Thanks to my Facebook Friendship with David Manes, I’ve discovered HU Queer Press. It’s an e-zine (I nearly typed “online e-zine”, which, to me, is the equivalent of saying “ATM machine” or “PIN number”. Ugh.) that focuses on gay life at conservative places, particularly Harding University.

One thing I was pleased to see that they covered was the eternally irritating “Why do they have to shove it down our throats?” argument. That’s driven me nuts for years, and I can imagine my frustration doesn’t even compare to that of someone actually living it.

A big problem (maybe not a “problem,” maybe just a “difference” yada yada) of mine is that the average person is pretty incapable of comprehending logic beyond a certain point. It makes me angry, which makes me look, to those people, like someone who can’t accept a difference of opinion. What I can’t accept is the inability of critical thought. It’s a lack of critical thought which makes people so scared of homosexuality, and my hatred of that, combined with my tendency to love people until they give me a reason not to ( Yes, this love is there. It’s hidden underneath the misanthropy–hey, I’m an enigma, baby.), that makes this whole issue so special and so infuriating to me.

On FB a while back, I posted a note called “Arguments I Find Stupid and Why”. I actually lost several FB friends over it, two because of the post mentioned below. To be fair, it was a direct response to their views; however, it was nothing I hadn’t already told them. It’s a bit outdated now, as DADT was, in fact, repealed, but it addresses the illogic behind the gay agenda/shoving it down our throats argument:

I’m not a homophobe, but “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” is OK/appropriate/not harmful because the military is work, and your personal life is irrelevant.
Perhaps. But it seems as though I’ve mentioned a husband or boyfriend or date a time or two at work. Homosexuals aren’t fighting for the right to come to work and announce how much fun they had last night ass fucking or eating pussy, any more than you would do that. They want to be able to say, “Last night my {same sex partner} and I went to the store/watched a good movie/decided to go on vacation”–just like you do–without worrying that it will cost them their job. If you have never once made any remote mention of any aspect whatsoever of your personal life at work, then this is a valid argument for you to make. Otherwise, you are a homophobe, or at the very least acting like one, and you should knock it the fuck off.

These people couldn’t offer a single basis for their disagreement other than saying, “Well, that’s just how I feel.” Well, how I feel is that that isn’t good enough. If it’s consensual, if the people are adults, and if all parties are human, then no rights are being violated and it’s none of my damn business (unless, of course, I am one of the parties involved).

I will admit that I see the Church of Christ view. I do not agree (perish the thought! ), but I do see how they can interpret the Bible that way, and I see how it can be very difficult for them to see it differently. It’s what we were always taught. I was 18 before I even began to consider that hey, maybe it’s not a choice. But I think the point that we used to use the Bible to defend slavery is a good one. (Incidentally, I’ve asked numerous CofC scholars how they can defend the scripture telling slaves to return to their masters. None of them have really been able to. )

Speaking of choice, there was an article in a 2008 edition of The Los Angeles Times that made an argument I’ve been making for ages, only far more eloquently. I believe homosexuality is something you are, not something you choose. That said, what if it were a choice? Would it make a difference in how it should be treated by the government? I say no. Here’s a link:
Gay is a choice?

So prepare your mind to be open, polish your critical thinking skills, and read the e-zine. Even if you don’t change your mind, you might change the way you treat homosexuals. It’s weird to me that as a Christian, I could have close friends who had sex outside of marriage, who’d been divorced, who’d had an abortion–I could forgive them that. But a gay person? Uh, no, we kinda backed away from that. It was wrong. So what if it is? Is it any more wrong than divorce or abortion or promiscuity? I’d guess no. (I’m able to remember how I felt and behaved as a Christian, even over a decade later.)

And I think that’s all my rambling for now. I hope there will be more, because it makes me feel better, even if it bores the pants off everyone else.

I just spent a bloody fortune (well, a bloody fortune to me, anyway) on new clothes and shoes. I’ve lost enough weight that my pants are falling off, and most of my clothes are embarrassingly ragged, because when I was with the abusive twit, he never left me enough money to buy anything new. So, money was spent. More money will be spent to replace the TV the crackheads stole, and the dog needs a minor yet expensive surgical procedure, which means I may be 40 before I’ve saved up enough money to get my own damn apartment.

