I suppose I have no need at all to be critical if a perfect stranger that I will interact with in no way chooses to do strange and traumatic things with their body, I'm not my sister's keeper, am I?

But what if it is a friend, a sibling, a child, a parent of mine? Sure, let and let live.

What if it is my company, my business, my club, my college? What if it is an institution where I have certain duties of care and concern? Can I then live and let live?

I dunno.

On the continuum between a nose job and major mutilation where do you draw a line? Can you draw a line? Should you draw a line?

If someone is obviously mentally ill, classic schizophrenic screaming on the street corner kind of person, says that they would feel so much better if someone would cut off their right hand because it has been cursed by god, can raise the money to pay an unethical surgeon to cut off their hand, should society, should the medical association, should their family say: "fine, go right ahead?" And if they should, should they join the schizophrenic in celebrating their new freedom and joy? Say it is all normal?

And frankly, maybe they should. You want to get a nose job or boob implant or a prince albert or whatever, I guess I can't object. The medical outcomes from folks with amputation obsessions actually seem pretty positive. So I honestly don't know. But it troubles me.

I really despise the assumption that Wright is a bad man and anybody maintaining a connection with him must therefore also be bad. Rev. Wright is arguably a Great Man, with a record of achievement and commitment few can equal. And he uses inflammatory rhetoric, to say things that, outside of the HIV thing, are arguably true? (And in the case of the HIV thing, as was pointed out, if not true, highly plausible in the African American community, with good reason?)

My only disappointment was that he did not underline his affection and agreement with much of Wright's work more strongly.

But Joan, what if, just what if, he didn't "triangulate" just right amount of disassociation without rejection, what if, just what if, he really meant it? What if that wasn't a tin ear, what if it wasn't just politics as usual, what if it was just the plain truth of how he feels about his Minister and how he feels about his grandmother? Who's got the tin ear now?

It was speech like I have not heard an American politician make in my adult lifetime. I am no rabid Obama supporter, I would be happy and proud to vote for Clinton if it comes to that, but by god this speech moved me. And made me realize once again how badly we have been let down for a long time now by our politicians.

But I did want to say, I do hope that we will get a full and public eating of crow by Glenn the day after the election. "Yum Yum," he must say, "I am sorry I doubted that nobility, intelligence and honesty would resonate with the American people."

That would be about the same time I might start thinking about de-expat-ing myself, after all these decades.

I want to be respectful and all, but we've seen Tracy and Rebecca now, I think possibly Catherine, but not Molly or Kate yet, (I could be wrong, I don't keep up on vblogishness) so how could we possibly have a FMK type contest yet? I mean if your looks and presentation are as important as your thoughts in words, you are actively inviting comparisons, right?

Is this videoblogging thing really compatible with feminism?

I really really really look forward to a BroadSheet explanation of the VideoBS phenomenum, especially the groovy pron music and juvenile zoom-jump-cuts.

I am deeply deeply ashamed and wish to apologize to the world that this ridiculous and silly excuse for a "sport" (in which Canada is pretty much a major powerhouse) keeps making it back into the Olympics after many genuine and disinterested efforts to remove it. (I don't deny at all that it takes training and stamina and timing and so on, so does ballet, but you don't dance competing in a venue of citius altius fortius.)

I deeply suspect the Canadian Olympic Committee of trading off obscene horse favours (Olympics in Beijing?) to keep it in just to keep the Canadian medal count up. But I fear that is true.

Because what element of higher faster stronger do all the spanglies and caked-on makeup really reflect?

Rather than the flatworm, you could always follow the praying mantis model...