An End to Poverty

Recently my husband sent me an imgur about how Switzerland was considering a minimum income program.


The point of the minimum income program would be to provide every citizen of Switzerland with $33,600 annually as a way to eliminate the poverty line. Pretty simple right? Sound good? The picture sparked some commentary (which I was also linked to) which, in turn, brought my attention to a program in Canada from the 70's called "Mincome." The project was based in Manitoba and provided families below the poverty line with a minimum, guaranteed, income every month.

I posted the picture (and commentary) to my Facebook page as a way to share with my like-minded friends. Obviously, I have some friends who are not so like-minded. The following is commentary made by my friend (LG) and myself.

LG: The problem with this is we have tried this in various forms, and people tend not to appreciate what they get for free: hence the vandalism, wasting of food and resources etc. I do believe in some forms of public assistance, but people in general need to feel they're contributing something to society, however little. Look around at the epidemic of children in this country who have no input from their fathers, financially nor emotionally. Herein lies much of the cause.

Myself: I would have to politely disagree. The problem isn't that children have no input from their fathers (mine has been non-existent in my life for almost 13 years and I feel no need, nor desire, to vandalize) or even that people feel the need to vandalize and take advantage. The problem is people not being able to LIVE.

If the government had caused the acceleration of minimum wage to coincide with the rise in average cost for goods and production we might see less of a problem. However, because the cost of services, food, medicine, etc, has risen dramatically while the amount of money flowing into the average working man's pocket has stayed at a pitiful (dare I say, negligible) amount, we are left in a flux.

I see nothing wrong with the Government (by the people and FOR the people) taking care of its People. The fact that the Government would rather spend literally Trillions on Military and on a war that was supposed to only last a "couple of months" (I am quoting Vice President Dick Cheney there) instead of providing affordable health care, food, better Education (we're ranked so abysmally on the World Wide scores that it is rather disgusting) and affordable birth control (so that there were less Children starving and without homes/families) is an absolute travesty.

The other problem is that we have a lack of proper education to show just how truly ignorant we've been of how the rest of the world works.

Places like Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, etc. have been putting time and effort into their People so that Sweden is shutting down an astonishing amount of their prisons because there aren't any criminals to fill them. Canada has higher prices, but better health care. So much so that Americans sometimes go to Canada to receive the health care they need! Denmark is the HAPPIEST country in the WORLD. In the WORLD! South Korea and Finland out rank us in Math, Science and English. 

The cause of our problem(s), is this: Our Government has become one that would rather waste tax dollars regulating women's bodies than protecting citizens from guns (I am pro-gun and pro-regulation), become one that believes that a Corporation can have Religious Rights (last I checked, Corporations aren't people) and We The People are the ones suffering. They are still getting the money they need to waste. They are still getting fed. They are still getting to make all the decisions for people that they don't even know and don't care to know.

That is the cause of our problem(s). The government has been completely warped from what it was intended to be.


Want more info on Project Mincome?

• http://public.econ.duke.edu/~erw/197/forget-cea%20%282%29.pdf
• http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/4100
• http://archive.irpp.org/po/archive/jan01/hum.pdf

Choose this day whom you will serve.

The following is in response to someone saying that Music isn't that powerful, that Homosexuality is wrong and some misguided things about Suicide. Unfortunately, she removed the comments so I can't post them here. However, you get to read my reply anyway! (Also, I apologize for how NOT stream-lined this is. It was a stream of consciousness rant to my phone and I have copied it... Verbatim)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's why we still listen to Gregorian chants from the 1100's. That's why we still have hymns from the 1700's.That's why we still listen to Beethoven and Bach and Mozart. You can't say that music has NO lasting power when, in fact, its been proven, over several centuries, to, in fact, have lasting power. The other thing is, even if, a person does not have a physical hand in a suicide, they have a hand in a suicide. There are always reasons and its not always a cry for help and its not always for attention. And its not always for selfish reasons. Some times its selfish; a good portion of the time its selfish, but some times its not.

And your articles are just, you went and looked for something to support your opinion. Not any actual, real leg-work, as far as finding things to support it. Just... things that coincide with what you believe. Which, I mean, most people do and that's fine, but you shouldn't do that.

Also, if we're going to get into the biblical side of things here: we have to go with either the New testament or the whole bible. Now, if we're going with the new testament, we have to admit that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality, abortions or sex outside of marriage. The biggest commandment that Jesus gave to us was "Love thy neighbor as thyself" and "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." And we, as Christians, seem to have forgotten how to "do unto others." Especially as we want them to do unto us.

You have to ask yourself the question: "Would I want somebody to come in and tell me that my marriage isn't valid just because they disagree with how I live MY life?"

No.

"Would I want somebody to come in and tell me that I can't have a life-saving abortion because they disagree with it?"

No.

The truth of the matter is that there are a lot of Christians who have had abortions because they're "life-saving." And then we argue about that some more too.

The point is that you either have to go with the whole book or the new testament. And if we're going with the new testament you have to admit that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. Nothing. Not one verse.

