Some Updates

Hello dear readers!

As you may have noticed, things have been a little quiet here on the blog. This has largely been due to husband being out of town for a few days at a time over the course of these past two weeks. His job sent him to a small town near the US-Mexico border and with him not home to watch the baby while I cook and clean, I just haven't had the time or energy to write. One good thing about his business trip is that my husband got to stay in a historic hotel. A friend recommended the restaurant in the hotel's lobby, which my husband ate at and approved of mightily. It's said to be haunted (the front desk lady told my husband that an entity from the hotel followed her home and tried to strangle her in her sleep, and the colleague my husband was rooming with in the hotel room woke up in the middle of the night screaming from a terrifying nightmare. Coincidence? You decide...), but my husband hasn't seen or felt anything out of the ordinary. His demon-meter is fine tuned, but he's also well protected by the Lord.

Boo!

I also have an update on the car. It appears that the bothersome electrical short which caused spluttering upon acceleration and prevented us from going up our friend's very steep driveway for fear of burning through yet another set of wires when going over to visit her, has finally been fixed! My husband, while diligently looking over the wires in both the engine and the dash, discovered where the insulation had worn off in some wires leading to the wiper blades. He fixed it and the car seemed to behave for a few days, even with him being a leadfoot. A few days ago, he went to visit our friend on the hill and made it up her beastly driveway with no splutter or fried wires. I still get nervous going up her driveway, but now I don't have to walk up it anymore.


Also of note, I've been getting to exercise my cooking skills lately. I made some more pita breads, this time using whole wheat flour, and I rolled them to be very thin, just like how my hubby likes them. They weren't fluffy like what I'm accustomed to seeing with pita bread, and were actually quite dense. I wonder if this is characteristic of whole wheat flour, or if I didn't let the dough rise enough, but I'll try again sometime soon. Also, after collecting the last of the harvest from our tomato garden (the damn things went absolutely gangbusters!), I made homemade tomato sauce from the overripe and sun-scarred tomatoes in the colander my hubby was using to hold them. I also used plenty of fresh basil from the garden (another plant that has a tendency to go gangbusters out here), but I used too much initially and had to take out most of the leaves once the sauce had cooked down. Once it was cool enough, I jarred the sauce up and put it in the freezer. It'll make for excellent pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce once I get around to making these respective dishes.

We knew this was inevitable. Pennywise Trump finally got his coronation and shattered the GOP while doing it

Finally, if anyone cares to know, I have been keeping up with the dumpster fire known as the Republican National Convention. Like most apolitical people, I've been kicking back with my beer and popcorn, watching the shitshow rage on. I despise the walking ballsack called Ted Cruz for a whole host of reasons, but I will give him due credit for doing the equivalent of defiantly sticking his middle finger right in front of the GOP's face at the Donald's coronation. But then again, I've always subscribed to the idea that Donald Trump isn't in it to win the presidency, he's running as a troll Republican to destroy the GOP and clear the way for Hillary. I don't support Hillary for a whole host of reasons, but she's much more qualified to run this country than Trump. Besides, if she's elected, then we won't have to flee to Mexico to escape the coming hell that is a Republican presidency. Bernie did what he was supposed to do and pulled her to the left.

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A Tale of Two Churches

Hello dear readers. I hope your Sunday has been going well.

While I'd planned on going to our Latin Mass church today, we overslept (it's a little hard to wake up early and get to church when Mass is at 10AM) and went to our favorite Carmelite church instead. In a way, I'm glad we went there instead of our Latin Mass church. For one, there was a class that had been preparing for First Communion and today they got to participate in the Sacrament for the first time. Due to the occasion, the parking lot was overflowing and we had to park in the lot of an auto shop across the street and run through the rain to get inside and find a seat. It was lovely to see all the boys and girls wearing their white suits and fancy dresses to mark their first step towards full participation in the Church. It makes me look forward to when my daughter will be old enough to have her First Communion too. If I can't afford to buy her a fancy white dress for her First Communion, then I will compromise by getting her the nicest white dress I can afford and giving her lots of mendhi instead.

Our homeboy padre distributes First Communion

After the Mass, our homeboy padre then invested the First Communion kids with their Brown Scapular. This is a common Catholic tradition that originated from the Carmelites in which a necklace of brown string with small brown flaps made from a Carmelite wool habit is ritually placed on someone's neck. It stems from a vision in which the Virgin Mary gave the scapular to San Juan de la Cruz with the instruction that anyone who wears it (and says the proscribed prayers daily) until death will not burn in hell (the wearer must also make a serious attempt to live their life in accordance with the Church's teachings and participate in the Sacraments as well). Contrary to what some might think, a Brown Scapular is not a good luck charm. As our homeboy padre instructed us in one of his sermons, the Brown Scapular is more like an insurance policy-if you want to be protected from something bad (eternal damnation), you have to make your monthly (daily) payments.

