When Will It End?

As loathe as I am to delve into this subject, I must do it now. I think I've already established through my blog entries, art chosen for said blog, & Twitterfeed I am an atheist. So the millenia old pissing contest of "My GOD is bigger than your GOD" is something of little interest to me. But it is current events at the moment. The current hatred du jour is Islamophobia. I can't get away from it on the Internet. Teabaggers & the "religious right", whom have never been right, are screeching & moaning about the evils & ills of Islam. Funny that it has taken 8 years for this witch's brew of racism to come bubbling to the top of their agenda.

Not funny "ha, ha". Odd that this didn't occur when the worst president in the history of our nation was in charge. It's so clear to me that this is a transparent power play by Teabaggers & the GOP to malign Obama. To discredit him. To encourage the unstable people who believe Obama is not a citizen of our country to foment their idiocy. To scare white people who cling to guns & religion, some of which currently populate Arkansas.

Now as I have previously stated, I don't care who you worship, because all gods are bunk. Luckily, I live in America, where I don't have to pick a religion. I am free to have no religion at all. Although I'm still not sure how to get "In GOD we trust" off our money, avoid using a bible in a court trial, or how to get "Under GOD" out of the Pledge which was only added in the 1950's. But I give, or rather The Constitution gives you the right to worship anybody you want to. It would be a lie to say Bin Laden or Ahmadinejad do not have well publicized desires to see our country bow down to "Allah", because they do perceive our country to be Christian. And that is a lie, because more Atheists are coming out & making themselves known. But the "religious right" has an agenda too. It is their firm & well publicized desire (Crusades being only 1 example) to make the Middle East a hotbed of Christian activity. Oh, AND their overwhelming desire to fulfill bizarre biblical prophecy so they can be "raptured" out of the Hell they make of our planet.

The reason I'm delving into all of this now is the news of all this asshattery has finally reached Afghanistan. The scene of the crime as it were. The place that was a haven for the Taliban & Al Qaeda prior to 9/11. The country that our troops are still engaged in ACTIVE WARFARE. The place where a woman had no rights before 2001 & have very few now. Also, the launching pad for Bush Jr to escalate the insanity & invade Iraq, which had nothing to do with Bin Laden & had everything to do with destabilizing the entire region. Thanks, JACKASS! People are engaging in suicide bombings there. How many will be specifically because someone thought it would be an awesome idea to burn some devil books? The Koran may be a rip off of the Bible. But, it's their book. Just because people use it to justify all kinds of things totally unrelated to religion doesn't mean it's any it's any better or worse than the Christian Bible. In fact, the Bible has been used to justify wiping out civilizations, hate crimes, homophobia, the subjugation of women for eons, need I say more?

I guess what I want you to take away from my ramblings is this is a war without winners. Newt Gingrich & other trolls of his ilk may think they are in a position to push their arcane agenda, but they are just killing more troops in Afghanistan & other places. The blood of troops killed by religious fanatics responding to religious fanaticism displayed in our own country. And it all is so without reward. Both sides believe there is an afterlife waiting for them as a reward for doing their "GOD'S" bidding. I can't even call it stupid, because stupid is too mild a word. I don't know that their is one word in the English language that covers the futility & senselessness I'm confronted with on a daily basis. If you're a Christian, you're probably not still reading. But here me out. There are just as many ignorant & conflicting passages in your "BOOK" as there are in someone else's "BOOK". How about you worry more about the tree limb protruding from your eye than the speck in your neighbor's?

irreligulous: Banned Mormon Cartoon

irreligulous: Banned Mormon Cartoon

An unlikely triumverate of ignorance

What does Pakistan, Iran, & Rison have in common? They all have primitive people living there who still attribute natural disasters to a fictional god. We all remember when the Iranian imams stated that seismic activity was related to immodest women. That's obviously bunk. Otherwise, malls across America would have spontaneously imploded ages ago.

Pakistan has had a crappy summer, but when the populace has been polled (I have no idea how or why this was done) they believe that "god" is angry & only returning to strict observance of the Koran & becoming closer to "god" will shield them from more turmoil.

Now I'm pretty sure if you've been following me on Twitter, you know how I feel about Rison, AR. It's a backwoods bastion of religious wingnuttery, obvious ignorance, & the pendulum swings wildly between the haves & haves not. I was having a discussion a few days ago with an interesting woman about the school here. We seemed to have a lot of the same opinions about how unqualified some of the teachers are, the rampant inbreeding of residents, & how corrupt the school board is.

