Prejudice, hatred and ignorance is still alive and well here in the South

Happy 2014 everyone! And Blessed Imbolic for those who observe it. For those who don't and want to know what it is about, do a Google or Yahoo or Bing search and find out about it! I mean, we are here on the internet where the biggest wealth of information in the world resides!

I always think the world can't get more shocking or hurtful to me. That last little vestige of optimism in me I guess. I WANT to see the good things in everyone and everything. For the most part I do that well. But then someone comes along who at first appeared good on the surface. But then that one little chink in their armor occurs and the ugliness comes spewing forth. That is what I experienced the third Wednesday of last month at a meeting of a civic group of which I am a member.

The meeting was over and I was packing up my lap top and having a conversation with another member when "Bob" comes up. He leans over to me and quietly, but loudly enough the person I was talking with can hear, declares "All you atheists are nothing but devil worshipers!" and walks away. The person I was talking to and I were left speechless! WTH?!?!?! The conversation that was interrupted had nothing what so ever to do with religion. And the comment was obviously directed to me.

I grew up in a home that was Christian. My mother was strict Church of Christ and my dad was a Methodist. From the time I could read I had a Bible. I wore that first Bible out reading it, over and over. Granted it was a children's Bible, but it was expected of me to read it and understand it, so I did my best. I freely admit I was sent home from Sunday school one time with a note asking my parents not to send me back. That was because I asked questions in my pursuit of understanding the Bible and it's teachings that the teacher and the preacher could not answer. Now to give an understanding of how that affected me, I was in the first grade. And I was being rejected by a church for wanting to learn about their religion. Rejection, no matter whether expressed directly to a child of that age or not hurts. Why wasn't I good enough to attend and learn with all my friends there? What did I do that was so wrong?

A little background information about me and my parents might help in that context. My dad was the calm, rational, scientifically minded parent. My mom was the throw caution to the wind and get pissed as hell at everyone and let them know it parent. Not calm and rational. A strange and difficult upbringing the say the least. When dad was trying to get me to calmly rationalize things, mom was screaming at me to fight back and hurt who ever hurt me. And those two different backgrounds still have a major effect on me today.

As I got older, my questions regarding the often time confusing teachings of the Bible got more compound and more difficult to answer. After I got married, the church my first husband and I attended had a minister (he earned the title of minister from me because he actually ministered to the people in his church, not just preached) who actually took the time and effort to discuss and reason the questions I had. But eventually he moved on to another church somewhere else and a new preacher took his place. Then being a member of the church became about how much money you made (which the church set your tithe off of, not what you could afford) and how nice your clothes were when you came to church. This was where I began to part ways with organized religion. To be told that based on $8000 a year income we could afford to tithe $150 a month and have bags of clothing showing up on my porch because what we were wearing wasn't good enough, I couldn't hang with that. That definitely was not something the Bible taught.

Through the years I have studied most of the world's religions, seeking the answers to the questions I'd always had. I eventually had to conclude that no single one had all the answers. I began to see that all religions had something to offer and a lot that was rubbish. But what to do with this information was the really big problem. So I decided that instead of subscribing to one dogma or religion, I would subscribe to none and instead follow my own path of spirituality. I don't recognize a God or Allah or any other name God is known by. I recognize one cosmic force, whether you want to call it God, Allah, Yehwah, Flying Spaghetti Monster, science or what have you. I don't see it as a good or evil entity. In fact most of the time I refer to it as cosmic chaos. Because that really is what it is, and humans are just looking to make some kind of sense out of it.

Does that make me an atheist? I don't believe so because atheists don't have the belief of a higher force. Maybe it make me an agnostic at the least. But humans have this need to label and I am constantly asked what religion I am by people and governmental forms. Why, I don't really understand, but that is the way it is. Most of the time I answer nondenominational. That seems to satisfy most people and they don't ask further, assuming I am Christian because that is what most people in this country believe you have to be. And living where I live, the Southern Bible Belt of the US, they don't take kindly to nonchristians. In fact, fire and death are still the preferred means of dealing with those they perceive as not being Christian, although they will deny it if asked. So you can see, I do not advertise the fact I am not a practicing Christian.

