State of our Nation: Christian or Muslim?

I have to say, I am only 32 years old.  I am not old nor am I young, but I am an American.  I was taught to have a voice and an opinion to raise my fist in anger at what I do not believe is right and to hold a candle in the night to show my passionate support when something is done for the “greater good of our people”. 

I was taught in school that our first (I mean us pasty white people!) immigrants came to this country to avoid awful religious persecution.  What is amazing is that avoidance only lasted so long before we were burning women and a few men at the stake for Witchcraft.  After that I think we learned to mask our contempt for the “not normal” by hating them for race, gender, disability, and sexual orientation, and still religion.                                                    

The attacks of 9/11 of course brought back so much anger towards other religions, that it has become almost a forgotten memory as to why our ancestors sailed the ocean blue so long ago.  Now we talk of Islam and Muslim as though they are an awful disease that we must rid the poor uneducated souls from. People are now raising their fists in anger that a Mosque will be built near the sadness of the World Trade Center.  Countries around the world are denying the construction of these buildings. 

I, as a proud American.  A child of a family of immigrants, am so saddened.  With all of the other reasons to raise your fist in the air, and call on our President to lead us, all have to say to this man is, “You can’t really be a Christian, you must be a Muslim.”                                                          

                                            

I say to this, I DONT CARE! He is no Al Qaeda!  It has never been proven that our beloved President had business dealings with family of Osama Bin Laden.  He is bringing our troops home from a country we had no business being in.  He is finally looking in the CORRECT country.  He is passionate about OUR country, our families, our children, our elderly, our well-being.  He is a man who has proven over and over again that AMERICA AND AMERICANS are what he is here for. 

Is my President a muslim?  I don’t know.  I know that at the end of the day, history will prove that muslims, islamic and christians have caused an equal amount of death, violence, hate and destruction.  I don’t care what God my President believes in, as long as he believes in me.

a salaam alikum…….and God Bless

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James Brown is walking on Sunshine…

Memory is such a strange part of a person.  You hear people saying things like, “I’m not good with names.” or, “I know I have seen you somewhere before…hmmm..” Then suddenly 3 days after that encounter, a fountain of memories erupts in your mind and you not only remember the person. But you remember where you were, when it was, what you were wearing, etc.  You might remember the perfume she was wearing, or the song that was playing during this brief (yet, memorable) meeting.

I went through a time when I would mainly listen to movie soundtracks.  Any soundtrack would do, as long as I could put the music with not only the movie, but the scene in that movie.  I would wonder what made the movie maker choose that song…do they find it to be as wonderful a song as I do?  Do they realize that some small part of a person’s mind will forever entangle this song with that scene and those characters?  I can think back to some songs that I have only heard in a movie. I will remember who sat with me, what did we think of that scene…did we love the song more than the scene? 

I can remember everything about a song, if I truly love it.  I love when I find a gem of a song, just a moment of it, playing in the background while the wounded heroine walks with thought and purpose.  This song can say so much, this song will forever make you want to take a thoughtful walk, when life has just sucker punched you in the gut.  You can think of those songs soaking with love and fun beats…playing loudly while the two lovers kiss and the credits begin. That song makes me want to run to my love, throw my arms around his neck, and kiss him with all the love in my  heart….alas, there is no film crew to catch this, or wonderful song playing.

I love that you can watch a movie a thousand times, hearing the same song, and never knowing who that artist is that created that (what some may call) masterpiece!  There could be some starving musician out there, who gave away the song that poured his soul, heart, and mind into 3 minutes of melody…just to have it sold and used for 5-6 seconds to prove the point that our selfish heroine has learned her lesson.

What we have learned today is this, even the best of music can be found in some of the most unlikely places…and those unlikely places will bring about all the missing 5 minute memories that may have at one time seemed unimportant.  All of those missing 5 minute memories can bring you to some of the most memorable times….

**By the way, did you know that James Browns “I Feel Good” and Katrina and the Waves “Walking on Sunshine” are the most commonly used songs in movie soundtracks. Good to know!

