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Hey guys. Just letting you all know that I'm switching to Wordpress. Everything will be the same, and everything automatically redirects--but you may need to update your feeds.
<3
The air in California is horrible right now. I drove two hours to my grandmother's, and the entire way, the air either looked like very dense fog, or had a strong brown tint to it, depending on where I was. My skin itches and my eyes are stinging. Only going outside for about thirty seconds is making me feel sick, and it smells terrible--I still have the taste in my mouth from the air.
Yuck!
This is just smoke, and a little smog, but is this what kind of future we have to expect as the air gets more and more polluted? How must it be where the smog is really bad without all this smoke from the fires, like Los Angeles? Will this perhaps wake people up and show them a taste of what pollution will feel like?
I'm sick and tired of this ridiculous idea that trying to control pollution is a political issue. It isn't. Everyone wants to breathe clean air, no one wants to breathe the disgusting 'air' I'm breathing right now (and it's predicted to get alot worse!). The problem is, most of the times the average conservative doesn't really think about the fact that he's opposing his own health just because he doesn't want the liberals to 'win'.
The GOP doesn't want to cooperate unless it will absolutely kill their careers--they only 'care' now that global warming is what everyone is talking about. The GOP and I'm sure even some Democrats are being funded by big companies, like the oil industry for example, and while the rest of us suffer with our eyes watering and our lungs shriveling, they'll be sitting at home and be doing just fine, because they can afford the best healthcare. All they had to do was sell ours!
Thank you to Debunking Christianity for posting this link to the smearing of a very intelligent comment made by Obama by Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program.
Atheists and people who hope for religious equality have got to respect Obama for taking a big risk and speaking out against Christianity taking over the country. Obama gave a speech in 2006 stating, "Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's?" Obama also spoke out against Christians only using certain parts of the Bible to guide public policy, arguing that it's in the Bible, when things like slavery, infanticide, murder and rape are accepted and encouraged in the Bible.
James Dobson, himself mentioned in the speech above, blasted Obama in his radio program, accusing him of "deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview"and pushing a 'fruitcake' interpreation of the Bible.
What?
This is exactly what Obama was speaking out against--using the Bible to push your own ideas, but ignoring what you don't like. Obama has been pushing for equality and unity across all groups, including religious groups. In fact, he asks Christians to frame their arguments and debates in ways accessible to all people, not just Christians. James Dobson himself uses the Bible regularly to justify his own beliefs, distorting them and picking and choosing what he believes.
Dobson's comment that he's pushing a 'fruitcake' interpretation is a snide anti-gay comment. It's like using 'gay' as an insult--in one blow he is insinuating that Obama is homosexual, as well as insinuating that he has a weak and crazy viewpoint on the Constitution.
Either way, finding out about this, I have newfound respect for Obama. That's a very risky thing to say, and shows a great amount of maturity and intelligence that many politicians lack. I still very much disagree with him in certain things like gay marriage, supporting Israel and allowing FISA, but what presidential candidate has ever been this open-minded?
A quick little comment for now. I'm sure you all would be so surprised how doting and talkative grandmother's can be, and that's where I'm at now, which leaves little time for political thought.
As I'm sure everyone knows, one of McCain's top strategists publicly admitted that a terrorist attack would help McCain out. Now, we've all known for a long that the GOP is just praying for another terrorist attack so their ratings will go back up. But it's about time one of their own actually admits it! Perhaps the average American will be encouraged by this to take a second look at the GOP and the McCain campaign and realize that the only reason they've survived this far is by preying on people's fear. If not for the GOP's "tough on terrorism" reputations, they never would have had a chance.
Meanwhile, the press continues to blast Obama's wife, as if that actually mattered. Sure, let's say she does have a foaming hatred for America. Her husband is running for the presidency of America, so if that were true, obviously he doesn't feel the same. The blogosphere also continues to criticize Obama's new campaign symbol. What? Why? This is completely silly...is this seriously the best they can do? Obama is being called 'arrogant' for emulating the Presidential seal for his own campaign symbol. I'm sorry, but anyone running for President is about as smug, arrogant and confident as they come. Don't pretend McCain is any different--his campaign staff just wasn't creative enough to come up with it in the first place. I'll bet you if he had, the conservative blogosphere would have been praising him for emulating such a respectable symbol, and for being such a proud American. You have to remind yourself when reading insults geared toward liberals by conservatives, that if the situation were reversed, they'd be saying the exact opposite about their own.
Karl Rove himself commented that Obama is the type of guy who is at the country club "with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by." Jake Trapper made the very smart comment that Obama, being black and liberal, never would be allowed into country clubs in the first place. So much for elitism--the fact that Karl Rove can make a country club analogy in the first place is revealing of his own elitism, in my opinion. Never mind the "snide comments" comment--the GOP has done nothing but make snide, smug, racist comments about Obama and Michelle during this campaign.
