Where were you on Christmas?

Despite playing softball and being unmarried at her age, Elana Kagan has made it to the Senate confirmation hearings!


I don't like Senator Lindsey Graham - his voice is so smarmy, and he's a southern Republican, so blech.

I saw it on the Daily Show, but seekingferret at dreamwidth (the posts and comment section look remarkably like livejournal, where I do have an account - I don't have one there) has the transcript and her reaction as a Jewish American. And that "New York humor" =  "Jewish Humor" for many, many people.

I agree with her - where was the media outrage?

Sen. Graham asked her what she was doing on Christmas, because of the would-be bomber last Christmas. The exchange makes no sense.

She said she was eating Chinese food. A Jewish senator jumped in to explain away her answer as "New York" humor.

The media reaction has been minimal - I saw it on the Daily Show. (Not that I watch much TV news, it makes me want to break the TV - but it didn't appear on my yahoo front page as "Sen. Graham's outrageous question" or something. I guess the latest way to lose weight is more important.)

She probably went to an old stereotype because it's none of his damn business what she does on December 25th, and if she said that, "Sir, with all due respect, I don't think that's any of your business," it would be in the media about how rude Kagan is. It's a harmless question!

No it's not.

I don't call myself a Christian, but my family does. So we do the Christmas thing - presents and deviled eggs and such. (We also watched vintage Family Feud and it was so creepy the way that Richard Dawson kissed all the women - on the lips. What an invasion of space!) But if someone asked me, I'd ask them why they want to know.

Do they ask Christian nominees what they do for Eid or Passover or Holi?

Non-Christians are the minority in this country, according to many polls by many polling companies. (So it's not just a blip - the results are the same again and again.)

But what really gets my goat is that we call America a country founded on "Judeo-Christian" values. It used to be just Christian, and it may still be in some circles, I wouldn't know. (I prefer "Abrahamic religions" because it covers Muslims as well.)

The "Judeo" part is just an empty gesture.

So my main reaction is "Judeo" Christian my ass.

Very eloquent, nah?

Seekingferret does a much better job, and makes much more sense than me. Do check out her post.

A little thought from a paper I never had to write.

See, I had to write this paper.

Only the pain was so bad I could barely think. And when it wasn't bad, I was sleepy or foggy. I was able to take my final - multiple choice - but not do the paper, which required abstract thinking. Normally, I can BS my way through something, but I couldn't even do that.

Luckily, I got above an 80 in the class without the paper, so I didn't have to do it. (It was my honor's course and to count as Honors, I had to get a B in the class. Honors classes count as my volunteer hours, and well, I can't do 75 hours before June 1st. I just can't do anything.)

Before that, I picked a topic (the Swiss minaret ban) and wrote out some topics while in class. (His powerpoints were always thorough and most of the test questions came straight from there, so I'd copy the powerpoint and then read. Or in this case, work on topics.)

The minaret ban in Switzerland is ridiculous and won't have much effect anyway, I think they had a rule about height in place. And the country only had 4. The imagery pissed a lot of people off - using minarets as guns piercing the Swiss flag, while a woman covered so only her eyes showed looked at you. Except that most of the Muslims in Switzerland are from Eastern Europe and don't wear the niqab or burka.

I also thought of the hijab ban in France and how assimilation is touted as the best way to be an immigrant - by not acting like one at all, forgetting your heritage. Here in the US, we screamed that forever, and now we wonder why the kids (always the kids) don't know about their heritage, oh boo hoo.

But I think that wearing a hijab and going to school or university or working or doing "French" things is a sign of good assimilation - look at me, I'm combining the old and new, a Muslimah can wear her hijab and still be French! Banning it is ridiculous.

Two fictional examples - Rayyan in the Canadian TV show Little Mosque on the Prairie wears the hijab. She's a doctor, she went to medical school. As it's a small town, she treats men and women. Very "Canadian," even with cloth on her head.

I just watched Kurbaan, and ugh, if you're Muslim, AVOID YAAR!!! Except for two women in the movie, they all wear hijabs and big dresses, very conservative. And basically say you can't wear the hijab and be a good Muslimah and work outside the home.

Contrast that with My Name is Khan - Rizvan's sister-in-law wears the hijab, works outside the home, and is more liberal than her husband (she attends Rizvan's wedding to a Hindu).

MNIK and LMOTP are more realistic - you don't have to abandon everything to become a "true" American or Canadian... or French.

With God on Our Side

I heard this song at the end of Constantine's Sword, a great documentary (available instantly from Netflix if you're curious and have an hour and a half to kill).

This is not the Bob Dylan original, but the cover by Aaron Neville. I love his voice.

Oh my name it is nothin’
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
l’s taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that the land that I live in
Has God on its side

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side

Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
l’s made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don’t count the dead
When God’s on your side

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side

I’ve learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It’s them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we’re forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God’s on your side

Through many dark hour
I’ve been thinkin’ about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can’t think for you
You’ll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side

So now as I’m leavin’
I’m weary as Hell
The confusion I’m feelin’
Ain’t no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God’s on our side
He’ll stop the next war

What is the purpose of a prayer box on your door?

So we're kinda sorta encouraged to decorate the door to our rooms.

I haven't done it, but the most common decoration is a dry erase board.