Our homeboy padre invests the Brown Scapular on the First Communion recipients

Unfortunately, these were the only two clear images I could get of the ceremony. Every time I turned the flash off, the pictures would come out horribly blurry, no matter how still I held the camera

Once we got home and had lunch, I turned on my computer to relax and see what was new in the world while the baby took her nap. Just last night, I'd visited a "Traditional" Catholic website (which I refuse to link to and give them more traffic than they already get) and read their predictable freakout reaction to Pope Francis' latest papal work, Amoris Laetitia. Normally, I don't bother commenting on this particular website because I feel my IQ lower by a few points every time I visit (they occasionally post some good stuff, but for every one good article there are one hundred articles of pure paleo-conservative puddery. Also, playing the game "find the logical fallacies" with every article I read really makes me question the intelligence of their writers ), but I felt compelled to respond because the writer included a video of a South Indian Jesuit priest who dances bharatanatyam as part of his ministry, calling his performance feminine and heretical. As someone who is a longtime lover of India and has diligently, independently studied its many cultures, traditions, and religions over the last thirteen years, I pointed out to the writer what the priest was doing, some background on the dance, and that the priest had simply modified a traditional South Indian religious temple dance to be a tool of evangelizing Catholicism. India, as the priest pointed out in the video, has a long established tradition of dance as a part of worship unlike in the West where dance is viewed more or less as a secular activity. Needless to say, my attempt at educating the readers about something outside of the realm of the White Anglo-Saxon/northern Europe/'Murica did not go over well. So much for instructing the ignorant...

This exchange served to highlight something that has bugged me ever since my hubby and I reestablished regular attendance at the Latin Mass church. I've become more and more aware of an attitude among both the parishioners attending the church and Traditional Latin Mass-promoting writers/websites online who view the Latin Mass as an exclusive club. If you belong to a certain socio-economic strata (middle/upper-class), live in the "right" areas (the suburbs or suburban areas within city limits) and have the "right" political views (right-wing conservative/fascist), then you are welcome to come. In other words, if you are a Catholic WASP, you are preferred company and all Others need not darken the door. There also appears to be a racial element to this elitism, as anyone (or anything) that is not western European or sufficiently "White" is bad. It's not just the example of the bharatanatyam-dancing Jesuit, but closer to home, our Latin Mass parish is overwhelmingly ethnically White. There are some Mexicans and a Chinese, but I have observed that just about all of them are married to White families and have adopted the bourgeois attitudes that come with being a middle-class White person in America. The one old-school Mexican is relegated to being the usher because he's as brown as the parish will tolerate; they have him collecting the money and making sure the door to the kiddie ghetto isn't locked during Mass.

Wise words from Matthew. Pic found here

This kind of pharisaic attitude bugs the shit out of me because I love the Latin Mass. I wish it were made more available so that others like my pious Mexican neighbors and friends might know and benefit from the graces that come from this particular aspect of the Body of Christ. But, with assholes like the Latin Mass outfits I've encountered in life and online, I can see why many Catholics never hear of the Latin Mass and if they do, they perceive it as being snobby or otherwise unavailable to them. I'm not convinced, but I'm seriously beginning to wonder if the Latin Mass is being used as a front for unsavory elements to invade and split the Church. My husband believes it to be so, based on an encounter he had about seven years ago.

My hubby told me of a man he met in late 2008 who attended the 8AM morning Mass at the Latin Mass church every day. Eventually, this man quit coming to the Latin Mass church and at his last attendance, he told my husband that this church was full of freemasons. My husband didn't believe this man and continued to attend Mass at the Latin Mass church for a few more years until I came into his life. Now, he is sure the man he met all those years ago was right. My husband had his suspicions, but it took our marriage to blow the cover on everything. Our marriage, exile and return, as well as the presidential elections have combined and created a perfect storm to unveil something sinister lurking at the Latin Mass church where we first met and baptized our child. The inmates have, quite literally, taken over the asylum and driven away all but a few who have intelligence and aren't barking fascists.

