Dear Media: Your White Trash Chronicle of History

As an observant and intelligent human being, I expect the Regressive Party to fall all over itself in attempts to explain why Trump has been at the top of the polls since he entered the race. Being eternally naive, however, I would expect for the media to have figured it out by now. I have heard every credible news organization (MSNBC you are getting quite close to falling to the other side of that scale) ask itself and its panelists to riddle them through their quandary for over two months now. Not only has the discussion become tiresome, their ignorance has, too.

We are still allowing our media to ask the Regressives to dictate our narrative. We still ask them to tell us why their party are not interested in the politicians they have been force fed. The rest of us can see it. Why does our society have to pretend that we are stumped? I have heard the answer countless times by party 'leaders' who say that their voters are angry with the government and have grown tired of 'politics as usual' to explain their interest in an outsider.

Of course, that outsider is out on the stump unapologetically being a racist while using no dog whistles. He puts women in their place. He tells them that all of society's ails are due to immigrants. If the far right voters are suddenly looking for an outsider who isn't afraid to tell them the exact same things the rest of their politicians have, why do you suppose that is? Let us look at what they have been promised by the Regressive Party just since 2008 when the Tea Party started trending. Let us just focus on the time since racism has become fashionable and acceptable again in our society.

What has pissed the far right off, since 2008, about politics? They are pissed off at THEIR politicians and THEIR 'politics as usual.' They have been promised that they would get rid of that Muslim in the White House. They have been promised that they would get Secretary Clinton indicted for Benghazi. They have been promised that universal healthcare would be reversed. They have been promised that abortion would be outlawed. And that is about all that they have heard. Oh media, my media. Ask yourself this, okay? Why are you so interested in politicians who try to lure voters that literally believe the President is a Muslim and who promise to oust him once they prove he is not really an American? Why are we giving voice to politicians who have had 7 (or is it now 8?) hearings on Benghazi and have yet to find anything? Why would any thoughtful individual continue to reflect on the needs and desires of a base (fucking perfect word) whose intellect allows them to rally to get rid of their own healthcare without noticing the scores of attempts which have been made and the time wasted in doing so? And why are you focused on politicians who promise to get rid of abortion rights without repeatedly reminding your audience that it has been legal for over 40 years. They are promising to come up with ways around a Supreme Court decision based on the Constitution.

The reason their constituents are pissed is because they keep hearing the same promises and see that nothing has been done. None of their promises have been kept. Of course, none of them were even possible. Why not report that?

Let me sum it up for you like this: You have spent nearly 3 months now trying to understand the mood of the people on the right who are confusing you.

Answer: These are the people who started the year identifying with the Tea Party movement which demanded American Exceptionalism and told their members in their mission statement: "By joining the Tea Party, you are taking a stand for our nation. You will be upholding the grand principles set forth in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights." These same people, within six months time have feverishly jumped ship and determined the best leader for America would be a man who not only denied exceptionalism, but announced his candidacy for President by concluding, "The American dream is dead." Then, within two months of that revelation he has determined we need to repeal the 14th Amendment. I guess they don't need to worry about having to uphold Constitutional principles any longer.

This is the very depth of the people you are trying so desperately to understand. You are attributing to them more capacity for reflection, comprehension and introspection than any of them are capable of. You might as well ask a pre-school class to analyze the Iran Nuclear deal. It almost seems unfair to put so much responsibility on them. And it is certainly unfair for the rest of America to spend 3 months listening to you all try to figure it out.

These are the people who call themselves socially conservative but disrespect and disavow the Pope. THE POPE. Traditionally, no public figure has ever been more strict on every single social issue and those on the far right are presently dismissing him altogether because he isn't tough enough. Have a quiet moments reflection on that. These are the people who believe their morality exceeds that of the Pope.

These are the people who rally and raise funds for every police officer who kills an unarmed black person. They raise money for people who want to discriminate against the LGBT community. While they do this they demand that they are being just like Dr. King because they are standing up for their rights. I literally heard this discussion on CNN last night and Jim Sciutto, the anchor filling in for Erin Burnett, was the one posing the question. I have no idea who he is but let me answer it for you easily, moron: The difference is Dr. King was fighting to give rights to people. His civil disobedience was in an effort to make society see those they were allowing to be discriminated against. These assholes who are saying they are being discriminated against because of their religion? Their civil disobedience is in an effort to take away the rights of others. They are literally fighting because they want the right to discriminate against other people. I am embarrassed as a human being that I had to answer that question for the asshole anchoring the 7pm news show on CNN. Honestly. This is our media.