BUT!

I’m spending, spending, spending, and it’s money I earned*, so I’m doing my part.

About the NASA thing: I don’t think it’s a great idea. Not really that it’s a bad idea so much as it is a distraction. The NASA budget, huge as it is, is only a very tiny sliver of the national budget. Making this change will do virtually nothing to relieve any of our financial pressure; it’s being done because most people don’t know that. That annoys me.

But here’s where my confusion lies: when Bush wants to privatize social security, it’s a brilliant idea. When Obama wants to impose more regulations on private health insurance companies it’s a terrible idea. OK, so we want more free trade and less government involvement. Got it. So when Obama wants to make some of NASA’s duties the responsibility of private companies, that’s…bad? Huh?

*Since I work for the government, though, I guess I’m still living off taxpayers. Man, I just can’t catch a break! :p

President Obama, members of Congress: thank you. I honestly didn’t think it would happen.

The argument that I keep hearing from the bootstrappers, in voices dripping with such scorn that it seems like they actually believe it’s logical, is that the comparison between car and health insurance is invalid because you aren’t required to have car insurance if you don’t have a car–but, if the current biil passes, you will be required to have health care or face a fine.

Here’s the reason the comparison is valid: every driver is required to have coverage. If you don’t own a car, but you borrow one, the owner’s insurance better cover any accidents you have. If not, you’ll be in trouble. So yes, you do have to have coverage even if you don’t own a car–just like a minor is required to have health insurance, but her guardians are required to pay for it. This is so that if another driver damages my car, I’m not out the money.

“But what about those people who never drive,” you ask, sure that you’ve finally bested the liberal who’s watching in sympathy as you writhe in misguided glee. You’re absolutely right. People who never drive or ride in automobiles, do not need a single bit of car insurance. So if you can provide absolute, 100% positive, cannot fail proof that you will never get a disease, injury, or ailment that will require treatment or spread to others, I’m pretty confident you can get out of having health insurance.

Do you get it now? Probably not, because you were distracted by Rush’s big head (oooh, shiny!) halfway through. But I feel better.

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Just so you know, I’m not fond of the current bill. While I think people should have health care, I don’t believe this bill does enough to provide it to the ones who need it, and is too hard on the people for whom it neglects to provide. But that doesn’t make the car/health comparison any more valid.

If you agree, feel free to comment. If you disagree, feel free to comment. I love discussion. But follow my rules, or I’ll block you. It’s my blog, and it’s a dictatorship, not a democracy.

It’s become somewhat of a joke, the idea of taking time off to find oneself, an excuse not to go to school or get a job. I wasn’t able to take any time off to do it, but I think the idea is sound. But I don’t think the process ends. I think a person should be constantly striving to know himself or herself better, so he or she can be the best person possible, and that process lasts until death.

I grew up in the Church of Christ, and although my parents never discouraged me from thinking for myself, I never did. It was a lot easier to go with the flow. I went to a CoC school and church, and my friends were CoC and my family was CoC and we all agreed on the important things and life was good.

But life wasn’t good.

I’ve suffered from depression for as long as I can remember. I realized that for someone who was supposed to be alive in Christ, I was awfully miserable. I was also becoming more and more uncomfortable with my passive role in my faith. I never intended to leave the faith, or even Christianity. My goal was to become so sure of my own faith that I could successfully defend it. What happened is that I realized I didn’t know myself at all; I only knew that what I thought was Christ either wasn’t Christ, or that Christ wasn’t enough to overcome what was wrong with me. (I later had a couple of major manic episodes and realized that lithium is what it takes to overcome what’s wrong with me. )

I’ve also been an extremely sensitive, sympathetic person for as long as I can remember. I found it harder and harder to accept that the God we called “loving” and “just” could reject people who had never heard of him, or who hadn’t correctly followed a book written in dynamic languages and compiled and translated by fallible humans. And why would he make some people so inclined toward behavior that made either him or them unhappy?

