A friend of mine sent this to me along with this message:
I'm sending this post from the Bill Maher show to you because as a gay activist/atheist I think it's the excessive mixing of the sacred and the secular in our civil laws that's preventing me and my gay/lesbian brothers and sisters from having our birthright as citizens of the USA being fully recognized.
From our first screaming moment out of our mothers' wombs we have been citizens, yet it's WE who have to make the special arrangements, if possible, to have our loved ones recognized as our legal heirs.
It's WE who have to be better, more deserving, and more knowledgeable about the laws we have to skirt in order to have productive lives.
And sadly many of us don't make it, having succumbed to the mental and physical beatings endured from the hate-filled fundies of the USA.
It's way past time for the 20% percent of us rationalists to speak out and vote accordingly AGAINST religious candidates.”
I think Bill Maher makes a lot of sense in what he says. I hope that I am not offending my religious friends, but I have to err on the side of Rationality.
I had a very odd thing happen on Thursday.I was diligently chopping away at my Bougainvillea Bush while waiting for the termite guy to come when I pricked my finger so I briefly went inside to get a band-aid. The thorns are about ½ to 1 inch long and very sharp.
When I was walking towards the front door to continue my dangerous task there was someone frantically knocking?I thought WOW that termite guy is really anxious, and timely which is a big deal in New Orleans these days.
Well it was not the termite guy, who never did show up mind you, but an old lady dressed in a house coat and slippers clutching a whimpering little lap dog. So I open the door which was not locked as I only planned a brief stay inside before going and finishing the cutting and picking up of the deadly bush.
She immediately starts yelling at me and pointing her finger in my chest.I am thinking what in the world is up with this old lady?So I ask her politely to stop yelling and pointing her finger: Just tell me what is wrong.
Apparently her dog decided that the best place in the whole world to do its business was on the pile of Bougainvillea bush pieces on the ground.While she was taking her dump a thorn on the bush poked her in the butt. (The dog, not the old lady)So anyway apparently there was a bit of blood on the dog’s posterior which she made me look at. She also made me look at the pile of branches with the little dog shit in the middle.
I am thinking out loud at this point and say, well ( I was trying not to laugh) I am really sorry your dog got poked , but what does that have to do with me?She responds that it is my fault for not picking up the branches and that she is going to make me pay the vet bill.
She then wanted my name and number.I’m like lady go away.I am not paying your vet bill and now I have to clean up your dog poop on top of the pile of branches.
She grabbed hold of my arm and said that I was a hateful person and a dog hater and she was going to report me to the SPCA too.
She finally went away.I have not heard from her lawyer or the SPCA.New Orleans is filled with eccentric people; I just don’t know why I have to keep on meeting them all.
Let me just pose one question, why would you let your dog go on a big pile of Bougainvillea thorns? It was not like it was a large, determined dog. She could have picked it up? I also thought that it was illegal to have a dog off a leash and let it poop in people's yards. Perhaps I am mistaken?
I understand the point the State Senator Ernie Chambers is trying to make; however, I think all he did for his cause was give Christian’s a laugh at his expense.
Perhaps there was a better way to go about it all? I really don’t know. As Jim Morrison would say:
“People are strange when you’re a stranger” or perhaps
“Time to live, time to lie, Time to laugh, time to die”
The Associated press story:
"A State legislator who filed a lawsuit against God has gotten something he might not have expected: a response. One of two court filings from "God" came Wednesday under otherworldly circumstances, according to John Friend, clerk of the Douglas County District Court in Omaha. "This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here — poof!" Friend said. Chambers, a self-proclaimed agnostic who often criticizes Christians, said his filing was triggered by a federal lawsuit he considers frivolous. He said he's trying to makes the point that anybody can sue anybody.
Not so, says "God." His response argues that the defendant is immune from some earthly laws and the court lacks jurisdiction.
It adds that blaming God for human oppression and suffering misses an important point.
"I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you," according to the response, as read by Friend.
There was no contact information on the filing, although St. Michael the Archangel is listed as a witness, Friend said. "
LIMA: Hundreds of villagers have fallen ill from mysterious gases that spewed from a crater after a meteorite landed in south-eastern Peru, but no radiation has been detected, officials say.
The BBC reported that 600 people required treatment after the object fell from space and that one of Peru's leading geologists, Honorio Campoblanco, had called on the authorities to stop people going near the crash site.