So why was I singled out for this verbal attack? At this meeting a man who belongs to the First Baptist Church had come to the group asking to use the building they own to have a Southern Gospel Sing event in it. A whole hour was tied up by members of the group asking him what kind of prayers would be said, whether or not one church was going to be promoted above others, and how to plan and organize his event. The key words being HIS EVENT. I couldn't have cared less about the details of his event. My only concern was that they leave the building as clean and intact after the event as it was when they started. So during all this brow beating, I mean well intentioned telling him what to do, I sat quietly in my seat shaking my head at the audacity of the group telling someone how to do their event. I was the only one who did not contribute in any way to that whole thing.

I guess in "Bob's" highly prejudiced and ignorant views that made me evil, made me an 'atheist devil worshiper'. At first I was shocked by his little outburst. By the time I got home I was actually amused. I mean really, since atheists don't believe in God they obviously don't believe in the devil! The next day I kind of felt sad for "Bob" in his ignorance. But now I am kind of mad that he made me the apex for his hatred. I've never done anything to him, except ignore him when his ignorance got to be too much. What gives him the right to pass a judgement like that on me? Obviously not the Bible since it teaches not go around judging others as that is not a Christian's place. I have had to work really hard to not write out a letter to the editor of our local paper about what being a good Christian means so that those who live in ignorant bliss like "Bob" can maybe see themselves as others see them. As a human being, it is not my place to do that. I would be no better than "Bob" if I did that, passing judgement on someone else.

I have friends of all religious beliefs and no religious beliefs. I am wondering how any of you would handle this situation. The one thing I am doing is cutting "Bob" out of any further involvement in my life. I don't have time for that kind of thing. But is there something else I could be doing to keep it from happening again? All thoughts are welcome and open for discussion. Just remember, respect for others above all!

I don't get it....

     I don't get it! On a basic level I can kind of understand experiencing fear of the unknown. I have felt that before. Instead of allowing that fear to dictate how I reacted to an unknown thing, instead I chose to educate myself, learn all I could before I forced myself to confront that fear. An example of this would be when I was diagnosed with Psoriatic arthritis, a form of RA. A very cold and clinical doctor gave the diagnosis and my prognosis, ending with telling me I would ultimately die from it. Who wouldn't be terrified with that kind of delivery of bad news?!?!?! I went home and cried, panicked and then began to research it and my options. Yes, someday I might die from complications of it, but there is so much I can do to prolong my life, hold it at bay and live a half way normal life.

    This past Sunday I learned of, and since have seen the segments, a show on Fox News called Fox and Friends. I quit watching Fox News years ago when I began to notice it was more of yellow bellied journalism with a twist of an agenda I didn't quite like. I prefer my news to be totally unbiased, factual and true. That is just me. Fox News wasn't factual or unbiased. So I quit watching it and after Sundays little bashing segment, I will never watch it again.

     Here is the deal. I follow a spiritual path that is not Christianity. It really can't be labeled accurately because it has elements of many religions and spiritual paths in it. Unfortunately though society thinks everything has to have a label and pigeon holed in order to exist. The closest I can come to a label for my path is Wicca. I am more into Earth based spirituality than anything. So for all intents and purposes according to society I am Wiccan.

     I was raised in Christianity. My mom was Church of Christ and my dad was a Methodist. But I have to make this clear, the Christianity I grew up in is NOT what most people practice today. There was no hatred, bigotry or excluding those who did not become cookie cutter versions of what their Christian church said they should be. It was about love and acceptance, treating others as you wanted to be treated and helping others without strings attached. There was no concern about your wardrobe, how new your car was, how fancy your house was or your income. It was about following the core teaching of Jesus who taught love, acceptance and concern for your fellow man. There was no skin color or religious differentiation or sexual orientation involved.

