the skinny-dipping congressman

A congressman from Kansas—Kevin Yoder—

Yep, I am "that guy"!

—while on a recent, privately funded, congressional “fact-finding” trip (whatever that means) went skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee.

That's right, the one that's in the Bible.

He was one of several members of Congress, their staff &/or family members who went in for a swim after diner and drinks. But apparently he was the only one to go naked.  

Well...okay. So what?

Yoder later made a statement to Politico.com:

“It is my greatest honor to represent the people of Kansas in Congress and [for] any embarrassment I have caused for my colleagues and constituents, I apologize.” (politico.com)

Wow. Really? This man did what, in that moment, probably seemed like a natural sort of thing. Why in the world is this an issue? Why should anyone need to apologize for this?

Apparently he and the others in the group were “rebuked” by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia).

Grr...Eric Cantor not happy.

Ya know, unless there’s a whole lot more that’s not being told in the news reports (and why is this even news-worthy?), then this is ridiculous nonsense. Maybe some prudish, uptight people would find Congressman Yoder’s behavior to be upsetting. But I simply do not see how skinny-dipping has any impact on his ability to do his job.

The world is clearly fucked up.

Fun at airports (2)

This man, John Brennan

(not to be confused with John O. Brennan, the chief counterterrorism advisor to President Obama), was arrested this spring after he stripped at an airport.

In frustration over the increasingly invasive security procedures, he took off all his clothes at the Portland International Airport.

Last week he went to court. His defense was that his nakedness was a protest and, as such, was a type of legally protected free speech. Apparently the judge agreed. He was found not guilty of indecent exposure. 

I say this: if they just went ahead and had everybody strip naked and ride airplanes naked, maybe they wouldn’t worry so much about concealed weapons.

NPR article

Michigan Vagina 2 (update)

So, if you don’t know about the recent “Vagina” controversy in Michigan, just google it, or see my post from a few days ago. 

So here’s what’s new:

Last night a reading of The Vagina Monologues took place on the steps of the Michigan Statehouse. Performers included several female Democratic  state lawmakers and Eve Ensler (author of The Vagina Monologues).

Michigan State Rep. Lisa Brown

Eve Ensler

Huffington Post article 

I said it then, and I still say it now: Vagina, vagina, vagina!

Or, to misquote Patrick Henry, “Give me vagina, or give me death!”

Michigan Vagina

So, Michigan State Representative Lisa Brown

has been banned indefinitely from the floor of the Michigan House of Representatives, for using her word “vagina” during a debate on an abortion bill.

At least, that’s what everybody’s saying. Apparently, the reason wasn’t specified.  

Another Representative—Barb Byrum—was also banned, for trying to speak out of turn, which is a violation of the rules, but rarely results in being banned.

Now, concerning Representative Brown’s banning, I’m sure it’s quite possible that it was simply her use of the word “vagina”. But it might also be more her attitude when using the word. She said, “I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but no means no.”

I feel, after listening to her, that the tone changed there at the end with what seemed perhaps a mildly incendiary comment.

That’s not to say she should be banned for it. I’m sure plenty of other things that I’d find offensive have been said on that and other legislative floors.  

Anyway...if, in fact, she was banned for using the word “vagina” because the Michigan House Speaker felt it was inappropriate...well, that’s absolutely ridiculous.  

And here’s why I’m writing about it in my naked blog.

I think, and have said many times before, that if people were generally more comfortable with their bodies and others’ bodies, it would likely be part of a more general openness and comfortability in dealing with topics like sex, or perhaps scary words like “vagina”.

Vagina, vagina, vagina.

Come on, Michigan—you need to get comfortable with vaginas.

I’d certainly like to.

(Hey, just puttin' it out there, ya know?)

politico.com article

On Amendment One

I am taking a day off from the nakedness of my naked blog to post about North Carolina Amendment One. I mean, I’m naked while I write this, and I assume I’ll be naked much or all of the day. But, this isn’t my typical “naked blog” blog. Mainly, I’m posting this here because I know that MANY more people view this blog than my other “PG-13” blog.

So, Amendment 1 in North Carolina passed yesterday.

If you don’t know, it’s an amendment to the state constitution which says “that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.”

One major result of this amendment being passed is that if or when “gay marriage” is recognized in the state, it will be harder to get it passed. “Gay marriage” was already illegal here, but now that it’s part of the constitution, the process to change the law is more difficult. But another concern of opponents is the impact on non-married heterosexual couples. Similarly worded laws have been used in other states to deny legal protection in cases of domestic abuse when the individuals involved are not married, etc.

I’ve seen it said in several places that the timing of this amendment is an issue, and that its backers did this on purpose—putting the amendment on the primary ballot, when turnout is generally low.  

