the freedom to speak...

WATCH: NC pastor calls for concentration camps for gays




A dear friend posted this on facebook and I just had to comment...

  


  No matter how atrocious the language is, and in my opinion, this is pretty damn bad...Freedom of Speech is one of the most important rights we enjoy in this country. Without it, we are doomed. As a people and a nation. We are Americans.
  Be glad, as I am, that we aren't FORCED to sit through this kind of garbage because we have allowed others to take away our right to say what we will. Good or bad...

  While I abhor these comments, I hope people will understand this man is NOT following the teachings of the God I believe in. He is pandering to his own homophobic fears, along with the beliefs of many, if not all, of the people in this church.
  
  Having said this, remember, some of your wives and husbands, sons and daughters, my husband is included in this list, served this country proudly for over twenty years as a member of the United States of America Armed Forces.  Our military men and women defend our Constitution. Proudly. They defend all of our rights. Proudly. The defend us. Proudly.
  Just so fearful idiots like this can be heard, sadly, by people who agree with him.
  

  I have no doubt, if we advocate, then demand someone take away this Preachers right to speak his beliefs, we then willingly advocate the loss of our own right to Freedom of Speech.
 
 No matter how appalling we find that speech to be, he has the right to say what he will. Just as you have the right to say you find what he says to be offensive.
  And it is offensive. Even so, it is obvious he has those who believe as he does from the "amens" you can hear in the background. Otherwise, why would these folks park their butts in those pews when he preaches his hate-mongering homophobic fear at them?

  I have learned through my years, (courtesy of the service of my husband) as an American and as a military wife, I cannot always pick and choose the speech that is "acceptable" to my mind. 
  Unless the speech calls for the physical harm to another person, it is not illegal. And I must admit, each time I turn on the television, I hear a lot people speaking.  And I find their words terribly offensive. But, I still believe they have the absolute right to say it.

 I constantly have to remind myself that I would die, yes, I said die for their right to speak out.  I will take up arms to defend the garbage they put forth, because it a fundamental right of ALL Americans. Even people like him.  Even as he spews his hate out into the air with no thought to the harm his words can, and do, cause others.

  So, I will restrain myself from screaming hate in a like manner and calmly tell him, "Sir, you are wrong.  If you doubt me, ask the peoples who survived the Nazi death camps, if they would ever consider, for a millisecond, advocating such a thing as this. Even if they agree with you, they would never call for such horror."  

  Oh, wait.  Hold on a second...I'd be willing to bet a whole American dollar that he doesn't like anyone who is different. And he certainly would not like anyone who would dare to espouse a thought that opposes his beliefs.

  I guess my point is this; 

  

  As Americans, we have the freedom to speak out against those we disagree with, without fear of punishments, imprisonment and or death. To me, this right is sacrosanct.  This, unfortunately, means we are stuck with fools like this man.  We have no choice but allow him to continue to spout out his blatant hatred and ignorance.  Especially if we want the right to turn around and call him out on the foulness he dishes out...  

Thanks for "hearing" me out...

A writer I'm not...

I have never claimed to be a writer.  I have difficulty organizing my thoughts and keeping them coherent and streamlined.  Which, is why I am not a good writer.  I find words to be difficult for me.  I find speaking to be more conducive to conveying sarcasm and joy, than trying to find a way to describe the emotions that allows the reader to "get it," without hearing the intent from my tone.


I am frequently an angry commentator.  I find my first drafts should never, not ever, be published.  It usually takes me all day to find a better way to respond to something I don't like.  You know what I mean, without all the cussing.  And I have a lot of swearing to get out of the way before I can post most things.


My vocabulary is spectacularly limited by anger.  Sad, really.  When all I want to do is to express how something or someone makes me feel.  That first outrage, that first visceral reaction is the most potent and probably far more likely to be entertaining as well.  


Alas, due to my inability to express my anger and outrage, without cursing, I will probably never be able to be a writer.  What a bummer...

Check this out if you want to see what some teachers are teaching your children...Lies, Intimidation and how to LOVE Obama...



http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theblaze.com%2Fstories%2Fjail-time-for-insulting-obama-student-who-stood-up-to-outrageous-teacher-speaks-for-first-time%2F&h=QAQFse5AnAQ



Whenever I hear of an incident like this, involving a teacher who is so obviously NOT teaching, but rather "preaching" his or her own beliefs, I am a little sickened.

