Depressing? Heartening?

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Came across some stats this morning that were depressing and heartening...depending on how you want to look at it. Those of you looking for gender parity? It's coming. Apparently, violence among girls is up about 6.5%, and violence among boys is down about 16%. You folks know that I see males and females as having identical spirits, expressed through different physical and social roles. As women push harder to have full representation in the specific arenas in which men have dominated, guess what? They're going to become more like men.

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And girls wanting better sports performance will take male hormones, and men coveting the joys of womanhood will have sex-change operations, hormone treatments, and so forth. Success in any arena is based upon actions, actions are based upon motivations, motivations based on goals, values, beliefs, and positive/negative emotional anchors. While prejudice against women by men (and against men by women) is absolutely a factor in representation in the executive suite, there is another factor that can only be ignored at your peril.

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Women, according to both men AND women, are different from men--biologically, emotionally, and to a smaller degree, mentally (different functioning, not "lesser"). Well, you know what? You can't be different and get the same results. You can get comparable results. You can get BETTER results. But you can't get the SAME results. But if you aim at the same goal, you become the same thing as the others pursuing that goal.

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So...as human physiology, sociology, and psychology become more plastic, and "equality" is held up as the ultimate goal--even if core biological function is different--then those parallel lines are going to converge. What then?

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I don't know, and I'm no longer certain I'm not going to live to see it. Listening to countless women and men speaking of their hopes and dreams over the years, it was obvious to me that even among the most intelligent and fiercely energetic and self-expressive, there were differences, REAL differences. We're heading toward parallax. Attitudes toward birth control, gender reassignment, gay marriage, women in the workplace and military...in no way do I see men and women getting further apart.

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Not sure what to think about it, but it's not up to me, is it? I think we'll work it all out, in time. I trust us as a species. And one of the things that I take grim satisfaction in is that many of the "male" negative traits (violence, self-destructiveness, etc.) are about to be revealed as functions of social and biological roles, the ugly side of very positive traits.

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Nature decided on sexual dimorphism. Arguably, our diminishing of these inbred traits might also be considered "natural"--that is, an expression of a higher level of Maslow's Hierarchy (Self-expression) that was inevitable as soon as survival needs were handled. We may be closing a circle.

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And...maybe that's not just inevitable. Maybe it's almost perfect. We'll have genetically female men, and genetically male women, and everything in-between. Wow. Is this good? Bad? Am I off my rocker?

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Personally, I think we are far far more than our biological function, or our social function. I will not tell a law-abiding human being that he or she should not become anything he/she wants. I would be uncomfortable if my son wanted to reassign his sex. Less so if he turned out to be gay (I try not to flinch when he tells me he's a princess...) but I'd sure as hell get over it. That's MY shit, not his.

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We are biologically set to produce lotsa children, and live as long as we can, and that means expansion and dominating the environment. I personally think we are smart enough to turn ourselves into a geological force. We can't permanently hurt this planet, but we CAN render it uninhabitable for humans. We have to control those basic drives, and stop the tendency to believe that the rules and laws of a culture that dominates or destroys another must be superior. But it makes SENSE to think that, even if it is ultimately wrong. We imitate the behaviors (and appearance) of our conquerers (note the Japanese bleaching their hair, getting boob jobs and plastic surgery for their eyes after WW2. Note black people trying to lighten their skin and straighten their hair.) because it absolutely works on the level of our basic chakras...we and our children are more likely to survive.

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But what do we lose? Hey, I'm a boomer. Some of my perceptions are frozen, locked into neurological patterns that set like concrete by the time of puberty. I can see the future, even if at a gut level I cringe at times. And I have faith. This is part of the sense that one generation often has that the next generation is stupid, venal, immoral, etc--the older generation's expectations are being violated.

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Take a deep breath. What a fascinating time to be alive.

#

The question of why do 90% of black people vote for Obama is a valid one. Are blacks more racist than whites? I can only put my own perspective to the test.