This year, two girls have more hot guys than door. (Including Johnny Depp.) There are so many pictures people stop and stare. And they're right by the stairs, so you have to walk around the people...

And then a girl put up a piece of paper with a quote from the Bible - Luke, Chapter 11 verses 11-13, which says, "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

Underneath this is a prayer box. Apparently, because God will give us good things, we should leave a prayer in this box.

But then my suitemates put one up (we share a bathroom). With a dry erase board and pad of paper on the door. I was well, whatever about it.

Until they wrote "Please leave your name along with your prayer. Thank you & God Bless."

When I saw that, I wrote "Why?" on the dry erase board. (Anonymously, of course.) This was soon erased by somebody offering to help with hair.

I don't get this. Why have a prayer box on your door? Are you going to read these? I thought prayer was a private thing. What will they do with the prayers? I'm really confused by this.

Yet another attack on Christmas!

From Jeff Foxworthy, no less!




"Happy Holidays"??

Sad, sad, sad.

Latest Attack on Christmas!

Where: the comic "Mutts"

When: Monday, December 17, 2007

What:



Sad.


Funny placement of "Happy Holidays" - a commercial for Henco furniture in Selmer. The commercials are definitely local, and everyone's got a southern accent. So their use of "Happy Holidays" really stuck out. But I like it.

What I don't like? This story about a store in downtown Collierville. I saw it on the news last week. The Arkansas Matters article is better because they open with "The so-called war on Christmas...", while WMC opened with," When Christmas rolls around stores in downtown Collierville are decked out with decorations. The local banners say Happy Holidays."

The quote in the article is exactly what the owner said on TV.

"We got tired of everyone saying happy holidays when Merry Christmas is what its all about, its about Christ and we wanted to make a stand," Donna Buckner said.

Oh, gag me.

What is about Christ? Christmas? Christmas is next Tuesday! (Not to mention the historical quibbling over when he was actually born.) She doesn't even say what she's referring to - what "it" is all about. You generally say what the pronoun replaces, you don't just assume everyone knows.

"Make a stand"? I thought you made statements or took stands. And you're in America, Tennessee to be exact. You're not going to lose business by saying "Merry Christmas". You're more likely to lose it if you don't.


The whole "War on Christmas" idea is stupid. Christianity is the most popular religion in the US. And they can't handle acknowledging that some people practice other religions with holidays in December. The fact that it's called the "War on Christmas" and not the "War on Religion" (same enemy - secular humanism and atheists) illustrates the dominance of Christianity and Christmas here.

"Happy Holidays" does not name any religious holiday, but the absence of Christ is the only problem. There is a war on Chanukah, you know.

The second link mentions this story. More Christians making a stand!

One funny quote:

"The Catholic League wants Christians to stay away from this movie precisely because it knows that the film is bait for the books," said president William Donohue.

From an article about 'The Golden Compass'.

Heavens to Betsy! We can't have our kids reading!

Do these people not have real problems to deal with?

I don't know if the Golden Compass series is as popular as Harry Potter, but HP, despite its flaws, got kids (and adults) reading. And some kept reading.

The leaders claiming this movie and other things are threats to their kids' faith must have no faith in their children or their religion. I mean, if a positive story about witches is enough to turn your kid into a Satanist, or a story with a corrupt church makes your kid join a cult, there were some issues already. Though if they're that easily influenced, they should already be protesting the books.

Yes, I know someone who's protesting the film with her church group. No, she hasn't seen it, no she hasn't read it, she just knows it's bad. And apparently they've toned it down.

Whatever, I just loved that quote. How ignorant!


Edit - I have not actually read any of Pullman's books, and I don't want to. I read about half or 3/4 of the first one, and I just couldn't get into it. Oh well, some people like different books. Becky likes the Gossip Girl series, I don't. And yet, the world goes on.

UNHP 1101

"University Honors Program" - I think that's what the letters mean. UNHP 1101 and UNHP 1102 are required for every Honors student here before you start your 5th semester. (I think.)

I took UNHP 1101 this semester and loved it. Everyone else I talked to hated it. Except those in my section (we had a big lecture on Tuesday and then broke up into sections on Thursday). Whatever.

Our last reading assignment was The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer. I read most of it Friday night. It was very hard to get into. I liked the bits about nature - the starkness of the desert, the lush decadence of the rice fields - but if I never read it again, that would be fine.

I'm going to reveal the ending - or part of it.

I know that's mean to all of you waiting on pins on needles to see if Ibrahim gets to leave.

Anyways, Ibrahim gets to go to America. Now in our last UNHP class yesterday, the professors asked us what we thought he'd do - would he live in a Muslim enclave and never get above lower-middle class, would he be a huge success - what?

This guy sitting next to me leaned over and said that he'd probably fly a plane into the towers.

Clearly, he got nothing out of this course. I was accused of being close-minded in English, but sheesh.

A little common sense would show how stupid a thought that is - or a comprehensive reading of the book.

Ibrahim went to informal meetings with other men his age in his own country, and they griped about their government, their country. No anti-American rhetoric there.

Plus, there's why Ibrahim wanted to leave his home country - he wanted to be successful, he wanted to be rich, why would he want to hurt the country he wants to call home?

Jackass. I should have said all this to the guy in class, but I just ignored him.

Idiot.

The new hate crime bill is bad for God.

At least for Memphis pastors.

