From a Mother to the Man Who Chased Her Son Out of the Men's Bathroom

I have a couple of questions about this one. Like 1. How old is the child? 2. How did the man know that the child was in there alone, and that his parent wasn't in one of the stalls? I mean, can you imagine yourself starting a conversation with a child in the rest room? I think by the time you asked if a parent was in there the child would have been high-tailing it out the door! 3. He claimed that the child saw his private parts exposed; what the heck was he doing in there to be in that kind of position? I believe that something happened in that bathroom, I'm not saying that it's not true; I'm just have serious questions about it. After all, after the incident where the man beat up the female army reservist in front of her child and witnesses, anything's possible!!

Mom Scolds Man Chasing Her Son Out Of Men’s Bathroom

 March 19, 2013 ● by NewNowNext Staff

 

 There’s been a few heartwarming letters written by parents in the public eye this week and now here’s another sweet case of a mom vehemently supporting her son, whom was mistaken for a girl in a restroom. Writer Catherine Newman writes an open letter to the man who kicked her son out of a men’s bathroom because he assumed he was a girl. She has a weekly online journal filled with entries about her children Ben and Birdy. Ben’s gender identity is unclear in the post, but other blog entries imply he is not trans, he was just mistaken for a girl in this instance. 

 

Here’s her letter below:

An open letter to the guy who chased my son out of the men’s bathroom after mistaking him for a girl:
I just want to start by applauding your decision to shout at us right off the bat. “She was in the men’s room! Your daughter was in the men’s room! A girl in the men’s room!” For one thing, how else will we learn? For another, how else will we be covered in spittle? Plus, I think it’s good, if you see something unexpected, to proceed with violent certainty rather than with, say, wonder or even doubt. Like the time I found that slightly darker O in my bowl of Cheerios and freaked out because I knew for sure that it was a wheel from the landing gear of a miniature UFO that was going to abduct me and probe my anus; if it were cereal, it would look like the rest of the cereal. Likewise, if you see a doll with short hair, even if it’s lying next to a pair of scissors, you should think, “Ew. When did Ken’s boobs get so big?”

It made sense, too, to continue to insist that he was a girl, even after he calmly explained that he had been in the men’s room because he was a boy. (“It’s Ken! But Ken has boobs!”) And your distress over imagining that a preadolescent girl saw your man parts—“I was naked in there! She saw me naked!”—makes such an important point about the prevalence of peeping-Tommery in young girls, and the ways that middle-aged men are vulnerable to them.

To answer your question, “Are you its mom?” more unambiguously: Yes. But you’re smart to ask, because maybe the whole family is a transgendered house of mirrors and I’m really “its” dad! (Last laugh—i.e. my having it—alert!) Certainly, though, it made a lot of sense to imagine that I had colluded in the perversion of sending a girl into the men’s room because, after all, what parent doesn’t want their daughter to be in a tiled room full of urinating men?

In conclusion, thank you for your valuable input. I can only hope that my son will leave behind his girly days of placid confidence and grow into somebody as manly as you—with the kind of balls it takes to scream at a child in public.

yours truly,

'Its' Mother

And so, here's another of opinion of mine, and mine only, Live From Bikini Bottom.

Is This the Result of Treating Children Like 'Adults'?

I think so. I believe that this is what happens when you tell people they cannot discipline their children, when you give children the ability to send their parents (who love them and are trying to teach them right from wrong) to jail, when it is the child who has done wrong. IMO, when this 'young man' was a child if he'd been properly brought up, the chances of him doing something like this would have been greatly lowered. I know that there is always a possibility with a child that no matter what you do they are going to just go 'bad', but in earlier times children did not grow up to kill their fellow classmates, they did not get on public transportation and loudly curse at each other and at other people. Society was not frightened of it's younger members as it is now. Even those in positions of authority and others  (teachers, school guidance counselors, bus drivers, store clerks) are frightened to say anything to these children; either for fear of physical retaliation or for fear of police action. 

He may have been 17, but he is still a child. From the time he was old enough to know what buttons to push on the computer he should have been monitored closely, and if he did something that seemed untoward (which I'm sure he did, this could not have been the first time!) he should have been rigorously disciplined. Who knows where his attraction for  pornographic images and sites might end? As a matter of fact, how was he even able to pull this off without anyone in his family having any inkling of it? I'll tell you how; when/if they tried to see what he was doing he pushed them away and they went. He was almost an adult after all....

Teen Hacker Facing Porn Charges

By Kevin Rowson, WXIA News

March 19, 2013 Updated Mar 18, 2013 at 6:55 PM PDT

  (WXIA) An Acworth, Georgia teenager has been charged with distributing child pornography.
Michael William Cook, 17, was arrested on eight counts of cruelty to children and one count of sexually exploiting children.

