The Catholic Church, Inc

Don't be fooled by religious dogma. Anyone with a brain knows that organized religion is big business controlled by wealthy interests with desires for social and political influence.  Every religion is like this.  Every one.

We don't have humble religious disciples spreading God's good word.  We have corporations selling consumers a product so they can make a lot of money and get a lot of power.  And it's always been that way from the Greek pantheon to the founding of Christianity.  Why? Because religion didn't come from God. It came from man and man is greedy.  Man is selfish.  Man uses God every day as an excuse to do whatever he wants and still morally justify it for the God fearing public.

But in this blog, I'm ranting on those crazy Catholics again.

A special Vatican senate is currently in session in order to change current church policies that are deemed outdated.  They call it "modernizing" the Catholic church.  What it really is is the Catholic church revamping an increasingly unpalatable image to something fresh and more likable in order to stay in business.  These policy changes are nothing more than a corporation, Catholic Church Inc in this case, revamping its image to bring in more customers.  Why?  Money and power.

So when they say they're going to start allowing openly gay people to take communion, it's not because the Bible is suddenly ok with gay people.  It's because the Catholic church sees a new market among the LGBT community.  When they say birth control is fine now, it isn't because they suddenly accept women should have a say in their own health care decisions (or make any decisions that doesn't involve doing whatever a man says).  They're really just trying to appeal to female consumers.  Divorced people can come to church now because divorced people are potential customers.

And the more customers Catholic Church Inc has, the bigger its profits.  The bigger its profits, the more influence it can buy.  Citizens United was made for the Catholic church.

But in the end it's still just a lie.  Man made religion. God made God.  It's ignorant on your part to assume that you can only have a relationship with God through some ritual man invented or even by sitting in a fancy building every Sunday.

I'm not arrogant enough to say whether God is real or not, but I do know that if He is real, WE GOT IT WRONG.  God doesn't need your money.  He doesn't need your temples.  The whole damn world is God's temple and you can't buy your way into His favor.

Organized religion just uses your faith in God as a way to take advantage of you.  Why keep letting them?

Idiots with guns

Look, I understand this is a crazy world and a person has the right to defend themselves any way necessary if their lives are being threatened.  I'm not against owning a gun.  I'm not advocating abolishing the second amendment.  And it isn't fair to accuse me of being a socialist destroyer of freedom simply because I disagree with the open carry movement.

Because open carry is stupid.  Dangerous and stupid and history is on my side there.

Has knowing a person could have a gun EVER prevented a crime against them?  NO.  If anything, it just makes criminals more violent. The news is littered with tales of home invaders and potential muggers being shot.  They still tried though.  History proves me right.

But the bad guys didn't win.  That's the excuse we keep hearing.  Yeah, but they still tried.  So has having more guns decreased crime? Resounding no.

But that isn't even the point anymore.  There's always going to be crime no matter how well armed we are.  Again, nothing wrong with defending yourself if you're life is being threatened, but unfortunately, gun or not, you still have a good chance of facing danger. That's the nature of our world, sweety.

What I'm against is stupidity in gun ownership.  Does anyone outside the military really need a rocket launcher?  Do they really need armor piercing bullets?  Grenades? Clips with a hundred bullets?  Who are rednecks going to war against?  I'm sorry, but if you need a machine gun to go deer hunting, you suck at it and you need a new hobby.

The ONLY kinds of people who stockpile military grade weapons are dangerous people, conspiracy nutjobs who cream at the thought of taking down the government and taking over the country.  Do you want these kinds of people in charge?  Doomsday preppers are stockpiling, but they're just as nuts.  The Walking Dead isn't real, people.

In other words, the only people who need these weapons are the people who SHOULDN'T HAVE THEM.  No sane person wants or needs military grade weapons.

So there's no point to buy them.  If anything, there's EVERY REASON not to have them available for purchase.  TO KEEP THEM OUT OF THE WRONG HANDS.

Please don't tell me we need to defend ourselves against the government or those invading Mexicans.  Take your medication.

Which brings me to my next question.  What the hell is so wrong with background checks?  I don't care how criminals get their guns.  If you're a law abiding citizen like you claim to be, a background check is no problem for you.  End of debate.

As for you open carry idiots, do you feel safe when someone waves a gun in your face?  Then don't wave one in mine.  You're not defending your second amendment rights.  You're just being stupid.  You're just scaring people.

Let's be honest and admit a lot of the fear we have is a product of NRA propaganda and a sensationalized media playing on our emotions to sell their products.  The NRA isn't fighting for gun rights.  They just want your money.

There's nothing wrong with owning a handgun or a rifle.  It's the American way.  But we don't need crazy people running around with missiles.  We have to recognize that guns aren't our saviors and that a culture built on violence will only create more violence.

You really want to stop school shootings?  Stop teaching kids that guns are cool and teach them that they're dangerous instead.  Teach kids to respect guns and to be responsible with them.  You aren't being respectful to anyone or remotely responsible waving your guns around Walmart.

We need a little less gun waving and a little more common sense.

Assholes

There are some people who go out of their way to make others miserable.  They're called assholes and there's nothing you can do about them.  Like it or not, the world will always be full of assholes.

Why do people become assholes?  There are MANY reasons.  Rich people are assholes because they mistakenly believe money makes them better than others.  It doesn't so don't feel inferior to them.  They are no one of consequence to you.

But let's take time to acknowledge that most people aren't assholes ALL THE TIME, but only when they're in a bad mood.  Second, let's recognize that EVERYONE has bad moods and can potentially become an asshole.

Sometimes, you have a bad day.  Something bad happens or someone's rude to you and you get angry.  When this happens, it's human nature to lash out at others.  Should you?  The polite answer of course is no.  Will you?  Odds are you probably will.