1) No, they're not. Human beings are all about 10% racist.

2) All things considered, Blacks should be a good deal more racist than they are. There has been a gigantic amount of brainwashing and conditioning involved here--when the God you worship, the money you spend, the heroes you are told to admire, and almost all the power figures in your world are presented as white, it's kinda hard to work up the kind of mad you'd feel if all these people/images were black.

3) Human beings under pressure become more inflexible and more tribal and hierarchical. Right after 9/11 America became frighteningly Either/Or. Very two-dimensional, and if our allies disagreed with us, there was no room for nuance: you were "with us or with the terrorists." That is 100% natural, and I'd suggest that , throughout most of history, any culture that didn't react a bit like that is probably going to be exterminated by those those that did. When you see people behaving in a bigoted, tribal, prejudiced or homogenized fashion, ask what pressures might be on them that are not on the comparison group.

3) Blacks voted 90% for Obama for the same reasons that, historically, they vote 90% Democrat. They tend to vote as a bloc because that is the way the culture has treated them. Slavery was not applied differentially. Nor was Jim Crow. Nor Segregation. Nor exclusion from media. These things applied to blacks virtually independent of ideology, intelligence, philosophy, height, age, weight, gender, whatever. For about 350 years this was true. It only started breaking down a generation or two ago. That means almost every black person in this country (descended from slaves) was raised by someone with intimate, painful personal experience of this stuff. The "a single stick can be easily broken, but a bundle is strong" philosophy doesn't create this--it is an expression of it. It is an abstract philosophy based upon a genetically programmed predisposition for herd behavior, present in all human beings and increasing under pressure.

4) The good news--as more blacks get middle-class roots, and have been middle-class for generations--you will see more of them choosing Conservative politics. In general, it seems to me that Conservativism is kind of a "things are good now, why change them?" or "Things were better in the past--let's reclaim our greatness" position, where as Liberalism or Progressivism says "things can be better. Let's change." My guess? A disproportionate number of black Republicans/conservatives have been middle-class for generations. In a very real way, an increase in black Republicans will be a good sign--it will mean that the playing field is leveling, and that black children are sitting on the laps of grandparents who not only believe in the American dream, but have experienced it.

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5) I have to admit to being a bit uncomfortable with Conservatives who think Conservative policies are better for black people, or that there is less racism on the Right than the Left (it's natural, of course. Everyone wants to believe that all good things are in THEIR corner). Not as an abstract, but in certain specific implications. The "black people are being duped" thing makes me nervous. Are we being duped disproportionately to the way, say, white Liberals/Democrats are being duped? If so, why? I don't know about you, but there is a term for people who are consistently duped. Who don't look after their own interests. Who don't know what's good for them. They're called ignorant. Stupid. Childlike. If blacks are as smart as whites, why exactly are they less aware of what is good for them? I hear a lot of verbal fumbling about with this one, and it makes the warning light go off in the back of my head. It honestly makes me suspect that this is all being filtered through a set of mildly racist assumptions.

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But then, I don't believe that either Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Progressive are superior. I think that they look better to different people depending on resources, social position, etc. An ideologue would be very different about this, of course--they would think that the other side is actually "wrong." No problem with that. But there's that pesky question about why blacks vote so overwhelmingly Democratic. If voting Republican is smarter, and blacks vote Democrat disproportionately to whites, then...

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Frankly, I'm know that SOME of you can work that one out so that it isn't straight-out racist in implications. But I've heard a hell of a lot of stammering, guys. And stammering is one of the things that sets off lie detectors. I would have had MUCH more tendency to lean Conservative if I hadn't run into so much of this. There were simply too many people who believed the Bell Curve, who considered the differential crime rates evidence of intrinsic flaws, who, from my perspective, blamed the victim while spending the loot.

