Don't Get Me Started with Linda Sharp

Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged? Yeah, Right.

This is yet another reason why I do not attend church - any church. 

Yes, I realize this man is not representative of ALL church going people.  And I am not saying that if you sit in a pew each Sunday that you are of his same mindset.  If church works for you - GREAT.  ENJOY IT.  REVEL IN THE FELLOWSHIP.

But this man purports to believe in the same God you do.  He quotes the same Bible you hold dear.

And he preaches his message of hate to his parishioners weekly.  Sheeple who take what he says seriously.

(And no, it matters not to me that his deathwish is directed towards President Obama.  I would be just as disgusted were it aimed at Bush - or anyone, for that matter.)

There is a special place in Hell...

He's Sinking, NOT Swimming

It's one thing when a D-list Khardashian or desperate for relevence Lohan hosts a "pool party" in Vegas (and these things happen with more regularity than high fiber diet bowel movements), but this has got to be the saddest thing I've seen in a long time.

You know, I only have 3 daughters and I find it almost impossible to go to the bathroom while keeping up with their schedules, needs, and the constant demands of parenting.  Yet here is reality TV's leading sadsack, and DAD OF 8, pretending he's really the shit at a youth laden pool party in Vegas.

Then again this is the loser who lamented earlier this month that "I kind of lost part of my life in my marriage ... I lost my whole twenties."

Yeah, Jon.  That sure sucks, doesn't it? 

They're called CHOICES, Jon.  You CHOSE to get married.  You CHOSE to have children.  You CHOSE to let the world into your home.

And as for those children?  Well, from what I've seen, they're a far sight more mature than their father who has made a new career out of chasing 20 something tail, dressing like a billboard for a mid-life crisis, and blaming everyone but the man in the mirror for your crapped-up life.

Perhaps we should hook you up with Dimitri.  You guys can go clubbing together and spread all that "charm" around.  I think you'd get along swimmingly.  After all, it takes a real man to know another real man.

And The Black & Decker Trophy For World's Biggest Tool Goes To...

http://ow.ly/lhpo

His name is Dimitri, and he is on the prowl.  Ladies, be warned - if you are elegant and good looking, but not on any type of anti-depressants or have any childhood abuse in your history, are not timid, and can return a phone call by THREE PM on Thursday - he is all yours.

Glenn Beck Has A Plan

I have just one question.  What the hell is an oligarhy?  I mean, I know what an oligarChy is, but an oligarhy?  Hmmm, must be one of the scary boogeymen in Beck's head.

And make no mistake, he IS tired of being a victim.  This poor man has been persecuted with a his own TV show, beaten down with his own radio broadcast, brought to his knees by the millions of dollars he is forced to shoulder. 

Hey Glenn.  Your side lost.  Time to get down off your cross and use the wood to build a bridge and get over it.

Stroke Of Genius

A friend posted this on Facebook this morning.  Now, I usually ignore the copious videos, most of the quizzes, etc. on FB  (Although I have fallen into the land of Bejeweled and can't get up!)  I'm busy, and usually juggling a million things at once, even at the keyboard.  So I can't explain exactly why I clicked on this one.

Especially since it is 20 minutes in length.

But click, I did.

And for 20 minutes I was enthralled, drawn in, educated, amused, and lifted.

It is the first person story of Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain specialist.  Her story of her stroke, a neuroanatomist getting the real scoop from the inside out, as it happened to her.  It is not only amazing from a detail standpoint, and she has certainly found a way to draw the humor from what could have been a tragic end, but what she discovered is transcendent.  It applies to every one of us, because it is in every one of us, it is how we are constructed, how we view and interact with the world around us.

Or, how we don't.

Grab some coffee, sit back, and see if you don't come away with a little "Wow" added to your perspective.

Video On Texting Is No LOLing Matter

OK, ok, ok - I'm posting it.  I have received it over 50 times now.  And yes, like all of you, I think it is an important video.  I have made all three of my daughters watch it as well.

Am I skeptical that it will stop teens, or adults for that matter, from texting while driving?  Of course I am.

Scared straight type videos have been around forever.  I had to watch them in high school health class.  Screaming, crying, glass breaking, fake blood everywhere, parents fainting in ORs being told their beloved child had died in a car crash.

Some students sat in sobering silence.  A few girls inevitably cried.  Some jackass in the back always made some lame joke.  Then the lights went back on, and the kids went back to partying when the next set of parents left town for the weekend.

Believe me, I think forcing your child to watch this is important.  Don't give me, "Oh, it's too graphic." or "No way, I don't want to frighten him/her."  Teens these days watch far more gore on the silver screen during the latest slasher flick.

The challenge is to then sit down and talk about it.  Drive home that this is what happens EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Teens believe they are immortal.  Bad things happen in other schools, to other people.  Not to them.  And they are sadly inured to seeing blood, dangling limbs, and heads released from the tether of their spinal columns.  Their movies are full of them.  Scream, Saw, Final Destination, and on and on.

Then again, I cannot sit here and cast stones.  Anyone my age remember embracing Freddy Krueger?  Jason?  Poltergeist?

So while this new PSA may not turn the head or change the mind of every teen who watches it, make them watch it anyway.  If it makes even a handful of kids put the cell down while driving, then it's a good thing, Martha.