That being said, there are MANY people who are so miserable with their own lives that they HAVE to share their misery with others.  People who feel oppressed want to feel power too and the only way they can do that is to be shitty to the only people they deem lower on the totem poll than themselves.  That's why the service industry gets the brunt of the assault.  Most customers only feel empowered when they get to boss around the poor kid whose entire job is to do whatever the customer tells them to.  They know the kid can't say anything back.

And that's what keeps assholes going.  Knowing that most people will either be forced to accept their behavior or will be too nice a person to get in their face about it.  We're told to ignore the bully.

The problem is, ignoring the bully doesn't make the bully go away.  It just tells them they've won.

Sometimes people can't see over their own lives and don't realize they're being assholes.  In that case, is it really so wrong to politely inform them?

A simple,  "Well, that wasn't very nice" or a "I'm sorry you're having a bad day. How can I help you?" can be quite a wake up call to the unintentional asshole.  It brings attention to their behavior and it isn't rude so they can't really complain to your manager.  Most people will recognize when they did wrong and apologize.

And for the intentional asshole, your politeness pisses them off.  It tells them you aren't fazed by them.  They have no real power over you.  They can't win.  They are just as big a nobody with you as they are with anyone else.

And that's the best revenge.

Blacks are racist too

I'm so sick of black people assuming I'm racist against them because I have the audacity to criticize them for things they themselves admit are wrong within their culture.  Black folks know they have problems.  They recognize that many of the issues I've mentioned in previous posts are very detrimental to them.  Yet a lot of these same people get offended when someone who isn't black AGREES with them.  How hypocritical.

News flash: black people can be racist too and not all white people are racist.  Racism is not an ethnic identity for all white people any more than crime is an ethnic identity for all blacks.  It's time to acknowledge that racism is actually perpetuated by a continuously decreasing number of morons, that the majority of people have learned better and that it really is time to move on if it's ever going to die out for good.

It's also time to admit black people aren't innocent victims any more and that some of them DO use race as an excuse for their own inaction.  It may not give you a warm, fuzzy feeling but it's still the truth.

For proof, look no further than your own accomplishments.  Look at all the successful black people out there.  I don't just mean the rap stars and ball players.  I mean the black doctors and lawyers and policemen and teachers and business owners and politicians.  Do you really expect me to believe they're all flukes?  No.  Successful black people didn't pull a fast one on the white man.  They got off their butts and made something of themselves.  No one can do that for you and, with all the anti discrimination laws in place, no one can legally stop you.

It's like your ancestors fought for you to have equality and once the Civil Rights Act passed, you stopped caring.  YOU are holding yourself back because of the choices YOU make.  YOU are the reason black advancement is at a stand still because YOU would rather blame white people than do something to help yourself.

And how dare you accuse me of racism for acknowledging that.

There will always be hateful people in the world, but if you allow them to dictate your life, you're the only one to blame.  If you don't like the way the police treat you, you'll get no where by teaching your sons to be confrontational.  Teach your sons to become cops instead and change it by setting an example in the community.  If you don't think government is representing you, take a more active roll in it.  But don't NOT do anything and blame the white man.  Don't riot in the streets tearing stuff up and then blame the white man.

Because we HAVE come a long way and black lives HAVE mattered for a very long time.  By the way, white people were in those protests in Ferguson and New York too.  White people want blacks to be equal too and are fighting for it.  Are they racist?

It pisses me off when someone says that pushing for us to not focus on race is somehow pretending slavery never existed. No.  It's acknowledging that we learned from the mistake that slavery was and it's time to put it behind us.  Instead of thinking the white man still owes you, maybe you should acknowledge that most white people aren't your enemy anymore.

The truth's hard to admit sometimes, but that doesn't make it any less true and the truth is some black people are racist against whites and most white people aren't the racists you think they are.  Slavery is dead and the only way to get past racism is to stop giving it so much control over our lives.

Is there really white privilege?

There is no working class white person living in the US who has ever felt privileged for being white.  They still struggle to find decent work, to pay their bills and feed their families.  There are millions of white people on welfare, living in the projects and, yes, being victimized by the police.

The media are quick to ignore this.  It's better ratings for them to play up race as a defining issue.  Give the people what they want to hear, not the truth.

So they tell black people that it is their skin and their skin alone that is keeping them from being successful.  They ignore the other issues holding the black community back such as poverty created by the greed of the wealthy elite - who have many ethnicities among their ranks. Or the thug mentality espoused in every rap song that encourages black youth not to bother with education, says drugs are cool and tells black men they must be confrontational to everyone they meet, but especially police.  They don't want to admit that in the 21st century, the biggest thing holding the black man down is the black man.

Is it really the white man's fault that more black people don't take part in politics?  We had years with the voting rights act in place for the black community to vote in their representatives, but historically, a large portion of blacks don't bother voting.  Few blacks run for office.  What happens when a lot of people don't bother voting or taking part in their government?  The extremists take over.  Our deplorable lack of fair representation in government is our own fault.

But more than that.  Is it really the white man's fault the hood is a high crime area?  Are white people really forcing black people to turn to crime?  Right and wrong is a personal decision.  You always have a choice not to rob someone or join a gang or drop out of school or be a promiscuous slut at 16.  The white man isn't making black people do these things, but they get the blame and the media overlooks black on black crime because no one cares.

But is there really white privilege still in America or is it a perception created by the media to get a juicy news story?  Are blacks the victims of white oppression or are they really victims of their own laziness?  Wow.  What an inconvenient thought.  Best ignore it.

But for every racist that still exists, there are thousands of people who AREN'T racist.  Because we HAVE learned our lesson.   We HAVE grown morally.  There HAS been progress in racial equality and black people ARE better off than they were.