Sgt. Pierce said Cook hacked into the victims cell phones by sending text messages to his victims from a company called "Maxi Focus Photography". When the victims responded to the texts it installed malware on their phone. Pierce said it essentially gave Cook access to all the information on their phones.
Sgt. Pierce said the sexually explicit photos were on the victim's phones. "He took the pictures out of there and sent them to pornographic web sites," he said.
For more information, see 11Alive story click here!

Will Anyone Get It Right About Using the N-Word?

    Of course it's just my opinion, my sense of 'right', but it seems to just make so much sense; if you don't make a big deal about something, no one can use it to hurt you anymore! Instead, it's 'that group shouldn't use that word' and 'it's okay for that group to use this word'.. To my way of thinking, either NO ONE uses it, or EVERYONE does! How does it make sense to anyone that a person from one group can say a particular word and not only not get lambasted for it but there are people defending its usage, but another group says it and not only are there loud complaints but this person stands to lose their job, their career, and their standing in their community? Come on people, this is A WORD; a 2 dimensional word formed from tiles on a Scrabble board for goodness sakes! Something that you can just as easily make disappear by just a wave of your hand across the board. It means no more than that, unless you allow it to.  Of course, everyone has their own opinion:

The Pledge: Never use the n-word again

From the Clarion-Ledger.com May 10, 2010 

 

 

 Myrlie Evers-Williams knows the pain of the n-word.She heard it hurled many times in hate at her husband, Medgar Evers, before a Klansman shot him in the back on June 12, 1963. She and her three children ran outside to see him gasping and covered in blood before he died.   

     Her husband’s killer, Byron De La Beckwith, walked free in 1964. Thirty years later, Beckwith went on trial again. Several witnesses testified that Beckwith bragged to them later about killing "that n-----," Medgar Evers. This time, a jury convicted Beckwith, and he was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 2001.

      Some white Americans use the racial epithet, but it's African Americans' use of the word that bothers Evers-Williams more. 

"They don't realize the historical shame of that word," she said. "It is not some term to toss to a buddy of yours." Some young African-African {sic} men have told her they use the n-word among themselves, said the 77-year-old chairman emeritus of the national NAACP. "They say, 'Well, I call my brother that. It's a loving term.' "

"That's no loving term — not unless you are ready to fight. For those of our generation, it is the most unpalatable word you can say."

      Even though the word has been popularized in some songs, African Americans should never speak the word, she said. "That bothers me more than a Caucasian using it. It is racist. It is hateful. It is everything it was meant to be." She challenged all Americans to stop using the n-word.

Who Cares If He Called Him Legless? In Britain 'legless' Means Drunk!!

Once again, in my opinion, the world is replaying that old favorite Much Ado About Nothing. What is the big deal? Anyone who knows who John Cleese is also knows that what the Monty Python crew finds funny is a far cry from what mainstream America laughs at! And after all the complaining about his comment, we find out that all he said was that Pistorius was drunk!! Good for him if he came up with a two-pronged slam on Pistorius! LOL Since when does anyone have a problem with a comedian 'dissing' someone? No one said a word when every comdian in the world made jokes about O.J,; No one had a problem when it was Tony Blake. Let me guess; Is it the fact that his legs have been amputated that make Oscar Pistorius such a special case, that makes him untouchable when it comes to legless jokes? If so, isn't that doing the one thing that most people with disabilities don't want,  singling them out for special treatment?  If that man is strong enough to accomplish all that he has in life, he's damn sure strong enough to withstand the tweets of comedians. 

Monty Python’s John Cleese angers Twitter with inappropriate Pistorius comment

• CELEBRITY
• FEBRUARY 17, 2013
• BY: CARLA IVES
• Subscribe

John Cleese got his Twitter followers in a snit over a seemingly tasteless tweet regarding Oscar Pistorius

Credits: 

Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

According to the Huffington Post on Feb. 16, actor/comedian John Cleese, star of TV, films and a Monty Python alumnus really aggravated fans and non-fans alike with a seemingly tasteless tweet about the Oscar Pistorius murder case. Those who remember Monty Python’s Flying Circus know that their specialty was totally tasteless humor.

When the news broke that Oscar Pistoriuswas being charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, Cleese tweeted:

“Oscar’s defence will be that he was absolutely legless at the time.” (Defence is the proper British spelling of defense.)

That tweet garnered almost 2,500 re-tweets and 585 favorites in a very short time, not all of them complimentary.

@LevParikian: “John Cleese broke a twitter silence to make a Pistorius joke. My 11-year-old self, the one who fell in love with Fawlty Towers, is crying.”

@rayascott: “Again, comedians on Twitter: so NOT funny.”

John Cleese followed up with, “Sorry if the last tweet was a bit naughty.”

Was Cleese just following in Monty Python’s footsteps or was it a misunderstanding due to English versus American speech patterns? An update to the story informs readers that the phrase “absolutely legless” is a British expression meaning “drunk.”