##

And actually, part of the reason I bring this up is that I've heard many, many Republicans agonize over how to bring more blacks into their ranks. Fine! This is good! But the problem is that they tend to think that the fact blacks aren't attracted to Conservatism is a matter of ignorance, being brainwashed and duped, etc. It's OUR problem for not seeing how wonderful they are. The problem is never, ever, them. I think that they could actually grab a MUCH larger chunk of the black vote if they did a bit more soul-searching. Eventually, it will probably happen. Should happen. I WANT it to happen--because of what it implies about social progress in America.

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The natural human tendency is not to say: "this is how I see it" but "this is how it is." Not "I see it this way, you see it that way, how is this dualistic perception created?" but "You are wrong, and bad, and less than me."

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If you want to attract more black voters, listen to what they are saying. I honestly wish you luck.

Satan Was A Lady? Naw.

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The Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law allowing execution for the rape of a child. I have to agree--but not necessarily on the "proportional damages" argument, although I can grasp that as well. I jsut think that if you have the death penalty for rape, you remove motivation for the rapist to allow his victim to live. Not a good idea.

#

I am willing to take another look at the school voucher issue...I realized that when I thought back to the first opinions I heard on the subject, they were given by teachers, and unfortunately, these particular teachers were not what I would call courageous. I could believe that they might place their own jobs above the welfare of their students. It's possible. I have to wipe my slate clean and look at it again. Just spoke to neighbors who are educators...and excellent...and they are in favor of vouchers, and believe that they would force the public school system to change in a positive way. These are truly excellent people, and I trust 'em.

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So...a little re-thinking is called for. If it could lead to the identification of the 5% best teachers and teaching systems, so that their processes can be modeled and passed along and those teachers can be rewarded...I'm all for it.

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Wow. Who would have guessed that working out for twenty hours in 110 degree heat would trash me for three days? Who? Oh. All of you? Ah, well. Still sore, but quite happy. Odd little shift in my POV, though. I mentioned to a neighbor's boyfriend that I'd been at the workshop, and he starts telling me about his martial arts background. Seems he earned a 7th Degree Black Belt in kenpo in twelve years. Or eight years. I'm a bit confused...his story changed a bit. He doesn't remember the names of any of his teachers. Right. I'm always polite, even when I doubt a story, but I actually heard a voice in my head saying: "Really? Well, we'll just have to see about that, won't we?" Not today, not tomorrow, but I suspect that in the next few weeks somebody's heart is going to get a little broken. Strange. That's not my personality. Just spending too much time around knuckle-draggers.

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The last few days I've been watching movies as I do the gut-grindingly boring work of comparing a copyedited manuscript with the correct computer draft. Feh. Watched "A Man Called Horse" yesterday. Enjoy it mightily. Holds up pretty damned well. A film that earns its "R" rating with one scene--otherwise it's a Disney movie. But I also watched the Bogart "Maltese Falcon" as well as a version from 1931 (Pre-Hayes Code) that was actually pretty good, and one from 1936 (with Bette Davis) called "Satan Was A Lady" (I think that's called giving the secret away in the title) that was jsut unwatchable. The 1931 version SEETHED with sex, I kid you not. And the strange thing is that the "Joel Cairo" character so memorably played by Peter Lorre was almost exactly the same. I can only figure Lorre studied the earlier film. And the version is actually somewhat sadder, and I believe Sam Spade cared more about the ultimate outcome. A coda in a woman's prison is actually touching, and not at all "the stuff that dreams are made of."

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The question for the day is: What is your favorite mystery film of all time?

Optimist Club

Frank said:

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"If Smith can't get laid, Obama can't get elected."

Hey wait. You said if Smith can get laid a "Black" man can get elected.

Obama won't lose because he is Black, he'll lose because he's not ready for prime time: Because he's too Liberal.

But I wonder: if Colin Powell or Mike Steele ran for President, would he get the same support from Blacks as Obama is getting?"

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Not that it matters, but I do believe I DID mention Obama by name. If he doesn't get elected, and 10% of the country says they wouldn't vote for a black man, how exactly does that equate to he "won't lose because he's black"? It would seem to me that not factoring that in is an odd kind of unearned certainty.