If it passes, they can't preach against homosexuality, the worst sin there was and ever will be.

The first time I saw this in the Commercial Appeal, one pastor said that homosexuals shouldn't get special rights, and this gives them that. Homosexuals shouldn't have the right to adopt, get married, or not get killed or attacked for their sexuality.

I call bullshit.

Race and religion based attacks fall under hate crime, yet bigots can still freely speak.

I mean, duh.

And, come to find out, it's in the writing of the bill that sermons about homosexuality are protected as free speech.

So where's the problem?

Something confusing about the RSOs at school.

RSOs are registered student organizations and there are many of them. There will be a RSO fair early on in the year, which reminds me of club day at high school, only it will probably be cooler.

One of our sessions at frosh camp was about RSOs and getting involved on campus in general.

Showing my new boldness, I didn't volunteer to speak about one subject until the other guy looked a bit confused. So I jumped in. The ones I had to speak about were the minority organizations - 3 in particular, the African-American one, the Hispanic one, and Stonewall, the gay and lesbian group, which is relatively new. (Nobody knew the reason behind the name.)

I was surprised and pleased that we had a gay student organization.

But that's not the confusing part...

The religious organizations confused me and still does, but thinking about it now, it makes some sense.

Lumped with the religious groups? The atheist organization. (Again, truly surprised and pleased to see one exists here.)

When I asked why, nobody had a good answer.

Atheism is not a religion, it is the absence of one, there is no belief system, no uniform anything, besides the whole no god or gods thing.

But it's a religious affiliation (it was on the two surveys I did my senior year - not many atheists, of course), so it goes with the religious clubs.

I think it just shows ignorance of what atheism is.

Big surprise.

But hey, it's here! And I'll be there.

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

I saw her on the Colbert Report, but before then I heard about her book and I was lucky enough to find it last Monday at the local library.

I disagree with her, but I like her book. Unlike Ann Coulter's work, where I disagree with her and really don't like her writing.

I don't feel that I can say anything about her views on Islam because she grew up with it, I didn't. She can't say anything about my views on Christianity for the same reason.

That being said, there are 2 things I disagree with, that stuck out.

She said people were wrong when they said poverty and misery turned the terrorists into fanatics.

But, earlier, she said that Somalis turned to Islam because the (secular) government was failing and hurting everyone, and religion offered happiness, if not now, after you died.

Her description of her life under Islam was horrible. I always thought that since women have to cover up because men are horndogs, wouldn't it be easier to just blind and castrate the men? Then women can enjoy life.

I'm reading American Fascists right now. I picked it up Monday as well. There are many similarities between the Christianity in this book and the Islam in her book, especially the treatment of women.

The other thing that bugged me - when she was in Dutch government and wanted to do away with minimum wage and unemployment because Muslim immigrants and refugees used that to hide from integration.

That pissed me off. The minimum wage and unemployment aren't just for refugees, native-born Dutch use them as well. Plus, she used the money given to refugees to go to school, to be a success, and she wanted to deny other Muslim women the same thing, while criticizing them for not doing anything!

Same as women decrying feminism, while feminism gave them the chance to speak and get the hell out of the kitchen. "I made it, but how I made it was bad, so let's get rid of the ladder I used."

That's about it.

My library is broke and bleeding books.

They can't afford to have the security measures they used to have. Something in the books would set off an alarm if it wasn't properly checked out.

Well, books are being stolen.

What are they doing? Limiting the number of books we can check out.

And that stops people from walking out with books without checking them out... how?

And! This librarian did not know how to spell glitch! Glitch!

However, the lady who checked my books out was younger and obviously newer, because she took interest, however fleeting, in the 8 books I had.

So there is hope.

And I should get my student ID soon for the university and then I can use the Memphis library again, so whatever.

Jerry Falwell is dead.

And has been for a while.

I haven't had anything to say, I tried to contain my glee with the thought that what he started didn't die with him.

I never liked him, but what he said on September 11th kind of sealed the deal, and everything else he's said is just disgusting. I checked out the book American Fascists Monday and I told my mom that it wasn't about ordinary Christians, like her and Becky and the people who work at the Crisis Center, it was about the Falwells, and the Dobsons, and the Pat Robertsons, those jerks that hijacked the country and are trying to make it a Christian nation.

I can't believe I was happy to see he died of old age. 1 - no one killed him, that is very good. 2 - he was a hateful bigot. Here's a collection of his quotes from an atheist site.

What prompted me to finally say something was the 3 letters printed this week condemning Bill Day, the Commercial Appeal's editorial cartoonist, for a cartoon he did on the death of Falwell, mocking him.

Of course he'd mock him, if he's remotely liberal, he's responsible for September 11th and all the ills in the world.

He draws a lot of criticism that other cartoonists featured don't get, at least in the paper. No liberal ever complains, or gets printed, about the Ramirez cartoons that run - I don't remember his first name, but he's conservative, and since Bush vetoed the war bill passed by Congress, he's run too many fucking cartoons about how 'radical' Congress has become. If Congress was filled with bleeding heart liberals and radicals, we'd have free health care and impeachment proceedings! Grr.

On May 18, this cartoon ran in the Commercial Appeal. It's pretty weak, and not very funny to me, but it's pissing people off.



*yawn*

Cute - he called Tinky Winky gay, so ha ha, Tinky Winky's welcoming him to heaven. I don't get it.

