Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Elections: Not too depressing overall

Well, we’ve got another 4 years of the Governator; but I can live with that.  He’s sufficiently restrained by the Dems in the CA legislature not to be too dangerous.

For the most part, things went the way I’d hoped (except for Lieberman winning in CT - what’s wrong with those people?).  The ballot measures that passed or were rejected were pretty much in line with the way I wanted them to go, and the people I liked for various other local offices got in.

However, Angelenos are embarrassingly disinterested in politics.  I watch the LA Fox channel for news in the morning (mostly because I LOVE Jillian Barberie and Steve Edwards), and this morning they had Nischelle Turner out talking to “regular folks” about yesterday’s elections.  While the caption for the video calls voters’ reactions “interesting,” it’s easy (and depressing) to see that people are more knowledgeable and emotionally involved in the local fucking sports teams than they are about how and by whom they’re being governed. Disgusting.

Wow!  Just got a really exciting piece of breaking news: Rumsfeld is stepping down!!!  Halle-fucking-lujah and good riddance!

Dobson to Aid in Counseling Haggard

Call me skeptical, but somehow I doubt that this “restoration” process has as much to do with restoring the spiritual health of the hypocritical, lying, delusional scumbag Ted Haggard as it does with restoring his reputation so that in a few years he can return to his job of manipulating rank and file believers while simultaneously influencing public policy.

By The Associated Press

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Focus on the Family founder James Dobson will be one of the people overseeing counseling for the Rev. Ted Haggard, the evangelical pastor who was fired amid allegations of gay sex and drug use, a senior official of Dobson’s organization said Monday.

The counseling process, called restoration, could take years, said H.B. London, vice president for church and clergy at Focus on the Family, a Colorado Springs-based ministry.

“I think it may be more in helping to set the requirements of the restoration, set the ground rules,” London told . [sic]

Haggard was forced out as senior pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs on Saturday after a former male escort alleged they had sex repeatedly and that Haggard sometimes was on methamphetamines during their trysts.

In a statement read at the church Sunday, Haggard confessed to unspecified “sexual immorality,” accepted responsibility for his actions and asked forgiveness.

Dobson will join pastor Jack Hayford of The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, Calif. and the pastor Tommy Barnett of First Assembly of God in Phoenix in overseeing Haggard, according to a letter from Haggard read at New Life services on Sunday.

“Those men will perform a thorough analysis of my mental, spiritual, emotional and physical life. They will guide me through a program with the goal of healing and restoration for my life, my marriage and my family,” Haggard wrote.

Hayford’s spokesman said he was not available for comment Monday. Barnett did not immediately return a call.

(The Church on the Way is one of the 168 houses of worship within a 5 mile radius of my house. Scary.)

Having these particular, powerful leaders of the Evangelical movement “overseeing his counseling” is clearly (to me, anyway) nothing more than circling the wagons and commencing the damage control. I’ve no doubt that Haggard will reappear on the political stage within a relatively short period of time, hat in hand and tears a-streaming, to proclaim he’s been washed in the blood of Jesus and restored, exorcised of the demons that had control of him, or blessed by some other Christ-o-riffic miracle that will convince the flock he’s worthy to return to a position of leadership.

As soon as he can convincingly deny that he loves the cock, to the satisfaction of his “restoration team,” Pastor Ted will be back. Having the endorsement of the high priests of the Religious Right will virtually guarantee he’s welcomed with open arms by the regular church-going folk who hang upon the every word of Dobson, et al.

There is none so blind as he who will not see…

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Proposition 85: Vote NO, Californians!