Only very recently have I begun to see glimmers of things I might like about myself. Only recently have I begun not to constantly (and I do mean constantly) worry about what every single other person was thinking and just be myself. This didn’t happen until I decided that people weren’t sinful or bad or wrong because they were Muslim or gay or atheist or single parents or…lots of other things.

Not all Christians are blind followers. Not all are hypocrites. Not all are judgmental. But I was, and now I’m not. And I didn’t like myself, and now I’m starting to. I like that I’ve gone from being a hypocritical, judgmental, blind follower to being someone who is accepting and open-minded and tries to practice what she preaches. And I plan to keep bettering myself. And I find it highly illogical that the real God–whoever or whatever it is–would have a problem with that.

• Reagan and Bush 41 both made speeches to the nation’s schoolchildren, despite claims made by such mental giants as Rick Sanchez.
• Even if the speech is partisan, you are doing your children a disservice by downplaying their critical reasoning skills. You’re also not showing too much faith in your own ability to have reasonable discussions with your children–but then, you’re not seeming too bright at this point anyway.

I’m going to link to an article on Examiner.com. I normally wouldn’t use such a source, because even I find that it leans too heavily to the left. (Of course, I did just see an ad for Ann Coulter, so maybe I misjudged…) The article, however, is just filled with facts: provable, hard facts. Check it out

That’s just funny.

Dear friend,

After a lot of years of devastating setbacks in the fight for marriage equality, it seems like we’re finally moving in the right direction. With marriage legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and Maine, and the fights going strong in New Hampshire, New York and California, this movement is gaining more momentum every day, and I’m excited to be a part of it.

To that end, I wanted to let you know that CREDO Action is giving away some awesome stickers about supporting gay marriage – I think you’d really like them. I just got mine – if you have a minute, click this link to check out the stickers and get one of your own (for free!).

CREDO Action

Thanks!

link

Dear Mr. Joseph.

Congratulations on the success you and your family have enjoyed over the last 35 years.

As you know our free market oriented capitalist system is based on a few fundamental principles. Some of these are:
1. Individual risk and reward
2. Personal responsibility
3. Market selection of winners and losers
4. Rule of law and integrity of contracts

Part of what makes our system so great, is that it enables hardworking citizens, like yourself to achieve great success, as you have. Another part of what makes our system so great, is that it disciplines, through failure, those who will not adapt to new realities, and those who refuse to prepare themselves for all contingencies that life might throw their way.

I applaud you for accepting the first part of the above, but question why you don’t appreciate the second. Your family risked much over the last 35 years. For a large portion of that time, you succeeded. Now you have failed. Did you write a letter to the editor when you succeeded saying “how in America could I be so successful?” Of course not.

During the time you were succeeding, millions of Americans took large gambles and started small businesses. In many case they lost everything – and had to start over… perhaps even working as a salesman or mechanic in your shop. Did you then question the system which had not treated them as kindly as you? Did you then express your outrage that they did not succeed – as you had? Of course not.

You claim that you will lose everything through “NO FAULT OF OUR OWN”. Is that true?

Why did you not see an upcoming recession? Why did you not save money more prudently – in the event of a downturn? Why did not diversify into other brands? Why did you not demand some guarantee from Chrysler when they demanded you remodel your store?

You had a continuing relationship with Chrysler of your own choice, they did not turn out to be the best partner… That happens, and will continue to happen in our system. Next time, you and/or your offspring will remember a simple lesson: “chose your partners carefully”.

Chrysler failed. That is unfortunate, but due to many structural problems with their business model. Don’t despair! American’s will continue to need cars, and new, smarter, more nimble competitors will fill that need. Perhaps you can start again selling their cars, or working for someone who sells their cars. Yes, you might not be boss anymore, and yes, you might not have the prestige that comes with employing 50 people.

However, none of that is your right, and nobody else owes that to you.

