I had to share this, because its in-line with what I think is one of the greatest ironic tragedies of our time. A lot of that cheap "Jesus Saves!", "God is Love!", "Merry Christmas!" shit that you get at places like Wal-Mart, Christmas Tree Shop, and the innumerable "Christian" book shops that dot our American landscape is made in Chinese sweatshops.
Not only is the support of such horrific slave labor an affront to the teachings of Jesus, I find it also immensely ironic that the people making these Christian bobbles are the same people who can be imprisoned (or killed) for their Christian beliefs.
Ed Brayton has a little write up about this on his blog about a report by the National Labor Committee:
An absolutely appalling story that I'm working on for a longer expose for the Michigan Messenger. The National Labor Committee released a report documenting that crucifixes sold in Christian bookstores all over the US are being made in a sweatshop in China that is far below even the Chinese legal standards. A sample of the findings:
More on Dispatches from teh Culture War...
I shit you not...
Saudi lawyer suspended for defending gangrape VICTIM...!!"
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 21 -- Saudi officials have revoked the license of human rights lawyer Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem, who has handled the country's most controversial cases and defended a gang-rape victim sentenced to jail time and [200] lashes.
This lawyer is an amazing human being. Check out a few of the other controversial cases he has taken up in the name of fighting the archaic political/religious institutions of Saudi Arabia, and the violence, intolerance and horrific human rights that only royalty and religion can create:
I was quite inspired to see a segment on 60 Minutes concerning Plumpy'nut. From Wikipedia:
[Plumpy'nut] is a high protein and high energy peanut-based paste in a foil wrapper that can be distributed to children at home rather than in specialist feeding stations and can be eaten without any preparation. It tastes like a slightly sweeter kind of peanut butter. It is categorized by the WHO as a Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF).
According to the report, I guess this simple thing is essentially reversing childhood starvation/malnutrition in some of the most poor and underdeveloped nations. The product is administered by one of my personal favorite charities: Doctors Without Borders. (Secular and non-governmental...)
Now, if only a more money could be spent on products like this, and a little less on technology to blow people up...
If you are not aware, there is a bill floating around Congress (HR 3685) that would broaden anti-discrimnation laws to include sexual orientation.
Wonderful, right?
NO!! It is a revised bill where gender identity has been removed from those who are guaranteed protections! Once again the "T" is dropped from LGB!
Please support the original version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) (HR 2015). Call your representatives!
More info, petition...
This actually gives me hope for the future generations... and by extension, the future of this country.
Pledge of Allegiance during class
By Vanessa Miller (Contact)
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Waving signs and American flags, Boulder High School students this morning will stage the first of what could become many Pledge of Allegiance protests in the school courtyard.
Members of the activist Student Worker club are inviting their peers to leave class every Thursday at 8:30 a.m. — when the pledge is recited over the intercom — and meet in the courtyard to say a revised version of the pledge that doesn't reference God.
Read more...
Of course, there is outrage by some that think we should force everyone to pledge allegience to a piece of cloth and someone else's god.
Once I was old enough to understand what the hell I was saying, I stopped reciting the pledge in school. I got "talked to" a number of times, and even when they made me stand, I refused to say the pledge. (Which I think is a far more appropriate acknowledgement of my rights than mindlessly regurgitating a pledge.)
Everday I am thankful for the rights I have. But, I don't like being coerced to publically acknowledge "allegience" to this country, or a deity I don't personally believe in.
(A phrase that was just inserted into the pledge in the 50's to make American appear more "God fearing" while we were under the dark cloud of evil, atheist, communism.)
Fuck that.
I seriously believe that one of the major underlying ills of our modern American Society is it has become part of our cultural psyche that you are expected to give your life up entirely to a job. And we have done so at the detriment of everything else in our lives.
What makes things more complicated is that it is also a part of our American Culture to get "BIGGER and BETTER." So we buy more crap, get inefficient (but pretty) vehicles, and enormous MANSIONS we can't afford all that cost so much that we need to work even more to pay it all off.
It's not hard to believe that families fall apart so easily these days. Parents can't afford to stay home more and care for their children so they grow up detached and distant from their families. Couples can't commit enough time to fostering a healthy relationship so marriages fall apart. BOTH parents have to work because they can't afford having one commit themselves fully to raising children.
Our obsession with our lifestyles, and by extension our jobs, is destroying what should be the most basic of joys in life. It all leads to neglect and abuse of those people we claim to care about... those people we are supposedly working so hard for.