That being said, she then expressed something that shouldn't have surprised me for the area, but did for her obvious intelligence. She said "People have to get closer to "god" then things like 9/11 won't happen anymore". Huh? Ya lost me there. It seems that people's religious indoctrination will quite literally raise it's ugly head at any point & time. I am continuously disappointed by people that can't make a rational conclusion using logic. Does it really make people panic stricken that nobody's steering the bus? Yes. People seem to crave the notion that childhood cancer, senseless murders, war, even becoming impregnated by your rapist is all part of a nebulous plan that some higher "power" has concocted.

It's still mind boggling to me that this kind of mythology is still perpetuated today. That so many people refuse to accept that we are on an insignificant planet, hurtling through space, orbiting a minor star. If our planet vaporized in the next hour, nobody would notice or care. There is no higher "power" that will rapture you out in any event beyond your ability to survive. And the bullshit people spew about how "god" won't impose burdens on you that you're not strong enough to handle is just that. Complete & utter bullshit. You can put it in a fancy vessel, adorn it with ribbons & flowers. But it's still mythology & folklore, no better than an aboriginal witchdoctor who uses hallucinogens to enter an altered state to interpret an eviscerated bird's organs, thereby deciding on a chief.

I can only conclude from this experience that no matter how smart or stupid someone looks here, a conversation can lead to potholes large enough to hide a Hummer in. It's my estimation that although I can't avoiding conversing with people in this town, with careful maneuvering, I can steer the conversation away from religion.

irreligulous: The God Virus: How To Treat Infected People

irreligulous: The God Virus: How To Treat Infected People

Ugh. Summer has fried what's left of my brain!

To all of my fans, please excuse my long absence. It's been a rough summer. My summer has included scorching temps, bored kids, & so many crazy stories in the news that have induced more rage in me than that 9 day traffic jam in China. Hubs has been put on nicotine lozenges by yours truly. I've not bought him any chewing tobacco in almost a week. It's not a big show of love or concern for him as much as it's trying to prevent myself from being his end of life cancer caretaker. Cancer may still get him, but I'm trying to head it off. The picture to the left is Hubs. He's so handsome, but that would change if a surgeon had to remove part of his face just so he could live.

For those of you in the know, I've stopped communicating with my insane, bipolar, paranoid schizophrenic brother Kenny. Literally, it was too much crazy & if I want crazy, I've got Hubs & my kids. Hubs is like an I-phone app. You want crazy? I've got an app for that!

I'm still an atheist trapped in hillbilly Christian hell. I gave religion a shot when we moved up here, but honestly there's only so much I can take of hypocrites. When you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to spread the word of "Skydaddy" to the heathens but there's poor people in Rison that are illiterate or hungry or both, you lost me. Especially the petition to outlaw gay adoption in Arkansas. These churches protest abortion or gay adoptions, but then they do absolutely nothing to help with the unwanted children. OK, sometimes they do food drives for an orphanage somewhere else. But that doesn't negate the hypocrisy or the judgmental attitudes they perpetuate.

The wicked & brutal heat will hopefully be gone in the next month. I thought Vegas heat was exceptional. At least in Vegas there was shopping, or concerts, or decent eats. I have to drive at least an hour away to find anything approaching any of that. I do resent that, but I haven't found a solution yet. Currently, I'm enjoying a genteel kind of poverty. As long as I don't want to do too much, I can do anything I want. I say I, but that's including the kids. We're a package deal.

Life recently has included copious amounts of Twitter, reading, & of course Nick Jr. Sweetie, our cat, has wisely eschewed indoors during the daytime. Smart move, kitty! So, without Sweetie to keep me company or distract the kids, I've become more introspective. I'm just not sure what to do with myself anymore. I'm being inundated by bad news every single day, especially from the war front against the Teabaggers. The world's injustices & ills seem so great, so insurmountable. So glad I never followed through on my childish desire to become an attorney. And it was thoroughly childish. Seriously, I know myself. After 36 years, I should. And I know that I never would've been a great debater. It's feeling good to bury some of these childish aspirations & try to accept where life has taken me. What I'm looking for now is an attainable goal. Something I can achieve. Diaper changes are what my life is comprised of now. But when all the kids go to school, I know it will be time to start on something for me.

