my friend Jobie, whom I lovingly call “Mr. Crankypants” made the point today that extremists on both sides of the political arena are destroying the country. Ok I may have oversimplified his point. But he DOES have a point.

Moderate voices are being completely drowned out by the sheer number of extremists on both sides who spend more time name calling and finger pointing than actually looking for solutions. And I can’t help but be angered by the less than subtle campaign by right wing extremists who are disguising their racism and, let’s face it, soreloserness (yes I know that’s not a word) in protests against health care reform and taxes.

Honestly, these people ought to be ashamed of themselves. While it is our right to protest for the things we believe are right, these people are embarrassing us and our country. And sadly, extremist members of our senate, a body of politicians at the highest level of government, are just as guilty of this charge as the people who stand outside the White House with posters depicting President Obama as a monkey. It is shameful, and it is time to stand up to it.

Jobie, you said that the moderate voice is being drowned out. What moderate voice? Please tell me what moderates are doing to combat this? Do I think responding in kind is the answer? No. And for those liberals who respond with name calling and such, stop it. You lower us to the level of those who are behaving shamefully. I do think that it is necessary to expose racism and bigotry for what it is however. And being moderate and sitting on the sidelines won’t do that. What is the phrase being used so often now? Your silence is your consent.

The extremists know what the moderates don’t want to acknowledge…that you can’t fight this craziness by keeping to the middle of the road. Should it be necessary to fight fire with fire? No. So what do we do? People like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck are self serving and publicity hungry and know how to whip people into a frenzy. They don’t do it for the virtue of any ideology they believe in, they do it for the ratings and the money and the fame. And they know how to work the crowd. They compare the President to Hitler, but use the same tactics Hitler did to convince Germans that the Jews were the source of their problems. They see people who are angry and scared …well why wouldn’t we be? The economy has fallen as fast as prices are rising, we are still embroiled in a war we can’t afford and are still in the throes of fear of terrorist attacks (kept alive by those who continually remind us about 9/11 instead of letting the country heal).  By appealing to people’s basest level, many have been convinced that the source of all their problems is the uppity black muslim (which he’s not) in the White House. The “pundits” (for lack of a better word) tend to leave out the part about how all of this was started by the Republican president who stole the office not once, but twice. And yes, he stole it.

People buy it because they are scared. You say the words Communist and Socialist and you set off a visceral emotional response. Often from people who don’t even know what communism and socialism are. But they are still kept in fear by the thought of being taken over by an ideology that killed and oppressed millions. It should be pointed out that the ideology itself didn’t kill and oppress. Alone as an ideal both are designed to create a Utopian society, something I can’t believe would be a bad thing. Unfortunately, the people in charge tend to corrupt the ideal and turn it into something that inspires fear. Is that relevant? It is if you don’t understand that you aren’t in danger from an ideal that asks all humans to take care of each other and treat each other as equals. Which may be the problem in a nutshell. Human nature being what it is, are we willing to be that altruistic?

What is most shameful is the reality that this is all an extremist republican tactic to keep us and the government so busy fighting this nonsense that nothing gets accomplished. Our President is kept distracted by a campaign of disinformation, defamation and downright lies. No governing gets done and the country and it’s people are the ones who end up being hurt the most by it. To prove what? Who is the loser here? We are.

The point is this. We need moderate voices. We need reasonable people to stand up and point out that this is nonsense and we are making a mockery of the United States of America. That we are making fools of ourselves. The question is, will anyone listen?

 I remember the day you were born.  Your mother said you looked like a tootsie roll in your swaddling blanket.  I was scared to death of you.  But I remember your first night home, your mother even more frightened of you than I was.  Your grandmother showed her how to hold you to her chest and hum to calm you down.  It was one of the most endearing things I had ever seen.  I remember how touched I was by it.

The first time I held you, I never wanted to let you go.  I hadn’t birthed you, but in a way I felt you were mine.  For the first few months I barely put you down.  I took you everywhere and showed you to everyone.  They all thought you were beautiful.  So did I.

I was there the first time you laughed.  You always woke up laughing.  And ….singing I guess you could call it.  I was there for your first step, your first tooth, your first word, your first sentence.  I taught you how to splash in the tub.  We danced, we played, we laughed.  I was “dad” but not.  I never wanted you to call me Aunt.

We grew up together, you and I.  I found a part of myself in you. 

Fifteen years of my life wasn’t asking a lot.  Not really.  I loved ever minute of it like I love you. 

But now, I am not part of you.  You have a family, and that is wonderful.  But, everytime you shut me out, my heart breaks a little more. 

I never gave birth to you, but I always felt like I was, at least for a little while, your mother.