     I can't pinpoint one exact thing or time when Christianity began to feel not right to me. It was a combination of things really. I have a very scientific, factual mind and as I got older I began to have questions. I was actually sent home from one Sunday school class with a request to my parents to not send me back. I had asked a question the teacher couldn't answer so she sent me to the minister whose response was 'because the Bible says so'. Of course that just brought up more questions he obviously, in retrospect, couldn't answer and 'because the Bible says so' didn't compute to me. As a young adult I was baptized in the Disciples of Christ church. I have to say the minister at that time was awesome! We had many discussions that we both enjoyed the challenge of finding answers to my questions. An unfortunate side effect of our discussions though was he began to question the level of his own faith. I have since found out he left the ministry to pursue other interests. I hope he found something that made him genuinely happy!

     You could label me as a rebel I suppose. But my choice of spiritual path is not a form of rebellion against main stream Christianity. My form of rebellion is more along the lines of the fact I am a free thinker and refuse to be labeled as a conservative or liberal, a Republican or Democrat. I refuse to believe that there is nothing that can be done to get the government back to where it should be. I refuse to believe the crap that comes from the mouths of politicians whose main agenda is how much money they can get from their lobbyists for supporting their cause. Probably the most important point of my rebelliousness is I refuse to allow others to tell me how I have to live, think and believe.

     I have friends of all religions, spiritual paths, races and cultures. We respect each other despite our differences. Something you don't see much of at all anymore in our country. Do I believe all Muslims are evil as our media would have us believe? No. I can not justify that mind set. Do I believe all Christians are evil based on the actions of a few like Jim Jones, David Koresh and those preachers we all hear on TV now who tell us to hate gays? No. There are evil people who operate under the guise of a religious belief to justify their evil. And then there are people who emulate the actions and beliefs of those evil people. Does that make those people evil? Not necessarily if they learn from the experience and move on beyond it to propagate good in this world.

     Last night after I watched this clip from Fox and Friends I was so upset! My stomach hurt and my head hurt from it. And then I began to analyze what was said versus the truth. It is plainly obvious not a single person at Fox News could be bothered to even look up and learn about what they were discussing. It made the three people look like the totally uneducated bigots they are! The clip shown from another show wasn't even played as it was made. I also found that segment and watched it today too. The two people in that clip are just as big of bigots as the first three. But the thing I particularly picked up on is the whole thing was done from a skewed Christian view of this supposed 'war on Christianity' they are spouting about now. A 'war' I personally have never seen. If they want to say 'Merry Christmas' I don't care two flips. As long as it is said with a smile and warmth it thrills me that someone said something nice and positive to me! Let's face it, at that time of the year there is very little niceness or warmth anymore between people. 

     But please don't be offended and get bent out of shape if I respond according to my beliefs with "And a Happy Yule to you!". Because if you were to really do some research, and with the internet it is a very easy thing to do, you would find that the Catholic church, in order to bring the 'heathens and pagans' into the fold incorporated the pagan celebration of Yule and called it Christmas. Same with Easter and Ostra and several other pagan celebrations.

     While I can be labeled as a Wiccan,I do not practice witchcraft as most people think of it. I do pray. Prayers and spells are exactly the same as far as intent and energy go, they just have different trappings. Essentially what you are doing is sending energy out in order to affect a change. So if you send out a request for prayer, I do pray for you in what you would consider a traditional way. I don't put curses or hexes on people simply because I believe the intent of the energies you put out come back to you. Send out negative, you get negative back. Send out positive and you get positive back. Just like karma. Which comes from a totally different belief system by the way. Look it up. LOL

     Here is the segment that shows them essentially bashing Wicca and proving they had no facts at all to go off of:

Fox News bashing Wiccans

     Here is the segment they used parts of in a manner not consistent with the way it was intended:

Another video of Fox News bashing Wicca

     Although I could have gone on a real rip-tooting rant about this, I am not going to. But I will leave you with a video of a young woman who makes a blow by blow commentary as she watching the bashing videos. She did a lot better job of containing her outrage and anger than I did!

Attention FOX NEWS

     Namaste all!