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Lt. Governor Mike Steele? I have no idea how black people would react to him...never heard him speak, don't know his positions, and don't know much about him. Black folks loved Colin Powell. A little less since his testimony before Congress, but I remember Janet Jackson pointing him out at a concert, and the crowd went NUTS. Black people don't just love Obama because he's black. They backed him at the rate of 90%, but then they vote DEMOCRAT by the exact same percentage. He is touching something in them that no national political figure ever has, and it ain't just Melanin. They love him and then they love the fact that the man they love is black...there is literally a bit of a daze about it, and trust me, they didn't react that way to any other black politician I've ever seen. Since he is lighter skinned than many, many other black politicians who got much less enthusiasm, the idea that blacks are flocking to him BECAUSE he's black is only sustainable if one deletes important data.

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And Frank, regarding your belief that Obama will lose...soldier on, Dude! This wouldn't be fun if the Republicans just laid down and died. You are SUCH an optimist. I genuinely admire that.

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By the way...I've seen lots of stats about what percentage of white democratic voters in different states said, during the primaries, that they wouldn't vote for a black man (10-20%). And I've seen stats on the percentage of white Americans across the board who say they would cast their vote based on melanin. But I wondered if anyone broke those stats down based on political party. Anyone have a link to a set of stats comparing Republicans and Democrats on this rather thorny issue?

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Ever lick a battery? I get that taste in the back of my mouth when I'm overtrained. And I woke up this morning tastin' Duracell. So...no Gama Casts today. But it looks as if I'm going to take a week later this year to go back and train with Sijo Mohammad. Can't wait. I've always had a bit of a guilt-trip about my inability to emotionally handle his school back in the old days. This is a golden opportunity.

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Interestingly, both Sijo and Cliff Stewart think that there is no problem reconciling Kenpo and Silat. My instinct tells me that's true at all. But I've had folks who are less advanced in both arts say that they cannot be. Interesting...to folks still working their way up the mountain, the paths look very different. But to those sitting at the top, it all looks very much alike. I think a lot of life is like that, actually. The war betwixt Left and Right generally strikes me as children squealing that Heads is better than Tails.

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Today is a fasting day. I'm still experimenting with eating fresh fruits and vegetables (ONLY) on these days. So far, so good. Seem to be able to quash the hunger pangs, but still feel "empty" at the end of the day. I don't know what I.F. effects are or are not being triggered thereby, but all things considered, it seems like a damned fine compromise.

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One of my dear friends is headed to Iraq for a year. While he won't be with the combat troops, he is definitely there protecting American interests, and there are still obvious risks. Your prayers and good thoughts are appreciated.

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We've got a real cluster#$% with a copyedited manuscript that just came back: the copy editor was working 80% on the wrong version. And then they want a 48 hour turn-around. And Tananarive is out of town, so we have to talk over the phone...what fun. Oh. And the housekeeper didn't show up, and didn't call, so the house is a disaster. Oh, well...

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I heard McCain calling Obama "Dr. No" supposedly because he keeps saying "No" to energy policy. Interesting. Anyone actually familiar with the character will see some other rather unfortunate implications (Dr. No is of mixed blood, German and Chinese) and anyone who read the book will see more (pretty racist stuff). My guess is that it's legitimate to play innocent on this stuff--but just watch. You'll see stuff from the Obama camp that "accidentally" references McCain's age ("confused" "a half-century of service") just as often as McCain's "accidentally" references race. I hate politics. There's only one thing it's preferable to, and that's open war. Sort of like lawyers are preferable to hitting people in the head with bats. But not by that much.

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I may have contacted WorldCon too late to get on programming. That sucks. I'll have to come up with some other way of contacting friends and fans while I'm in Denver. Hope I don't miss anyone!