In Honor of Deoni Jones D.C. Council Introduces Bill

D.C. Council introduces bill to allow transgender residents to obtain new birth certificates

Posted by John Riley | February 19, 2013 3:18 PM | Permalink 
Retrieved from MetroWeekly thru LGBTinDC 2/21/13

D.C. lawmakers are rallying around a bill introduced Tuesday that would amend the Vital Records Act of 1981 to allow transgender individuals born in the District more easily obtain new birth certificates reflecting correct gender and, in some cases, new name.
The bill, co-introduced by Councilmembers David Catania (I-At Large), David Grosso (I-At Large), Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5), Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), and co-sponsored by the remaining members of the D.C. Council, has been named the "JaParker Deoni Jones Birth Certificate Equality Amendment Act of 2013," in honor of the transgender woman who died last year after being stabbed in the face while waiting at a Northeast bus stop.
According to Andy Bowen, social policy organizer for the DC Trans Coalition (DCTC), the bill is a technical modernization of D.C.’s laws to enable individuals who transition genders to have their sex and name, if applicable, recorded on their birth certificates. That change will make it easier for individuals who need to use their birth certificate as proof of identification for common activities ranging from finding employment to obtaining a new driver’s license to applying for a passport.
The first major element of the proposed bill requires that a new birth certificate reflecting a person’s expressed gender be issued upon receipt of a written and signed request from the individual born in the District (or the applicant's parent, guardian or legal representative in the case of a minor) and a signed statement from a licensed health care provider who has treated or evaluated the person applying for a new certificate, which attests that the applicant has received treatment for a gender transition. That new certificate will be substituted for the original birth certificate, with the original being sealed and made available only upon the request of the individual to whom it pertains or by court order.
Such procedures bring the District in line with policies currently used by the State Department regarding gender reassignment, Bowen said.
The second major element of the bill exempts individuals transitioning from having to fulfill publication requirements that once required those in the process of transitioning gender to publish their names in a newspaper for three consecutive weeks.
"The bill lowers the risk of outing, and thus, discrimination, allowing trans people in D.C. to live freer and safer lives," Bowen told Metro Weekly in an interview Tuesday.
The bill has not yet been scheduled for a hearing, but is slated for a hearing before two committees – the Committee on Health, chaired by Councilmember Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7), and the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, chaired by Wells – before it receives a vote from the full D.C. Council.
Bowen told Metro Weekly that the bill will likely receive a hearing in front of the Committee on Health sometime in April, but there has been no word on when it will be taken up by the Judiciary Committee.

[Photo: Councilmember David Catania, photographed by Todd Franson/Metro Weekly]

Suing Here, Suing There, Suing Everywhere; and For What?

    It was my intention to write today about this litigious society we live in, and about all the frivolous cases we've heard of over the years. Then while reading news headlines I ran across this story about angry people and racism, and decided to use it instead. This is, to me, just another example of how ridiculous our society has gotten about the whole 'racism' thing. Now I'm not saying that there isn't any such thing. There is, and in some places a lot of it. This story is more about how just how far people have taken "playing the race card".

Sports Illustrated Called Racist For Using 'Exotic' People In Swimsuit Issue

The newest edition of Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue is getting a lot of buzz for the wrong reasons this week, with critics charging that the global pictorials are racist and reinforce bad stereotypes.

This year the heralded swimsuit issue decided on a seven continents theme, with its bikini-clad models posing in countries around the world. The problem for some, however, is who the models were posed with.

Instead of sticking to exotic backdrops, some of the models are featured standing next to people allegedly representing the various countries--an editorial decision that makes the "native people" tantamount to exotic props.

Jezebel's Dodai Stewart takes specific offense to two pictures, one from China, and another from Namibia.

In a shot taken in a picture taken on a river in Guilin, Guangxi, model Anne V., who is white and blonde, sits on a raft piloted by an elderly Chinese man:

This photo cements stereotypes, perpetuates an imbalance in the power dynamic, is reminiscent of centuries of colonialism (and indentured servitude) and serves as a good example of both creating a centrality of whiteness and using "exotic" people as fashion props.

Besides which, the picture represents a specific decision to portray China as "non-Western" and "backward." As Shanghaiist notes, in Sports Illustrated's view "China is poverty and 'ethnic' clothing, not the world's second largest economy where the majority of people live in cities rather than the countryside."

The second controversial shot, featuring Emily DiDonato in an African desert, also include a tribal-looking, half-naked man carrying a spear:

These shots tap into the West's past obsession/fetishization with so-called savages, jungle comics and the like. Again: In a visit to seven continents, this image is what Sports Illustrated is using to represent the continent of Africa.

David Leonard, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies at Washington State University, told Yahoo! Shine he understands why some might find the pictures offensive.