The first letter was the next day said "Teletubbies don't go to heaven". Dogs do, according to the liberal nazis in Hollywood.

There were 2 more today, they were so stupid!

I worry Day will be replaced by other cartoonists, or a conservative one. This is the South, we need as many liberal voices as we can get.

But he keeps stepping on religious toes, because plainly, he doesn't worship Falwell and likes to poke fun at pompous people who blamed him for the worst terrorist attack on American soil.


There was another letter yesterday that made me see red - sent in by a guy, about the recent outcry about rape in a rich part of town, hence the coverage of it. The victims are calling for more police, but the asshole said police aren't there to protect us, women should take responsibilty for their own protection, if they get raped, it's their fault, no, it was their male relatives' fault for not protecting them. It seemed like he was saying that we shouldn't punish the rapists, since the women should protect themselves. Go to pandagon or feministe or reclusiveleftist and see why this is so offensive and stupid, it's not funny, because it's not unique - or limited to men, sadly. We can be aware of our surroundings, and take self defense or martial art classes, they give you confidence, but we are not responsible for a rapist's crimes - he is.

I agree with the letters today - we've been saying "Enough is enough" about crime for about ever, but it only makes the front page when it's rich people getting hurt. It's sad but true.

Though the rich victims have the money and time to pursue this, not the average victim. I'm glad they are asking "Why?" and demanding answers - someone has to, and it works better if it's somebody rich and with influence. That's how it works.

Now I'm going to watch Crossing Jordan on A&E. Toodles.

Something odd on A4 today.

I can't believe I didn't notice it at first - actually, I can, I was pretty sleepy and just wanted to read the smoking article and get onto the comics.

This odd little advertisement was next to the smoking article!

And I still missed it.

But I found it while looking for an article that was not in today's paper, but yesterday's. I felt like death yesterday, it was all I could do to read the comics, but since I love the paper, I'm supposed to read it every day. And I do get possessive of the Sunday paper, I want to go through it first. They don't even want a subscription - this expires in August. Mom only got it so I'd stop raiding her change on a daily basis.

Anyways, this was a nice little ad that took up half the sheet, height-wise and it was 3 columns wide.

The title?

8 Compelling Reasons Why:

Christ Is Coming Very Soon!

How To Be Prepared For History's Greatest Event


It is hilarious. I cannot believe somebody believes this. Mom told me it's somebody's opinion, it's not based on facts. And that makes it less funny? No.

There is a website, if you dare - JesusSoonReturn.com. I don't. I'm not brave enough to visit.

The 8 reasons are absurd and trite at the same time - the usual suspects, with a few surprises. Israel's existence, fighting in Israel, 'plummeting morality', The New World Order (The EU, the UN, the World Bank, and so on), more cults and false religions (whoever this wackjob disagrees with), and at the same time, more religion and belief of the right kind.

I did not know an increase in earthquakes meant Jesus was coming back - I guess heaven really is inside the earth's core and He's going to come up in a volcano. Take that, Pelé!

But the absolute best reason is number 5 - "Explosion of travel and education."

I'm not kidding! "Two key conditions described about 2,500 years ago for the Second Coming are that "travel and education shall be vastly increased" (Daniel 12:4, Living Bible). In all of history, the vast increase in travel has come just since mid-century with the explosion of both ground and air transportation; in education, with the advance of science and computers."

Mid-century is very important to modern Second Coming theories, Israel was created - miraculously reborn, I'm sorry, in 1948.

I'm pretty sure trains were a sign of the Second Coming when they took over, as was the wheel.

But education? It doesn't make sense. The religious right in this country hates science and education, especially public and non-religious higher education. They're fighting education and science by insisting that evolution is a theory, that the Bible's creation story is the only one, when it's clearly not. It can be taught in high school in a religious studies class, along with the other widely practiced religions of today, or even in a religious history class.

But that's a sin, somehow, because the Bible is the only thing that matters. I thought the 10 Commandments were the only thing that mattered, along with believing in Christ, but there's a lot more to it than that, apparently.

There's also the stem cell issue, where a potential life is more important than somebody already alive and possibly sick who could be looking at a cure.

It ends with an invitation to visit the website where you can see 3 exciting reports: (1) "Seven Incomparable Benefits to trusting Christ," (2) "Beware: the Mark of the Beast!" (3) "What is a Cult or the Occult?"

Your name and address will never be sold or used to beg for money, they sincerely pledge. This ad was paid for by a "concerned private contributor" with a lot of money to waste spreading the word of Christ rather than, I don't know, doing Christ-like work by helping the poor. By the by, I saw our Crisis Center brochure today - it's a ministry, and the brochure included a Bible verse about helping the poor and how good that was. But it's more important to scare everyone with tales of hell.

You know, if everyone who doesn't follow the rules is going to hell, what does it matter to those who know they're going to heaven? We're idiots, let us enjoy a sulfur shower while you play a harp (not a lyre).

Of course, the reason some people pressure loved ones is because they truly believe in heaven and hell and they are concerned that they'll go to heaven and not see their family. It's genuine, but still annoying.

This ends with advice to "clip, copy and share with others!"

I should pay for an ad saying something like that, but based on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy five book trilogy. (Hint - the Sabbath is Thursday.) Money's money, right?

