Don't Get Me Started with Linda Sharp

It's Shawn's Day!

One Nation Under YOUR God

Anyone who keeps up with current events, politics, and the derangement syndrome surrounding the last two lost elections knew it was coming.  It was inevitable.  The kicking, screaming, tantruming, pants shitting, leg peeing, rambling, vagina obsession, Islam fearmongering, pity-poor-Christians victimhood, war on Christmas BS, and lying was all leading up to it.

Yet here I sit, still amazed at the headline.

North Carolina May Declare Official State Religion Under New Bill

You people - yes, any of YOU who support a bill, hell, a thought, like this, have lost it.  You have climbed onto the back of the motorcycle, wrapped your arms around Fonzie, and jumped the constitutional shark. 

Your arrogrance is offensive.  Your ignorance is astounding.  And the blatant cherry picking of the constitution - a document you wetbrained asshats claim to hold so dear (clinging to it as tightly as your guns NO ONE IS COMING FOR) - is reprehensible.

No consideration for the fact that there are literally over 10,000 recorded gods and religions throughout human history - just the egomaniacal belief that YOURS is the right one.

No understanding of history or the reasons the founding fathers knew the dangers of religion and governance co-mingling.

No grasp of the word hypocrisy.  That is why the world laughs at you the most.  You hide behind portions of the constitution and amendments when it suits YOUR purposes or beliefs, but then have zero compunction about taking a steamy dump on those documents when they protect the rights of those with whom you disagree.

Cling to right to keep and bear arms like some desperate floater off the Titanic, but completely ignore Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof....

I pose this question to one of the sponsors of this bill, Republican Rep Carl Ford:  Just what the hell is your problem? 

Is it truly the complete inability to see the inverse of your actions?  Meaning, how you would respond were your actions used against you but to someone else's advantage?  What would the reaction be if a bill was introduced declaring Islam to be the state religion? 

What was that?  Sorry, I cannot hear you over the sound of the torrent of pee running down your leg.

Tell me, oh chinless wizard (no, your facial fur does not disguise the fact your face melts into your goiterfied neck), Why is that proposal any less valid, right, and true than yours? 

What?  Because this country was founded as a Christian nation?

Sorry, Carl, but the founding fathers - you know, the guys in wigs and knee britches? - were largely Deists, not cross carrying, knee bending, weepy, hellfire and damnation Christians.

Your notion that  The North Carolina General Assembly asserts that the Constitution of the United States of America does not prohibit states or their subsidiaries from making laws respecting an establishment of religion is wrong.

North Carolina is not some sovereign country, not some awkward slice of real estate exempt from the laws of the land surrounding it a la the Vatican.  You are part of the whole, and the whole is governed by the Constitution and the Amendments.

That your backwater state still has this provision in your constitution? 

The following persons shall be disqualified for office:

First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.

Well, that's just precious.  And unenforceable.  As it has been since 1961.

There is no religious requirement to hold office.  Period.  End of story.  Religion does not make one moral.  And it certainly does not make one smart.  Look in the mirror, Carl.  What stares back at you is inept, ignorant, bigoted, arrogant, STUPID, and callow.  And no amount of religion or belief in a "god" is going to change that.  In fact, your belief may well be the reason for your condition.

It's certainly the reason for your overbearance. 

Is it that hard to simply allow that others believe differently than you?  That they were taught - as were you - to believe something apart from what was taught under your roof, in your house of worship?  Can you not wrap your mind around the fact that there are countless citizens who simply do not believe in anything other than being a decent human being to others?  And that every citizen is equal?  Your chosen faith does not magically make you equaller or worthy of more consideration, or the right to literally LORD your choices over others.

Will this bill pass?  Sure, there is every likelihood that the equally dim elected officials will shepherd it through.  Then what will happen is that millions of tax dollars will be spent as it inevitably ends up at the feet of the courts to be struck down. 

And all that will have been is accomplished is ... NOTHING. 