     

My thoughts on Ann Romney and Raising the Minimum Wage

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11294-minimum-wage-raise-is-the-least-we-can-do-to-civilize-america

The above article brings a vapid response in some, mindless arguments based not on facts but false rhetoric espoused by those who would keep those of America with the most to lose trapped in a nightmare. Some of us watched or read what was spouted at the Republican National Convention last week. Some of us are Republicans and embrace every utterance from their lips as gospel truth. Who better to spew gospel truth after all than those who claim to be blessed in that regard with the keeping of our spirituality? But I digress…

I have read so many responses from women all over America this last week to Ann Romney’s address. Having caught clips of it and read transcripts of it now, I am glad I did not watch it. I am one of those women she was comparing herself to, saying we were all the same. I can honestly say she is full of shit. She and I are not even in the same universe!

She talked of being poor in college. Huh, she got to go to college! I only dreamed about going to college. She talked about how when times got tough for her and Mitt in college they had to sell investments to keep going. What? At my age I have never had any free money to think about even investing in anything except my continued survival paycheck to paycheck. Must have been nice to be young 20 somethings and have investments to sell!

Please don’t tell me Ann how hard you had it as a parent. Well, I guess figuring out which nannies and domestic staff to hire could be tough. Did you, Ann, have the onerous chore of deciding cloth or disposable diapers with your children? The only choice I had was cloth, washed in a machine that I had to start spinning by hand and hung on the clothes line to dry, as were the rest of our clothing. Disposable diapers were an expensive luxury only indulged in for trips longer than 30 minutes. I would imagine your nannies were very good about keeping your children clean and dry so diaper rash was nothing you ever had to worry about. As I am sure your domestic staff ensured you never had to worry about cleaning house with a sick baby in your arms. Come to think on it, you probably didn’t have many, or any, sleepless nights due to that either. How amazing it must have been to have nannies and domestic staff! I had to fill all those positions myself!

She talked about how her husband worked so hard to become as well off as he is now. For some reason, given his affluent upbringing, I don’t think he even had to worry about chipping an already ragged nail because he couldn’t afford a mani/pedi. While the young men from regular working class families had no choice in the matter of going to Vietnam, Mitt spent that time in France, as a missionary. Oh I am sure it was difficult doing all those missionary things. Probably took a lot of his time to carouse around and have fun away from him. But these things happen when your daddy has money to ensure your safety with. Sometimes you gotta suck it up and pretend to do the job you were supposedly sent there to do.

And no Ann, we were not all destined to the same things in life, sharing the same lot in life. You, my dear delusional pampered woman, have never, ever in your life had to worry whether there would be enough money left over after the absolute necessary bills were paid to buy your children nutritious food. You, Ann, never had to sit up through the night with a sick baby screaming their head off and try to figure out where you can get the money the next morning to take them to the doctor and buy meds with. You, Ann, never worked a minimum wage job that was soul crushing, thankless, and you were treated like crap by those you worked for. Much less TWO of those soul crushing, thankless minimum wage jobs at the same time just to make ends halfway meet. No Ann, your educated, privileged upbringing put you in a very small class of women that are in no way what so ever even similar to the vast majority of American women. Go back to your universe and shut the fuck up!

Now, regarding the link above, I can count on one hand, and not use all those fingers, the number of jobs I have had in my life that paid more than minimum wage. Please keep in mind that during many of those years, I held TWO minimum wage jobs, just to make ends half way meet. When I first started my working life, at the tender age of 16, minimum wage was less than $3 an hour. Absorb that for a few minutes. $3 an hour, in today’s economy won’t even pay for a cup of Starbuck’s coffee. Not that I have ever had a cup of Starbuck’s coffee but I do know how much it costs! $3 bucks an hour for three hours a day, fixing food in a nursing home, distributing those meals and cleaning up, four days a week. $60 a week. Woohoo, some of you might say, pretty good for a 16 year old. Did I buy a car as so many 16 year olds want? No. I actually kept very little of that for myself. My dad was laid off and I gave my money to him to help pay bills and buy food with.

At 18 I was married and expecting my first child. My husband at that time worked hard because he felt a mother’s place was at home with the children. But don’t think it was easy street. Far from it! Some years we barely got by on $6000 a year with two children! It was hard but we did it. In some ways I worked harder during that period of my life than any other. We bought a pickup (used thank you) and a house (an older home that needed TLC thank you) during those years. But by the time my second child was born, we knew I was going to have to get a job. He was a little over a year old when I went back to work, at a minimum wage job in a nursing facility as an aide. Minimum wage by that time had been raised to $3.25 an hour. Over the course of the next twelve years, that seemed to be my lot in life, working as an aide, cleaning shit and taking lots of shit from everyone in those jobs, for minimum wage.  