Dear President Bush,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have learned a great deal from you and understand why you would propose and support a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. As you said “in the eyes of God marriage is based between a man a woman.” I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination… End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God’s Laws and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord – Lev.1:9. The problem is, my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2. clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this? Are there ‘degrees’ of abomination?

7. Lev.21:20 states that I may ! not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle- room here? 

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.

Bush Presidential Library

There’s a show on C-SPAN about presidential libraries. Here’re what the draft plans for the George W. Bush Library now call for:

The Alberto Gonzales Room – Where you can’t remember any of the exhibits.

The Hurricane Katrina Room – It’s still under construction.

The Texas Air National Guard Room – Where you don’t have to even show up.

The Walter Reed Hospital Room – Where they don’t let you in.

The Guantanamo Bay Room – Where they don’t let you out.

The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room – Nobody has been able to find it.

The War in Iraq Room – After you complete your first tour, they can force you to go back for your second and third and fourth and fifth tours.

The K-Street Project Gift Shop – Where you can buy an election, or, if no one cares, steal one.

The Men’s Room – Where you could meet a Republican Senator (or two).

To be fair, the President has done some good things, and so the museum will have an electron microscope to help you locate them.

When asked, President Bush said that he didn’t care so much about the individual exhibits as long as his museum was better than his father’s

Well Sophia, that’s fine.  However, what is hell? Are you sure it exists?  And what is the criteria for judging who will be going or not? Are you saying I don’t get to go to “heaven” simply by virtue of being a good person?  What about the Jehova’s Witnesses who believe they are the only ones who will get to the Promised Land, and then only 144,000 of them (more or less)?

Whatever you want to believe is fine for you.  I personally don’t believe in heaven or hell. I have faced my mortality already, having “died” when I was 5.  I understand what exists over there, and I firmly believe that all will find what they expect in the afterlife (for lack of a better word).

Anyway, I am referring to that special breed of Christian who simply refuse to accept that I have chosen my path and it is mine to follow.  I am talking about those Christians who feel they have the right to dictate how every single person can behave.  Who feel they have the right to legislate morality.  And honestly, that isn’t limited to just Christians, but to any religious zealot.

I think it’s great you have a belief system and that it serves you. That’s wonderful.  And if I ask you about it, feel free to tell me about it.  But don’t assume that my spirituality is less than yours because it is different.  I don’t judge.  I don’t care if someone is gay.  I don’t care if two men or two women want to marry.  I do care that people are murdered daily in the name of some god or another.

When I was a little girl and I first heard about Jesus, I heard about a loving, kind, compassionate, tolerant, peaceful, altogether beautiful man.  And I fell in love with him.  And then I went to church and heard the priest read from Revelations “and woe to mothers nursing their children” and I thought, my Jesus wouldn’t do that would he?

Well, technically, no, he wouldn’t.  Besides the fact that the Old Testament is a bastardization of the Torah and Jewish historical and religious parables, the god of that testament is a totally different god.  And, by the way, Jesus never ever said he was “god”.  His followers did. 

Do your homework Sophia.  ALL of the new testament was written by men who never knew “Jesus”.  Even the name Jesus is inaccurate.  It is the hellenization of a title. 

The Christian religion was sanctioned at The Council of Nicea in Rome by the Emperor Constantine, a life long pagan.  There they decided which books would and would not make up the new bible.  It was a huge fist fight of different factions all trying to marry themselves into one religion.  Constantine, the first pope, was hardly “St. Peter”.  Most christian ritual, icons and factotems are based on a pagan counterpart.  And, one cannot discount the contribution of venus and sun worship.  And no, I didn’t get that from the da Vinci Code.

Finally, Sophia, I am neither a better nor a worse human than you or anyone.  And I am certainly not a man.

Please stop trying to save me. 

Honestly, I don’t get why Chrisitians feel they need to “bring more people to Jesus”.  Ok, that’s not true, I really do get it.  It’s the brownie points.  I’m not sure what you can spend the brownie points on, but you get some for every soul you “save”.  Right?

It irks me when people assume that spirituality is linked to the amount of time a person spends in church.  Trust me, some of the least spiritual people I have ever met are avid church goers.  Image counts. 

Which isn’t to say that all Christians are mean, hateful, judgemental, unforgiving, intolerant……oh you get the idea.  I know some wonderful Christians.  I used to be one (a born again Christian…I’m not sure about the wonderful part).  And yet, at my most hard core, church going best, I never ever tried to shove my beliefs down anyone’s throat.  And don’t get me wrong.  I think a religious creed can be a great start down a spiritual path.   It certainly keeps some kids off the street.

