I know it’s supposed to be funny, but ….

From The Onion, Depression Hits Losers Hardest:

“Losers, despite their profound, constant state of despair, are hated by others as much as they hate themselves,” said Theodore Foti, director of the famed Rochester Institute For Mental Health. “They have no friends because they are, quite simply, too pathetic and useless for anyone to care about. How could anyone possibly expect a little pill to cure a problem like that? Give me a break.”

Because of their severe, profound “loserdom,” realistic treatment options for depressed losers are almost nil, the Stanford report concludes.

“The only treatment that makes any sense is loathing and rejection,” Wyler-Hustad noted. “It is only logical that stupid, fat, ugly, bed-wetting, crybaby losers be shunned as outcasts and be treated with the hatred and disrespect they so richly deserve.”

At times in my life I’ve been deep enough in the well that I believed every word of this. It may be “humor,” but I don’t have it in me to laugh. I can’t even get angry. It just makes me want to cry.

Via Culture Cat - Rhetoric and Feminism, who found it “gut-bustingly funny.”

UPDATE: This is what pushed it completely over the line for me:

“From the true loser’s point of view, the compulsion to inflict self-harm seems to be ‘the only way out.’ This is true,” Wyler-Hustad said. “Lord knows why they don’t just do us all a favor and blow their heads off once and for all. I know I would if I were a loser like that.”

From Metro UK:

Underpant rage burns down house
Monday, January 29, 2007

An angry husband who threw old clothes from his wardrobe in the garden and set fire to them because he could not find his clean underpants accidentally burnt his home down.

Ivo Jerbic, 55, from Prikraj close to the capital Zagreb (Croatia) told police he had flipped out after failing to find any clean underpants in the closet full of old clothes, and had thrown them all in the garden and set fire to them.

He told police: ‘My wife never throws anything out, I just lost my temper.’

But the fire spread to the house which burned to the ground.

Local news agency Hina reported that Jerbic could end up in jail for up to 8 years because of putting other family members in danger, even though no one was injured in the incident.

So it’s his wife’s fault? Why didn’t he just clean out his own closet and get rid of his own old clothes instead of expecting her to do it, then throwing a tantrum when she doesn’t? Also, if he washed and/or put away his own underwear, he’d know where to find it.

How many other things do you suppose he blames her for?

Tino Buntic has launched a project called 2,000 Bloggers. It’s a collage of writers’ photos posted on their blogs. He hopes to illustrate the endless variety of people blogging as well as to express community. To join, add your url to his comments and he’ll put you in. To me, it’s a little bit like screaming “I exist!” into the void and that can be a good thing. I haven’t done it, but I’m thinking about it. I did it.

Via Constant Observer and Writes Like She Talks

Billie at Parts-n-Pieces adds a new element to her blogging with the addition of a podcast. In it, she speaks of being heard as a way to be known, a way of becoming real. I think that’s important. I’m not brave enough to record my voice, but following her example in my own way, I’ve put a current picture up after a long stretch without one.

This is the real me.

Dr Abdul Majid Katme, head of the Islamic Medical Associationin the United Kingdom, is on a crusade against childhood immunizations. He’s issued a statement to the UK’s 1.6 million Muslims, saying that vaccinations are unIslamic.

From the (UK) Times Online:

Katme said he was bringing the message to Britain after analysing the products used for the manufacture of the vaccines. He claimed that Muslims must allow their children to develop their own immune system naturally rather than rely on vaccines.

He argued that leading “Islamically healthy lives” would be enough to ward off illnesses and diseases.

“You see, God created us perfect and with a very strong defence system. If you breast-feed your child for two years — as the Koran says — and you eat Koranic food like olives and black seed, and you do ablution each time you pray, then you will have a strong defence system,” he said.

“Many vaccines, especially those given to children, are full of haram substances — human parts, gelatine from pork, alcohol, animal/monkey parts, all coming from the West who do not have knowledge of halal or haram. It is forbidden in Islam to have any of these haram substances in our bodies.”

Katme singled out vaccines such as MMR as ones to avoid, despite doctors saying that they are essential to keep a baby healthy. Others included those for diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis and meningitis.

Dr Shuja Shafi, a spokesman for the health and medical committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, said Islam makes allowance for things necessary for health. Let’s hope parents listen to him.

A NOTE: this isn’t all that different from what I hear from some of the more far out there Christian sects, that vaccinations are against God’s will, so I don’t see it as a strictly Muslim problem.

Via Medpundit.