You not only diminish the discourse in America when you spend so much time discussing these people and their interests, you diminish America, itself. While doing this, of course, you embolden them because their power and their unified voice becomes stronger as our focus is directed soley toward them. Close your eyes. Please. Do it. See those people in your mind. You can see them. They are wearing a tshirt with either an eagle or a flag and holding signs which are meant to demean other human beings. At least one word will be misspelled. See them? Right! Those are the Americans you are celebrating. Again, you are complicit in where we find ourselves today.

You are determining what history will remember and how we will be seen as a country. Holy Shit. My great-great-great-great grandbabies will be so confused. If you would just start making strides toward asking thoughtful questions and then seeking intelligent answers we could be on our way to a healthier future. If you could stop giving voices to panelists whose sole agenda is to write our history to meet their narrative, that would be great, too. Your great-great-great-great grandbabies will know that you were actually responsible for our chronicles. Give them something to be proud of.

While focusing on the hype surrounding these candidates, do you feel any responsibility to our chronicle for history of this election? Do you feel any responsibility about the chronicle of the American community and its ideals? Do you feel any responsibility about the chronicle of the truths behind our social environment and the truths about those who attempt to drag us down and pull us back? As such, you are presently glorifying those who are the least among us. You are giving their agenda the spotlight. I had to witness every single news station showing a woman coming out of jail with a triumphant soundtrack of "The Eye of the Tiger." None of the media took the time to specifically counter this properly. I am embarrassed and disgusted! Honestly! Why aren't you? Take a moment with this. Ask yourself what your network, magazine or online media outlet took the time to document today surrounding Mike Huckabee, Kim Davis and their White Trash Agenda. What will our great-great-great-great grandbabies think about us? What did you leave them?

Look at this giddy piece of shit reveling in the attention she (and Mike Huckabee) gets for being a hateful degenerate human being. YOU are giving her that attention. If there had been no coverage and it were just a rally full of other white trash it would not have been such a marked success, you know?

Just. Jesus Christ! I scream it in my head repeatedly. "Jesus Christ!" What do you tell yourselves? Are you proud of your work? This is just one single day. It has been going on for months. For years! Are you proud of your role in our history? Step up before the story can't be rewritten. Step up and deliver actual countenance of a present day narrative filled with facts and reflections you will be glad bore your name. Otherwise, what the fuck are you doing? And why the fuck are we supposed to tune in for you to do it?

Anchor Baby Agenda

With all of his bluster, the Regressive Party hardly knows which way to focus their attention in order to dismiss their front runner, Donald Trump. He is terrifying them in ways they could have never imagined and, quite frankly, he is wasting billions of dollars and countless hours invested by the Koch brothers and their ilk to redefine what history would call a 'democracy.' I have a feeling, however, that once they find time to take pause on Trumps recent immigration stance, they will be able to at least embrace his assertion that the 14th Amendment needs to be repealed. Please be ready when they change their minds. As with all of their 'revelations,' it will come out of nowhere and the contradictions and historical 'facts' will be mind-boggling. Prepare yourself now to understand its truths so the narrative coming from the right can be quickly and effectively dismantled.

The 14th Amendment was not exactly a reaction to immigration. It was a reaction to those who were forced to immigrate here and when, through the Civil War, they (the men, at least) finally found themselves living here freely, the Constitution was amended to allow them free reign of their own personhood where they had equal rights of citizenship and to the same protections as white men.

Without the 14th Amendment, we would still be living with segregation, too. Although we still have a handful of knuckle-draggers living among us who would like to revisit those days, most of us actually shudder at that idea.

This Amendment was also the guiding principle in the Roe V Wade decision finally allowing women to have ownership of their own bodies and in making their own healthcare decisions.

Just this year the 14th Amendment was cited repeatedly in the Obergefell V Hodges Supreme Court decision where the rights of LGBT citizens were recognized in their own capacity to determine who they can marry.

The 14th Amendment was the clincher in getting public schools to detach from religion, as well. The 1st Amendment guaranteed freedom from a state designation of religion the 14th, the Supreme Court decided, that all levels of the government were bound to the same guidelines.

Please do not forget, my brothers and sisters, not only has the 14th Amendment been necessary in defining those rights listed herein, but it will be necessary in the future to continue to win rights we are still demanding. The ERA, after nearly 100 years, has still not passed. A member of the LGBT community can still be denied a job or fired from a job if their employer condemns their 'lifestyle.' The many rights guaranteed to counter discrimination of minorities in voting, education and employment are still being debated and are repeatedly brought back to the courts for reversal. I also believe that the final nail in the coffin of the bullshit of whom you have to make a wedding cake for will also be determined by the 14th Amendment as it says all rights defined in the 1st Amendment are universal across all levels of government, including state.