Our children are being taught by people, in some cases, who have no clue what it means to be an objective purveyor of facts.  Just the facts.  Adding to this sad state of affairs, are some of the text books  being utilized by these schools.                                                            

The last few years of hearing things like this, have made me understand this one truth:  If my children were still in high school, I would remove them and teach them at home.  If necessary, I would have gone back to school to learn how to be a teacher, rather than allow them to be subjected to the misinformation and out right lies spewed by this teacher.                                

As a mother, teaching my children how to be decent people, I tried very hard to be objective in what I told them about what I knew, versus what I believe.  Maybe that was the wrong way to go.  I guess you would have to ask them if they thought I was "fair minded."                                                               

I know they heard their father and I discussing politics along with many other things.  And we both tried to answer their questions as best we could.  I am aware both of them are conservative in many ways.  Just as Rick and I are.                                                                                                

I think we taught them this by living the way we did, rather than telling them how to be as people. It wasn't always easy to be objective.  But, I believe it is vital to be so with your children.  I thought it was important to separate what I know from what I believe.  I know I did talk to them about both.  I hope I made a point of telling them, "this is what I know and this is what I believe."  Only time will tell if this was the right way to go about the job of teaching my children to be decent human beings.  (I guess you could ask them if they wish we had done things differently.)

I only know that I wanted them to get the facts to make up their own minds.  Really, the most important thing to me, was they knew they were loved.  I wanted them to grow up and be happy and content with the lives they would eventually choose for themselves.

If one of my children had come home with a recording of this kind of "rhetoric" from their teacher, I would have been beside myself.  I would NOT have been accepting, or happy with,  "suspended with pay" as punishment for belittling, badgering or threatening my child.  I would have wanted to take that teacher out to the back of the school and kick her lying ass...Right after I allowed my child to publish the sound bite of her rant at my child, all over the Internet and to every media outlet I could think of.

[Please remember to insert my sarcastic tone here for the following rant...]

She should be, at the very least, reprimanded and suspended without pay for threatening a child with jail for his "slandering" of the President.  And who in the USA, was jailed for slandering former President Bush?  Or even President Obama for that matter?  And of course, as a tenured teacher, she should be forced, in Public, to name every single person who has been jailed for slandering any of our recent Presidents.  And on top of that, she should be asked to apologize to the school and the students for lying to them.

And aren't we just tooo damn lucky this woman is only one of the demolib hacks who are threatening...I mean...um...'teaching'...OUR children how to lie...er...I mean...um...grow up to be honest, decent human beings and good 'truth telling' citizens of the United States of America...

And lest we forget to ask, may God Bless her for doing her job sooo well...

Hi, hi, hi....

I hope you check this out....Many thanks to Mrs J for sharing this...

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FQR38wbwtQBk&h=xAQHS8Vj3AQGlBquEWPMNrCTfETZxtmzzaQHftulI2SAbZA&enc=AZMjk4B2ifrDOBSbC7EpvFwpB_N13oH-dilrZhQDc7zRJoRrNqXAT-eaDIG1vlCL0GvV7AhOmiAMuAdxJ0V2wbeVIL0pyqLFGAkjZmkSQcSOmQ

This young woman, Kira Davis, said it well...
I don't want to be fighting against the "feminist machine" all the time, just as I don't want to fight against men. I too find it more offensive to have to explain and then defend my positions as a conservative to another woman, than I do to a man.
 
Mostly cause the men just think I am ill informed while the woman think I am stupid and under the complete control of my husband and incapable of making a conscious well informed decision all by myself. And then to be vilified for being a conservative? By other women? Who should be defending my right to be who I will be? My response to those women is this.....Go fuck yourselves...( if you aren't already)

Just because you hate being a woman, doesn't mean we all do. ..

I am a wife, mother, sister, niece, aunt, cousin, friend and grandmother. I love being a woman. Maybe not everyday. But I love being just who I am.
And I have to say, I don't believe, in any way, shape or form, there is a "war on women" by the Republicans and Conservatives of this country. I believe this war is in the minds of liberal women and men. I don't know anyone, male or female, who wants anything to do with these shrill, harping, nagging men and women and their socialist agenda...

i firmly believe this "War on Women" is a made up scenario to try to help Presidebt Obama and his Demolib cronies get reelected so they can screw my progeny out of the opportunity to be who they can be without the government interfering in every aspect of their lives. And all the while, these so called "for all American women" groups, help the Federal Government, via Congress, the Whitehouse and the Demolib Socialists, sneak through the back door and steal their Freedoms and their very livelihood, from them.

I feel like the more I listen to some of the liberals out there, especially the women, the less they know what they are talking about.

