Random Thoughts

1. Is Valentine's Day (or at least the way it's marketed commercially) sexist? Why do all Valentine's Day ads seem to involve some desperate guy struggling to come up with some last-minute-but-wonderful Valentine's Day gift for his girlfriend (rather than the other way around?) And of course, the commercial invisibility of same-sex couples.

2. My friend Andrea asked me to critique her thoughts on the State of The Union address. It came out as a long-rambling-incoherent babble... and then we started talking about Iran. The short story with regard to the Islamic Republic is that I believe everything NPR says.

3. I have a new campaign e-mail address, and am working on appointing my friend Dave to be campaign treasurer. Let the hate-mail flow!

4. Neil Gaiman to write an episode of Doctor Who (probably early Series 6, coming in 2011). Hoping it will be as good as Douglas Adams' outing in 1979's The City of Death episodes.

5. Cristan Williams, who is always enlightening, sends out an e-mail comparing the number of Google searches for the term "shemale" (as in pr0n) versus "transgender" (as in moi, your webmistress) and comes to a startling conclusion -- although I suppose some might write it off as mere Kirk-and-Madsen-talking-point drivel:

Libya is the #1 place on earth that looks for shemales. In Libya, it’s against the law to be GLBT (punishable by up to 5 years in prison).

Here’s more on the top 10:

Pakistan: While transgender people just won a major equal rights victory, anything deemed to be a "homosexual" is punishable by death.

Sudan: If you are found to be GLBT in Sudan, you can receive up to 100 lashes and/or death.

Czech Republic: The Czech Republic is actually relatively good on TG issues.

Afghanistan: The penalty for being TG is death.Yemen: offers torture, public flogging and death to it's queer community.

Bangladesh: The penalty for being TG can range from ostracization, torture, life imprisonment and death.

Syria: Homosexuality is illegal and TGs are often viewed as being homosexual. However, the government has allowed TS people to transition.

Sri Lanka: While being TG is not illegal, TGs are often victims of harassment and discrimination.

Egypt: While the government has allowed a few TS women to transition, it has outlawed music by the Israeli transsexual, Dana International and the topic is very taboo. Individuals suspected of being gay can be locked up, tortured and sentenced to hard labor.

It should also be noted that all of these countries are exceedingly religious. So, here’s a question: Does living in a hyper-religious culture predispose one to TG porn?