It is inconceivable that we live in 2015 and are trying to compel other American's to embrace the lives of those who are new to our country and protect those who were born here. And I can not believe a single human being would insist that we need to get rid of the 14th Amendment.  Yet, here we are. We are still suffering those loudest voices (coming from the dimmest minds) in our society who condemn all of us to bear their hatred and intolerance. They don't seem to be going anywhere so it is our job to have louder voices and point them at the rational people in our society who really don't want to hear it. Each of our presently guaranteed rights which become threatened will convince more of them to start paying attention. Keep telling them until the selfish are finally provoked to see their own lives threatened. It is more important that they do wake up, than why, I suppose.

Do not be surprised when the leadership on the right finally realizes what a jackpot this idea of repealing the 14th Amendment would be to their collective agenda: rid the rights of those who fail to be Straight. White. Christian. Men. SHIT! That is their entire voting block. And be ready to explain what it REALLY means to all of those who believe it is a discussion regarding immigration. If they cannot be bothered to care about these babies, maybe they can care about how far-reaching the implications REALLY are.

Terrorism Is Being Hijacked

The focus of yesterday's diatribe was about the voices that come out every time we have a tragedy relating to guns which tells us it is wrong to politicize the event and, in effect, dismiss the lives lost. Not only have those voices managed to politicize this massacre and dismiss those lost lives, they have managed to hijack the message America needs to hear. Initially the Tea Party was able to hijack the GOP. It was stunning. It still is. The Republicans began to fall to their will for fear of a radical base leaving them. The Tea Party then managed to hijack the Bible. The message of Jesus Christ in a relatively short period of time has turned from peace to vengeance, from love to hate, and from comfort to condemnation. They have grown adept at spinning things in a way that America is pretty much just left in a state of shock where it is too profound to imagine so they ignore it altogether. That may have been the objective all along.

Whatever their objective, I do believe that this attempt to hijack the tragedy in South Carolina was probably a step too far. I imagine anyone who has heard their leaders over the last few days explain to them that this mass murderer was on a mission to kill the Christians will have a moment of pause and scream a quick, "Wait! What?" at the television screen. We have plenty of Americans who do their best to never know what is going on around them. They don't really know what the Tea Party has managed to do to the country, but I feel confident that every time they are confronted with a message of Christian persecution having been a motivation in what was quite obviously a racist attack, they will have the sense to tell themselves, "That is so fucked up."

The politicians on the right, but those in the Tea Party specifically, have mastered the fine art of changing the national discussion. They don't want to talk about racism right now because their party is a safe haven for racists. And they don't want to talk about gun control right now because their party is funded by people whose base has a sole mission of obtaining and maintaining arsenals.

Lindsey Graham, a Senator from this state which is still proudly displaying its white supremacy today with the confederate flag on its state house lawn, was on The View yesterday and offered such an outrageous reflection on the massacre that I had to rewind it to make sure that I heard what he said. But he said it. "It is 2015. There are people out there looking for Christians to kill them." So in Lindsey's mind (a place I never want to spend a moment of time), this little sonofabitch determined that he would walk into a church, pray with its parishioners and kill them because he is afraid of Christians. Absolutely! I hear that all of the time. When I am anywhere in social media the thing I hear from Americans is abject fear over the pending murderous attacks from Christians. I guess that makes sense because I have never seen anyone say anything racist. And, even though we have had people who know this murderer come out and explain his extremely unbelievable views about race and hatred for the black community, I suppose it was this fear of their Christianity that finally pushed him over the edge.

Yesterday Rick Santorum was on a radio show in New York and said that it was an obvious "assault on religious liberty." He agreed that it was a hate crime, however the hate was not directed at the black community but at the Christians who have recently decided that they are being persecuted in the country they have an overwhelming majority in. He told the audience, "You talk about the importance of prayer in this time and we're now seeing assaults on our religious liberty we've never seen before. It's time for a deeper reflection beyond this horrible situation."

I can not find a place to put this. I actually feel rage over it and can not find a way to accept that any leader in one of our two major political parties is diverting the focus of a profound tragedy and another of the many opportunities recently afforded our society to talk about and work toward mending our national disgrace of racism toward a discussion about his political agenda. Many Americans don't even realize that the Tea Party candidates have decided that their own persecution is the new campaign slogan. What would rational people think if they knew? I certainly hope that if any good can come out of this deplorable plummet into the lowest of realms by the right it will be for Americans who are not paying attention to actually hear their message. I believe that is our only hope right now.