Jesus devoted absolutely no time to sexuality. Paul, on the other hand, devoted lots of time to it. And, I would like to point out that, Paul is not the best example of humanity, just throwing it out there.

If we're going to go with the whole bible, then we have to look at the point of fact that we wear clothes that are of mixed texture, eat we shellfish, we eat pork, we touch pork skins when we play football, we gossip about celebrities. Because it is gossip. We're talking about them out of turn. We don't even know them. We're gossiping.

Its just... And we have to say that we're women but we don't actually leave our family home when we start our periods. We don't, you know... and if you tell me that those laws are out dated; those laws are the same laws that you find along with homosexuality. You can't say that homosexuality is NOT outdated, but everything else is. That's not the way it works.

So. Either you have to follow the whole book or you have to, or you can cherry pick. Which, I mean, is what a lot of Christians do. Which is really sad. So, if we're going to cherry pick, the whole bible, we're going to pick verses like homosexuality is wrong.

We're not going to cherry pick the verses that say that children who speak out of turn to their parents should be stoned to death. Or anything like that. You know, because that would just be silly! That law's outdated; you know, "thou shalt not murder." Okay, but God said to...

You can't really reconcile the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament, because Jesus was a fun loving hippie. You know, peace, love and... you know, apple juice. Not really apple juice, but peace, love and wine.

God was all "destroy everything!" That's, that's where I get a little bit sketchy about Christianity, its because I, personally, cannot look at the bible and say "God and Jesus are the same being." Can't do it. Because God of the bible says that he is a "jealous God." But jealousy is listed as being an incredibly evil and wicked thing.

If God is jealous that means he's sinning, but God can't sin because God is... God. Okay...

So then we look at Jesus, who is the perfect example of someone who loves everyone, regardless. God, on the other hand, not so much.

God's like "Kill this," "Kill that."

"What's that? You defeated this army? Kill their children!" That's in the Bible. Go look it up. I can point out verses.

Its just like... Then we get onto the topic of sex.

Again, we can go to the bible and sex, sex, sex. Everywhere. We're sexual beings. We were created to be sexual beings. So, when you look at the bible you've got: people going out and raping, you've got people going out and having sex with prostitutes who turn out to be their daughter-in-law.

You know, you go into this, I mean... The bible is chock full of sex. But its not "bad." Okay, so how is it any different than what's going on now-a-days? Its, its not. People don't really change. Sex is a big thing and will always be a big thing. And the only people trying to suppress it are the church. I don't feel like God wanted us to suppress sex, but that's just me. Especially since he "created" us for it. Its just like...

You also have to think about the fact that, you know, Adam and Eve were probably having sex in the garden and God was watching. There's that. And, technically speaking, they weren't married. Just want to throw that out there. If you want to get really technical, they weren't married.

They were the only two people alive, but they weren't married because, according to a lot of people now-a-days, marriage involves having a certificate. You can't be "married" otherwise. So, Adam and Eve didn't have a certificate of marriage, so they weren't married.

"Joining as one flesh," yeah, that's sex. Just FYI.

A Dozen Reasons

A friend of mine on Facebook posted the following image:



This was my response.
1. Dogs aren't sentient beings who can sign a marriage certificate and the fact that we relate homosexual people to animals is wrong in every sense of the word. (And if we are going biblically, I can think of several people I know who have sexual intercourse outside of marriage, which is also a sin. And lots of politicians like to have affairs, which is also a sin. And eating pig meat/touching pigs is a sin. The list of sins goes on and on. Someone loving someone else shouldn't be up for some politician to decide on.)

2. Oil companies make millions of dollars a year off of gasoline and they pay less taxes on it than you and I do.

3. The government shouldn't be spending our money on prisons, guns and what not when they could be spending it on feeding our children, fixing our roads and providing proper healthcare and education for the future voters.

4. You DO have freedom of speech. There are consequences for EVERY action. You can say what you like, doesn't mean that you should.

5. Its not about whether or not YOU are responsible enough to own a gun; its about making it safe for everyone and still maintaining the Second Amendment, which says nothing about being able to own whatever gun you want. For example: You live near a seemingly nice individual. He has been proven to be mentally unstable and has been in and out of the hospital for increasingly terrifying paranoid episodes where he believes everyone is trying to attack him. There is no background check for his mental history. He is able to purchase a gun and then he loses it and shoots a bunch of people up. Including children. I'm sorry, I just don't feel like someone who has been proven to be mentally unhinged should be allowed to have a weapon of any kind.

6. Global Warming is brought to you by Scientists and not Weathermen, so this argument is both invalid and silly. I don't know about driving a Prius, but you don't have to be any political party to care about whether or not your planet is being taken care of.

7. I do care about babies dying. I care about the millions of little children that are starving in the United States alone. I care about a young woman who has been raped and is being forced to carry the child of said rapist simply because someone's beliefs are different. I don't hold to Abortions. I don't like them. But I believe they should be safe and legal if someone should have to have one. And no one should judge what someone else is going through unless they've been through it themselves.