The issue of teen pregnancy is one that I am, and always have been, quite passionate about. It started all the way back in 1970, when a relative of mine got pregnant at 15, and delivered her son just after she turned 16.  I was only 8 at the time, but the incident and its consequences were burned into my memory.  My relative was kicked out of high school, and lost not only her freedom to simply be a teenager, but it seemed to me that the friends she’d had previously were suddenly no longer allowed to hang out with her.  I don’t know if that was because their parents didn’t want them associating with the “bad girl” or if they stopped coming around of their own volition, but either way my relative’s life was irreversibly altered and she went from being a carefree teenager enjoying high school to a teenaged mother and a social pariah in the smallish town we lived in.  I swore that would NEVER happen to me, and the memory of that incident played a large part in my not having sex until after I was out of high school.  To this day, I consider it my moral duty to impress upon the teenagers within my sphere of influence that engaging in sex at such a young age is best avoided altogether, and that having a baby before finishing high school is a sure way to sabotage any decent future a girl, or her baby, might hope to have.

Not only have I been a teenager, I am the mother of one (and we actually TALK), which naturally puts me in the role of “pseudo-mom” to her friends.  And although I’m fairly confident that the parents of her closest friends are similarly honest and enjoy good relationships with their girls, I can’t imagine how awful it would be to see one of these kids (whom I’ve known all their lives) have to go through the process of getting a waiver if she for whatever reason couldn’t, or didn’t want to, tell her parents she wanted to have an abortion. I cannot imagine that I, the very person with whom the parents have for years entrusted their child’s safety and well-being, would become a criminal for answering a plea for help (even if it’s nothing more than a ride) from one of these girls who are as dear to me as my own daughter.

Proposition 85 is nothing more than shit law intended to chip away at the right of women to decide whether and when they will become mothers, cloaked in the rhetoric of “keeping children safe.” It does nothing of the kind, and in fact endangers those girls whose families are already so fucked up that they feel they can’t talk to their parents about a pregnancy. What really keeps kids safe is their having adults they can count on and confide in. In an ideal world their parents would fulfill that role, but here in the REAL world that’s not an option for many kids… so they have to be able to find other adults they can trust to advise them and act in their best interests in parental fashion, and the State should butt the fuck OUT!

I’m hopeful that Californians will once again reject this latest Parental Notification law, just like they did last year’s version, Prop. 73.  In the unlikely event Prop. 85 does pass, however, I suppose I’ll end up either spending some time on the phone and in court, or perhaps even doing time should I be called upon to skirt the law in an emergency situation.

* sigh *

(posted in response to CityMama’s call to action)

Monday, September 11, 2006

9/11, Jesus the scene-stealer, and losing god(s)

I started this entry on 9/8, and although I’ve flogged myself for being a bad blogger and not posting, I suppose it’s fitting that it be published on 9/11 as people remember that day that took, and changed, so many American lives. Mine was but one of them, and for me that tragic day ties in with another, of which PZ reminded me.

Steve Irwin’s death is a tragic loss to his family and all the good work he’s done for the natural world.  My heart goes out to his loved ones, and the man has my respect for sharing his knowledge in such a way as to engage the interest of those who might not otherwise learn about some of the “monsters” we share the planet with.

So, in my blog-wandering, I came across PZ’s post, “Ken Ham spits on Steve Irwin’s Corpse”, wherein he describes what it’s like to attend a loved one’s “memorial” and… well, I’ll let him tell it:

My baby sister (she was in her thirties and had two kids of her own, but she’ll always be my little sis) died a few years ago of one of those sudden, massive infections - the kind of unexpected reminder of bacterial dominance that killed Jim Henson. When I attended the funeral, I was reminded of another lower life form that afflicts humanity: the minister was an ecstatic Jesus freak who, rather than talking about the young woman we’d lost, or trying to give words of reassurance to a grieving family, instead tried to turn the affair into a revival meeting, asking people to TESTIFY FOR JESUS!!! and otherwise making her superstition the center of attention, rather than Lisa and loss. It galled me no end, as you might guess, and if it weren’t for my respect for members of my family I would have grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and thrown her into the street.

Maybe I should have anyway. Goddamn all preachers, pastors, and priests.

It was a nearly identical experience that removed the last shread of tolerance I had for Christians in general, and fundamentalists in particular. In retrospect, that day was probably the one on which I decided I’d have to stop pretending that I believed in any sort of afterlife, and impress upon the people I loved how important it is for me to make THIS life a full one instead. There are people in my life with whom I have left things unsaid, or undone… and to me, it is those missed opportunities for shared moments and memories (sometimes even painful ones) that make some losses more agonizing than others, and become catalysts for sweeping changes in one’s own life.