So now, to save our souls and sanity, we must step back from the Latin Mass church once more. We will still continue to visit, but not as often as we did before. We will continue to attend our Carmelite church as per our usual arrangement, but now we've added the church where my hubby and I got married to our rotation. Our daughter's godmother goes there, Mass is at a reasonable time, and the priest who married us is the rector. It's painful to have to break up again with the Latin Mass church, but a big part of belonging to a church is what kind of people you go to church with. It's one thing to go to Mass, but there is a major social aspect to being a part of a parish. I could never understand why people just say "I'm just here for Mass" because by not getting to know who is a part of your faith community, you're missing out on a crucial part of being Catholic! It's good to be around people who can help you to grow in faith and provide support when needed.

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Some Thoughts on the Death of Tony Scalia

Happy Sunday, dear readers! I hope you and your loved ones had a wonderful Valentine's Day.

The infamous justice. Pic found here

As I'm sure you're all well aware by now, at least if you live here in the US, the illustrious Supreme Court justice Antonin "Tony" Scalia died yesterday at the age of 79. Widely revered as a conservative icon, his death from natural causes (or a heart attack, depending on which news source you're reading) at a hunting resort in rural west Texas could not come at a more polarizing time. This being an election year, the Republicans are gonna stall and fuck around with anyone Obama nominates to succeed the late justice until after the elections are done, at which point a successor may or may not be appointed at all.

I admit, I was a little surprised to hear of Scalia's passing. Growing up in a very Republican family, Scalia was my favorite Supreme Court justice. I admired his judicial ability to interpret the Constitution in an "originalist" fashion, his old-school Catholicism which he wore proudly on his sleeve, and his defense of conservative principles. As I got older, I moved away from the conservative political sphere because it became too consuming and was beginning to take a toll on my sanity. Meeting my husband had a lot to do with this shift in worldview, as my husband's pious Catholicism put him at odds with much of the protestant-based conservative positions. As such, my admiration of Scalia waned. I didn't hate the man, but I didn't care for his fascist politics or the government he served. I didn't appreciate his rulings against Obamacare because it was only through Obamacare that my husband and I were able to afford quality health insurance or on issues of civil rights. I strongly disagreed with his view of the death penalty because I believe one cannot call themselves "pro life" and be in support of the death penalty which takes the lives of others, as well as his many refusals to recuse himself from cases where he had a personal connection to one of the parties or other conflicts of interest. I agreed with his rulings against abortion and gay marriage because I myself happen to agree with those views, but agreeing with this asshole on two issues does not make us allies. It didn't matter if he called himself a "traditional" Catholic and went to daily Mass every morning at a TLM church or that his son became a Latin Mass priest. That's all fine and dandy, but the fact that he so ardently adhered to the Constitution, a document rooted in European freemasonry, made him an insincere believer at best and a hypocrite at worst. Numerous popes, Pope Leo XIII in particular, have condemned freemasonry and Americanism for being the heresies that they are. It's amazing how many so-called "traditional" Catholics neglect to notice this little inconvenient detail as they stumble over themselves to lick the shoes of the Republican Party...

A similarly-styled hat doeth not a martyr make, Your Honor. Pic found here

Against my better judgment, I cruised through the comment sections of a number of Catholic websites I follow on Facebook. Many of these websites I'm sad to say, given the unholy alliance between the Republican Party and no small number of influential Catholics, are quite right wing. Thousands of commentators were posting their messages of mourning for the death of Tony Scalia and calling for the mercy of God on his departed soul, as well as prophesying the impending doom of America that will happen in the wake of his death. Some people were even calling for the canonization of Tony Scalia as though he were a latter-day St. Thomas More! Needless to say, a comment I left on one of those sites reminding people that Antonin Scalia has a lot to answer for in the next life did not go over well. Don't forget, St. Thomas More served as prime minister to a government headed by a duly-appointed monarch and was put to death for refusing to recognize his king as his pope. Unlike Tony Scalia, St. Thomas More did not serve and defend a government of freemasons, for doing so would have made him anathema.

Despite the many disagreements I had with Tony Scalia and his politics and the justified temptation I feel to do so, I won't dance on his grave. To be put in a position of power and influence is a heavy cross to bear because your example can either lead people to salvation or straight down the road to hell. I really do hope in those last moments of life that the Last Rites given to Tony Scalia at least washed him enough to get him to Purgatory. Also, in spite of myself, I did say a few prayers for the fool during church today. God does not will the death of sinners, no matter how rotten they may be. It's not a bad idea to pray for him because we all will have alot to answer for at the end of our earthly lives, him included.