In other news, if you haven't heard about this, prepare to be disgusted. While on the surface is may look innocent and not at all anything to be disgusted about, once you wrap your mind around the idea and read further, you will be. McCain is basically asking his supporters to spam liberal blogs with their opinions, and support conservative blogs. Those who do what he says and comment on blogs will receive 'points', though who knows what these points are for. Most likely they are for nothing whatsoever, just a ploy to get his supporters to work for him. Okay, so it sounds like I'm being overly dramatic about what is actually said here. I accept that. But to me it looks like McCain is basically asking his supporters to go to people's houses, and if they don't support him, jump down their throats, if they do, praise him, and if they're undecided, go Jehova's Witness on them. Only this is the internet, and blogs are our homes.
P.S., I found a great little job at Environment California and am feeling really confident after going in for my first interview. They can't hire me until I'm eighteen, unfortunately, so July 7th right after my birthday, I'm going in for an observation...still looking for journalist jobs, though. Wish me luck on both!
I need to rant.
Sorry.
So I'm trying to move out and get my life started. My boyfriend, who I love deeply and respect a huge amount, is going to be homeless in nine months due to a long and complicated situation which I don't have the patience to explain.
Anyways, I'm holding off on college so I can help him out and get an apartment. He wants to stay home and do 'housewife' stuff, clean, cook, take care of my pets, do chores, give emotional support...stuff like that. He's really responsible and very smart, just in a bad situation.
Anyways, I was going to move out and split the rent with a so-called friend of mine, Ester. Over the past few weeks, however, she has done nothing but drive my mom and I crazy. She has been mooching off of my mom, taking money and not helping out at all, making messes, playing music loud and annoying my uncle, being rude about when mom wants to help her (mom offered to pay for completely a trailer for us to live in while we go to college, pay for rent, food, everything, she told mom she thought it was stupid!)and being really rude to me. She kept changing her mind, she wanted to get a dog and a car and a cell phone and visit her friends more than she wanted to get a job and apartment and go to college, yet everytime I asked her if this is what she really wanted, she treated me like I was a bitch. When she got kicked out of her house, mom and I took her in on a moment's notice, I shared everything with her, let her sleep on the bed, I drove her to school everyday for the last 2 weeks of her school plus graduation (if I hadn't, she wouldn't have graduated) and our house is an hour from her school, so mom paid ALOT in gas so she could graduate. Never once did she thank us, then out of the blue left for her parent's house (apparently she never was kicked out, she just was mad at her parents!) so she could continue going to her studio which was basically an advanced animation class. She left all of her crap here, then wanted me to drive down and bring her stuff to her. She started saying racist things, and I got fed up talking to her. A hundred other little things! She called me a dictator for telling her that she couldn't afford a dog, car, car insurance, gas, cell phone AND rent...which was true, we did the math. She wanted me to kick out someone I love deeply because he was a 'moocher' (she's never even met him!) so her dog could live there, yet she's such a hypocrite....she lived at our house and took and took and took and never gave back. A hundred other little things. Overall she just never made up her mind, she didn't think about my feelings or how she was making me change my plans for her, she was a complete bitch any time I tried to talk some sense into her and she acts like she's still in high school....she's so irresponsible and was making me pay for it.
So I finally got fed up (I'm sure you can imagine my extreme patience....) and told her that I couldn't get an apartment with her, I was sick of how she was treating me and I no longer had faith that she was reliable enough for me to count on, and I no longer considered her my friend because she had treated me like shit for so long.
Problem is, now I'll barely be able to afford taking care of myself and Will, let alone if I'll be able to at all. I'm begging a few of my other friends to move in with me, but one said no, another has said no several times (but to me and Ester, not to me), and the other I haven't talked to in a while.
I'm so incredibly stressed out, I'm gaining more weight, eating more, losing hair, getting very bad acne, getting sick and dizzy and throwing up lately, all just because of stress. I hate it. If the person I love so incredibly much goes homeless and I can't become independant, I don't know what I'll do. I'll just crumple up and die. I'm so sick with worry and anger that she's ruining this for me and being so selfish about life and mad at myself for not having better friends.
This girl was my so-called best friend...I've considered Will my best friend plutonically as well as romantically, but beyond him the best friends I have, I rarely see and only talk to online mostly. I feel very lonely and angry and stressed right now.
Arrrgh...she's here to pick up her things. End rant.