8. I think everyone should be able to have free health care. Health is part of the pursuit of life, happiness and liberty. And we were all illegal immigrants way back when we got here. That is not to say that I approve of disregarding immigration laws, because I don't. But if someone comes here illegally and tries to make up for it by becoming a legitimate citizen they deserve the same treatment as a legitimate citizen.

9. Businesses should be able to profit without beggaring the people that work for them. Wal-Mart makes millions of dollars a year while the majority of their employees have to be put on Government programs to take care of themselves. $7.25/hour is not enough to survive on in this day and age. Minimum wage in other countries that can compete with ours on economic levels are upwards of $16/hour.

10. No one is trying to re-write the constitution. However, no one seems to try to actually follow it either. Freedom of Speech, freedom of Religion, etc.

11. Actually the majority of our oil comes from here. Followed closely by Canada and Latin America. Only 12% of our oil comes from the Persian Gulf, while almost 40% comes from here.

12. I used to be a Republican. I started doing research and listening to other people's points of view. I started reading books and trying to understand where other people stood on different topics. I came away with the belief that I may never change the world, but I could change how I viewed it. Instead of being told what to believe I decided what I wanted to believe. And that's part of the reason I vote Democrat. I still vote from some Republicans, but I pay very close attention to where they stand on certain issues and I do my research, ALWAYS. I don't want to be led when I can lead.

Belief

Note:
This list is in no particular order.

1. Circumcision is wrong, no matter your gender, simply because it takes away YOUR right as a human being to decide what is done to your body, even if you are infant.

2. Abortions should be legal for everyone. I may not always agree with it, but I have not stood in that woman's shoes and should not be allowed to make decisions for her. Regardless of my personal views.

3. Gay marriage should just be Marriage. And MARRIAGE is a human right that should be available to anyone. (If you are one of those people who likes to quote the bible, but you are living in "sin" with your boyfriend, keep walking. Hypocrisy doesn't further your viewpoint.)

4. All Human Beings were created EQUAL.

5. Marijuana should be legal. It should be controlled, like alcohol and cigarettes, but it should be available for consumption instead of crowding up our prisons.

6. Equal pay for Equal work. How hard is this concept?!

7. Healthcare should be free.

8. Rapists should be punished, not the victim.

9. Freedom of Religion means freedom for ALL religions, not just yours.

10. If you don't vote you have no right to bitch.

Things I've learned

My views, opinions and thoughts have changed a lot since I was young. Some of what I believe has changed drastically from even just five years ago. Along this crazy ride called life, I've learned a bunch of things. And I've changed. I feel like I've changed quite a bit. Let's have a look at what I've learned.

A prime example of these changes are my views and opinions on abortions, marriage equality and circumcision. If you had asked me five years ago I would've told you that abortion was a heinous thing and that it was used, primarily, as a birth control. I would've told you that I was still not sold on the idea of Marriage Equality. I would've said that circumcision was much healthier than being uncircumcised.

Those who know me, however, know that I am open to new ideas and thoughts. I am open to anything someone has to say (unless it is uselessly hateful). Which is how my opinions have come to shift. The other thing people should know is that I do my research. I'm not going to just flip-flop like certain Republican candidates (I'm looking at you Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum) because someone says I should. I'm going to look into it.

Which is why my opinions are subject to fluidity and change.

* Never accept something at face value. Something ugly can be beautiful on the inside. Sometimes you have to look past the exterior. Beauty isn't the only thing that is skin deep. Ugliness can be only skin deep.

* Always be open to listening to new music, ideas, opinions and absurdities. Even if you end up disliking it you've at least tried it. The same goes for experiences and foods. Try it before you say you don't like it.

* Sex isn't the be all, end all. It is wonderful, it is fun, it is enjoyable. Don't let it control you.

* Virginity isn't a bad thing.

* Abortions should be legal. We are not walking in each other's shoes and don't know what the other person is going through. We should not be allowed to control the life choices of another.

* We are not equal until ALL of us are equal. Equality for some isn't equality at all.

* Reading is more important than we let on. What we read in books is what we base our lives on. Christians base themselves on the Bible, the Muslims on the Qur'an, the Jews on the Torah. If we read only one thing, we aren't reading at all. We aren't allowing our minds to expand. We are restricting ourselves to one small box. Open up and expand your world.

* Circumcision is wrong; no matter if it is a boy or a girl. Why should we cut away healthy flesh from a being that has no voice in the operation? Aren't we supposed to be protectors of our children?

* The people who say spankings didn't damage them are lying. Spankings damaged us all. Some of us just show less damage than others.

* Stumble Upon is a magnificent way to learn AND waste time.

* Being beautiful is in the eye of the beholder. No matter what anyone says, you are beautiful. Never forget that.

* You aren't too damaged to be loved.

* Barack Obama rocks. :)

* Knowing your history doesn't mean it has to dictate your future.

* Never be afraid to stand up for yourself. Stand up, be heard, stop letting people trample on you. You are a human being, you deserve respect and love. No matter where you come from or who you are.

* Marijuana should be legalized and taxed.

* Rapists should get absolutely NO sympathy from anyone. They committed a horrific crime and no one deserves to be raped. We live in a rape culture and that is wrong.

