.

These are the people who worship that “sacred marriage bond” until a legal spouse makes a decision they don’t like.

These are the people who scream “let him fry,” furthering a supposedly hated “culture of death.”

Mr. Shays speaks volumes of wisdom in the above quotes. It’s about time these right-wing zealots are called on their hypocrisy by a fellow conservative.

Finally.