Giving God conniptions on the Heavenly Twitter feed. Pic found here

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The Republican Debate, Round 4

With great reluctance, I watched the shitshow known as the Republican debate. It's been their umpteenth debate this year, which is appropriate cuz they have to weed out the worst clowns of the bunch. I loaded up my browser window to the Fox Business website, poured myself a tall frosty glass of beer, and sat down to watch.

Republicans, always lurking, ready to steal your soul

As I expected, it was a shitshow. The moderators did as good a job as Fox anchors could, bringing up issues on the economy. Trump the Chump was his feisty New York self and Ted Cruz had no idea what he was talking about. Rubio was his usual dumb-fuck self, and Kasich was the best sounding one on the stage, even beating out Ben Carson who should have stuck to the operating room, not a political stage. Everyone talked, but no one had any answers-just like Republicans are wont to do.

Why did I torture myself with this clown cavalcade? Mostly to stay informed of the other side. If you don't know your enemy, you can't fight them effectively. Plus, I bought a fresh bottle of Captain Morgan 100-proof rum for my birthday tomorrow. I needed to break it in with a shot, in addition to my usual beer.

Good night everyone! See you all tomorrow

The Republican Debate, Round 3

In what was a fortuitous bit of programming and availability, I was unable to watch the shit show known as the Republican debate. My liver rejoiced at this bit of news, since the beer stayed in the fridge and my trusty mug stayed in the freezer.

Pennywise the Donald, my official image for anything having to do with Republicans this election season

In a classic display of capitalist hubris, CNBC, the network tasked with airing the clown show would not carry a live stream of the debate for anyone who didn't have a paying TV package. Upon reading this, I breathed a sigh of relief and loaded the ESPN radio browser so that I could listen to the World Series. While I am a White Sox fan and the Royals are our division rivals, I hate everything from New York with a passion-especially their sports teams! Also, with the exception of the chaotic year of 2012, I have not missed a World Series since 2003 and plan to keep that tradition going for as long as possible.

Go Royals! 

The Democrat Debate

Happy Tuesday, dear readers.

Like thousands of other households across the US, I loaded up my browser window to CNN and watched the Democrat debate tonight. Unlike the previous Republican ones, I was actually looking forward to this debate. The beer stayed in the fridge and my trusty mug rested comfortably in the freezer for another time.

#FeeltheBern. Pic found here

I must say, compared with the nutters in the Republican party, the Democrats have kept their sanity mostly* intact. Hillary handled herself well and Bernie did a great job keeping the working class on the subject. Lincoln Chafee, a candidate I didn't even know was running, was soft but his answer on National Security was right in line (a warrant is required for any communications tapping). The most interesting overlooked candidate was Martin O'Malley, the former governor of Maryland and Celtic rock star. Based on his performance, I think he'd be a decent Secretary of State. Jim Webb, the final candidate on the stage, is just a Republican infitrator.

As we watched the debate on my computer, my husband remarked that we're looking at Hillary's cabinet. She'll be the inevitable nominee, with Bernie as her veep. As for the rest of the candidates on the stage, she'll find other places for them in her cabinet.

Normally, I stay as far away from politics as I can. But, my husband vowed that should another Republican come into power in 2016, we'll pack up our family and leave the US for good. He suffered terribly under the Bush regime and doesn't want to repeat that experience now that he has a family to care for. This prospect forces me to pay attention to who is doing what and saying what in power. I've learned not to put my faith in politicians, but this proud Pinko will cheer for Bernie Sanders. He's saying the right stuff and will swing Hillary ever so slightly left. As recently as 2008, I could never even IMAGINE myself saying something like that. But, 2012 was a pivotal year and it forced me to grow up and see the world for what it was.

Go Bernie! Give 'em hell!

*Mostly, being relative to the general American political atmosphere. Both the Republican and Democrat parties are heavily backed by big money corporations and Wall Street, and when the Democrats had the majority in both the House and Senate, they still couldn't get what needed to be done accomplished (Obamacare was probably the lone exception). American politics have gone very right since the 1980s, with the Democrats being less right wing than the openly fascist Republicans.

The Republican Debate, Round 2

Against my better judgement, I decided to watch the second Republican debate this evening. CNN had it streaming live on their website, so I poured myself a tall frosty glass of beer and loaded up the browser window.