Just follow it up with a talk, many talks.  And then set an example.  Your words will be just as fake as this video if they turn around and see you OMGing on the way to soccer practice.

Nothing Better To Do? How About Making Your Head Explode?

Be warned... by video three or four, you'll feel your intelligence revolting against this onslaught of douchebaggery...

Top 10 Reasons Not to Advertise With Glenn Beck

Children Should Not Be Billboards For Adult Prejudice

Most schools across the country follow some sort of dress code.  Fingertip length shorts, your underwear can't show, tank top straps must be two fingers wide, no offensive graphics or phrasing on clothing, gang symbols are verboten, etc.

My kids don't have a problem following the rules.  Then again, no clothing enters this house, much less a shopping bag, without my approval.  They dress with decency and modesty, having been taught early on about the impression their appearance gives others.

Does Culley wear heels?  Sure.  But not micro minis or cleavage baring tops.  Does Kendall like flowy, sheer boho tops?  Yep.  With a tank top or cami underneath.  And does Carson enjoy wearing graphic t-shirts?  Of course, she's 13.  But hers embrace going "green" or have funny pictures of sushi with eyeballs.

Appearance is signed off on before they leave the house each day (this includes the removal of chipped nail polish.  You either show you care or you don't wear.).  And I am happy to say I never have to send someone back upstairs to rethink an outfit. 

As far as I am concerned, my daughters' appearances are a direct reflection of the thought, care, and attention I give them.  I can only wonder what some teachers think of the parenting skills of the mothers and fathers of the girls who literally fall out of their shirts, or come dangerously close to revealing if the curtains match the carpet when they sit in their desks.

Given what I see going into and coming out of the high school each day, I can tell not enough parents even pony up a glance at their offspring before they leave each day.

But then, there are those parents who put a little too much input into what their kids wear...

A pastor in Florida, for example.

Pastor Sapp works at the Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville.  His church drew attention this summer when it posted "Islam Is Of The Devil" signs on its property.

(I just love me the smell of Christian hypocrisy in the morning.  Where's all that love and acceptance Jesus taught?  And you do know that He is from that region of this planet, not from Connecticut, right?)

OK - free speech, blah blah blah.  Post what you want on your private property, that's fine with me.  But be prepared when not everyone in the vicinity embraces your asshatted notions.

Sticking your hatespeak on a tshirt and putting the tshirt on your 10 year old is an entirely different matter.

Sapp's daughter Faith showed up on the first day of school wearing a shirt emblazoned with "Islam Is Of The Devil."

The school called her parents.  Go figure.

The choice?  Bring a change of shirt, or take her home.  They took her home.

The sad part is that little Faith, well on her way to being brainwashed and ruined by her parents' hatred, told reporters, "I was thinking they're probably [going to] give my parents a call."

Yes, Faith, and well they should.  You came into this world not knowing a damned thing other than when you were hungry or had a diaper full of poo.  You were a blank slate - your potential was limitless.

That your parents chose to write upon you with the permanent Sharpie marker of ignorance, fear, and prejudice is beyond sad.  And all it does is perpetuate everything that is wrong in this world.  Especially religious intolerance.  Everyone thinks THEY are doing it right and so very sure that everyone else is doing it wrong.  Based on what?  Some guy or gal standing at a podium every Sunday telling you so?  What makes your preacher any more credible than the Iman in the Middle East speaking to his flock?

This is why I do not take my kids to church.  Are you a Methodist?  A Catholic?  Read the Torah?  Follow the Quran?  Light incense and dance by the light of the silvery moon?

THEY.  DON'T.  CARE.

They have been brought up to not divide people by which building they enter on Sundays, which direction they face when they pray.  They watch how you act, how you treat others, they look to the content of your character, your heart.

And Pastor Sapp?  When they look at your child, all they are going to see is the reflection of the ignorance of her parents, and then shake their heads and walk on by.

(As for Jesus?  I'm surprised He isn't wearing a neckbrace over this one.)

When The Lie Becomes The "Truth"

In writing about the healthcare reform debate, the birthers, etc - I have repeated an observation that I have always believed about people - they cling to that which reinforces their fears, belief systems, prejudices, and unfortunately, their ignorance.  And they disregard any facts which threaten the reality in which their minds orbit.

Well, I'm not a doctor (but I watch them on TV), but lo and behold I guess I was on to something that is a studied phenomenom: motivated reasoning.

Lies of Mass Destruction by Sharon Begley at Newsweek

Ted Kennedy Passes, But "An Idea Lives On"

Like most of his family members, Ted Kennedy's life contained its share of the exciting, the normally private challenges played out in public, and the scandalous.

But his life was also full of dedication to cause, striving for advancement, and staunch leadership.  He was the embodiment of the words "public servant."

In last month's Newsweek, Kennedy wrote of the current healthcare reform bruhaha:

This is the cause of my life. It is a key reason that I defied my illness last summer to speak at the Democratic convention in Denver--to support Barack Obama, but also to make sure, as I said, "that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American...will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not just a privilege." For four decades I have carried this cause--from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society. Now the issue has more meaning for me--and more urgency--than ever before. But it's always been deeply personal, because the importance of health care has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years.

Would that "the cause" of his life be the "idea that lives on" and the one that becomes a reality for millions.

Rest in peace, Lion of the Senate.  May your roar live on.

No Time for Mourning -- In Memoriam: Ted Kennedy