But seriously.  I am an intelligent woman.  I have done my homework.  I didn’t just wake up one day and decide I didn’t want to be a Christian anymore.  And my jury is still out on the whole “god” thing.  Personally, I think man wasn’t made in god’s image, I think god was made in man’s image.  I like Plato’s view of god as a remote creative force that is not involved in our everyday lives.  I truly believe that all our choices create our lives.  We are responsible for our (often) shitty lives, not some distant diety on a throne somewhere in the clouds.  The angel’s wings are cool though.  But, I digress.

I have spent close to thirty years studying physics, metaphysics, all kinds of new age philosophies, religions of varying kinds, etc.  I have read hundreds of books on the subjects.  And the conclusion I have come to is that no one really knows anything.  I like that.  It means we get to keep creating our world every day.  So don’t tell me I have to see the world one way, with one god and one religion.  I am responsible for my life and my choices.  And they are none of anyone’s business.

the bigots are out in full force today.  Oh yes, sure, they couch their prejudice in republican party rhetoric, but their intent is clear none the less.

Some are not so tactful–

“DDavi91625

05:06 PMNov 05 2008

THAT SOCIALIST MUSLIM AND HIS “HOG WITH LIPSTICK” WIFE AND UGLY KIDS ARE THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF A FREE AMERICA. (“

a quote I pulled off a comments section on an article about McCain.  Sad really that in the 21st century such hatred still exists. 

It amazes me what people will believe.  Republicans call Obama a socialist, a communist and a Muslim, and without any research whatsoever, the faithful believe.  Of course, there really is nothing wrong with being any of those things.  It’s people who fuck things up, not isms.  Isms just are what they are.  Hatred, greed, corruption, all those things are injected by humans.

I prefer John Lennon’s quote “I don’t believe in isms, I just believe in me”.  Last night on the radio, after the news announcement that Obama had won, the dj played “Imagine”.  I thought that was just so perfect.

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

tonight we have, as a country, made history in many ways.  I am, tonight, proud to be an American.  I haven’t been able to say that in a long, long time.

The dog and pony show led by head hack George Bush and puppet master Dick Cheney is over.  And yet, the damage is done.  And I am left with many many questions.

There are many angry republicans out there tonight, saying Barack Obama is not their president.  Reality check.  He will be in the Oval Office on January 20th whether you like it or not.  We spent 8 years enduring a presidency that has nearly destroyed this country, and my question to you is this:

How much more?  How many more lies do you need, how much more damage has to be done before you realize that these people don’t have the country’s best interests at heart?  Or is it just that your pride can’t let you admit that, being a republican, “my party, my country, right or wrong” is not necessarily what you want to believe?  When do you wake up and realize that our credibility in the world is severely damaged, the republican conservatives have done MAJOR damage not only to our economy but the world’s, and many men have spent their lives in two USELESS wars?  Why does this not make you angry?  Why are you not angry that John McCain sold his soul in his quest to become president?  Why did you not say, are you sure Sarah Palin was the right choice? Is she really qualified to lead this country if anything happens to the president?  Do you REALLY think the answer to that question is yes?

Ah, but my questions fall on deaf ears.  For, no one reads this blog.  And in the end I am only preaching to the choir.  Republicans and conservatives will continue to believe the lies their party has sold them.  They will believe even something so absurd as Obama being a socialist, or even worse, a terrorist.  But then again, they believe that 2000 years ago a man was nailed to a cross and became a god.  Incongrueties, I suppose, can be rationalized away with the excuse of “faith”.

And so, Republican conservatives will continue to be angry.  They will continue to hurl the “liberal” epithet like a curse.  And you just know, there are so many of them using the n word.  In private of course.   Image is everything.

I guess you could accuse me of being just as hateful.  In some ways you may be right.  I’m angry that the last eight years was inflicted on me and this country by people too proud to admit they were wrong.  I’m angry that no one has brought criminal charges against Bush and Cheney and their cohorts.  Because yes, they are criminals.  But they will just blame it all on the liberal democrats.  And their faithful will believe.

But lest I be accused of being the other side of the hate coin, I do respect some republicans.  Colin Powell garners a huge amount of my respect, not just for his response to his party attacking Obama for religious belief’s he did not even hold.

To quote: Powell also said he was troubled that some Republicans — he excluded McCain — continue to say or allow others to say that Obama is a Muslim, when he is a Christian. Such rhetoric is polarizing, he said.

“He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America,” Powell said. “Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?”

Well said Mr. Powell.  I always admired him, and his ability to “call bullshit” and stand by what he believes.

I don’t know if Barack Obama will be a great president.  I don’t know if, in the next four years he will accomplish all that needs to be done.  And I fear he won’t survive it.  There are many, many people out there who feel that expressing their hatred with violence is justified.

So. We wait and see.  It can’t be any worse.

