Female Imprisonment Syndrome

The recent case of Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was kidnapped at age 11 and held prisoner for 18 years and forced to bear two daughters by her kidnappers, bears a striking simularity to another case in Austria, but that one was far worse because it involved incest, lasted longer and involved the birth of seven children.

The Insanity of Glenn Beck

Conspiracy nut. Obsessive extremist. Racist who accuses others of racism to cover his @$$. That’s Glenn Beck, who calls himself a libertarian but acts more like a member of the John Birch Society of several decades ago. And he doesn’t belong on television, unless you also think Ku Klux Klansmen also belong on TV.

I wonder if he would think I am racist and  hate white culture too. Since I am white myself, of course that is nonsense. Likewise, Barack Obama is himself half-white and was raised by this white mother and white grandparents.

And if you see something “wrong” with trying to level the playing field for people of all colors, then you are a race-baiter yourself.

And he loses it at a rude caller and makes himself look totally stupid:

He also gets caught lying about stupid stuff on the View:

And has even made an idiotic threat against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which was simply not funny:

And perhaps worst of all, he made a joke about Michael Jackson on the day he died:

Corporate advertisers are already abandoning Beck.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/advertisers-deserting-fox-news-glenn-beck-2009-08-14

So now we need to make sure we finish him off. If you agree, sign this petition:

http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/?id=1970-1040742

CNN, fire Lou Dobbs!

I have decided to join in the efforts to have Lou Dobbs, the anti-immigrant and anti-Obama fanatic, fired from CNN for his irrational obsessions, which have  brought disgrace to the CNN channel. To learn more, go here:

How Christian bigots make the peace process of Israel and Palestine impossible

After all the killings and destruction since 1948 in the “Holy Land”, we must do all we can to undo the systematic brainwashing of the American people that has been done for many decades by Christian fundamenalist leaders and propagandists. As far as I’m concerned, they are mass murderers by proxy!

First, they claim that Israel’s founding was a fulfilment of Bible prophecy and thus will lead to the return of Christ and the establishment of God’s kingdom. They must claim this because so many prophecies in the Old Testament referring to Israel were NOT fulfilled in ancient times, therefore, they assume that these prophecies will be fulfilled in modern times with the new state of Israel. But that is nothing but a rationalization. 

Second, if you read what Jesus actually said in the Gospels about his return, then certain events were supposed to take place, then he would return while the generation that saw him alive still lived. Indeed, the destruction of the Jewish Temple in AD 70 and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 could be seen as fulfillments of what Jesus said…….but he did NOT return. So why would some Christians still be waiting for his return nearly 2000 years later? And linking his return to the JEWISH state of Israel is absurd, period! 

Third, and worst of all, many Christians see what has happened in the Middle East since 1948 as a reenactment of the ancient wars described in the Bible, where many atrocities were also committed. Indeed, the Book of Joshua describes a long campaigne of conquest and genocide that would be compared with what the German Nazis did if it happened today. And that is the main reason most fundamentalist Christians are not bothered by the wrongdoings of Israel because they think, “Such things were done in Biblical times and were said to be God’s will, so why not let them happen again?” That’s a bit like expecting a teenager to wear diapers long after he has outgrown them and been potty trained. This is one reason why I am sometimes so contemptuous of religion: It actually prevents people from growing up spiritually and morally. 

And Palestinians, you are not blameless either! You, just as Israel, have murdered far too many innocents in the name of your religion and your nationality. If I had my way, I’d sweep both you AND the Jews off the “Holy Land” and allow that land 100 years of healing before I ever allow any people to live there again. And then only atheists and agnostics, who would treat the land and its history move objectively than any Jew, Christian, and Muslim would.

If you want to see just how stupid the mentality I described just above can get, just go to a library and check out The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey, and its several sequels that this despicable fraud wrote in the late 1970s and 1980s. He was using religion to promote hard-line Conservative politics, and for that alone I will spit on him forever!

Obama, a hypocrite?

This is a sequel to an earlier blog entry:

http://circleh.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/obama-bashers-are-bigots/

That was in reference to left-wing attackers. Many right-wingers shared the contempt for Barack Obama, but had their own agenda. Here’s an example:

Rep. Michele Bachmann is a liar and an extremist

See for yourself here:

Since when it is anti-American to have political, social, religious, and cultural diversity in your friendships or associations? How is associating with people who are not actually criminals, even if they have done or said questionable things in the past, anti-American? We have had Liberal Presidents, including Franklin Roosevelt, John F Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter and no one questioned their love for America!