I remember distinctly when minimum wage finally reached $7.25 an hour. I finally felt I would have some breathing room. But I was wrong. The cost of living continued to increase every year since then while the wage stayed the same. At the time it finally reached $7.25 you could still get a gallon of milk for $2 or less, three loaves of bread for a dollar in most cases, I have a coffee can from that time that tells me I paid $1.89 for a one pound can of Folgers. Rents in the area where I lived were still in the $200 to $250 a month range for a decent house and you could still get a decent used car in the $3000 range. Doctors offices didn’t require a credit check to get in their doors and would still see you if you had no insurance.

Today I pay $4 for a gallon of milk, $1.00 for one loaf of store brand bread, $5 or more for a one pound can of store brand coffee (Oh how I miss the smooth taste of Folgers!). A decent house where I am at now will cost you $400 a month and up and a decent used car can set you back 10 grand! And yet minimum wage is still only $7.25 an hour. Did you know that $7.25 an hour, with a 40 hour week will make you more than the cut off for food stamps? And in most cases it is more than the cut off for Medicaid. Regardless of how many children you have. It may even put you beyond the threshold to get assistance with housing. That is why there are so many single and dual parent families out there working two or more minimum wage jobs. They don’t even think about buying a house and drive old clunkers that should have been retired a decade ago. They can only dream of having enough money to have health insurance.

Those trapped in the minimum wage jobs shouldn’t have to choose between housing and healthcare, utilities or food, transportation that is dependable or having to work minimum wage jobs in walking distance from their homes because they can’t afford a car. Remember the French Revolution? That all came about because the 1%, the royalty, were spending tons of money for frivolous crap while ignoring the needs of the people. The people had no food, no jobs, their children were starving to death. It has been debated whether Marie Antoinette really said “Let them eat cake!” or not, but either way, she ate very well! Think about that for a few minutes, absorb the implications of this analogy. Because it can, and eventually will, happen here in our own country…again.

It doesn’t matter if you are a staunch Republican, a determined Democrat, or in my case, just an independent thinker, the policies being spouted and bandied about right now have no consideration in them for raising minimum wage. As of right now, our government is going to require each and every individual to obtain health insurance before a specified time or pay a ‘penalty tax’. For a person earning minimum wage, they can not afford to get insurance if their employer doesn’t have a plan that is affordable. No caps or controls were set in place on the insurance companies as to the price they can charge for premiums. An example, for me, with several pre-existing conditions, two years ago the only company with a plan that would cover my conditions from day one wanted $800 a month. As of three weeks ago that same plan is now $1200 a month for me. Just me! I don’t have it. Who the hell in the middle and lower classes can afford that!

If we want to see any kind of improvements in the lives of the working class poor in this country, minimum wage has got to be raised and continue to rise with the rising costs of inflation. Now more than ever with the prices of foods, gasoline and housing sky rocketing. Or eventually those bearing the brunt of the labor force in our country will rise up. And it will not be pretty…

And a year later...

Gee! It has been a year since I opened my account here and I have only posted one blog. I think perhaps I have been a LOT lax LOL. What can I say? Life and Facebook have been taking up most of my free time with the rest going to sleeping.


Let's see, where to begin. The last year has been full of ups and downs. Finances have been awful, like for most people here in the good old USA. Those number crunchers in DC aren't fooling me, the economy isn't getting any better, the housing market is still glutted with unsellable homes and they continue to build more, unemployment isn't down because they aren't counting those who have run out of unemployment benefits and still haven't found jobs, our country STILL does not have a balanced budget while I don't even have enough money to MAKE a budget. But enough about those bozos in DC! They just make me want to rant!