Check out this site, which is trying to run ads to fight the appeasement of the Bush administration and radical conservatives in Congress. The FISA bill allows retroactive immunity and many democrats, including Senator Barack Obama, aren't vehemently opposing it like we'd hope. Let's let them know we expect damn better from them.
Some quick musings brought up by reading about the British National Party (a racist, white-only conservative party in Britain) and RedWatch (a hit-list targeting socialists).
What is it about socialism that makes people so hateful? The RedWatch encourages violence and murder against socialists--killing people just because of an economic system they prefer over capitalism. There is nothing morally wrong with socialists: socialists prefer socialism and communism because it helps people, rather than perpetuating greed.
Sure, in the past, communist governments have been totalitarian. But so have capitalist governments. Does that mean anyone favoring capitalism favors totalitarianism? Of course not, and neither do socialists and communists.
The goal of socialism--I'm a socialist, by the way--is to benefit everyone and maintain true equality. In a capitalist government, there can be no true democracy. Wealth creates power, and the wealthy stay wealthy, so rarely do those born into poverty or even just the middle class have any substantial power compared to the might of the wealthy.
Besides capitalism being a threat to democracy, it is also a threat to life. Thanks to socialism, we have free and universal police service, fire service, libraries, public education, and various support services for those who need them. Could you imagine a country where, if your house was burning down, you had to have insurance, or perhaps just pay on the spot, to save your loved ones and property? Can you imagine if the same was for police service (we'll only arrest the man who attacked you if you can pay!), or if your children had no access to education because you couldn't afford it?
Socialism is not a bad thing. Socialism helps a great amount of people, and thanks to socialism, we don't have sky-high death rates and illiteracy rates. Thanks to socialism, we have reached closer to equality than we had before.
Yet, conservatives continue to demonize socialism as an evil attempting to take over and wrest the hard-earned paychecks of the average American away to pay for some deadbeat's problems.
These conservatives 'forget' to mention that they want huge corporations to wrest their hard-earned paychecks away to pay for some fat cat's third yacht. They also fail to mention that paying the taxes for these benefits would cost a huge amount less than having to pay for insurance (and the medical or other costs when your insurance doesn't pay). They also fail to mention the fact that many of the poor who would benefit from these socialist programs would die without them and are in this position through no fault of their own. Why does being born into a poor family mean a death sentence in this country?
The fact of the matter, a push for socialism is a push for equality and a push for everyone to have the right to life, regardless of personal decisions (excluding the death penalty, that's a different argument I'm avoiding here) or what class you were born into. A push for socialism is a push for real democracy--for everyone having a chance at the American dream, not just the wealthy and priveledged.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
In 1954, the secular and rather perfect Pledge of Allegiance was changed to include the words 'under God'. If you're reading this, you probably already know. Atheist Ethicist has started a Pledge Project, the basic goal of which is to help get a bill passed that will take 'under God' from the pledge. The project is to videotape yourself saying the pledge without the words 'under God' and post it on Youtube.
Anyways, this means alot to me so I figured I'd help out, as queasy
BTW, I read about this mostly from Atheist Revolution. I suggest you read that great blog.
Let me start off by saying that I have nothing against Hilary Clinton. If it weren't for her selling out to the healthcare companies while she was a First Lady, I would have definitely supported her twice as enthusiastically as I support Obama. I agree with a lot of her policies, just didn't trust her enough. I considered and still do consider myself a supporter of both Obama and Hilary. I don't have anything against Clinton supporters and being upset over her loss. Clinton supporters have every right to be angry, and it's only natural to want to take it out on Obama.
But for goodness' sake, don't be sore losers!
I can't describe the amount of times I've seen angry Hilary Clinton supporters declare that they're leaving the Democratic Party, that they're going to vote for McCain, that they hate Obama and his supporters. Of course these people do not represent all Hilary supporters, and there are a lot of mature and intelligent Hilary supporters whom I respect deeply.
But voting for a candidate who's policies directly oppose those you believe (or at least claim to believe--if you're so willing to vote against them, you must not care about the policies at all, and just wanted a woman in office) only hurts the nation, you, and Hilary. Hilary endorsed Obama. She did not endorse McCain.
If you chose to be a sore loser and take it out on t he rest of the nation, well, then you will never see anyone in office who isn't a white, rich, Christian, old male. And you can say goodbye to any non-conservative administration.
Think about your actions a little more, I beg of you.
I've stumbled upon a sad little website, Conservapedia. They call themselves "The Trustworthy Encyclopedia". What's sad about this site is the blatant "conservatives are right, no one else is" idealogy. Censoring conservative facts (as if facts can be biased) is not alright, but censoring liberal facts is.
We do not allow liberal censorship of conservative facts.