Keep your religion in its church.  Keep your religion in your head.  Keep it the hell away from trying to govern the vaginas, choices, love lives, and beliefs of others.

This is ONE NATION.  Not under God.  Not under any god.  Those words were added back in the 50s.  Just as they have not always ridden around on our currency.

I swear, the founding fathers may not have had technology, Google, iPhones, and satellite radio, but what they did have was foresight.

Thank whatever god you do or don't believe in for that.

Dip Shits

As a consumer there is an inherent expectation that when you lay your dollar down, you will get value for it.  Be it a service or a product I believe we can all agree that we deserve to get what we pay for, correct?

That being said, screw-ups, dropped balls, and poor training happen.  They just do.  This world is not a perfect place and, intentional or not, sometimes our fast food bag contains the wrong order, our new car reveals itself to be a lemon, or the service we receive from another human being suffers from, well, receiving service from another human being.

But what happens next - OUR PART OF THE EQUATION - typically determines what, if any, resolution will be taking place.

Act like an asshole, expect your concern to be treated like shit.  Berate the person who could help correct the problem, and chances are all you achieve is making your problem bigger.

Working in the hotel industry for years, I can promise you that if someone had a complaint and approached me like a "brown eye" with legs, their complaint was met with the minimum of effort on my part.  However, treat me like a human being?  Ask politely for my help, rationally explain your disgruntlement?  Well, those people typically ended up in suites with ocean views.

Treat others the way you want to be treated.  Simple.

That concept was apparently lost on a couple mall rats in Detroit recently...

After purchasing their pretzels and dip at Auntie Anne's, the 19 and 22 year olds walked off and began eating.  They returned to the counter and began complaining that they had been given the wrong dip.

(Something they did not have a problem with initially, as they had easily consumed half of it.)

The counterhelp informed them they would have to pay for a new dip as the one they had could obviously not be exchanged - what with it half eaten and all.

The twisted sisters lost it with one climbing the counter to asSALT the worker.  The worker allegedly threw dip at them.

Police were called.  Prosecutors are now reviewing the case to determine if charges will be filed.

People.  I swear.  If only it was against the law to be a dip shit.

It's Theresa's Day!!!

Time To Celebrate Monikka!

It's Tracey's Day!

When A Story Breaks Your Heart

Those of us who are animal lovers tend to regularly take it on the chin from those who have no emotional affinity for four legged creatures.

Our love for our "kids" is mocked.  Our grief when they pass is not understood.  And our desire for all animals to be treated humanely is met with derision and a roll of the eyes.

Whatever.

Bringing a pet into your life is a commitment.  It is a contract.  It is a responsibility.  And if it is done right, it is a love affair. 

Birds, rabbits, ferrets, hamsters, iguanas, etc - they all find places in people's homes - dogs and cats obviously being the most common nonhuman member of a household.

And while they take in terms of needing cared for, fed, bathed, doctored - what they give in return is so much more. 

Anyone who has a dog knows that unconditional love is waiting on the other side of the door each time we come back home. If we're busy, they wait.  If we are sick, they know.  They draw close to us, lay a paw upon us, stare into our eyes, and sigh.  In that sigh you feel it.  Love, caring, concern. 

A pet, any pet, deserves those same three things in return.

That there are people in this world who get their kicks abusing, ignoring, casting away an animal?  Well, personally I do not think they deserve another breath.

Think that's harsh?  Read this and then get back to me.

Freckles...

Whoever did this to this beautiful soul deserves to be starved, beaten, dragged behind a car, and then dumped like trash and left to die in pain and loneliness.

Make an effort today - just when you are ready to walk past your pet because you are in a hurry or are busy - STOP.  Look at their expectant, loving faces, and give them what feeds their soul just as much as kibble feeds their bellies.  Touch them, speak kindly to them, and then thank them for the privilege having them in your life.

Choosing Living Well Over Fear Of Hell

The more years I add to my life, the less I find that I believe in what I was taught to believe as a child.

