cutting down the tree

why i think gay marriage is the wrong tree to go barking up:

bell hooks, in feminism is for everybody, quotes mary barfoot, from the coming of black genocide,

"...the women's movement never left the father Dick's side... There was no war. And there was no liberation. We got a share of genocide profits and we love it. We are Sisters of Patriarchy, and true supporters of national and class oppression. Patriarchy in its highest form is Euro-imperialism on a world scale. If we're Dick's sister and want what he has gotten, then in the end we support that system that he got it all from." (emphasis mine)

if we allow ourselves to be placated by the scraps tossed down to us from the master's table we become complicit in our own oppression. feminism, from which the gay rights movement emerged, is not about letting women have what men have. it's not about making women into female men. feminism is about dismantling patriarchy, which is a system that injures all men, children, women, and arguably most animals, vegetables, and minerals as well. the point is not to aspire to join the powerful but to level the playing field so that we all have equal chances and choices.

so why is the queer 'community' clamoring to get what the better half have, when what they have is diseased and broken? marriage was built to benefit the wealthy landowner. not only has it been damaging to women, but it has never benifited the poor or racial & ethnic minorities. to beg for a share of "genocide profits" is not noble and righteous. it's easy. it's classist, racist and imperialist. and it's pathetic.

thank you for not breeding

i am taking this moment, in the midst of a stressful day in a stressful week, to draw your attention to the solution to the world's problems.

The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement: "May We Live Long and Die Out"

(this is not a swipe at any dear humans who may have recently spawned or are currently cooking a fetus (or two). i just need to keep myself amused by contemplating the theoretical extinction of humanity instead of actually accomplishing it in a more...immediate sort of way.)

thanks to submersible for the link.

"Hurricane Katrina - Our Experiences"

"Most of us had not eaten all day because our C-rations had been confiscated at the airport because the rations set off the metal detectors. Yet, no food had been provided to the men, women, children, elderly, disabled as they sat for hours waiting to be "medically screened" to make sure we were not carrying any communicable diseases.

This official treatment was in sharp contrast to the warm, heart-felt reception given to us by the ordinary Texans. We saw one airline worker give her shoes to someone who was barefoot. Strangers on the street offered us money and toiletries with words of welcome. Throughout, the official relief effort was callous, inept, and racist.

There was more suffering than need be.

Lives were lost that did not need to be lost."

http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman/publish/article_18337.shtml

socially responsible hurricane relief

http://radicalreference.info/altkatrinarelief

from radical reference

hurricane resources

the librarians index to the internet has a collection of sites with information about hurricane katrina here: http://lii.org/search?query=hurricanekatrina

this blog is acting as a clearing house for information about the aftermath of the hurricane, including photographs: http://katrina05.blogspot.com/

the person running that blog also put out a request for people in the immediate area of the affected areas to upload photographs of people in the shelters to flickr just in case they're missing and someone's trying to find them: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/7944

wikipedia has an incredibly in-depth entry about the hurricane here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina

and of course, the red cross is collection donations for disaster relief: http://www.redcross.org/

this morning gas prices are incredible, but here in the northeast we're warm and dry. new orleans has turned into a post-apocalyptic nightmare. if you're in any position to help, including being able to disseminate information, i say do it.