"These photos depict people of color as exotic backdrops," Leonard said. "Beyond functioning as props, as scenery to authenticate their third world adventures, people of color are imagined as servants, as the loyal helpers, as existing for white western pleasure, amusement, and enjoyment."

In contrast, cover model Kate Upton, photographed in Antarctica, has penguins in her background.

Shooting fashion spreads in exotic locales has caused controversy in the past, of course -- remember when J. Crew raised eyebrows with a Bali shoot featuring local kids? Magazines have also found themselves in hot water over exoticizing cultures for the sake of a fashion shoot. Vogue Italia took a serious misstep in 2011 when they decided to call hoop earrings "Slave Earrings" on their website.

Meanwhile, some people have argued the whole Sports Illustrated debacle has been blown out of proportion. Unsurprisingly, a story on Fox Nation titled "Liberals Call SI Swimsuit Issue Racist" was filled with comments in support of the magazine.

Do you find any of the photos offensive?

Why Are Gays Wasting Their Time This Way?

While gays certainly have a right to protest in any way they see fit, personally, (as a lesbian) I feel that there are more productive protests they could be conducting.  At the end of the day what have they accomplished? Nothing. No one is thinking about what they're hoping for, all they're thinking about is the stupidity of anyone who goes down to apply for something that they know they're not going to get. ( Not saying that they were stupid, saying that is what the anti-gay marriage folks are probably thinking, IMO.) If it was legal but the city wasn't giving them out, that would be a good reason to hold that type of rally. If the city was giving them out but one person inside wouldn't, that would be a good reason. To me (again as a mature, all the way OUT lesbian) this was a complete waste of energy and effort that could have gone into something more productive. Strictly my opinion of course, live from Bikini Bottom; your mileage may vary.

GAY RIGHTS RALLY Same-Sex Couples Try To Apply For Marriage Licenses; Opponents Also Turn Out For Rally

Huntington , Cabell County , West Virginia 

Reported by:  Darrah Wilcox
Videographer: Kenney Barnette
Web Producer: Jeff Morris                                                    Video From West Virginia's Eyewitness News
Also Contributing: Dave Benton
Reported: Feb. 14, 2013 12:50 PM EST
Updated: Feb. 14, 2013 10:00 PM EST

About a dozen same-sex couples walked into the Cabell County Clerk's Office to try to apply for marriage licenses Thursday morning during a rally by a group of gay rights activists and supporters. 

Justin Murdock helped organize the event. "You know a man and a woman can meet out here on the sidewalk and go in and get a license, but my partner and I who have been together for over two years now, we're in a committed. We have a home together. We're a part of this community, a part of our church. We still can't get a license." 

He and his partner went into the Cabell County courthouse Thursday to apply for a marriage license. 
"We know we're going to get turned down, but we don't think that's right. 

He's not alone. Several other same sex couples applied for a license this Valentine's Day. 

Jessica Crum also went with her partner. She said, ""We're American citizens, we're patriots, and at the end of the day we deserve equal rights." 

Many friends turned out to support them. Raine Klover is straight and married, but helped organized the equality rally. Klover said, "I believe that equality is universal. That everyone deserves the right to be married, to love the person that they love, and to have the rights and privileges that marriage confers. " 

While there were some counter-protesters, the group decided collectively to ignore them. 

Murdock said, "We're here with a message about love and equality. From our standpoint there here with a negative of hate and inequality. 

Although gay marriage is not recognized in the state of West Virginia, couples wanted the act of applying for licenses to represent their hope for a change in that law. 

Murdock said even though they were denied a license, he felt the message was successful, and they're not ready to give up. "We'll keep applying until we can get one." 

The group of gay rights activists and supporters held the same event last year on Valentine's Day and this year the demonstration has grown.

Don't Step On a Crack! Or You Might End Up Like This!

    On January 29th, 2013 I was leaving home to go to work, and BLAM! I trip over a crack in the sidewalk and go crashing face down, elbow down, knee down, ankle down...

 

 Here it is, February 17th, and I have been to the emergency room and two doctors, have an appointment to see an orthopedic surgeon, haven't been to work, and spend most of
my time in bed. My knee was swollen till it looked like a bullseye (left) and I couldn't get a shoe on my foot. I had stitches in my eyebrow and a black eye, and the doctor was worried that I'd broken my cheekbone. (I hadn't.) Now my kneecap is pointing off to the left instead of straight ahead, and I walk like Quasimodo trying to pull the bell cord. 


    And that's just one of the many great things that have happened to me! The week before the accident I'd unexpectedly had to leave a place that I loved working in. (Can't say the job was perfect, but it was okay.) I say unexpectedly because even though someone working a contract can be let go at any time, I was never given any reason to suppose that I would be leaving before the contract ended, at least not without some advance notice. Guess how much notice I got? TWO WEEKS! Like that's really time to go out and find another job, especially in our economy!!! And the explanation? "The client says you're not a good fit." WTF??? What does that mean????