* Gun control is a thing that needs to happen. No matter what. And I don't care if I'm disliked for that opinion. I've always believed in gun control. That is something that HASN'T changed.

* Being ashamed of yourself because of your past is ridiculous. You can't change the past, so if you didn't like it, change it for tomorrow!

Shocking Images

You know those pictures that say "If the picture on the left shocks you more than the one on the right..."?


I have lost my ability to be shocked by starving children in a photograph. Every day we walk past starving people and we just keep walking.
 
Everyday we walk past empty buildings and homeless people. We walk past people who have no healthcare, have nowhere to go, who are begging for the right to just be considered HUMAN. We walk past these things and we don't care, but God help you if there was a rape victim trying to have an abortion. Or a gay man trying to get married to his partner of 30 years. God help you if you so much as suggest there should be background checks on people buying weapons.
 
What kind of society is this? We fight for the lives of an unborn fetus, but then let the child starve. We don't provide the healthcare the mother needs to safely carry her child to term.
 
We whine about having to have a background check because it "won't stop criminals" but we wonder why so many people are killed when mentally unstable people get a hold of a high powered weapon.
We tell others they can't get married, but we are allowed to abuse marriage by doing it multiple times. Even if they have been in a faithful relationship for more years than you have had partners.
 
 Does nobody else see a problem with all this? Does nobody else see what I see?

Pro-Life and Pro-Birth don't mean the same thing

Today I was browsing my Facebook (which I do often, I admit) and came across this article as posted by my friend Kami. It's about a young woman who died because she was denied an abortion.

Take a second to read the article at the following link:

http://www.michaelnugent.com/2012/11/14/tragedy-shame-and-outrage-as-pregnant-savita-dies-in-irish-hospital-because-of-catholic-dogma-and-political-cowardice/

 Now, maybe you are like me and you are reading that article and saying to yourself "That's awful! Why would anyone let that happen?" Maybe you aren't. Maybe you believe that young woman deserved to die for trying to save her own life, knowing that there was absolutely no way to save that of her child.

 I hope you don't believe that way. I hope you don't believe that one life is so much more important than another that they should both be lost to be fair.

I think that the worst part is the fact that these men and women call themselves Doctors and their first vow is to do no harm. This woman was viciously harmed, in agony and dying because she was carrying a nonviable fetus that was in the process of miscarriage as was. It makes me sick, thinking about this poor woman.

It is baffling how backwards the priorities of the Church are. We can't save the child, so we won't save the woman because it would be "murder" of the nonviable fetus that is already in the process of miscarriage? How is that holy? How is that Godly? How is that in anyway "pro-life?" Doesn't that mean life for EVERYONE? 

Tomorrow

Tomorrow the voices of millions of Americans will be raised in a single cause: VOTING.

Tomorrow, use your voice to elect those that will lead us for the next four years.

Choose wisely, research your candidates, vote early, USE YOUR VOICE.

I used mine.

Obama 2012.

A Memoir, of Sorts...

I am looking back over the pages of my life's story. Some things I will pass over, pretend they aren't there. Some I will read and re-read lovingly, the pages worn with care. Others I will pause to quietly cry over; things I lost, things I said, people I miss.

Today I am nostalgic. Sometimes this means I am yearning for a simpler time. Admittedly, I have always been kind of an adult. So a simpler time for me was before I realized there was such a thing as the internet and that it could inform me of all the horrors I was missing out on in the BFE. A time back when I believed in one God, who loved everyone. A time when Y2K and the election of George W. Bush were all I knew of the outside world. That and abortion...

It is times like this that I really want to write the whole story down. Finish that memoir I keep starting. I have started it many times over the years. However, it seems silly to write a memoir now while I am still young. Except I've never really felt young. To me, age has always been a number, a silly one at that. Age defines you when, really, it should be your maturity level that defines you. I have never been my biological age.

With that in mind, it makes sense to write that memoir. Get everything down before I am too bogged down to do it. The problem is every time I start it, I find myself bogged down. Too many memories go into a memoir. Both good and bad. If I made a memoir of only the good things I'd be leaving out half the story, which would be unfair to the reader. At the same time, I am afraid to reveal so much of myself.

What if no one likes me? What if no one wants to read about me? What if I leave absolutely no trace of myself on history's pages? What if all I am is a Facebook page of worthless nothingness?

When I was younger I believed I would have a bunch of children (this number varied from 20 to 16 to 5 to none) and they would be my legacy. As I got older, I thought I would do something great with my life and leave my mark that way. Now I don't know how I will leave my mark. Will history remember this blog? Will history remember my story ideas? My poems? Will history be so kind as to remember that I even existed?

Think of all the people who left no mark in the book the history. There have been billions of people on this world. We know so few of them! I don't want to be one of the forgotten masses. Is that wrong?

Am I what is left in the hearts of my friends and family?

I guess part of the reason I am thinking like this is because I have been thinking of the people on the RMS Titanic. I am thinking a lot of history right now, because I love history. Because I love my memories entwined with history's.

