Anti-Abortion Activist Arrested in Killing of Kansas Doctor
In Kansas, police have arrested a fifty-one-year-old anti-abortion activist in connection to the murder of Dr. George Tiller. Tiller was shot dead Sunday as he attended services at his church in Wichita. The National Abortion Federation says Dr. Tiller is the eighth abortion provider to be assassinated in the United States since 1977. President Obama said he is “shocked and outraged” by Tiller’s killing. US Marshals are now being deployed to protect women’s health clinics and doctors across the nation. We’ll have more on this story after headlines.
This is just sad. Would someone please explain to me how it is that Anti-abortion groups can blithely go about accusing abortion doctors and people who are 'pro-choice' of being murderers? I do not know of any abortion doctors or believers in pro-choice who have ever brutally killed in public by bombings, or gunning someone down. Will someone please point out the hypocrasy? I mean jesus. Or whatever.
And for fuck's sake, will these people please grow a brain and read Sam Harris? How hard is it?
Among several points that he makes in 'Letter to a Christian Nation':
- "20 percent of all recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage. There is an obvious truth here that cries out for acknowledgment: if God exists, He is the most prolific abortionist of all.”
- “Almost every cell in your body is a potential human being, given our recent advances in genetic engineering. Every time you scratch your nose, you have committed a Holocaust of potential human beings.”
Buddhism has no single view on abortion. There are many different sects of Buddhism and various sects believe differently. It all comes down to when you believe life begins and in this country (the US), life begins at birth. There are those that disagree with me, but frankly, I don't care.
My question is this - if life begins at conception, why do we not count pregnant women as two people in the census?
I don't believe in some giant puppet-master in the sky keeping tabs on each little thing we as humans do. I don't believe it's my place to judge another's life, but rather it's my place to be compassionate. Black and White does not apply here.
Look, It's a personal choice. It needs to remain a personal choice. Believe what you want, and let other believe what they want, but please stop being a hypocrite and accusing people of being murderers in one breath and killing people yourself in the next.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Pathetic Irony and the LDS Church.
Much as happened in the last two months, and so quickly so that I may have seemed to drop off the planet. In that short time, the presidential race got extremely ugly, and then an amazing thing took place, we elected a new president and he's an African American. I foresee changes to come in this world that are difficult to put into words.
The United States and it's long history of racism continues, but in a different respect, because the majority has spoken and the majority is ready for a new future. Sadly there is a part of me that fears for the safety of the President Elect, as his election has brought the fringes of racism into the daylight, like so many cockroaches when the kitchen light is flipped on unexpectedly. If I were one to pray to a deist god, I would do so for him. Instead, I'll meditate on his behalf, because I think that changes he will implement will be beneficial to all sentient beings. And that's a bold statement.
In other news, Californians have elected to remove rights that had been granted to the sexual minority community by their state judicial branch. It appears that the chief sponsor of this newest wave of hatred is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I happen to know a thing or two about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because this is the religion I was raised in. I served a full time mission for this organization and basically it, and it's perspective on the world, encapsulated my own vision of the world, and world religions, until I was 22 or so.
To say that the LDS view of the world and of world religions, of it's people and by extension, the freedoms of the worlds people is narrow would be an understatement taken to an extreme. The phrase 'Having Blinders On' especially applies to this culture.
Rather, than go off on a tangent about my own storied experiences of having grown up in this group, only to escape it as an early adult and completely change my point of view to that of social and political liberal, lesbian ,and later Buddhist, what I will tell you is that anyone who does even a tiny bit of research into the subject can discover that multifarious manners by which the church has sought to alter the documentation of its own history.
The LDS church as a whole has long sought 'mainstream acceptance' in the world - ironic, since their own scriptures describe them as a 'peculiar people'. I don't have a footnote for where I learned this, but I remember being taught as a child that in the early days of the church, eg - 1840+ (they were already in Utah at the time), membership in political party was randomly assigned to members so that they would 'receive equal attention from Washington'.
Furthermore, I personally have long known that the church, both individually and collectively is very concerned with image and are taught to 'avoid the appearance of evil' (I won't go into my theories about how this teaching fosters hiding of evils/bad behavior, and that it seems to condone the commission of heinous acts out of the view of the public, rather than an honest, and forthright approach to the world. I'll save that for a later post).
