This entire "debt ceiling" agreement was simply a "cave" on Obama's part…a complete capitulation. I believe he must be thinking that because he's the incumbent that he can do what he wants and Progressives and Dems will all vote for him; if only because he isn't a crazy GOP/TEA person...but he'd better think twice. This WILL lose him votes.
I doubt many Progressives will like this agreement, being that it still will threaten social programs (I don't believe a word of what they're currently saying about not touching them) and because it doesn't TOUCH the rich or the Corporate Fat Cats. I feel as though this agreement makes the point in the clearest possible way that only the rich really "rate" in this country. It's beginning to feel as though anyone but the top 2% needn't even vote (boy, they'd LOVE that!) because they're the only ones who get everything they want and nothing they don't.
In addition, the creation of this "super commission" is a bad thing on several counts; first of all, we already pay our elected officials in Congress to do the People's business...and THEY should be doing it, including whatever they seem to think that this commission will do. They already are overpaid for the amount of work they do, and their vacation schedule makes Europeans look like workaholics...are we now supposed to believe they don't have the TIME?? Besides...they're apparently going to have more power even than the Congress...so the things they do may be pushed through without the requisite notice to the People, the taxpayers who are the targets of the legislation. Even though these commission members will be drawn from people we elected (shudder), we DIDN'T elect them for this. There's too much secrecy already...we don't need a bunch of cloak and dagger crap from people whose salaries we pay.
The biggest reason of all not to support this is that this entire emergency was a ginned-up event, designed to scare everyone into doing things that no one in their right minds would vote for. It's exactly what happened after Sept. 11 when they passed the Patriot Act...and we still haven't gotten rid of that liberty-destroying, civil rights-ignoring legislation.
The FTC and other Consumer groups are always telling people how to avoid being scammed. They always start by telling you NEVER to sign when someone tells you that it's a "limited time offer", or that you'll lose by waiting. By that, you know that you're very likely being danced and that someone nefarious is trying to get his hands in your pocket. Consequently, I'm always queasy when the government starts telling me that it's an emergency and there's no time to research, decide, intervene, etc. -- because it means I'm probably getting hosed.
It's time to make the government "of the People, By the People and For the People" responsible TO the People again. Please...DON'T SUPPORT THIS BILL. In fact, not supporting it isn't enough...I want you to FIGHT IT. Call your Representatives in Congress and tell them NO. Email the White House, and entreat Obama NOT to sign this bill.
Don't give in to the manufactured fear...stand your ground and DEMAND that your Representatives represent YOU and the 98%, not just the Top 2% who put together this monstrosity.
Monday, August 01, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Pro-Choice, Pro-Life, and ORIGINAL SIN…
I'm convinced that Conservatives and Religionists want to make sure that women have no choice about giving birth...that it's meant to be part of our "punishment" for original sin. The Bible said (paraphrasing here) that women would bring forth children in sorrow and pain...and no matter whether or not a woman WANTS to be a mother, or SHOULD be a mother, or CAN AFFORD to be a mother, they want to make certain that we continue to be punished for a Dark Ages concept that has justified (and continues to justify) violence, hatred, abuse of all kinds, discrimination, etc. etc. against women.
The fact is that not everyone is suited to be a mother...and many cannot (and SHOULD NOT) handle it emotionally, financially, physically or otherwise. Woman also get the brunt of the responsibility for any children-emotionally, financially, physically and otherwise...so in the end, the decision should still lie largely with HER. I'm not suggesting that fathers have no rights or anything else...I'm merely suggesting that because biology and society have laid the bulk of the responsibility, pain and everything else about the birth of children at the feet of the mother, then she should be the one who makes the final decision.
How many grievous infanticides, etc. have we seen from mothers who were simply unable to cope for one reason or another with being a mom? And can ANYONE say that Casey Anthony is the kind of person who should have children? I don't see Conservatives trying to help these mothers, or feed and clothe these children. I don't see them recognizing that the Mother is first and foremost a PERSON, a human being, and that she has a right to govern her own body and reproductive capabilities...no, they prefer the rights of a creature that science cannot truly and completely define as viable at the point of conception (no matter what the Right will tell you about this...there has never been a zygote who could survive outside the mother at the point of conception, save the ones in the Petri dishes who are kept alive artificially).
Many men would be horrified if women were given a say in whether or not they could masturbate...or take Viagra...or "dip their wick" wherever they pleased regardless of marital status. Many men ARE horrified and angry over the laws requiring financial support of any progeny they provide half of the genetic material for (although many, many simply don't pay). Many men would be aghast if women (including the women in their lives) were given ANY SAY WHATSOEVER about whether or not they should FATHER children (this includes men who use the potential for having children as a manipulative tool over women as well as men who feel it's their PERSONAL AND SOLE DUTY to spread their seed and repopulate the Earth).
These same men, however, routinely believe that it is somehow THEIR right to decide whether a woman can plan her reproductive life, whether she can decide to have children or not...or how many...or how often. These men apparently miss the obvious double standard here. NO ONE should have the right to tell another that they should or shouldn't have children; Male or Female. No one can or should guess whether anyone else is fit to be a parent (sometimes it may seem more obvious than others, but still...). In spite of all that, there is a huge group of men (and the women they've cowed) who believe that the Congress of the United States (or even the Supreme Court) has a right to command women in this regard...to legislate the right (or in this case, the requirement) of women to have or NOT HAVE children.
Here's a news flash...there is NOTHING that grants anyone but the woman involved this right...NOTHING. Not the BIBLE, that massive mythology that underpins so much of the Conservatives' terrorism (that's right...I said it...TERRORISM); not the Church...and certainly not "Original Sin" which is perhaps the stupidest concept ever dreamt up. It was dreamt up by a belief system and Church structure that was jealous of women's biological ability to give birth, and of the matrilineal tribal/clan systems that held so much political and personal power through the ages. In order to disempower the Clan Mothers and the Wise Women, the Church demonized this most natural and biological of functions, forever damning it with the spectre of "ORIGINAL SIN".
By so doing, not only were women forever disempowered in the Faith, but they were also made the most convenient scapegoat for virtually everything...some men's inability to resist temptation, disease, even crop failure. It also gave them a terrible and effective weapon to use (and use it they did) in order to seize women's lands and chattel (which was the real cause of the witch and heretic murders committed through history) and which is now being used to justify the utter control of women's bodies and women's politics. It's WRONG...and it needs to be stopped.
I think you’d be hard put to find a even a single woman in a thousand (regardless of political stripe) who would tell you that they thought that abortion was a good idea. Even those who have had abortions are heavily conflicted about it, despising the necessity even while blessing the availability of it…but they would still tell anyone that there are certainly times when it can be a necessity, whether due to emotional or physical issues or to financial or physiological ones.
The image that many Conservatives have painted this issue with is one that shows the “modern woman”, who basically is a “slut” (one of their favorite words, not mine) and who uses abortion as “birth control”. Fiddle dee dee…! Far from being the truth, this is one of those evil propagandas that has made this entire subject such a hot button one. I feel quite confident in saying that this is simply never true.
Even if it were…wouldn’t that make Conservatives feel as though standard birth control would be a good alternative? You’d think so…and yet they have been going after not just abortion, but birth control and women’s access to it everywhere they think they can. They’ve attacked pharmacies who offer the “morning after pill” (which is NOT, whatever the Conservative’s may say, an ABORTION PILL). They’ve tried to attack our access to birth control economically, attempting to make it so that Insurance Companies don’t have to pay for it…a move which makes it a gross hardship for so many women. They seem to be making every effort to leave women of reproductive age WITHOUT ANY CHOICE AT ALL.