Wow I guess you have to really keep your questions quiet and polite if you attend lectures at Florida State.
I have to scratch my head and wonder why it took that many cops to suppress one unarmed student. The fact the student was arrested and the police went undisciplined for tasering him well – that does not seem right.
Whenever I even stand next to a cop the hair my arms stands on edge. Cops make me nervous as I think a lot of them are intimation freaks who will let loose and over react to even the most benign situation. I remember a friend and I recently got pulled over for a burned out brake light. The police took both of our driver’s licenses and ran them. I was sitting in the passenger side of the vehicle and when I went to hand the cop on my side of the car the registration and my license she yelled at me and told me to give it to the cop on the driver’s side of the car, who had asked for it first.
I thought that it was all a bit of an overreaction to a situation that should have just been: “Mam, your tail light is burnt out, get it fixed.” I would have replied, “Thank you Officer – I appreciate you telling me.” Instead my friend and I had to wait 20 minutes while they ran our licenses. When I tried to call work to say I was going to be late the cops told me to put the cell phone away. I had the feeling that if my friend or I had made any rapid moves they might have shot us. Maybe not, but that is how I felt.
They ran a pre – series option to watch the show through FOX, The Times Picayune: its site nola.com - Only for people who knew about NOLA.com which I guess is just us guys in NOLA.
As I missed watching on line and did not want to be jaded by what I knew were going to be negatives about the small things: where we eat and what we drink, I waited to watch it this evening.
Surprisingly, the accents were good. The “daddy’s plantation girl was very contrived within the setting of the show: the issue of the city 2 years later with her as an insider tying to buy into “black neighborhoods” is wrong and somewhat insulting: could it happen SURE but who would really be dumb enough to buy out the 9th ward and hire Black Water to orchestrate it? Hmmm maybe I should not go further with that plot line:)
What is happening here: is a city open and welcome to conventioneers and to tourists. We are all set with great hotels and wonderful shops. The French Quarter down through Magazine Street show cases that we are still very viable.
The main concern with K- Ville is that it does not show the viability just the anxiousness and destruction on the lead cop’s home and mental stability.
We are ready to roll, so don’t take K – Ville literally.
I give K -Ville a reluctant B- waiting to see what they will do next.
I also think they could have cast some:”hotter cops”. (The Pics I posted were way hotter than what they look like on the show) When the story line drags, hot cops make it up, and we are very much lacking in this area with K- Ville.
Take the fact that the Florida Coast is still coming back from Ivan in 2004 and the World Trade Centers have not been resurrected since 2001 and conclude, progress in this century still takes time.
New Orleans is a Unique and vital place: it is not just about the major port or the fact we infra structure so much like 40% of domestic oil. It is about the people, the culture and the love. To an extent I don’t think renovating certain public housing projects, so people have a place to live, work and feel good about being a New Orlenian is wrong.
What is wrong is that the media and shows like K-Ville make “literal TV oriented folks” not want to visit.
I understand if ya thought we were scummy before Katrina, you may feel happy and justified about the “god revenge that happened in 2005”, but we really don’t need you to visit if that is your thought.
We need people with insight, culture and money. We also just want to welcome open minded individuals who realize we are a major cultural Hub. Altanta has the airlines, Texas has the companies, but the sprall of no zoning.
New Orleans has 300 years of History. We need more companies like Shell to support us and more than anything, we need people who do not stereo type, but just want to give us a fair chance of survival and have a wonderful time while doing it.
In order to dispel the Mormon myth of “squeaky, geeky “ clean guys in white shirts and ties riding bikes The Church is coming out with quite an unique calendar; attempting to change the stereo type.
I was watching an MSN video and the female presenter made me laugh. As she was doing her interview with the Calendar guys, she kept blushing and inadvertently fanning herself.Her male counter kept laughing at her too.Her reaction made it irresistible to not go and find the YouTube video.
I only wish that I could find the MSN video again, as that was actually more amusing than the Youtube propaganda: though I must admit these guys are really HOT sizzlin’!
All right then:I am off to Salt Lake City to see what I need to do about converting!
"And I’m proud to be an American,where at least I know I’m free.And I wont forget the men who died,who gave that right to me. And I gladly stand up,next to you and defend her still today.‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,God bless the USA. "
I wonder about people who are so Proud to be Americans. The group of gene pool rejects that tortured this woman are all no doubt very Patriotic. A senseless disgusting crime that makes me along with the war in Iraq not proud to be an american. In fact let me say: not proud to be part of the human race.