This will be my official image for anything having to do with Republican presidential candidates

There was not enough beer in the world for me to deal with this debacle. This shitshow was an insult to anyone with a functioning brain cell in their head. It was all the usual blat-blat, right-wing fascist talking points with some invocations to St. Ronald Reagan (in whose presidential library this clown caravan was held). And even the ones like John Kasich and Chris Christie, who showed some tiny semblance of humanity (Kasich with Medicare and Christie with a slightly more comprehensive view of "pro-life") can't help but be overshadowed by the other turds on the stage. It just served to highlight their own sanctimonious hypocrisy.

I'm convinced that Donald Trump's whole deal with declaring himself a presidential candidate is just to troll the Republican Party. His campaign run will either publically tear down the facade on our plutocracy when Jeb Bush gets nominated, however the books have to be cooked to get that result; or send the Republican Party going down in flames when he does get nominated. My husband thinks that Trump is pulling a Ross Perot to split the vote and ensure whoever the Republican nominee is doesn't win.

Whatever the way, the end result is clear: say hello to President Hillary Clinton.

I've never been so glad that I shredded my Republican voter card when I returned to Arizona.

Slavery in the "Free Market"

Over the weekend, a friend of mine emailed me an article written by the friend of a friend, and it has gone viral among my network of friends. The article, written by an Israeli living in Jerusalem, is a well-written scathing critique about how the "free market" inevitably enslaves all those who participate in it in one form or another.

It's too long for me to post here, so I will link to it. But there was one quote that stood out from the whole piece.

We should take birth, life and death as they come, as was done by our ancestors. If we won’t stop this plague now, we shall see our children and grandchildren stripped for organ transplants to the rich bankers who want to live forever, if not bought and sold for the amusement of gay couples. We shall see children being manufactured and mass-produced for transplants, for war, for labour, as Aldous Huxley prophesied in his too-prescient book. God’s plans can be overridden only at a huge cost, a cost that will dwarf the override of Obama’s Iran Treaty.

This brought to mind a conversation my friend and I were having. My friend mentioned that while he was looking for a new job, he came across the website of a facility in Scottsdale (a wealthy suburb of Phoenix, AZ) that cryogenically froze dead people. That was not a typo-the same cryogenic freezing that you see in the movies is what this facility did (in the desert, no less!). I told him how weird I thought it was that people would want to freeze themselves in the hope of being resurrected in the future. Even with freezing to hold off the rot, you'd have to get a new brain, new nerves, basically be reprogrammed cuz if you were to be revived a millenium from now, you couldn't cope with what the world then would be like. My friend responded by saying that this sort of set up, where you could be wealthy enough to have yourself frozen and then have the failing parts changed out like a computer, is a recipe for damnation. Like fundamentalism, this utilitarian mentality spits in God's face because it tells Him "the souls You have created are not worthy of my acknowledgment! They aren't even worth life unless they have something materially to contribute."

Read the rest of this excellent piece here. It's well worth your time.

On Guns

On 8/26/15, in a style that rivaled something out of a Hollywood movie, a disgruntled former newscaster went postal and murdered two of his ex-coworkers before killing himself. Just after he'd shot and killed reporter Allison Parker and her camera man, Adam Ward, Vester Flanagan II faxed his manifesto to ABC news in New York, posted his confession on social media, and then turned the gun on himself.

Could easily be a scene from a movie or videogame if it wasn't real life. Image from here

As we enter the "why" phase that precedes any tragic event, one big issue looms like a pink-polka dot elephant in the room: guns.

This year has been a particularly bloody year for mass shootings in America. In May, a South Carolina cracker shot a bunch of people in a Black church in Charleston. Prior to that, there were a bunch of people shot in movie theaters. School shootings happened too. The list continues.

The common denominator in all these tragedies-individuals who have no business even dealing with weapons, getting a hold of a gun and using it to murder people.

Naturally, this brings up the topic of guns in America. As many know, America loves its guns. The Second Amendment of our Constitution protects individual gun ownership by calling for a "well-regulated militia", which isn't possible without gun ownership. At the state level, gun laws are variable and range from open carry (Arizona, Texas) to all but outlawed (Illinois).

With such patchwork state gun laws in existence, the safeguards that exist also vary widely from state to state as well. Here in Arizona, you can buy guns without having to undergo a background check (restricted to private sales and gun shows, while gun shops still require background checks), whereas in my home state of Illinois, the amount of paperwork and licensing requirements are so onerous that it's a pain in the ass to even bother acquiring a gun. Lobbying groups, like the notorious National Rifle Association, don't help matters by buying politicians and stoking fears of "liberals" taking away peoples guns for one end or another whenever the subject of gun control comes up.

'Murica!