This is the sort of innuendo and slander that supporters of Sen. John McCain have resorted to. Let’s send them a message: YOU DO NOT BELONG IN OUR GOVERNMENT ANY MORE!

http://www.censurebachmann.com/

It’s time to tell the truth about Liberals and about their Conservative opponents. Conservatives, including Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, and now Rep. Michele Bachmann have been allowed to get away with slander, libel and hyperaggressive tactics for too long. Enough already! Liberals made America a free and independent nation, not Conservatives. Liberals fought to end slavery, not Conservatives! Liberals fought for women’s right to vote,, not Conservatives! Liberals, not Conservatives, led us Americans through two World Wars and even through much of the Cold War, before Conservatives Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. came along and just happened to reap the political benefits of presiding over the downfall of the Soviet Union. What have Conservatives done to make America great? Nothing, instead they only hold us back from being a more enlightened society, preferring one run largely by religious loons who happen to call themselves Christian!

Let George W. Bush be the last “Conservative” Republican President America ever has! I’be absolutely had enough of the hypocrisy of Conservatives and their outdated and increasingly useless dogmas. End their reign of terror, NOW!

Seeking balance in politics and activism

For starters, I wish to state that in an issue like politics, extremism among some individuals is inevitable. There are two reasons for this. First, many people mistakenly apply religious impulses to politics and thus attempt to be consistent with a certain political viewpoint, even at the expense of ignoring or denying clear empirical evidence that is against it. Quite simply, it is easier (if you are intellectually lazy) to just blindly follow a dogma of some kind that happens to appeal to your ego than to dig for the truth, apply consistent logic to all issues, and thus have a perspective that is subject to change and moderation over time. Second, extremists on any issue tend to work the hardest for their chosen causes and thus tend to rise to leadership positions within political organizations as well as single-issue pressure groups, by virtue of their extensive track record of having done so much for their causes as well as appearing to be experts on the issues they represent. This explains why so many otherwise worthy causes, such as animal rights, get so absurdly corrupted by groups that claim to represent them, such as PETA or ALF, and people who might be motivated by natural compassion to support animal rights are repelled by seeing extremist groups like the aforementioned ones claiming to be the best examples of those causes’ representatives. Let me assure you, they are not and I would be quite happy to see them destroyed without thinking for one second that this would be damaging at all to the cause of animal rights. If you, by your words or actions, make a cause look loony, that’s the best way to ruin it, and you might as well just oppose the cause altogether.

The insane Schlafly klan

Phyllis Schlafly is remembered as the one who leads the Eagle Forum and fought to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and 80s. For that, she is condemned by progressive women as being of the same character as Benedict Arnold. Indeed, Phyllis’s whole career is one of staggering hypocrisy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Schlafly#Criticism

The feminist activist Gloria Steinem and the author Pia de Solenni, among others, have noted what they consider irony in Schlafly’s role as an advocate for the full-time mother and wife, while being herself a lawyer, editor of a monthly newsletter, regular speaker at anti-liberal rallies, and political activist.^[30][31][32] In her review of Schlafly’s Feminist Fantasies, de Solenni writes that “Schlafly’s discussion reveals a paradox. She was able to have it all: family and career. And she did it by fighting those who said they were trying to get it all for her… Happiness resulted from being a wife and mother and working with her husband to reach their goals.”

Now her son, Andrew Schlafly, is continuing in his mother’s footsteps, and is making an absolute fool of himself as the head of an biased web encyclopedia known as Conservapedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservapedia

Here’s an example of Andrew’s foolishness:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservapedia#Lenski_dialog

On June 9, 2008, New Scientist published an article describing Richard Lenski’s 20-year E. coli experiment, which observed the bacteria evolve the ability to metabolize citrate — a rare and complex mutation.^[65] Schlafly contacted Lenski to request the data. Lenski explained that the relevant data were in the paper and that Schlafly fundamentally misunderstood it. Schlafly wrote again and requested the raw data. Lenski replied again that the relevant data were already in the paper, that the “raw data” were living bacterial samples, which he would willingly share with qualified researchers at properly equipped biology labs, and that he felt insulted by letters and comments on Conservapedia, which he saw as brusque and offensive, including claims of outright deceit.^[66] The exchange, recorded on a Conservapedia page called “Lenski dialog”,^[67] was widely reported on news aggregate sites and weblogs. Carl Zimmer wrote that it was readily apparent that “Schlafly had not bothered to read [Lenski's paper] closely”,^[68] and PZ Myers criticized Schlafly for demanding data despite not having a plan to use it nor the expertise to analyze it.^[69] Consequently, editors who began to ask too many questions about the issue and about specific links “not allowed in Conservapedia”, were censored and permanently blocked. ^[70]

Andrew founded Conservapedia because he claimed that Wikipedia was biased to the left, but in fact, being a right-wing extremist, he naturally sees anything even slightly to the left of him as unacceptable, and Conservapedia is a manifestation of his own bigotry.