If Conservatives wanted to be decent humans about this, they’d spend more time considering how they might force ‘deadbeat Dads’ to pay support; or adopting more children who are put up for adoption (an alternative they’ve pushed for years, and yet the number of Conservative adoptive parents hasn’t gone up in any substantial way in all that time) or supporting counseling and birth control for drug addicts and alcoholics that would encourage them NOT to have children until they have gotten clean (while I support any woman’s right to have children, I honestly don’t believe that they should be allowed to or encouraged to if they are drug or alcohol addicted; anyone who has ever seen a crack baby, a drug/alcohol addicted child, or a baby dying of AIDS would understand). They would STOP trying to destroy the Health Care Bill and any social safety net the Government provides for women and children. BUT THEY DON’T DO ANY OF THESE THINGS…which to me, at least, puts their “sincere concern” about the health and welfare of these children in grave doubt.
The Conservative Right continues to make this a major plank of their platform, no matter what other major crises are happening. They’ve tried to slide it through buried in other legislation, and I expect they will continue to do so…but women need to rise up and tell them that WE WILL NOT ACCEPT IT. THEY HAVE NO POWER OVER US, AND WE WILL NOT LET THEM GAIN ANY. IT IS NOT THEIR RIGHT TO TELL US WHAT TO DO WITH OUR BODIES – OR TO LEGISLATE OUR FAMILY PLANNING CHOICES IN ANY WAY. IT IS AND SHOULD REMAIN A WOMAN’S RIGHT ONLY.
Fight their insistence on attacking us through legislation, shaming, and other ways. Tell them we will no longer accept ANY males legislating something that is only a woman’s issue…and in particular…tell them that “Original Sin” is bullshit and we will not be beaten with it anymore. Christianity should NOT be a weapon!
To Quote the brilliant Florynce Kennedy: "IF MEN COULD GET PREGNANT, ABORTION WOULD BE A SACRAMENT".
The fact is that not everyone is suited to be a mother...and many cannot (and SHOULD NOT) handle it emotionally, financially, physically or otherwise. Woman also get the brunt of the responsibility for any children-emotionally, financially, physically and otherwise...so in the end, the decision should still lie largely with HER. I'm not suggesting that fathers have no rights or anything else...I'm merely suggesting that because biology and society have laid the bulk of the responsibility, pain and everything else about the birth of children at the feet of the mother, then she should be the one who makes the final decision.
How many grievous infanticides, etc. have we seen from mothers who were simply unable to cope for one reason or another with being a mom? And can ANYONE say that Casey Anthony is the kind of person who should have children? I don't see Conservatives trying to help these mothers, or feed and clothe these children. I don't see them recognizing that the Mother is first and foremost a PERSON, a human being, and that she has a right to govern her own body and reproductive capabilities...no, they prefer the rights of a creature that science cannot truly and completely define as viable at the point of conception (no matter what the Right will tell you about this...there has never been a zygote who could survive outside the mother at the point of conception, save the ones in the Petri dishes who are kept alive artificially).
Many men would be horrified if women were given a say in whether or not they could masturbate...or take Viagra...or "dip their wick" wherever they pleased regardless of marital status. Many men ARE horrified and angry over the laws requiring financial support of any progeny they provide half of the genetic material for (although many, many simply don't pay). Many men would be aghast if women (including the women in their lives) were given ANY SAY WHATSOEVER about whether or not they should FATHER children (this includes men who use the potential for having children as a manipulative tool over women as well as men who feel it's their PERSONAL AND SOLE DUTY to spread their seed and repopulate the Earth).
These same men, however, routinely believe that it is somehow THEIR right to decide whether a woman can plan her reproductive life, whether she can decide to have children or not...or how many...or how often. These men apparently miss the obvious double standard here. NO ONE should have the right to tell another that they should or shouldn't have children; Male or Female. No one can or should guess whether anyone else is fit to be a parent (sometimes it may seem more obvious than others, but still...). In spite of all that, there is a huge group of men (and the women they've cowed) who believe that the Congress of the United States (or even the Supreme Court) has a right to command women in this regard...to legislate the right (or in this case, the requirement) of women to have or NOT HAVE children.
Here's a news flash...there is NOTHING that grants anyone but the woman involved this right...NOTHING. Not the BIBLE, that massive mythology that underpins so much of the Conservatives' terrorism (that's right...I said it...TERRORISM); not the Church...and certainly not "Original Sin" which is perhaps the stupidest concept ever dreamt up. It was dreamt up by a belief system and Church structure that was jealous of women's biological ability to give birth, and of the matrilineal tribal/clan systems that held so much political and personal power through the ages. In order to disempower the Clan Mothers and the Wise Women, the Church demonized this most natural and biological of functions, forever damning it with the spectre of "ORIGINAL SIN".
By so doing, not only were women forever disempowered in the Faith, but they were also made the most convenient scapegoat for virtually everything...some men's inability to resist temptation, disease, even crop failure. It also gave them a terrible and effective weapon to use (and use it they did) in order to seize women's lands and chattel (which was the real cause of the witch and heretic murders committed through history) and which is now being used to justify the utter control of women's bodies and women's politics. It's WRONG...and it needs to be stopped.
I think you’d be hard put to find a even a single woman in a thousand (regardless of political stripe) who would tell you that they thought that abortion was a good idea. Even those who have had abortions are heavily conflicted about it, despising the necessity even while blessing the availability of it…but they would still tell anyone that there are certainly times when it can be a necessity, whether due to emotional or physical issues or to financial or physiological ones.
The image that many Conservatives have painted this issue with is one that shows the “modern woman”, who basically is a “slut” (one of their favorite words, not mine) and who uses abortion as “birth control”. Fiddle dee dee…! Far from being the truth, this is one of those evil propagandas that has made this entire subject such a hot button one. I feel quite confident in saying that this is simply never true.
Even if it were…wouldn’t that make Conservatives feel as though standard birth control would be a good alternative? You’d think so…and yet they have been going after not just abortion, but birth control and women’s access to it everywhere they think they can. They’ve attacked pharmacies who offer the “morning after pill” (which is NOT, whatever the Conservative’s may say, an ABORTION PILL). They’ve tried to attack our access to birth control economically, attempting to make it so that Insurance Companies don’t have to pay for it…a move which makes it a gross hardship for so many women. They seem to be making every effort to leave women of reproductive age WITHOUT ANY CHOICE AT ALL.
If Conservatives wanted to be decent humans about this, they’d spend more time considering how they might force ‘deadbeat Dads’ to pay support; or adopting more children who are put up for adoption (an alternative they’ve pushed for years, and yet the number of Conservative adoptive parents hasn’t gone up in any substantial way in all that time) or supporting counseling and birth control for drug addicts and alcoholics that would encourage them NOT to have children until they have gotten clean (while I support any woman’s right to have children, I honestly don’t believe that they should be allowed to or encouraged to if they are drug or alcohol addicted; anyone who has ever seen a crack baby, a drug/alcohol addicted child, or a baby dying of AIDS would understand). They would STOP trying to destroy the Health Care Bill and any social safety net the Government provides for women and children. BUT THEY DON’T DO ANY OF THESE THINGS…which to me, at least, puts their “sincere concern” about the health and welfare of these children in grave doubt.