    They say there's always a silver lining, so I've spent a lot of my time here in bed talking to my cat and looking for it...I really can't see it, but I did realize that I wasn't really "kicked to the curb"; at least the kick wasn't as hard as I first thought. The company that I actually work for has bent over backwards to work with me so that I had some income (before I fell) and more importantly, so I can keep my medical benefits. I wouldn't have been able to go to the doctor at all if not for them, so I am seriously grateful about that. (Think I should send a thank you note to the program manager? Maybe one of those edible fruit baskets, she looks like she'd enjoy that...)

    So, I'm back in the job hunting rat race. Filling out and sending in the applications, tailoring my resumes, choosing should I send a cover letter or not.... If anyone knows of an opening for a badly limping grandmother with years of clerical experience including 5 in the federal government as an Administrative Assistant, puh-leeeze let me know!!! 

I'm still here.... Live From Bikini Bottom!

Asked to Resign for Comparing Obama to Hitler?

       So, last week a woman is elected for a second term as the Board of Education President. Woman has a FB page, and reposts a photo which has the following comment on it: 

"Never forget what this tyrant said: ‘To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens.’ -- Adolf Hitler.”

Woman knows that the photo's original poster was a group that often puts up anti-Obama and pro-gun posts, yet she does not add any comments of her own, or post any explanation as to why she felt the need to repost it. This even though being an adult American citizen she has got to know what the climate in this country is between those for and against gun control. 

     She's now being asked to step down from her post. Are these people serious? She voiced her opinion, and now she's asked to give up her job??What's next???

Dede Terhar, Ohio Board Of Education President, Criticized For Obama-Hitler Comparison

Ohio Democrats are calling on the president of the state Board of Education to resign after she compared President Barack Obama with Adolf Hitler on her Facebook page.

State Board of Education President Dede Terhar (R-Green Township) denied she was comparing Obama to the Nazi dictator and removed her Facebook page after she shared a Hitler reference posted by another group over the weekend. Groups opposed to Obama's gun control proposals have been comparing the president with Hitler.

The Columbus Dispatch reports:

Terhar, a Cincinnati Republican elected last week by the 19-member school board to a second term as its president, recently posted the picture with this commentary: “Never forget what this tyrant said: ‘To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens.’ -- Adolf Hitler.”

The photograph apparently originated with the Facebook page of Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children, which features a variety of anti-Obama, pro-gun posts and photos, such as scantily clad women hoisting large guns, a polar bear with the words “Holy f*** I’m glad I’m white,” and another saying “Where’s Lee Harvey Oswalt when you need him?”

Terhar told the Dispatch that she was not suggesting that Obama was Hitler. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Terhar sought to clarify the statement. Terhar removed her Facebook page following the explanation, according to Cincinnati.com. Ohio Democrats have distributed a screen shot of the explanation.

In her explanation, Terhar said that she was reposting someone else's comment and did not share her own thoughts. She said that she would stop sharing thoughts on the social media site.

"I received a photo that had a quote attributed to a tyrant," Terhar wrote. "The quote referred to gun control. I did not research to check that the quote was accurate. Not sure everyone does. I also made no comment on the repost."

Terhar, a former Montessori teacher, was elected to a four-year term in 2010 representing a Cincinnati area district. She was elected earlier this month to a one-year term as board president. Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern has called on her to step down from the post.

“While there is always room for respectful differences in opinions, State School Board President Terhar’s Facebook posting crossed a clear line by connecting the President’s national discussion on guns to Adolf Hitler,” Redfern said in a statement. “President Terhar’s invocation of Hitler is dangerous and should not be tolerated by Governor Kasich and the rest of the State School Board.

     While imo she should have known better than to repost something like that with the position she's in, I cannot agree with all the hoopla that's being made about it. What happened to people being able to voice their opinions about the government in public  without fear of reprisal? It's like we're going backwards, back to a time (and to a land) where you have to watch what you say at all times, because if the wrong person sees or hears it you can  lose your job, your home, all your friends, perhaps even go to jail! It's just getting ridiculous; every time you turn on the news or open the newspaper there's someone being brought down by a word (Quentin Tarantino by the n-word; what a stupid way to phrase that; if you think it's such a terrible word that no one should use it, delete it completely, don't just find another way to say it!) by a political belief, (Dr Angela McCaskill, who works at Galludet University, and was recently suspended for signing a petition  to have gay marriage put on the ballot so that people could decide what they wanted.) or, as in this case, a photo that you could possibly have only posted because the photo was funny! (That's not why, but there is always that possibility.)

     It just amazes me sometimes how far down this country is sinking... even more, it's amazing that more people don't realize what is happening and  try to do something about it.

The Most Hated Family In America?