This sort of thing is particularly bothersome to me because I live in a state with one of the HIGHEST Cost of Living, and the LOWEST wages in the country. It's a bitch to just make ends meet in this fucked up state, let alone try and raise a family. God only knows how my parents managed raising me and my sisters.
This little rant is due to THIS article about being "burned out" at work.
 VINNIE LOVES IT! DRINK FEDRA COLA, BITCH!! |
I just saw a commercial that kinda pissed me off. It was a commercial for some brand of eye drops. The commercial contained one of Van Gogh's self-portraits, animated. The animated Van Gogh looked quite distraught (as he often does in his self-portraits) but after a couple drops in each each eye he was smiling like an content fool. And it's the smile at the end that really got stuck in my craw. Years of crippling depression, schizophrenia, and being crushed under the weight of his own genius, all washed away with a few drops of Visine! (Or whatever the fuck brand it was) Van Gogh is very high on my list of artistic influences (up there with Dali, Picasso, and Giger) and it really pisses me off whenever fabulous art (or the ones who created it) is whored out like that. Perhaps, I'm over reacting. |
Afghan women's rights activist slain
It is this sort of sick, oppressive, barbaric ideology that we are ultimately fighting against. It all goes beyond "fighting terrorism," but standing up to an ever increasing brutal mentality that is running rampant in the Middle East, and growing here on our own soil***. Frankly I don't care what god** tells you hate, oppress and kill -- you are the true enemy -- the enemy of civilization, of freedom, of humanity itself.
Ed Brayton has a good run down of what concerns me so.
I've had it in my mind that when the times comes for me (/us) to have a child, I would want to adopt a girl from India. Female babies are not seen as valuable and therefore they are literally thrown away. That is, if they are not aborted first...
India's female freefall
Makes me rather ill, on a number of levels. I'm not a huge fan of abortion, but will concede the right to people to have one, on those rare occasions it may be necessary or rightly justified (the same position I take on all life/death issues: war, death penality). A child not being profitable, however, is not one of them.
(I could easily go on, but I'm trying to reign in my ranting these days...)
I kind of made a promise to myself that I was not going to fall back into being overly political -- it's too easy to get caught up in the ferver and furry.
But when blatant foolishness takes place, I've got to at least shine a light on it.
Dissidents' Detainee Bill May Face Filibuster
Bill Frist is not happy with the proposed moderate "Terror Bill" so he and his associates are considering using delay tactics like the "filibuster." And that's good. Don't like the legislation fight it with whatever tools the system provides.
However...
YES, this was in fact, the very same Bill Frist that lead the charge against the filibuster, saying how undemocratic and evil it was (when the Democrats utilized it.)
I so sick of all this political crap. The blatant hypocracy is what really gets to me. :\
Ed Brayton has recently posted an article about something that is very close to my heart -- very inline with an idea that is central to everything I do (especially Disassemblance). I'd like to share a few quick selections:
I write a lot about some of the utter stupidity I see ... from the more political forms of Christianity ... As a result, I tend to attract a lot of people who, in my view, take things entirely too far in this regard.
I as well often may come off as being anti-Christian. If people don't get what the faceless "Stupid Christians Clones" from the comic are all about, they could (and have) mistaken me for being hateful of all Christians -- missing the point entirely. They also don't pick up on the fact that I have Christian characters that are completely normal (or as normal at my characters get), and because they are so normal, you can't necessarily tell they are Christian by looking at them.
Some of them are on a crusade ... show that any religious person must be stupid or uneducated. I say that because, at a much younger age, I was one of those people.
As much as I hate to admit it, I was too. This was before I had one of the more significant epiphanies oin my life: "Stupid is everywhere." (which I will explain in a minute).
The problem was that I just kept running into religious people who were not idiots at all, and in fact were well educated, well-spoken, very bright people.
The exact same occurance as in my life. I ran into religious people that I couldn't write off as being idiots (the to most prominant being my wife ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
klemrev and good friend thesaj). As well, people who were ideologically on my side could be completely lemming idiots. It's when I realized that stupidity was the real problem -- and hateful ignorance knows no religious, cultural, racial boundries: "Stupid is everywhere." This becoming the mantra at the core of Disassemblance (and just about everything else I do and create).
think we spend entirely too much time and energy drawing the lines in the wrong place. Too many people are focused on dividing us up into all the wrong groups. ... The lines shouldn't be drawn between Christians and atheists, Jews and Muslims, and so forth; they should be drawn between the decent and intelligent and life-embracing people in every group and the bigoted, ignorant and reactionary people in every group.