The Conservative Right continues to make this a major plank of their platform, no matter what other major crises are happening. They’ve tried to slide it through buried in other legislation, and I expect they will continue to do so…but women need to rise up and tell them that WE WILL NOT ACCEPT IT. THEY HAVE NO POWER OVER US, AND WE WILL NOT LET THEM GAIN ANY. IT IS NOT THEIR RIGHT TO TELL US WHAT TO DO WITH OUR BODIES – OR TO LEGISLATE OUR FAMILY PLANNING CHOICES IN ANY WAY. IT IS AND SHOULD REMAIN A WOMAN’S RIGHT ONLY.
Fight their insistence on attacking us through legislation, shaming, and other ways. Tell them we will no longer accept ANY males legislating something that is only a woman’s issue…and in particular…tell them that “Original Sin” is bullshit and we will not be beaten with it anymore. Christianity should NOT be a weapon!
To Quote the brilliant Florynce Kennedy: "IF MEN COULD GET PREGNANT, ABORTION WOULD BE A SACRAMENT".
Dear Mr. President:
I want to commend you on the patience and restraint it must've taken to walk the "middle path" over these debt negotiations. I admire what seems like your intense wish to be bi-partisan, too, and I know that you must feel almost overwhelmed sometimes, as though there isn't an answer.
For all your good efforts, I feel like now is the time to take conscious and deliberate action. Your predecessors have used Executive Orders many times, and although I know that they were frequently beat on for having done so, I feel as though this situation merits such an action more than any other has. I also believe that you MUST use a "recess appointment" for the wonderful Elizabeth Warren to head up the new Consumer Agency. I know you want to think that there is a bi-partisan way to achieve all this without taking the "nuclear option", but I strongly believe that not to be the case.
Yes, you WILL hear about using either and both of these methods-but you will hear about it anyway. The other side has made it their raison d'etre' to make you a "1 term President" as you know. Nothing you do will escape their reproach, but they and their obstructionist tendencies (not to mention their treasonous tendencies in trying to hold us all hostage so that the country will fall under their control) must NOT be allowed to control the conversation anymore.
They have shown themselves to be autocrats and despots rather than Patriots; and you surely know that the only way for bad to succeed is for good people like yourself to do nothing. YOU MUST ACT-decisively, incisively and FAST.
Please-if you allow them to call the tune now, this country will never again be free from their control, and we will all be held hostage whenever the other side wishes to get their way. This is not a party-centric conversation...I frankly consider myself a member of neither party. Anyone can see, though, what the GOP is trying to do, and it will cause no less than the total destruction of our Democracy and the surrender of this Great Country to the wealthy and unprincipled, to the fanatic and uncompassionate. This country MUST be better than that-to be a great country once again, we must relearn how to be a GOOD country.
Please, Mr. Obama-help us become a GOOD country once again. I realize there is an election on the horizon; but right now, it is the fate of America that matters.
Respectfully,
Nevada S. Huaute
For all your good efforts, I feel like now is the time to take conscious and deliberate action. Your predecessors have used Executive Orders many times, and although I know that they were frequently beat on for having done so, I feel as though this situation merits such an action more than any other has. I also believe that you MUST use a "recess appointment" for the wonderful Elizabeth Warren to head up the new Consumer Agency. I know you want to think that there is a bi-partisan way to achieve all this without taking the "nuclear option", but I strongly believe that not to be the case.
Yes, you WILL hear about using either and both of these methods-but you will hear about it anyway. The other side has made it their raison d'etre' to make you a "1 term President" as you know. Nothing you do will escape their reproach, but they and their obstructionist tendencies (not to mention their treasonous tendencies in trying to hold us all hostage so that the country will fall under their control) must NOT be allowed to control the conversation anymore.
They have shown themselves to be autocrats and despots rather than Patriots; and you surely know that the only way for bad to succeed is for good people like yourself to do nothing. YOU MUST ACT-decisively, incisively and FAST.
Please-if you allow them to call the tune now, this country will never again be free from their control, and we will all be held hostage whenever the other side wishes to get their way. This is not a party-centric conversation...I frankly consider myself a member of neither party. Anyone can see, though, what the GOP is trying to do, and it will cause no less than the total destruction of our Democracy and the surrender of this Great Country to the wealthy and unprincipled, to the fanatic and uncompassionate. This country MUST be better than that-to be a great country once again, we must relearn how to be a GOOD country.
Please, Mr. Obama-help us become a GOOD country once again. I realize there is an election on the horizon; but right now, it is the fate of America that matters.
Respectfully,
Nevada S. Huaute
Sunday, May 22, 2011
To:The Faithful Two Million From:HaroldCamping RE: Last Rapture Note to Followers
Well...I don't have much time. The Angels are here to "Rapture" (EnRapture?? ) the old lady and me, and they told me not to take too long getting ready. After all the millions you've all given for all the billboards, pamphlets and painted RV's, I thought I owed you an explanation for when you find my clothes draped emptily on the ground (that's one bad part about this...I hadn't seen the old lady naked in years! Uggghhhh...not lookin' forward to THAT!<shudder>).
Boy, it's true what your momma always told you about wearing clean underwear...can you imagine if, when the unbelievers find the believer's clothes left behind, they found skidmarks?
I'm taking the money...I mean, c'MON! I figure it oughta be enough to get me that seat on the Right Hand of God...or at least to park half a cheek on a heavenly barstool. By now you all know that I've made millions off of you all...I know the IRS hosed me by releasing those numbers to the media...boy, was I pissed! It's not like it wasn't necessary...I mean, Viagra is damned expensive, and finding young women who don't mind shtupping an old guy costs some cheddar too. Good porn is pretty damned dear these days as well.
Not that young women were all I wanted...I mean, it's true what Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg said on their latest SNL Digital Short...It's Not Gay If It's In A Threesome (and the girls really DO like ‘helicopter dick’...except my helicopter suffers these days from blade droop, know what I'm sayin'?) I mean, with enough coke and enough X, you can get pretty much anything you want.
The ol' lady wasn't happy...I had to keep reminding her to have faith...BLIND faith...as in "Look the other way while the Sacred Head of your Household is gettin' some"! She was okay with it in the beginning...I mean, she figured it saved HER the mess and the aggravation...but as time went on, she started needing Rufies in her Ovaltine every night...then every afternoon too.
She suspected something was going on when she woke up once to see us all sitting there naked, eating pizza and hitting the bong...but I told her it was a dream sent from the Devil...and she BELIEVED ME! You gotta love this "Man rules the house" thing in religion...it really makes things a lot easier when I'm hitting some little Lindsay Lohan analog in the gourmet kitchen (that was thanks to your donations, too...booyah!).
But I digress...before I go, there are some things I need to mention. Apparently I was off on my calculations by a day...my bad! Here was I, being all pissed off when Judgment Day came and went and NO RAPTURE...not even a friggin' "good mood" for fuck's sake. Then when I heard on the news about the Volcano in Finland...or Iceland...shit, I dunno...never could keep those Bjork-sounding mo-fo's straight...anyway, I looked at the wife and said "Shit howdy, Shirl...I must've cocked the date up again...it must actually be TODAY!".
Guess I was off a bit when I said it would begin in Asia, too...what can I say? Geography was never my strong suit...nor, I guess, was Math...color me sheepish, since I was a Mathematician and engineer before I figured out that Religion was where the money really is. I had only said it would start in Asia because I thought they surely had it coming for being Buddhists and shit...and surely God would want to start his reaping there...who knew God was a Reapist? Sorry...just trying to get a few more yuks in before being hauled up to Heaven...I understand they're pretty humorless up there.