RIP George Carlin

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I like John McCain's idea of a national science contest for energy efficient cars, and high-capacity batteries. Not sure that that's the exact right pressure point, but it's a good move. Can't help but think that if we'd gotten seriously started on Solar when Jimmy Carter was in office, we'd be in a far better place now. But one thing about rising gas prices: eventually, the price will get high enough to make alternative fuels cheap in comparison. Then, the petroleum companies will be in trouble.

But we'll never run out of oil. The last barrels simply will be too expensive to bother pumping from the ground.

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I personally think it will be electricity and liquid hydrogen, generated from a dozen different sources (geothermal, petrochemical, nuclear, coal, tidal, thermal differential, solar, etc.) and converted to hydrogen or kilowatts. Swarm the problem, with individuals putting up solar panels and selling back to the grid. Love to think that the energy monopoly could be broken.

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Hear about the rising obesity stats in Japan and China? Lifestyle shifts are a bitch. Environment combined with the genetic propensity to store calories against a rainy day equals an expanding waistline. They'll deal with it. They'd better, or they'll miss their chance to be at the top of the heap.

One reason I'm looking more deeply into the Tibetans is that they seem to be a GREAT way for the sedentary to bump up their metabolism in the morning. We all know that the same amount of exercise will accomplish more, weight-wise, done early in the day, right? But the same people who watch 20 hours of TV a week supposedly don't have fifteen minutes a day to exercise. What a bad, bad joke. On ourselves, and our children.

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If you are VERY lucky, your children will model your good habits. You have virtually no chance of getting your kids to do as you say if that is very different from what you do. I think that most people's deepest disappointment in child-rearing is that they can't hide their flaws from their kids, and that too often the little angels begin to manifest our flaws in uncomfortable ways. This is a LOT like what happens in relationships, when we don't like the quality of the men or women who are attracted to us...without being able to admit that they mirror our own flaws.

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Anyone who doesn't have ten minutes a day to connect with their bodies is body-phobic, and needs to address the issue directly, not lie to themselves with an avalanche of excuses. Your children are watching, people. Childhood obesity turns into adult obesity. People are dying. It's not your fault, but it is your responsibility.

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Every time you exercise, you should be working on something just a little different: hand positions, warming up different muscle groups, differential tension...once you enter the internal world, there is literally no end. Anyone who says exercise is boring has never found a way to connect with what's really going on in there. We're never the same on any two days, and the purpose of a Good Morning stretch, meditation, or exercise is to re-discover ourselves.

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Hey Frank! McCain's got a chance! I recently read a script review of "Tonight, He Comes", which is the original title for Will Smith's "Hancock." And while there seems to be some kind of off-screen "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" reference to a superhero's inability to connect sexually with women, there is only a platonic romance going on. I can see why Big Willie was attracted to the project. If Smith can't get laid, Obama can't get elected...

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I hear they did lotsa re-shoots on the project, and there are buzzes that it may not be good. You know my thought: it's like Peter Parker said in the first Spider-man: "This story, like any good story, is about a girl." The energy of love and sexuality is at the core of 99% of the great stories of all time. Removing that element leaves the artists floundering trying to fill the hole.

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So...I guess it's over. The dream of the first black President is over. Sob.

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I've got 48 hours to get the copyedited manuscript to "In the Night of the Heat" back to the publishers. T and I are already working on the outline of the third one, "From Soweto With Love" which deals with the kidnapping of a celebrity adoptee. And the fourth, "Absence of Alice" will deal with the possible murder of Tennyson's first love. The fun thing on both of them is that I'll start integrating some of the info on the Intelligence community I've been fortunate enough to gather over the years, due to my...call them "associations." I'd love to create a Bourne-type franchise.

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Did I say that I know the guy who choreographed the last "Bourne" movie? Jeff Imada was a quiet, laid-back almost surfer-dude type guy at the Kali academy back in the 80's. He was a good friend of Danny Inosanto (probably the most knowledgeable martial artist I've ever met. Or heard of. With an astounding memory. I hadn't seen him in 20 years, and heard he was teaching a workshop in Portland. I walked into the room, and he was teaching some complex stick applications. He turned around, and the instant his eyes focused on me, he said: "Hi, Steve!" Guy's had thousands of students. What kind of mind is that?)