I've rambled long enough I suppose. I will have to revisit this idea sometime later... For now, I need sleep.

Ron Paul?

I have a few friends who seem to believe that Ron Paul is a good choice for President. However, I feel that Ron Paul is kind of insane. Personally. Of course, my fears for his sanity were completely realized whilst reading the following article:

http://www.littleredumbrella.com/2012/01/lets-be-clear-ron-paul-fucking-sucks.html

Granted, this person seems to really dislike Paul, so I suppose a little prejudice is to be expected. But then you start reading the articles and its all very frightening. Whether its true, I don't know.

I'm still voting for Barack Obama. I'm still standing behind the decision I made in 2008. I am still proud of that decision.

Obama 2012

Santorum Aborts.

Well Ladies and Gents, it has happened. God or whomever exists out there be praised. Rick Santorum has left the raise for President!!

In memory of this momentous moment I stumbled across an article chronicling all the wonderfulness that Santorum has left us.

http://thinkprogress.org/special/2012/04/10/461929/rick-santorum-look-back/

Oh, and one thing that I thought was the funniest was this:

- In 1994, Santorum said single moms are just “breeding more criminals.”

I think the funniest thing about that is going back and reading what he says about Rape Victims. They should be forced to not only carry to term a "horrible gift," but then are ENTIRELY to blame if said child becomes some sort of criminal because she is a single mom. Proof, yet again, that Santorum has NO effing clue what he is saying...

I can't believe that this video is real, but it is... Terrifying.



There are many reasons why I am ecstatic that Santorum has dropped out, too many to actually list here. Let's just all thank our lucky stars and pray that Romney and Gingrich are the next to go.

In the meantime, continue to support http://blog.spreadingsantorum.com/ in all their endeavours.

Voting

I'm sorry. I can't vote for someone who believes that I don't deserve equal pay for equal work, who believes that women who have been raped deserved it, who believes that I don't deserve the right to birth control, who believes that I don't deserve to be in love with who I am in love with.

I can't. I can't because, no matter how down I may get on myself I know a few basic truths:
I don't deserve to be raped. No one does. EVER. No matter what I wear or what I do.

I deserve equal pay for equal work.

I have the right to LIFE, therefore I deserve to have access to what makes me healthy.

I have the right to LIBERTY, therefore I deserve to be able to live my life free of fear.

I have the right to HAPPINESS, therefore I deserve to be happy with whomever I choose.

So, when the time comes, you can say what you want, hate who you hate, I will stand by who I will stand by and I will still support who I support. And if you wonder why, you can look over what I've said and you will either understand or you won't.

Raped by the GOP

Explain something to me, because I genuinely want to know:
Why would we vote OUT the one man trying to actually help us (i.e. Lilly Ledbetter Act, defending our right to birth control, etc...) and vote in people who want to take away everything we've worked for over the past 100+ years?

I can understand a man who doesn't get it, men have always had the power and the rights. But I am ashamed to see women being brainwashed into believing they don't deserve the same rights. That they deserve to be raped. That they deserve less pay for equal work. That they deserve to be treated like inferior citizens.

“Rape and incest was used as a reason to oppose this [the mandatory ultrasound for those seeking an abortion]. I would hope that when a woman goes in to a physician with a rape issue, that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage, was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage or was it truly caused by a rape. I assume that's part of the counseling that goes on.”
- Sen. Chuck Winders.

Comments like that make me sick. It is not only saying that the woman is making it up, but that it isn't rape if you are married to your rapist. RAPE IS RAPE! NO MEANS NO! No matter if you are married to the person or if you are grabbed by a stranger. This HAS to end. How long are we going to continue cowering? How long before we finally say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?

I hope we say it before it is too late.

The Right to Freedom

Right now there are men fighting over who should have to provide birth control, over birth control being taken away, over sex being diminished to simple procreation. Men are fighting over whether women should be able to have an abortion or use birth control. MEN. Not WOMEN.

Woman was created from Man's rib, says the Bible. This is to mean that woman is to be at man's side, not in front or behind him. Equal with him. Man may have been created first, but what is Man without Woman?

Is it a man who suffers through Menstruation? Is it a man who suffers through pregnancy and child-birth? Is it a man who can suffer from cysts on the ovaries, the cervix or the uterus? Or endometriosis? Is it a man who is being denied the ability to decide?

No. It is women. It is women who need birth control to help with the horrific, searing, pain of cysts on various internal organs. It is women who need birth control to help control cramping and blood loss. It is women who need birth control to prevent pregnancy. And it is women who should decide.

This is what the women before us fought for. The freedom to decide. To vote, to choose. To be equal citizens.

And we still aren't EQUAL. We still make less money than a man in the same position. We still have to beg and plead and fight to have our medicines provided by insurance and companies that don't want to give it. We are STILL fighting what should've ended a long time ago.

Obama 2012

Reasons why I am going to vote for Obama again:

1. Romney doesn't care about the poor. He then rephrases and says that we have a safety net. Excuse me, I'm ridiculously poor. I live hand to mouth most of the time. Where is my safety net? I don't qualify for most help because I am not pregnant or disabled. Where is my net?