Anyway...since I'm leaving with all y'all's money, I can understand that you might be having some crisis of Faith...but don't. SOMEONE will come along soon tofleece…uh…enlighten you, and maybe they'll be better at math than I've been! Cripe...the Angels have been reminding me how many times I've screwed up the date...but c'mon! D'ya know how many damned calendars have been in use through history? Well...I didn't...that's part of the problem, I guess.
As to you all wondering why you're not ALL being "Raptured" too...well...what the Angels are telling me is that your faith just wasn't...uh...FAITHY enough. Well, that and the fact that it turns out that Heaven is kinda like a gated community, and you buggers are kinda like the Pizza boys...you can come in to bring me lots of good stuff, but in the end you still can't live there, y'know? And all that stuff you've always heard about St. Peter keeping the book? Well, he's really just a glorified bouncer ("glorified"-damn, that's pretty funny!) and he ain't gonna let y'all in, even if you say you know me. Don't feel bad about it...even Kirk Cameron got screwed over...bet he's mad as hell, especially after all those "Left Behind" movies. Gee, Kirk, I guess you helped make all that sappy, sucky cinema for NOTHING! PSYCH! Sorry...I don't make the rules...I just make money teaching 'em to you poor ass clowns!
Well...the Angels are starting to get pissed at the delay, so I'd better go. Don't be angry about the money...I mean, seriously...you guys gave me all your money and quit your jobs...just because a pension-aged Mathmetician (I know...not a good one!) told you to do it? I mean, if it hadn't been me taking your money, it would've been some other religious huckster, or maybe some Nigerian scam. Jeezy Chreezy...folks like you make it just too damned easy. People like you make me think that Sarah Palin might actually have a goddamn chance in 2012. What the hell is your malfunction, you crazy b-yotches?
Hmmm...wait...what's this? My wife is telling me she's NOT going? Woo hoo...SCORE! That should make getting some action up there a lot easier for the Campster. Huh? Whatta you mean, you're not Angels? Are you shitting me? Wait, what's that freakin' hypodermic for? Oh, man, that is COLD, Shirley....really cold. Not only am I NOT going to Heaven...but she's having me strait-jacketed and admitted to Camarillo on a recommendation from Dr. Phil...SONOVABITCH! Bad enough to be stuck in the nuthatch...but to be there on a word from a friggin' TV shrink? Whatsa matter, Phil...Britney too sane for you to fuck with nowadays?
The ol' ball and chain says that she's had it with me and my asshat predictions and is gonna take the money and hit the road with Pat Robertson. Boy...you keep a woman in her place for 39 years and this is how she pays you back...goddamn Feminazis...Rush was right. God shoulda left our ribs alone, and let us just keep on wankin' it...we'd have been alot better off...or maybe instead of Him creating women, we could've all just been homos...I mean, they do it in prison, right? She's telling me now that they gay it up in the booby hatch too...I guess it's true that God never closes a door but that he opens a window...better start workin' my helicopter, can I get a what what?
Well...guess that's it. Who'da thunk it? The Rapture's an epic FAIL, my ol' lady's taking it on the lam with a crazy-ass Republican (to his credit, he does have a TV Show) and I'm on the way to the Goodyear Hilton. This totes sucks, man...but hey...at least there'll be a whole new crop of believers there in Camarillo. Just gimme a calendar, a Bible and a calculator...I feel a Rapture comin' on!
Boy, it's true what your momma always told you about wearing clean underwear...can you imagine if, when the unbelievers find the believer's clothes left behind, they found skidmarks?
I'm taking the money...I mean, c'MON! I figure it oughta be enough to get me that seat on the Right Hand of God...or at least to park half a cheek on a heavenly barstool. By now you all know that I've made millions off of you all...I know the IRS hosed me by releasing those numbers to the media...boy, was I pissed! It's not like it wasn't necessary...I mean, Viagra is damned expensive, and finding young women who don't mind shtupping an old guy costs some cheddar too. Good porn is pretty damned dear these days as well.
Not that young women were all I wanted...I mean, it's true what Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg said on their latest SNL Digital Short...It's Not Gay If It's In A Threesome (and the girls really DO like ‘helicopter dick’...except my helicopter suffers these days from blade droop, know what I'm sayin'?) I mean, with enough coke and enough X, you can get pretty much anything you want.
The ol' lady wasn't happy...I had to keep reminding her to have faith...BLIND faith...as in "Look the other way while the Sacred Head of your Household is gettin' some"! She was okay with it in the beginning...I mean, she figured it saved HER the mess and the aggravation...but as time went on, she started needing Rufies in her Ovaltine every night...then every afternoon too.
She suspected something was going on when she woke up once to see us all sitting there naked, eating pizza and hitting the bong...but I told her it was a dream sent from the Devil...and she BELIEVED ME! You gotta love this "Man rules the house" thing in religion...it really makes things a lot easier when I'm hitting some little Lindsay Lohan analog in the gourmet kitchen (that was thanks to your donations, too...booyah!).
But I digress...before I go, there are some things I need to mention. Apparently I was off on my calculations by a day...my bad! Here was I, being all pissed off when Judgment Day came and went and NO RAPTURE...not even a friggin' "good mood" for fuck's sake. Then when I heard on the news about the Volcano in Finland...or Iceland...shit, I dunno...never could keep those Bjork-sounding mo-fo's straight...anyway, I looked at the wife and said "Shit howdy, Shirl...I must've cocked the date up again...it must actually be TODAY!".
Guess I was off a bit when I said it would begin in Asia, too...what can I say? Geography was never my strong suit...nor, I guess, was Math...color me sheepish, since I was a Mathematician and engineer before I figured out that Religion was where the money really is. I had only said it would start in Asia because I thought they surely had it coming for being Buddhists and shit...and surely God would want to start his reaping there...who knew God was a Reapist? Sorry...just trying to get a few more yuks in before being hauled up to Heaven...I understand they're pretty humorless up there.
Anyway...since I'm leaving with all y'all's money, I can understand that you might be having some crisis of Faith...but don't. SOMEONE will come along soon to
As to you all wondering why you're not ALL being "Raptured" too...well...what the Angels are telling me is that your faith just wasn't...uh...FAITHY enough. Well, that and the fact that it turns out that Heaven is kinda like a gated community, and you buggers are kinda like the Pizza boys...you can come in to bring me lots of good stuff, but in the end you still can't live there, y'know? And all that stuff you've always heard about St. Peter keeping the book? Well, he's really just a glorified bouncer ("glorified"-damn, that's pretty funny!) and he ain't gonna let y'all in, even if you say you know me. Don't feel bad about it...even Kirk Cameron got screwed over...bet he's mad as hell, especially after all those "Left Behind" movies. Gee, Kirk, I guess you helped make all that sappy, sucky cinema for NOTHING! PSYCH! Sorry...I don't make the rules...I just make money teaching 'em to you poor ass clowns!
Well...the Angels are starting to get pissed at the delay, so I'd better go. Don't be angry about the money...I mean, seriously...you guys gave me all your money and quit your jobs...just because a pension-aged Mathmetician (I know...not a good one!) told you to do it? I mean, if it hadn't been me taking your money, it would've been some other religious huckster, or maybe some Nigerian scam. Jeezy Chreezy...folks like you make it just too damned easy. People like you make me think that Sarah Palin might actually have a goddamn chance in 2012. What the hell is your malfunction, you crazy b-yotches?