There is a definite preoccupation with subtly making liberal people and ideas look bad, conservative ones look good, and tricking you into thinking it isn't as biased as you'd think. Upon a first look at some of the more political pages, there is no blatant, obvious bias. The bias is harder to find--for example, most of the page on Obama spends it's time smearing him and stating ridiculous things, but making it look legitimate. The page on McCain, however, spends none of it's time doing this. While this is of course what you'd expect from a conservative website, the fact that it plays itself as a 'trustrworthy' site and it's articles are written to look legitimate is rather sickening, and can easily draw moderate readers into a trap.
Here are some laughable quotes which are completely untrue yet are written as if they are intellectual and hard facts. First, an article on atheism.
There are three ways that atheism manifests itself:
- Militant atheism which continues to suppress and oppress religious believers today especially in Communist countries.
- Theoretical atheism: atheism of the mind -- that is, believing that God does not exist.
- Practical atheism: atheism of the life - that is, living as though God does not exist.[5]
Next, I found an article on homosexuality, which I didn't bother reading past the first section in the so-called 'article', which simply told what passages in the Bible condemned homosexuality. What? Not a definition, not a history? Just why it's wrong? Why am I not surprised?
The article on Bush is rather hilarious as well, claiming that Bush's tax cuts have actually boosted the economy and thanks to Dubya, we're all apparently not at an employment low and recession.
Bush has presided over a period of general economic growth. This is partially due to changes in the stock market that lead to a record high in 2007. Corporations show profits growing by double digits growth.[16] Even the working class is benefiting from the Bush economy, as unemployment hits an all time low in March 2007.[17]
The article on McCain is interesting, since a lot of conservatives don't really like him. It does, however, proceed into collective ass kissing. It states all of his current positions as if he has always had those positions, and has not been a consistent flip-flopper throughout his time in office. The best bit of ass-kissing is right in the beginning.
John McCain is a war hero.
Obama's article, on the other hand, rings a different tune. Right in the beginning, it claims that if elected, Obama would have won solely based on his race--
If elected, Obama would be the first Affirmative Action President.
It then starts right off, not on information about Obama or his policies like with the McCain page, but instantly begins smearing Obama, beginning with the ridiculous:
Obama claimed to have visited 57 states while campaigning for president of the United States, which of course has only 50 states.[3] He could never explain where the false number of 57 came from, but it has been observed that there are 57 Islamic states and Obama was educated at an Islamic grade school while he lived in an Islamic country.[4]
What the? First of all, why the hell does it matter? Obama may have been referring to territories, and needless to say this is a trivial way to start smearing the reputation of a political opponent to the precious McCain. It then continues...
Obama has declared himself to be a Christian, yet never replaced his Muslim name with a Christian one as many do,[5] casting doubt on his politically self-serving claim.[6] Obama downplays his Islamic background by claiming that his Kenyan Muslim father was a "confirmed atheist" before Obama was born, but in fact less than 1% of Kenyans are atheists, agnostics or non-religious.[7]
It then goes on to dispute minor facts about Obama, such as what specific title he held while working at the University of Chicago, why he doesn't wear an American flag lapel pin, and an obscure reference to his uncle fighting in WWII. Is this really the best they can do? Is this their 'trustworthy, unbiased information'? Not one piece of information on Obama on the entire site is fair, balanced or unbiased.
Many more examples on the site, if you really are that bored.
A Fundamentalist Christian teacher in Ohio was fired for burning a cross into a student's arm, as well as attempting to force his religion on his students. John Freshwater was apparently not charged with assault of any kind, he was not arrested or legally apprehended, as far as the article says. Those in charge of the school even tried to find another job for him at the school, one that didn't involve science, but luckily for many children, he only had a degree for teaching science.
Freshwater used a science tool known as a high-frequency generator to burn images of a cross on students' arms in December, the report said. Freshwater told investigators he simply was trying to demonstrate the device on several students and described the images as an "X," not a cross. But pictures show a cross, the report said.
What exactly is going on here? John Freshwater was actually defended by a friend claiming that he was just teaching community values.
Freshwater's friend Dave Daubenmire defended him. "With the exception of the cross-burning episode... I believe John Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district," he told The Columbus Dispatch for a story published Friday.
If that is true, Daubenmire, then why does John Freshwater need to force students into Christianity if that's what their parents want them to believe? Obviously with the amount of complaints made about Freshwater, these were not the values of parents in the Mount Vernon school district--and it is not up to the school to teach religion. In fact, it's forbidden.