I doubt one person will object to this tripe (people object to the strip club ads in the Sports section), but if I were to run something saying that other people don't believe that, I'll be attacked. This paper has a daily Bible verse in the Op-Ed section. I'm not kidding. Saturday, the M section is devoted to religion - church picnics, never anything about a synagogue or mosque, just Christianity.

Big surprise.

The Second Coming will not happen on a single day. There's debate over whether the bad number is 666 or 616 or 999 or 919 or 13 or 1013 or 42, plus the calendars have changed a wee bit since the Bible was written.

The Second Coming has been coming since Jesus died, it'll happen in our lifetimes has been the cry for almost 2 millenia.

Nothing has happened.

What's scary is that there are people who believe it will happen in their lifetime and want it to happen and like the war in the Middle East, because it's speeding it up. (How can it be sped up if it's God will?)

Why care about the poor if Jesus will take care of them any day now?

I'm lucky to work and live with Christians who think it's not important.

Thank You For Smoking

That's a great book and an okay movie. I just reread it last week, and I still like it. The main character is so sincere in his statements, the last chapter still shocks me, when he's like, yeah, smoking is bad for you. Duh. A bit that popped into my head today while reading the paper was when Nick was on Larry King and said there's no health risk in smoking cigarettes, the CDC and the NIH make it up because if they don't, they'll lose funding. Naturally, someone from the CDC calls the show and tells him he's full of shit. He counters with the growing epidemic of pneumonia now that smokers are forced to go outside. What bullshit, but it pays the mortgage.

I am not a fan of smoking. This may have to do with the fact that my dad smokes and I do not like him. While he lived with us, he smoked outside. And any time one of mom's smoking relatives visits, they have to smoke at the end of the driveway. However, dad smokes in his house now, as does my uncle. Uncle Danny was married to a smoker, but they both smoked outside. He's married another smoker, and this time they smoke inside. In the kitchen. During his oldest daughter's birthday.

My dad also smokes in his kitchen - when my sister complained, he pointed out that she was in the living room and couldn't even smell it. He has a semi-open floor plan - the kitchen can not be shut off from the rest of the house. He also smoked in the car, with the windows down, while taking her to the doctor. She had bronchitis and pneumonia and was coughing like crazy. But no big deal! The window was open. Sheesh.

At the Crisis Center, you cannot smoke in the building, and if you're a client and you step outside to smoke, whether you missed your turn or not, you'll have to come back the next day. The building is small and the director is allergic. Plus, it stinks. One woman lied about smoking, and went looking for clothes. The room is big, don't get me wrong, but it's packed with clothes. It stunk.

One of my mom's best friends is die-hard smoker - she smokes outside, or at least in her garage. She went to Sonic with my mom and sister yesterday afternoon (Becky has a job!), and smoked while Becky ate. Sure they were outside, but still. When they worked together, she drove everyone nuts by going outside to smoke and then spraying herself with perfume. She came back in every day smelling like perfume and cigarette smoke.

Dogs are banned in more places than cigarettes. I don't think people should smoke where food is served. You can't smoke at a gas station, but the last time I went in one to get the paper, a guy in front of me reeked of cigarette smoke. But I was the bad one because I'd stepped in the door with a 12 pound poodle mop in my arms and didn't go farther than the cashier, which is at the front of the store. I know, I know, they're not allowed.

Mom and I found this great little burger place in Memphis and it was ruined by a smoker. How can you smoke and eat? Ew. (It was very small.)

I loved eating out in Washington - no smoking! One of my uncle's favorite restaurants was worried it would lose business after the ban. Business increased.

There is no 'smoking section' that keeps the smoke 100% away from nonsmokers, unless it's in a separate wing with good ventilation. There's not a peeing section in pools - that stuff spreads.

I realize that long time smokers don't have as good a sense of smell as nonsmokers, so they don't realize how they smell and how it affects others.

So - I hate smoking.

Imagine my joy when I look at today's paper - all area hospitals are banning it from the campuses - no more 'smoking sections' just outside the ER door, no more smoking before visiting sick people, yay! It starts November 15th, the American Cancer Society's Great American Smoke Out.

Most hospitals are taking great steps to help people quit - free nicotine gum or patches along with classes.

They're doing it to improve health and set a good example for the nation's health - they're hospitals. The VA has a problem, as it has smoking shelters that are federally mandated. But I don't think it'll be a big issue - I think this will go through and it'll be great.

Some people are worried about visitors that want to smoke - screw them. They're visiting a sick loved one, they can put the damn things away for an hour, can't they? My dad did that when he visited me in August - he never stunk.

Last Friday, I had an ultrasound done at Baptist Tipton. It is an old, small hospital, but it doesn't have old-world charm. It seems dingy. Anyways, we walked out the front doors and someone was smoking. Yuck! Now smokers will have to go farther, but they'll survive.

If you can't stop smoking while in the hospital, you have a problem. Of course, it is an addiction, but still.

Last time I was at the ER at St Francis, a very sick looking woman walked outside about 5 times. She was a patient and she had to smoke.

That's sad.

But yay! No more smoking anywhere near a hospital. It makes perfect sense. Even when you do it outside, the smell stays with you. Trust me.

Anyways, the story was on 2 pages, A1 and A4.

A4 had an interesting little article at the top of the page about black churches and the new hate crime bill making its way through Congress. They oppose it, because they can't preach against homosexuality.

