Ball and Chains

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2012/01/07/GOP_Says_Christians_Discriminated_Against_More_Than_Gays

     Let me start this article with the disclaimer that I have not checked the veracity of some of the claims made in this report. I haven't done any research into whether or not he/she said what the article claims they did. Just the fact that the report comes from The Advocate makes me doubt it's complete veracity in the same way I would expect bias from Faux News. However since this blog isn't about the above piece, it really doesn't matter. Reading the quotes and claims in the article simply inspired what I am about to say about people who oppose Same Sex Marriages. Get over it.

     Recent polls show that the people who oppose same sex marriages are in the minority (Not much of one in some polls, but a minority nonetheless.) With each passing year, more and more people accept that every person, regardless of race, creed or sexual orientation, should have the exact same right to end their personal freedoms and get married. Several states have passed laws recognizing same sex marriages as legal and others have passed “Marriage in all but name” laws. Even more states are considering passing such laws.

     Several very strong attacks on the so-called Defense Of Marriage act passed enacted September 21 have failed, but the very fact that the attacks happened proves that support is growing for Same Sex Unions. Listening to the Reboobicans rail on and on about this subject is like listening to the same people rant against CFLs and LED Bulbs because they grew up reading and working under incandescent bulbs. Their rants and tirades against Same Sex Marriages are like watching someone standing in the ocean yelling at the tide not to come in.

     Now I personally could care less about people getting married. I think that any two people love each other and want to express that love through the legal union of Marriage, then they should be allowed to. I also could care less that there are gays and lesbians serving in my armed forces openly. News break to most people, they have been doing it since military began. Letting them openly serve, bring their sweethearts to balls and events isn't going to change anything.

     (As an aside here, I do find it absolutely hilarious that all of the dire predictions by Reboobicans and Tea Beggars that there would be chaos, violence and severe disruptions in our military forces when DADT was repealed never happened. The whole thing has been a non-issue with the actual Armed Forces from day one of the repeal. Now I will give a rare tip of the hat to both the government and military leaders for making sure that everyone was prepared for the transition. The delay in repeal and the hard work they did probably did a lot to ease what little tensions there might have been.)

     People that know me and I mean really know me, know how I feel about GLBT (Did I leave anybody out, always lose track of the letters.) I have known pretty much all of them at one time or another and could care less what their sexual orientation is. Its as much a non-issue as their race, religion or moral creed. They are no different than you are me. We are all Americans and every American should have the same rights. To single out a group of people and say “Sorry, you have the same rights as we have” is just as much discrimination as, back in the day, saying “Sorry but you have to ride in the back of the bus.” Going even further back, it is the same as saying, “Sorry you can't vote, stay home and make babies.” Discrimination is discrimination no matter who it is directed against.

     So like I said in the beginning, Get over it. You are free to believe that Gays and Lesbians are going straight to Hell when they die. You are free to believe that Transgenders are the very spawn of Lucifer himself. You have the right to feel and believe the way you want to, but you cannot stop this wave.

     The tide is turning against discrimination and it should. People who rail against Same Sex Marriage, DADT etc should stop and ponder this question. Suppose you succeed? Suppose, against all pressure you succeed and deny fellow Americans their rights under the law simply because you don't like the way they live or the thing they believe? What happens when it's you? What happens when suddenly other Americans don't like the way you live or the things you believe? The precedent will have been set and you might very well find yourself denied your rights. Just something to ponder when you have the time. Justice for all or Justice for none.

News at 11

For those who don't follow my FB pages, this is in response to a promise I made yesterday.  

“Peter Rabbit is a stupid book about a stupid rabbit that steals vegetables from other peoples' gardens.” from Your a good man, Charlie Brown.

Broadcast from the ABC (Anthropomorphic Broadcasting system)

      “The infamous gangster P. Rabbit was in the news today when he and his loyal Lieutenants Flops, Mops and CT broke into the Warehouses of P. Rabbit's rival McGregor (Known on the streets as The Farmer) Armed with high caliber WW (Wabbit Wifle) 50 caliber assault weapons. The reason for the attacks are unknown at this time but experts in the AM (Anthropomorphic Mafia) theorize that it was an attempt to break The Farmer's stranglehold on the foreign import of Carrot Cakes. The Rabbits have been trying to find a way to muscle in ever since McGregor assaulted P. Rabbit in an earlier raid and left him naked in the streets.

      “No official body count has been released yet, but among the ones assumed dead at this point are Rott and Labs (Also known as the Dawg brothers) and several warehouse workers called The Chickens. Property damage is estimated to be in the high six figure range not counting the dozens of cargo containers with premium weapons grade Colombian Carrots in them. McGregor is listed in stable condition at a local hospital ward and already sworn to keep the Rabbits out his territory which he calls his Garden.