So what we have here is a Christian teacher who broke the law by attempting to force his religion on his students, violating state and church separation. He mutilated and tortured a student. Don't even pretend branding a child is anything else. He then lied about his intent, claiming that it was in fact an 'X', not a cross--but the picture clearly shows it is a cross, and that still leaves the question as to why any sane, moral person would brand a child in the name of religion? What could this man have possibly been thinking when he did this? If he branded the student, the student would suddenly be saved by the Lord, or the devil would run away?
Besides, why is the community protecting him? This man tortured and mutilated a student and had been attempting to indoctrinate his students--the school had been receiving complaints for a decade about his attempts to teach his students Christianity. Yet he was apparently not arrested, complaints were ignored, and the school tried to move him into a different teaching position. Is torturing children the new Christian value?
More and more often I hear the argument with gay marriage that 'values are slipping'.
Morality is not defined well in the dictionary, let alone in the world. I think for many people, the basic definition would be that a moral action helps people--while an immoral one hurts.
Well, as I've argued before, gay marriage hurts no one, and helps gays. So what moral values could these people possibly be speaking of?
The vast amount of people in America who see gay marriage as immoral refer to the Bible for their beliefs, that men and women are not meant to be together and that their doctrine does not support it. Basing a nation's policies on this is, of course, quite the opposite of separation of church and state. You are basing an entire policy on one religion's doctrine.
Now, as for the actual argument...that values in this nation and in the world are slipping. This is one of the most pathetic arguments against gay marriage I've heard used.
In recent years, humanity has progressed its values far beyond what it used to be. In this nation alone, people have fought age-old values and embraced freedom and equality for blacks, women, Native Americans, children, interracial couples, alternative belief systems and more. Around the world, humanity has progressed as well, though in many less developed (in terms of values and equality, not industry) nations they still face the same problems.
Modern history has risen values, not lowered them. If people consider equality and freedom for more people 'slipping values', then perhaps the Land of the Free isn't the best place for them.
Not much of a post for the moment, I'm very hooked on the Heroes TV Series and have been watching episode after episode! Halfway through Season 2, though.
Anyways, I felt the need to bring this to people's attention. Will be commenting on it once I'm more focused.
Strike teams in Iowa are breaking int
o houses, claiming to be there to rescue people but as shocking video footage shows, they are clearly violating the 4th Amendment and questioning people after breaking into their homes.
Scary, isn't it?
EDIT: Apparently it's a parody site! Facesmack. My bad. To be honest, though, just because it's a parody doesn't mean this stuff isn't still happening, and that my points don't still stand. I do feel stupid, though. Ah well.
After reading the Atheist Revolution post 'Getting Under God Out of The Pledge' and the Friendly Atheist post 'Saying the Pledge of Allegiance is Just Not Enough Anymore', I have a few thoughts of my own on 'New Pledge' that Friendly Atheist links to.
Landover Baptist Church proposes a new pledge of allegiance. The new pledge even has specific instructions designed to separate children and force them into the religion, turning children into preachers of a belief system they don't even comprehend yet. Let's take a look at what they are instructing children to do, step by step, shall we?
1. If you are not assigned seats in your class, follow the scent of garlic and find a place to sit near some foreign looking student who has swarthy skin that reminds you of anything from either a chunk of coal or a little stray pooty left behind in the whirlpool of toilet water. It is safe to assume that the parents of these students have already wasted a good part of their lives indoctrinating them with a dangerous, made-up, false religion.
So what this church is teaching children to do is to see foreign children as different, disgusting, and immoral. T hey are not part of the group, they smell and look funny, and they are just strange! They want to breed racism, hatred and segregation in our schoolchildren, and make our children suspicious of each other.
2. Before the Pledge begins, if your little classmates haven't noticed that you have your hands folded in prayer, not over your heart, bring it to their attention. If you are bold enough, right before the class gets ready to say the Pledge of Allegiance - shout, "Dear Lord Jesus. . ." and then continue with the rest of the class in unison, "I pledge of alle
giance to the flag. . ." This will serve as a testimony to your teacher and the other students, that you are acknowledging that the Pledge of Allegiance is a prayer - right from the start. If the teacher pauses for any reason in the Pledge, look at one of your unsaved classmates and yell, "I feel a victory coming on! Yes, Jesus!" And be sure to end the Pledge with "A-men" as well. You will be surprised how fast it catches on!
Besides the fact that this turns every child who follows this into a little evangelist and forces the idea that loyalty to one's country (which I don't agree with completely in the first place, but now's not the time for that) and being a good little boy or girl means praising Jesus.
3. After the pledge is over, we suggest thanking one or more of your odd looking classmates for joining you in public prayer. This should raise their curiosity.