I agree with Kira D.. These groups and most of these women, certainly don't know anything about me. Nor do they even want to try...Because I do not agree with them, they dismiss me completely and them bitch bitterly about MY lack of choice due to the undue influence of the men in my life...What a bunch of unknowing idiots. 

If you were to ask a friend about me, they would probably say I speak my mind to the point of rudeness. And I try to be as truthful as I can be. And trust me when I say, all that honesty sometimes has caused me some grief and has cost me a friend or two along the way.
I am a conservative woman. I believe in equal pay for equal work. I believe that I can do it better than the Government can. I believe big government and the liberal agenda to expand it even further are intensely detrimental to me and mine. And to our future generations...

I say get out of the way big government and Presidebt Obama and democrats. Stand on your own two feet and work like I have done...Get out of the way NOW, Media Matters, moveon.org and groups of the same ilk, get thee gone Satan...

Stop putting words into our mouths and telling us women what you think is wrong with us and what YOU think I should do, and even how I should be, as a woman. You do not have the right.
F*^k off...stay out of my business and stop telling me how to raise my children, live with my husband and live my life. You are so utterly clueless, I find it terribly embarrassing that you are female too...

And while I personally do not like Mr. Limbaugh, and choose not to listen to him...As a woman, I don't mind him calling his women followers "babe"...To those of you sad females who object? Don't listen. No one forces you to. That is what these liberal "allegedly for ALL women," like NOW,  groups miss completely...

This is America...You don't have to like him. You don't even have to listen to him. And I promise...you won't die if you have to reach out and change the channel on your radio... really.

One video is worth a thousand words...

Today I saw something posted by George Takei, one of my favorite Star Trek actors, that made me think about my feelings on gay marriage. It is approximately 10 minutes long and is so tragic, and painful, to view.  If you can handle the visible grief of another human being, it is well worth watching.  I will admit, I almost didn't make it through this. It is difficult for me to watch the pain of others, but I wanted to see what this young man, Shane, had to say.

This couple, Tom and Shane, were obviously committed to one another.  The fact that one family could not accept their love, is heartbreaking and tragic and their judgment may have led to this death.  The fact that one of these young men could not even go to the funeral of his life partner, because he was threatened with violence is beyond appalling.  It was obvious to me, that Tom and Shane loved each other.  I loved that they laughed so much.  Together.  The fact that they are both male, is utterly beside the point, they loved each other.  THEY.  LOVED.  EACH. OTHER.  And my heart goes out to Shane at the loss of his partner and they way he was treated by Tom's family.

It seems to me the young man who died, Tom, had sadly misguided and misinformed and possibly embarrassed parents.  For a family not to accept their son?  To me as a parent, this is just so...I cannot imagine blaming my child for something beyond their control.  I just can't.  And now, this young man Tom, is gone.  Lost to his family and his partner forever.  With no chance at all of teaching his family he was normal and was in love a man.

And even more sadly to me, is that after his death, he was taken away from Shane, the one person who so obviously loved him.

I can only imagine the depth of the pain that Shane, who is surviving the loss of the man he loves, is dealing with.  It was that pain that made me think hard about my ideas of marriage.  My perceptions. What I believe about love.  Relationships.  I am trying to understand my reluctance to say out right, its okay to be gay and married.  I have a lot of thinking to do.  And I'm sorry, but I still don't know how I feel about gay marriage. But, I am now teetering on the fence, where as before I was firmly on the side of being ambivalent.

I do believe strongly that the rights of 'life partners' have been curtailed.  I want these committed couples to have the same protections that I do, as a married woman.  I believe that something must be done for people who love someone of the same sex and want to have a "legal in the eyes of the families, private entities and all levels of government" relationship.

Gay couples should have the freedom, at the very least, of some kind of civil union that allows their partner the same rights as hetero couples.  Every one of us, as Americans should recognize those freedoms and rights, and we should NEVER allow anyone to limit or curtail the right of another person.

Not even if it is their own families who are the ones who are homophobic and or bigots...

Click on the link to view this video...It could happen to you

New Indie Romance Writer...

So, what shall I talk about today?  How about reading?  


Okay, so I found this interesting independently published author, who I love.  And while the grammar is not perfect, and there are a few errors with spelling and occasionally a missing word, I found myself laughing out loud at the stories.


Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but for me, this is a rare occurrence.  Laughing out loud while reading is just so damned rare for me.  I mostly laugh in awe ( and not awed in a good way)  at the stupidity of the political commentators...


But, this is not a political story...




I love a good romance story.  I love a good spy story.  I love a good story period.  I love to read.  I love it.  I read almost anything I can get my hands on.  Except werewolf and vampire stories...just can't get into them...Sorry folks...but there it is...


