Dear Facebook

In response to the new Facebook guidelines, which are barely distinguishable from the old Facebook guidelines, I hereby declare that my copyright is utterly invalid, because by the mere act of posting my personal details in a public forum, I have long since accepted that my right to privacy is worth less than a bucket of warm spit.

(Anyone reading this can copy this text and paste it on their Facebook Wall. This will place them under no protection whatsoever, but some people still believe in the efficacy of zinc-based cold remedies, and there's even less evidence for that.)

By the present communiqué, I notify Facebook that it is free to do anything it jolly well wants to do on the basis of this profile and/or its contents. The aforementioned waving of a white "surrender" flag also applies to employees, students, agents, henchmen, assassins, and/or any zombies under Facebook's direction or control. The content of this profile is no more private than the contents of a mobile phone call as the caller shouts to be heard over the roar of the city bus's engines. The violation of my privacy will be punished by nobody, no one, and nothing (4Q2 PDQ and the Rome Statute, whatever the hell that is).

Facebook is now, was then, and always will be a rapacious capitalistic overlord to which I have traded my privacy in exchange for a pleasant social service. All members are recommended to publish a notice like this if you have nothing better to do; or if you prefer, you may copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once, you will publish it more than once, or never. There are no other choices.

How I wish I'd written this.

Thoughts on Political Debates

I try to avoid approaching debates from a partisan perspective, i.e. "You Democrats such-and-such", for purely tactical reasons. People form attachments to their party, no matter if it's a stupid party (like the Democrats) or a slightly less stupid party (like the Republicans). Attack the party and you're attacking them, and quite naturally they respond accordingly; you won't get any reasoned persuasion done in such a conversation. The same goes for Presidents - if he's "your President", he represents you. (I don't think people usually form the same relationship with lower level officials, unless it's an especially charismatic person.)

Generally, too, I find it's better not to over-argue - just present the facts, and let the other person draw their own conclusions. People like to make up their own minds, and they trust an idea more if they've come to it themselves.

Very rarely will I get into a direct, point/counterpoint - type debate. I only do these if I know I'm on solid factual and logical ground, and that I can demonstrate to the other person where their information or their reasoning is faulty. But those cases are few and far between - very much the exception to the rule.

Hey Frank!

Go wake up the LJ czar - it's down again.

NYT on Lesbian Republicans

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/us/politics/lesbian-republicans-long-a-rare-political-breed-raise-their-profiles.html

In 1996, Kathryn Lehman was a soon-to-be married lawyer working for Republicans in the House of Representatives. One of her major accomplishments: helping to write the law that bans federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

Today, Ms. Lehman, 53, no longer has a husband, and no longer identifies as straight. And she is a lobbyist for Freedom to Marry, which is devoted to overturning the very law she helped write, the Defense of Marriage Act.

But Ms. Lehman is still a fervent Republican.

“I’m trying to break the stereotype that all gays and lesbians, especially lesbians, are Democrats,” she said.

From the comments:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/us/politics/lesbian-republicans-long-a-rare-political-breed-raise-their-profiles.html?comments#permid=143
'... I worked with a Tea Party organization as an out lesbian and never experienced any negativity around my sexual orientation. To the contrary---I was welcomed. Yet, on the liberal side of the fence, I have had to put up with confrontation, threats, and shunning for being an out lesbian conservative.'