But we gladly ignore this because the white man is the enemy.  The news never shows the white people protesting for justice for Michael Brown but they're there.  Whites marching with blacks for black equality in every protest that is taking place in our country.  Whites are speaking out against police brutality, are shouting "black lives matter" and "I can't breathe" just as loudly as their black neighbors.  There were whites who marched with King in the 1960s.  Whites ran the underground railroad and a whites pushed for the end of slavery.

But we're told white people are racist, oppressors and the enemy of the black.  It's naive.  It's only an excuse blacks use to justify their own racism.  It's only a scapegoat to excuse their own failings.  We all say we want to have change, but then go back to our video games and celebrity gossip having done nothing about it.  Then blame the lack of change on white people.

Whatever excuse works.

No such thing as a common law marriage

For some back story on this rant.  My father was killed and our family is suing the people responsible.  He died without a will.  His live in girlfriend has hired a lawyer claiming they were common law married and therefore his estate (including whatever we win in the lawsuit) belongs to her. The audacity of this lady to even pull a stunt like this when we're all grieving and trying to get justice is mind blowing, but what really sticks in my craw is the sickening idea that in ass backwards Texas, she could very well get away with it.

So I got to thinking about what common law marriage really is.  It's ludacris.  In fact, only 10 states still allow common law marriage (and they're run by stupid people) so I know I'm not the only one who has a problem with this.

How do you get common law married in the ass backwards state of Texas?  You tell someone you live with a person and use his name once.   That's it.  In other words, I am now married to George Clooney because I am telling you that I live with him and my last name is now Clooney.  Does that seem legitimate to you because I doubt it would to George Clooney.  Why is it so easy to claim a marriage?  If that's really all it takes to be married, is there any point to get a license?  What's the point in fighting for marriage equality if all you have to do to be married is pretend you are? Congrats, gay people, you've had the right to be married for years and didn't even know it!

Let's be honest about where the idea for common law marriage came from.  It's an excuse.  It's a desperate attempt by the religious set to morally justify living in sin.  It's a way to scam the government come tax time.  It's a scheme by a criminal to steal property that isn't hers.

If you don't have a ring, you're not entitled to a thing.  I'm sorry, but cohabitation (no matter how long) doesn't make you married.  Having kids together doesn't make you married (my father didn't have any with this woman).  Using someone's name (after they die, as in my case) doesn't make you married.

A legal marriage involves a commitment from both parties put in writing and notarized by the state.  It does NOT involve faking a marriage especially after the person has died and can't contradict you.

Pay attention.  If you didn't ask the state for a legal marriage license, YOU ARE NOT MARRIED.  End of.

Don't mess with Mother Earth

I get really annoyed at people who drive big ass SUVs or pick up trucks with the Hemi that only get like 1 mpg and have the audacity to moan about gas prices.  Shut the hell up.  Dumbasses like you are why Big Oil can get away with price gouging.  They know it doesn't matter what they charge you, you'll pay anything to not have to rely on public transit.  They know how stupid you are.

Humanity is the one disease Mother Earth doesn't have a chance against.  We rape this planet everyday and justify it by saying it's a matter of survival.  It isn't. It's just us being irresponsible and stupid because we CAN survive and still be environmentally friendly.  We just DON'T WANT to be.

We have the technology to draw our energy from the sun.  We'd rather tear holes in the planet and choke her air with toxic fumes.  We can use reusable bags at the grocery store, but plastic is so much easier.  Hell, we throw our trash on the GROUND we're so stupid.

And do you think we can keep doing these things and NOT pay the price for it?  Mother Earth is an abused woman.  She wants REVENGE.

So she gives us drought and famine to kill us.  She gives us superstorms and floods and blizzards to kill us.  Do you really think the increase in violent weather is in no way OUR fault?

When you shit on someone, they're going to shit on you.  It's a natural response.

Mother Earth is angry and our survival depends on HER.  If you piss her off, she will get even.

It doesn't matter if you believe in climate change.  If you want food to eat, water to drink and air to breathe, you WANT to take care of the environment.  If you think your cell phone is more important, you deserve to die out.

But if you want to survive, you know that you don't mess with Mother Earth.

Christmas, a holiday of sin

I get so sick of Christian zealots condemning Halloween as the devil's holiday while they continue to promote Christmas as something sacred.  Christmas is in NO way sacred and if you really look at it, even the most pious would question it.

For starters, it's supposed to be a celebration of Jesus being born.  So what's with the tree?  What does decorating a fir tree have to do with Jesus?  NOTHING.  Decorating trees, holly wreaths on the door, mistletoe, even Christmas lights all began as PAGAN rituals most likely to celebrate nature and protect against winter.  No Jesus involved.  Yet if you don't put up a Christmas tree or question why they do, Christians will blacklist you because you must be against Christmas and Christmas is always unfairly under attack...

And where in the Bible does it say Jesus was born December 25?  No where.  That's just a date someone picked at random because it either made sense financially or it coincided with, you guessed it, a PAGAN ritual.

And Santa Claus?  The whole gift giving thing?  Pagan.  Rudolf and Frosty were created by advertisers to sell you stuff.  Capitalism has nothing to do with Jesus yet Christmas is big business and Christians will fight tooth and nail for their right to spend a bunch of money they aren't supposed to love to put presents under a tree they aren't supposed to have.

Every church ceremony, every carol sung began as paganism that early Christians incorporated into their worship to win converts to their faith.  Like it or not, that's the TRUTH about religion and our holidays reflect that.

What's the difference between Christmas paganism and Halloween paganism? There isn't one.  Shut up about how evil Halloween is and just enjoy the fact that you have a holiday to break up the monotony of your crappy life.

Islam deserves ISIS

I know this sounds hateful, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.  ISIS is God's judgement against Islam.

