Goodbye CD

The compact disc, otherwise known as a CD, may have three years before it disappears into oblivion, according to a recent issue of Rolling Stone. The magazine didn't mention its own life expectancy, but that would appear to be brief, as well. If the young folk who download music and have no use for an object they can look at and hold in their hand, how likely are they to read magazines?

Last month, Rolling Stone had semi-retired, 65-year-old David Bowie on its cover. The story inside was a nostalgic journey to Bowie's Ziggy Stardust heyday in the early 1970s. The latest issue gives us 69-year-old Paul McCartney. It would appear that the music periodical, once a voice of youth, now skews old and relies on middle-aged rock 'n' roll fans for its livelihood. As for the CD, it was introduced in 1982 and began to push the vinyl long-playing record into the cutout bins by end of the decade.Vinyl seems to have been around longer than the CD, but they also had a run of about 30 years.

Someday we may be downloading food directly into our stomachs with no need to use our mouths. The future, as portrayed in science-fiction of the past, is finally here. I must say it does not please me. The other day I read an article about technology in development that can read our minds.

Brave New World? Sounds like a hopeless one to me.

© 2012 Brian W. Fairbanks

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Limbaugh's Fluke

A Georgetown University law student named Sandra Fluke testified before Congress recently about the difficulty that women have paying for contraceptives that are not covered by health insurance plans. In her estimation, the average woman spends $3,000 a year to ensure their sexual encounters do not produce unwanted children. Someone who did the math concluded that a woman who needs $3,000 worth of contraceptives a year would have sex a minimum of three times a day. What kind of woman is that?

That kind of woman is a slut, said Rush Limbaugh. The loud-mouthed conservative radio star often makes statements that ignite controversy. It’s not often that he apologizes, but he did issue one for his remarks about Fluke after several sponsors pulled their advertising from his show. He regrets his “choice of words,” he says, but in this instance an apology isn't warranted. An unmarried woman whose contraceptive needs total $3,000 a year is, very likely, a whore. That's her business. Let her be a whore, but why should anyone be expected to pick up the bill for her sexual adventures?

There are plenty of people, male and female, who are not considered attractive enough to find sexual partners. What do they do to satisfy their sexual urges?

They masturbate. Those who have been deemed attractive enough to have their choice of partners can do the same if they choose. Women who do not choose the option of self-gratification or simply learn to do without can pay for their own birth control.

Society foots the bill too often for those who won’t take responsibility for their own actions. How many single mothers on welfare were promiscuous, refusing to live responsibly? A woman gets laid, gets pregnant, and sometimes she gets married. If the marriage was entered reluctantly, a divorce usually follows. While papa hits the road, or goes to jail, or simply can’t afford to care for the child that grew from his seed, mama and baby live on the dole. If mama goes back to school to try to rectify her earlier mistakes, she gets financial aid from the government which gets it from you and me. While she’s working toward a perfectly useless degree in Communications or Sports Management, the baby is in a taxpayer-funded day care center.

Of course, some women choose abortion to correct their failure of judgment. The slaughter isn’t free, of course, and we pay for that, too. It may be time to legalize prostitution. Let those women who simply must get laid pay for their contraceptives while they’re using them.

© 2012 Brian W. Fairbanks

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