Again, separates children into groups of 'in' and 'out', as explained in Atheist Revolution's great post on the matter. It makes the 'out' children, the ones who are not participating in the prayer, feel strange and out of the loop. They'll feel bad about themselves or put on edge--a terrible way to begin one's education every morning. Have these Christians thought of that? School is not a place to preach, it's a place to learn.
4. Begin to ask them what it feels like to be a Christian. They may, at first, resist your entreaties, claiming to know what you are so-called "up to." Wear them down any way you can. Finally, when they openly admit that they are not Christians, but actually embrace a false religion, like Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim - this is your opportunity to feign the look of surprise. Try to look as puzzled as you can. Ask them directly why they just falsely stated during the Pledge of Allegiance that they are under your Christian God, but just now admitted that they are not. Tell them you don't appreciate liars and neither will the principal when he gets your note.
Again, separates children into 'in' and 'out'. You're not right if you're not a Christian. They are instructing children, innocent children who are not already full of hate like the rest of us, to 
force their religion down their classmate's throats. The comment on 'false religion' breeds distrust and narrow mindedness in the child, and next the children are instructed to lie by pretending to be surprised. The child is also instructed to trick their classmates into falling into the trap that they set, then pounce on them. It also instructs the child to threaten their peer, taking advantage of their confusion and uneasiness. It's sickening.
5. More often than not, they will probably respond by saying something about "God" being universal, and it can mean whatever they want it to mean. If you can avoid the natural Christian impulse of laughing right out loud in their freshly-slapped faces, take the opportunity to sternly correct them and give them a short history lesson about how there were no Muslims, Hindus, Atheists, or Jews among the Pilgrims or Founding Fathers. Indeed, the Pilgrims were forced to turn on each other until they met the heathen, naked, alcoholic Injuns.
I don't even know how to begin on this one. Besides continuing to indoctrinate young children with racism and hatred, it gives them the idea that laughing and slapping their peers is a-okay! Because that's what all of the other Christians would do. It also breeds the racist idea that anyone foreign just doesn't belong in America, especially if they aren't Christian.
6. Take it a step further and begin to raise your voice slightly. Make it absolutely clear to them that there were no Muslims, Jews or Hindus who gave their lives to create the country that they are sitting in right now. And if their foreign parents want to raise them under a false God, then keep it at home - because Jesus runs THIS classroom!
Just more nationalistic, racist and exclusive instructions. No more comment than that.
7. At this point, understand that you have planted a seed of faith, and it should be harvested imm
ediately! Be careful though! Avoid getting too excited. Don't spill the beans and tell them all they're going straight to Hell. Although this is true, we suggest you break it to them gently by reaching into your desk and slowly pulling out your Bible. Do not break eye contact with your potential converts even if you have to grab a tuft of their filthy, unwashed hair to hold them in place!
This tells children that if they want to convert people, this is the way. This is how you plant a seed of faith--by lying, preying on fear and peer pressure, using racism and hatred, threatening and excluding them from the group. It also teaches children that grabbing their peers by the hair and holding them in place is okay, because they aren't Christians. Physically forcing people into submission is alright as long as they're heathens!
8. Refer to your Bible as "The Holy Book" and open it slowly like you are expecting the Lord to come out from between the pages and pounce on your soon-to-be-Christian friends. Most foreign trash is very superstitious and will probably become bug-eyed, and possibly soil their drawers, in the face of your new, mysterious powers.. Tell them that this Holy Book says that every single religion in the whole wide world is a false religion. Except for yours.
Once more with the 'We are right, they are wrong' indoctrination. No tolerance or understanding is allowed.
9. At this point, tell the students that you will be highly offended and consider it a hate crime against your religion if they do not do you the courtesy of bowing their heads and shutting their eyes and repeating after you.
So what's being taught here is: if the other children don't do what you say (they have to, because you're a Christian and they aren't), it's a hate crime and you have every right to make a stink. Since you're a Christian, though, you have every right to force your religion down their throats and it's perfectly acceptable. Not the best message to send to children.
10. Here is your window of opportunity - before anyone has a chance to open their mouth, start to pray this prayer and refuse to be interrupted: Poppa God, My Father in Heaven, we've just finished praying the Pledge of Allegiance to You. Everyone here openly acknowledges that we are not members of one nation under Allah or Buddha, or some other false god but we are one nation under YOU! You are God, the Father and through your Son, Jesus Christ, we acknowledge the sovereignty and ultimate authority of our Christian Nation above all other nations on earth. If any of us here are unsaved, we ask Jesus Christ to come into our hearts and stomp out the demons of Hindu, the demons of Allah, the fat little demons of Buda, and if we are Jewish, we ask you to forgive us for killing your Son and for Barbra Streisand. A-men.