That so many in the Middle East continue to live in massive poverty despite the region's wealth is a judgement from God.  That the region has been at war with itself and it's neighbors for centuries and the only ones suffering are those living in the Middle East is God's judgement against jihad.  That Islam has become reviled because of its support of terrorism, is God telling Muslims to knock it off.

When your people use religion to justify murdering children, how can you not expect the world to respond in kind?  How can you blame those you attack when your actions lead your own children to suffer?  God is speaking to you, Islamists, but you're not listening.

If we look closely at what jihad and the groups who support it are saying, the belief is that jihad is the murdering of those who don't follow Islam and is ordained by God.  But what majority of people do groups like the Taliban kill?  MUSLIMS! So jihadists aren't really defending the Muslim faith.  How can they be?

Jihadists and groups like the Taliban, Hamas, Al Qaeda, etc are only after two things: money and power.  And as more Muslims continue to erroneously attribute their selfish actions to God, the more God allows them to suffer massive hardships.  God has spoken and He doesn't approve of Islam.

Maybe it was different a long time ago.  Maybe Islam was once a bastion of knowledge and had a promising future.  Maybe the Arab world was once a mighty one, but as Islam went to the darkside, as it corrupted God's name for evil purposes, God took all that away as punishment.  And ISIS, that army of evil that is currently slaughtering the "chosen" people of God?  Well, that's just one more example of God trying to tell Muslims something they refuse to hear.

Their lives are always going to suck and they will never again be a mighty people as long as they continue doing what they do.  As long as Islam supports jihad, as long as they treat women as slaves, as long as they fly planes into buildings and strap bombs onto children, God is going to keep judging them.

And judging by how rough He's been so far, it's safe to say He DOES NOT APPROVE.

Hard work gets you nowhere

When I was a kid, I was told that the keys to success were hard work and perseverance even in the face of adversity. Maybe that works in the movies or maybe even in the fight for a just causes like equality or freedom.  But in the workplace, it's all bullshit.

Don't ever mistake your employer's desire to use you to make themselves rich for the idea they actually care about you.  They don't and you're disposable to them.  If we weren't disposable, we'd have a living wage by now and there would be no outsourcing.  Hard work, loyalty, these are only words.  They won't get you anywhere in your career.

It's not what you know. It's who you know.  It's being related to the boss or sleeping with the boss.  It's schmoozing and kissing the right person's ass at the right time.  That's why we have LinkedIn.  Nepotism and cronyism gets you career advancement.  Luck, being in the right place at the right time, gets you opportunity.  Hard work mostly just gets you tired.

Oh, I'm not saying hard work won't make you feel good, like you might actually be accomplishing something or that you won't want to play down your good fortune by saying you worked hard to deserve it.  I am acknowledging that hard work alone isn't enough.

It shouldn't be that way.  If you work hard for something, you should be rewarded.  That's not the case.  People work hard their entire lives and barely scrape by.  Those lucky enough to get rich, keep getting rich while those not lucky enough to catch the breaks, don't get anything.  It's not fair.  It's capitalism.

It pisses me off when some rich person says God blessed them by giving them money. So God just said fuck you to rest of us?  God doesn't bless you with monetary wealth. Your greed made you rich and God says not to be greedy.  Greed hurts people.  It shouldn't be rewarded.

It pisses me off when someone feeds me a rags to riches story and says anyone can do it.  Bullshit.  Those are flukes, not reality.  The reality is 9 out of 10 people born into poverty will stay in poverty their entire lives.  No, we don't all have the same opportunities in life and hard work alone won't make opportunities magically appear in the ghetto.

I'm such a Debbie Downer, aren't I?

Tough. That's life.

So what do we do about it?  Can we do anything about it?  As long as the world runs on money, the answer, unfortunately, is no.  Not unless you give up what few luxuries you do have to go live in some hippie style commune.  It doesn't matter if you're a capitalist, socialist or communist.  They are all faulty systems because they all run on money.  People crave power and dominion over others and money is the best way to get that.  As long as society accepts that attitude, the poor are screwed.

I suggest rebelling against the entire money making system.  Stop trying to get rich and save yourself the headache.  Do the work you're paid to do with only the effort necessary to do a decent job, but don't take work too seriously.  It's just a paycheck because you need one.  Accept that your boss will be a dick no matter where you go and don't give them the satisfaction of making you unhappy.

But go even further and hit the rich in the only part of their anatomy they care about, their wallets.  Stop catering to corporations and go local.  Shop local, eat local, bank local.  Make a statement that the rich will understand.  You're a human being and you deserve a comfortable and dignified life regardless of your bank account.

Organized Religion Sucks. Here's Why.

There's nothing wrong with believing in whatever mumbo jumbo makes you feel better.  This isn't to bash your beliefs per se.  Just the way you go about them.

I grew up reading the Christian Bible and was taught to believe every word in it and then I saw the light.  I stretched my mind if you will.  I dared to do the one thing the religious set forbids themselves from doing.  I talked to people who believed in something different and boy did I learn.

The big three, Christianity, Judaism and Islam all seem to have the same roots. I've covered that in a previous post so I won't go over it all again here, but I will say this.  The similarities are SO similar that it's OBVIOUS that all three probably had the same original source.  Does that mean God's real? Who knows.  But it does prove my point.  RELIGION didn't come from God.  It's an INTERPRETATION of God created by MAN and since everyone interprets things differently, THAT IS WHY WE HAVE DIFFERENT RELIGIONS.

So, to reiterate, organized religion and all the crap that goes with it was invented by man.  Like it or not, it's the truth and it will stay the truth whether God is real or not.

