Another interesting weekend here in Beautiful Dunwoody Georgia. Went to friends for dinner Saturday evening. After the salad and steak out by the pool (by the pool...well la de da...obviously a bunch of rich white folks...uh, yeah, Dunwoody is populated by upper class folks, most of us worked our butts off to get that way), we went inside to have some cheese and wine. As Michael was scanning the channels, he came across a show on MSNBC, the network that no one watches, that grabbed our attention.
The first half of the show was about men who became women. Ya know, went through the sex change surgery and took the hormone treatment. We were glued to the TV screen. What we really thought was funny, and what Cindy told me was the norm, was that most of these people said they preferred women. So, they were lesbians trapped in a man's body? Weird.
But it gets better. The second half of the show was about cross dressing. I know it was not politically correct (but as anyone who has been following my writing for the last two months knows the grouchy old cripple is not at all politically correct), but we were laughing our heads off. One of the men featured worked for TCIDNN (The Company I Dare Not Name) and mentioned that he had talked to the local diversity council for TCIDNN. At that, Michael and Cindy turned and looked at me and I just had to say, 'At TCIDNN, we really value diversity.'
So MSNBC is now the trash network? Why did they let Geraldo go? This program was presented in all seriousness. The three of us watching seriously believed that when this show was written, the writers were doing it as a joke. We figgered they must be watching it, rolling on the floor, and saying 'The stupid bastards actually bought it.'
I have expressed my opinions on diversity many times. I did a post on May 15 where I discussed some of my views on gays and other diversity type folks. What I essentially said was if someone is gay, I don't care. And if a man wants to dress up as a woman, I don't care. Why are you telling me about it? Do you want to come to work like that? I don't care! It's none of my business. Can you do the job? That's really all I care about. Can you deal with people at work laughing at you if you look really stupid dressed as woman? If not, don't go whining to the diversity police about it. Not everyone thinks that is normal behavior. That is why, even in business casual, there are still dress codes. Don't expect the company to change the dress codes because you are a loony. There, I said it. I think cross dressers are loony. I'm sure some of the things that I do in the privacy of my home could be construed as loony behavior. That is why I do them in the privacy of my home. I certainly do not go on national television to tell everyone about it. No wait. This is MSNBC we're talking about here. It's not really national television. Their highest rated program is the Imus in the Morning radio show!
So we learned a lot more than we really wanted to about transgenders and transvestites. Thanks MSNBC for performing this valuable service.
Sunday, I slept late. As is my wont, I laid in bed leisurely reading the Atlanta paper. Braves won. The Mets suck. Good news so far. A letter from Eric Hovdesven of Atlanta about how Cynthia Tucker was picking on poor lil Cynthia McKinney. Let's look at some excerpts:
In her June 9 column ("GOP to blame for blacks' fear of the 'R' word"), Cynthia Tucker continues to misrepresent U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney's call for an investigation into intelligence failures before accepting the administration's
unprecedented military spending increases under the guise of responding to
Sept. 11.
No Eric, she thinks Ms McKinney is a loony. She has stated facts. You know those little things that are anathema to leftists. Our resident loony said that Bush knew the attacks were coming and did nothing to prevent them so his cronies in the defense industry could make lots of money. First, the only way he could have prevented them was to 'profile' Middle Eastern men, which even after 9/11, we still cannot do(!!!!!) thanks to loonies like you and our resident nutcase. Second, in case you didn't notice, 9/11 was a declaration of war. The increase of military spending is not 'under the guise of responding to Sept.11', it is a direct response to Sept 11, you booger eatin' moh-ron.
What is most troubling is that the attacks by Tucker, the head editorialist of
Atlanta's only daily metrowide newspaper, have become embarrassingly
emotional and mean-spirited.
Here Eric falls back on the tried and true method of leftists (Leftist Handbook of Debate, page 5...OK I made that up) of calling someone 'mean spirited' when they cannot argue their case on merit or using facts. Welfare reform...mean spirited. Insisting people take responsibility for their actions...mean spirited. Cynthia McKinney is a certified nutcase...mean spirited.