Hmmm...wait...what's this? My wife is telling me she's NOT going? Woo hoo...SCORE! That should make getting some action up there a lot easier for the Campster. Huh? Whatta you mean, you're not Angels? Are you shitting me? Wait, what's that freakin' hypodermic for? Oh, man, that is COLD, Shirley....really cold. Not only am I NOT going to Heaven...but she's having me strait-jacketed and admitted to Camarillo on a recommendation from Dr. Phil...SONOVABITCH! Bad enough to be stuck in the nuthatch...but to be there on a word from a friggin' TV shrink? Whatsa matter, Phil...Britney too sane for you to fuck with nowadays?
The ol' ball and chain says that she's had it with me and my asshat predictions and is gonna take the money and hit the road with Pat Robertson. Boy...you keep a woman in her place for 39 years and this is how she pays you back...goddamn Feminazis...Rush was right. God shoulda left our ribs alone, and let us just keep on wankin' it...we'd have been alot better off...or maybe instead of Him creating women, we could've all just been homos...I mean, they do it in prison, right? She's telling me now that they gay it up in the booby hatch too...I guess it's true that God never closes a door but that he opens a window...better start workin' my helicopter, can I get a what what?
Well...guess that's it. Who'da thunk it? The Rapture's an epic FAIL, my ol' lady's taking it on the lam with a crazy-ass Republican (to his credit, he does have a TV Show) and I'm on the way to the Goodyear Hilton. This totes sucks, man...but hey...at least there'll be a whole new crop of believers there in Camarillo. Just gimme a calendar, a Bible and a calculator...I feel a Rapture comin' on!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Refusing to Live in Fear...
Okay...I wrote the following in response to an email I received. In it, it was telling us to "remember to vote in November" because now, schools in Great Britain and elsewhere were taking teaching of the Holocaust out of their curricula in order not to 'offend' Muslim students. I looked it up immediately on Snopes.com...and of course, found out that it isn't completely true as written...but something that was extrapolated and blown up by the British tabloid (read: "yellow" ) press. Thanks to Snopes.com for the wonderful information they provide...the info that prompted this particular rant can be found at http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/holocaust.asp. So here we go...
Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about this one…it’s not true. ONE school in the U.K. pulled the Holocaust from its curriculum, not because it would offend Muslim students, but because they feared an anti-Semitic backlash against their Jewish students. It was just the one school…and it was quickly remedied…but the yellow journalism of the British Tabloids trumpeted that this was going to be all over the country. NOT TRUE. Right now, the Holocaust is required teaching both in the United States and in the U.K., in all schools, in all grades.
The attacks on the Towers were committed by a small group of RADICALS, who happened to be Muslims. I do not personally judge all Muslims by this atrocity, no more than I judge all Christians by the fact that Timothy McVeigh called himself a Christian. We have to fight hard not to give in to the fear that some folks in the world would have us give in to. I have personally known many, many Muslims in my life…and I have consistently found them to be lovely people…full of warmth and hospitality, and ready to help in any situation. Their kindness and generosity has always been an inspiration, and far from hating them, I find myself wishing that we could be as kind and generous as most of them are.
There are nutters in every group in the world…whether religious or secular, any group you get into will have a couple of people who have no “governor” in their heads…no personal conscience or good judgment that will stop them from doing radical, stupid and harmful things. Do we hate and fear the Postal Service because some of their number have gone na-na and killed lots of people? Do we hate and fear high schoolers for the same reason? The Boston Strangler was a Catholic…do we hate and fear them? Now, we have a president who spent some time in a Muslim country as a child, and was schooled (briefly) in a Madrassa. He has been perfectly upfront about it, not seeking to hide it in any way. We cannot seek to find a causative relationship between these facts and the fact that the Towers were attacked by Extremist Muslims.
The only danger we are in now is from our own fears. Any extremists who might wish us ill don’t have to spend a dime or give their lives…they have our fear to make them happy. Every time an extremist sees Americans lose ONE MORE FREEDOM in pursuit of “security”…they smile. Their extremism is based on their jealousy and hatred of the American way of life, and of our Liberties. It’s like a caged animal who tries to bite the hand of someone on the outside…when your own liberty is non-existent or dependent on despots, then of course you’re going to dislike everyone who isn’t in the cage with you. These extremists are like caged creatures…trying to bite, trying to destroy anything and anyone that represents a freedom that THEY DON’T HAVE. These people live, they thrive on our fear…and we must stop feeding them.
I’m not suggesting that we not protect ourselves…but we have to do it within reason, and we MUST STOP giving into all of this fear. There are people within our own country who thrive on that fear, because it enables them to enrich themselves and their buddies at our expense. Modern life is dangerous…but that doesn’t mean that we have to consume ourselves with fear. Life is to be lived…and would a loving God have given us such a beautiful world and such wonderful families and friends if all we were to do is to be consumed in fear and hatred? I don’t believe so…and I refuse, as an American Citizen, to live in fear. I will take intelligent and necessary precautions…but I will not spend my every waking moment worrying about who is coming to get us…or worrying that the childhood education of a President makes him a terrorist, or even someone who will give in to terrorists. I don’t believe it. I don’t believe that Islam is a religion of evil or menace, either…no more than I believe that Christianity, (which has done some damned crazy things in the name of religion throughout history) is inherently evil.
I’ve read the Koran…I know what it says…and I know that Muslims believe in Peace as much as we do…and that they and their families crave it the way I believe all normal humans do. I cannot speak to the mindset of extremists…for they are aberrations of humanity…something so far outside of normal that no one can predict or assume what they will or will not do. We have seen many, many cases of horror on our own soil and on the soil of the world, committed by American Citizens…and yet we do not fear and hate ourselves, nor should we. These are all cases of extremism…and just because they yell loudly, chant “Death to America” or surge in seemingly endless numbers doesn’t mean they are a majority. They are a minority…in the religion of Islam as in Christianity…and we should not continue to give them the credence that builds their spirits.
Their biggest recruiting chip is the fear of the American people…and that of the people of the World. Our refusal to give in to the fear they engender doesn’t make them stronger…far from it, it weakens them in mind and spirit until perhaps even they will be able to see that their cause has no traction.
Refuse to give in to the fear…refuse to be cowed. Sure, there could always be another attack…from them, or even from within our own borders…but there’s no way to predict it…and if we can’t predict it and we can’t change it…then why should we fear it? What happens, happens. Our greatest fear should be that we will become a people so destroyed by fear and caution that we will no longer represent that “shining city on the hill”…that we will no longer provide the example and the hope of and to the rest of the world, and to future generations. Would we be remembered as a proud, strong, free people? Or will they remember us as a people who once had the right idea…but surrendered it in a fit of fear and loathing? Will we live the life we’ve been given, or will we allow a small portion of the population to control where we go and what we do, simply because we are afraid? Will we enjoy every bit of the wonderful life that we have, or will we slink into our graves, a beaten and a fear-conquered people?
It is up to us…and I know what I will choose. Do you?
"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”…
(attributed to Benjamin Franklin)
(attributed to Benjamin Franklin)
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Remembering September 11 : Different is NOT evil...
You say you will never forget where you were on September 11…but I will never forget the lessons I learned at the knees of my parents and in school, about the proud, brave people who first plied these shores, and the proud, brave people they found when they got here.
These people had been repressed in Britain…France…Germany…Spain…other places in Europe. Repressed not because they were criminals…or bad people…or terrorists…but because their beliefs in God were different from those in power. Read that carefully…these people had done nothing wrong…they merely didn’t believe as the leaders of their countries believed, and that was enough to buy you at the least, torture and misery; and at the worst, death.