Anyway, I never really saw Jeff "go for it" until one day we were doing an exercise where two fighters stood on opposite ends of a narrow strip. Danny threw two knives into the center, and each fighter scrambled to get one, and the fight was on. Well, on this day, Danny threw two knives--and Jeff's opponent got BOTH of them. Well, for an instant, Jeff turned it on. He was literally a blur of arms and legs, flat on his back, attacking his opponent's base. It looked like dropping a cucumber into a blender. Amazing. Then, he went right back to Surfer-Dude mode. He's a very nice guy with a sophisticated nervous system. About half the time you see a close-up of someone opening a butterfly knife, that's Jeff making the mortgage.

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I remember when Bush entered office, I looked at all the oil connections, and thought that this was going to have an effect on gas prices. I wondered what that effect would be. Well, I guess now we know. If you looked at the people one step removed from Bush and Cheney, between the rise in oil prices and the war in Iraq, I wonder how much money has been transferred to their hands? Between actual oil and the oil infrastructure, sales and speculation, and all of the privatized support in Iraq as well as weapons sales...just how much money are we talking about? I would LOVE to see an estimation, and my guess is that the total would be utterly nauseating. Correlation doesn't establish causality, of course...

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Meditation this morning definitely suggested internal confusion. Let me try to explain. Look at the Chakras, as a vertical string of vortices. I can look at them for clarity, and see schumutz. Then I can float up above my head and look down the channel. From this position it look like a series of concentric rings, like an archery target. Or like the rings on a tree trunk. I can look at it as all the ages of Steve I've ever been, and every one of them is still there.

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That's what George Carlin (RIP--a good man.) said in one of his last interviews--that every George he's ever been: 66, 50, 40 and 3 (especially 3, he said) is still inside him. When you can line up all of your "selves" so that they are congruent, there is a gigantic amount of energy released. Your goals should, to paraphrase Uncle Harlan, be adult expressions of your childhood dreams. When your goals, values, and emotional charges all pull in the same direction, it's gold, sheer gold. And most people will wonder where in the HELL you get your energy from.

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Then I rotate the chakra string so that it is laid out like a pipe, similar to Tad James' Time Line. This represents temporal reality. My major goals are represented with images or sensory packages. Can I clearly see what I hope to attain? Or hear the congratulations? Or feel the positive sensations that will come from accomplishing it? Can I feel my own emotions, and see if they support the thousands of daily choices that lead you toward or away from my bliss? And when I look at the intertwined life path and see if I believe that the attainment of these goals will be good for me, my family, the world.

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These are all "complex equivilences", ways of getting my subconscious to reflect a gigantic amount of data and speculation in a form I can access visually or kinesthetically. What it tells me right now is that I am in major transition. And there are small, quiet voices that assure me all is well, that I'm going in the right direction, and that my faith in myself, my companions, and God is justified. I can live with that.

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My question for the day is: What was your favorite line by George Carlin?

Great Weekend

My air conditioning is out, Tananarive is gone for a week, and Jason was a screaming fury this morning 'cause I wouldn't let him wear his wheelie shoes to preschool. I am also bone-deep tired. And...I'm REALLY happy. This was a great weekend.

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Cliff Stewart conducted his annual "Camp of the Masters" event, where some of his extremely high-level friends: Dennis Newsome (Capoeira and Jailhouse Rock), Kalindi (African martial arts), Graciela Cassilas (Filipino knife and stick, kickboxing--Graciela is arguably the world's premier female martial artist), Ron Chapel (Kenpo...but like you've never seen it before), and grandmaster Steve Mohammad (my first real karate instructor. Almost seventy years old and absolutely magnificent) all came together for a three-day butt-kicking extravaganza. The heat in the valley was about 110 degrees, but we bucked up and handled it.