Having used dishonest and disgusting tactics to get their way, the children are now instructed to rub it in their peer's faces.
11. If your classmates just prayed that prayer, it means they're saved. Take down their names and addresses and phone numbers immediately. Ask to be dismissed from class. Find a pay phone and call your pastor with the information so that he can call their parents and tell them the good news - that someone just paid a ransom for their little children and they have been delivered forever into the unbreakable clutches of the Living God. If your pastor knows what he is doing, he will also want to use this opportunity to lead some confused parents to Christ. Before you know it, you will have assisted in securing a hoard of eager, tithing church members to your local church roster.
These instructions make a second objective obvious--by converting the child, or at least instilling doubt in their hearts, the writers of these instructions hope to get to the paren
ts and convert even more, likely using the same dishonest and cruel tactics.
I'm having a hard time believing anyone would be okay with this, but then again, the Church has done things a hundred times worse before, hasn't it? Now it's just using children to do it's work for them, as well as teaching children to work in a way that befits them. Instilling racism, hatred, exclusiveness, intolerance, dishonesty, and violence in children--the Christian way!
Black Perspective made a post on Dog Chapman of A&E's racist remarks, in which he repeatedly shouts the word 'n-----' and says that he isn't going to lose his work because they don't like it. Or something to that effect. It was kind of hard to make sense of him.
Read his post for more information. But please contact some of the following emails and let them know that keeping such a blatantly racist man on will not be stood for. Listed are some of the people in charge of A&E, and A&E's sponsors:
A&E VPs of Programing
nancy.dubuc@aetn.com, rob.sharenow@aetn.com,
Travelocity Public Relations:
Vollmer Public Relations
Amanda Borichevsky
E-mail: amanda@vollmerpr.com
svc.travelocity.com/custsvc/0,,TRAVELOCITY,00.html
Tylenol- Online contact form
www.tylenol.com/vcrc/email/tyemailform.jhtml?id=email
1-877-TYLENOL
At&T- Online contact form for customers
localization.att.com/loc/controller?cdvn=landinglocalization&pid=1080&cookieResetted=true<ype=contactus
Red Bull Energy Drinks- Online contact info
redbullusa.com/?gclid=CLnl1oXc-JMCFQOuFQod5FvoVg#page=CompanyPage.Contact
+1 (310) 393-4647
Yellowpages.com- Online contact form
www.yellowpages.com/contact_us/comments
(877) 647-6278
All State Insurance-Online contact form
www.allstate.com/about/corporate-email.aspx
866.908.2500
LG HD T.V’s- Online contact form
www.lgservice.com/gcsc/b2c/hpi/main
(800) 243-0000
Dell Computers- Online contact form
support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/email_customer_care/emailcustomercare?c=us&l=en&s=gen
1-800-915-3355
Nintendo- Online contact form
www.nintendo.com/consumer/webform.jsp
425.882.2040
Subway
www.subway.com/Applications/CustService/frmCustomerService.asp
This post is dedicated to the brave protestors around the world who protest the actions of cruel governments and risk their lives, not for themselves but for others.
I showed the video in my last post to a friend of mine, and was shocked when he shrugged and called the protestors stupid.
What?
I asked him why, and he replied that it was stupid for anyone to risk their lives to try and make a futile attempt at change.
I replied that it was interesting how he was sitting nice and safe and comfortable while people around the world suffered, and others risked their lives to help them, and he has the balls to criticize them. The discussion then spiraled into a futile attempt to convince him that human rights were extremely important.
This brings up a sad fact I think a lot of us have realized--Most of us couldn't care less about our own rights, let alone the rights of others. Some of us think wearing a little sticker or a
greeing with the human rights fad of the year will help. It doesn't. Americans and people around the globe need to SHOUT about human rights abuses and take action.
The main argument is that we can't change anything. Yes, actually, we can. Around the globe we've changed a lot for the better. Free education. Free healthcare in a lot of countries. French Revolution. American Revolution. Ghandi. Martin Luther King and the fight to end segregation. The fight to end slavery. The fight for women's suffrage. And more.
The other argument is that it's none of our business, it's not our country. I've always hated the idea of countries, in terms of separating people. We are one people, around the globe--I simply don't accept the idea that imaginary lines in the sand should separate people around the world. Human rights abuses is everyone's business, and those risking their lives to protest it are heroes in my opinion. We should give them nothing less than our full respect.
I can't help but be disgusted that our nation supports such a heartless nation. Besides killing a protestor in t his video, it's also been reported that they murdered a Reuters reporter. Reporters are marked very obviously, as you can see in the picture, yet Israel fired upon the reporter without cause.