The people they met when they set foot on these shores did not know what to think of these creatures…but although there were altercations from time to time over food or land, the Native American Indians never punished anyone because of their different beliefs. In fact, many tribes took what they learned from the Old World Settlers and incorporated it into their own belief systems. It wasn’t hard for them to understand the concept of One God…they believed that the God of the Indians, the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka, was the same as the God of the White Man. Just because the settlers called Him by different names didn’t mean that He wasn’t the same, and this concept was broadly accepted.
All people who believe in a God of any sort believe that he (or she!) is omnipotent and omniscient. If this is true…then there really is only ONE GOD. My South Asian neighbors are polytheists; they have many Gods and Goddesses in their Pantheon…but there is still a main Creator God, whom they call Vishnu. My African brothers and sisters call him by many names, depending on where they’re from and what their belief system is. My Muslim friends call him Allah…not because (and please pay close attention here, this is IMPORTANT) he is a different God from the God of the Christians…but because Allah is the name with which they address God in their tongue.
What is it about Christians that makes them think that they have a corner on the Truth? A monopoly on God? When this great country was founded on the principals of freedom of Religion (and from it, too!), why is it that we in the modern day are so ready to surrender one of our dearest principles just to keep a mosque from being built?
First of all…the mosque is NOT at “Ground Zero”. It is several blocks away. I fail to see how this is an insult to anyone. Secondly…Muslims were amongst the folks who died in the towers…so when we’re spending today mourning all of those poor souls, HOW ON EARTH can we ignore the Muslims among them? Thirdly…and this is critical…GROUND ZERO IS NOT HALLOWED GROUND. If it is, then so is every highway, every bridge and many of the homes in this country, since Americans have died in/on these too. Ground Zero is a cemetery, true…and certainly there are things that would truly be inappropriate to build there; a Gas Station, a Casino, a Race Track…Trump Towers. But a mosque (in addition to being a community center) is a place of worship. Just because it’s not a Christian Church doesn’t mean it’s not a church. What is more appropriate than a place of worship to occupy that place?
As to the connection between Islam and the brain-addled, fringe radicals that took down the towers…well, they’re as alike as chalk and cheese. We don’t hate all Christians just because several amongst their number have made utterly stupid statements in the press, and we don’t hate all Christians just because one of their number killed 168 people at Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh considered himself a Christian…and yet, instead of blaming all Christians, we point to the fact that he was a member of a Militia movement; a RADICAL. Blaming all of Islam for the actions of these particular idiots would be the same…and not allowing a mosque to be built on a piece of land that is near the fallen towers and not on top of them would be even worse.
The fact is, if you want terrorism, you need look no farther than the Bible. People who considered themselves Godly were hacking each other to pieces rather frequently. Christians believe that God created Humankind…and if that is so, did He not create the Muslims as well? Are they not Children of God, just as much as any Christian? Any Jew?
We, as Americans, have taken a lot of hits to our reputation in the World in the last decade or so…there are many situations and images which have put the lie to the very principles upon which this Country is founded…will anyone forget where they were when the photos of the insane degradation and human cruelty at Abu Ghraib came out? Was that Christian? Was it Godly?
Wouldn’t we feel wronged, horribly wronged, if the Muslim world were to infer our individual characters from those of the knuckle-dragging little cretins who wore the uniforms of the United States in that hellhole? And yet, they could…I expect many did. But that is every bit as unfair as us inferring the nature of Muslims from that of the Muslims we’ve met on the 6 o’clock news…those who blow themselves and others up for glory. These people are aberrations…just like Timothy McVeigh was.
Muslims have been here in America for a long time, and yet…did any one of us stop to think about the kind of people they were before September 11th? Did we ever take notice of the charity they do (not only to Muslims, but to many different agencies and groups)? Did any of us have Muslim friends? And on that day…that horrible day…did any of us stop to think that perhaps the people who flew those planes into the towers and into the fields that day were not from ANY ‘normal’ group…for people like this would be reviled in any truly Godly group or any truly Free Country.
No…the media smelled anger and blood on the wind, and fanned it into a flame with ignorance…and we bought it. There were Mosque burnings and defacing…attacks on innocent Muslims…anger and threats of Terrorism to avenge an act of Terrorism. Our President, while presenting a brave front to the country, failed utterly as a human being by hanging the sins of a few incorrigible miscreants on an entire country, on an entire Faith; and we, angry, hurt and confused…we followed him.
Ah, yes…Faith. It’s interesting to note that the people who feared the worst and thought the worst of Islam are amongst the same people who consider their Faith the strongest. People who believe that the God of the Christians (as though he’s different from the God of the Muslims or the God of the Jews or the God of the Kalahari Tribesmen) is Omniscient, Always Right and Destined to Win at the End of Days still found their faith foundering in the face of this terrible attack…but did they turn the other cheek, as exhorted to in their own Holy Book? No…they called for a war…not on a Country (at that point, we were at war in at least two) but on a people and on a faith.
Many Christians are quick (especially nowadays) to consider themselves victimized by the mere mention of something as innocuous as “Happy Holidays”, even where no insult was intended. They’re convinced that Christianity is under attack, the reality of which has never been accurately established. How do they think that Muslims feel when the reality of the attack on their faith is so obvious? How much Faith does someone really have when they’re so afraid of new ideas that they constantly spew hate and protest the rights of a group just because it isn’t their group…and want to destroy that group’s right to build their own place of worship, just because of some perceived connection to terrorism?
My Father was a United States Marine…my brothers and my husband are too. Like many Americans, my family goes back to the beginning of this great experiment in religious freedom…this America…and has fought and died on Her side more times than any of us can even count. I consider myself as committed and resolute a Patriot as any Tea Party member, as any family member of anyone lost in the towers, as much as anyone at Fox News (maybe more so, in truth!). Far from being insulted by the potential for a mosque near ‘Ground Zero’ I’m extremely heartened by the resilience of the American Spirit and the way that this mosque situation illustrates it.
Growing up, I was always warmed by what America represented…what She offered. She offered comfort to the Oppressed; Freedom to those who had been denied it; a path to God for those in whose path had been placed obstacles. Whatever someone was, whoever someone was in the Old World, they could be anyone or anything they wanted to here. This was the New World…a place that was created out of the best ideas, and whose war against the worst ideas was constant and watered with the blood of Patriots.
Granted that strength of purpose, so many amazing things have been created and committed in the name of and within the boundaries of this America. Would we stop this now? Would we surrender our highest principles for this reason? For ANY reason? NO! Until now, we have not…we cannot…WE MUST NOT. The blood of those who fought and died for these very principles calls on us all to remember the importance of them.
It’s easy to remember one’s principles when they are not being tried…the true test of the strength of our resolutions, the courage of our convictions is when they are tested…especially when they are tested on that self-same ground that we hold dear. The people who died in and around the towers were not heroes. This is not a sacrilege…merely a statement of fact. I daresay they would not have chosen to die in the towers if given a choice.
The real heroes were those who did their job on a day when all the rules were changed by several planes…the Police, the Fire Brigades, the Rescue Searchers. These are people who knew the job was dangerous when they took it, but who could ever have guessed to what extent when they each pinned on their individual badges?
These people and the warriors who for centuries have fought on the ground of this country and others to maintain the principles we hold dear…these are the true heroes. But if someone had told them that the place and circumstances of their deaths would be used to deny people their rights to one of our most dearly held concepts…that of Religious Freedom…what do you think their reaction would be? No one can say…but my belief is that any heart that so treasured Freedom that it was willing to give its own life for it would be disappointed to see us use it for such a base purpose.