How do you raise a 26 year old child?

This post is mainly about child rearing, just not in the traditional sense. My 26 year old brother called me, sounding very close to being suicidal. He's currently stewing in a large cauldron of angst & misery. I almost wanted to type self pity, but what Kenny's currently going through really transcends self pity. It's larger & more complex because he's bipolar & a paranoid schizophrenic. He's suffering in a way that's almost indescribable. He makes bad decisions, then the situation deteriorates until there's really nothing anybody can do to fix it. That's where things are today. His life is in such shambles, I lack the energy to type all the shit that's going on. Keep in mind I'm busy raising my own kids, but I do answer his calls when he's run out of friends that will listen to his constant ravings on why everything sucks. Now here comes the part where I blame my friend Carol for convincing me to look on Myspace 2 years ago to see where my brothers were. Obviously, this is not her fault. I wanted to know, and now am I ever sorry I found out.
People, I've come to the conclusion that sometimes it's best to not know. My initial hope was that Kenny might have a crappy apartment somewhere, a little crappy job, but generally okay. When I found out he was homeless & all sorts of crazy, I was horrified. 2 years later, Kenny's still pretty much homeless & pretty much fucked by his own hand. Given his delusions & lack of impulse control, I am fortunate he didn't take me up on a Greyhound ticket to Arkansas.

My thoughts on the insanity in Arizona

In light of Gov Brewer signing SB1070 into law in Arizona, it's occurred to me how stupid people are. Not just there, but everywhere. When I read how the legalization of those whom are here illegally would increase our GDP by $1.5 TRILLION, my mind was officially blown. I know why the GOP is so against citizenship. It totally plays into what their base is telling them. They're mad as hell there's a democrat in the White House & they're not gonna take it anymore. Mitch McConnell has already admitted to only being interested in strategy and oneupmanship. Lindsey Graham is on the run because teabaggers are calling him gay in an effort to intimidate & influence his vote. I haven't the foggiest idea about how the SCOTUS nominee hearings will go with the GOP promising as mush obstruction as they can muster.

If you've seen any of my tweets, you already know how disgusted I am by all of this. My head continues to throb just thinking about what to type next. So, the only thing I can figure is that if the Republicans (or Teapublicans) want to continue to perpetuate this charade that our country is going through. I know it's not right to reward people for breaking the law, but when it involves families, desperate people who wanted to make a better life for themselves... Well, I know it would take billions of $, years, and more people working to drive people back to whence they came. Just give these folks their citizenship & be done with it. They're already getting screwed out of Social Security, maybe they can help keep it afloat for a few more years. And stop making it harder for people to work with police, to stop narco & human traffickers. It just fosters more distrust & fear, making it easier for criminals to prey on the illegals, the ones that need our help the most. 

I just met some of my neighbors that live close by. I met the wife & child of a man who works here in town. With a few Spanish words & a lot of crude sign language on my part, I was able to figure out how old her baby is & when the new baby is due. How lonely it must be to live in an isolated area, with so few people who speak your native tongue. I didn't ask her if she was here legally, for one it's none of my business. But, I wish I could ask her if people here in town discriminate against her. These are real people, not just sound bytes. They live in a tiny house. They're not loud & rambunctious like our Mexican neighbors when we lived in Gulfport. I worry about these people. I don't know how to help. The language barrier can be overcome to a certain extent. I'm not saying that all people are bad or stupid, but it truly bothers me how much people fear others based on race. I don't fear this family, but I fear for them. I hope that things improve for them and so many millions that are in their same position.

First Entry

I figured I had better post something, so here it is. My thoughts are hard to encapsulate into 140 characters or less. My life consists currently of kids, housework, and my waxing & waning passion for politics. This blog will probably include leftist ramblings. I don't fancy myself to be a left wing nut. I have no desire to live in a commune. I am an Obama voter, and I still feel some surprise the local yokels here haven't raised torches & pitchforks to run me & mine out of this one horse town. Follow this blog at your own risk. There may be a shit load of profanity. Teapatriots, the religious "Right", and right wing nut jobs need not follow. Unless you really want to be offended. Then I guess you've stumbled upon the right place. More from me as time & schedule allow. Now, I must close as the husband expects me to help him plant 18 azalea bushes before it rains or the sun goes down.