chibi_trillian

Pope Says Condoms "Not the Answer" in Fight Against AIDS in Africa: Emperor Popetine apparently of the opinion that if you're having recreational sex you deserve to die, also, religious aid workers ask what His Holiness is smoking

Benedict had never directly addressed condom use. He has said that the Roman Catholic Church is in the forefront of the battle against AIDS. The Vatican encourages sexual abstinence to fight the spread of the disease.

...

"You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms," the pope told reporters aboard the Alitalia plane headed to Yaounde, Cameroon, where he will begin a seven-day pilgrimage on the continent. "On the contrary, it increases the problem."

What.

WHAT.

Seriously, WHAT THE FUCKING HELL IS THIS BULLSHIT.

Some priests and nuns working with those living with HIV/AIDS question the church's opposition to condoms amid the pandemic ravaging Africa.

"Excuse us, sir, but people are dying horribly. Can we pleeeease pass out condoms now, seeing as they're the only thing that makes a serious dent in the transmission rates of STDs?"
"No. Tell them to stop having sex."
"Sir, that's not really going to--"
"SILENCE! I AM THE POPE! THAT MEANS I WIN!"

This 'don't use condoms, use abstinence' thing is, like all abstinence-based programs, utterly worthless and bordering on criminally negligent. A lot of women in certain regions of Africa don't get to turn to men who want to have sex with them and go, "I'm sorry, but I'm saving myself for a mutually monogamous relationship." And hell, completely monogamous marriages are rare enough in cultures that glorify it, much less in cultures that say a man isn't a man unless he's getting some booty on the side.

THIS IS GOING TO KILL PEOPLE. AND OTHER PEOPLE WILL SAY IT'S OKAY, BECAUSE THEY WERE OBVIOUSLY SINNERS AND DESERVED TO DIE.

ARG ARG ARG ARG *froth flail chew carpet*

ETA: France, Germany, UN AIDS Task Force Reaction to Pope's Comments Best Summed Up as "WTH, Benedict, WTH."

"Condoms save lives, in Europe as well as on other continents," the ministers said. "Modern assistance to the developing world today must make access to family planning available to the poorest of the poor — especially the use of condoms. Anything else would be irresponsible."

My IRL friends will likely not be surprised by this in the slightest.

Carroll County in general and Westminster in particular held up as shining examples of racism in the modern era.

Every now and then, Western Maryland likes to remind the rest of the state that it's sorry Lincoln kept us from seceding with our southern bretheren. OH WAIT, they already did that by reelecting Roscoe "The Militant Homosexuals Are Out To Get Me" Bartlett yet again. ._.

Apparently, Otakon's been running commercials on Cartoon Network, or at least on Cartoon Network in my area. Apparently, at least one of them deals with panels as one of many awesome features of Otakon. One of my friends saw it the other night, and lo and behold, guess what it had?

A very brief clip from our fanfiction panel last year. The same one they refused to approve this year.

I AM BITTER.

Admittedly, I know they probably used footage from our panel because we're kind of the Multicultural Pals up there and they're totes trying to show how awesomely diverse they are, but still. We're good enough for the commercial but not good enough for your con? Fuck you, Otakon. Fuck you hard.

It also seriously worries me that one of the panel staff got in contact with Arthur and said, "Can you give me numbers where you guys can be reached at con?" I'm only going down to con on Friday, and I fear I'll get a call on Saturday going "OMG SURPRISE-PANEL!BUTTSECKS! WE HAD A PANEL DROP OUT, CAN U GAIZ FILL IN ON AN HOUR'S NOTICE LOL?" Arrrrrg DO NOT WANT.

Remember how I posted about my car being safe and sound?

I spoke too soon. Some furry woodland creature got under Hanako's hood whilst she was trapped in the cemetery and gnawed through the wiring for the exhaust system, leading to the mysterious Check Engine Light of Death, which was considerably less mysterious once the hood was popped and the nommed-upon wiring was seen.

Please, stimulus check, show up soon. I need to buy an entire new wiring harness for my brand new car, and those aren't cheap.

ETA: Four HUNDRED and twenty-five dollars. For JUST the part.

Excuse me while I go cry for a while.

ARG ARG ARG. I'm trying to get some giftfic written and it keeps coming out bad and OOC and I can't figure out how to fix it. ;_;

Meme, stolen from everybody and their mom. Most of these will be REAL EASY for anyone who's ever seen my purse.

a.) Post a list of 20 fandoms.
b.) Have your friends list guess your favorite character from each one.
c.) When guessed, bold the line, include the character name, and write a sentence/paragraph about why you like that character.

