Fat chance

I have often been harassed and ridiculed on the street because of my weight. About fifteen years ago, some h.s. boys did this and I finally did what I'd fantasized about--walked back to them and calmly said, "You know, I have a theory about why boys like you hate fat women. It's because we make your penises look SO SMALL." The boy who had yelled at me was speechless, while the others hooted with laughter and started kidding him--"Oh MAN, she GOT you!" and the like. I walked away absolutely on air, and it took thirty yards before the harasser thought to yell out, "Well, who wants a big *mouthed* [my emphasis] woman like you, anyway?"

"Our" responsibility as Americans

There's no meaningful difference between the two "realistic" choices of Demoblican and Republicrat; we are roundly condemned if we make a principled choice of a third-party candidate; and *whoever* gets in, we have no control over them for the next four years--and our cowardly, unprincipled (un)representatives in Congress refuse to exert control on our behalf. So what can we do?

Luckily, people in other countries seem to understand what it's like to live under a (frequently U.S.-imposed or -backed) government that is beyond the control of the population, so they cut us some slack even as they oppose our government's policy. Our responsibility to the world is not to feel guilty and apologize for the actions of our leaders and meekly retreat into silence, but to speak out and try to persuade and encourage others to speak out.

No escalation of the war on Afghanistan!

Meet at 6 pm at the corner of Dubuque and Washington Sts. on the day that the govt. announces that more troops will be sent to Afghanistan. It's time to be seen and heard. Out of cyberspace and into the streets!