I tried to read the Quran once.  I couldn't finish it because as good a reader as I thought I was, it didn't make sense.  The passages felt disjointed and jumped around too much.  I didn't feel inspired or even like I was reading a holy text.  It felt like the ramblings of a mad man.  I tried a different copy thinking maybe it was in the translation but no, it really is a rambling manifesto written by a guy who may have been on some serious drugs.  To believe in the sanctity of the Quran is like sanctifying Hitler's biography or Ayn Rand.  Sorry, Islam, you guys got it wrong.

But the Christian Bible is no better. Let's be honest. The "sainted" Bible is a collection of randomly selected stories that someone (we don't really know who) put together and said were holy.  I mean, come on.  After Adam and Eve, Genesis is really just a census record.  So and so beget so and so.  Why is that holy?  And we know for a FACT that King James, centuries after the first unamed person collected these stories, completely REWROTE the Bible to better suit HIM so how do we know the Bible is all that accurate?  We don't.

And Jews have a persecution complex. That's right. I said it.

But if the only objection to religion was the crazy things it gets people to believe, we could be ok with it.  The problem is it doesn't STOP there.  Oh no.  Because every religion teaches that it's the one true religion and all others are false and we can't allow false religions to corrupt the world.  No, they must be destroyed.  Even atheists believe that.  Did you know atheism is considered a religion?  What does THAT tell you?

And then there's conflict, holy wars, jihads, bull shit.  Why?  What's the point in trying to whipe out everyone who doesn't practice the same ideology as you?

Power and wealth.  Religion has never been about God.  Religion was created for the purpose of getting power and wealth.  The so called holy men made themselves kings.  Don't believe me?  Why are there mega churches?  Why does the pope have his own city? Why do the imams live in luxury while their faithful live in horrible war torn poverty?  Why are parishioners encouraged to pay tithes?  God doesn't need our money.  Organized religion is a money scheme.  It's a corporation selling God's love when God's love is free.

But worse than that, it's a power trip.  If you're Catholic, the pope outrules all other world leaders.  Why?  Because he claims God gave him that right.  Why would anyone claim God gave them dominion over others if they didn't desire power?  Humans have long justified our reckless slaughtering of animals and pillaging of natural resources by claiming God gave us the right to do so.  Islam allows men to buy and sell women because they claim God made women inferior and it is man's right to do with them as they please.  Why do people start cults? Power trip.

If there is a God, no human on the face of the earth can speak for Him or know what He truly wants from us.  Anyone who claims they do, is a liar.

Kick the nonsense of organized religion to the curb.  Put all the lies and made up ceremonies, all the hate and all the ego behind you.  You and you alone can create a relationship with whatever devine spirit you choose to believe in.

Don't waste your money paying some fraud to do it for you.

Islam may be what's wrong with the Middle East

Sometimes I beg the world to prove me wrong, but this time it refused.  I said before that without American support, without our troops and our money, without our interest, the Middle East would fall apart.  We are not even fully out and that prediction has come true.

And it was inevitable.  Let's be honest, Islam has been taken over by jihadists and war mongerers.  Whatever it started out as, it is now the religion of war.  They don't need the West to be their enemy.  They crave war so much that they are perfectly content to kill each other.  ISIS is the perfect example of this.

They are also the perfect example of why forcing a theocracy on people is a BAD idea, but that's only part of what's wrong with Islam.  Muslims don't need Christians or Jews to destroy them.  Muslims destroy THEMSELVES.  Sectarian violence is the biggest killer in the Middle East.  Jihadists kill more Muslims than Jews or Christians and Islamists are too blinded by hate to acknowledge it.  They refuse to blame themselves for their crappy situation instead using the west as a scapegoat.

Islam is the religion of war.  Until that changes, they will get what they give.

The Black Stereotype

How am I supposed to take someone seriously who lacks the ability to use proper grammar or even to wear their pants correctly?  How am I supposed to take someone seriously who devalues human life by advocating drug use, promiscuity and violence in almost every aspect of their created culture?  How I am supposed to take seriously anyone who is so inconsiderate that they blast rap music filled with hate and swear words as loud as possible and do it at three in the morning when they know there are families trying to sleep?  How can I take someone seriously who continuously says the white man owes them as they also continuously drop out of school and choose welfare over work?  And why should I care about these people who have the stupidity and audacity to claim that all of the above is part of being black?

Black youth neither knows what their heritage is nor do they seem to care.  The hip hop, gangbanging, thug mentality of black youth is an affront to their heritage.  It's a bitch slap to every one of their ancestors who fought to win them the rights they now take for granted.  Everyone who sags, every pregnant teen, everyone who wants a grill in their mouth is bitch slapping their ancestors. They are insulting the freedom that their predecessors sacrificed so much to gain.  And they are clueless.

Blacks have a proud heritage.  They have a heritage of perseverance through adversity and of overcoming.  They fought for their freedom and to change hearts and minds and they were winning, but now their gains appear all to be for nought.  Their children don't appreciate it.

The thug, the baller, the rapper, this is not black culture.  They are stereotypes forced on black people by the media of which the black people fell for.  It is a cruel joke and one that has played itself out with disastrous consequences.  The white man has no need to destroy the black because, based on the black man's actions, he is destroying himself.  This must stop.

Black youth must know their true heritage.  They must respect it and they must become the proud and noble people they were meant to be.  It's time for the thug, the black stereotype, to die out.

Men Don't Need Sex

It drives me almost to the point of Lorena Bobbit crazy when I hear a man excuse sexual misconduct by saying "men have needs."  That's the equivalent of saying the penis controls the male brain, that males are incapable of intelligent thought because their penis prevents it.  And they have the audacity to treat women as inferior to them?  My vagina doesn't override my better judgement.

Humans need a lot of things. We need air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, cloths to keep us warm and shelter. We even need to be loved.  We don't need to have sex with everything and everyone in sight.