      “Authorities at this time have no information as to where the Carrots have been taken or the current whereabouts of the Rabbit Gang. P. and his followers are known to have a luxurious hide out somewhere in the city known as the Rabbit Hole, but no one has ever been able to discern its location. A fifth member of the gang known only as Mother is reputed to reside there and oversee the day to day operations of the gang for P. Rabbit.

      “Mayor Y. Sam has issued an official denouncement of these actions and is demanding stronger controls over Assault Weapons owned by animals. 'This city, nay this country can never be safe as long as these Stinking Varmints are allowed to carry guns. I hates those stinking rabbits!' Sam's supporters are afraid his strong words will cause problems with his re-election campaign and has attempted to mollify the public by assuring them that Sam has nothing against law abiding animals simply those who choose to break the law.

      “Sam's opponent in the upcoming race, E. Fudd had this to say, “This is a weally weally bad situation and we must wecognize that the actions of these Wascally Wabbits does not reflect the actions of other animals or even other Wabbits. For my opponent to condemn all animals as varmints shows that he is not weady to continue leading this grand city.'

      “Fudd's words (while distorted) are suspect since it is well known that he has received millions of dollars from the AM especially from the Black Feather gang lead by D. Duck. All that is known for sure about the entire situation is that as long as these criminals continue to run amok (amok amok amok), no Good Rabbit will ever be safe.”

With true respect and love to Beatrix Potter, Mel Blanc and Charles Schultz.

Home Grown Terrorists

This last Sunday night, four acts of terrorism were carried out in the city of New York. The attacks targeted a place of worship and several places of residence. The victims were targeted because of their religious beliefs and, even though no one was injured, nearly a hundred people could have been killed if the attacks had been successful. God only knows how much property damage occurred and how much more would have occurred if the attacks had succeeded. Like all terrorists, the attacker/s acted quickly and didn't stick around to be seen. http://news.yahoo.com/york-firebomb-attacks-hit-mosque-hindu-155810163.html Not quite what you were thinking was it? Yes, these were home grown terrorist attacks carried out against people whose only real crime was their beliefs. These aren't even the first or worst of these attacks. All you have to do it search the web for stories about Mosque attacks and Muslim Property destruction to realize that this happens far to often. Now most of you are probably thinking that this is a long rant about Religious and Social tolerance. You believe that I am about to talk about "unfair attacks against a people without any proof of wrongdoing." Well, most days you'd probably be right, but not today. Today I am not talking about Muslims, Hindu, or any such thing. No this little rant is all about Americans. I am not super intelligent. I am not an expert of religion, politics or world affairs. I am a simple man with a smidgen of talent when it comes to the written word. I make no claims to know the right answers and anything I say or write is nothing more than my opinion. I always try to make my opinion as well informed as possible, but it is still just one man's thoughts. Having said that, let me state the following. The residents of this country have the inalienable right to practice whatever religion they wish without interference from others. As long as any culture obeys the laws of the land and their articles of faith do no harm to others, they can worship Christ, Buddha, Yahweh or Allah to their hearts content. NO ONE has the right to cause harm to the followers of other religions no matter how much they disagree with them. Okay off the soap box and on to the actual subject of this article. What really cheesed me off about the above article is not the piece itself even though that was disturbing enough. No what really bothered me about the whole thing were the comments posted afterwards. Instead of being shocked and horrified that such an act occurred, many of the posters actually celebrated the event. Some even commented that they had wished more damage and injury had occurred. I post some of the more vicious comments below before continuing with my rant. LET THEM CONTINUE 2 FEEL OUR WARMTH... It was a Mosque...the less the better! Just returning some of their petroleum product's. Move along folk's there is nothing to look at here. how does it feel? Many of the posters point out that Islam and its leaders have yet to condemn the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and use this to try and somehow justify attacks on people that, as far as we know, have committed no crimes. They also point out that you never hear Islamist leaders railing against the many attacks on Christian churches and homes around the world every year. I can concede those points. I can also point out that Christians really aren't big into that sort of thing either. During the 50s and 60s many places of worship were burned or somehow destroyed here in the US and the roar of condemnation was strangely silent because the people being victimized were black. Too far back? How about modern day in places like Syria and North Korea? We see news reports everyday about people being slaughtered in Syria and about how the majority of the population is starving to death in NK. Do the citizens of the US raise a hue and cry? Do they rail against the horrors being done to their fellow man? Nope, for the most part, the people that actually read the stories shrug their collective shoulders and move on with their lives. So knowing this, I find it hypocritical that Americans continue to condemn Islam for not striking out at the perpetrators of 9/11. Kettle meet pot, pot meet kettle. I guess what I am trying to say, in my usual long winded and somewhat disjointed manner is this. Terrorism is terrorism, no matter who or what it is directed against. To accept an act of terror simply because you disagree with them is to accept all acts of terror around the world directed against anyone including ourselves. We claim to be a country of laws, morals and justice. Instead of cheering and jeering when "they" get attacked, always remember that you are a "they" in someone's eyes.