2. Gingrich wants to colonize on the moon. We have enough problems here on Earth. The Moon belongs to God/Allah/Buddha/Whomever, not America. Not any country. We have no right to go and destroy it with our stupidity. Also, there are thousands of starving people in America that we could feed with the amount of money it would take to colonize the moon.

3. Santorum believes that sex is solely for procreation, nothing else. He believes that higher education challenges faith. He believes that Church and State should not be separate. He says that his wife had a life-saving "induced miscarriage" which is ABORTION and then says that women don't have that right, even if it could save their lives. Even though she had one to save hers. I could go on, but really, Santorum?

4. Obama has at least attempted to do what he said he would. Its not his fault that Congress has all the power (which it does, because that is what the Founding Fathers wanted) and they aren't into sharing.

5. All these people who say that we are intelligent and then say that Obama hasn't shown his birth certificate. You just called us idiots, because clearly there is NO process or anything. Come on, people use the brain that God/Allah/Buddha/Whomever gave you!

6. Because who cares if he is Muslim or not? Where in the constitution does it say he has to be a God-fearing Christian? Last I checked, it said nothing about that. And as far as that goes Thomas Jefferson was an Atheist. I don't hear anyone complaining about that.

7. I care about my rights as a woman. I'd like to get equal pay for equal work. I'd like to have access to Birth Control. I'd like to have the option to abort, if I have to.

8. Because I can't look at my friends and my family that are Homosexual and say "I'm sorry, but you don't deserve to be married, just because you are Homosexual. You don't deserve that happiness, even though you are another human being who wants Life, Love and the Pursuit of Happiness."

9. Because I am realistic to know that this country has been going down for much longer than he has been in the Oval Office and it will take longer than you and I will live to see it get better. We can't, realistically, expect him to undo 20 years of crap in four years. That's just not possible. For anyone.

10. Because I still believe in the Change. And I still believe he is a good man for the job.

Disagree if you like, say that I'm wrong. But if you really dig deep, really do your research and check your sources you'll see that I'm not that far off. I will admit to not being right all the time. I'm human and I make mistakes. Oh yeah, and Barack Obama is human too.

Sarai for Obama 2012.

The Christianity/Islam Dichotomy.

I had an interesting conversation with a co-worker today. A co-worker I admire, I might add. Our conversation involved religion. Always a testy conversation to have, even with close friends and family members.

But today I saw the beauty of someone who actually follows their religion and embraces others of differing faiths. As well as this astounding revelation:

Islam and Christianity are the same religion.
Well, two of sides of the same coin, anyway. The differences are few, actually. Having read the Qur'an and the Bible, I can assure you that the differences are few. Both have violence. Both have verses implying that women are not equal to men. Both have love and patience and rules. Both encourage the following of the One True God.

God is Allah. Allah is God. I even had a Muslim (said co-worker) tell me that Christians are believers, because they follow the one true God. They just have a different prophet of God. I had a friend in high school who was Muslim and she said the same thing to me once.

Jesus is a prophet of God. A servant and great man. I remember how I was stunned by her belief that Jesus and Mohammed were both great prophets of God/Allah.

"Christians," she said, were to be respected. "They came from Abraham's other son Isaac. We come from Ishmael." We are all children of Abraham. All children of God. All sons and daughters of Allah. The Bible is also a holy book, one to be respected and treated as the Qur'an. They are to be held to one's heart, never one's side. Never to touch the floor or to be set in a place below one's waist.

So when the ignorant tell me that Islam restrains women, forces them to be subservient, I point out verses from the Bible where they do the same thing. When they talk of bombings and ji-had, I point out the Christians bombing abortion clinics. I point out all the times we have murdered and butchered in the name of God. Every religion has their radicals (excepting Buddhism, but that is because its is based on peace and acceptance).

I would also like to point out that I have never been disrespected by a Muslim man. In fact, I have only ever been treated with respect and kindness, where as I've been called a whore and practically spat upon by a Christian man. That the Muslim women I've met are proud to wear the burqa, the naqib, the hijab, etc. They truly believe in their religion and being modest, keeping themselves pure and set apart for Allah and their husband. Which is what we, as Christians, are supposed to be doing. Do we do this? Nope.

Of course, as you will in any situation, there are rebellious people. People who lose their faith and change their minds. People who no longer fit into the mold of the religion they "belong" to. Does this apply to every religion? YES!

Are there Muslims who will disagree with everything I just said? Absolutely.

Are there Christians who will disagree with everything I just said? I would be disappointed if they didn't.

To quote myself (from a post on my facebook):
"We preach Islam as being intolerant, but really we need to take a look in the mirror. When a Muslim man tells me that, as a Christian, I am a follower of the one true God and I am to be blessed, I know that everyone else is just being intolerant."

And in my mind, that is all there is to be said.

Sick Nurses

Pretty much everything I'm going to say about this movie is a spoiler, therefore, if you have any interest in watching this Thai horror film you might refrain from reading about it. Unless you really want to see it after reading about it.

