Black Friday

Yesterday, in the throes of Black Friday insanity, I visited every web site in the world and bought everything I saw.  Every single thing!

Nah, just kidding. But I did get all my Xmas gifts. How about you? Did you succumb to the mania? C'mon, spit it out. Tell us what you bought.

(I can't  specify the gifts I bought because my giftees read this blog. But as a rank stranger to me, you can spill your guts and no one will ever know.)

Evil Timmy Dolan plays victim

Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the Catholic henchman who led the US Conference of Catholic Bishops during the years that it pilloried gay people and fought gay marriage everywhere, says he's the victim. Uh-huh.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan says the Catholic Church has been out-maneuvered and unfairly portrayed as “anti-gay” in the battle over same-sex marriage.

In an interview recorded for Sunday’s “Meet the Press" on NBC, Dolan said he regrets the “stampede” to legalize gay marriage, but that the Catholic Church is “not going to give up” in opposing such unions.

“I think maybe we’ve been out-marketed, sometimes. We’ve been caricatured as being anti-gay,” he said.

"Unfairly portrayed as 'anti-gay'"? Caricatured? Timmy is the leader of the vicious Catholic anti-gay movement in the United States, a movement that apparently isn't dead yet despite the pope's insistence that it should be. It's clear that when the pope said "Who am I to judge?" (in reference to gays) he didn't mean "The anti-gay pogrom must continue at all costs!" The pope doesn't want an anti-gay czar to exist within his church. Yet that's pretty much Dolan's job description.

Caricature, my ass. Timmy, you practically cried each time gay marriage won the day in a new state. You are anti-gay bigotry personified. You are the knife that cuts gay throats. You are the pillager, come to devastate gay families. You are the anti-gay Satan.

Go ahead, play the victim card. But know that we see you for who and what you are. You are ugliness and hatred and injustice. You are anathema. And if there is a god, you will spend all eternity in Hell. (But don't worry; hell's just a fairy tale.)

Craig Cobb, yet again

Since my last post about "part-black white supremacist" Craig Cobb (two posts below this one), he's back in the news. The man just can't quiet down and act normal. Now he's refusing to eat in jail. Something is clearly wrong with Craig Cobb's racist brain.

Since [being arrested for trotting around his neighborhood with guns and threatening people], Cobb has refused to eat, claiming he is engaging in an exercise in spiritual enlightenment that will culminate in his death. When jail personnel became concerned about his health, Cobb was taken to a clinic in Beulah, ND. The clinicians referred him to the state hospital. 

As we learned from his style of speaking (see earlier post), Cobb sees himself as high above the mortal terrain occupied by the rest of us low-lifes. What a tool.

Pretty cool kid

Remember Sasha Fleischman, the agender teen whose skirt was set on fire by a sociopathic teen on a bus? Well, he's (ze's?) pretty cool. I don't usually watch video of anything but I was intrigued to hear his take on the incident.

See what you think. As far as I can see, he's an admirable human being. I mean, imagine how you'd feel if someone set you on fire just because of who you are. This kid survived the ordeal with good grace.

(The story never uses a pronoun. He seems guy-ish so I went with "he". Something tells me he wouldn't mind.)

Ah, the schadenfreude!

Y'all remember Craig Cobb, the white supremacist who found out on live TV that his DNA is 14% "sub-Saharan African", right? And then there was the news about him parading around his neighborhood with guns after his house was tagged (probably by his racist pals) with the message: "BACK IN BLACK". That was great fun.

But I didn't know that he has an odd way of speaking. I happened upon a news article about him today. First of all, it comes with a great headline: "'Part-black' white supremacist alleged target of racist graffiti". I love that and hope it sticks with him for the rest of his life: part-black white supremacist Craig Cobb. I mean, really. The irony screams.

Anyway, he was asked about the, you know, running-around-with-guns thing and this is what he said:

Cobb reportedly texted the local Bismark Tribune that he pulled off the stunt ”because of the many violences [sic] and harassments against we and the children.”

I love all of that. But "against we and the children" is my favorite part. He must picture himself as a valiant character in a faded, old book. The bible, maybe. Seriously, how does someone become this deluded?

Carry on, Craig. I look forward to your next adventure. You and your pals -- you know, guys like George Zimmerman -- just can't live in normal society. You'll burst back into the headlines any day now. Can't wait!

What are you thankful for?

I'll start this off. I'm thankful for Dawn Dishwashing Liquid, top hats, computers, my friends and family, an algorithm named Dog, and the fact that I'm finally writing again.

The great thing about Thanksgiving is that people are thankful in a generic way. They don't seem to thank gods or demons or whatnot, though there are surely pockets of such stupidity. For the most part, it's just a feeling of gratitude. And that's how it should be. The fact that we're here, that we exist at all, is the most amazing coincidence of all.

So, me bloggies, what are you thankful for on this fine Thanksgiving day?

Finally: a good list-making app

I've tried a bunch of list apps that I got from the App Store, and they all sucked. They seemed to be designed for nincompoops. But yesterday I explored the App Store one last time, hoping to find something useful. And lo and behold, I discovered List Master. It's exactly what I was looking for.

Yes, I want to make shopping lists and to-do lists. But I also want to record my ideas for books and short stories. And most importantly, I want to have a list of the upcoming scenes I need to write for my novel. List Master does all these things well.

You can make your lists simple or intricate. If you're an anal-compulsive type who wants to list the cost of every item you plan to buy, what aisle it's on in the store, and you want the list to calculate a projected total for your purchases, you've got it. As for my own preferences, I don't need the complicated stuff. I just want to make simple, sensible lists that don't look like cartoons. (Seriously, you should see some of the list apps out there.)

In addition to the scene-listing capability, I like the fact that you can pump in every item you ever bought at a supermarket, and use this as a master shopping list. Then when you need to create a shopping list, you put a check next to the items you need, and List Master turns it into a shopping list that you can bring to the store. And best of all, if I make a list on my iPad, it synchs with my iPhone. It's perfect. (Have no fear; there's an Android version too.)

Very cool -- and only $8.99. That's the really great thing about apps: they don't cost a fortune. Anyway, I love this one. If you're a list maker, I think you'll love it too.