Many on the news have been asking one another whether or not the massacre in Charleston was a terrorist attack. I find myself actually shaking my head when I hear that question. Is it such a profound question to struggle over? Has the media conditioned itself to believe that the only way to define a terrorist is by their religion?

Terrorism: the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.

Ok. Where is the confusion? A massacre is certainly violent and is obviously meant to intimidate. If his act and its reasons were not meant to go out to the world beyond, thus being a political message, he would not have set one person free to go tell what he was doing.

I am sick of typing the same thing and I assume my readers are growing weary of reading it, but we are complicit in every facet of this problem. Society is allowing itself to ignore the hate that comes from the right. We are allowing them to hijack everything from our important and meaningful national discussions to our interpretations of the Constitution. The fact that a single media outlet would give a voice to a candidate who has the nerve to insist that Christianity is under attack and that the massacre this week was a result of Americans persecuting this religion is beyond my comprehension. It is only made worse by having those who are meant to inform us struggle to determine if this was an act of terrorism. But they do it. And they have an audience. And they sell advertisements. And that is why they exist. As long as we allow the voices of the most hateful among us to distract us from making reparations in our own country, we will continue to allow them to take us to the depths they envision for our country. That should terrify everyone with a conscience and a capacity for critical thought.

Arkansas: A Safe Haven for Child Sexual Predators

America has recently been given the opportunity to question how safe the children of Arkansas are under the protections of the Department of Human Services. The Duggar investigation was closed in 2006 (back when their good friend Mike Huckabee was still Governor) because, it was reported, the statute of limitations had expired. This fact is actually in contention as the civil statute is three years, but the criminal statute would have allowed them seven years to prosecute. If the department were concerned about the girls' well-being, they could have still proceeded with a criminal charge, but they decided to leave them in the home with their brother who had admitted to molesting them, repeatedly.

Earlier this year the department was hit with another child sexual assault scandal involving a 'Christian' Republican leader, State Congressman Justin Harris. Harris, a proud Tea Partier, is fanatic about his anti-choice stance. His right wing constituents, I suppose, think that's fabulous. He went out of his way in 2012 to set an example for the good Christians in his state to counter the evils of abortion by fostering three sisters. It would seem like that would be a great place for them. He was, after all, the Vice Chair of the House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth and is on the Education Committee, as well. What's more is that he and his wife actually own and operate a day care, as well.

Initially, in September 2012, Harris and his wife had decided to foster three sisters. In adoption circles these are called "special needs" children because it is incredibly difficult to find a home for siblings to stay together. These girls had already been placed with a family together, but for some reason the Harris' determined these lovely white, blonde girls should come stay with them. Who knows why? Within a few months, however, the Harris' had two girls in their care. No mention was made at the time of where the eldest girl had gone, but she was just never discussed as if it had always been just the two. It turns out that she had been a victim of sexual abuse in her birth home, which is why the girls had been initially displaced. This child was suffering from severe trauma due to her history and was said to have acted out. Did they really expect them not to have issues? Well, no. Per Harris, the placement agency neglected to inform them that the girls "were disturbed by the trauma of their upbringing in their birth family." Right. Because three siblings looking for a new home cannot have faced any trauma. And it would have never occurred to either his wife or himself to ask why these children needed to be fostered.

Shortly after he gave the eldest daughter back to the fostering agency, Harris and his wife adopted the younger two. Within a year they, too, were too much for the Harris family to deal with (one was 6, the other 3) and they were re-homed. That is a thing. It exists. It is legal to adopt children and then decide against it and quietly give them to some other person, without doing any background check or asking the state to advise on the transfer. The man he dumped the two girls off on was a former employee of Harris' day care center. It turned out he was a pedophile.The six year old girl was molested by him and, finally, the state again became involved in the care for these children. The entire time they were living with the pedophile, the state thought the girls were still with the Harris family. They were still sending him a check for their care, after all.

The eldest child was eight when she came to the Harris family. Harris has since explained that they gave her up before the adoption of the other two girls because she was such a terror. She was dangerous and could not be controlled. He did, however, try to have her exorcised first. Good for them, on the day pictured below she was on her best behavior and able to cooperate in the perfect-family photo op for his campaign. I can't even imagine why he would need her after that, honestly.

Justin Harris is now back at work legislating for the state of Arkansas. After a three month cooling off period, he apparently thought it would be a good idea to go back to representing the children of his state and passing laws to protect them. Plenty of Americans disagree and have started this petition to force his resignation. Please take a moment to sign it and pass it on.