     Last night I watched a documentary on LogoTV called The Most Hated Family In America; it was about the Westboro Baptist Church and its founder, Fred Phelps. The program was hosted by Louis Theroux, and was yet another look at the "church" which has become associated with picketing military funerals, regardless of who the people were or what they were purported to be involved in. (Or not involved in.) Westboro Baptist Church loudly proclaims their ideology of hell-fire for anyone who is not a member of the Westboro Church. A person can not just walk in and say 'I believe as you believe, I want to join' as all of the members are related, either by blood or by marriage. (Kinda makes you wonder about inbreeding, doesn't it?)
     Westboro Baptist Church was in the news recently because of a petition started on the new government website We The People. Petitions which generate the required number of signatures in the allotted time will be reviewed by the White House and an answer forthcoming.The petition has gathered more than 300,000 signatures; it only takes 25,000 signatures for the White House to review it.
     The women and children upset me more than anything; to hear a six year trying to explain to Mr. Theroux what "fag  heart-symbol troops" means is heart-wrenching. To hear the women encouraging the children to do this, teaching them what to say when asked about their beliefs, it's enough to make one want to jump through the screen and slap one of them. To think that these people were going to go to CT to picket the funerals of six year old children who were massacred by a nutcase just makes no sense, not even by their own professed beliefs. They picket the military funerals because the military did away with DADT, but what excuse can they possibly give for picketing these children? For having their children there?? It makes me nauseous to think of these children being brought up like the Klan children were years ago; as a matter of fact I remember an episode of Geraldo Rivera (I know, I'm telling my age!) when there were members of the Klan there who had brought their children... these toddlers and first or second graders had who should have been in school playing with other children and learning sharing and diversity were instead sitting in a television studio dressed in Klan hoods and robes and being boo'd by an audience of both blacks and whites! That's what the Phelps family reminds me of, the KKK, under the guise of the Bible and Christianity preaching their own form of blind hatred, and having children who are being bathed in what spews forth from their mouths every day. The most hated family in America, and they are still doing it.
     I remember when a couple who named their children variations of Adolf Hitler not only lost custody of them, but lost custody of a newborn that came later; I remember a polygamist sect in Texas that had all it's  children (over 400) removed, just because of the polygamous   lifestyle, but you mean to tell me that even with video evidence of these children being brainwashed and indoctrinated, out of school, and using hate speech,  the government does nothing  about removing them from such a harmful environment? What is wrong with this picture? 
     Please forgive me for having wandered a bit, but thinking of situations like this one just drive me up the wall, especially when i see no one doing anything about it. 
     

As always, this post is the opinion of no one other than myself, and comes Live Fron Bikini Bottom.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Where is our Humanity?

I found this in some old computer files of mine today. I cannot tell you when I wrote it, or exactly what the point was of the article I wrote in response to. I do know that the responses to the plight of these poor African children working in gold mines made me very angry….

Post to MSNBC re: Children working in gold mines in Africa

I cannot understand (but then again maybe I can...) how a thread could begin as a discussion on the exploitation of children as young as 6 in Africa working in gold mines, getting paid with a bag of dirt, (if they get paid at all) then morph into discussions branching off into politics, contraception, and extraterrestrials. All of these Americans reading this article on their computers while they drink their morning coffee and eat their croissants, who cannot spare five minutes to care about the predicament of children as young as 6 being put into the position of feeling they have to work to help their families. To say you don't feel sorry for these children and you blame the parents who should stop having babies does not address the problem. Even if they stop having babies now, that doesn't do anything to help the children who are already here. And to proclaim that you don't care anything about these children because their parents should have stopped is just obscene. Perhaps they should have, but THEY DIDN'T, so now you're going to just throw their children on the garbage heap of insensitivity and ignorance? A child is a child, regardless of how many children his parents should or should not have had. (And who are you to judge anyway?) Each and every child is a young, innocent, human life, just as American children are here; the only difference is those children have had to grow up with the hardships of life thrust upon them, where American children for the most part do not. Here, the parents work and bring home enough to take care of the family; if they don't make enough there are plenty of organizations such as food pantries to help make ends meet. It's not like that in the poorer areas of Africa, or Asia. There is no soup kitchen down the street that they can hop on the bus and go to for a hot meal. There's no city rec center around the corner where the kids can go after school and wait for the parents to get off work. When was the last time your child saw you come home so tired you could barely walk, and offered to fix something for you to eat so you could rest, rather than whining "What's for dinner? I'm hungry!" American children, on average, DON'T. Those poor children in other countries see how hard their parents are working and feel bad for them, so they leave home to try to help in any way they can, and also so that will mean one less mouth for their parents to feed. How many American children can you name that would do that, at such young ages? And how many children there are in the family doesn't matter; I personally know a family in Nigeria which is only three children, and the eldest son has left home for that very reason. We here in America cannot comprehend someone feeding their family on the equivalent of $1.00 per day or less, but that is the situation most of these people are in. (The lucky ones manage to plant a little garden to help with the food situation, IF they can afford to buy seeds.) Please, these are only children, that is the topic today, not Obama, not Bush, not Newt Gingrich, not Republicans, not Democrats, and certainly not extraterrestrials. Just plain, ordinary, human, earth, children. Have a little concern for them today, please?

