RachelEliason on Xanga

Saturday, 18 February 2012

The Contraception Debate

Social conservatives are fighting Obama's new contraception mandate tooth and nail, under the guise of religious liberty. It's a laughably simplistic argument that doesn't hold water and can be destroyed in about thirty seconds. Since I haven't seen any do so...

The bill requires all insurance companies and health care providers to cover contraception services as part of routine health care. Conservatives say this violates their freedom of religion, since their religious view is that contraception is a sin.

Freedom of religion is, like all civil liberties, explicitly granted in the bill of rights to all individuals in this country. In this example, any woman who wishes to opt out of contraception services for religious freedom is free to do so.

Freedom of religion for each and every individual implicitly prohibits groups from interfering with individuals right to choose their own personal moral beliefs. So while it's perfectly legal for a woman to opt out of contraception for religious reasons, its not legal for her husband to decide on her behalf that she shouldn't take it. It's definitely not legal for her medical provider to make that decision based on his religious beliefs. Which is exactly what the conservatives are trying to argue they can do.
Kick Me

I haven't been on Xanga much lately. I am sorry about that but I have been busy elsewhere in my life and online. I have created a kickstarter page for my novel: Run, Clarissa, Run.
Run, Clarissa, Run

Check it out. I hope you like it.

Sunday, 11 December 2011

The Transsexual Registry

So there's this you tube video about starting a "Transsexual Registry" (Link here).

It's hate speech pure and simple. I should be horribly offended and appalled. But this guy is so crazy all I can do is laugh. He's terrified that he might accidentally date a transsexual without knowing it. In the now banned facebook page he states that one of dangers of dating a transsexual is that once you find out you might keep dating them!

In the video he refers to men as "born a penis." I agree that at least one man out there was certainly born a penis, but that's beside the point.

Then there is the fact that he has what appears to be a negligee over his head to hide his face. The whole fact that he's covering his face tells us that he knows that what he's saying is shameful and he won't take credit for it. But a negligee? I am suddenly wondering if he's a closet case.

As if his hatefulness towards transwomen isn't enough, at the beginning he's ranting about how he knows there's something wrong with the country. How does he know this. Because day time television is mostly white or bi-racial people. I guess when blacks are forced off Jerry Springer our society is going to the dogs. Towards the end of his rant he starts comparing America to Asia. We don't want to become like Asia, now do we?

On an up note, the now banned facebook page had only four likes when I saw it, and there were already dozen's of complaints filed. Hopefully the youtube will go about as fast.

And remember everyone, You got stay on your toes to tell who's a boy and who's a girl.

Saturday, 03 December 2011

Virtual Book Tour

I have a collection of short stories out ( Tales the Wind Told Me available at: https://www.createspace.com/3658740 ). I have been selling it locally and it's going okay, not great but okay. Actually if you take into account how poorly most books sell, it's going really well, but that's another story.

I also created an ebook version. (Tales the Wind Told Me available at Smashwordshttp://www.smashwords.com/books/view/100193 or on the kindle by searching for it.) The problem there is that I have absolutely no idea what you do to sell an ebook. None.

So after some research I came up with the idea of going on a virtual ebook tour with it. The beauty of a virtual book tour is that it doesn't cost anything and I don't have to leave home. The downside is that I don't get to leave home, but that's another story.

Here is how my virtual book tour will work, hopefully. I am looking for websites and blogs that will allow me to post as a guest on your site. I will talk about myself and my book, ideally in a way that ties into your site's purpose. I hope to hit about one site a week and to continue the tour as long as I have sites interested. I can write blogs or submit short video segments, depending on the format you prefer.

How it works for me:
If you are willing to be one of the stops on my tour let me know. You can email me directly at racheleliason at gmail dot com. You can also leave a message in the comments if you are on Xanga. If you have a specific topic you want to see let me know. (topic suggestions are listed below.) If not I will look at your site and try to come up with something that fits your site.

How it works for you:
I will have my post done at least a couple of weeks before the date of my "appearance" so that you can have time to read it. If there are any problems we can work those out before hand. On the desired date you post my blog or video. It's that simple.

The benefits for you:
I will send you a coupon code for my smashwords site, giving you a free copy of the book. I am willing to give you up to five more to use as a promotion. For example, the first five people to comment win a free copy of the book.

I will post a link on my blog for every "stop" I make and of course post it to facebook, etc. Hopefully I can bring a fair share of my readership over to your site.

The benefits for me:
I get to pitch my book and my writing to your readership. I am comfortable giving away a fair number of free copies of the ebook for two reasons. The first is that I am confident in my writing. If people read my book it will create a word of mouth buzz for it. Secondly free downloads are still downloads. If I can get the book being downloaded it will get higher on the search engines, which in turn makes it more likely that someone will stumble upon it.

That's the idea in a nutshell. I will be inquiring directly with some sites or blogs that I either know the owner well enough or feel are an obvious fit for this. This is my "soft sell" pitch to everyone else. If the idea intrigues you and you want your site included, please email me.

Final Hint: if your a writer yourself I would love to return the favor someday and have you on my site.

Topics I can discuss:

LGBT:
I am a transsexual woman. Several of my stories include LGBT characters or references. I can discuss LGBT issues, being an LGBT writer or writing about LGBT characters.

Pagan:
I am a pagan. Several of my stories are urban fantasy. I can write about modern magic, mythical story telling and how they relate to intuitive thinking.

Writer:
Of course I am a writer and quite willing to write about that. I can write about the process of publishing this book through Createspace, why I choose to self publish, etc. I can write about writing as well, the process and the writers life. I can write about marketing and how I am going about selling my book.

One of the stories has to do with the obesity epidemic and I am a nurse. I can write about health related issues as well.

These are only ideas to get us started. The broader the reach, especially from my point of view, the better.

Monday, 31 October 2011

The Penometer and Haters

With the kids school year well under way and political campaigning in full swing I would like to take a moment and say a quick word to school bullies and other haters out there. But first a short digression.

Are you aroused right now? Once upon a time I would have said the answer is between you and god. Then science came along. They have this device called a penometer. Yes, that's penometer, as in latin for "let's measure your penis." The penometer not only measures the circumference of your genitalia, it also measures its electrical conductivity. It can tell with startling accuracy when you are experiencing arousal, whether you are willing to admit this fact or not.

There are many possible uses to such a device I am sure. Just one example of things they can do with the penometer was a study done at University of Georgiaon men with negative attitudes about homosexuality. They asked these men a number of questions to ascertain just how negative these attitudes were, attached the penometer and turned on some gay porn. sounds like a good time to me.

What this study showed was what the gay community has been saying for years, the more homophobic the man, the more likely he's in the closet about his own sexuality. Which brings me back to the haters.

You know who you are. School bullies, rednecks who like to yell F_G when you drive by a gay bar, republican congressmen, etc. I am not saying that every man who hates on the LGBT community is automatically in the closet, but a surprising number are.

So...The next time you feel the sudden urge to call some a F*g because of the way they dress or walk, or god forbid beat or kill someone because you think they are "throwing their lifestyle in my face" I would just like you to pause and consider for one minute what you are telling the rest of us about your sexuality. That is all.