Third, anyone who has paid attention to the mainstream media in the last 20 years or so, especially those of us raised in the LDS community, can clearly see that 'The Church' has engaged in a broad spectrum marketing campaign to dispel what they call 'myths' and sanitize the religion for the purpose of making it broadly appealing to the masses.
Indeed, it seems to have worked. The LDS church's Prophet, Seer and Revelator Brigham Young once described the African Race as follows:
"You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable, sad, low in their habits, wild, ad seemingly without the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind. The first man that committed the odious crime of killing one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be and the Lord put a mark on him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then other curse is pronounced upon the same race - that they would be the "servant of servants;" and they will be, until that curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree." Journal of Discourses, Volume 7, pages 290 291
For someone harboring such openly racist beliefs, the LDS church has made amazing inroads in converting the people of the African continent.
The church also has something of a tangential connection with sexual minority community. A book written by former BYU Professor D. Michael Quinn, in his treatise, 'Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example' outlines and extensively footnotes this tangential relationship. Mr. Quinn has other titles he's published as well - all of which cast a shadow on the sqeaky clean image 'The Church' would like to project. Among them, "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View", "Mormon Hierarchy #01: Origins of Power", "Mormon Hierarchy #02: Extensions of Power", and "Essays on Mormonism Series #04: The New Mormon History: Revisionist Essays on the Past". Fascinating reading, all - and for his scholarship, the LDS Church excommunicated and ostracized him.
The history of the racism and bigotry continues to this day - even though, supposedly they 'shook off' their racism in 1978 when they allowed black men to hold their priesthood (when god told them to, of course).
Just in the last two weeks a story appeared from Rexburg, Idaho (Location of BYU Idaho, and approximately 97% LDS populated) of a school bus full of 2nd and 3rd graders who were shouting 'Assassinate Obama' - to which parents reported this to the school board. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Racism is taught. Someone taught these kids this - and even though they may not know what they were saying, its planting seeds that may flower later into a very destructive plant - and this scares me, but I digress.
Here's the ironic part - ready?
In sanitizing their history, and making themselves appear squeaky clean to the world and 'avoid the appearance of evil', they have done LESS to align themselves with the 'mainstream right' (eg, extreme poltical religious right of this country) than by simply funneling money into a measure that removes marriage rights from the GLBT citizens of California, and by teaching racsim in their culture.
These are characteristicts that are stereotypically associated with fundamentalist right wingers, 'Sarah Palin Republicans' if you will - and while it is safe to assume that not all people who are of the 'Evangelical Persuasion' feel this way, that is the prevailing stereotype ...and now it appears that the Mormons long sought after 'acceptance' is well underway.
Ironic, don't you think?
Why, you may ask? Well...I will get into that next time, with the topic of 'A Mormon President and The White Horse Prophecy'.
Stay tuned.
The United States and it's long history of racism continues, but in a different respect, because the majority has spoken and the majority is ready for a new future. Sadly there is a part of me that fears for the safety of the President Elect, as his election has brought the fringes of racism into the daylight, like so many cockroaches when the kitchen light is flipped on unexpectedly. If I were one to pray to a deist god, I would do so for him. Instead, I'll meditate on his behalf, because I think that changes he will implement will be beneficial to all sentient beings. And that's a bold statement.
In other news, Californians have elected to remove rights that had been granted to the sexual minority community by their state judicial branch. It appears that the chief sponsor of this newest wave of hatred is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I happen to know a thing or two about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because this is the religion I was raised in. I served a full time mission for this organization and basically it, and it's perspective on the world, encapsulated my own vision of the world, and world religions, until I was 22 or so.
To say that the LDS view of the world and of world religions, of it's people and by extension, the freedoms of the worlds people is narrow would be an understatement taken to an extreme. The phrase 'Having Blinders On' especially applies to this culture.
Rather, than go off on a tangent about my own storied experiences of having grown up in this group, only to escape it as an early adult and completely change my point of view to that of social and political liberal, lesbian ,and later Buddhist, what I will tell you is that anyone who does even a tiny bit of research into the subject can discover that multifarious manners by which the church has sought to alter the documentation of its own history.
The LDS church as a whole has long sought 'mainstream acceptance' in the world - ironic, since their own scriptures describe them as a 'peculiar people'. I don't have a footnote for where I learned this, but I remember being taught as a child that in the early days of the church, eg - 1840+ (they were already in Utah at the time), membership in political party was randomly assigned to members so that they would 'receive equal attention from Washington'.