Is the Westboro Baptist Church a Hate Group????

   When the Westboro Baptist Church first started getting noticed it was partly because it was family-run. Fred Phelps, the patriarch of the Phelps KKKlan, had been made pastor of the small Westboro Baptist Church, then proceeded to cut all ties with all Baptist Church organizations. He began to preach his own brand of Christianity, which was also part of what got them noticed.( but it was the plain old ordinary kind of discrimination; the white vs. black, the straight vs. gay, the religious vs. the atheists, the Right-to-Lifers vs. the Pro-Choicers. There was a lot of vitriol spewed by both sides, but there really wasn't a lot of attention paid, it was just another small church that most people thought were just trying to get attention in order to raise funds for the church. They represented themselves as knowing what God did and didn't like about all that is going on in the world today, and as being the ones to bring forth His message to the people.
     Over time though, Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) began to shout their message of hate, rather than to just preach it, and it's begun to be a lot less palatable to those who earlier would just shrug their shoulders and say the church wasn't bothering anyone. WBC began to preach to anyone who would listen their message of hate toward other groups, but the group they ranted about more than any other was the LGBT community. They began saying things like America was losing its soldiers in punishment for being so accepting of same-sex marriage. WBC picketed military funerals, and the funerals of gays who'd been murdered because of their sexual orientation. They even picketed the funerals of women who died of AIDS, all in the name of God cleansing this country of sin.
     WBC, in my opinion, went beyond the limits of human decency a long LONG time ago, like when they picketed Matthew Shepard's funeral. (The young man who was savagely beaten and left for dead because he was gay. ) Now they have gone even farther IMO. They have entered the Twilight Zone! WBC is threatening to picket the funerals of the Sandy Hook victims, of which 20 were children of 6 or 7. I think they deserve to have the White House issue an executive order labeling them a 'hate group', and as such they should be stripped of all the rights of a church, including the right to call themselves that. (Just my opinion, please keep that in mind.)
    Below is an article about We The People, the White House website which allows anyone to draw up a petition and get signatures on it. If enough signatures are received, the White House will respond to the petition. Read on, and see just how many signatures this petition got!

From KEVIN ROBILLARD | 12/27/12 6:47 AM EST of the Politico

More than 260,000 people have signed a petition to the White House asking for it to label the notorious Westboro Baptist Church a hate group.
The petition aimed at the church best known for picketing military funerals and other events with signs declaring “GOD HATES FAGS,” is believed to be the most popular cause ever on the White House’s “We the People” petition site. Four other petitions targeting the church’s tax-exempt status have attracted nearly 200,000 additional signatures. All five petitions have passed the number required for a response from President Barack Obama’s administration.

The tiny Kansas-based church, mostly made up of members of founder Fred Phelps’ family, has picketed the funeral of military members killed in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq and funerals of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. Phelps preaches that the deaths are God’s retribution for the United States’ acceptance of homosexuality (or in some cases, failure to condemn homosexuality strongly).

“This group has been recognized as a hate group by organizations, such as The Southern Poverty Law Center, and has repeatedly displayed the actions typical of hate groups,” the petition reads. “Their actions have been directed at many groups, including homosexuals, military, Jewish people and even other Christians. They pose a threat to the welfare and treatment of others and will not improve without some form of imposed regulation.”

Read more: Petition to label Westboro Baptist Church a hate group.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church

I'm Baaa-aaack; and I'm Posting This Again

Paul Harvey & Prayer

Ever been going through files on your computer, and find something that you know you saved, but you can't for the life of you remember where it came from? Well, that's what happened with this, but it's so on point I just had to post it.
You'll notice that it's rather old, but it's tragic that it's just as necessary now as it was

back then. 

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

12-23-12  It's 2012, and we have a black president who just won his second term, but things like this are just as necessary today as it was in 2005 when Paul Harvey wrote it.

Subject: FW: Good ole Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey & Prayer

Paul Harvey says,
"I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for
singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December.
I don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my
high school teacher taught his theory of evolution.

Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered because
someone says a 30-second prayer before a football game.

So what's the big deal? It's not like somebody is up there reading the
entire book of Acts. They're just talking to a God they believe in and
asking him to grant safety to the players on the field and the fans going
home from the game.

"But it's a Christian prayer," some will argue. Yes, and this is the United
States of America, a country founded on Christian principles. According to
our very own phone book, Christian churches outnumber all others better than
200-to-1. So what would you expect-somebody chanting Hare Krishna? If I went
to a football game in Jerusalem, I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer.