The truth is that intelligent human beings do not need sex as frequently as our male/penis dominated society leads us to believe. Sex, by it's nature, is a biological necessity for procreation, but our enjoyment of casual sex can, thanks to our intellect, be something we can control.  In other words, if you're promiscuous, it isn't that you're fulfilling a biological need.  It's that you're a slut with no self control and should be ashamed of yourself.

I want to have more faith in humanity than humanity seems willing to give itself.  An act as intimate as sex should have a deeper meaning to the participants other than they were just in the mood.  Sex should be an act performed in love by two people who are committed to each other and in a committed relationship even if that commitment doesn't have a state issued marriage license.  It should not be performed with anyone who happens to be around at the time you want it and it should NEVER be taken by force.

The idea that promiscuity is human nature is laughable and disgusting.  We're smarter than that.  We have the ability to retrain ourselves from doing a lot of things.  Raping someone or cheating on your partner are two of those things. We don't have to do them.  You don't have the need to do them.

We need to understand the difference between a need and a want and stop letting our desires control our lives.  Promiscuity and it's acceptance is why we have an epidemic of STDs.  It's the main reason why we have abortions.  Promiscuity is telling the world that you have ne respect for yourself or your body, that you must be trash because you treat your body like trash.  If you don't want to be trash, have enough respect for yourself to not be a slut.

I'm not saying don't have sex or no sex until marriage or that promise rings are a good idea.  I'm not saying all men are dogs and promiscuity is a crime committed by both sexes.  I am saying that if you're going to have sex, you should have sex RESPONSIBLY.  Sleeping around because of some misguided belief that you can't go a week without sex is not responsible behavior.

Be a better person than that.

Christianity & Islam: Pretty Much The Same

After a close comparison of Christianity and Islam, weighing the differences against the similarities, I have come to the conclusion that Christianity and Islam are basically the same religion.

They both have similar themes, similar ideology such as women's roles in society and there is no God save the one promoted by their particular religion.  They both steadfastly maintain that they and they alone are God's chosen people.  They both rely heavily on really old holy books that often share the same stories.  They both exalt a prophet as a representative of God.

The just call these things different names.  God vs Allah, but Allah is simply the Arabic word for God.  Muhammad vs Jesus, but both were men in flesh who lived in the same historical era.  Though Christianity, perhaps as a one up on Islam, believes Jesus was the physical son of God where as Islam believes Mohammad was a prophet/spokesperson for God, but acknowledges he was human.

In truth, the only REAL difference between the two religions is that Christianity has evolved and changed as humanity has evolved and changed while Islam as remained stagnant.  Christianity has grown as our understanding of the world has grown while Islam refuses to grow period.

If we look closely at early Christianity, we see a world that is EXACTLY like the one we now so readily criticize in modern Islam.  Every time a Christian condemns something done in Islam today whether it's jihad or the idea that women are property without rights, they are actually condemning something they themselves used to do.  The crusades were a Christian jihad.  Women in the Christian world were only allowed to own property or vote as little as a century ago.

So knowing that the two came from the same place, why hate eachother so much?  Are Christians really so disgusted by their own pasts they can't bare to recognize it?  Are they so loathe to acknowledge their own shortcomings?  Are Muslims jealous that Christianity's malleable nature has given it more commercial and financial success? Christian nations are more successful, more likely to be first world nations as compared to Islamic ones.  Christian nations tend to be more stable while Islamic ones exist in a state of perpetual war (often with itself).  Maybe Islamists feel left out of the good life?

The point is, we are of the same stuff.  We are not strangers. We are cousins of the same family.  And we shouldn't kill our own families.  So I would like to take this opportunity to ask members of each side to reach out to your cousins and TALK.  Get to know them.  Understand them.  Make friends.

I don't think God/Allah will hold being nice to someone against you.

The Man, The Boy and The Donkey

Let me tell you a story I heard as a child.

An old man, his young grandson and their donkey set off on a long journey.  The old man was riding the donkey while the boy walked beside them. As they passed through a town, the townspeople took notice of them and many were offended.  They demanded to know why a grown man would force such a small child to walk while he rode.  The man and the boy thought about it, realized they were right and so switched places.

Soon they reached another town and again people took notice and were angry.  They demanded to know why a healthy young boy would ride a donkey and force an old man to walk.  The man and his grandson thought about what they said, realized they were right and decided to both walk.

Again they came to another town and again the people took notice and now scoffed at them.  They demanded to know why the man and the boy were walking when they had a perfectly good donkey to ride.  The man and the boy realized they were right and decided to both ride the donkey.

Again they reached another town and again the townspeople were unhappy with them.  They demanded to know how the man and the boy could be so cruel as to overburden such a poor donkey.  The man and the boy felt horrible for what they had done and decided to make up for it by carrying the donkey.

While crossing a bridge, the two lost their grip on the donkey.  The donkey fell into the river and drowned.

Moral of the story:  If you try to please everyone, you'll eventually lose your ass.

Big Oil Continues To Screw Us

Major traffic jam on North Texas freeway....  Wouldn't have happened if they had a light rail system.  But no.  Big Oil has bought all of our politicians and Big Oil wants us to guzzle as much gas as we can.  This corporate greed is why public transit in the US sucks outside of New York.  It's why car manufacturers aren't allowed to improve gas mileage beyond a measly 20 mpg at best.  It's why the electric car is so expensive-  so people can't afford to buy them and have no choice but to use Big Oil's gas. 

And stupid people not only accept this, they encourage it.  Every time they buy an SUV they encourage Big Oil to keep financially raping the world.  Every time someone thumbs their nose at public transit or doesn't want to invest in clean energy, they are giving a big fuck you to their fellow humans.  And things like this aptly named Trafficopolypse will just keep happening. Wake up and smell the fumes.

For an example of what I mean, please see the link below.