Furthermore, I personally have long known that the church, both individually and collectively is very concerned with image and are taught to 'avoid the appearance of evil' (I won't go into my theories about how this teaching fosters hiding of evils/bad behavior, and that it seems to condone the commission of heinous acts out of the view of the public, rather than an honest, and forthright approach to the world. I'll save that for a later post).
Third, anyone who has paid attention to the mainstream media in the last 20 years or so, especially those of us raised in the LDS community, can clearly see that 'The Church' has engaged in a broad spectrum marketing campaign to dispel what they call 'myths' and sanitize the religion for the purpose of making it broadly appealing to the masses.
Indeed, it seems to have worked. The LDS church's Prophet, Seer and Revelator Brigham Young once described the African Race as follows:
"You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable, sad, low in their habits, wild, ad seemingly without the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind. The first man that committed the odious crime of killing one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be and the Lord put a mark on him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then other curse is pronounced upon the same race - that they would be the "servant of servants;" and they will be, until that curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree." Journal of Discourses, Volume 7, pages 290 291
For someone harboring such openly racist beliefs, the LDS church has made amazing inroads in converting the people of the African continent.
The church also has something of a tangential connection with sexual minority community. A book written by former BYU Professor D. Michael Quinn, in his treatise, 'Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example' outlines and extensively footnotes this tangential relationship. Mr. Quinn has other titles he's published as well - all of which cast a shadow on the sqeaky clean image 'The Church' would like to project. Among them, "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View", "Mormon Hierarchy #01: Origins of Power", "Mormon Hierarchy #02: Extensions of Power", and "Essays on Mormonism Series #04: The New Mormon History: Revisionist Essays on the Past". Fascinating reading, all - and for his scholarship, the LDS Church excommunicated and ostracized him.
The history of the racism and bigotry continues to this day - even though, supposedly they 'shook off' their racism in 1978 when they allowed black men to hold their priesthood (when god told them to, of course).
Just in the last two weeks a story appeared from Rexburg, Idaho (Location of BYU Idaho, and approximately 97% LDS populated) of a school bus full of 2nd and 3rd graders who were shouting 'Assassinate Obama' - to which parents reported this to the school board. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Racism is taught. Someone taught these kids this - and even though they may not know what they were saying, its planting seeds that may flower later into a very destructive plant - and this scares me, but I digress.
Here's the ironic part - ready?
In sanitizing their history, and making themselves appear squeaky clean to the world and 'avoid the appearance of evil', they have done LESS to align themselves with the 'mainstream right' (eg, extreme poltical religious right of this country) than by simply funneling money into a measure that removes marriage rights from the GLBT citizens of California, and by teaching racsim in their culture.
These are characteristicts that are stereotypically associated with fundamentalist right wingers, 'Sarah Palin Republicans' if you will - and while it is safe to assume that not all people who are of the 'Evangelical Persuasion' feel this way, that is the prevailing stereotype ...and now it appears that the Mormons long sought after 'acceptance' is well underway.
Ironic, don't you think?
Why, you may ask? Well...I will get into that next time, with the topic of 'A Mormon President and The White Horse Prophecy'.
Stay tuned.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
Ok...yeah I know I have been quiet...
...but I was moving. Now that's done, I can open my big mouth again. Well, for a just a quick post today:
- I watched the debate last night (who didn't). Joe Biden won the debate when he choked up over his loss and the empty pantsuit exhibted NO COMPASSION whatsoever and began, without a blink, yammering on about maverick this, and oil that.
- If I hear one more sentence ending in the dangling participle 'Also', or I hear the word Maverick even one more time, I will throw up in mouth.
- They passed the
robberybailout bill - loaded with pork and BS...and leaving us holding the bag. It's scary and I think it's a calculated move to get the republicans through the election. - The banks are still going to have a problem because they are treating the symptom, not the disease. I think we are in line for a huge recession. It seems to be in the cards and I have to say I have EVEN MORE respect for Barack Obama for even wanting the job at this point. I hope he can be our new FDR, becuase I think that is the only thing that is going to fix it.
That's about all I have time for today - more later.
Friday, September 12, 2008
I'm worried about this country.
She doesn't know what the Bush Doctrine is - this is a basic requirement, in our present world, for any political hopeful, and not only do you need to know what it is, you need to have an opinion because it defines your conception of foreign policy.
For those unfamiliar, the Bush doctrine, in a nutshell states that the USA has the right to treat countries that harbor or give aid to terrorist groups as terrorists themselves.
