The Reasonable Activist

Image linked from http://www.kensavage.com

 Due to the current recession, our nations largest employer may be facing a work cut. The post office is debating cutting service to only five days a week.  This can’t be helpful to our economy.

I’ve always liked the USPS.  I know some swear by FedEx and UPS, but they have lost or delayed just as much of my mail and the USPS is at least efficient at the counter.  (I shudder when I have to mail a package at FedEx/Kinkos, where one can often stand a good fifteen minutes before being acknowledged.)  Not to mention the mailman/mail-lady is an iconic symbol of Americana.  I still remember waiting anxiously for our mailman to arrive every day so I could scour for anything which might have my name on it – even junk mail was a thrill back then.  Holidays or my birthday was a doubly-good time; who knew what delightful cards (complete with cash) might be lurking in the mailbox?

Emails are great for keeping in touch day-to-day, but a thank-you note beats an electronic message hands-down every time.  No matter how goofy or thoughtful the electronic card, a handwritten letter will be more meaningful, even if on plain notebook paper.  How many people save e-cards?

There’s the joy of commemorative stamp collecting with a friend or relative.  The laughter of the mail-order fruitcake.  The excitement of a foreign pen-pal.  Don’t let our post office die out.  Look up the address of a dear old friend and send them a letter.  Write a soldier overseas.  Tell your favorite author how much you appreciate them with a quick note via publisher.  Learn the name of your delivery person and always remember to wave and say hello.

 REFERENCES:

Washington Post Article

http://www.usps.gov

Scales of Justice

Below are my favorite outrageous comments taken from an AlterNet article by Julie Millican, Media Matters for America.  Originally posted December 11, 2008 on http://www.alternet.org/story/111857 )

MICHAEL SAVAGE:

Responding to a caller who said, “I had to explain to my young son why these two men were holding hands the other day,” Savage stated, “You’ve got to explain to the children why God told people this was wrong. You have to explain this to them in this time of mental rape that’s going on. The children’s minds are being raped by the homosexual mafia, that’s my position. They’re raping our children’s minds.” (June 16)

Savage on autism: “A fraud, a racket. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out”: “Now, you want me to tell you my opinion on autism, since I’m not talking about autism? A fraud, a racket. You know what autism is? I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they’re silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz.’

CHRIS BAKER AND LANGDON PERRY:

Chris Baker and fellow KLTK-FM host Langdon Perry agreed that “Magic faked AIDS,” referring to former basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who announced in 1991 that he had tested HIV-positive:

    PERRY: What about diseases that are eminently treatable and you can live with for a long, long time quite healthily if you just get some basic drugs?

    BAKER: Like Magic Johnson.

    PERRY: Like Magic with his faked AIDS. Magic faked AIDS.

    BAKER: You think Magic faked AIDS for sympathy?

    PERRY: I’m convinced that Magic faked AIDS.

    BAKER: Yeah, me too.

    PERRY: It falls apart –

    BAKER: Which is horrible.

    PERRY: — when you get into motivation. I’m not sure why, but I’m pretty sure he faked AIDS.

    BAKER: I’ve got a great email here from –

    PERRY: ‘Cause he’s the only cured AIDS guy ever.

(October 8th)

BILL O’REILLY:

Responding to MoveOn.org’s “Petition Against Fox’s Racist & Hate-Filled Smears,” O’Reilly said: “Obama must condemn organizations like MoveOn and the Daily Kos if he truly wants to run without a race component. These are the people that are dividing Americans along racial lines. It is not a stretch to say MoveOn is the new Klan.” (July 23)

LEE RODGERS:

“Look at these ugly skanks, who make up the female leadership of the Democratic Party. I mean, my God — you know, guys sitting around, talking, perhaps in a bar someplace — they have a way of scoring them. I know, it’s sexist. It’s sexist. It’s unfair, and all of that, but they will look over a female who comes in and just make an announcement: How many drinks it would take before you’d jump her bones, you know. You look at most of the headline women of the Democratic Party, you’re thinking, ‘It’s gotta be closing time and five drinks, and maybe not even then.’ And that’s what they’re really PO’d about. [Gov.] Sarah Palin’s good-looking and they hate that.” (September 17)

JIM QUINN:

Quinn called NOW the “National Organization for Whores,” said columnist Fatimah Ali should “get an American name”: “Yesterday, I said, I wonder how long it’s going to be before one of these Alinskyites — formerly known as Democrats — one of these Alinskyites out there suggests that Sarah Palin is not really a woman. Remember [Sen.] Kay Bailey Hutchison [R-TX] was a female impersonator, according to the National Organization for Whores?” Later in the program, Quinn aired a clip of Fox News host and Washington managing editor Brit Hume discussing a Philadelphia Daily News column by Fatimah Ali. Following the clip, Quinn said: “[Y]ou know, Fatimah, what’s your real name? Come on, seriously. I mean, get an American name, will you, if you want to be an American. You don’t suppose she’s a liberal black Muslim, do you?” (September 3)

REFERENCES:

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/111857/

http://www.woodhullfoundation.org

http://mediamatters.org/

If you belong to any Yahoo Groups, please be aware that Yahoo uses something called “Web Beacons” to track every Yahoo Group user.  It is similar to a cookie, but allows Yahoo to record every website and group you visit even you are not connected to Yahoo.  You can read their updated privacy statement at:

http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/details.html

About halfway down the page (in the section on cookies) you will see a link that says “Web Beacons”.  If you click there, you can find a box entitled “opt-out” on the left hand column.  In that section find “opt-out of interest-matched advertising” link and that will let you opt-out of their snooping.

Note that this invasion of privacy is machine specific, not user specific, meaning you will have to opt-out of every terminal you use.  What a pain.

REFERENCES:

http://antivirus.about.com/od/spywareandadware/a/yahoobugs.htm

Govt Commercial Promoting Abstinence-Only Education

Under the Bush administration, $176 million was allocated to abstinence-only education programs.  Part of this money funded virginity pledges, documents signed by teenagers stating they would not have sex before marriage.

The latest study, conducted by Janet Elise Rosenbaum of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, shows that not only do these pledges have no effect on teen abstinence rates, but that students who sign these pledges are more likely to engage in sex without using a condom or birth control.  The complete study is published in the January 2009 issue of Pediatrics.

So what things do work when it comes to keeping your teen from sex?  Specifically, it is involvement.  Teens raised with more traditional values are less likely to have sex at an early age.  On the downside, they are more likely to feel guilty about sex in general.

Teens with fewer friends who drink or use drugs are also less likely to engage in sex.  Participation in regular positive youth groups seems to be of benefit as well.  It is all about peer pressure, of the positive kind.

You can’t just tell folks not to do something ‘exciting’ and expect them to listen when they are bored and have nothing better to do.  That’s why abstinence-only doesn’t work, it doesn’t provide alternative activities.  Getting your kids into sports, the arts, church groups, or any other regular positive activity will do more to keep your children out of trouble than preaching at them.  Talk to them, get to know their friends and their friends parents.  Not only does this show your children your commitment to your values, it also shows them your commitment to them.

REFERENCES:

http://www.prwatch.org/node/8101

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/134254.php

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/heart-to-heart/2008/12/30/7-factors-that-foster-teen-virginity-pledge-or-no-pledge.html