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2014/03/18/driver-mayhem-on-interstate-635lbj-in-dallas/

Putin's the "Dick" in Dictator

Make no mistake, Vladimir Putin was neither legally elected nor has he ever truly spoken for the Russian people. We just don't get to hear any of his detractors speak because they're all in prison. Putin is a dictator and we can't pretend otherwise just because he isn't Middle Eastern or South American like all the other dictators we know.  This guy not only trumps them all, he is far more dangerous.

Putin has almost single handedly destroyed all the advancements Russia made after the Soviet Union went bankrupt and collapsed in the 90s.  Russians finally had freedom to speak their mind, to go to church, to no longer have to stand in bread lines.  The people finally had a little money to make a decent living on.  They didn't have to worry about the secret police executing them if they weren't perfect little obedient communists.  And they LIKED it.  So why would they agree to go back to the hell hole that was communism?

THEY DIDN'T.  The Russian people don't want to go back to communism, but their government - many of whom were left overs of the communist regime (like Putin) - want to return to the level of power THEY, this small handful of people, had under communist rule.  So they rig elections to put communist sympathizers in power.  They pass laws to take away the people's new found freedom.  Suddenly it's a crime to be gay. Suddenly it's a crime to hold a protest against the government. Russian leaders put on a good show for the rest of the world.  They hid their evil designs in the beginning, but now they have reached a level of control similar to what they once had in the old Soviet Union and no longer feel it's neccessary to hide their agenda.

Russia's descent back into communism was the greatest con job of all time.  We just weren't paying attention. Did we learn anything from Sochi and the way they proudly sugar coated their Soviet past?

Now communist Russia has invaded Ukraine, their former territory who broke away from Russian communism to form their own sovereign nation.  It's obvious that Putin holds a grudge against anyone who dares to want out of his regime.  The Ukrainian people are fighting against the dictator Putin hand picked to rule his former property.  They want justice, freedom.  They know they can't get that from Russia so they turned to the west.  Another affront to Putin.  Make no mistake, Putin did NOT invade Ukraine to defend native Russians and help stop a civil war.  HE HAS NO INTENTION OF LEAVING.  He just took back the land he lost to those pesky freedom lovers who took it away from him before.  It was revenge.

And it's a dangerous kind of revenge that the rest of the world can't ignore.  Putin is actively seeking to expand his empire and he won't stop at Ukraine if he isn't checked. There are a lot of former Soviet states. A man trying to rebuild the Soviet empire is going to want them all.  This is how world wars start.

I've used the analogy of the Nazi invasion of Poland to show the similarities between that dark page of history and the one Putin is currently writing.  It's scarily accurate so far.  No one told Hitler, "Hey, dude. You can't just invade Poland because you don't like Jews."  If they had, he couldn't have so easily taken over all the other countries he did.  The world kept saying it wasn't their problem until it was almost too late.  If we had spoken up earlier, World War ll could have been a lot shorter and cost a lot less.

We have that opportunity now. We have to stand up and tell Putin he can't keep Ukraine.  Ukraine is Putin's Poland. Don't wait until he's already built the death camps to say genocide is wrong. Stop it before it gets that far.

Because you'll regret it if you don't.  Russia is a nuclear power, my friend, and the Cold War never ended for people like Putin.

We're tired of war and yes, we have our own problems.  It's tempting to say we aren't the world police and let someone else handle it. The problem with being a world power is, you don't really get that option. You have treaties to uphold, trade partners to appease.  The world is a small one and what affects one country can have an impact on us all.  The US can't turn it's back on Ukraine just because they don't give us oil.  Oppression is supposed to be our enemy, remember?  When Ukraine erupts into a civil war (and it will), they will ask for help in fighting the invaders. If we say no, not only are we allowing Putin to commit a crime, but we're losing our credibility as the defenders of freedom we made ourselves become from the moment our nation was born.  We should have helped the Syrian people sooner.  Now it's too late.  Don't let Ukraine be the next Syria.

If there is no other option but to fight, then let it be for freedom. Not just for our own but for anyone who wants it.

Only Assholes Play Loud Music In Apartments

Ever wonder why every time you hear someone blaring loud music, it's always vulgar, angry, hateful music?  No one blasts Mozart at 3am.  No one blasts Michael Bubble period.  But they ALWAYS blast gangsta rap and heavy metal.  Why?  The answer lies in the kinds of people who favor these types of music, that is, angry people.  They tend to be outcasts or misfits (or want to be either one) with a grudge against society and an axe to grind. I can speak from experience. This blog is called Rantings of an Antisocial Girl for a reason. I have my moments of raging against injustice just like the next girl.

To clarify, this is not an assumption that EVERYONE who occasionally enjoys this kind of music fits the above profile but that EVERYONE who fits the above profile enjoys this kind of music.

When someone is an outcast, odds are they're mad about it. People join gangs out of anger, the us against them vibe that makes the world such a bleak place.  Whatever makes a person angry, whether it's poverty or perceived discrimination or even the desire to rebell against their parents because all their suburban friends are doing it, angry people act like assholes.  Assholes do stupid and inconsiderate things like play loud music at 3am in an apartment complex.

If it was just a matter of them not realizing they were being offensive, maybe the crime wouldn't be such a heinous one, but we all know that people who engage in asshole behavior know exactly what they're doing.  Assholes WANT to make others as unhappy as they are.  Assholes WANT to be confronted so they can take their unhappiness out on someone else.  Assholes are looking for any excuse to be an asshole because being an asshole is nothing more than a POWER TRIP perpetrated by little minded people who lack the maturity to handle life responsibly.

Responsible people are mindful of others.  They don't have to be assholes because they know you get further with people using kindness.