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And one of the most fun things was that Wesley Snipes was there. Thank God for expensive lawyers, eh? He might be able to get extensions and continuances on his sentence for a decade, or until they can work out a deal.

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Anyway, I not only had a chance to observe him, but on Sunday (finally!) I had a chance to work out with him. A lot. Some observations:

1) There were several very long-time martial artists in the workshop. Some with third-degree black belts and higher. Wesley moved with similar authority.

2) His balance and fluidity of movement were excellent. Energy management--excellent. Very self-contained. Gracious, but really just wanted to be treated like another guy working out.

3) He is creative in flow. Adapts well. His mat navigation skills were excellent---when thrown, he rolls and flows out of it like someone with a LOT of hard, precise training under his belt.

4) Fast and strong. This guy has obviously worked for many years with a variety of VERY high-level instructors. This is one very educated nervous system.

5) And ya'll are wondering--what was it actually like to work with him? We didn't spar, but we did improvise together. We worked knife, stick, and empty hands, and threw each other around the mat with great gusto. At the level we were playing, we could deal with each other's improvisations, and had great fun.

6) Overall? I'd say we're looking at a natural athlete with an extensive dancing background who has had the wealth, leisure time and motivation to hire the very best instructors in the country if not the world, as well as spend countless hours with professional stuntmen working on his films. I know he has spent lotsa time with Sijo Grandmaster Mohammad--"crossing hands with Pops" (I asked Wes about this years ago and he said that Sijo (which means "creator of his own legitimate system) had taken his game to a whole different level. The man is for real, a martial artist who can spontaneously pull from about a dozen different arts, under stress. He has VERY serious focus (in some ways he didn't loosen up until the last day) and it was just too damn much fun.

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My only complaint: for reasons I'm not quite sure of, the instructors LOVED to demonstrate on me. God, I'm sore. And happy.

Mommy Pact

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Heard about the 17 girls who got pregnant, half of them having made a pact to help raise each other's kids? Apparently, it's a combination of economic depression and a wish to have "someone love them unconditionally." I hope they support each other, really. I hope that somewhere along the way those kids get fathers. I wish that they had made a pact to support each other through college instead.

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I am ridiculously glad that Obama opted out of the public financing system. Watching the 527s attack Kerry, and Bush wait until the damage was done before speaking up while pretending to keep his hands clean made me sick to my stomach. As the Jews are so fond of saying: Never Again. If there is a cultural war going on, we're at a point where we simply must win. Let the Dems have the White House for eight or twelve years...then the Republicans can have a turn again. Or maybe there'll be a Libertarian candidate who can make me believe he's got a plan. I'm listening.

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Libertarians out there, by the way...may I politely ask how you would have dealt with the horrendous events that triggered the American Civil Rights movement? Are you saying that the Federal Government shouldn't have interceded when murder was unpunished? Or are you saying that Libertarianism is a form of government that must be evolved into?

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Frankly, one of the most disturbing things I have heard white Conservatives with Libertarian leanings say (and I've heard it many times) is that blacks should have just left the south. I must tell you that that strikes me as a lack of basic human empathy. If a woman has no money to pay a private police force to catch her rapist, he should get away with it? If your house is burning and you have no Fire insurance, the fire department should not help? I want to be very clear about these things, because that's the way it sounds. And frankly, I don't believe you can build a society like that.

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But if you say: "It wouldn't have worked back then, but we've reached a point where it could..." you've definitely got more of my attention. I know some VERY smart, nice people who have Libertarian leanings. I am frankly confused by this aspect of the entire philosophy.

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I don't need much in the way of social services. I've never been on welfare, was on unemployment once, in my early twenties, can afford my own health care and life insurance, and so on. But I believe the world works best when we care about each other most. Enlightened selfishness is a great engine for a society. But not caring about our children, letting them grow up thinking that society cares not a shit about them...I fear that is a recipe for disaster, culturally.

