This just happened:

I’m filling up at QT on Sidney Marcus. A guy pulls his Escalade up to
the pump next to mine, gets out, puts the pump in and places it on
automatic. Which is all fine and good.

Then he gets in his car. Well, they tell you not to do that, but
whatever. Then he turns the electricity in his car on, turns a hip-hop
jam with heaaavy backbeat up to 11 on his stereo, and reclines in the
driver’s seat.

Now. I’m not a gullible one; I run every bullshit e-mail rumor by
Snopes, I’ve taken (my wife)’s folks down to the mat for the “Obama =
Muslim” stuff. So I know stories of some woman who wore wool getting
blown up at a filling station are probably shenanigans. HOWEVER, what
I ALSO know is that turning the electricity on in your car and pumping
up the volume while the pump is on automatic on a dry, cold day is an
astronomically retarded idea, even for one with only a vague notion of
static electricity. And he’s right next to me. Righteous. Thankfully
I’m almost done…I get my receipt, put the car in drive, and roll
down my window.

Now (again). As you’re all aware, I’m either the #1 or #2 biggest cuss
among our circle of friends, occasionally alternating the title with
(my wife) (which makes sense). The mood was right for me to whip out
any of the following: Asshat, Fucktard, Shitsucker, Dumbfuck,
Douchenozzle. And yet, I was a good boy. All I said, albeit with the
brusque tone that I save for, say, any game officiated by Penn Wagers:
“Turn your car off.” And then I pulled out.

Now (once again). Guy in his Escalade who wishes to set fire to the QT
has three options:

1) Ignore me.
2) “Fuck you, dude.”
3) Not be a moron, and actually turn his car off.

He chooses, natch, the mysterious and baffling option #4:

4) CAR CHASE DOWN PIEDMONT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Yep, he yanked the pump out of his car, wheeled his shit in reverse,
and it was on. At first my WTF-o-meter was strong enough that I didn’t
make the connection that the guy attempting to ram me was indeed the
same guy, but I got the hint eventually. We rolled through that
kinda-poor Hispanic neighborhood next to Lindbergh, an abandoned gas
station, a car wash, and then onto Piedmont. As much of a pain in the
ass Atlanta drivers are for stuffing up the left lane with slow
drivers and not getting out of the way when they really should, many
many thanks to everyone around there who knew It Was On. I eventually
lost the guy by making a U-turn into oncoming traffic (while passing
the guy who was waiting patiently to make an actual legal U-turn),
then passing about five cars in a row, then running a yellow in front
of a bunch of people who were stopping. I could see him still whipping
in and out as I scooted up GA-13, and I was able to gun it long enough
to get lost.

I saw (a friend) in “The Vagina Monologues” on Saturday. Every time I’ve
seen it, a gal who wants to pin me into a corner asks me what I would
think of “The Penis Monologues.” It’s a trick question for snooty
liberals- such a thing need not exist, as Dood Culture is more than
the norm in the patriarchy and blah blah.

But it’s still a valid enough question…how do I define my own
Guyness? I think I reached a conclusion while losing this guy on
Piedmont today. When I realized that he was out to ram me (then, I’m
assuming, open my door and kick my ass), what was the first thing I
did?

I turned my radio up.

http://news.wfhb.org/news/newstopics.php?tid=1

Amazingly good review

My own life was insane (14 hr work days all week), so I didn’t get much written on politics or deep thoughts

I wrote about the c-word.

And I went celibate (which isn’t the c-word I’m talking about).

It has an interesting bit in the middle about the electric cars of the early 20th century. The guy postulates that it’s downfall was that the car was marketed to women, feminised, and so rejected by the public. It’s interesting. Have a listen.

What they are doing is HORRIBLY sexist. It is not JUST a matter of teaching boys and girls separately. They are going to try teaching them DIFFERENTLY, based on crazy gender stereotypes! Boys will get to go outside more, will get stress breaks with Nerf bats, will be taught about “heroism” and “being a man,” and will be disciplined more. Girls will be taught in groups, will be taught “character development” instead of “heroism,” will be taught math and science differently. Literature teachers will ask girls about the feelings of the characters, while they are instructed never to ask boys about their feelings, focusing instead on the action of the story. Teachers are being taught to look girls in the eyes and smile, but to avoid looking boys in the eyes. It’s disgusting. I might not be against single-sex classrooms necessarily, but they are NOT just talking about separating the boys from the girls and giving them the SAME education. DO NOT buy this trojan horse “separate but equal” stuff, because, as usual, we eventually find out that separate turns out NOT to be equal!

Here is a post I just did about this and about what happened where I live (sorry, the stuff that’s relevant to your topic starts about halfway down):
http://nolaradfem.blogspot.com/2008/02/me-going-to-war-with-school-board.html

The ACLU successfully fought this in my parish (county, to the rest of the U.S. outside of LA). PLEASE, PLEASE get in touch with the ACLU immediately, as they are all ready to fight these cases. The ACLU got an injunction here, in my area, but these school districts are doing this faster than the ACLU can even keep track, I think. Please let them know. Or, if you don’t want to, just tell me the county and I can notify them for you if you’d like. Let’s keep fighting this!
ACLU stories:
http://www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/26328res20060802.html
(and, most shocking is this one, the temporary restraining order memorandum they filed here, eye-popping stuff starts around page 3):
http://www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/26326lgl20060801.html

There is also a post on this at “Feminist Law Professors” (comments by me there too), and you can download his 75 page law review article on this topic there:
http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=2990

If I can help in ANY way, let me know (via my blog, just comment on anything and I will see it). I have the direct contact to someone at the ACLU who worked this case, but it would take a little digging to find it, so let me know if you need it, okay?