How's this for truly radical feminism?

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

SPARE a thought for Swedish feminists whose newly formed party is disintegrating after hardliners presented a manifesto advocating a man tax, the abolition of marriage and the creation of gender-neutral names.

vomit.

[The Viking]

Sylvilagus Aquaticus: Not true. Still got urinals here.
Regarding the list of approved names: Its becoming a trend to get uniqe names for your kids here, and previously, people have tried to name their daughter "Tequila"...the deal with the legislation is to make sure kids don't suffer 'cause of parental stupidity. Adults suffering because of their own stupidity, I don't have anything against that, but kids should not suffer from their parents stupidity...
Oh, and Tiina Rosenberg is a hard core commie. She studied in East Germany, but left...the fact that Gudrun Schyman still have any credibility amazes me. This sorry excuse for a human blamed bag-in-box wine for making her an alcoholic, she sat down and took a piss in public, during the opening of a movie/play or whatever. Drunk as hell of course. I promised to beat her up, together with everyone in the parliament who voted in favor of the man tax if they managed to push it thru...

[The Rabbi]

Sylvilagus Aquaticus:
Regarding the list of approved names: Its becoming a trend to get uniqe names for your kids here, and previously, people have tried to name their daughter "Tequila"...the deal with the legislation is to make sure kids don't suffer 'cause of parental stupidity. Adults suffering because of their own stupidity, I don't have anything against that, but kids should not suffer from their parents stupidity...

Why is that the government's job?  (Geez, I sound like a Libertarian here).

I think Moon Unit Zappa has done pretty well with her name.  No one asks "Moon Unit who?"  If kids dont like their names they can always change them when they grow up.  I can't say how many "Mikes", "Joes", and "Bills" I've met who were really Aston or Fauntleroy or Jamison.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Sylvilagus Aquaticus: Not true. Still got urinals here.
Regarding the list of approved names: Its becoming a trend to get uniqe names for your kids here, and previously, people have tried to name their daughter "Tequila"...the deal with the legislation is to make sure kids don't suffer 'cause of parental stupidity. Adults suffering because of their own stupidity, I don't have anything against that, but kids should not suffer from their parents stupidity...

Ah yes, the famous "it's for the children" line.  Parental stupidity is BAD BAD BAD, but government imposed stupidity is perfectly reasonable.

I have two good friends with unusual names.  Both of them are proud of it.  They like their unique names.  I can't wait to tell them that they'd be illegal in Sweden.  

As for naming a kid "Tequila"...  Well, that wouldn't be my first choice.  But I know a woman named Brandy, and her name doesn't slow her down any.



As for feminists...  They'd do well to keep their loony fringe on a shorter leash.  This kind of commentary doesn't do their cause one bit of good.  You'd think they know that...

[Stand_watie]

Sylvilagus Aquaticus: Not true. Still got urinals here.
Regarding the list of approved names: Its becoming a trend to get uniqe names for your kids here, and previously, people have tried to name their daughter "Tequila"...the deal with the legislation is to make sure kids don't suffer 'cause of parental stupidity. Adults suffering because of their own stupidity, I don't have anything against that, but kids should not suffer from their parents stupidity...

Ah yes, the famous "it's for the children" line.  Parental stupidity is BAD BAD BAD, but government imposed stupidity is perfectly reasonable.

I have two good friends with unusual names.  Both of them are proud of it.  They like their unique names.  I can't wait to tell them that they'd be illegal in Sweden.  

As for naming a kid "Tequila"...  Well, that wouldn't be my first choice.  But I know a woman named Brandy, and her name doesn't slow her down any.



As for feminists...  They'd do well to keep their loony fringe on a shorter leash.  This kind of commentary doesn't do their cause one bit of good.  You'd think they know that...

There's a port on a western bay
And it serves a hundred ships a day
Lonely sailors pass the time away
And talk about their homes

And there's a girl in this harbor town
And she works layin' whiskey down
They say "Brandy, fetch another round"
She serves them whiskey and wine

The sailors say "Brandy, you're a fine girl" (you're a fine girl)
"What a good wife you would be" (such a fine girl)
"Yeah your eyes could steal a sailor from the sea"
(dooda-dit-dooda), (dit-dooda-dit-dooda-dit)

Brandy wears a braided chain
Made of finest silver from the North of Spain
A locket that bears the name
Of the man that Brandy loves

He came on a summer's day
Bringin' gifts from far away
But he made it clear he couldn't stay
No harbor was his home

The sailor said " Brandy, you're a fine girl" (you're a fine girl)
"What a good wife you would be" (such a fine girl)
"But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea"
(dooda-dit-dooda), (dit-dooda-dit-dooda-dit)

Yeah, Brandy used to watch his eyes
When he told his sailor stories
She could feel the ocean foam rise
She saw its ragin' glory
But he had always told the truth, lord, he was an honest man
And Brandy does her best to understand
(dooda-dit-dooda), (dit-dooda-dit-dooda-dit)

At night when the bars close down
Brandy walks through a silent town
And loves a man who's not around
She still can hear him say

She hears him say " Brandy, you're a fine girl" (you're a fine girl)
"What a good wife you would be" (such a fine girl)
"But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea"
(dooda-dit-dooda), (dit-dooda-dit-dooda-dit)

"Brandy, you're a fine girl" (you're a fine girl)
FADE

"What a good wife you would be" (such a fine girl)
"But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea"

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

um....I actually grew up with a young lady named Tequila. In the first grade, the teacher insisted on calling her 'Keet'.  Today, at the age of...well, me, she's been called 'Tequila' since the second grade.