Bon soir mon amie!

Presidente Felipe Calderon

When working for a news organization, (I believe) it is my “duty” to read all the news I can find.  unfortunately for  the news, I am rather picky as to what news I watch and read.  Yes, I will admit it, I am one of those souls who watches The Daily Show and the Colbert Report, and consider that my news intake.  But, recently I have been reading other newspapers. 

I came across an article in  the New York Times about Presidente Felipe Calderon of Mexico.  You see, for all those interested in rounding up any one that may (and probably isn’t) an illegal immigrant, I’m sure that none of you watched or read about  Mr. Calderon’s plea to a joint session of  Congress.  I found it interesting, and a tug at the heart-strings.

Lets have a little history lesson.  As of 2006 the American ban on assault weapons was lifted and as a result the amount of weaponry pouring over the border into Mexico has become one of Mexico’s main focuses.  As there are more and more American guns falling into the hands of dubious characters, the amount of fatalities in Mexico has risen to astonishing proportions.  This violence, as we know, has spilled over our natural border with Mexico.  I am filled with hope that Presidente Calderon’s pleas will be heard.  These weapons are causing innocent people to lose their lives, whether they are American or Mexican shouldn’t matter.  They are people. 

Unfortunately, gun control is such a taboo political subject, that I am afraid his pleas will fall upon mainly deaf ears.  While the Democrats were applauding and rising from their seats to show support and respect, the Republicans remained mostly quiet. 

I hope that people who are supporting Arizona’s new law think about this in more than one light.  If Americans are selling these weapons to Mexican drug lords, and these Men are killing people in astonishing numbers, wouldn’t you flee to somewhere safe?  I would.  Although now that “safe” place is no longer safe.  We also have to take the responsibility that it is not Mexicans who have one of the worst worldwide drug addicted people, it is us.  And if your opportunities to make money to feed your family and have a decent human existence is not there, you will turn to what you can.  That means feeding the beast that is American drug addiction, well, I don’t agree or condone, but I understand. 

I live under the philosophy that we are all illegal immigrants.  I am sure the when we landed at Plymouth Rock, there was no border patrol to tell us to go home and live a life of persecution and danger.  But that is what we are asking these people to do.  What sort of country have we become when this happens?  We are not compassionate people, we are not the same people who said, ” Give us your weak…”  We have become a bunch of greedy, bigot people. 

Arizona has made me sad. Our gun laws and political cowardice make me sad. 

until we meet again….

All of the above

So any person on earth has a massive range of emotions.  There are so many that I am sure one person cant name them all.  But I’ll be dammed if one person can’t expierience them all. 

I can be a typical woman and talk about how much it can piss me off that men write women off as emotional.  But, hey, we are.  Ok, now to be fair, not all of us.  Some women can put every emotion into a neat category and file through them as needed.  Much like a reciepe box.  “Tonight we are serving a large portion of guilt, with half a cup of anger.”  I guess men can be the same way.  Quietly angry….quietly jealous….quietly…..anything. 

The one I cant stand is when you have something, some foreign emotion that has 4 different names, balled up right in your chest.  To the point the hair on your arm stands up, and there is nothing you can do about it.  You see if you do, then you are crazy, psycho, wierd, off her damn rocker…whatever you want to call it.  It doesnt matter if that ball is made of the positives or the negatives…you will still be all of the above.  But when you can do nothing about it, where does it go?  Like a balloon, you cannot just continue to put air into it forever…it obviously has to go somewhere.  Or it just……boom!

I think that for the sake of appearance there are too many *booms* happening.  Too much being stored so that no one is (willingly) falling into the “all of the above” category. 

Oh well, I think I would rather be an “all of the above” rather than a drone…

adios amigos……

I’m sorry, can I see your papers?

I am all for people sharing their opinion.  Really, I am. I have given time to listen to some really, really out there opinions. (In my humble opinion, of course.)  But, this just irritated me in that way that redhead’s should not be irritated.