Unlike smoking, homosexuality hurts nobody, but the homosexual him or her self if he or she chooses to hide it and repress their true nature.

All this law will do is add sexual orientation to the list of things that are already on the hate crime books, like race, religion, gender, ethnicity.

But this will hurt the country, somehow. I'm not sure how.

Besides, the church has been a haven for homosexuals. They have to be celibate and so do priests, monks, and nuns. Problem solved.

The black churches that do support the bill liken this to the Civil Rights struggle of the 50s and 60s. I agree. People want to deny the humanity of other people, just because they are different and it 'goes against God'. So did freeing slaves and marrying someone of a different race at one point.

Of course, there is a big difference between this struggle and the older one - you can hide your homosexuality, you cannot hide your race or you gender.

But I still think this is a waste of time, and will only hurt homosexual Americans if it's not passed. You can think what you want about homosexuality, but you don't have the right to deny a gay person the same rights and opportunities you have - to get married, to adopt, to be a foster parent, to not be harassed, assaulted, or killed for who you are.

I hope these religious leaders end up looking like the idiots they are - protesting giving a minority the same rights as yourself on the grounds that it's a sin, you think it's wrong.

Guess what? If gay marriage is legalized, you don't have to marry a member of the same sex, you don't have to divorce your opposite sex spouse, you can still marry your opposite sex sweetheart and no one will care.

Don't like gay marriage? Don't have one. Don't do one, but don't deny others the right to do so.

This Conservapedia seems bizarre.

I saw a bit in the paper about it, and it sounds weird.

Wikipedia is too liberal, too anti-American, and way too anti-Christian for the founder of Conservapedia, Phyllis Schlafly's son - a teacher!

On the about page, it says "Tired of the LIBERAL BIAS every time you search on Google and a Wikipedia page appears?"

What? Okay, then.

Some people see bias everywhere.

I only use Wikipedia for entertainment information - who wrote this, how many books did so-and-so write, what episode of what TV show, etc. I'd never use it for real work. There are free online encyclopedias that also appear in book form.

And I'm not using Conservapedia, even though it loves the facts, after adhering to certain rules.

Here are some of the weirdest examples of 'bias' in Wikipedia.

• Wikipedia says some scholars and authors question whether Jesus was a real person or not.
• It "often uses foreign spelling of words, even though most English-speaking users are American. ... Conservapedia favors American spellings of words."
• It uses BCE and CE instead of BC and AD. According to Conservapedia, since they're based on the Christian ones, why use them at all? I don't know, maybe because Wikipedia talks about other religions, and in many books and research articles, you see BCE and CE. I checked out a big, illustrated guide to world religions that seemed to be at a child's level, and it used BCE and CE - even when talking about Christianity.
• Its "entry for Johnny Appleseed, a Christian folk hero, omits a discussion of his strong faith and instead features baseless speculation about his health, a year of death different from that of his obituary, and a silly story designed to make a Christian preacher look foolish."

The entries are also too long and gossipy.

And there are too many on pop culture.

And too many on other countries and other religions, no doubt.



Conservapedia is, rather than the evil liberal Wikipedia, designed for education. (Private, no doubt.) No teacher wanted a source that said "Wikipedia", because it's user-edited, and could be wrong.

Since it's wrong from time to time, it shows bias.

What?

Anyways, it's so damn weird.

Whatever. I only use Wiki to find the name of episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, really. At least lately. I also used it to look up satirical and parody-of-another books.

I wouldn't trust either, for anything serious.

Reverend Graham believes he's right.

About everything.

Today, somebody wrote in saying they wanted to learn about religion and went to a bookstore and there were a lot of books and which book does the good reverend recommend?

The bible, since the rest are false prophets and the letter writer will go to hell if he reads them, or something.

The only thing mentioned about other religions in the Bible is that they're BAD.

The person said religion, not Christianity!

Of course, he wrote to a Christian Reverend. I'm sure an Imam would say the Koran's the only one you need to read and a Rabbi would say the Torah.

I have a book about religion I got at a yard sale for less than a buck. It's shorter than the bible (no begats) and it's just a guide to world religion.

The Bible can't help - it's hard to understand. They make classic books (Shakespeare's plays, mostly.) in a format where they put the unabridged play on one page, and the page across from it has it translated into modern English.

They need to do that with the Bible.

My sister has a 'teen' Bible - maybe it's like that.

Something Asinine on the Op-Ed Page Today

And I'm not talking about Ramirez's gross cartoon comparing Pelosi to Iran's president because she visited Syria. I thought that's what representatives of our country did. Talk to people, not blow them up or hang them.

I support her trip, I support her even more - she's so much more diplomatic than the people above her.

I'm talking about another bizarre letter to the editor. I will retype it, without the idiot's name, as usual.

You won't get the stupidity unless you get the Commercial Appeal, sorry. Though if you get any daily paper, you probably will.

The CA missed opportunity to inspire

I don't know why I was so surprised when I looked at your Easter Sunday front page. Instead of acknowledging this Christian nation with an inspiring Easter message to uplift people's spirits, we got articles on Mayor Willie Herenton, John Ford and the Winkler murder case.
Do you wonder why people think ultraliberals are anti-Christian? Would it have killed you to show a cross, spring flowers, anything symbolic of Jesus? Maybe the editors could at least devote one front page to uplift your readers' souls. This city has become so depressing, no wonder people leave.