Israel's government claims that those responsible couldn't see the victims. These are blatant lies. Reporters are obviously marked, and the protestor was, according to eyewitness reports, standing to where the driver who ran over her could see her from the waist up--and she was wearing a bright orange jacket.
I hope Obama rethinks his position on Israel.
While I feel that democracy is incredibly important, I also feel that the whims of the majority should not infringe upon the rights of the few. For example, a few decades ago, slavery was considered a necessity and okay by a very large amount of Americans. Now we know it isn't, but back then, how could you end slavery while still claiming to be a democracy?
The answer is that while almost everything should be voted on, in my opinion never should a majority rule infringe upon someone else's life. Let me try and explain this a little better. You face two decisions: side with the majority/a stalemate and don't allow gay marriage and full rights for gay people, or side with the few gay people and allow it.
Now, let's look at the outcomes of each of these decisions. If you don't allow gays to get married, you face the possibility that you are destroying the lives of innocent people and infringing upon the rights of a significant group.
If you do allow gays to get married, no one suffers. No one. All these claims that gay marriage destroys marriage are completely unbelievable--marriage has been ruined for centuries. It used to be that you were forced into marriage just to have children and die. Now you get married because you love someone. Modern life has risen marriage to a meaningful and beautiful thing, though it comes with a high percentage of straight marriages ending in divorce, bankruptcy and tears. No ones rights are infringed upon--there is no point in fighting gay marriage except to destroy the lives of gays.
Hopefully that made some amount of sense.
A quick post on a few subjects. First, the tax plans announced by McCain and Obama. Then some comments on a post by Gaytheist's post about protestors videotaping lingerie/adult store customers and putting them on Youtube. Last, a few thoughts about racism in the election campaign by the mainstream media. Namely Faux News.
McCain and Obama announced their tax plans recently. I don't need to go into the specifics, you can easily look them up yourself if you like. But basically, each tax plan adds to the national debt--McCain adds one and half million more to the debt, though.
The key difference? Obama's tax plan favors the middle class, and goes easy on the lower class. McCain's? It goes very easy on the incredibly wealthy, while barely cutting taxes for middle and lower classes.
Gaytheist links us to an article by CBS news (cursed mainstream media!) about some cruel and in my opinion illegal protesting conducted outside Secrets, a lingerie store that sells a few sex toys.
CBS writes:
Residents set up video cameras near the entrance of Secrets Boutique, an adult store that sells adult toys along with lingerie, and one protester was holding a sign that read, “Smile! You’re on YouTube.”
“I’m not trying to embarrass anyone,” said Jeremy White. “We’re going to put some, if not all, of the film on YouTube and try and act as a deterrent to people who, you know, would come here in some sort of shady way.”
What exactly are these people protesting? The fact that people are buying from that store--which they have every right to do--or the fact that the store exists? They are trying to protest the store itself, but are harassing its customers and violating their privacy. They have no right to videotape them or put it online, or harass the customers in the first place.
While I'm tempted to say these protestors should be arrested, I shudder at the thought. Criminal charges should certainly be brought up against them, however. I would love to go there and tell them on camera exactly how I feel, and if they put it online, bring up charges. The customers did nothing to deserve this.
In other news, Faux News is as always, a disgusting but hilarious riot. I think I'll make it a hobby of mine to point out every instance of their lies and obvious bias, despite their constant claims. I don't think I even need to say anything to start with, with anyone who reads this blog (not that anyone does).
Faux News recently took a hit to it's ratings due to two comments on air. The first was blatantly racist--Michelle Obama, Obama's wife, being labeled "Obama's Baby Mama" during a segment on liberals being "outraged" about comments directed towards Michelle. During the segment, a very calm young woman spoke about the liberal blogosphere's viewpoints on the conservative media's treatment of Michelle. And just beneath her was a racist slur directed right at Michelle. Meanwhile, Faux News laughs at her and denies it. All while the racist slur stares you straight in the eye. How smug and obvious can these guys get? (In case you don't know, and I seriously doubt anyone doesn't know but I might as well point it out, 'baby mama' is a derogatory racial slur used for single black mothers.)
Later, a Faux News reporter called, on air, the cute little fist-tap between Obama and Michelle (which has been widely interpreted as a sign of equality and playfulness), a 'terrorist fist-jab'. This goes in line with what Faux News has been repeating for some time, despite common sense and fact--that Obama is a Muslim, and therefor a terrorist. He is neither--and more hilarious is the fact that in the same breath, Faux News and the rest of the conservative media blast Obama for going to church where a well known priest spoke negatively about America and racism. How blind do they think people are? The reporter later claimed that she was just saying what others were calling it. Yet no where had it been called that before she said it, a blatant lie.
That's all, folks.
