A Scatalogical Plea

I've been in many public restrooms and I've seen a number of different designs for restrooms and some, quite frankly, are depressing. Its as if the designer didn't understand etiquette.

As everyone knows, there is bathroom etiquette in a men's restroom.

1. Stare straight ahead at the urinal.
2. If there are no dividers, keep a space between you and the other man at the urinals. If this is not possible, use the stall or wait.
3. Flush! Men are supposedly bad at this but come on! It takes two seconds.

Now some comments. Some restrooms like to use urinals with lips that come out a foot. I really wish people would stop building those. How can I have a bit of privacy when I have to stand a foot away?

Some restrooms like to use automatic flush. This is really great, unless the mechanism doesn't work and there is no button to push or handle to use.

And some restrooms use johns that don't flush. Woohoo for water conversation and all, but you gotta make it drain somehow. I'm talking to you, Boston Aquarium.

Then there are faucets. Oh the fun faucets where you can only wash one hand at a time because the moment you take your hand off the push-handle, the water shuts off. Does a turn-handle waste water or something? Why would the push-handle even be desired?

And last, if you are the manager of a building with public restrooms, please, please, please, send someone in to wash it and replace toilet paper/paper towers/etc at least once an hour.

Oh and, air dryers blow.

J Kuhl Signing Off

A Message to Fred Phelps

"But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you," Lk 6:27-28

J Kuhl Signing Off

Modern Day Marie Antoinettes

"Let them eat cake," she said at the height of the French Revolution, a highly insulting phrase that exposes her naivete about the life of the poor. Living sheltered in a palace, the woman had no idea how terrible the lives of the poor were. She simply thought hey, give them cake and they'll be happy. She didn't understand that people were living on the streets.

And we see it again today as GM CEO's fly their private jets to Washington to demand money and John Thain of Merrill Lynch demands a 10 million dollar bonus.

These men have no clue.

GM CEO's flew to Washington DC a few weeks ago, on a private jet which cost them around $20,000 to fly and they had the audacity to ask for more money. They could have flown coach for around $200-500, about 1/50th of the cost of a private jet. They could have driven for about the same price. I was glad to see the Congress rebuke these CEO's and send them packing until they could come to Washington DC in a more fiscally conservative matter.

And just yesterday, John Thain of Merrill Lynch thought he was worthy of a ten million dollar bonus while people far below him are being laid off. He later withdrew his request for a bonus. In this economy, no one who is a member of a company that is asking for money from the government should be asking for a bonus. I don't care if Thain had single-handedly raised Merrill Lynch from its grave, when people are being laid off, that 10 million dollars is better used to pay the company expenses and perhaps even to try to retain jobs. Mr. Thain, you already have enough money to retire and live more comfortably than any middle-class American. Get the f**k out.

These people are Marie Antoinettes, rich, elite, jack-offs with no idea what the middle and lower classes are going through right now. They claim to want money and then they pull this crap?

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning," Col. Kilroy (Robert Duvall), Apocalypse Now.

J Kuhl Signing Off

The FIrst Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Right there in italics. Right wing christian fundies, please read it. Atheists have as much of a right to shove their beliefs down our throats as you do. So rather than making a big deal about the atheist sign in Olympia, suck it up and deal with it.

Either stop putting up nativity scenes or signs telling me I'm going to hell, or live with the fact that the opposing view points have a right to be heard. It isn't the right to free speech for Christians, it is the right to free speech for all Americans.

“It is interesting that our views are so threatening that they have to be stolen and stifled completely,” -Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation

J Kuhl Signing Off

A Man, A Boy and a Donkey

A man, a boy, and a donkey were headed down the road. They past a villager who stated "why isn't the lazy animal carrying anything?"

So the man got on the donkey while the boy walked. They continued for a few more miles and they passed a woman, a mother of three. She asked, "why is the lazy father riding the animal and making the child walk?"

So the man and the boy traded places. They passed an old man and the old man said "why is the lazy son riding the animal and making his old father walk?"

So the man got on the donkey. They continued for a few more miles and they came across a farmer who said "that poor animal, carrying two people at once! you should be ashamed."

So the man and the boy both got off the donkey, tied the animal's legs together and carried it. They came to a bridge that crossed a river. The bridge wasn't very sturdy, it was a rope bridge and because of this, the weight of the donkey and the shakiness of the bridge, caused them to loose balance and fall into the river.

The man looked at the boy and said, "my son, if you learn anything from this, its 'you can't please everyone.'"

This, I believe, is an old Aesop fable. And it came to mind after reading an article explaining how the Port of Seattle quickly took down some Christmas trees (source) to please a rabbi who wanted a menorah up. Ironically, the rabbi didn't care about the trees and isn't going to sue if they don't want to put up a menorah. In other words, it was a knee jerk reaction of the Port of Seattle trying to please everyone.

In related news, this time in Olympia, an atheist put up a sign next to a nativity scene. It read "At this season of the WINTER SOLSTICE may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven, no hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds." While I don't think the message was really necessary, I agree with his right to put it up, something that Christians begin to complain about. But this is the United States of America. Freedom of speech means that even opposing viewpoints get an equal opportunity to make its point. If this atheist isn't allowed to say "there is no god" on a sign then I want to see every church in America banned from telling me to turn to god with a sign. I'm sick of religious people interpreting Freedom of Speech as "Freedom of Speech So Long as Everyone Agrees With Me."

If someone is offended by an atheist sign, well that is too bad. I'm offended by your implication that I'm going to hell because I don't see the value in Church. And isn't that too bad?

And so governments (from city to federal) need to learn that they can't possibly please everyone so they can't go banning one view point in favor of another. Just let both sides post their viewpoints and to hell with those idiots who are offended. Its just the same of the story of the man, the boy and the donkey. If the government bans Christmas, Christians complain. If the government puts up a nativity scene, non-Christians complain. If the government allows an atheist to put up a sign, the religious people complain.

So stop trying to please everyone.

J Kuhl Signing Off