Where's this anonymous (to everyone who doesn't read the CA) idiot live? Memphis.

First off, this idiot must have looked only at the front page of the Sunday paper. I read or at least looked at all of it, except business and sports, and he's full of shit. Yes, the Commercial Appeal, Memphis's only daily newspaper, did not look like a church newsletter on Sunday.

You want to know why the main articles were about Herenton, Ford, and Winkler? Because they're NEWS!

And this is a newspaper.

There were plenty of mentions of Easter and Easter services around the world - but not on the front page.

I like the ultraliberals thing. The CA is conservative and cares about money until the day they put their editorials on the front page. No, on Sunday, the editorial section is expanded beyond the usual 2 pages, and it's always interesting.

AND MENTIONED EASTER.

Also, spring flowers as a symbol of Jesus?

They are a symbol of spring, which we are still not feeling, as the sun didn't come out today and it was cold. I took a fan and a bag of ice pops to the Crisis Center for nothing.

They are also stolen from a pagan holiday that centered around the first day of spring. Christianity wanted to end all other religions, and took their dates and toys and said, "Jesus was born in December under an evergreen tree and died in April and came back as a bunny."

Or something.

I do respect Christians, but not idiots like this.

If he wanted inspiration, he could have, I don't know, gone to church? Subscribed to a conservative church newsletter so he doesn't have to see these liberals putting news on the front page.

How insensitive of them!


A somber note - the Winkler trial is so sad. She's the pastor's wife who killed her husband. The article was an interesting one on being a pastor's wife and the trials and tribulations of it and how it has to be a partnership or you'll end up killing each other. Of course, as someone pointed out in the letters section, it could happen in any relationship where there's a dominating party, not just in religious couples.

Hobby Lobby took out a full page ad on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Hawking pretty flowers that will die soon? No, 3 crosses and biblical quotes!

And many of Sunday's comics were just blatant, like BC and, BC.

By the way, I agree with everyone over at the CC. They should run the strips he had already made, and then stop it. But the plan is that family and staff will use his old drawings and put in new jokes, or something equally abhorrent. That's worse than running classic Peanuts. Nobody's tinkering with Schulz's work.

Of all the places to hide easter Eggs,

"back in the chicken" is perhaps the worst.
Love, Dad



Random puppies are much cuter than bunnies or chickens when it comes to Easter.

Whoever took thse puppy pictures, thank you, they are adorable and I saved them because it was 'cute Mikey' and they were used (along with Johnny Depp) to lure me back to the message board when it allowed lurking.

I know why cute animals like bunnies (and puppies! ) are associated with Easter. The real reason has nothing to do with bunnies being fertile and Jesus coming back to life or stolen pagan holidays, no, it is much more, um sinister than that. According to a book (books don't lie), bunnies are associated with Easter because Jesus was at a wedding (water into wine) and learned that his cousin, John the Baptist had died. He got drunk and ended up holding a little girl's bunny that she'd brought to wedding for whatever reason. So he tells the writer that whenever he's sad, there should be bunnies. Then he passed out.

Makes sense.

By the way, how can candy smell like smoke?

Thank god for foil and plastic, let me tell you!

Thanks dad.

"Do you remember September 11th?"

Oh my god.

On A7, there is a snippet of an article about a disgusting lawsuit.

A California woman of Iranian descent is suing CHiPs. Good for her.

She apparently asked not to be cited for going 79 on I-680 last year on September 12, 2006.

The bastard said, "Today is September twelfth. Do you remember September eleventh? Do you know what happened on September eleventh? It's people like you who killed all of our people. This is our country! Why don't you go back to your country?"

Then he told her to shut up and wouldn't give her a business card when she told him she was filing a lawsuit.

The officer asker her to sign the citation, and she asked if she could read it first. Another racist tirade. "I don't have time for you foreigners to sit in your Mercedes! You think you own the road! You think you own the country!" He also pulled her from her car to yell at her further.

The supervisor showed up and told him to chill the fuck out. She went to the hospital for burises on her arm and leg and elbow pain.


Sick, sick, sick, sick!

Iranian descent means she's been here most of her life. And since she's alive, she plainly wasn't part of the attacks. God, what an ass.

I swear, police think they are above everyone else, because they're cops. My dad's a traffic cop, and he's teaching my sister all the wrong things when it comes to driving. He takes her driving in a car on the empty side of the base. Then she gets in mom's truck and drives around town, where there are other cars to deal with and it gets conflicting. He told her that the part of the car connecting the windshield to the windows, the side of the door, that thing... he told her that was a blindspot! And she yelled at my mom when my mom told her it wasn't. There are good cops, but too many are power-hungry assholes or corrupt.

So let's do away with government funded police forces. After all, anytime a welfare cheat is found, we should do away with welfare programs all together, right? Private forces, the market is God. "My sister was raped, robbed, and killed. Because of the robbery, they won't investigate - they said there's no money in it."

This is the only story I can find about it online. It's credited to the Associated Press in the Commercial Appeal, you'd think there'd be more than one online.

Her name is Zahra Sedaghatpour, and if this account is true, I hope she wins. I don't care what she wins, he better be fired.