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Anyone else think it's folly to privatize the prison system? Where in the living hell is their motivation to drop the recidivism rate? From a business perspective, the smartest thing they can do is produce professional criminals. In fact, it would be irresponsible to their stock holders not to create a revolving door. The cornerstone of any business is repeat customers.

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ﾠIf you look at the Tibetans as abdominal exercises a new dimension opens up. Each movement engages the abs (all breathing does) but it's possible to take it to another level entirely. The second Tibetan can be turned into a vicious hip-up (aiming your toes directly at the ceiling and lifting with controlled breathing.) #3 then stretches the abs out. #4 works the balance between abs and back. #5...well, if you graduate to Hindu Pushups, and can do 21 of them immediately after doing 21 reps of 1-4, you have strong abs--you have to in order to stabilize the midsection.

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I've yet to notice a down-side to integrating fresh fruits and vegetables on my Fasting days. Energy is good, I can take the edge off the hunger with half an apple or banana, or carrot sticks. Oddly, I find that on eating days I'm craving even more green stuff. Interesting.

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This weekend, Cliff Stewart is hosting his "Camp of the Masters" symposium. Graciela Casillas, one of the first women kick-boxers, will be teaching knife fighting there. Graciela was a gorgeous young thing down at the Kali Academy in the 80's--guys were intimidated as hell by her. She could kick BUTT, let me tell you. Now she's a mommy now, not one whit less gorgeous, and even more deadly.

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Not sure what it is, but brilliant, competent, dangerous women just push all my buttons. Graciela did a Playboy spread back then, part of an article called "girls who can kick your ass." Wow. Fantasy fodder for years.

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I wonder what that's about? I can't begin to tell you how comforting it is to have Tananarive in my life--to create plot designs that I can be perfectly confident that she can execute in first draft. We have a joke: I'm the (plot) Wizard, and she's the (draft) Executioner.

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I think being raised by a single mother did that. Relying upon her for my survival meant...well, just that. I grew up knowing that women were strong, and smart, and loving. But the specific attraction to hyper-competance...I'm not sure. I remember when I met T, and thought she was nice, and smart, and cute...but I wasn't particularly attracted. It was as if I kept her behind glass, just a bit. I wanted to be of help to her as a big brother. Only after hearing how she got Steven King to give her a blurb did I realize just how damned smart she was--and then, it was as if my eyes opened, and I saw her. Damn, what a moment THAT was.

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Speaking of attraction, T was mentioning to me that my niece, Sharleen, has a slammin' little body. Yeah, it's true, but her pointing it out caused a momentary blip--it's like my brain knows it, and doesn't know it at the same time. Strange. It's as if a certain number of templates have to overlap: intelligence, facial characteristics, body type, values and goals.. in order for me to register "attractive". My initial bond to T was definitely influenced by her fitness and body-type. Could she have been the same person, in a different body? Very difficult, unless she had a physical problem that prevented her from dancing and exercising. But would I have fallen in love with her? Not the way I did, no. We would have to have been neighbors, or gone to school together, or worked together, to allow attraction to grow over time.

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And how much different could she have been, and still touched my heart? I really don't know.

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Over the last year, I've heard several different comments, always from women, suggesting that men are attracted to women who will impress other men. While I think this is an element, I think that these women are actually saying something about how THEY pick THEIR partners. Guys are physically attracted to what makes their hind-brain stand up and bark, and I don't think their tastes would change that much if they were on a deserted island (assuming they didn't need a partner with specific survival skills). We didn't ask to be so turned on by smooth skin, hourglass figures and so forth. And once you're in the bedroom with the lights out, physical characteristics aren't as important. But we really, really like to be turned on by the LOOK of our partner. And it ain't about women. Gay men seem to have a similar ethic--look at the physical beauty in the gay community. Gay guys take better care of themselves physically than straight guys (on the average). So it isn't that men want unreasonable standards of beauty from women. They want it from their sexual partners. Guys who like sheep probably like really pretty sheep. Nothing personal, ladies.