Contrived Through Christ

The Regressive Party are not only bastardizing any intelligent discourse in our society, but the narrative surrounding understandings of our Constitution and the Bible. How far will we allow them to go? They have worked very hard to deny rights of others while demanding they are the ones being persecuted. When is some credible facet of our society going to shut this nonsense down? The Constitution has been interpreted to them as having given them rights to allow for discrimination based on their Bible. When thoughtful Americans counter their bullshit, these Christians (who make up the bulk of our population) determine that they, and their religion, are under attack. This assertion is being fed to them all day long in messages laced with fear and hate from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, their hundreds of presidential candidates, and, of course, the Fox cable channel with the word 'news' in its title. This belief in their own persecution is sincere. Its ridiculous. But it is sincere.

Presently the far right is demanding that the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Constitution be used to allow businesses (which, apparently, can have a religion?) to discriminate both in hiring/firing and in determining which citizens they want to serve. If that is the way we are meant to interpret ones freedom of religion, shouldn't there be a means of differentiating religious ideals?

The right has recently allowed for new translations of the Bible than those Americans had traditionally been raised to believe. Jesus, as well all know (or once knew, at least), wanted us to love and not judge one another. However, Regressive Christians are trying to pass laws so they can discriminate against those they pass judgments on. The old time Christians still believe that it is our duty to care for the sick and the poor but the Regressive Party Christians are fighting against allowing everyone to have access to healthcare and condemning the poor by using a misinterpreted line from Thessalonians to support it. These new Christians are also very anxious to start wars in the Middle East and many have said this was a means to "administer the wrath of God upon an unbelieving mankind." I remember having learned about Jesus being anti-violence and bringing on 'end times' was never given to me as an objective. Was my minister a quack?

How is the law meant to differentiate which interpretations of Christianity are right? Translations are, quite obviously, subjective. Do we need for the Supreme Court to have a mandate to tell us exactly which passages in the Bible can negate which of our laws? We will then need to identify each religion, each of their sects and each of the laws that their followers are allowed to ignore. Does everyone need to carry an identification card to show the police that they are absolved from arrest and prosecution? It seems like a lot of work to allow people to break laws we would otherwise be bound by.

The Regressives use the Old Testament to support a lot of their beliefs. Would we need to pass laws to support both Testaments? The Old Testament supports acts of extreme violence and violate many laws we presently have to follow. Should adultery be illegal? Would it be okay if someone killed a cheating spouse? Will everyone currently in prison for this offense be released if they are Christians? If a teenager is caught masturbating by his/her parents who believe it is a sin, can they legally stone their children? The Old Testament said that if an engaged woman was raped she would have to be put to death. Should her fiancé be allowed to go through with that if his particular sect of Christianity supports these values? (Of course, we would first have to determine if it was a 'legitimate rape')

When we open ourselves up to defining our rights based on something completely subjective, we are asking for trouble. Recently a Satanist group petitioned the courts to overrule a law imposing a waiting period for an abortion because it was against their religion. I don't know what their religious tenets are, but they are Americans. And they are afforded the same religious freedoms as the rest of us, right?

As much as the entire conversation in society is disturbing and shows the tragic regression of our citizenry, it is curious to me that it is even a part of our discourse. How does it get to be a legitimate discussion when it was created by the Regressive Party who, to their own definition, support the Constitution without exception? No exceptions would mean that this interpretation of their right to religion is impeding on other people's freedoms. Although they don't seem to be aware of it, we have more than two Amendments to the Constitution.

Those on the right who are demanding their religious freedoms only like to believe that those freedoms are inherent to Christianity, but many other religions exist. The fears that have been instilled in those in the GOP about Islam have offered them a very dark vision of its teachings and they are being conditioned to believe that all Muslims are terrorists. These zealots want to dismiss every question posed to them about the tenets of other religions, but if they sincerely believe that Islam is the boogey man they have been told about, do they want to allow the 'Sharia Law' they've heard so much about practiced in America? Because that is what it means to define rights in our Constitutional democracy.

The Regressive Party does so many things to create and perpetuate hate, but the thing that is most painful is their misuse of the Bible. They are blasphemous when repeating their newly interpreted words of God. I don't know how America can abide this and allow so many GOP hopefuls to run for the Presidency without being publicly condemned daily for furthering this hateful narrative.

Maybe somehow, before we have to go any deeper into this completely irrational discussion, we could have some intelligent discourse in America where a respected leader can explain to these 'patriots' what it means to actually be an American and take that privilege seriously. We are all afforded the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If, in pursuing happiness, you are hyper-focused on taking away the liberties of others, you are not just a shitty American, but you are not a Christian.