I'm no "liberal" (in fact, I'm a Pinko/Magenta Catholic), but even I know not everyone should have a gun. Even if you arm the general population to the teeth, it's not going to stop mass shootings from happening.  We'll just wind up with a militarized society that's a powder keg waiting to explode in a hail of bullets and blood.

But I'm not against gun ownership. As many beefs as I have with America and the way my country is run, I realize that the right to own a firearm is one that not many other nations share. I just believe that before you own a gun, you should have to undergo at least some safety training and be subjected to a thorough background check before purchase. Some individuals should also have a psychiatric evaluation done in addition to the standard background check before being allowed to own a gun if there is something that pops up in the background check that warrants it. I'm in favor of reasonable safeguards. I don't like the idea of banning guns because they do serve useful purposes, like self-defense and hunting. Remember, a gun is an inanimate object; a human holding it is what makes it deadly.

Of course, changing the culture around guns from one of seeing *insert preferred Other (immigrants, Moslems, etc)* crawling out of the walls to one of rationality isn't easy. Guns are a hugely profitable industry, and one that is very well politically connected from the NRA to the military-industrial complex. These people get their rocks off from seeing more mass shootings happen cuz then they can increase profits off the tragedy (arming both sides means more money in their pockets!), rather than support modest changes that would help reduce the likelihood of guns winding up in the wrong hands.The Ammosexual Agenda, if you will.

Stay safe out there. And may the victims of America's gun culture find peace at last

On The Republican Debate

So the big story of the day was the clown show known as the Republican Presidential Primary Debate.

This picture pretty well summed it all up

I initially had not intended to listen to the debate, as listening to Republicans and rabid Randrian right wingers has a tendency to infuriate me. But then I figured "meh, why not". It'd be laughing material, despite the fury raising factors. Plus, my husband's tablet was handy and had the TuneIn radio app open. So I poured myself a tall, frosty glass of beer and set the app to the station carrying the debate.

I'd only listened to about 20 minutes of the debate before (perhaps fortuitously) the stream froze and hung up the tablet so bad that a reboot was needed to fix it. By the time I got the tablet booted back up, I couldn't bring myself to restart the stream. Besides, I knew where this carnival of fools was going.

Now that the shitshow is done for the night, I have two things to say based on what I heard during those 20 minutes I'll never get back. One: the Republicans have predictably shit themselves on TV in front of everyone and have pretty well handed Hillary the presidency. Two: thank God I live 2 hours away from Mexico. Border regions like mine are pretty well shielded from the chaos in DC.

Hello Mexico. I think we'll be getting to know each other pretty well over the course of the year...

On the Right

Having just returned to the world of blogging, I've had an opportunity to look at my past posts and see how I used to be. There is a most definite right-wing bent to my past posts.

My impression: What in the HELL was I thinking?!

The answer: I wasn't.

I grew up in a rabidly right-wing home, with family who treated Rush Limbaugh's words as Gospel and who never failed to malign anyone who was not conservative or who supported causes that were anything other than conservative ones. And even certain conservative causes, like the pro-life movement, were viewed with suspicion. Naturally, I fell right in step with such devotion. What reason did I have to think different?

Then while on hiatus from blogging, I did what most people never achieve in their lifetimes. I grew up.

And, in the process, I discovered how full of shit right wing America is. Xenophobia is one thing, disenfranchisement, military worship/warhawkism, and straight-up ignorance encouraged by festering Bible-thumping and apocalypse fantasies are other notable traits. But as if that wasn't enough, then came the insane claim that lowering taxes on the wealthy will magically produce jobs. I believed that lie until I began my working life a few months after I'd done the good deed and graduated from college with a degree. Despite having a degree, the only work I could find was a slave-level job in a call center, doing customer service for a major wireless provider.

A good Republican would say, "well, it's better than nothing! You need to work hard and find a better job or better yet, take a second job! Or, better yet, go back to school and get a degree that will earn you money!"

A person with a brain in their head says that there is something very wrong with this picture.

There is nothing like working in a dead-end industry like customer service to see just how bad capitalism, the rabid right with their insane cult-like devotion to Ayn Rand, Israel, and the super wealthy; and the castrated moderate right that calls itself left wing, have failed us. The best and brightest are maligned, while the mediocre and the conformist are held up as ideal; all the while singing in three-part harmony about how wonderful supply-side economics is and you better fucking support the troops!