People don't like assholes.  Whatever happened to make you an asshole, whatever misfortunes you endured, no one gives a fart when you're being an asshole to them.  That sympathy and justice you want, you're not going to get it when you're being an asshole about it.  Assholes suck.

So how do you deal with assholes?  Take the high road.  You don't have to be affectionate.  That's asking too much.  Be civil and once you no longer have to deal with them, put them out of your mind.  Assholes aren't worth the memory space.

As for the loud music, it's against the law to disturb the peace.  Call the cops.  Tell your apartment management company.  That usually does the trick.  If nothing else, they'll be evicted.  If that doesn't work, you're not living in any place you should be.  You deserve better.  Move.

Eat The Rich

I don't care what some 30 year old movie says.  Greed IS NOT good.  Greed is bad.  Greed causes conflict and suffering.  Greed kills.  And you DO NOT get filthy rich by hard work or good fortune.  Those are lies.  The ONLY way to become a millionaire is to hoard wealth, to be greedy and take more than you need or deserve.   The ONLY way to get rich is to be selfish, willing to steal food from the mouths of children.  You aren't a saint because you're rich.  You aren't special.  You're an asshole because while you're living like royalty, someone out there is living in poverty BECAUSE of you.

The rich need to understand something and it's a very important thing.  You only get rich by exploiting the poor.  Your empire is built on the backs, on the labor and sweat of the working class. Without us, the rich cease to exist.  That deserves respect.  That deserves a wage we can live on. That deserves healthcare we can afford.  That deserves a cessation of outsourcing our jobs to third world slave labor.  We aren't asking for the rich to bless us with their charity.  We're asking for what we deserve and if we have to fight, we will do what we have to to survive.

The poor didn't start the class war.  The rich started the war by creating excessive poverty with their wealth hoarding.  Yet just like our ancestors before us, from the French Revolution to Occupy Wall Street, we will fight.  We will not bow down and worship the wealth hoarders.  It will be messy.  It may even be violent, but the day will come when we rise up against our masters yet again and it will ONLY be avoided by the wealthy recognizing what they owe us and treating us with the respect we deserve.

A Friend Request Doesn't Make You Friends

I don't entirely blame Facebook for the misconception we have as a society regarding the word "friend".  We've misunderstood the word long before Facebook came along.  But a friend request isn't the same thing as making a real friend.  You're actually just making an acquaintance.   You may share views, likes, dislikes et cetera, but you don't know them on a personal level and they don't know you.  You are associates, casually aware of one another in a continual social situation.

The misinterpretation is apparent in most of our social interactions.  We assume that because we see someone often that they are a friend.  We work with them.  We bowl with them.  We live next door to them. We see them at the coffee shop every morning.  But when are their birthdays?  Who are their parents?  What are the names of their children?  Do you know your way around their kitchen?  If disaster was to strike and you needed their help, would they be there or have some excuse why they aren't?  Would you lend them money?

To become friends requires history and the intimate knowledge of one another that only comes through that history.  To become friends requires more than mutual respect.  It requires love.  Yes, you can love someone without sex.  To love your friend is to accept them unconditionally through highs and lows yours and theirs.  It's to make them an extended part of your family.  Most importantly though, to become friends requires time and effort.

This is not only on your part, mind you. The person you are trying to become friends with must put in the work too or it isn't a friendship.  Anyone can do you a favor and expect something in return.  A true friend will do you a favor and not even think to ask.

We may have many associates and acquaintances in our lives, but there are very few in our circles who can, by definition, be called friends.  It is wise to know the difference.  That way, you know who you can count on and who you can't.

I prefer to be more cautious than most with who I allow to share my friendship with.  This means a smaller circle of trusted friends and by society's standards this small circle means I'm not as "popular" as I'm supposed to want to be.  Yet, popularity contests are won based on false pretenses and I prefer quality to quantity.  Does this make me antisocial?  If so, then I embrace my antisocial status and encourage others to do the same.

Anyone can say they're friends.  They probably aren't.  There is no crime in putting substance first in our relationships and if we all were to do this, we may find ourselves less popular but more fulfilled.

You're actually not entitled to anything

So many people out there feel themselves entitled to something.  It's not just the one percent feeling they're entitled to more than their fair share.  Whether it's minorities who feel entitled to a pedestal because of slavery or the working class who feel entitled to higher wages to escape poverty, EVERYONE feels entitled to SOMETHING.  I myself feel that if I'm forced to give my wages to Social Security and welfare services,  I should be entitled to use them when I need to.

But I can't.   I'm very poor, true, but I'm an able bodied single woman  with no dependents so even if I do have to live on Ramen noodles, I don't qualify for assistance.  The painful truth no one wants to admit is, NO ONE is entitled to ANYTHING.

We like to think we are.  We constantly bemoan our situation.  We say we're entitled to freedom, to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  We deserve to make enough money, to live in a safe environment, to have goods and services.  We deserve the right to free speech and to have a democratically elected government.  We deserve good roads to drive on and enough food to eat, electricity and running water and libraries and even PBS.

But we're not.  Truth is, the things we want out of life, the things we think we deserve, they don't just magically appear.  SOMEONE at some point had to WORK to make those things happen.  SOMEONE built and maintains our roads and public services.  SOMEONE fought a war for our freedom.  SOMEONE created our government from scratch and SOMEONE created Social Security and welfare programs to help the poor.  SOMEONE is working right now to keep our neighborhoods safe.  EVERYTHING we have today is because someone WORKED to make it happen.

If you want a better life, you can't sit on your ass waiting for one to come along.  You have to make it happen.  Yes, you will struggle.  Yes, you may not get as far as you want to.  Yet if you don't do ANYTHING, then you don't get ANYTHING.

And if we WANT to keep having the things we think we deserve, then SOMEONE will have to WORK to keep them.  Guess what.  That someone is you and me.