Or brainwashed to believe as a child.  Like it or not, by clinical definition every religion is a cult, and every syllable of dogma is used to brainwash a mind into buying it wholesale.  Just because a church has existed for a long time does not make it any less cultlike in its precepts, or more right in its execution.  Just because pretty costuming is used and pipe organs play from above does not make it THE one that is right above all others.

Church, basically, in my ever aging years, angers me.  It creeps me out.  It makes me sad.

As the fight for equality continues towards its boiling point, many so called "Christians" are doing what they do - banging their Bibles, cherry picking their passages, and condemning all who are LGBT, and all who support them.

Preaching what they have been taught to believe - that everlasting damnation and hellfire are where we are headed, that God will smite us for supporting our fellow human beings, and being, well, quite frankly, no better than the "God Hates Fags" sign bearers of Westboro.

Sorry, but hiding behind crap like "hate the sin, not the sinner" is weak, cowardly. 

I choose to live my life well.  Period.  End of story.  I no longer choose to live it in fear of "hell" or promise of "heaven."

I choose to be unencumbered by priests and preachers who threaten damnation and promise salvation as if it is actually theirs to dole out.  As if they have some direct line to the "Almighty."

They don't.

Not your minister.  Not your bishop.  Not your shaman.  Not your Pope.

They are mere mortals like all of us.  Nothing more, nothing less.  They just get the perks of a congregation happy to support them because, well, God needs money.  He always seems to need money.

Since writing yesterday I have received the expected damnation emails.  I have engaged a total stranger, whose sole (soul) purpose in life seems to be professional proselytizer and victim, in a Facebook thread.  And I have "listened" to Carson via text as her head was ready to explode over this very subject at school.

Fear.  It is a powerful force.  Most religion cannot exist without it.  Fear of questioning the lesson.  Fear of not following the rules.  Fear of burning in hell for all eternity. 

And it is that fear that confounds people trapped in it when they meet someone like my daughter (all of them actually), or me.

We are nice.  We give our time, our money, our patience, our love, our hearts.  Not because some book or titled man/woman tells us to.  Not because we think we are getting another checkmark in the heavenly ledger.

We do it because it is the right way to live.  Not because we think we have to.  But because when you decide to live your life unencumbered by dogma, the choice comes pretty naturally.  Decent human beings will treat fellow human beings decently.  That's why little kids get along so well.  They have not yet been corrupted by bigotry, hand-me-down beliefs about other people, and fear of the other.

They just know if someone is being nice to them.  Color doesn't blind them.  In fact, they are blind to color.  Hate doesn't cloud their little hearts.  They don't know how to hate.  They have to be taught that.  They don't know about Jesus or God or Allah or Vishnu or Buddha.  They know about sandboxes, hugs, smiles, and laughter.

That is the path of a human being until it is jerked to an offramp to be taught something else, to be segmented, broken off, convinced he/she is right and all others are wrong.

Look, religion is fine.  I have said before that I acknowledge it can provide comfort, a sense of community.  And I don't particularly care what you think or believe - but it needs to stay in its church.  When it crosses the threshhold with the intent of telling others they are wrong, condemning them, hurting them, and trying to influence the governance of a nation - it must be called out and stopped.

I do not HAVE to buy into what you buy into.  If my support of LGBT human beings makes you uneasy, use that little "X" in the upper corner to leave.  Happy trails to you.

I will be 47 in one week.  I do not mourn the additional mileage.  But I do regret the wasted years spent on a road that taught me to marginalize others, believe my arrogance was "holy," and that caused anyone else a moment of pain.

You may choose to live your life with the fear of unproven Hell, but I choose to live mine with the solidly proven, heart refreshing, soul fulfilling feeling of simply living WELL.

And if your god, any god, wants to hold that against me in the end?  Fine with me.

Birthday Greetings For Terri!

It's Mary Ellen's Day!