Funny thing I have noticed lately.  It seems as though conservatives are under the impression that lobbing the word “liberal” around as an epithet is somehow insulting to us.

Silly conservatives.  Don’t you know that I am proud of my bleeding heart? I understand that to you liberal means lazy commie.  To me it means, compassionate, open minded, intelligent, and concerned about the good of the whole as opposed to only what is good for me.

To lump me into one group because I am a liberal would be the same as me saying that all conservative republicans are closed minded, selfish, intolerant, gun toting rednecks.  Is that fair?

A friend of mine sent me an email the other day about the NOW endorsement of Obama.  I was gratified to learn that NOW felt it important enough to comment on the fact that Sarah Palin does NOT represent the needs of american women just by virtue of being female.  They pointed out that she is against virtually all the things our mothers and grandmothers fought for.  It reminded me of something I read by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of our country’s first and most famous suffragettes.  She said that one day she believed that women would become so used to the rights that she and her sisters had fought so hard for that they would come to take them for granted and no longer feel the need to fight to protect them.  How right she was.

Ok, a little history lesson.  For those of you who don’t know, the Republican party USED to be the party of the people.  A hundred and fifty years or so ago, Republicans actually fought for abolition and women’s rights.  Imagine that.   What happened?  When did Republicans become more concerned with power and big business.  Maybe it was Nixon.  ::shrugs::

After the Civil War, Republicans fought for and won civil rights for blacks in America.  It was Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, who repealed those rights, I believe in 1869, though I may be wrong. 

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Katherine Houghton (later Hepburn–yes..her mother) Margaret Sanger, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem.  Women at the forefront of the fight for women’s rights over the century.  They risked everything for our rights.  And now we are willing to throw all that away because we assume that we have always had what we have.  Do some research and find out just how oppressed women were and what a difficult fight it was to get us where we are.  Please don’t throw it away.

People keep talking about going back to “the good old days”.  What I want to know is, which good old days are they talking about?  Because there really weren’t any.  World War I?  World War II? Korea? Vietnam?  The 50’s when women went slowly insane trying to be Betty Crocker?  The Depression?  The turn of the century when we had no real sanitation and people were exploited by big businesses to earn pennies?  When were the good old days?  Why were they better?  We only have now.  Stop trying to recreate something that didn’t exist.

My other peeve is religion in politics.  Why do religious groups have so much say in our political system?  Especially the neo conservative Christians?  As a country founded on the basis of religious freedom, we were set up to allow everyone to worship as they wished, or not worship if that was their choice.  Now all of a sudden the neo christians have decided we all have to believe what they believe.  Sorry pal, not interested.

By the way, let me define a “neo christian”.  Neo Christians are convenient christians.  They use christianity as a weapon or a tool for control.  They have no real interest in the teachings of the figure named Christ.  Compassion, forgiveness, love, tolerance, non violence, these things do not figure into the neo christian philosophy.  Hate, violence, intolerance and fear…ah yes…fear….those are the weapons of the neo christian.  Hate is a big one on their list…hatred of anyone or anything that is different. Is that really who we want to be defined as? 

The founding fathers did not, contrary to popular opinion, base this country on Judeo-christian principles.  In fact, if you read the writings of, say, Thomas Jefferson, you will find that many of them were either not christians or questioned christian principles.  In any case, the colonies had just fought a war of independence from a monarchy, and, in setting up their new government, made every attempt to create a republic (not a democracy a republic) that would be as far from the one they had escaped as possible. 

Consider, the England they escaped from had no separation of church and state.  The church WAS (and technically still is) the state.  Monarchs ruled by “divine right of kings” meaning they and their bloodlines were appointed by heaven above.  England was unique in that it had it’s own church, separate from the Pope and Rome, and the monarch was the head of the church.  The founding fathers did not want the church anywhere near the goverment…they did not want ANY organization to become that powerful here, and they certainly did not want to put the church in charge

So, again, I ask.  What happened?

Finally…a weird thought I had the other day.   I am an artist.  Most artistic types are generally more liberal in their politics..not all…but most.  I think being creative tends to open up the way a person thinks…allows us to see the world in a way left brainers don’t.  Anyway, I was walking downtown and I saw an Obama for president sign in the window of a music store. I thought to myself, well…that makes sense…musicians tend to be more liberal.  Then, I started to think.  I thought about how conservatives are always screaming about “liberal Hollywood” etc.  And about how republicans are always the first to cut arts programs in schools.  I thought, it was almost as if republicans were trying to eliminate anything that would train a creative mind to think.  Drum out creativity and create robots.  Look around you.  At work…at the people around you…how much they are all becoming robots.  Scary.

Big Brother is watching.