Apparently, Tucker knows that the facts do not support her incessant attacks on the congresswoman so she reverts to name-calling, hurling words such as "wild and wacky," "loose cannon" and "outrageous rhetoric."
Here again, most people of even moderate inteliigence would describe McKinney that way. Guess you haven't been listening to her very much, huh, Eric? I guess Eric would call McKinney a towering intellect or a voice of reason. I got it. How about the conscience of the House of Representatives? We got Joe Liberman in the Senate and Cynthia McKinney in the House.
Finally, as if that isn't enough, Tucker finishes the job with her underlying
message that McKinney and those who vote for her are somehow of lesser
intellect than Tucker and her Harvard-educated friends.
Actually Eric, if she's saying anything it's that people of normal intellect should recognize that Mckinney is a wacko.
Well, shoot, even I can see what is going on here.
Sorrry Eric, you can't.
And then Cynthia Tucker writes a column about our insane drug war. Whoa Nellie! What's going on here? I keep agreeing with her. Have I been teleported to an alternate universe?
At 4:30 I hop into the shower to get ready for the Sommelier Guild of Atlanta's annual banquet. I'm going with Michael and Cindy. That way, Cindy can drive if Michael and I have too much to drink, which is usually the case. I'm halfway to their house when I realize I didn't shave. Getting old is a bitch. The memory is the second thing to go and I can't remember the first. So, I shave at their house. Cindy says it was because I was trying to decide what dress to wear. I said that's right. I looked in the closet and I couldn't find a single thing to wear. Michael has printed off a map from Map Quest and I've printed a map from Yahoo. I like Yahoo because the printed directions are printed in larger type which makes it easier for old farts, like myself, to read. Even so, we did make one wrong turn. We needed my sister, who is a splendid navigator.
So we made it to the restaurant OK. It is in a rather rundown neighbnorhood of Atlanta that is undergoing gentrification. Lots of old warehouses means lots of new yuppie lofts. The restaurant is in an old converted industrial building. We were going to eat outside, but since it was raining the dinner was moved upstairs. Oh boy! Stairs! I love stairs! I'm a cripple, ya know. So I make it up the stairs OK. I'm sure some of you are asking about now, 'What's with the title? What does any of this have to do with 'Hair's on Fire'? We're almost there.
While Cindy is getting me a glass of champagne, I'm leaning against the wall to make standing easier. All of a sudden I smell something burning. What's that I wonder? I turn around and right about the height of my head are these little wall mounted gas lamps. I put two and two together (hadn't started drinking yet so my thought processes were still what passes for normal for GOC) and realized it was my hair burning! I start patting out the fire and calmly tell Cindy that my hair was on fire. 'Oh my God!' she says. 'Your hair is on fire!' Ummm. Didn't I just say that? We manage to get the fire under control without having to call the fire department. Fortunately, Cindy is a nurse and is able to determine that there is no serious damage done. I just feel stupid.
The dinner was delicious. The wines, as usual are very good. I mean, this is the Sommelier Guild of Atlanta. Our sole raison d'etre is to drink good wine. I sat across from two men who are very active in Georgia politics. They are Republicans. There aren't really too many Democrats in the Sommelier Guild. We had a nice conversation all during the dinner. They told me some interesting things about some Republican politicians. They also had some dirt on Cynthia McKinney. Since I cannot verify it, I will not repeat it here. They also told me I could vote in the Democratic primary. Guess whom I won't be voting for?
After the dinner, I make it down the stairs OK. Down is easy. Whoooops! See, I'm down. Cindy's driving. It's my responsibility to get us back to I-75. I get us to North Ave. Close. From there, Michael knows how to get to I-75. A good exercise in teamwork. We make it back to their house OK. I make it home OK. In all, a very enjoyable evening. My head doesn't even hurt.
But, may I recommend, if you go out to dinner, hair flambe should not be on the menu.
Unless, of course, you are Michael Jackson.
Posted by denny at June 24, 2002 02:23 PM