Oh my god, he wouldn't return her "driver's license and car registration, telling her 'maybe the wind blew them away.'" According to this article, two other officers showed up and manhandled her and shouted profanities. Sick asshole bastards. I hope they get suspended without pay.

If it's true.




Above the bit about the lawsuit is a bigger article about a Roman Catholic couple that was interviewed on Ash Wednesday and pictured in the local paper (Wyoming) with ashes on their forehead, a mark of their Catholic faith.

The problem? It's two women who got married in Canada. They returned to Wyoming and sent a letter to the state senate asking them not to criminalize their marriage.

Then they were interviewed. And now, they're banned communion in writing, which is apparently a big deal.

They've been going to this church for a while, and it's not that they're gay, it's that they're not ashamed of it, that they appeared in public as a lesbian couple. One asked why Catholics who use birth control or have premarital sex aren't barred from communion and were told that those sinners don't go around telling everyone they sin.

They haven't been back since then, they don't want to make it worse. Your religion condemns you, but you grew up with it, you can't deny it. The two women have obviously come to terms with their sexuality and their religion, but the church hasn't.

Here's a link to the article on another attack on a minority.

Well, that was A7.

God knows what I'll find further in.

Oh, on A2, I found out I have to watch America's Most Wanted tomorrow night, even though a Law and Order rerun is on at the same time because Bloom County creator Berkeley Breathed will be on - helping solve a case, not in trouble.

And on A3 was an interesting bit about the Hatfields and McCoys. The McCoys suffered from an incurable disease that can be treated if caught soon enough and the tumors are removed. One place the tumors grow is on the adrenal gland, which can make you aggressive. Descendents of the McCoys today still have it.

What, it's interesting.

Now onto the B section - Germantown and Collierville residents can't have their grass higher than 6 inches or... er, the paper doesn't say. Probably a fine.

Chapter 20 of Ishmael Beah's great book.

Yes, I made it that far.

It is engrossing, amazing, and if I feel good, I will drop it off at the library as soon as I finish so others can enjoy it - well not enjoy it, but absorb it and its scary realities.

Long ass doctor's wait - my appointment was at 3:30, we got there at 3:03, and did not get taken to an exam room until almost 5. The only book with me? A Long Way Gone.

I decided to stop at chapter 20 for tonight - or at least right now, it'll probably suck me back in, damn him. The transformations he went through, from normal kid to terrified and terrifying teenager to kill on sight soldier (the government's army, not the rebels. The army was told the rebels killed their families, raped their sisters, burned their towns. And the rebels were told the same thing!) to almost-normal human being are amazing.

It was the last one that got me and made me think of something we need to do with the war in Iraq and our soldiers over there - at least a month in a psych ward afterwards, where they gradually rejoin American life - at least for those who showed signs of depression while in Iraq, hopefully for all.

Supporting the troops does not mean cutting their benefits. And they need psych help. I don't care that my uncle and his wife are "fine" there are children my age over there! Taught to kill, taught they don't know who the enemy is, I hope my friend who joined (next time I see her, I am so hitting her with a book) is stationed stateside, doing the boring paperwork that takes up most of the military's numbers. Or a corpsman, like my mom. Laughing her ass off after boot camp because she's snorting laughing gas.

According to Mom, everyone in bootcamp was religious. "I'm Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Hindu. I have a very diverse family."

Why?

To get out, to get away.

We drove past one of the prisons by Shelby Farms today, and I saw the prison chapel - Christian, cross on top - and I said, "I bet everyone's saying they're Christians. Look at those windows! I'd lie just to get a glimpse."

That also led me to think of dogs as rehab tools for prisoners - Wickett would be perfect. Most prisoners are grown men. He adores grown men, even though they lack the soft boobage he snorgles in. (*slap face* upside down *love me*). I thought that because the Candanian geeese that like to harass him were outside the pond by the prison, not in the field behind our house.

He likes to chase them - it's a trip. Little black dot tearing across the field, he'll catch one one day.

I'm feeling better.

My last appointment was scary - we were walk-ins because I'd spent the previous one at the ER, scared it was a kidney stone. It wasn't.

But today, despite the wait and the vaginal exam - manual, thank god for small favors, it was good. He did not freak at our questions, and he upped my Lyrica to 100mg 3 times a day, instead of 75mg three times a day - hopefully it will work. That knife-lined corset - straight from the pre-Lyrica days. Ugh.

So mentally I feel better, and I've got pain meds and decent weather and a working bike.

Regarding A Long Way Gone, there is much mention of religion before and after he becomes a soldier. It seems Sierra Leone is Muslim, there was an imam at his name-day. However, there are mentions of the old ways - "May the spirits of the ancestors bless..."

And that got me thinking, maybe they have or had it right. Becky was watching Mulan today and I remembered the bit where her ancestors helped her, she prayed to her ancestors.

And then the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians with their many, many gods, they had a better idea than we do as Christians, Muslims, or Jews.

One god? For all the followers of one religion? That's impossible.

Praying to a group set to watch your family and your family only, or a god for one area makes more sense, if anything in religion ever makes sense.

Just thoughts at 12:15 in the morning.

I figured out how to get Becky's songs on my mp3 player and I can't sleep (an hour and a half nap, what was I thinking?) so... whatever.

Next week, I hope the Daily Show and Colbert Report are new. I can't deal without my nightly television these 4 nights, it's got me all messed up.

Not that it takes much.