EXACTLY ED!! This is what I have come to realize about the world. And it is my challenge to every human being to defocus on the details -- stop warring between difference of race, religion, nationality, sexuality, political affiliation, and focus on the real enemies:
STUPIDITY, IGNORANCE and HATE!!
If fact, the desire to combat such enemies is what birthed my personal ethical tenets/goals:
Minimize suffering.
Increase education.
Encourage compassion.
Does God want you to be rich?deepwoodsdancer sent me a link to the above article and I thought it might be of some interest to my readers. It talks about the so-called "Health and Wealth" ministeries. The type that preach, "Why wait for Heaven, when you can have it all now, too!"
Frankly, I find that mentality distgusting. Certain Christian ideologies so blatantly contradict the teachings of Jesus it shocks me that people still grasp onto the "Chrisitan" title. The vain pursuit of wealth, supporting the taking of ANY life; how can these possibly be reconciled with Christian belief?! It seems one would REALLY need to twist The Teachings to bring these together into a single mentality. And those who do, I think are deluding themselves.
And I don't fully accept the whole "I'm only human!" excuse. Sure you are human, and may slip-up in living up to the high ethnical standards set forth by Jesus. But, occasional misteps in your Walk is one thing (you get angry and wish death upon someone), to ignore the teachings entirely is something else (supporting war and the death penalty). You're not just a little near-sighted, you're completely blind.
Would Jesus kill, even in self-defense?
Would Jesus pursue earthly comforts and vainly pursue wealth?
Where in the Bible does Jesus suggest his followers get really rich and war against others?
Do you believe Jesus would condone such behavior?
If not, are you engaging in this mentality?
Why don't you stop?
Because your flawed and "only human?"
Then what steps are you taking to be more Christ-like?
Are you even trying?
These are questions a lot of Christians have trouble answering. But, I'm always open to hearing how people justify such things -- particularly if they could provide Biblical support.
It's particularly interesting when they will go to such great lengths to support such villiany, but won't budge an inch and say that "gay is okay."
Welcome to AmeriChristianity. The teachings of Jesus Christ infected with the American obsession with money, power and consumption.
If you want to rack up your bank account and body count, so be it. But, I'd rather you didn't sully Jesus' name.
Senate panel finds no prewar Iraq-Qaeda link
No shit.
And the independant commission set into Iraq shortly after the invasion found no WMD's and what little chemical/bio weapons they did find were a decade old and dysfunctional.
YET, despite the White House admitting that there is no connection, that there were no WMD's -- admitting that they were lying, or at least grasping at straws, in hopes of justifying the war -- I STILL run into people who don't believe it. I STILL find myself in debate with individuals who are absolutely convinced that all the pre-war rhetoric was absolutely true -- DESPITE the very people who made the claims have back-tracked. Why do people still cling to the former falsehoods?
Some seem to have an aversion to reality.
Last month, a federal judge in Michigan ordered the Bush administration to stop the wiretap program, saying it violated civil rights. The administration has appealed.
"The surest way to keep the program is to get explicit approval from the United States Congress," Bush said on Thursday.
Dear Mr. President:
I'm writing in response to a recent speech you made as reported by the Washington Post (quotation included above).
That's right! It WILL take the approval of the Congress. That's exactly what you should have done initially, sought the approval of Congress (the representatives of the people -- remember us?!) See, this is how our government works. Your job is to EXECUTE the law that the legislative branch creates.
And, for clarification Bushie, when I say "execute" I mean "to carry out" not "to put to death." I've noticed you are a little confused about which definition is applicable.
The Constitution has granted us rights. This letter is representative of the First Amendment. Please don't piss all over that one, too.
Best wishes,
B.E. Hart
PS: You're a tool.
The current administration here in the US is just plain creepy. They are trying to dodge traditional restraints on executive power in the name of "national security." This is demonstrated well in the recent NSA lawsuits. The government says that the parties can't sue because they can't prove that they specifically were being tapped. On the flipside the government will of course never tell us who they are specifically tapping. What an interesting little protective paradox.
Ed Brayton has more on this "mobius strip"...
And since the administration claims that it is in the president's power to forgo warrents in the first place, this all creates a situation where an executive power goes completely without check. The brilliance of our system is that EVERYONE is accountable -- there is no power that can go unchallenged. The Bush administrations attempts to undermine our Constitution and the very basis of the American political system. And this is an affront to our history, and to every person who has died defending our way of life!!
