Tabitopia

2005-11-17T21:52:00.000-08:00

Okay okay okay. This is just a quick note to tell my two fans that I am coming back to blogging soon. Real soon. Very soon. In the meantime I'm getting my machine up to speed. I wanna play with the big dogs or not at all, you know what I mean. Here's something to ponder while I work up the courage again: I can dismantle computers, put things in them, take things out of them, break them and make them work again. I'm pretty sure that makes me a goddess. A diva. A CREATOR! Stay tuned...

2005-08-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

16 September 2003: Attorney general John Ashcroft mocks librarians opposed to the provisions of the Patriot Act allowing federal agents to seize citizens' library records as indulging in "baseless hysteria." And he refuses to make clear why the government would ever need access to library records.

19 September 2003: Ashcroft declares that no requests for library records have yet been made.

20 September 2005: The American Library Association reports that law enforcement officials have made at least 200 inquiries to libraries about reading materials and other internal matters since October 2001. They surveyed 1,500 public libraries and 4,000 academic libraries. Association officials claim that if the results were extrapolated to the actual number of public libraries, the total number of inquiries would amount to about 600 since October 2001.

So, you want to check out books about Osama Bin Laden, but you don't want the feds to know?

Both the Senate and the House have recommended changes to Section 215 of the Patriot Act. This fall they intend to officially reconcile their different approaches. The Senate approach is considerably more protective of privacy rights and the House version could actually make the excesses of the Patriot Act worse. Call your representatives. Insist on change.

CONTACT the HOUSE

CONTACT the SENATE

2005-08-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

When I die ...
For the love of god, will someone please give me a sendoff like this?

WOODY CREEK, Colo., Aug. 21 - Hunter S. Thompson indulged in numerous hallucinogenic fantasies over the years, but this weekend, one of them morphed into reality: his ashes were blasted into the sky over his farm here, carried by red, blue and silver fireworks in front of a 153-foot monument that Mr. Thompson, the writer and avatar of "gonzo" journalism, designed himself almost 30 years ago.

2005-08-25T17:31:00.000-07:00

Tell your congressmen to send their kids to war! It's safer than sending them to college. Seriously:

* 1,700 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries.

* 994 soldiers have died in Iraq in the last year (July 2004 to July 2005).

2005-08-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

Tabitha backstage with a surprisingly calm, super-excited bride just before she took herself off the market.

2005-08-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

My favorite Memphis hip-hop station, K97, features a daily roll-call hour (or at least it used to). The phenomenon of roll call allows you -- yes, you, a total nobody -- to call in, stretch your beat box muscle, say your name a lot, tell your friends you were on the radio and, most importantly, toot your own horn about something, give yourself a much-needed rapalicious pat on the back.

If I were K97 and the state of Colorado was a hip hop fan, I would definitely let Colorado participate in an early evening roll call. ROLL CALL! Holla.

From Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.:

"As America swelters under record heat and Congress responds with an energy bill that does nothing to address global warming, all of us have a responsibility to take up the battle in our own communities. And that is exactly what the citizens of Colorado are doing. They are taking the global warming fight local. Unhappy with the lackluster progress by their state legislature to wean the state off of big polluting power plants, this past November Coloradans crafted and passed a ballot initiative requiring utilities to generate 10% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2015. In Aspen, community leaders enacted a “carbon tax” to encourage new homebuilders to build smart. Homes that waste energy are charged a fee. Over 3 million dollars have been raised by the tax so far. The city invests all proceeds in programs to promote and develop new, clean, renewable energy."

2005-08-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

For more on animals, meat, pain, utopias and God, read this article by Alexander Cockburn, suggested by Bryan Newbury, the troublemaking, German beer-loving poet.

2005-08-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are addicted to news from Tabitopia, I apologize for my recent hiatus and your recent sadness. It all started last Tuesday, August 2, at 9:45 p.m. when I was sprayed in the face with blood from a 3-foot penis. Nevermind that I paid good money to have such a thing done to me. Nevermind that I drooled over my cool boyfriend as he braved the mosh pit and returned to my side besotten with heavy metal fluids. Nevermind that drool is indistinguishable from slime when you're at a Gwar show.

Few experiences in my life can touch the visceral nature that is the Gwar spectacle. Apparently, years ago when I was naive, I turned down an opportunity to tour with these rock gods. Rue the day, Tabitha. Rue the day. So, here's the rundown for my envious friends hungry to be so cool someday:

The pope decapitated George Bush. (Thank God.)
Laci Peterson birthed her dead baby ... and ate it.
Michael Jackson offered a bloody baby up to the lead singer (you know, the one with the famous dong.)
The lead singer took the sacrifice. Then sprayed blood from various orifices into Michael Jackson's mouth. Then ate some more baby.
Arnold Schwarzenegger showed me what green energy is all about.
A roadie reloaded the leather-clad phallus, which released its load back into the singer's own mouth.
The lead singer told us (his audience) that he hates us drooling sycophants. Everyone cheered and tried to get closer to the leather thongs and ork costumes.
At 2:30 a.m., August 3, I was thrilled to throw a perfectly good pair of tight jeans into the garbage.

Later that night, a proud roadie called his momma to tell her he had finally made it to the show.

2005-08-10T20:55:00.000-07:00

Gwar at the Beaumont Club in Kansas City--as good as you think!

