Last night I was awake coughing. It was that annoying type where a phlegmy irritation is right at the front of the throat, when you cough it seems to be expelled, but then it reforms within seconds. It disturbs the household and possibly the neighbor on the other side of the apartment wall.

When we moved in three weeks ago we threw a lot of junk away, which included most of what was in our cupboards. So while I ended up buying a bottle of Ibu Wednesday morning it was now 2:00 am Friday, needing to be up for work in four hours, and there was no Ludens, Halls, Sucrets, Nice, Nyquil or Jim Beam in the house. No hard candies either. I didn't feel like throwing some clothes on and puttering to Safeway.

But there was something I could try, and I'll be damned but it worked almost instantaneously and for the rest of the night.

I had most of a bag of Ginger Chews available. Instead of eating it I decided to try it like a lozenge. Handling the product slower than normal meant my throat suddenly burned more than was usual but it wasn't even halfway dissolved before I no longer felt the need to cough anything out. I still have the occasional half-cough every twenty minutes or so but nothing matching the annoyance of last night.

I probably wouldn't have had the same results if my chest was congested or my tonsils were swollen. I also suspect something with not enough bite, such as Ginger Altoids, wouldn't have been good enough either.

Catholic baiting is the anti-Semitism of the liberals.
Peter Viereck, Yale Professor

I saw the silent movie It last night at The Wa. Center for the Performing Arts and before the movie rolled we were treated to a Gershwin medley played by Dennis James on their amazing organ. The organist's back is to us for those silent films, what with the curve of the organ and the player's position (add in my drowsiness), and I felt like I was on a great ship soaring through the night sky of Olympia. Organist at the prow, our captain.

It is very worth seeing, Timberland has copies. This is where the whole "It girl" thing started.

Is this the place to ask how we are doing with the spam filter that requires all my posts monitored or blocks them entirely?

I'm on Day 5, I think

http://thurstonblog.blogspot.com/

and he was using the link in his signature...

"Do not mistake for conspiracy and intrigue what can best be explained by stupidity and incompetence." - Unknown

Most likely the reason "Karla" deleted his post is because he decided to put it on his website and therefore control the message:

http://www.dsame.com/binn2007/WhyWeNeedMediaThatSupportsRadicalActivists.pdf

It is especially important for "Karla" to control his message because he wants us to believe that he is an immigrant Latina woman.

However, as far as I know:

1. "Karla" is not Latina.
2. "Karla" is not a woman.
3. "Karla" is not an immigrant.
4. "Karla" does not speak Spanish, other than "gracias."
5. "Karla Mendez" goes by several names, such as "T" and "Dsame," and has another account on OlyBlog, "moreinterestingstuff."
6. "Karla Mendez" is also the founder of several fake organizations of which he is the sole member, such as Multicultural Outreach Media and the Institute of PAMELA. (Actually, Karla is just the associate director of the Institute of PAMELA. Its other members are James, Jimmy, Joe, and Dr. Mary.)
7. When "Karla" is not busy creating organizations, he spends his time putting together "progressive" conferences and events, such as "LINK -Design for a Loving Future," "The International Free of Kings" conference, "Bias In Northwest News And Media Conference", "A World Beyond Capitalism" conference, etc.
8. When "Karla" gets tired of dissing WIP, he will publicly denounce OlyBlog with the same accusations, just as he previously did with Riseup.net and no doubt countless others.

"Karla" has assumed this particular identity in order to claim to speak for marginalized peoples.

I am neither Latina nor female, nor do I claim to be. However, I am a person of color and an immigrant, and "Karla" definitely does not speak on my behalf.

I am concerned with issues of racism and oppression, institutionalized and otherwise. If "Karla" was just as concerned about these issues, then he would know that it is extremely offensive to assume identities which are not his own and then cry "oppression."

Finally, Karla has criticized others for revealing that Karla is not his real name. His reason is as follows: "The most important aspect to an activist writer is privacy, privacy, privacy." I consider myself an activist, and I occasionally write. Yet I never use a pseudonym. Even if I were so concerned about privacy that I resorted to a pseudonym, I would still not pretend to be a blind, trans, Native, immigrant Muslim and then complain about being oppressed as such.

The world is full of people suffering from enough real oppression without having someone advocate on their behalf by co-opting their identities and pretending to cry their pain. I think the best "Karla" can do to help the oppression and marginalization of others is to do some introspection.

... to adequately express my gratitude to Phan for how consistently he applies his numerous and exceptional gifts for the betterment of all.

Thank you, Phan.

And, yes, I saved a copy of that PDF of Karla/T/etc's altered version of the Olyblog discussion.