Won't change, don't complain

Hokay as I mentioned briefly in a FB post, while out shopping for last minute stocking stuffers at the local Dollar General (Blatant plug, think its a great chain of stores) I encountered an EXTREMELY obese Caucasian lady who was chatting on her IPhone while walking through the candy isle with a buggy. She was going on and on about her health. How she had Diabetes and couldn't get her blood sugar under control "No matter how hard she tried." and how she might have to go on Dialysis because of it all. She mentioned that her Doctor probably didn't know what he was doing since she just kept getting worse. All this time she was slurping down a Bargs Rootbeer (Non-diet) and "grazing" (Most folks would call it stealing) on a jumbo bag of M&Ms.

Now folks, I am a firm believer that every person has the right to live their life the way they want regardless of the consequences. Long before warning labels on Cigarette packs, my Daddy smoked two packs a day for 70+ years and knew damn well they were bad for him. He told me once "Bobby, I don't give a darn if they are bad for me, I'll smoke them till I die from it." As far as I know, he did exactly that. He did something and accepted the risks there of.

For the record for those who do not know me or haven't read earlier blogs. Not too long ago I weighed 356+ pounds and ate like a pig. I drank 2 or more energy drinks a day and lived off of regular Coke products. Needless to say I contracted Diabetes. Since then I have dropped down to around 220 pounds and I am proud to say my blood sugar and A1C levels are good and getting better. I realized when I was diagnosed that I had well and truly fudged up and took steps to correct those things because I didn't want to die.

Now that said, that was my choice. This lady obviously refused to make that choice, refused to listen to the advice of her doctors and kept living the life she wanted. Which is why she had rolls of fat hanging down her legs over her ankles (Ewww) was wheezing while moving very slowly down the aisle while leaning heavily on the buggy and basically looking like she was about to die right there. That was her choice and that's cool too. But if you are going to kill yourself with calories and chocolate, don't whine about the side effects. Your doctor isn't responsible because you eat a side of beef for lunch garnished with an ice cream sundae. Society isn't to blame because your idea of a midnight snack might be a rack of ribs smothered in honey BBQ sauce. The only person that is responsible is you.

Now I can hear the whiners and bleeding hearts pointing out that she might have a glandular condition that makes her obese. I can hear others whining that she might have been predisposed towards Diabetes and the complications that come with it. In response I refer you to the very first paragraph of this rant and even repeat, "All this time she was slurping down a Bargs Rootbeer (Non-diet) and "grazing" (Most folks would call it stealing) on a jumbo bag of M&Ms." just in case it was missed the first time around. Like I said, If you can't change then don't complain.

Pardon my rant

okay for those who follow me on Facebook, you know by this point that I had several hundred dollars worth of meat stolen from my deep freeze this morning so you can well understand that my opinion of humanity was already running at an all time low (and that is saying something for me) before I went out to the local Wal-Mart to attempt to replace at least part of the meat lost to me. I really wasn't expecting to have that opinion shot any lower, but life never ceases to surprise me.

Now before I go any further, let me state that this rant is not about the current Welfare System and the myriad of abuses that people perform using the government funds given to them for food, medicines and other essentials that everyone needs. No, this rant is about just how rotten people are. Read on for my example.

So I buy what little food that we have extra money for and I pull my buggy up to the "20 items or less" line. (Needless to say that I easily met this requirement.) Ahead of me in the line was a middle aged Caucasian Woman surrounded by four children between the ages of 2 and 6. Her buggy is literally filled with cases of beer, chips etc and several bottles of wine.

The youngest girl reaches out and snags a "2 for a dollar" KitKat and holds it up. The next largest immediately does the same. The woman scolds them both and says, "We can't afford candy so put it back." The girls complied with the youngest crying her eyes out. (Already you can see why this was getting me grumped off but read on.)

The cashier rings up $300.00+ worth of booze and junk. The lady immediately pulls out the Benefits card that you can use to purchase anything (Forget what it's called.) and uses it to pay for the booze and junk. She then drags the still crying little girl out of the store.

Now I am already insulted that this woman paid for alcohol with her benefits card that should only be used to food, clothes, medicine. The fact that this piece of trash wouldn't buy her kids/grand kids a dollars worth of candy while she was buying herself a cart of junk just pisses me off. I should have picked up the candy paid for it and given it to the girls, but I was already in a foul mood so it didn't occur to me till the drive home.

So like I said, my already low opinion of people has reached an all time rock bottom level just in time for Christmas. Here's hoping that yours turns out a lot better than mine has so far.