BTW, she's still a real looker and quite the epitome of a refined lady, Texan or not.

Regards,
Rabbit.

[Preacherman]

A follow-up commentary in the Times (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,10655-1840965,00.html):

October 25, 2005

Is a man tax really a load of meatballs?

Caitlin Moran

I dont know about you, but everything I read about Sweden makes it seem like a hoot. Admittedly this averages about one and a half news stories a year  fewer if theres nothing on a former member of Abba wrestling with her fathers Nazi past  but the impression is still one of a country with such terrible television that they have to make their legislative life entertainingly nuts, just for some fun.

Last time I checked out the Swedes, they were wondering whether it might be time to dispense with the official list of names from which Swedish babies must be named. This time around, a popular radical feminist party is proposing, among other policy ideas, a man tax. The idea is that most crimes are committed by men, ergo, men should pay more towards police funding.

Of course, if the radical feminists had thought about it for more than 30 seconds, they would have proposed the eminently fairer and more logical bad man tax instead. After all, theres no point in getting librarian drag queens to pay the same moral tax penalty as Mad Frankie Fraser. Indeed, Im sure that women who wear nylon knickers and drink Dooleys Toffee Liqueur commit just as many crimes as men.

Besides, I think there is a danger that the man tax could do more harm than good to the male rate of offending. Personally, if I were a pleasant Swedish chap being shafted for an extra 10 per cent a year on the automatic premise that I was running around in a loincloth, clubbing all and sundry, Id want to get a bit more value for my money. At the very least Id stop saying thank you  when I was given my change. At worst, in a bad mood, I might feel that I was entitled to one free murder a year, and perhaps randomly kill someone in the local planning department, on the rationale that statistically they were quite likely to deserve it.

But if because youre all wife-beating beasts wasnt the reason behind the man tax, the Swedish feminists would have a fairly logical policy idea. After all, men still earn, on average, 10 per cent more than women, while still resolutely not shouldering half the domestic burden. Were not allowed to feel that this could be a taxable perk because, despite their advantage, modern men apparently feel impotent and useless  frankly, exactly how someone should feel when theyve reached the age of 42 and dont know how to reshape a woollen garment when wet.

But if you suspect that it might be a little unfair to penalise men just because theyre wily enough to get one over on the ladies, then there are plenty of other taxes that one could consider levying, on equally justifiable moral and economic criteria. Polluters; smokers; repeat offenders; the obese; 4x4 drivers; non-recyclers; the owners of small boutiques that sell only candles and diaries ; local poets; parents who make their children learn the tuba; anyone with the nickname Maverick; people who are a bit Buddhist (have a pair of Maharishi combat trousers); Nazis; bores; drips; weeds; people who are a bit asthmatic (coughed once in 1982); those who describe themselves as either perfectly normal or a bit mad; and the unrepentantly vile.

I could wholeheartedly back any putative Lydia tax, under which everyone called Lydia paid 109 per cent. Personally, Ive yet to meet a Lydia whose shimmering blonde good looks werent the perfect cover for being a devious, backstabbing, two-faced creature of the night. Lydias cost the NHS millions in post-traumatic workplace therapy.

Its not as if such taxes are without international precedent. Monaco, for instance, levies no taxes on its own citizens  sending tax returns only to businesses and resident Americans. Whenever I recall this detail, it makes me yearn to read more about the apparently productive time when Europes second smallest principality had an economic think-tank run by John Pilger and Rik from The Young Ones.

The only problem with all this random imposition of semi-amusing taxes is that it reinforces the notion that tax is a punishment for being either bad or too stupid to move to Switzerland. Really, the opposite is true. One has only to think about living in some corrupt Stone Age country run by a freak to realise that tax is a privilege; something that should be paid joyously. One should bound to the postbox with ones tax return and accompanying cheque, shouting Yes! Here is my contribution to the country! Today I am going to buy the people of Britain one defibrillator, 46 small chairs for a primary school, half a gun, 6,000 ring-binders and an unspecified item for Dr Liam Foxs lunch! Tax me!.

[The Viking]

Preacherman: Fortunatly, they are not very popular anymore, last time I checked. Looks like people finally put their brains to use.

[Lo.Com.Denom]

Caitlin Moran never fails to make me laugh!
Recently I've found myself skipping everything else in the Times and just reading her articles and the obituaries.

[mtnbkr]

Oohhh, can I be unrepentantly vile?

Chris

[Stickjockey]

Were not allowed to feel that this could be a taxable perk because, despite their advantage, modern men apparently feel impotent and useless  frankly, exactly how someone should feel when theyve reached the age of 42 and dont know how to reshape a woollen garment when wet.

For some unknown reason, this just made Mrs Stick go into fits of laughter. She says there is hope for me yet, though, because I'm still only 37.

[El Tejon]

42?  I only have 7 years left!

42, but women have been calling me useless since I was 16.  Hmmm.