As I was perusing Facebook last night (yes, Facebook, hey, I could have said MySpace! Dont judge!)  I saw quite a few of my “friends” had joined a group with a title of “It is not racism, you are here illegally, get over it.”  Really?  There are so many things that I find wrong with this.  Ok, let me explain however.  I am not a lover of illegal immigration.  But I am a lover of, oh, I don’t know, humanity!  Here is a simple point, and let me see if you can follow me around the campfire with this…

You don’t see too many Americans running off to Mexico to find jobs.  You don’t see too many American’s running off to Canada (although quite a few of us thought of it when Bush was in office. Don’t deny it, you know who you are!) That is because America is what it is.  A super power with a better economy than most (no offense Greece…) and lets face it, we need immigration.  If these people are willing to risk their lives running across a border, leaving behind everything they know. Such as culture, homes, children, spouses, EVERYTHING THEY EVER KNEW….then there has to be a reason for this, don’t you think?  That possibly human treatment there is way below what Americans place at par.  Do you really think that it is only people coming from Mexico?  No.  Of course not.  But you don’t see my home town passing a law to ask every Eastern-European for their papers, or Brazilian people…do you?  And believe me, we have a large community of illegal immigrants from those countries.  But to target one particular “type” of person??  Really????

This reminds me of a movie I saw that took place during the Civil War.  Where a Black family was walking down a road, and a White man came and asked them for their papers….oh, wait, that was during slavery, then that must have been ok, right?

Lets face it, I am happy to have someone to do the jobs that frankly, I don’t want to.  Have you ever picked a Strawberry??  Back breaking work!  But, if someone crosses our border, and picks our food then this should be perceived as a win-win situation.  They are making money they obviously (duh) can’t make  at home, and this keeps the cost of our sweet delicious Strawberries to a minimum, as we don’t have to pay inflated salaries to spoiled Americans who believe their time and work is worth more than it really is.  

Ok, I get off point.  If I were in Mexico, and I was stopped and asked for papers (do you follow me with the reverse psychology here?) we would be screaming at the inhumanity, racism, and unfairness of that practise. 

So, all I have to say is this, if even one person can come forward and tell me that an illegal Mexican immigrant took a job from them,  I will rethink my entire stand on this.  But, if you can’t I can name quite a few illegal Eastern-Europeans that have taken something from someone in my town.  But because these people are white…..you see where I am going with this.

I bid you adieu….

Am I really writing this?

I still am not really quite sure what this is, or better yet, why the hell I am writing it.  But if the other few billion or so people in the world are writing their inner most thoughts, desires, hates, and stupidity on the internet….well I wouldn’t be a good Lemming if I didn’t jump of the cliff as well.  I always think I have something important to say, but maybe I don’t.  I am possibly like the other Lemmings with nothing really awe-inspiring to say.

I am sitting at home, after a day of work.  I work for a newspaper….I like it.  I answer phones, post some bills, and generally am there to answer the questions of the local “crazy” population that come in our doors.  Our office is a very quiet place.  So quiet in fact that every so often you need to look around to make sure someone (if anyone) is still breathing.  We dont have a lot of news in our town.  Well not what you would call “Breaking News”.  Nothing to interrupt the Soaps for.  As a matter of fact we dont really have any sort of news to interrupt.  That should say a lot about us.  We have no controversies….no one has been murdered….I dont think a liquor store has been robbed in the last decade, possibly longer.  Our big news is mainly raising rates on power, and the last “renegade law-breaker” was some old man who was found with “something electronic” is his ass when he was pulled over for driving like a moron.  Yep, that’s us.  excitement is afraid of us!  Whew!

I have a family….all my own.  This pod of people consists of myself, my more handsome partner in crime, and two kids.  Oh, not to forget the two dogs.  I know, I know, calm down!  Its crazy! 

I think that mainly I have a lot going through my head and I want to feel my importance and stamp my small thumbprint upon this world also known as “web”. 

So, ’til we meet again….