People don't realize just how dangerous this whole situation is. This isn't about partisan politics, this is about creating a dangerous precedence where a president is allowed to do as he pleases without check or balance. This is an assault on the system -- the system put in place to maintain the rights of the individual. Giving the executive branch even a smidge of special power today, is akin to sacrificing our freedoms for the future.
And remember, Clinton tried a little grasp for power during his administration. And you better believe the Republicans in Congress fought tooth and nail against him. In fact, some of Bush's strongest supporters of his breach in government control, were some of the strongest critics against Clinton's power grab. (and yup, Ed Brayton has a couple of entries about this...)
How soon we forget.
Stop defending our leaders, they can take care of themselves!!
Every American should be standing up for the individual rights, the right of each other. We should be a united force AGAINST our leaders, at least to the point of being our our check and balance to their power!
It frightens and disgusts me when people are willing to quesiton leadership.
This is how dictatorships form.
For the people, by the people... sound familiar anyone?
Too all the Ohio residents reading this, what the fuck is wrong with your states legislators?
I know my LJ might as well be a RSS feed for Ed Brayton, but I'll risk potential criticism to draw attention to more government retardedness. Mr. Brayton reports that the Ohio state legislation just passed a law that would put people on the sex offender registry, even if they have never been charged with a crime!
An Ohio legislative panel yesterday rubber-stamped an unprecedented process that would allow sex offenders to be publicly identified and tracked even if they've never been charged with a crime.
No one in attendance voiced opposition to rules submitted by Attorney General Jim Petro's office to the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, consisting of members of the Ohio House and Senate.
...
A recently enacted law allows county prosecutors, the state attorney general, or, as a last resort, alleged victims to ask judges to civilly declare someone to be a sex offender even when there has been no criminal verdict or successful lawsuit.
Not a single legislator is willing to stand up against the growing "Child Predator" frenzy? Not one willing to say that some who has NEVER been charged in a court of law with a crime can be classified as such -- have their privacy and rights violated?!
WTF Ohio?!
Look, I am not pro-child molestation or anti-child well being or whatever stupid ass label over-politicized fuckheads would put on me, I think child molestation/rape is one of the most sick and dispicable crimes to ever happen in our society. I say its WORSE then murder, because you don't just end a life, you tear away someone's entire soul and condemn them to a life of misery and pain.
You know what I am, however? I am anti-stupid fucking laws that have the capability of condemning members of society without fair trials as brilliantly defined in our rights as citizens of this fuck FREE nation.
Citizen: What are you doing!
Police: I'm shoving this "I'm a really bad person" sign up your ass.
Citizen: What?! WHY?! I haven't done anything wrong!
Police: Well you LOOK like you are guilty of SOMETHING!
I agree with Mr. Brayton, every single one of those law makres should be thrown out of office and be place on the Fucking Idiot Registry!
I bet all these assholes didn't stand up against it for fear that an opposing pundit would brand them pro-child terrorism and they would never get elected again. Forget about the fact that this is an absolutely horrific law that has gret potential to violate a whole host of individual rights. This law isn't going to protect more children, its going to socially isolate and imprison innoncent people.
And this is why are system is so fucked. Political irrationality and frenzy has overcome any sort of logic or reason.
THIS is why I appreciate Ed Brayton and his writings so much. The linked article he comments on the poor excuses the Religious Right is generating in the wake of the Calinfornia Governor adding "sexual preference" to the discriminatory laws.
His second example is of particularly interest to me because this is the same thing I keep saying again and again, in comics and elsewhere:
If you are a religious individual and you try to make the argument that "sexual preference" should not be included in the discrimination laws because, unlike race, sexual orientation is mutable (you can choose to be gay or not), you are going to look like an idiot.
And I'm not just talking about the debate about whether or not being gay is a "choice." In fact, let's assume for fun argument sake, that being a homosexual is a choice.
Mr. and Mr. Religious Individual, your "mutable/choice" argument is a crock because RELIGIOUS PREFERENCE is a choice as well!
People are not BORN Christian! And people convert to AND from every religion on a regular basis.
HELLO! McFLY!
Recently a bill was introduced in the Senate to promote government transparency -- let us, the taxpayers know EXACTLY whose pockets our money is going in. Unfortunatly it was shot down by an anonymous Senator who put a secret hold on the bill.