Mind Fuckers

The Tea Party is such a puzzle to me. I have always been curious about psychology and sociology. I want to know why people do the things they do. It has always been something that has both fascinated and tortured me. As a child my mind could not accept that slavery was a thing. I couldn't understand how people could steal other human beings and force them to leave their families and their homes and work and be abused and actually be owned by other people. I could not understand it. Likewise, when I learned about the Holocaust, I pretty much lost my shit. I think they are equally tragic. They both were attempts at a decimation of a large group of people. Both were exploited as a workforce for no pay. And both groups ended up being murdered in the most horrific means imaginable and their plights were both ignored for far too long by people who should have done right as human beings.

I think the Holocaust was more painful for me because its introduction to me was by video. I literally saw naked, skin and bone dead bodies in a pile being bulldozered into a huge pit. After that, there were many videos and lessons to come. I remember when we read the Diary of Anne Frank I could not get past the fact that it was one family. Of the millions of families who were safe in these countries during this time, so few did anything to help their friends and neighbors. I was bound to learn how that could happen. I needed an answer that would explain to me how millions of people could be so easily led into a situation like the one they were in and not have an uprising or do anything to help.

There are some things that end up being awful but are morally questionable at first where people could not see what was coming. This was not one of them. The beginnings of the involvement of the citizens was called The Night of the Broken Glass. I believe it was 94 or 96 Jews were killed that night. The citizenry was encouraged to go out in the streets and destroy the synagogues and homes and businesses of the Jews and beat them. AND THEY DID IT. Many tens of thousands of Jews were then deported to the concentration camps.

The more I researched the more I was sickened and disgusted with humanity. I believe that most people are born with a strong understanding of the difference between right and wrong. There are a handful of people that probably come broken or are led there, but most know what is right. The fact that an entire nation (and eventually many more nations) went along with years of this atrocity and did nothing about it was absolutely unfathomable.

When I learned about Goebbels, I was fascinated. And mortified. I am sure that propaganda has been used on some level in history in many places for many reasons. But I think he found the exact recipe to actually get all of the people to go along with it. And he patiently took the time to build it so the messages would seep in and become a part of someone's permanent mindset. He studied people and their weaknesses. He understood the ways to use fear and German Exceptionalism and intimidation. He used all means of media available to him at the time: TV, radio, newspapers and even the movies people watched. He carefully crafted the information that the citizens were receiving and even things that the students were being taught in schools. He literally created a citizenry that believed in what they were doing, regardless of the fact that it was against every hint of morality they had been born with.

Those carefully crafted propaganda ploys have been studied and implemented ever since the techniques were mastered in the 30s and 40s. At present, a small faction of the American population is under a similar misconception by those who are leading them. They claim to be demanding changes in our country to make it better for its citizens and more like the Christian nation they seek, but they are being diverted from seeing the fact that everything they are seeking is in complete contradiction with the teachings of Jesus Christ. They hate the Muslims. They hate gays. They hate black "thugs." They hate poor people who need assistance.  Jesus was totally serious about that bit where no one should be judging others lest they be judged. What? Do they think that was a misprint? But, whatever. Jesus never hated anyone, by the way. Jesus would never demand that immigrants be forced to leave and return to a violent homeland. I'm just sure of it. Didn't he love all the little children of the world?  Or was that someone else? And I feel confident saying that Jesus would not encourage anyone to rally for gun rights. I'd bet he wouldn't like weapons at all.

I am not a Christian. I was confirmed in the Methodist Church when I was 13 but it was because I was a kid and that was what my family told me to do. I grew up and decided that none of the religions completely convinced me or spoke to me and I now identify as an Agnostic. I have genuine respect for Christians, though. True Christians, anyway. There are people of all faiths who sincerely do their best every day trying to follow the tenets of their religion to be the best person that they can be and honor those teachings. It is a lovely way to live and a nice guide, when necessary. I do not respect people who conflate the teachings to fit their own agendas and exploit the weak who cannot see the truth. There are many groups who do that overseas like Isis and Al Qaeda and Boko Haram. They have fuckered up their religion beyond recognition. The Tea Party has done the same with Christianity.

I am an empathetic person and I always aspire to understand people and help them when I can. I do not need for there to be a hell to want to be a good person. I want to be a part of a positive change in the world in helping people in need when I can, and accepting them when I cannot.

The sad truth is that some of us want to understand the weaknesses of others so we can reach them and help them. And some want to understand people so they can manipulate them and exploit their weaknesses.

