First Houston Kossack event, yay!
I'm writing this inaugural diary to celebrate my having attended my very first Houston Kossack social event ever. Thanks be to Wink & Justice of Netroots Radio for making me aware of it, and...
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Profiles, High and Low
Yours truly in High School NJROTC I live in Sugar Land, Texas, in Tom DeLay's old district. I attended one of the highest ranked public High Schools in Texas, Clements High School. I was active in...
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On becoming an Aggie Democrat
The author as a college freshman, Spring 1990. So, in Texas we have two major state university systems, and two primary campuses that are the flagships of each. I speak of The University of Texas at...
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My Asperger's, my Politics
The author (middle), in traditional garb reflecting his European ancestry. I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome in the summer of 2010, at the age of 39. I've always been quirky, kind of a nerd,...
View ArticleTwo tales of "open carry"; one gun is real, one is fake. Guess who got arrested?
Things did not go very well for this open carry individual in Massachusetts:Star Wars Stormtrooper arrested outside of elementary school A Stormtrooper was arrested yesterday outside an elementary...
View ArticleThe hypocrisy of fear as sole legitimation
It's a topic I just can't seem to let go of. Quoting once more from the NY Daily News, which I use as a source because it contains the best direct quotes I've read so far:>>...Jim Cooley is...
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The necessity of confronting racism & revisionism
The author as a child, on a family vacation to famous Civil War battle sites. With the horror of the white supremacist terrorist attack in Charleston, South Carolina still fresh in our national...
View ArticleBefore you mourn them Duke Boys...
So the latest thing causing my conservative Facebook friends' heads to explode is some cable TV network pulling re-runs of the old, campy, 1980s TV show The Dukes of Hazzard (but still allowing them to...
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Limitations of the "medical model" for Autism
I tend to be of the opinion that while it’s helpful to have Neurotypical (hereafter abbreviated "NT") researchers studying autism & writing about it, the real autism experts are autistic people...
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Modest proposal for Southern High Schools with "Rebel" mascots
I had a flash of brilliance the other night (read: some of my Facebook friends liked it when I posted it), a modest proposal of what to do with Public High Schools throughout the American South that...
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Pavlovian Patriotism
So here's the latest outrage floating around the timelines of my Facebook friends; Mostly my Republican friends (usually High School classmates) but also depressingly some of my friends who are...
View ArticleFreethought auxillary to local DP
I am a "community organizer" of sorts for the Sugar Land/Stafford branch of the umbrella organization Houston Atheists on Meetup.com, which gets together for dinner and conversation locally about once...
View ArticleWaiting for gun-toting Godot.
So as of January 1st, 2016, the new Open Carry Law went into effect in Texas, which permits current Concealed Carry Permit holders (full disclosure: I am one myself), if they should choose, to openly...
View ArticleUpdate: Open Carry banned; FBCL asserts exception as an educational institution.
Fort Bend County Library has asserted its rights as an educational institution eligible for the same exemptions from Concealed and Open Carry of handguns as other educational institutions. The...
View ArticleTaking a mental vacation until after Primary season
Any other year, any other season I’d definitely describe myself as a news and political advocacy junkie. Until comparatively recently, I would listen to Kagro in the Morning with David Waldman...
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Empathy vs. the Free Rider Problem
After having finished my friend Michelle Vines’s memoir, Asperger’s on the Inside, which I then reviewed on Amazon.com and Goodreads, and after listening to Mike Aus’s community moment talk recently at...
View ArticleLibrary Journal's Reviews policy is Classist
When I was unemployed for 6 months, I had the (entirely predictable and unoriginal) idea of perhaps writing book reviews until I could land my next library gig. It was disheartening to read the first...
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Some visual art commentary on the 2016 Presidential Election
So, on a whim last night, I pulled up some of my more amusing screen shots from a particular anime movie, Street Fighter II Alpha: Generations. I then fired up my digital image editing software and...
View ArticleJill Stein voters be like...
These images are too fun not to share in the biggest possible size. Full disclaimer: I voted for Cynthia McKinney in 2008, but I did vote for Obama in the Texas Democratic Primary. I voted to...
View ArticleBernie folks, we gotta stand with HRC
Thankfully the diehard Bernie Supporters on my Facebook who were distraught over HRC’s nomination have either quieted down or unfriended me or at least unfollowed me. I supported Bernie too and am...
View ArticleWomen will win this election for HRC
I recently heard a reporter from RTE (Irish national news service) interview a rural couple from Iowa and they were definitely Trump supporters. They went on to interview other Trump supporters as...
View ArticleWatergate Redux; Why history matters (again)
The historical parallels with Watergate are palpably there. How different is hacking DNC internal communications today all that different than the Watergate burglars breaking into DNC HQ at the...
View ArticleEven the Military mostly uses its small arms in semi-auto mode.
A long time ago, I was a JROTC cadet, just like 3 of the victims of our 21st Century St. Valentines Day Massacre in Parkland, Florida. The only difference being their unit was Army while mine, as you...
View ArticleApropos Parody Lyrics for Bananarama's VENUS with respect to Donald Trump's...
Hat tip David Waldman/Kagro in the Morning (formerly Daily Kos Radio) for the initial inspiration for this... Alternative lyrics apropos of recent USA craziness.…To the Tune of “VENUS” by Bananarama...
View ArticleStupid Prop Tricks and the Texas Constitution.
It’s all about the Subtext, what ISN'T said, but my local Dem friends and I all agree this is intended to hamstring any future Democratic Governor or Legislature about enacting reasonable public health...
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