Your only right, is to rise and fall as the forces of fortune and your personal enterprise allow. Nothing more. Our rule of law dictates that under bankruptcy all contracts are renegotiable. Perhaps before starting your next venture you brush up your understanding of our legal system. All contracts are subject to review and summary cancellation by the presiding judge in the event that a counterparty goes into bankruptcy. Bankruptcy was, unfortunately necessary for Chrysler to prune you and other underperforming dealerships because state car dealership laws frequently make it impossible for a car manufacturer to cut dealerships without bankruptcy (I’m quite confident you did not fight these laws.)

My advice: Keep your chin up. Maintain your principles. Believe in hard work. Stop crying like a child who has lost at checkers.

Most sincere regards,
Uncle Sam

I would also love to know if his income decreased any in order to try to avoid firing the 20 people he did. He’s certainly not obligated to do that, but if he didn’t, then he needn’t ask that the government be concerned for their plight, either.

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Nancy Pelosi, I wish you would just once think before you speak. You’d think after the first time you got caught in a lie you’d learn, but for such an intelligent woman, this lesson seems to remain beyond you. You’re making a ridiculous spectacle of yourself, and you need to knock that shit off.

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Prince’s latest website: lotusflow3r.com Go there. He is the ultimate and timeless badass–even if I don’t have $77 to join his fanclub.

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I don’t care about Miss California’s views on gay marriage. She has the absolute right to her views, and the right to express them publicly if given that platform. I find her irritating for other reasons. First, she talks like a barely-coherent, 15-year-old valley girl. Like, you know? (“My country”? “I think I believe”? Really?) A big part of being a representative of anything is to be able to communicate well, and she does not. Surprisingly, this doesn’t seem to bother many people. Of course, many people abuse apostrophes and aren’t even smart enough to take advantage of spellcheck, so maybe the value of any form of communication–other than big fake boobs and generic Christian terminology–is declining.

I find the fake boobs irritating. I don’t mind that they’re fake (much) and I don’t care who paid for them; I mind that they look fake. Seriously, you could drive a semi in the space between those things. Either cough up for something more realistic looking, or just let it go.

Finally, and mostly, I am aggravated by the total hypocrisy that is becoming so normal for many of those who claim to be Christians. God doesn’t mind you being topless, but hell awaits two consenting adults who want to spend their lives together? And this bullshit about how she’s a model and was looking for lingerie modeling work and sometimes models wear lingerie just annoys the hell out of me. The Bible says women should dress modestly. Do you get a pass because you’re a model? How stupid do you think Americans are? Oh, wait…it’s working for you. That’s not scary at all. Also, email has proven that you lied about when the pictures were taken. But who cares about lies? You’re pretty and blond and you’re working for Jesus by combating the gay. Free pass to Heaven, folks.

She should be removed for the pictures, period. She would not be the first, and as none of the others were being persecuted for being Biblically Correct, it wouldn’t have been the case for her either. I’m not remotely surprised by Trump’s decision to keep her, though. He has evidenced in the past his soft spot for manipulative blonds with big boobs.

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“My uncle’s cousin’s neighbor’s dog has been to Iraq, and he doesn’t have a problem with waterboarding (or other EITs).” Really? Well, perhaps you should discuss it with John McCain, who seems to think it’s torturous, not to mention unethical, immoral, and causes more harm than good. Of course, he was only a POW for five years, so his opinions should totally be taken with a grain of salt. And Dick Cheney says…

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Why the hell are we still being subjected to Dick Cheney’s insane rantings? Have you noticed how silent Bush is being about everything? Have you noticed that the one thing he has said is that he won’t criticize President Obama because Obama “deserves my silence”? That’s classy. I’d advise Cheney to take note, but he has made it abundantly clear for the past eight years that class is utterly beyond him. The world makes fun of Bush for being an uncouth cowboy, but he’s a prince compared to Cheney.

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Speaking of waterboarding, when is Sean Hannity going to let Keith Olbermann put his money where Sean’s mouth is? (And if he could put his fist where Sean’s mouth is, I wouldn’t call it a bad thing. Don’t ever let anyone tell you liberals hate all violence.) Olbermann better be planning to donate to charity on his own, because I have my doubts Hannity is going to man up.

