Found this during today's perusal of the Internet. In the article he says this...

But living an honest life - for that you need the truth. That's the other thing I learned that day (the day he 'lost his religion'), that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, in the end leads to liberation and dignity.

Very succinct. That is it, in a nutshell. That is what is so frustrating about religious zealots that push their shit on everyone else. That fact is that such behavior is oppressive and mind numbing.

A few days ago I commented on something I saw in one of my wife's People magazine concerning some comments they printed. Today I saw a movie review for Ocean's 13. My wife will rip pages out of the magazine if there is a book review, and she wants to look for the book on her next trip to the bookstore. This particular page she has sitting on the tank of the commode, and I glanced at it while using the commode in a manner made possible by the male anatomy.

The reviewer compared the film, it's fast moving pace, to the otherwise slow moving plots of the other movies on display. It was "in marked contrast to the contemplative (that's a euphemism for slooooow) films obsessing on death, emotional desolation and poverty that dominated the competition."

This is one reason I don't read People magazine. The editors tend toward whitewashing things. The reviewer doesn't address the possibility that the subjects obsessed over at the festival could be a reflection of the state of societies around the world. We would rather not deal with that though, the superficial fun of Ocean's Thirteen is much more palatable in America's consumerist atmosphere of today.

Speaking of movies, my wife wants me to accompany her to a social event at a friend's house tonight to watch the awards program. The hostess wants it to be a sport coat affair. I balked immediately of course, and probably won't go even though I am supposed to look at her computer while I'm there. My wife is implying that it is childish not to attend simply because a dress code is stipulated. It smacks of pretentiousness though, and that shit always ruffles my feathers. Pretentiousness is just another form of immaturity in my opinion. So, it is probably best that I don't go, cause otherwise I would piss people off because I won't be able to refrain from pointing this out.

Interestingly, there were no specifics on how the ladies were to dress....