Let us not disappoint those who have fertilized Free soil with their remains…let us not prove ourselves unworthy of the beliefs and concepts of those who came before. Let us understand that we are Americans…we are strong enough to withstand the sight of a Mosque in such a special place…or any place. Let us find once again that amazing sense of community that filled us in the days immediately following the disaster…when we had realized, thanks to a harsh lesson, that Human Life is Fragile…and everyone’s life is unpredictable. When we saw each Man and Woman as Brother and Sister, and when we realized that America is more than just the sum of Her parts…that we were and are a Country…A Nation…a Spirit. That day, all of us as Americans were annealed in the furnace of Tragedy and became Burnished Gold.
Next September 11th, instead of remembering the sorrow and the pain, let us remember that.
These people had been repressed in Britain…France…Germany…Spain…other places in Europe. Repressed not because they were criminals…or bad people…or terrorists…but because their beliefs in God were different from those in power. Read that carefully…these people had done nothing wrong…they merely didn’t believe as the leaders of their countries believed, and that was enough to buy you at the least, torture and misery; and at the worst, death.
The people they met when they set foot on these shores did not know what to think of these creatures…but although there were altercations from time to time over food or land, the Native American Indians never punished anyone because of their different beliefs. In fact, many tribes took what they learned from the Old World Settlers and incorporated it into their own belief systems. It wasn’t hard for them to understand the concept of One God…they believed that the God of the Indians, the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka, was the same as the God of the White Man. Just because the settlers called Him by different names didn’t mean that He wasn’t the same, and this concept was broadly accepted.
All people who believe in a God of any sort believe that he (or she!) is omnipotent and omniscient. If this is true…then there really is only ONE GOD. My South Asian neighbors are polytheists; they have many Gods and Goddesses in their Pantheon…but there is still a main Creator God, whom they call Vishnu. My African brothers and sisters call him by many names, depending on where they’re from and what their belief system is. My Muslim friends call him Allah…not because (and please pay close attention here, this is IMPORTANT) he is a different God from the God of the Christians…but because Allah is the name with which they address God in their tongue.
What is it about Christians that makes them think that they have a corner on the Truth? A monopoly on God? When this great country was founded on the principals of freedom of Religion (and from it, too!), why is it that we in the modern day are so ready to surrender one of our dearest principles just to keep a mosque from being built?
First of all…the mosque is NOT at “Ground Zero”. It is several blocks away. I fail to see how this is an insult to anyone. Secondly…Muslims were amongst the folks who died in the towers…so when we’re spending today mourning all of those poor souls, HOW ON EARTH can we ignore the Muslims among them? Thirdly…and this is critical…GROUND ZERO IS NOT HALLOWED GROUND. If it is, then so is every highway, every bridge and many of the homes in this country, since Americans have died in/on these too. Ground Zero is a cemetery, true…and certainly there are things that would truly be inappropriate to build there; a Gas Station, a Casino, a Race Track…Trump Towers. But a mosque (in addition to being a community center) is a place of worship. Just because it’s not a Christian Church doesn’t mean it’s not a church. What is more appropriate than a place of worship to occupy that place?
As to the connection between Islam and the brain-addled, fringe radicals that took down the towers…well, they’re as alike as chalk and cheese. We don’t hate all Christians just because several amongst their number have made utterly stupid statements in the press, and we don’t hate all Christians just because one of their number killed 168 people at Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh considered himself a Christian…and yet, instead of blaming all Christians, we point to the fact that he was a member of a Militia movement; a RADICAL. Blaming all of Islam for the actions of these particular idiots would be the same…and not allowing a mosque to be built on a piece of land that is near the fallen towers and not on top of them would be even worse.
The fact is, if you want terrorism, you need look no farther than the Bible. People who considered themselves Godly were hacking each other to pieces rather frequently. Christians believe that God created Humankind…and if that is so, did He not create the Muslims as well? Are they not Children of God, just as much as any Christian? Any Jew?
We, as Americans, have taken a lot of hits to our reputation in the World in the last decade or so…there are many situations and images which have put the lie to the very principles upon which this Country is founded…will anyone forget where they were when the photos of the insane degradation and human cruelty at Abu Ghraib came out? Was that Christian? Was it Godly?
Wouldn’t we feel wronged, horribly wronged, if the Muslim world were to infer our individual characters from those of the knuckle-dragging little cretins who wore the uniforms of the United States in that hellhole? And yet, they could…I expect many did. But that is every bit as unfair as us inferring the nature of Muslims from that of the Muslims we’ve met on the 6 o’clock news…those who blow themselves and others up for glory. These people are aberrations…just like Timothy McVeigh was.
Muslims have been here in America for a long time, and yet…did any one of us stop to think about the kind of people they were before September 11th? Did we ever take notice of the charity they do (not only to Muslims, but to many different agencies and groups)? Did any of us have Muslim friends? And on that day…that horrible day…did any of us stop to think that perhaps the people who flew those planes into the towers and into the fields that day were not from ANY ‘normal’ group…for people like this would be reviled in any truly Godly group or any truly Free Country.
No…the media smelled anger and blood on the wind, and fanned it into a flame with ignorance…and we bought it. There were Mosque burnings and defacing…attacks on innocent Muslims…anger and threats of Terrorism to avenge an act of Terrorism. Our President, while presenting a brave front to the country, failed utterly as a human being by hanging the sins of a few incorrigible miscreants on an entire country, on an entire Faith; and we, angry, hurt and confused…we followed him.
Ah, yes…Faith. It’s interesting to note that the people who feared the worst and thought the worst of Islam are amongst the same people who consider their Faith the strongest. People who believe that the God of the Christians (as though he’s different from the God of the Muslims or the God of the Jews or the God of the Kalahari Tribesmen) is Omniscient, Always Right and Destined to Win at the End of Days still found their faith foundering in the face of this terrible attack…but did they turn the other cheek, as exhorted to in their own Holy Book? No…they called for a war…not on a Country (at that point, we were at war in at least two) but on a people and on a faith.
Many Christians are quick (especially nowadays) to consider themselves victimized by the mere mention of something as innocuous as “Happy Holidays”, even where no insult was intended. They’re convinced that Christianity is under attack, the reality of which has never been accurately established. How do they think that Muslims feel when the reality of the attack on their faith is so obvious? How much Faith does someone really have when they’re so afraid of new ideas that they constantly spew hate and protest the rights of a group just because it isn’t their group…and want to destroy that group’s right to build their own place of worship, just because of some perceived connection to terrorism?
My Father was a United States Marine…my brothers and my husband are too. Like many Americans, my family goes back to the beginning of this great experiment in religious freedom…this America…and has fought and died on Her side more times than any of us can even count. I consider myself as committed and resolute a Patriot as any Tea Party member, as any family member of anyone lost in the towers, as much as anyone at Fox News (maybe more so, in truth!). Far from being insulted by the potential for a mosque near ‘Ground Zero’ I’m extremely heartened by the resilience of the American Spirit and the way that this mosque situation illustrates it.
Growing up, I was always warmed by what America represented…what She offered. She offered comfort to the Oppressed; Freedom to those who had been denied it; a path to God for those in whose path had been placed obstacles. Whatever someone was, whoever someone was in the Old World, they could be anyone or anything they wanted to here. This was the New World…a place that was created out of the best ideas, and whose war against the worst ideas was constant and watered with the blood of Patriots.