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An Open Letter to President Obama:

Timothy Geithner. Really? After the whole Daschle debacle, you thought Timothy Geithner was the way to go? Interesting.

Otherwise, man, I’m proud of you. You’re still all kinds of awesome, just like I expected when I voted for you. I appreciate you doing so much that you said you’d do, and doing it quickly–and I know this is only the beginning. Thank you.

Timothy Geithner? Really? OK, sorry.

Sincerely,

JustThisGirl

PS I mean no disrespect, truly, but you and your wife are undoubtedly the hottest First Couple in the history of this great nation. John and Jackie were hard to beat, but by god, you did it.

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Why is it “we” when Navy SEALs save a ship from pirates, but “I didn’t know about this” when planes fly over NY for a photo shoot? I don’t know, let me think…maybe because nobody can know every single tiny thing that goes on, and while the President likely isn’t going to be informed about a photo shoot, he probably will be informed about pirates attacking a US ship. I’m sorry, let me reintroduce you. Conservative nitwits: logic. Logic: conservative nitwits. Besides, the man has already claimed more responsibility in five months than Bush did in two years. (He’s on track to beat former President Clinton, as well.) That said…

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Who the HELL thought that photo shoot was a good idea? Seriously, how did SO MANY people hear/read about flying Air Force One in and around NYC landscape and think, “Oh, this is fine, nothing wrong here”? I know an entire governmental department that should be given thorough mental health evaluations. About the only thing I’ve ever heard that’s dumber than this is a woman who filed a complaint against a gynecologist because he asked her to remove her pants for a pelvic exam. These people are wandering around unfettered, but I have to spend hundreds of dollars a month on medication. This seems unbalanced, somehow… (Get it? Unbalanced? See what I did there? :p)

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Among the arguments that were given in favor of a complete face transplant for Connie Culp are that she wanted to be able to eat normally, breathe normally, and not be called names on the street. I cannot comprehend the level of douchiness that a person would have to embody not to support the transplant, but let’s pretend that there’s some basis for that opinion and ignore it for the time being. Let’s focus on that last thing: she didn’t want to be called names on the street.

As a person who has experienced that myself (although undoubtedly to a lesser degree than has Mrs. Culp), I just have one thing to say: What is wrong with people? I think that for people who are, say, seven or over (and not mentally challenged), pointing and laughing at someone for something like that should result in sniper fire from surrounding building tops. (Those snipers can also nab people who don’t return their carts in the parking lot. I weigh 8000 pounds and am so tired from an underactive thyroid that I can’t always even manage to take off my clothes at night, and even I return my cart to the corral.)

Also, have you read much about this face transplant? This woman is freaking amazing. If my husband shot me in the face at close range, I highly doubt I would be as gracious as she is. Also, I would probably shoot his genitals at close range. Different strokes.

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Facebook, stop changing things. I’m seriously, dude.*

*This is a South Park quote; I didn’t suddenly lapse into Carrie Prejean–speak.

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Elizabeth Edwards, how dare you write a book/not hold your husband accountable/blame the other woman/let him run for President knowing what you knew (even though you’d hardly had a chance to process it yourself before he made his announcement)? Those of us who have never been terminally ill with a cheating spouse while in the national eye are very disappointed in your behavior, and we are confident we could do better, even though it’s none of our goddamn business and we should either be supportive or shut the hell up.

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I know I should be grateful that I have a job. And I am grateful for my paycheck, really. But I don’t know how much longer it will be before I snap. And even then, it might not be at work. Maybe it will be at my boyfriend’s mother. Maybe it will be at the next person in front of me at Wal-Mart or Kroger who is rude to the cashier. Maybe it will be at the bra digging into my skin even as I type. Who knows what the future holds?

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Random funny exchange:

Me: I don’t get this hoopla over Michelle’s sleeveless top in her first White House photos. Jackie O wore sleeveless for hers, too.

Kristi: Yes, JustThisGirl, but her arms were white.

And I fell silent, because how are you gonna argue with that logic?