X is…

Yep.  I’ll throw a couple cents in on this one.

Larry Craig, the Republican Senator from Idaho is not gay.

Despite having, or attempting to have, gay sex.

If he simply thought for himself and abandoned all the “values” that were force fed to him over his years, maybe he would have embraced not being gay but wanting gay sex.  He could move on and stop denying that he is gay and that he propositioned somebody for sex in a public restroom.

I find it amazing that people are so unwilling to think for themselves and way too interested in what others tell them to think and do.  Public image is everything if you’re a senator.

As we are finding recently, it is all catching up to them.  Rant and rave if you like and take a firm Christian stance, but lying to yourself seems to be all these people’s worst offense.

Popularity: 10% [?]

I was away taking some classes for work.  How do be a better leader through communication was a big part of the courses.  I was grouped with quite around 50 people from around the country and that really showed the company’s diversity.  That is good.

Part of what makes me who I am is that I respect people’s individuality.  I don’t feel it is my place to tell people they are wrong.  I respect where everybody comes from, and it is that realization that everybody comes from someplace different that drives my beliefs (or lack of).

On the first day we all introduced ourselves, and one of the people told us he was the backup preacher at his church and described how heavily involved he was with the church.  I am cool with that.  It’s not for me, but individuality is what makes the world what it is.

This man’s first presentation was delivered like a sermon.  In a preacher’s voice he delivered the words he had worked up the night before.  The instructors ate it up.  I was bothered.  Why was it alright for him to deliver as if he were preaching to his congregation?  What makes this method right?  I felt as if I was being bullied in a way.

I understand that there is a reason for preachers to speak in this tone and inflection.  It works.  It inspires people.  I also believe it is used to make people feel things they would otherwise not feel; like they are on the verge of eternal damnation if they do not follow the words.  I was disappointed in the fact that the instructors acknowledged the style and even said “that makes me feel like going to church.  Great job!”

I am pretty sure that if it was me pushing my beliefs, the whole show would be stopped.

I guess I am seeing this more and more.  This double standard in which the Christians of the country are allowed to push their style and beliefs on everybody else and it is acceptable.

I have no desire to push mine on other people.  I do believe, however, that the information should be readily available to those who are open minded.

Popularity: 12% [?]

I know, I know.  Old news.  I’ve been out of state for a couple weeks with no access to internet, and I don’t really watch television if I can help it.

The story is relevant though.  The Southwestern Baptist is offering a BA of Homemaking to women only.  Now, women cannot become ministers or serve their church in other ways other than simply becoming a good mother and wife.

Courses include

seven hours of nutrition and meal preparation, seven hours of textile design and “clothing construction,” three hours of general homemaking, three hours on “the value of a child,” and three hours on the “biblical model for the home and family.”

June Cleaver will be everywhere if Southwestern Baptist has its way.  People are not to actually think for themselves and the world will be shiny and happy as it was back in the 50’s (insert eye roll here).  Why should a good Christian woman do anything to challenge herself?  Why should a woman actually set herself up to take on the world if necessary?  Let alone a job.  When done with this coursework, the only thing the woman may be able to do is take a husband to whom she will have really bland and uninteresting missionary style sex with whenever he wants.

The course is offered only to women.  I am so glad that I was raised by parents who understood that gender roles are ridiculous.  The person who can make the most should work and the other can raise the kids.  My dad stayed home with me, period.  When we got old enough, he got a job.  No roles or expectations.

This is the way our country seems to be going though.  Forever backward.  We are actually trying to undo progress so that people can have the simple life that we once had.  Remember, woman are servants.

Blah.

Popularity: 16% [?]

I was heading to bed last night, but was pulled in by the showing of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

I don’t think I have watched this film in years; I likely last saw it when I was in high school.   I read the book around the same time as well.  I know the book and the film are not the same.  They are similar, but not the same vantage point.

This movie was genius and deserves to be ranked as one of the better movies.  Ken Kesey’s work was art.  The movie has some value on the surface, but it’s really not about mental health patience at all.

The deeper I look into this work, the more I realize that it is about today.  It was about then and it is about today.  The symbolism is striking and strong.

Our electroshock therapy seems to be getting stronger and stronger all the time.  We have the currents of a world running through our nervous system and we seem to be getting immune.

Popularity: 14% [?]

      I asked Mr. Bush, “What are you going to do to win the votes of Americans who are atheists?”

      Mr. Bush replied, “I guess I’m pretty weak in the atheist community.  Faith in God is important to me.”

I followed up:  “Do you support the equal citizenship and patriotism of Americans who are atheists?”

Mr. Bush replied, “I don’t know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic.  This is one nation under God.”

After other reporters asked a few questions about issues that they were concerned about, I was then able to get in one more follow-up question on my subject:  “Do you support the constitutionality of state/church separation?”

      Vice President Bush responded, “I support separation of church and state.  I’m just not very high on atheists.”

That conversations between Rob Sherman and Vice President George H.W. Bush happened on August 27, 1987.  Here’s the link.  This may have been covered hundreds of times throughout the web.  I don’t really care.

The fact is that if I can manage to believe that a president could say it, that in itself is important.  I want more people to know this and learn a little more about the first family.  I’m spreading the word.

Here’s another article about how George W. Bush doesn’t think that an atheist should become president because atheists don’t have a relationship with the Lord.  I don’t think that an atheist can become president because of idiots like George W. Bush and the screwed up media.  Preconceived ideas of what an atheist is are prevalent and inexcusable.

I find it odd that we are taught as children that people fled to the New World to escape religious persecution yet they never teach us that the real reason was so that they could persecute on their own terms.  See Salem Witch Trials and Senator McCarthy.

A huge deal was created about Lieberman a few years back and how he would be the first Jew elected to that high of a position in our government.  Who cares?  Hindsight is 20/20 and Lieberman wasn’t a good candidate anyway.

I guess I’m in for a long battle if I ever do decide to run for office.  In our country, we believe in separation of church and state, but we don’t believe in separation church and politics.

Popularity: 10% [?]