Jamie Clayton is better at being a woman...

Yes, I realize this is (hopefully) tongue-in-cheek, but it can also be construed as a pretty sexist comment - and I'm surprised Broadsheet celebrates it.

I think it's a case of "minority group gets an immunity pass", i.e. a celebration of somewhat who can successfully pass as 'feminine' can passive-aggressively rip on born women out of....jealousy? bitterness?

Don't get me wrong - I certainly have no problem with Jamie. I admire her for being honest with men, and I admire the article writers for not focusing on her transsexuality so much as her person.

But as an egalitarian, I think biological females have enough shit to battle in our society as it is, without having their supposed allies in the GLBT community heaping even more on them.

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Yay, Jamie. Boo, classless Gawker & hypocritical Broadsheet.

(And no, it is NOT intolerant or bigoted to call sexism on another minority group. Supporting GLBT rights doesn't give your carte blanche to be an arsewhorl.)

One more thing: I happen to know and enjoy friendship with quite a few decent, stand-up gay blokes. But I - as well as they - fully acknowledge the existence of gay men who are more misogynist than any garden-variety frat boy out there!

This ugly side of the GLBT community needs to be analysed and called on their prejudice. Again, is it 'jealousy' of biological straight women? Competition for male affection? Hatred for offering something the majority of men (breeders) want?

Who knows....

Asehpe - you have a talent for fleshing out ideas and developing trains of thought. I enjoy reading your contributions!

captcrisis - I think you are absolutely correct, especially again about those EARLY stages in a relationship. To be brutally honest, my instincts at "time zero" are guided by by genitals =)...

My first thoughts towards someone I'm attracted to are of her beauty, body language, panache, voice, her ability to talk intelligently and both enjoy wit and be witty.

They are NOT head-based or heart-based...yet.

And I think a lot of people - of both genders and all orientations - sadly never progress to using those other two body parts. Usually, this ends up quite ugly....destructive relationships and/or heartbreak.

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Finally, knecht - thank you for your courage about talking about your youth experiences in dating, etc.

To say I can relate would be an understatement! I had some "Mommy issues" myself, and when I was, say, 19, I would make rather awful choices in girls/women I chose to pursue and/or date.

I definitely think you're onto something when you talk about maturity with age. Now, as I am edging towards 30 (*gahhh!!*), I find myself naturally less interested in the "girl who is both trouble/crazy and fun"....

....and more interested simply in the woman who is fun. Period.

Give me a Clipper any day of the week:

http://widebodyaircraft.nl/b747pana.jpg

China, India and other emerging Asian powers have only just begun to consume energy on a level that is still not nearly as high as ours in the USA...

Don't worry - they will eventually reach our consumption levels and then some. Their newly wealthy burgeoning middle classes (esp. China) is on the order of hundreds of millions...possibly more than our entire American population.

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I do like the smell of french fry exhaust - and I'm playing around with the idea of buying the new Jetta TDI SportWagen and converting it to a flex-fuel biodiesel vehicle with an aftermarket kit.

Lots of torque, sweet six-speed manual*, 40+ mpg highway...all on strained veggie oil that will cost me less than a third the current price of regular gas. Huzzah!

I will save money - but do I really think I will reduce the world's carbon problem?

Nope. And neither will any of us over here. And reduction in "carbon footprint" will barely mitigate effects from the new industrialized Superpowers who finally have their time in the sun (no pun intended)...but it will not balance it.

You romanticize yourself and the LW as daring to be different.

Nope. Being a tardy temp is assholish. Not "different".

Look, we all want the "Office Space" fantasy. But reality bites.

Americans have no right to complain about their jobs being outsourced. Ya know why? Exhibit A: The LW...a spoiled Gen X brat who wishfully hopes to get paid (and as a frickin' temp, no less) to come in when he damn well pleases, work however long he damn well wants...and not have his, like, totally 'uptight' boss harshing on his buzz, duuuude!

Meanwhile, in India and China there are brilliant, driven young workers - many of whom have seen poverty firsthand, and its effect on their families - who can make it to work on time...if not earlier.

They put in much more effort and gusto in their jobs as IT professionals, etc. - and instead of bitching, bitching and more bitching about how deadening their work is, etc., they are grateful to earn a regular, relatively high salary - to improve their lives, pursue their OWN artistic goals on their own time and so on.

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I hope teenagers and college kids across the USA read this letter to Cary.

When they realise they cannot find professional work in this country because it's all been outsourced to industrious, diligent workers in foreign lands, the attitude of the IT temp will show why this happened.

As for you, LW? Quit your temp job - let someone more deserving have a chance.

Pursue your artistic dreams. And when you are evicted, please know that homeless shelters generally don't let their residents "sleep in", either.