It's the basis for us throwing our weight around and bombing countries willy nilly if we can come up with real or fabricated reason to even remotely suggest they might have a terrorist living within their borders. It was used to justify invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and will probably be used on Iran if McSame gets elected.
It's abhorrent.
The fact that Palin didn't know what it is is nothing less than pathetic and verifies that she is completely unqualified to be elected as a national leader.
In addition, when asked by Charles Gibson if she had any insights on Russia, since Alaska was so close to it.
Her response? "Did you know you can actually *see* Russia from Alaska"
That's not an insight. That's a visual.
She said we may have to go to war with Russia. She said it on national television. If these two get into office, we're going to be nothing but a sand lot after the Russian's bomb us off the planet. It's scary. How can they justify this? How? Give me one moral basis upon which they can validate this policy? Just one.
For those unfamiliar, the Bush doctrine, in a nutshell states that the USA has the right to treat countries that harbor or give aid to terrorist groups as terrorists themselves.
It's the basis for us throwing our weight around and bombing countries willy nilly if we can come up with real or fabricated reason to even remotely suggest they might have a terrorist living within their borders. It was used to justify invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and will probably be used on Iran if McSame gets elected.
It's abhorrent.
The fact that Palin didn't know what it is is nothing less than pathetic and verifies that she is completely unqualified to be elected as a national leader.
In addition, when asked by Charles Gibson if she had any insights on Russia, since Alaska was so close to it.
Her response? "Did you know you can actually *see* Russia from Alaska"
That's not an insight. That's a visual.
She said we may have to go to war with Russia. She said it on national television. If these two get into office, we're going to be nothing but a sand lot after the Russian's bomb us off the planet. It's scary. How can they justify this? How? Give me one moral basis upon which they can validate this policy? Just one.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Republicans are pro-molestation...
Ok, I have to say this -
The whole 'Obama supports comprehensive sex ed for kindergarteners' thing is such a load of B.S.. I mean seriously.
The bill is sponsors AGE APPROPRIATE sex education, and in the case of kindergarten, specifically, and only, teaches kids that their private parts are private and how to identify inappropriate touching and how to protect themselves from predators.
As a father, OF COURSE he wants that. And every parent in America should as well. Part of the reason so many people have been victimized by predators and unscrupulous authories (priests, teachers) is because the country is sexually repressed on a wholescale level.
In fact, any parent who DOESN'T support education for their children on this matter, to me, seems to be an unfit parent. As a former Rape Crisis Counselor, I have seen too many children in the children's hospital have to undergo rape kits becuase they weren't educated and they didn't know and they were victimized.
So the McCain's little rant here is unconscionable and just plain stupid.
Not to mention illogical.
Do they not realize that the logical converse of their implication that children should NOT be educated about inappropirate touching and sexual predation implies that they SUPPORT inappropriate touching and sexual predation?
Am I the only one who sees this? We all know that the the support of sexual predation on kindergartners is not a policy platform, but common sense dictates that the uneducated become victims....
I guess, if you think about it...that also describes the reason why Bush and most Republicans in general, get elected in the first place.
The whole 'Obama supports comprehensive sex ed for kindergarteners' thing is such a load of B.S.. I mean seriously.
The bill is sponsors AGE APPROPRIATE sex education, and in the case of kindergarten, specifically, and only, teaches kids that their private parts are private and how to identify inappropriate touching and how to protect themselves from predators.
As a father, OF COURSE he wants that. And every parent in America should as well. Part of the reason so many people have been victimized by predators and unscrupulous authories (priests, teachers) is because the country is sexually repressed on a wholescale level.
In fact, any parent who DOESN'T support education for their children on this matter, to me, seems to be an unfit parent. As a former Rape Crisis Counselor, I have seen too many children in the children's hospital have to undergo rape kits becuase they weren't educated and they didn't know and they were victimized.
So the McCain's little rant here is unconscionable and just plain stupid.
Not to mention illogical.
Do they not realize that the logical converse of their implication that children should NOT be educated about inappropirate touching and sexual predation implies that they SUPPORT inappropriate touching and sexual predation?
Am I the only one who sees this? We all know that the the support of sexual predation on kindergartners is not a policy platform, but common sense dictates that the uneducated become victims....
I guess, if you think about it...that also describes the reason why Bush and most Republicans in general, get elected in the first place.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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