I only had one resolution for this year. ABC cancelled 'One Life to Live' and replaced it with a show called 'The Revolution'. My resolution was to boycott that time segment on ABC and I have done spectacularly well in up holding it! I'd never seen 'The Talk' before but I find it highly entertaining! So Yay me! LOL SyFy has a new show called 'Lost Girl' I really enjoy. "Being Human' I also enjoy but since hubby controls the remote he watches 'Alcatraz' during that time :S.

I started editing a story I wrote between 1997 and 2001. There are a lot of real names in it that have to be replaced. I just don't feel like paying Gene Simmons for using his name LMAO! Almost done with the first 100 pages and then I can send it to my beta readers. Unfortunately though a new story is working it's way into my consciousness.


This new story is weird in that I am dreaming it. In first person no less! Kind of weird dreaming as a man, a dark, twisted multiple personalities man. Scares the begeebies out of me at times. Maybe this is what it is like for The Man, Stephen King, when one of his scared-awake-all-night stories evolves. I will see where it takes me!

Poetry is making a come back for me too. Not anything I feel like sharing right now. Mostly introspection stuff about my past. Some of it pure acid and some of it just randomness that only would make sense to me. But if something good comes out I will post it here.

So I am still around. I am going to make a concentrated effort to be here more often. I have many things I would like to put out here and see what kind of responses everyone else has about them. As long as we all remain civil though. I don't tolerate down right attacking someone else on my pages. But for now I am going to sign off and go see what's for dinner tonight. Till the next time, remember to smile even though you feel like screaming, it keeps people wondering exactly what you are up to!

Who am I?

A very good question...who am I? Who I am evolves and is always changing, like all beings, even cats. I have been many things to many people over the years. A daughter, a hopeless teenager, a wife, a mother, a devorcee, a champion, a failure and a comfort. And many other things in between, and yes, even occasionally a bitch. I have been a student, an activist, a non-conformist, religious, spiritual, a rebel, and at times the opposites of these things. I think you get this part. Now on to the part of letting you know a bit more about me.

Most of us are accustomed to the profile about me sections on most social networking sites. One of the questions is religious views. Let me start there. I am not religious, I am spiritual. There is a difference, believe me! I was raised in a Methodist/Church of Christ upbringing. I was even a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for several years. But being the questioning being I was raised to be, by my father, there were questions that just could not be answered by any of these dogmas. I have searched and learned about many religions through the years since. I have adopted some beliefs from all of them but mostly I have formed my own thoughts and ideas myself. I do not attend a wood and brick church. The great outdoors is my church. I don't try to convert anyone else to my beliefs. I ask that you don't try to convert me to yours. I will discourse with you all day long but I will not 'come over' or be 'saved'. I am comfortable in myself.

The next big question is political views. My view is who needs them? Do demicraps fighting with republicraps about what is best for me do one thing to improve my standard of living? Hell no! My view is do the right thing!

Where was I born? In a hospital. And you? Some things I just don't put out there for everyone to know. Sorry :). But if we get to be good enough friends I might tell you ;)

Where do I live? In an abode. And you? Again there is only so much I am comfortable putting out there for everyone to know. Oklahoma is sufficient;)

Where did I go to school? In a small school system where teachers still controlled the classroom and discipline wasn't a problem.

Do I have children? Yes I have two.

Am I married or divorced? What, are you just looking for a date? I am married, ten years this year.

What are my hobbies? I love to write and read. I collect dragons (no surprise there is there?), castles and Merlins. I used to enjoy doing crafts in years past. My fingers and hands don't work so well anymore :(. I really enjoy learning!

Likes/Dislikes? Likes would be honest people. Dislikes would be dishonest people.

Has this answered any questions yet? I hope so. I know some are kind of vague. But I have reached a point of being very gunshy about putting too much out there about myself. Only people I am comfortable friends with really get much more info out of me. Other than what can be picked up in my writing.

I write poetry, short stories and some really long stories LOL. I also get an occasional urge to rant and share it to see what others can help me learn from whatever is bugging me. I aspire to be a published writer. Hopefully published more than once LOL. Being disabled I can no longer do the labor jobs that I am limited to by my lack of formal education. But I can write and hope to be able to make some kind of living at it eventually.

If you, dear reader have any questions or comments, feel free to leave me a comment!