Granted that strength of purpose, so many amazing things have been created and committed in the name of and within the boundaries of this America. Would we stop this now? Would we surrender our highest principles for this reason? For ANY reason? NO! Until now, we have not…we cannot…WE MUST NOT. The blood of those who fought and died for these very principles calls on us all to remember the importance of them.
It’s easy to remember one’s principles when they are not being tried…the true test of the strength of our resolutions, the courage of our convictions is when they are tested…especially when they are tested on that self-same ground that we hold dear. The people who died in and around the towers were not heroes. This is not a sacrilege…merely a statement of fact. I daresay they would not have chosen to die in the towers if given a choice.
The real heroes were those who did their job on a day when all the rules were changed by several planes…the Police, the Fire Brigades, the Rescue Searchers. These are people who knew the job was dangerous when they took it, but who could ever have guessed to what extent when they each pinned on their individual badges?
These people and the warriors who for centuries have fought on the ground of this country and others to maintain the principles we hold dear…these are the true heroes. But if someone had told them that the place and circumstances of their deaths would be used to deny people their rights to one of our most dearly held concepts…that of Religious Freedom…what do you think their reaction would be? No one can say…but my belief is that any heart that so treasured Freedom that it was willing to give its own life for it would be disappointed to see us use it for such a base purpose.
Let us not disappoint those who have fertilized Free soil with their remains…let us not prove ourselves unworthy of the beliefs and concepts of those who came before. Let us understand that we are Americans…we are strong enough to withstand the sight of a Mosque in such a special place…or any place. Let us find once again that amazing sense of community that filled us in the days immediately following the disaster…when we had realized, thanks to a harsh lesson, that Human Life is Fragile…and everyone’s life is unpredictable. When we saw each Man and Woman as Brother and Sister, and when we realized that America is more than just the sum of Her parts…that we were and are a Country…A Nation…a Spirit. That day, all of us as Americans were annealed in the furnace of Tragedy and became Burnished Gold.
Next September 11th, instead of remembering the sorrow and the pain, let us remember that.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
And So It Begins...
Hello All!
Well, this is a new one for me…I decided that instead of subjecting my poor, patient husband to continued rants over the dinner table (and other inconvenient places) I would get out my daily squidgees in a blog. I have much to say, as we all should. Tickets are available for a seat in the handbasket to hell, although I like to think that we’re not too far gone just yet.
Much of this may seem incomprehensible (or perhaps if you love me you’d say "stream of consciousness"). At any rate, Life is a hell of a voyage, and you’re all invited to grab an oar and row along with me! Those who know me will shake your heads knowingly…those who don’t may shake your fists. Both are okay by me…all I really want is to remind everyone not to go gently into that good night. It is incumbent upon all of us to
think
care
strive
reach out
fight
learn
distrust
trust
find
ask
teach
savor
experience
love
with everything we’ve got. No guts, no glory, right?
Lest it sound like I’m trying to fashion myself the "Guru on the Mountain", be assured I’m not. I can’t EVEN take myself seriously enough for that. I’m just a human who has become disheartened at the state of things and intent on doing my wee bit to make things better.
You’re all welcome to comment, and there will be no censorship (at least not any of mine… Blogger.com may feel differently; and since they’re our hosts here, please have a care and govern yourselves accordingly!) I believe in looking at all sides, even when folks disagree with me. As a matter of personal preference, I must admit that with so many things nowadays being unnecessarily ugly, I’d prefer that such disagreement be as respectful as can be managed, and I will endeavor to hold myself to the same standard.
Mind you...that doesn't mean you can't use profanity...I've got a mouth like a stevedore myself (anyone who knows me knows this, unless they're a child or a senior citizen...well...SOME senior citizens!) I really believe that language is what it is, and there is no such thing as BAD language.
My idea about respect and kindness and courtesy has less to do with the language used and far more to do with the motivation, y'know? I’d love it if this site could be a wee oasis in the desert of well-considered thought (God, I love it when people THINK!) humor, respect, intelligence and free people.
The world is still a truly amazing place, never doubt it. It’s never as bad as we are told, and never as good as it is capable of being. It is also positively NEVER dull…and if you find it so, then you’re just not paying attention! I believe that there is great need for revolution…of thought, of action, of our willingness to go along with the same ol’ same ol’.
Please note that all entries in this blog are strictly the opinion of the author (when it comes to comments, who knows?). While you are free at all times to disagree with my opinion, I will ask that you respect my right to express it, as I will respect yours. They can have my First Amendment rights when they pry them out of my cold, dead intellect…and not before.
Well, that’s all the wisdom I can manage for today without making my head hurt (probably yours as well!). Take care, keep in touch…and remember:
Never give up, NEVER SURRENDER!
Kiwanan…
Eneketasen
(quick note for anyone who cares…Eneketasen is Chumash Indian for "Red Woman", and Kiwanan is Chumash for "I go for now")
Well, this is a new one for me…I decided that instead of subjecting my poor, patient husband to continued rants over the dinner table (and other inconvenient places) I would get out my daily squidgees in a blog. I have much to say, as we all should. Tickets are available for a seat in the handbasket to hell, although I like to think that we’re not too far gone just yet.
Much of this may seem incomprehensible (or perhaps if you love me you’d say "stream of consciousness"). At any rate, Life is a hell of a voyage, and you’re all invited to grab an oar and row along with me! Those who know me will shake your heads knowingly…those who don’t may shake your fists. Both are okay by me…all I really want is to remind everyone not to go gently into that good night. It is incumbent upon all of us to
think
care
strive
reach out
fight
learn
distrust
trust
find
ask
teach
savor
experience
love
with everything we’ve got. No guts, no glory, right?
Lest it sound like I’m trying to fashion myself the "Guru on the Mountain", be assured I’m not. I can’t EVEN take myself seriously enough for that. I’m just a human who has become disheartened at the state of things and intent on doing my wee bit to make things better.
You’re all welcome to comment, and there will be no censorship (at least not any of mine… Blogger.com may feel differently; and since they’re our hosts here, please have a care and govern yourselves accordingly!) I believe in looking at all sides, even when folks disagree with me. As a matter of personal preference, I must admit that with so many things nowadays being unnecessarily ugly, I’d prefer that such disagreement be as respectful as can be managed, and I will endeavor to hold myself to the same standard.
Mind you...that doesn't mean you can't use profanity...I've got a mouth like a stevedore myself (anyone who knows me knows this, unless they're a child or a senior citizen...well...SOME senior citizens!) I really believe that language is what it is, and there is no such thing as BAD language.
My idea about respect and kindness and courtesy has less to do with the language used and far more to do with the motivation, y'know? I’d love it if this site could be a wee oasis in the desert of well-considered thought (God, I love it when people THINK!) humor, respect, intelligence and free people.
The world is still a truly amazing place, never doubt it. It’s never as bad as we are told, and never as good as it is capable of being. It is also positively NEVER dull…and if you find it so, then you’re just not paying attention! I believe that there is great need for revolution…of thought, of action, of our willingness to go along with the same ol’ same ol’.
Please note that all entries in this blog are strictly the opinion of the author (when it comes to comments, who knows?). While you are free at all times to disagree with my opinion, I will ask that you respect my right to express it, as I will respect yours. They can have my First Amendment rights when they pry them out of my cold, dead intellect…and not before.
Well, that’s all the wisdom I can manage for today without making my head hurt (probably yours as well!). Take care, keep in touch…and remember:
Never give up, NEVER SURRENDER!
Kiwanan…
Eneketasen
(quick note for anyone who cares…Eneketasen is Chumash Indian for "Red Woman", and Kiwanan is Chumash for "I go for now")
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