For many potential voters, apathy is an issue. Unless you’re particularly interested in some race or the amendment, it just may not seem that important.

Apparently it was a high (possibly record) turnout for a Primary election. Presidential election turnout is perhaps twice that of Primaries.

Amendment 1

For: 1,303,952 (61.05%   )

Against: 831,788 (38.95%)            

Registered voters: 6,296,759

Ballots cast: 2,164,074 (2,135,740 voting on the amendment)

That’s 34.37 % of registered voters who cast a ballots, and 33.92% of registered voters cast a vote on the Amendment issue. (from: results.enr.clarityelections.com)

Well...

Last night and this morning I’ve read many facebook statuses expressing sadness, anger, hurt feelings, etc.

I don’t happen to feel that way. It went down pretty-much as I expected it to.

I think that those against the amendment were very vocal. That was certainly my experience.

I would say that the vast majority of my friends and friendly acquaintances are liberals or social moderates. Also they are mostly educated. I’m sure many would consider themselves religious—Christians mainly, but again, moderate or liberal in their views.

Most of the people that I know, I know from “the arts”. They’re either currently or have been in the past involved somehow with theatre or music or dance or perhaps visual arts or writing. That’s what I do, so that’s who I know.

I think I have 1 for sure, possibly 2, facebook friends who expressed their position for the amendment. Most who mentioned it were against.

In the city where I live there’s a lot of community theatre here, and a little bit of professional theatre. There’s a state university here and several colleges. This county is one of a small number that voted against the amendment. I did not see a single “vote for” sign here, but I saw plenty of “vote against”.

I’m sure there places where that wasn’t the case, and I’m sure there are social circles wherein people were openly for the amendment.

But I think there’s a much larger silent conservative population here in “the South” and perhaps in many other parts of the country. These are people who may put up a sign in support of a conservative candidate, but they aren’t going to go out of their way to tell you that they support intolerance.

There are tons of smaller towns full of folks who don’t know (or don’t know that they know) people who are different from themselves. So they think that everyone does, AND SHOULD, think and live the way they themselves do.

These may be “nice” people, “well-meaning”, or older people “from a different time”. Or maybe these are “devout” people: people who hold strongly conservative religious beliefs, and as everyone know, religion, faith, belief, “spirituality”, etc is “a personal thing”. So if someone’s social/political stance is based in their religion, we’re not supposed to criticize it.

Well, I say that is bullshit. That’s like sitting there mute, or laughing uncomfortably while grandpa complains about the “japs” or the “kikes” or the “niggers”. I’m sorry, but NO, that’s not acceptable. Neither is it acceptable to give people a “pass” on discrimination because their religion tells them to.

Fuck religion.

I know people have strong feelings about their faith, their need for there to be a god and a heaven and some happy, feel-good stuff with which they can comfort themselves and each other. I get it. We as individuals grew up with this nonsense of moral codes and laws, coupled with a powerful sense of guilt and hive-minded “appropriateness”. It’s a great way to discourage mass public outrage at the inequalities of our way of life—“opiate of the masses” indeed.

I also get that we “grew up” as a species—as humans—with religion, with a sense of wonder and awe at the unknown and a desire to have some kind of assurance about things we can’t explain. It’s a part of our genetic makeup, in the same way that artistic expressions and storytelling and a need for belonging to some community are inherently part of us.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t get over our ignorant, blind acceptance of what the preacher tells us.

Religions come and go, religions change, religions get abandoned. It happens. I just wish to (the lack of a) god that it would happen faster.

Sadly, most people are lemmings. And, despite how they may be viewed by most folks, all of our societal institutions—church, the state, schools—are at their core in the business of supporting and furthering that lemming-ness. They keep people doing what they’re “supposed” to do, while distracting them from questioning the validity of those institutions.

And that also goes for marriage. Oh yeah, it’s so pretty and nice and romantic and happy and it makes me cry. It’s the end of one of the great stories in our culture: out of all the people in the world, Mister & Miss Right find each other; Prince Charming rescues his princess, happily ever after.

Bullshit.

“Mother Culture” has such a tight hold on us that she doesn’t have to whisper in our ear that everything’s gonna be okay if we just “go with the flow”. No, she’s shouting it and throwing and throwing us all a huge party that we think will never, in fact can never, end. And meanwhile, we’re drunk on the cheap booze and laughing as we do the limbo, or fighting valiantly to get our turn at the karaoke machine, ‘cause everyone ought to get a turn that wants it, right? That’s only fair.

P’shaw. Stuff and nonsense. It’s time to leave the “party”.

Okay, I realize that nobody checks out this blog to hear me ranting about my non-naked politics.
And, since I AM a stickler, and this IS a naked blog, so here’s a picture. Happy?