2005-08-10T04:48:00.000-07:00

The Guardian recently published a philosophical essay about about "speciesism":
All beings that feel pain deserve human rights
Equality of the species is the logical conclusion of post-Darwin morality

Some of you may know that I'm pretty sure there is life on other planets. Or, at least I believe it is more likely that aliens exist than that they do not. So here's a little excerpt from the essay that captured my attention:

The simple truth is that we exploit the other animals and cause them suffering because we are more powerful than they are. Does this mean that if those aforementioned aliens landed on Earth and turned out to be far more powerful than us we would let them - without argument - chase and kill us for sport, experiment on us or breed us in factory farms, and turn us into tasty humanburgers? Would we accept their explanation that it was perfectly moral for them to do all these things as we were not of their species?

And just as I was pondering the implications of Richard Ryder's theory, along comes my Dad's off-the-cuff response:

I read the little article about pain and found it interesting. C.S. Lewis wrote a little book on The Problem of Pain, in which he also discussed pain in animals--but I don't remember exactly what he said about it. I do think in his atheist days it was one of his arguments against the existence of God. A passage in another book I've been reading mentions the concept of the ladder of being. It is an old argument, going back to the middle ages I suppose, that there is a hierarchy in which each rung of the ladder includes all the attributes of the previous, plus has added attributes which give them more value: a rock has existence, a plant has existence plus life, an animal adds the capacity of awareness or consciousness, and humans have reflective self-consciousness.

I agree that we should try to minimize the existence of pain in creatures who feel pain. A few things his argument overlooks:

My hypothetical problem of painlessly killing someone in their sleep.
The existence of pain and ultimately death in nature apart from human intervention. Darwin, I believe, considered predation an essential part of nature. The pleasure cats seem to take in torturing their prey--but do they understand what they are doing?
A hierarchy among animals--does his argument only apply to mammals, or vertebrates? Do insects feel pain? It seems to me there are higher forms of mammals, such as primates, who are closer to us, and deserve a higher degree of protection. I may have mentioned before a discussion I had with Charles about cats and dogs having human attributes, such as a form of conscience--they seem to know when they have done wrong. Charles believes that we have given those attributes to our pets, humanized them in a sense, and therefore they have higher value.
There are animals that are threatening to human life--obviously insects such as mosquitoes, and lice, snakes--snakebite deaths are rare in the USA but very common in India and Africa--and mammals such as rats and prairie dogs.
I think there can be some distinction between pain and suffering. Maybe runners are masochists, but they talk about the runners' high--and many other athletes seem to enjoy pain at least because of the expected benefits. Suffering is consciousness of pain that seems pointless, hopeless, and unremitting. The marathon runner and a woman in labor know that the ordeal will end and that something good will result from it.

Perhaps animal suffering is greater in this regard, because presumably they can't forsee a purpose or a positive end to suffering.

2005-07-31T07:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a heartbreaking story about a gay teenager from White Station High (my alma mater) whose parents have checked him into a Christian therapy program in Memphis designed to make him an "ex-gay" (originally published in the NY Times): Read The Full Article

2005-07-31T07:07:00.000-07:00

From new comic book "Manhattan Guardian"

[Right click (or Ctrl-Click on Mac) to open image in new window]

2005-07-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

New legislation protects the gun, coal and oil industries; limits our freedoms ... more or less permanently; and 2,400 pages on CAFTA that I'm sure all our senators and representatives read. Way to go, boys!

Here's the NY Times breakdown of all three:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/30/politics/30cong.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th

Here's the Environmental News Network's short review of the Energy Bill:
http://enn.com/today.html?id=8374

Here's Steven Sherman's opinion of the 15 Democrats who voted for CAFTA:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0729-29.htm

An anthropologist takes a look at CAFTA:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0727-33.htm

An overview of the now legitimate, not-just-in-time-of-war (think that has anything to do with the recent shift in language from "war" to "struggle"?), Patriot Act, from the Electronic Privacy Information Center:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/

OK. Enough ranting. HOW DID YOUR REPS VOTE? All in all, my home states (TN, AR, KS) are a bunch of bad guys. But my love of Hawai'i has not been damaged!:

HOUSE voting roll call:
http://clerk.house.gov/legisAct/votes.html

SENATE voting roll call:
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_109_1.htm

2005-07-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

Tabitha and Bernard's THIRD Monster Truck Show -- Valentine's 2005

2005-07-29T19:33:00.000-07:00

Our second volunteer beehive!

2005-07-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

Kristin & Cathleen -- New Year's 2005

2005-07-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

Nation's Churches Launch Campaign to Save "God's Creation" from Corporate Devastation:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/Politics/churches071405.cfm

2005-07-29T05:14:00.000-07:00

Simple Cold Zucchini Salad:

Julienne, dice or peel zucchini into very tiny pieces. Toss with 2 teaspoons each of sesame oil and lemon juice. Add a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Throw in a few toasted sesame seeds. Let marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Serve cold as a bed for anything you might grill this summer. (I used grilled eggplant sate!)

2005-07-29T05:11:00.000-07:00

Well, the big ugly Arctic National Wildlife Refuge decision has already been made, but I aim to keep my people in the loop ...

Where would ANWR oil go?http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002245699_export17m.html
By Warren CornwallSeattle Times staff reporter

2005-07-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

HOUSE Reunion Tour 2005