The result has been a severe uptick in income inequality, more people turning to welfare and food stamps in order to survive, a spike in the cost of living, and two entire generations (mine and the one prior to mine) of working-age people who will never know what it was like to have job security and the income to sustain a middle-class existence.

But of course, nobody in the the government, both the rabidly right wing and the moderately right wing that characterize the Democrat party, will do a damn thing different. Their patrons stand to lose alot of money and influence if any of that should happen.

But now what about those poor people? You know, the ones who need food stamps and Section 8, and Medicaid? Fuck those leeches! CUT CUT CUT! If people die of starvation, who gives a shit-this is AMERICA where you don't need a handout from the government! You pull yourself up by the bootstraps and do it yourself!

By the way, unless you have a means of supporting yourself, it's a wee bit hard to pull yourself up by the bootstraps. Try it sometime.

The funny thing is, you look around Eastern Europe and Latin America, and you can clearly see where the politicians are bought and sold, where there's a tin-pot dictator calling the shots, where crony capitalists hijack the economy, where income inequality is extreme as all getout, where you're constantly under surveillance and the police act with impunity, and think "what a shithole that place is".

It's never occurred to you that we're right on par with those very shitholes you were observing. Perhaps even worse so because our media has done so well hiding what a plutocratic police state America has become.

I can see it right now. Someone from the right will read this post and go "this lazy, brainwashed liberal here is  bitter cuz she doesn't wanna work hard and would rather be a Communist!"

LOL. Communism is just the flip side of your beloved capitalism. One uses material goods for social control, the other reduces humanity to just a commodity to be bought and sold as needed. They both make material goods into god, treat economic activity as a mystical force, and assert itself as a religion (albeit a "secular" one).

I can also see said right winger go "if this communist here doesn't like Amurrika, she should leave".

A thought, I will concede, but a full-on revolt would be alot cheaper and involve less paperwork than moving internationally. Poverty has a way of keeping one tethered.

That, my friends, is why I shredded my Republican registration card and said to hell with you people. Now that I am free of the clutches of the right wing's idiot machine, I will not hesitate to speak out against the right for what they are-the REAL enemies of the state.

tamtam

Rules for Immigrants

If the leftist commies can have "Rules for Radicals" as their owners' manuel, then maybe Immigration and Customs should have "Rules for Immigrants" as their standard operating procedure.

What's in "Rules for Immigrants"? Well, just like its title implies, it contains some rules every immigrant coming into the United States must adhere to, should they choose to live here.

On culture:

First, the United States of America was founded, although not directly on the Bible itself, at least on biblical values. You do not have to believe as I believe to live here in my good graces, but you do have to abide by the biblical worldview governing ethical behavior, upon which all Western civilization, ultimately, is based.

The primary biblical value underlying all others is telling the truth. I don't know you personally or even which part of the world you are from, but if you think some sort of "holy deception" is permissible when filling out your paperwork, forget it.

As we see it, lying is lying, and frankly we don't care what your culture thinks. If you get caught breaking our laws or betraying our country, you're out of here. Period.

On social behaviors:

You cannot own people here. This includes domestic servants and family members. You cannot beat or mutilate your children. You cannot force, threaten, or sell them into arranged marriages. You cannot keep adult relatives from marrying the people they choose, getting jobs, or moving out of your house. You cannot hold your employees captive, beat or rape them, or refuse to pay agreed-upon wages. It took us 200 years to get rid of institutionalized slavery, and we are not about to reinstate it because one of your holy men thinks it's acceptable behavior.

You get only one wife. If that's not enough, it's called bigamy – and you would be subject to state laws regarding that particular felony. Some states also have laws against cohabitation, which is the legal definition of what you would be doing. Also, please note that the rest of us do not intend to support any surplus "spouses" with our tax money through entitlement programs.

On crime:

You cannot kill people here. Not your wife. Not your children. Not your grandchildren. Not people who question your honor or hurt your feelings. Not people who quit your religion. Not people of other faiths or ethnicities whom you regard as apes, pigs, monkeys, or dogs.

You alone are responsible for your actions. The devil does not "make" you do anything. If you get in trouble for punching your neighbor, it's because you're violent, not because you're poor. If you get caught cheating on your taxes, it's because you're a crook, not because the auditor hates you.

A woman's outfit or hairstyle does not "make" you rape her. Maybe your mommy never told you this, but keep your hands off other people. The vast majority of men in most cultures – America's included – manage this successfully all the time. So if you find yourself standing in front of a judge someday explaining that you just "couldn't" control yourself, don't be too surprised if he doesn't buy your story.