This book I found, by an indie author, is not for children.  Even tho I found it in the children's section, the cover told me it was for adults.. It is called, "the Monkey Jungle," and is written by my "new favorite" author...A person named Taylor Ryan.  A woman, I am certain. And I think, with a wicked sense of humor and an absolutely wonderful and irreverent way of saying things.


I loved this story.  Just loved it.  You just cannot imagine my thrill when I found out she has two more books out.  Each one is progressively better, (writing wise,)  and story wise, well, let's just say I love to laugh and did so many times while reading this writers stories...


The writer does not write really young women, unsure of themselves, and willing to put up with what they consider to be an "alpha male" type man.  I like the stories because, the heroines are  "people who know exactly who they are as women, mothers, and lovers,"  are respectful, yet still stand up for themselves. They like themselves as people, and it shows.

It was refreshing to read about a heroine who doesn't wait for a uber rich man to come and rescue her from a fate worse than death...(a humdrum mundane existence as a poor put upon young woman with an oh poor me attitude and a desperate need for a daddy figure to make her toe the line or, the need to be taken care of by a mean spirited unwilling to trust, man.) 


Taylor Ryan has changed the way I see the "cute little romances" I have read in the past.  No longer will I accept these stories written by people who have no true concept of what it means to be an alpha male, or female. 


I am tired of whiny women looking for and finding an abusive, controlling, bullying nasty rich man to fall for.  What crap. I want to read about a man who is kind, gentle and when necessary, can kick ass without breaking a sweat and who actually likes his heroine.  Yes, I said it! He LIKES her. And she likes him.


I believe an alpha male, a truly confident man, can accept anything about the woman he cares for, if she is honest with him.  He won't have his ego bruised or become judgmental and behave like an ass if she tells him the truth about herself, or just shows him who she is as a woman, as a person.  And I believe that theory holds true for an alpha female as well. 


The quality I admire most in her characters, is their honesty about who they are, with themselves.  They don't pretend to be someone they aren't for the other person. They have grown up and lived a life and those life experiences have taught them a lot.  Not that they never made mistakes, it's that they learned from those mistakes and don't repeat them over and over again. 


The characters are who they are and accept this about themselves and, more importantly, allow those around them to be who they will be.  It is a refreshing concept to a romance reader who is used to reading about cruel men with mommy and trust issues.


Because they are who they are, their attitude is one of calm acceptance of each other.  I really liked that.  It was surprisingly fun.  And the situations the characters find themselves in while trying to explore a true adult relationship, were amusing.  Actually, they were sometimes, if not most of the time, laugh out loud funny...


And then I read "Wearing Cowboys," also by Taylor Ryan.  Oh my God!!!  I was hysterically laughing in one scene in particular.  But not because the characters were behaving in a comedic manner, but rather a suggestion he made to her about repairs for her blow up toy...I found it funny.  I could picture the situation in my mind.  It was very, very amusing.


So, I guess by now you have figured out that I really like this author and her stories.  But wait...I'm not done yet...I found the third book, "Poor Phillip!"  and was surprised again...Not a 'typical romance' by any means...


A young, young woman, married to a much older man, is widowed.  Her old husbands concern for her well being, has him do something shocking.  He wills her to his respected friend and neighbor, with the proviso that they must marry and have sex for 101 days straight within one year.  


Say w-w-hat?


An interesting, no...a fascinating premise...What do you think would happen if this "new couple," knowing nothing about each other except what the local gossips have to say, agreed to the conditions of the will? Forced intimacy with a stranger.  Think about that one for a second.  How many women, and girls, does this happen to around the world? On a daily basis, I would imagine there are thousands of women married against their wishes...


But, what if she wants to marry him?  And he wants to marry her?  They are strangers?  Then what?  What if they have an instant connection?  How different could their lives together be if they fell in love with each other?  What if they hate each other after the experiment is over?  What then?  What if they only one of them falls in love?  Makes for some interesting questions don't you think?  


The way Taylor Ryan answered those questions, and others, made for a great read.  I just love her stories.  Did I say that already?  Yep.  But, I can't say it enough...I just LOVE her books...  


Here it is...anytime I can read a book of fiction, and a romance at that, and come away thinking about something I never thought of before, well, it makes me feel like I learned something...And isn't that a good thing?


So,  thank you Taylor Ryan...for writing heroes and heroines I can relate to, for an interesting and humorous look at relationships and what they can be and how they can be.  Please, don't stop writing.


I hope you will check her out...


Taylor Ryan on Amazon