My dear departed friend was “born again” in the late-80s/early 90s, and at the time I had been Wiccan for several years. To her credit, she did live up to her faith and take every opportunity to bring me to Jesus; and although I thanked her and told her I understood her motivation, by then I’d not been a Christian for nearly twice as many years as I had been one, or at least nominally so.  I remember clearly the day that I tearfully asked her to not let our religious differences get in the way of a friendship that began in grade school, and she said she wouldn’t.

As it happened, something entirely unrelated (but painful and catalytic in its own right) caused our contact with one another to change from an almost-daily occurrence to such infrequency that by the time she died, it had probably been at least 8 years since we’d spent any time together.  When I got married, almost 11 years ago now, I’d heard that although she wished me well, she was frightened for the immortal souls of her loved ones who attended my pagan wedding ceremony. Again, although I truly understood her POV, hearing those words - fundy “talking points” - hurt my heart.

On 9/11/2001, fundamentalists flew airplanes into buildings and killed over 3000 Americans, and when I posted on a message board that such tragedy is what happens when religious people take their invisible friends and their ancient myths too seriously, I was accused of being a godless anti-American, damned to Hell and called the foulest names in Christendom. And perhaps that day I did become godless… and definitely anti-fundamentalist… but certainly not anti-American. If the horrific aftermath of the acts of fundamentalist Muslims wasn’t enough to show convince me that I wanted no part of the Abrahamic deity, the words and acts of Christians in their response was a clear demonstration of what a monster this God is; or more particularly, just how far His followers will go in their pursuit of pleasing such a monster.

I didn’t pray on 9/11.  And although I lit a candle, I recall thinking that it was a memorial in honor of everyone who died and NOT a small ritual beseeching an invisible friend for blessings or help to defeat “our enemies”. On that day, it really hit home just how irrational, unnecessary and downright dangerous it is to give credence to invisible friends of any stripe. As the smoking ruins of the WTC stood testament to, some people are religious enough, committed enough, BATSHIT CRAZY enough to kill themselves and others at the behest of their invisible friends. Others still are batshit crazy enough to say that those thousands of Americans died because their invisible friend is punishing the country for the religious tolerance, laws and public policy He supposedly disapproves of.

Free thought, science, dissent, free speech and religious tolerance have been victimized as well since the attacks on America that day. We are being intimidated into giving up our liberties in the name of security, while on the frontlines of the Culture War you can’t listen to 3 minutes of conversation or swing a fucking dead cat in public without running into Jesus.  The god-talk everywhere was bad enough for 10 years before 9/11… it’s unbearable now.

So back to my story…

My friend died quite suddenly later in 2001, and my first thought after hearing the news was, “Where was that fucking Jesus, to whom she’d enslaved her mind and spent the best years of her life in dedicated service to? What grievous ‘sin’ did a 38 year old mother commit that she deserved death NOW, when her children are almost grown?”

If her service was any indication, that Jesus character was right there, right now, and demanded the spotlight to the exclusion of any of those mere mortals who might get up there and profane the occasion by, y’know, talking about their daughter/mother/sister/friend/wife, whom they loved and now mourned the loss of. My despair and sense of decorum prevented me from making a scene, but between my ire at my friend’s taking a backseat to Jesus and having some rather emotional, long-overdue reunions with her family members, I remember that I was having spasms in my back muscles that made it difficult to walk, and breathe.  I escaped the church with all due haste, screaming and howling in pain and rage alone in my car until I got to her sister’s house where we’d gather after the burial.

There is no afterlife, no “better place” for a person to be, especially when they were young enough to be enjoying their family and friends.  The way I see it, even if you believe in an afterlife, living as though you don’t at least ensures you’ll enjoy THIS one to its fullest.  I will never see my friend again, and unlike believers, I find no comfort in the irrational precept that her death is somehow less tragic because “she’s with Jesus,” even though I know she’d have liked nothing better than for that guy-in-the-sky thing to be true.  Despite her commitment to Christ, I can’t help but think she’d much rather have waited a few more decades before going off to “be with” Him.