I’m transitioning off one of my mood boosters and it’s not going too well, so I need to remind myself of some happy things. This down won’t last forever; it only feels that way right now. In the long run, getting off this drug is a good thing, so I just have to tough it out.

• Happy thing: I saw Julie’s wedding pictures and they’re beautiful. I’ll get some prints soon.
• Happy thing: a new bellybutton ring with a tiny blue dolphin dangling from it.
• Happy thing: temps up into the mid 30s - I’m ok with just a hooded sweatshirt on.
• Happy thing: zero calorie Fresca with black cherry
• Happy thing: the days are getting longer. Eventually the sun will come out again.
• Happy thing: I figured out what’s going to happen in the next chapter of my ms. Now if I could just carve out some time to write it….
• Happy thing: Gonzaga beat USF 72-56. Next game tomorrow night.
• Happy thing: Prickly Pear margaritas.
• Happy thing: Billie’s new photo blog. She makes me see beauty in things I never took the time to examine before.
• Happy thing: I’ve lost 3 of the 7 lbs I put back on stress eating pre-wedding.

For anyone interested in getting more information on the University High School Darfur fundraiser:

From the website:

University High Students Fight Genocide in Darfur

Student-led “Genocide Project” Aims to Raise $10,000 for Victims

1/11/2007

Nearly 2,000 University High School students and staff will gather tomorrow morning to remember Martin Luther King, Jr. and apply King’s messages of social conscience to launch the second phase of the student-led Genocide Project. Dramatic lighting, music, a multi-media presentation and narratives will be used to illustrate the atrocities of genocide and spur the school audience to action.

The all-school assembly is scheduled on January 12 at 9 a.m. in the gymnasium of University High School, 12420 E. 32nd Avenue, in the Central Valley School District.

Although the second phase of the project - call to action - begins tomorrow, students have already raised more than $5,000 from local businesses and individuals to benefit the genocide victims in the Darfur region of Sudan. The students will be selling $5 Darfur T-shirts they designed and produced to reach their fundraising goal. More than 70 students are involved in this student-led campaign to motivate fellow students, faculty and the community to assist the Sudanese victims through charitable funding.

This first phase of the Genocide Project – education - began last week as students returned to school from their winter break. Large graphic murals and signage depicting the victims of five genocides of the 20th century and the genocide in Darfur line the walls of the school. Earlier this week, students heard a presentation by a fellow student about genocide and discussed the issue in their classes.

“I can’t be more impressed with our kids and their work to make all of us more aware of the horrific human rights abuses in Darfur,” said Daryl Hart, principal. “This has grown into a passion of the student body which is spreading all over the school. In all my years as an educator, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything take root and spread so quickly.”

The Genocide Project will conclude in late February with the third and final phase – results. Students will hold “A Day of Conscience” to highlight the difference made by students, faculty and community members who supported the project. The entire school will wear their T-shirts and a check will be presented to Care, an organization directly involved in providing humanitarian aid to the Sudanese people.

For more information or to make a donation to the project, contact Paul Schneider, social studies teacher and student advisor, at (509) 228-5273.

This t-shirt. One of the local high schools is selling them with all funds to go to relief efforts. I made an extra donation, too.

In recent months the disgusting actions of Fred Phelps of Topeka, KS and his Westboro Baptist Church have made the news. They’ve become notorious for disrupting military funerals to make their point that God is punishing the dead for the US’s acceptance of homosexuality. In response, Washington State has passed a law making it illegal to protest within 500 feet of a funeral procession, grave site, a funeral home, or any other building where a funeral is taking place. In the state Senate it passed 42-1, with the lone dissenting vote cast by Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, who said, “We’re limiting free speech here.”

Much as I detest Phelps’ actions, I have to agree with Kline. For the Constitutionally-protected right of free speech to mean anything, offensive speech must be protected as much as any other. In this case, a charge of disturbing the peace should suffice.

From CBS News:

In an interview, Pelosi also said she was puzzled by what she considered the president’s minimalist explanation for his confidence in the new surge of 21,500 U.S. troops that he has presented as the crux of a new “way forward” for U.S. forces in Iraq.

“He’s tried this two times — it’s failed twice,” the California Democrat said. “I asked him at the White House, ‘Mr. President, why do you think this time it’s going to work?’ And he said, ‘Because I told them it had to.’”

Asked if the president had elaborated, she added that he simply said, ” ‘I told them that they had to.‘ That was the end of it. That’s the way it is.”

Well. I don’t know about you, but that’s good enough for me.