1. One Piece (one Strawhat, one non-Strawhat)--Usopp and Zeff, as guessed by scribe_protra: Usopp is my favorite Strawhat because he's the normal guy. He's not super strong or super smart, he runs away from things that are really quite frightening, he's a turbo-nerd, and he's delightfully ugly. In short, I'd date his ass in a heartbeat. Zeff's my favorite non-Strawhat because he's a grouchy old bastard with difficulty expressing his feelings, but he somehow manages to orchestrate a few of the most emotionally moving moments in the series (I wibbled when Sanji burst into tears while leaving the Baratie). Also: Moustache, capital M. XD
2. Star Trek (this one is a tie)--Spock and McCoy, as guessed by scribe_protra: Spock and McCoy's relationship is a thing of beauty, and I don't think the like has ever been entirely replicated in a Star Trek series since. McCoy is the ORIGINAL snarky doctor, and you can feel how badly he wants to fix people, mentally, emotionally, and physically. He can be pig-headed, slightly chauvinistic, overly emotional, hot-tempered, and occasionally bigoted, but all of that is vastly outweighed by the depths of his caring for others, whether those others are members of his crew or senient rocks. Spock, on the other hand, is one of the most beautifully conflicted characters ever seen in a Star Trek series. He's eminently logical and sometimes downright cold, but he still feels on the inside--sometimes too much, as his foray into Kohlinar showed. He's got a lot of depth to him, and it sometimes disappoints me to see other Vulcans in the various Star Trek series played so shallowly. Also: pointy ears.
3. Star Trek: TNG--Data, as guessed by dethorats: Who doesn't love Data? His ongoing struggles to be more human make him hilariously funny and oddly poignant at the same time. His friendship with Geordi is one of the most honest, sweet things I've seen on TV. Oh, and he's got a song about his nether bits sung by Voltaire. XD
4. Star Trek: DS9--Dr. Bashir, as guessed by scribe_protra: Bashir is my favorite almost despite himself, because he can spend ten episodes being a prat and then do something utterly charming that shows that he's considerably deeper than the Gary Stu he keeps pretending to be. Close runner-up: Jadzia Dax.
5. Star Trek: Voyager
6. Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei--Itoshiki-sensei, as guessed by dethorats: DESPAIR! The state of the world has me in DESPAIR! Itoshiki-sensei makes me lol hard while at the same time making some pretty valid points. He's overly dramatic, not very good at teaching, and easily bullied by his own students, but I love him anyway--suicide attempts and all.
7. Rozen Maiden--Souseiseki, as guessed by plotbunny_tiff: Souseiseki is SRS BSNS. That's why I love her crossdressing butt so much. She's the sensible one and also the one who's willing to make hard choices. She was willing to engage in the Alice Game for keeps when most of the other dolls wouldn't, and she was willing to damage herself to make her master happy. She's also way less obnoxious than Suiseiseki.
8. Tin Man--Glitch, aka Ambrose, as guessed by mettathron: I love Glitch for his mildly daft charm, his somewhat scattered wits, and his willingness to do anything for his friends. Oh, and I continue to firmly believe that he's Azkadelia's father.
9. Discworld--Vimes, as guessed by maldoror_gw: I love the entire Anhk-Morpork Night Watch (even Nobby), but I love their commander especially. He's the kind of competent person that can arrange incompetent people in such a way as to make them productive, and that is a rare and useful skill in any world.
10. Bleach (this one is also a tie)--Ishida, as guessed by blodhemn: Ishida's a neurotic, twitchy, nigh-obsessive-compulsive fifteen-year-old. He's also a white knight by his reckoning, and has the guts to stand up and say "I don't care if I'm the last! I'll fight anyway!" Oh, you button-hating little twit. ♥
11. Bakuretsu Hunters--Marron Glace, as guessed by dethorats: Marron was actually my first bishonen, and he holds a special place in my heart because of it (even if he does rather frequently give off creepy incest vibes towards his older brother). His somewhat self-sacrificing nature and mad magic skillz make him super-awesome, and he beats out the girls mostly because I can't choose between Tira and Chocolat which one is my most favorite. Also: did I mention he's pretty?
12. Bastard!--Ninja Master Gaara, as guessed by plotbunny_tiff: My favorite wisecracking, hard-drinking, dragon-owning, fourth-wall-breaking ninja EVER. Fuck you Naruto, you're not hardcore enough to use a sword that sucks out your lifeforce and then drag yourself up the tentacle-spike that impaled you just so you can get a hit in with it. Also, he has the Magic Hentai Slime of Awesome. :D
13. Invader Zim--Dib, as guessed by scribe_protra: Dib, I love you, you crazy little paranoid freak. Your life is an episode of the X-Files and nobody sees it but you. I gotta root for the poor guy--even his dad thinks he's nuts.
14. X-Men--Nightcrawler, as guessed by blodhemn: I've loved Nightcrawler for a long, long time. I have both of his miniseries (the cracked-out '80s one and the retarded '00s one) and used to have a crush on his animated version. I love his swashbuckling nature, his inner conflicts about his appearance, and his intense, unshakable faith. It's a bit unusual, actually--normally, characters who are strongly identified as Christian put me off. But Nightcrawler reminds me that the batshit Christians don't speak for all of them.
15. Harry Potter--Neville Longbottom, as guessed by kakairupowns: I've loved Neville since the end of the first book, when his ten points were what gave Gryffindor the House Cup. I love him because he's determined and loyal and sweet and even though he's not very good at much, he tries so so so hard until he is. And his parents (I cried, I admit it) and his grandma and everything--he could have been the Boy Who Lived. During the last two books, I was wishing he had been.
16. Slayers--Xellos, as guessed by maldoror_gw: Xellos is an unrepentant bastard--the best kind there is. He's snarky and secretive and takes joy in other people's pain, and he makes a smashing girl. His interactions with Filia were the best part of Slayers Try, IMHO.
17. Getbackers
18. Shaman King
19. Star Wars
20. Heroes--Hiro, as guessed by maldoror_gw: I love Hiro to bits. I want to stick him in my pocket and feed him cookies. He's an otaku and a nerd and is absolutely overjoyed to have superpowers--in a way, he's the most "pure" of the Heroes characters. Also, his gay love for Ando is the sweetest thing ever.

Ha ha, my paycheck had an extra $50 in it today. $50 we need, because Tiff got laid off on Monday.

It's kind of like being beaten with a lead pipe and then having somebody offer you a piece of candy afterwards: you've got tears and snot and blood running down your face and you don't think you can stand up without help, but hey, you've got a piece of candy so it can't be all bad.

OH SHIT SANJEE: Cigarettes cause impotence.

Maybe that's why you can't score with the ladies.