This movie was hilarious. Fucked up, but hilarious.
We begin with a not quite thoroughly explained premise. That being that the nurses and doctor are making their living from selling dead bodies on the black market. We only get a hint in that the main character is murdered shortly after threatening to tell the police how they "make their living" from dead bodies.

Each nurse has a vice of some sort. And each vice is used against them in the end.

First we have the murdered girl herself, Tahwaan, who is actually *SPOILER* a homosexual man who fell in love with Doctor Tar (the only other man in this whole film) and had a sex change to be with him. *END SPOILER*

Then we have the murdered girl's sister, Nook, who is *SPOILER* pregnant with the doctor's baby after a sexual rendezvous in a place full of corpses that her brother/sister watched because she was going to surprise the doctor.*END SPOILER*

Next we have Am and Orn who are twins in love with each other. They even have a lamp that has Narcissus written on it. Narcissus is a character from Greek Mythology who fell in love with his own reflection and wasted away because he couldn't bear to leave it. The incestuous feelings the sisters have for each other is very apparent in their scene on a bed.

Next is Yim who is determined to have a perfect Vitruvian based body. She has a projector that she turns on and then uses a marker to mark what needs to be fixed on her body. She is constantly working out trying to be perfect.

Then there is Jo who is bulimic and constantly eating because of it. There is one scene where she is brushing her teeth and there is a half eaten donut on her counter. She can't resist it, so she eats it with all the toothpaste foaming in her mouth. Of course it doesn't matter, she'll throw it up and then weigh it later. Bulimia is terrifying enough without weighing your own vomit to see how much you threw up compared to how much you ate.

Lastly there is Aeh. Ah, Aeh. She is obsessed with beautiful material goods. So much so that one of her punishments is having her beautiful handbag sewn to her head and neck.

Oh and how could I forget good Doctor Tar? The master of mayhem in this movie all because he didn't keep his promise to Tahwaan and slept with every single nurse. Feeding their various addictions and obsessions. Well, and in the case of Jo, literally feeding her.

Best Scene
Nook is standing on a long square spiral staircase and suddenly all these faceless people with gas masks made of hair flood the stair case on either side so that she can't escape. And what does she do? What does our brave heroine do to escape this clearly inescapable situation?

She whips out a used pregnancy test and starts kicking ass.
That's right ladies and gentleman, she whips out that pregnancy test and begins fighting off this horde with it like its a fucking knife. Seriously, I've never seen such a hilarious scene in a movie, my entire life! Who uses a fucking pregnancy test (a USED pregnancy test no less) to defend against a zombie like horde?

Second Best Scene
Am and Orn's arms are being controlled by Tahwaan so that they are sawing off all of Orn's limbs in a lovely tub filling with blood. The look on Orn's face is as if she had just won a trip to DisneyLand. And right after I made that joke we all noticed that Am was wearing sparkly Mickey Mouse earrings.

And that look doesn't leave Orn's face until she is completely dismembered and drowning in a pool of her own blood.

Third Best Scene
Aeh getting beheaded by her purse. I'm not saying anymore than that.

Worst Scene
Where Jo makes her slop that she uses to make herself vomit (because she is bulimic) and she then throws up in a bag and WEIGHS IT! Not to mention she is starving her cat as well.

Second Worst Scene
Jo's demise. Seriously, aborted babies in formaldehyde flying into the gaping and bloody maw of a jawless woman and kittens eating tongues is the stuff of nightmares. Not mine, of course, but somebody's somewhere.

Dancing in My Chair

Sometimes, at random moments, I will passionately miss the 90's. As in the decade, the 1990's. Seriously, I don't know why. The 90's had some horrible fashion trends and some less than good music, but it was my childhood and I embrace that.

Its at these moments that I go back to the music I listened to, or discovered in the 90's. Or I watch some clips from my favorite shows. Or I sit and just dance in my chair to the music I loved (when I could listen to it that is, a certain man [who shall remain nameless] forbade the listening of certain music that wasn't Christian). I listen to 90's pop, Christian music, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston. I think about Doug, the Rugrats, All That, Wishbone, Are You Afraid of the Dark and Cousin Skeeter. I read excerpts from "Saddle Club", "The Boxcar Children" and "Goosebumps" (which I didn't read until I was in my late teens).

And sometimes, because I'm rediscovering my childhood, I discover new music and I fall in love with a decade when everything seemed so much more simple! At least to me. Do you remember when Britney was at the top of her game? Songs like "Lucky" and "Oops I did it Again"? Or "Big Butts"? We were the Nintendo players, the Mariah Carey lovers, the believers of Aliens and Y2K. We wore high tops and had crew cut hair. We were insane and believed in so much, hoped for so much.

I miss those times. I really do. I don't know why, because the 90's had its downsides too. Like any decade. Like any day. Like any life. But the 90's was my childhood. When I went swimming with my Aunt Carmen all summer. Or cleaned house with my Aunt Peggy, who would let me spend the night and watch Mork & Mindy in between homeschooling lessons.