On politics:

You cannot take over our lawful institutions and subvert them to you own purposes. If you are a communist and want to overthrow our government, we don't want you. We have enough of our own, so try Cuba or China. If you are a Nazi sympathizer we don't want you either; a Middle Eastern country may be more to your liking anyway. If you are coming here to convert us to any ideology that abrogates our dignity or freedom, don't even get off the plane. We don't care what it says in your holy book; we are not here for you to colonize.

On jobs:

If your belief system requires a special place to bathe your feet or time off to pray at work, tell your employer before you hire on. If you are going to refuse to work next to a person of the opposite sex or refuse to perform some required function of the job, your interview is the time to make this plain. Come to think of it, before you leave your country of origin would be even better. It would also give you more time to find an employer willing to make special accommodations, not an easy sell in these times of strong competition and 10 percent unemployment. Just remember that U.S. companies are under no obligation to adapt to your newfound needs after hiring has taken place.

On language:

When you are here in America, you must learn to speak English. For most Americans, English is their primary language. It is also the primary language of government and business. Failure to learn English in the United States will result in confusion and cultural isolation. While it's ok to be fluent in languages other than English, remember that Americans are not obligated to learn to speak your language-especially if this is so that you don't have to speak theirs.

Pass this out to every immigrant that sets foot on these shores, and if they agree to these terms as specified above, they will be put on a waiting list for a visa. If they refuse to abide by these terms, then they won't be granted access to the United States.

Original article found on World Net Daily, "Rules for Living in my Country"

tamtam

He wants you 'hatemongers' silenced

uh-oh! bad news for bloggers like me!

He wants you 'hatemongers' silenced

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unconstitutional, YES!!! i mean, you can only squash dissent so much before it boils over. if the president and his goons take the ultimate step in "bumping off" the dissenters, god forbid, you can only take so many lives before people start getting smart and fighting back. you can't possibly kill every single person who disagrees with you! dissent, though irritable, should never be outlawed for it keeps us on our toes.

there's a saying my mom's people, the serbs, have. it goes: "we'll be back". after WWII, the communists drove the king and his supporters out of the country. homesick refugees said that one day, hopefully, they would return to their homeland-thus, "we'll be back" was born.

our day has come. we may be condemned and labeled as terrorists for our traditional conservative beliefs, and some individuals may pay the ultimate price for their beliefs, but in the end, we will win. the dream of freedom will never die.

since you leftists like communists so much, i'll leave you with a choice quote:

"you can kill 10 of my men for every 2 that i kill of yours. but even at these odds, you will lose and i will win"-ho chih minh

peace!

tamtam

Liberalism is a cult

this makes sense-why else would the members seem like loopy wackos?

Liberalism is a cult

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The defining issue of our time

this is it, ladies and germs! this is the final showdown!

The defining issue of our time

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who will win? stay tuned!

tamtam

Charity: Not in the Constitution

read it and weep. how far we have fallen from the intentions of the founding fathers!

Charity: Not in the Constitution

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Lockerbie bomber praised, Savage hated?

my favorite columnist ellis washington takes a jab at the british isles for their "compassionate" approach to the notorious lockerbie bomber abdulbaset al-megrahi, all the while scorning them for blacklisting the conservative michael savage.

he should have titled this post "it is indifference", after a quote by the late elie weisel.

Lockerbie bomber praised, Savage hated?

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it's getting harder and harder nowadays to be who you really are. if you're a conservative, you've been marked. i too have been scorned for my views by my peers, but then again...who says that change comes from a cookie cutter?

peace!

tamtam

Memo to CNN President Jon Klein

a commentary piece by joseph farah-editor and founder of my favorite news website WND. be sure to watch the video too.

Memo to CNN President Jon Klein

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tamtam

Symposium-Obama's universal death care

another fine commentary piece by ellis washington-this time in the form of a symposium, which socrates and other famous greek philosophers used to debate ideas and how well those ideas stood up to critical thought.

Symposium-Obama's universal death care

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my favorite line is at the end when socrates says:

"President Obama, you are so supremely enamored with your own abilities, your own words. Like a demigod, you think: if I speak it to the masses, it must be true. To believe that socialized medicine will improve the existentially best health care system in the world is indeed a big lie Goebbels would be envious of."

envious indeed.

tamtam

'Get out of war free' card

a thought-provoking commentary by vox day about obama's missing birth certificate. if obama continues to hide his real birth certificate, soldiers will be leaving the army in droves! then we're REALLY screwed!

'Get out of war free' card

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tamtam