Ed Brayton just commented that it was confirmed that the Senator in question was none other than Senator Ted Stevens.
This demostrates a serious problem with our system. The people who need to be watched are the ones that get to decide the laws. Do you think they are going to put into place measures that would expose their own dirty dealings? Hell no. There is too much personally to gain in a system that has a lot of dark corners.
Sure politicians will get behind measures to spy and keep tabs on the citizens, but we will never see them jump aboard any measures that would give the people more insight and control over the government -- as it should be.
People need to wake and and learn a little about or system. Start talking about this stuff, and unite. This is OUR government, and we need to band together and be our own check and balance to the system. We must demand answers to our questions, hold our leaders accountable for their misgivings to critize and question every single action and decision they make.
This is why I believe that civics and a logic/critical thinking course should be mandatory subjects along side science and english. I fear such things aren't being covered and our education system is nothing but a machine to churn out complacent automatons.
christianity aside, kill them before they kill us. i know christ died for them too, but there's just NO talking to those radical islamofascists.
The above is a quote from someone I found on another LJ'er's post about muslims (specifically the crazy ones). Now from what is said here I gather that the speaker is a Christian. And if this is true, there is something seriously off in this statement.
There is a depressing, pathetic, and scary irony when christians make such statements. Not just because "kill them before they kill us" is so totally the antithesis of Jesus' nature (He had people who violently hated him, and remember how that turned out?) but it becomes incredibly disturbing when it is placed along side an understanding of the compassionate essence of Jesus (He died for EVERYONE).
Now, I know we aren't Jesus. But isn't a large part of being a Christian following the teaching of Jesus Christ and do your best to be more Christ-like?
When you wish to "kill them before they kill us" that is placing a greater value on your own life then that of your "enemies." What would Jesus say about that?
When you wish to "kill them before they kill us" you've already filled your heart with the murderer's sin. You have cast out all compassion, you have given up on any chance of peace. You are already a killer, a sinner, and a willing tool of Satan. What would Jesus say about that?
When you wish to "kill them before they kill us" you are acknowledging that it is alright to take a life, commit an egregious sin, to save your own skin. What would Jesus say about that?
Again, I'm not completely sure the person who stated the above is a Christian, but I have heard many a Christian state similiar comments. And such things just blow my mind. How can you, as a supposed follower of Christ and his ways DARE to even think your are in any sort of position to kill for ANY REASON?!
Most who do, seem to reply on weak justifications that drastically contort their belief system. BUt before you conjure up excuses why its in Jesus' best interest to annhilate an group of people (ala Holocaust... ironic), just take a second to seriously consider what Jesus would do in the face of such a threat.
I bet you absolutely understand what He would do.
And, if you are truly a follower of Christ, you had better be prepared to be hung up on that cross with Him.
This comes around every now and again, a new paper discussing the correlation between the drop in rape, while the availability of porn continues to rise (thank you, innanetz!)
Here is the recent paper on the issue.
Of course, like any statistics one must remember that correlation does not equal causation. Very important thing to always keep in mind as a lot of people like to twist statistics to support their point of view. Just because there appears to be a similiar trend in two different variables, doesn't mean that the changes are directly related.
One of the increasingly popular examples of this is imbedded in the growing cult of the Flying Spaghetti Monster: Over the years the number of pirates has decreased, while global temperature has gone up, so fewer pirates leads to global warming. This is delicious satire, as this is obviously an incorrect assertion. But politicians, religious leaders, and other cult figures still gladly toss about similar fallacies -- they rely on the unfortunately safe assumption that people won't stop to think about it.
And as Ed Brayton notes, even if one cannot draw a direct causation, this research shows that the old conservative standby excuse that "porn causes rape" may not be all that solid an argument.
Frankly, I see them as the results of a more systemic problem. I think our culture encourages attitudes of being predatory, consumeristic (and I mean that in many ways), as well as being self-focused and unable to delay gratification. These attitudes work to devalue sexual intimacy which drives up the demand for pornography, which in turn further encourages the defective attides.
I have mixed feelings about porn. I think by and large it is extremely exploitive and adversely affects individual psychology and society at large -- by encouraging a purely predatory approach to sexuality. I will admit, however, that I do enjoy what normally earns the snooty label of "erotica." The subjects generally earn a larger portion of the profit the material brings in and they are not utilized in a way that strips them of their personal will, power and humanity.
You might disagree with the line I've drawn.
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