You Know Shit About The Constitution

The Tea Party started out as a Libertarian movement which gained popularity during the election of 2008. The Libertarians have since lost any respect and sincerity it would have once been attributed, however, when they started inviting and embracing the evangelical Christians into the party. Many of the views of these two conservative groups are in complete contradiction when the Libertarians seek to demand personal liberties as defined by the Constitution and the evangelicals seek to have them defined by the Bible. No one has offered a legitimate answer to a platform which actually embraces or explains the juxtaposition of those views. None of the followers seem to have noticed or minded, though, because the leaders have been able to keep them active and distracted by ranting about nonsense to get them riled up. They had a black man to oppose on the last two Presidential tickets, you know. They really needed little else.

The entire movement became even more awkward to watch when the GOP at large realized that they were losing a lot of their constituency. They allowed the Tea Party to basically hijack their party and their platform for fear of losing their capacity for reelection. What had once been a nightmare of a neo-Conservative movement has now become a clusterfuck of ideas where no one can really affirm a stance on anything without second guessing themselves. No wonder nothing is getting accomplished in DC.

The Tea Party Platform states "The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land and must be adhered to without exception at all levels of government. This includes the Bill of Rights and other Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and their provisions designed to protect states’ rights and individual liberties."

Any Tea Party fanatic will tell you that their only objective is loyalty to the Constitution and upholding the many rights attributed therein. That seems like a pretty noble ideal, no? LOL. No. They don't actually know anything about the Constitution. They are only really interested in that one right (you know the one) and their very narrow interpretations of the rest of the Amendments which speak to their selfish agenda.

Wait, now that's not fair of me. They do also believe in the 1st Amendment. They are really big on that freedom of religion. They will tell Muslims to leave the country, however. But they really do believe in the right to their religion. Well that's nice.

They also believe in freedom of speech. Whenever you call them out for being a racist, they will either counter by offering their strongest debate tactic, being the "nu'huh you are" defense, or they will remind you that they have a freedom of speech. However, even though the courts have defined flag burning as freedom of speech, if you tell that to a Tea Partier, they will simply tell you that is not true.

Of course, they believe in the right to a free press. They are very concerned about the bias in todays media and want them to be more accountable for the information they disseminate to Americans. We are all being inundated with a liberal bias in our news stories and the Tea Party are trying to let the rest of us understand how foolish we are for listening to it. They know what's really going on, though. They have a cable television channel with the word "news" in it where everything reported there seems to be legitimate.

The freedom to assemble is also a very big deal for them. Recently Tea Partiers used that right to march into the Texas Statehouse office of a Democratic Representative to intimidate him for his opposition to an open-carry proposal. They demanded that he was a tyrant to the Constitution and refused to leave his office. It seems whenever other groups want to use their right to assemble, like a protest against Wall Street or the lost lives of unarmed young black men, those in the Tea Party are so disgusted with that use of the freedom, that they will gather together and actually protest the protesters. As a rational human being, I have no means of explaining that mentality in a thoughtful manner.

Their platform actually states that their mission is to uphold and defend the Constitution. They would really rather get rid of the 14th altogether, though. Not only does it completely belie their constant insistence for states rites in Constitutional matters, but it saves the children of immigrants from being deported. It has also graciously been used to allow rights to those so maligned by the Tea Baggers like gays and immigrants. And let us not forget, it also allows a woman to have an abortion. Absolutely everyone is protected by the 14th. It states, "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States ... nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Thankfully, because they don't actually spend time reading or comprehending the Constitution, their objections to all rights supported by the 14th Amendment due to morality have a little back up and are also negated by the 9th Amendment which literally states that our rights, "shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." This, for any Tea Baggers who have come across this essay, means you cannot use other rights granted to you as an excuse to take away rights of others. But, whatever, I'm sure Indiana isn't bound by the Constitution.

The Constitution is the document that defines taxing our citizenry to ensure the welfare of all. Thus, Social Security and Public Assistance are both guaranteed by the Constitution, as well. I suppose the Tea Party is very concerned about their maintenance as their platform says the Constitution must be upheld without exception. Its curious, but some of the biggest issues of the entire party platform are focused on getting rid of the IRS, the body that collects those taxes, and both Social Security and Public Assistance. They tell people that they shouldn't have to pay for people on welfare or social security. That should be the responsibility of the people. (Because, you know, they are such a selfless and generous bunch, they will make sure that those in need are taken care of).