If people like the Schlaflys ran America, we wouldn’t have a free country at all, but a theocratic empire in republican clothing, and where women are allowed to have careers, but only under men’s terms, not their own. They must be discredited and buried forever!

Sarah Palin, living a lie

Let me be frank and blunt about this matter of the Republican Vice-Presidental nominee of 2008: She is an IDIOT and a disgrace to all responsible women in America, if not the entire world!

She has five children and her oldest daughter Bristol, only 17, is already expecting a child of her own. So in essence, Sarah Palin illustrates that women, even highly achiveing ones like her, are still expected to be breeding machines as well.

I find that absolutely disgusting!

How can anyone, knowing the vast environmental destruction humans have caused around the world, because of our growing populations, ever put their trust in anyone that herself contributes to the problem?

How can anyone think that her assumptions about birth control and abortion are in any way applicable to places that are overcrowded, just because they seem justified in lightly populated Alaska, the state Palin is governor of?

How can anyone, claiming to be Christian, be so damn materialistic as to favor the exploitation of Alaska’s mineral resources to make people richer, at the expense of the wildlife that live there? Jesus constantly denounced that attitude! So do I, despite being non-Christian.

How can anyone, having so strong sexual urges herself that she would crank out five babies, seriously think that abstinence before marriage is an option for teenagers with their own raging hormones, including her own daughters? One of them has obviously rejected that. If those values didn’t work for the Palins, why should they be applied to anyone?

Nevermind that Bristol, the pregnant daughter, is planning to marry her baby’s father. Statistics show that the overwhelming majority of teen marriages end in divorce. In any case, she is at a disadvantage in moving on with her education, and even if she does that, many teen mothers, lacking financial resources, would not be so fortunate.

Nature made our sexual urges strong for a reason, that being that REPRODUCTION, the purpose of sex, is what perpetuates all species. Unless we eliminate those urges, we will inevitably give in to them when opportunities present themselves. I think anyone who says otherwise is a LIAR.

Therefore, the Roman Catholic Church, advertising its priest and nuns as celibate and therefore “pure” and totally dedicated to the church and nothing else, is lying to us all. And so is Sarah Palin.

Her daughter Bristol is living proof that her values on sexuality are a failure. And that being the case, her values about economics and the environment, issues which are affected by human population growth, are also discredited.

We need to BURY this loon before she destroys us! IMMEDIATELY!

Statutory rape, a legal absurdity

In many states in the United States, is it considered a crime, specifically statutory rape, for an adult of either sex to engage in sexual intercourse with a minor of either sex, even if the minor gives consent to the act. Legally, the minor is considered incapable of giving consent just because he has not reached a certain chronological age, even if he or she has already passed puberty and would otherwise be sexually mature.

I find this legal standard to be insulting to all parties involved and want it abolished, IMMEDIATLY!

I beleive that once a minor has shown physical evidence of puberty, he or she should be held responsible for any sex acts that the minor chooses to participate in, regardless of the gender of the minor, gender of the other partner, the nature of the act, or even the age of the other partner.

Minors are not “protected” by statutory rape laws, they are insulted, treated the same as children who have NOT reached puberty. Most teenagers themselves know how wrong that is and that in turn results in lack of respect for the law in general from teenagers as well as others in different age groups.

There is no question that sexual relations between a pre-pubescent child and an adult is totally inappropriate and the adult should be punished by imprisonment, since such children are indeed not capable of giving consent to sexual acts, lacking a sex drive and fully developed genitals.

There is also no question that sexual relations between a teacher and one of his or her own adolescent students, regardless of their genders, is immoral, being disruptive to the educational process. In such a case, the teacher should be fired and blacklisted from teaching in any school, and the student who took part in the sex acts should also be expelled permenantly from the school.

What I’m writing about is an adult being charged with a sex crime merely for having sex with someone, regardless of physical development, JUST BECAUSE THE MINOR HAD NOT REACHED AN AGE LEGALLY DEFINED AS “ADULT”! In most states, that age is 18. But is it common knowledge that some 15 or 16 year olds are mature enough to handle sex with either members of their own age group, or older partners, while some 18 year olds are not. There is nothing magical about the age of 18.

So abolish the statutory rape laws! They are not based on reality. Only prejudice.