Just because the victim was not white does not make this crime more heinous. If a white woman suffered the same torture: I would be equally appalled.
I say that, and I suppose I am lying, as if it was all about skin color, that does horrify me more. However, regardless of skin color, if this bunch of “____________” had done the same thing to a white woman they would be looking at 1o -15 years; as it is a black woman, they are looking at Life; it is going to be tried as a hate crime.
So fry them? I really don’t care, but I think if it had been my"white" daughter – I would want equal sanctions based on the crime; regardless of skin color.
What I am trying to convey is the following:
Hate crimes should not always be racially or sexual oriented or religiously based, as crime in the nature of an attack (on this scale) is HATE and HORRIFIC as defined by the assailants actions.
Regardless of skin color this bunch of inbred “ __________ “ place your own words, as I can not seem to find the words to manifest my thought – this group of repulsive humans must be eliminated from the gene pool now.
Dark or Light don’t make it right.
The Associated Press LOGAN, W.Va. --
A woman was sexually abused, beaten and humiliated while being held captive in a home for at least a week, sheriff's officials said Monday after making six arrests and calling the FBI to investigate it as a possible hate crime. Those arrested, including a mother and son and a mother and daughter, are white. The victim, a Charleston woman who was being treated at a hospital Monday, is black. "The things that were done to this woman are just indescribable," Logan County sheriff's Sgt. Sonya Porter said.
Deputies found the 23-year-old victim Saturday after going to the home in Big Creek, about 35 miles southwest of Charleston, to investigate an anonymous tip. One of the suspects, Frankie Brewster, was sitting on the front porch and told deputies she was alone, but moments later the victim limped toward the door, her arms outstretched, saying "help me," the sheriff's department said in a news release.
Besides being sexually assaulted, the victim was stabbed four times in the left leg and beaten, Porter said. Both of her eyes were black and blue. Deputies said the woman's wounds were inflicted at least a week ago.
During her capture, the victim was forced to eat rat and dog feces and drink from the toilet, according to the criminal complaint filed in magistrate court. The woman also was choked with a cable cord and her hair cut, it alleges. One of those arrested, Karen Burton, is accused of cutting the woman's ankle with a knife. She used the N-word in telling the woman she was victimized because she is black, according to the criminal complaint.
Deputies say the woman was also doused with hot water while being sexually assaulted. "We have called the feds," Chief Deputy V.K. Dingess with the Logan County Sheriff's Department said Monday. "They may pick this up as a hate crime."
A call seeking comment from the FBI was not immediately returned Monday. The six suspects were arrested Saturday and Sunday. Deputies were still trying to determine whether the victim knew her assailants and how she came to be at Brewster's home, Porter said.
Frankie Brewster, 49, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and giving false information during a felony investigation. Deputies said she was the woman on the porch.
Her son, Bobby R. Brewster, 24, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony. Burton, 46, of Chapmanville, is charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony.
Her daughter Alisha Burton, 23, of Chapmanville, and George A. Messer, 27, of Chapmanville, are charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery. Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, is charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding. All six were held Monday in lieu of $100,000 bond each, and all have asked for court-appointed public defenders.
How nasty are these people? - Let us execute and go forth. I am not even pro capital punishment, and I think they need full frontal lobotomies or death: am I the sick one here?
A must take course for all potential sales personnel.
A new refreshing approach to honest sales; I can not think of how many times at the gallery I have wanted to say: Just buy it for gods sake!!!!!!!!!!!!
The clients will prattled on, make you move the painting all around the gallery, turn the lights off, turn them on, take a picture of the piece, drink wine, eat all the cheese, drop cracker crumbs on the ground, use the bathroom and then buy nothing.
When I saw Ron Mueck’s sculptures they pretty much blew me away! The detail and the sheer dimension of his pieces, whether small or large, boggle my mind. When I see an artist like this it makes me wish I were a famous gallery owner with 20,000 sq ft in a Manhattan Loft gallery. I think it would help out the contemporary works of my current very talented artists enormously as well. Hey guys, please keep your fingers crossed that I win the lottery and we are on our way out of the Big Easy to the Big Apple!