The Tea Baggers don't really know what they support. They like the bits and pieces that they have a limited understanding of and their narrow interpretations of what each defines, devoid of any Amendments or Supreme Court rulings which have followed regarding that Amendment. They also like the radical mistranslations that the party leaders have offered them. However, they don't actually know what is in the Constitution. If they did, they would probably have to either create another party or demand that their party have a much different approach to defining their rights. Maybe they should focus more of their time rewriting the Constitution? Its a long road to get to change it from Congress, but its sure worth a try. Of course, they could also keep counting on the Supreme Court to hear ridiculous cases in hopes that they will continue to deny all dignity and humanity whenever possible and come up with some brand new interpretations of what America is meant to be. Let us hope they can control themselves to keep her from going over a cliff. Because if left to the Tea Baggers, those rights would most certainly, only be afforded to those who are Christian, heterosexual, white, men.

The truth is, it doesn't matter that they don't have any idea what they're rallying against or for. The people who founded and funded (Koch, Americans for Prosperity) the party from the beginning would never want them to understand why the people they support need to be elected or what their true ambitions are. And how glorious if you are a Koch brother ... it would never occur to a Tea Partier to ask.

Damn... Must be nice to be a billionaire, huh?

Jesus Will Judge Choice

The tenets of Christianity have changed countless times throughout history. The Bible has needed to have new translations in order to support popular beliefs of the day, often in an attempt to keep society in 'order.'  Any historian, who has no need to support a single idea, could go back and research myriad teachings and canons to document how and when the Church changed its stance on them. They can often define the need for those changes by the societal or political climate of the times.

Early Christians into the fifth century believed the definition of ensoulment (the time that the soul enters the body) offered by Aristotle's theory of epigenesis. His theory was about the sequence of growth for living things, which also assumed the souls entry, coincidentally, was not at the time of conception. Centuries of Christians believing this theory would belie any insistence that the Church had a position on the time of ensoulment from the time of Christ or his disciples (those who gave us the teachings of the New Testament). In fact, the reason the Church later denied Aristotle's definition of ensoulment was because it negated the origin of life they had been teaching. In the fourth century St. Gregory of Nyssa proclaimed the soul was implanted at conception. Shortly thereafter, the Church decided that the soul only entered once a fetus was formed. In the 12th century, Catholic law reversed back to Aristotle's theory and declared "He is not a murderer who brings about abortion before the soul is in the body." This belief was maintained until the 17th century.

(It is irrelevant to the context, but interesting to note: Aristotle's complete theory of epigenesis was dismissed for centuries until, in the 18th century, biology became a popular scientific endeavor and its study created an eventual acceptance of indisputable fact regarding the growth of living things).

The reason the anti-choice supporters demand that life begins at conception is because otherwise their entire premise of the Bible denouncing abortion becomes illegitimate. The Bible never speaks about abortion. It mentions the sanctity of life, which so many anti-choice supporters seem quite happy to dismiss, but it does not define the moment that life begins. If an embryo or fetus has no soul, the Bible doesn't support their claims.  The idea changed as it became necessary to support whatever the teachings of the time needed them to say.

It is wonderful to have an outline for your life and goals to work toward. There is nothing wrong, in my mind, with using the teachings of the Bible for that guide. But to insist that things are written which clearly are not, is allowing you to miss out on the things that clearly are written in there. For instance, Jesus told you to love everyone. And Jesus told you not to judge others. I'd bet Jesus would rather you work on yourself with the limited time you have here instead of trying so desperately to redefine his message to fit your needs.



#Aristotle #ProChoice #AntiChoice #Abortion #Christian #Christianity #Church

American Jihadi

Originally Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Updated Saturday, July 25, 2015

The Jihad movement employs the same tactics as far right-wing Christians to collect their followers. They fucker up the religious message and offer people who want something to hate and someone to be superior to a place to point their rage. They are easy to convince because they are simple minded. I am not saying that to be mean, I believe it to be true. A thoughtful, intelligent person would neither require a fabricated group to hate, nor allow the tenets of their belief system to be altered so profoundly. So far, the American faction has been much more successful in killing Americans than those from the Middle East. Those joining Isis, al-Qaeda and the like are also convinced to kill people and then even and themselves. The leaders of both movements denounce education. I think it's pretty evident why.

Conservative Values, apparently?

This week we were offered another opportunity to reflect on those terrorists who are bred in America by the hate coming from the far right. And I promise this will end up being another opportunity missed. For whatever reason we do not want to know about what we, as Americans, create and tolerate. Our tolerance is the reason for its continuation and our tolerance of the media which neglects to inform us is the reason so few know about these events. This video below of Cenk Uygur from the Young Turks lists several I didn't even know about. If we don't inform ourselves and demand that the rest of us all do the same, we allow this environment to permeate and grow. It really is up to us.