I sure as hell know I’d have liked her to become a crazy old lady with the rest of us, with or without Jesus.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Praise Jesus! At least one of His followers “gets it.”

Over in the Restore the Pledge Forums, discussing a recent case in Kentucky in which a Judge blocked a school-sanctioned prayer at a high school graduation ceremony and the Christian students’ response, rnrstar linked to a Letter of the Week at World Net Daily that gave me hope that there are at least SOME Christians who have taken the time to “walk in others’ shoes.”

Gary Christenot is an evangelical Christian who, while working with a youth group during service in the Air Force in Hawaii, attended a high school football game in a predominantly Buddhist area and came face to face with being a member of a minority religion in a public religious ceremony involving invocations and practices that were anathema to him.

The point is this. I am a professional, educated and responsible man who is strong in his faith and is quite comfortable debating the social and political issues of the day. Yet when placed in a setting where the majority culture proved hostile to my faith and beliefs, I became paralyzed with indecision and could not act decisively to defend and proclaim my own beliefs. I felt instantly ostracized and viewed myself as a foreigner in my own land.

We often advocate the practice of Judeo-Christian rituals in America’s public schools by hiding behind the excuse that they are voluntary and any student who doesn’t wish to participate can simply remained seated and silent. Oh that this were true. But if I, as a mature adult, would be so confounded and uncomfortable when faced with the decision of observing and standing on my own religious principals or run the risk of offending the majority crowd, I can only imagine what thoughts and confusion must run through the head of the typical child or teenager, for whom peer acceptance is one of the highest ideals.

I would say in love to my Christian brothers and sisters, before you yearn for the imposition of prayer and similar rituals in your public schools, you might consider attending a football game at Wahiawa High School. Because unless you’re ready to endure the unwilling exposure of yourself and your children to those beliefs and practices that your own faith forswears, you have no right to insist that others sit in silence and complicity while you do the same to them. I, for one, slept better at night knowing that because Judeo-Christian prayers were not being offered at my children’s schools, I didn’t have to worry about them being confronted with Buddhist, Shinto, Wiccan, Satanic or any other prayer ritual I might find offensive.

The student in the Kentucky case, it turns out, was a Muslim. 

It has been tradition at Russell County High School in Kentucky for graduating seniors to elect a “graduation chaplain” who delivers a Christian prayer at the graduation ceremony. This year, a Muslim student filed a lawsuit and a judge issued an injunction to prevent it. As the principal began his opening remarks, 200 students stood and recited the Lord’s Prayer. Most of the rest of the audience gave a standing ovation.

When the Muslim student went up to receive his diploma, he was booed.

Ah, feel the Christian Love^™…

I agree with Gary Christenot.  Every Christian in America should be required to attend at least one government-sponsored event in which a non-Christian religious ritual is performed as part of the official ceremony.  Or perhaps have the Eleven Satanic Principles posted in their child’s school, or have their taxpayer dollars spent erecting a monument displaying them at their county courthouse.  Sadly, I think that’s exactly what it would take to get these thick-headed, self-righteous sons of bitches to understand that the only way to guarantee equality for ALL is for the government to stick to the absolute neutrality in matters of religion that the First Amendment requires.

Constitutional matters aside, the response of the Christians at the graduation ceremony was shameful, rude and just plain mean.  Once again we’re treated to a demonstration of the all-too-common attitude of superiority and self-righteousness of the Christian majority.  They’ll rise up to shout out a prayer (or the unconstitutional Pledge, as those congressional fucksticks did a few years ago) in defiance of a judicial ruling, all the while complaining that said ruling is evidence of their “persecution” in America!

People give me shit all the time for calling Christians delusional… but if their acceptance of fable as fact isn’t enough evidence to support that notion, their claim of persecution in the United States clearly qualifies!!!