If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad, I would expect to hear a Muslim
prayer. If I went to a ping-pong match in China, I would expect to hear
someone pray to Buddha. And I wouldn't be offended. It wouldn't bother me
one bit. When in Rome...

“ But what about the atheists?" is another argument. What about them? Nobody
is asking them to be baptized... We're not going to pass the collection
plate. Just humor us for 30 seconds... If that's asking too much, bring a
Walkman or a pair of earplugs. Go to the bathroom. Visit the concession
stand. Call your lawyer! Unfortunately, one or two will make that call. One
or two will tell thousands what they can and cannot do. I don't think a
short prayer at a football game is going to shake the world's foundations.

Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our
courts strip us of all our rights. Our parents and grandparents taught us to
pray before eating, to pray before we go to sleep.

Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Now a handful of people and
their lawyers are telling us to cease praying. God, help us. And if that
last sentence offends you, well..........just sue me.

The silent majority has been silent too long. It’s time we let that one or
two who scream loud enough to be heard, that the vast majority don't care
what they want... it is time the majority rules! It's time we tell them, you
don't have to pray... you don't have to say the pledge of allegiance; you
don't have to believe in God or attend services that honor Him. That is your
right, and we will honor your right... but, you are no longer going to take
our rights away, we are fighting back... and we WILL WIN!

God bless us one and all, especially those who denounce Him... God bless
America, despite all her faults, she is still the greatest nation of
all...

God bless our service men that are fighting to protect our right to pray and
worship God...

May 2005 be the year the silent majority is heard and we put God back as the
foundation of our families and institutions.
Keep looking up... In God WE Trust.

Paul Harvey & Prayer

Ever been going through files on your computer, and find something that you know you saved, but you can't for the life of you remember where it came from? Well, that's what happened with this, but it's so on point I just had to post it.
You'll notice that it's rather old, but it's tragic that it's just as necessary now as it was then.

Subject: FW: Good ole Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey & Prayer

Paul Harvey says,
"I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for
singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December.
I don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my
high school teacher taught his theory of evolution.

Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered because
someone says a 30-second prayer before a football game.

So what's the big deal? It's not like somebody is up there reading the
entire book of Acts. They're just talking to a God they believe in and
asking him to grant safety to the players on the field and the fans going
home from the game.

"But it's a Christian prayer," some will argue. Yes, and this is the United
States of America, a country founded on Christian principles. According to
our very own phone book, Christian churches outnumber all others better than
200-to-1. So what would you expect-somebody chanting Hare Krishna? If I went
to a football game in Jerusalem, I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer.

If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad, I would expect to hear a Muslim
prayer. If I went to a ping-pong match in China, I would expect to hear
someone pray to Buddha. And I wouldn't be offended. It wouldn't bother me
one bit. When in Rome...

“ But what about the atheists?" is another argument. What about them? Nobody
is asking them to be baptized... We're not going to pass the collection
plate. Just humor us for 30 seconds... If that's asking too much, bring a
Walkman or a pair of earplugs. Go to the bathroom. Visit the concession
stand. Call your lawyer! Unfortunately, one or two will make that call. One
or two will tell thousands what they can and cannot do. I don't think a
short prayer at a football game is going to shake the world's foundations.

Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our
courts strip us of all our rights. Our parents and grandparents taught us to
pray before eating, to pray before we go to sleep.

Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Now a handful of people and
their lawyers are telling us to cease praying. God, help us. And if that
last sentence offends you, well..........just sue me.

The silent majority has been silent too long. It’s time we let that one or
two who scream loud enough to be heard, that the vast majority don't care
what they want... it is time the majority rules! It's time we tell them, you
don't have to pray... you don't have to say the pledge of allegiance; you
don't have to believe in God or attend services that honor Him. That is your
right, and we will honor your right... but, you are no longer going to take
our rights away, we are fighting back... and we WILL WIN!

God bless us one and all, especially those who denounce Him... God bless
America, despite all her faults, she is still the greatest nation of
all...

God bless our service men that are fighting to protect our right to pray and
worship God...

May 2005 be the year the silent majority is heard and we put God back as the
foundation of our families and institutions.
Keep looking up... In God WE Trust.

I Miss Blogging

Each time I'm steered this way, and I read over the old blog posts and look at just the way the site looks, I wish I had the time I used to have to put in to posting. I miss Bikini Bottom; I miss blogging! I miss finding articles that I think are interesting and posting them; I miss writing my own stuff on different happenings. I just miss the writing, and even though I'm in college and doing a lot of writing of papers etc. it's just not the same. No APA format, not so much structure; heck, I don't even have to spell correctly if I don't want to! I never thought I would miss it so much, but I do, and I'm hoping to find time to get back into it, maybe start posting some of my stories... that would be awesome! For now though, it's back to the grind of my schoolwork. So glad that it's finals week.

Have a Blessed Day, Live from BikiniBottom!!