I miss getting cappuccino for the first time and discovering how delicious it was. I miss running through the woods and pretending it was Narnia. I miss discovering "The Yellow Submarine" with my brother and all the movies my mom introduced us to. I miss falling asleep to Simon & Garfunkel at night and dancing with Hannah to Loggins & Messina. The 90's was my playground, my perfect time. My biggest worries were the boys I was crushing on and Y2K (which everyone was afraid of).

For New Year's Chris and I would stay up until midnight watching "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Henry V" with our family friend, Ivan, while eating pizza and teasing Ivan when he would cover his eyes during the bloody parts. We went to the Egyptian exhibit at the Children's Museum and rode our bikes up and down the gravel roads.

My mother taught me to read, inspired me to write, inspired a love of literature and writing, of exploring everything. She taught me that every moment is a learning moment.

I played with Hannah, my baby sister. She looked like Shirley Temple at 2. I took her outside and chased her all over the yard. At night she would kick me out of bed, even though she was 2 and I was 10. As a baby, I would feed her cheerios in her bouncy seat and sing her Simon & Garfunkel songs as lullabies. I would read books about Sacajawea and Sesame Street. She was my first experience with a baby (when I would've been old enough to understand it). And, in a way, she was my baby. I protected her, I dressed her up, I changed her diapers and fed her. I played dolls with her. And I failed her in many ways. And, in many ways, she is still my baby, even though she is 15 now.

Chris and I would race our bikes, try stupid stunts (like tying Chris to the back of my bike to help him run faster and "lose weight") and chopping wood. We chopped a lot of wood, fed and watered a lot of dogs. I forced him to play Barbie dolls with me and he drove me up a wall. We dressed up, we fought, we forgave each other and he is one of my best friends to this day.

I met my best friend, Sarah W., a friendship that has lasted us 13 years this year. We used to talk on the phone for hours and hours. We watched "Pocahontas" over the phone, because we didn't get to hang out in real life as often as we wished. We played Gordon Lightfoot as loud as possible and scream-sang along. We picked berries and ate them all, while sitting in a field of green and white. We played Legos and made up stories. We ran wild, wrote notes in our own secret language during church. She helped me fall in love with snakes. I helped her fall in love with Star Wars.

I believed in Jesus with all my heart. Believed there was some reason for all the pain, for all hard times. For all the deaths and the lies. The 1990's were beautiful to me, even though I had a step-father who abused my brother and my mother almost died on our bathroom floor. Even though I was sexually abused. Even though my grandparents died. Even though it was the last time I saw my father in person. The last I spoke to him on the phone. The last letter I received. I believed that a good and just God was going to make it all right. That He was polishing me like how a gem is polished with stones.

I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to deliver babies in China, stop the abortions from happening. Protect the innocent. I wanted to be an actress and star in the movies I had seen. I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be a civil rights activist. I wanted to be free. Dream my dreams, live my life. I wanted to be married and have 16 children that I would home-school. I wanted to be a missionary. I wanted to be loved.

Do any of those childhood dreams still hold sway? Can they still exist now that I'm older, wiser, and I know all that I know?

For your viewing pleasure, a song from the 1990's that I used to dance to, alone in my room.

That's right, "Livin' La Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin. And yes, I am that dorky.

A Heroine for Indianapolis

Julia Carson



Julia Carson was a United States Congresswoman and Indiana Representative. She was a member of the House of Representatives for Indiana's 7th Congressional District.



Some Interesting Facts
* Was not only the first Woman to represent the 7th District, but she was also the first African-American.

* She was the second African-American woman to be elected to Congress from Indiana.

* She worked for Rosa Parks to receive a Congressional Gold Medal.

* She was the first person to receive the Frank O'Bannon Award from Indiana Stonewall Democrats.

* Her grandson, André Carson, is now the Congressman for Indiana.

* She worked for the Center Township as a trustee, creating a $6million surplus from the office's $20million debt.

Some Quotes from Julia Carson (and two about her)
- "Julia Carson overcame much and accomplished much, and devoted her life to helping other people do the same," - Senator Evan Byah on Julia Carson

- "Truly, it is all in the name of greed and truly in the name of war,"

- "We have such a wide array of people, of cultures, of interests, of talent, of abilities,"

- "I love Indianapolis."

- "So, I called over to see if Rosa Parks had ever received a Congressional Gold Medal, I knew she didn't remember it. And they assured me that she had not. And I said, 'She may not have, but she's getting ready to get one'."

- "Julia Carson is all about getting things done." - Mayor Bart Peterson

Ad Campaign Video for Julia Carson

The following is Disturbing

Okay, if you are tender hearted (or get queasy easily) like me, you might not want to read the following articles. If you care about what goes on in the world then you should read the following.

http://www.taliacarner.com/deadnewborningutter.html

http://www.expansions.com/ArticleTemplates/ArticleTemplate.cfm?ID=205

If you read the above articles then you now know about some horrible practices occurring in China. I don't even know what to say. I am in shock and horror and disbelief. I don't want to know this, but I do. I don't even know how to be up in arms about this, because reading these articles has left me with incredible amounts of dispirit and sadness. Sadness for the infants and sadness for a people that doesn't realize how ridiculous and horrible this is.