religion

Joke or offensive? Women problems.

yllwdaisies complaints/hating, religion

Ok, I need input on something that happened yesterday.

I went to a religious service yesterday. Before the service started, a member of the clergy had the mic & was promoting a special marriage-strengthening event they were hosting. He was just going over the basics, registration info and deadline was approaching. Then, he closed with a joke:

Just to be clear, this is for your WIFE. I’m looking at some of you out there…. 

to which the response from the congregation was laughter.

It was a joke, after all. This offended me. My question is: Should it have?

sexist is wrongMy point was that his joke implies that some of these men have a wife AND a girlfriend. And this was a man of God, speaking in the house of God. And by his acknowledging that men there have a wife and a gf, it *validates* this behavior. A man of God is validating the behavior of the destruction of a *union of God*. This is how I saw it. And I saw it as so incredibly disrespectful to dismiss this UNGODLY behavior as a joke (number 1).

Then, number 2, I was offended that the congregation laughed at this. And it hit me that this is because this type of joke is normalized SO MUCH that no one blinks at them. They are accepted & acceptable. I feel that I was completely in the right to be offended, and others should also be offended, but since it’s normalized, they won’t be. Until their eyes are opened.

Now, here’s what I was told: I was told that this is just part of the culture, and is a joke. And maybe I don’t get it because I’m not of the culture. That the clergy member meant it as “don’t do this”, but said it in a joke way for everyone. And that everyone is fine with it, and I shouldn’t be offended.

So, my question is, should I have been offended?

Now, I have to say, what was said to me: that I don’t understand the culture, that everyone from the culture is ok with it and gets it. They get that it’s not offensive. These seem like all the same arguments that proponents of the Confederate Flag use.

Photo Challenge: Symmetry

Image yllwdaisies Photo Challenge, religion

Photo Challenge: Symmetry

Rangoli at the Indian temple at Diwali last year. They make these intricate designs by hand.

rangoli
click to enlarge

hate speech vs free speech

yllwdaisies complaints/hating, religion, sad/scary stuff, terrorism + 9/11

There is a new slew of comic book superheros that are women, and of course you know that I love that! One such (newish) superhero is a Muslim teen, born in Jersey City. She is Kamala Khan by day, and morphs into Ms. Marvel when the going gets tough!

Well, in San Francisco, a hate group has bought advertising on public transportation. Anti-Islamic advertising, that likens Islam to the Nazis. I don’t want to show their ads, but I think I must to truly show how despicable they are. But FIRST, let me show you what someone has plastered OVER their ads. Which I THINK ARE AWESOME.

kamala khan1

kamala khan3

kamala khan2

Now, here’s the thing. Someone at the city of San Francisco (or in the company of the transportation system, I don’t know if it’s a private company or city-owned), sold the advertising space to a known hate group. The Freedom Defense Initiative is considered a hate group, same as the KKK.

I get that the First Amendment is a BFD here in the US. But I never quite got how it supersedes hate groups. Hate groups are ok here in the US; their rights are protected. The Westboro Baptist Church is protected to the extent of the hate they spew at funerals (even of veterans that died so they could have that freedom).

Remember John Galliano? The famous designer? He got in trouble for hate speech in France. Other countries take Hate Speech more seriously. But only certain targets of hate there (from what I can see). I say that because Charlie Hebdo can publish all sorts of filth about religions, and it’s free speech. But France arrested 54 people for expressing their freedom of speech. I guess hate speech is not tolerated in their country, but it depends on what type of hate speech you have, and who it is you’re hating on.

I really don’t want to promote the ad, but I do want you to see how outrageous it is. It’s ridiculous, stupid, outrageous. Comparing to the Nazis? Really? Anyway, since I don’t necessarily want to promote it on my front page, I’m putting it after the jump. The only thing after this is the unadulterated ad.

Oh, go read my post on galliano. For real.

Continue reading →

Let’s talk about the Hobby Lobby situation

yllwdaisies change, politics, religion, sad/scary stuff, the law

I get that people should be free to exercise their religion. But I *still* don’t get how corporations are people. Am I missing something? People are people. Corporations are legal entities. I don’t get (still) how a corporation is a person. Yes, I know I’ve been told this for years, that corporations are people. I must be missing something, because I just STILL don’t get it.

Let’s go back to my first sentence. I get that people should be free to exercise their religion. Honestly. Not like in some states (like FL, TN, NC) where they’ve tried to make Sharia law illegal. What is Sharia law? Simply religious belief. So, this religious freedom is extended for a corporation, but not for people. As I believe it was originally intended.

Now, let’s take a look at Hobby Lobby specifically. In their specific case, I get that they are against these “abortion drugs”. We’ll interchange the terms “abortion drugs” and “emergency contraception”, as we will use them to refer to the same thing. Now, you’re against emergency contraception. You are anti-abortion, and emergency contraception is the equivalent of abortion to you.

But here’s the thing…. you INVEST IN THESE SAME DRUGS. Your 401k plans invest in the companies that MAKE these drugs. So… um… where’s the morality then? Oh. Because you’re MAKING MONEY from it. I see.

And what about the 90% of your goods that come from a country that has FORCED ABORTIONS. That’s ok too, right? Because you can get your products for cheap, and sell for a greater profit.

Ok. So, to recap. Money is good. Abortion is bad. However, it’s ok to make money off of abortion, but not to provide emergency contraception in case a zygote has formed. Just in case. Not even an embryo yet. Maybe not even a zygote. But the lady does not want to find out later, and have to perform an ACTUAL abortion, which likely will happen if she was planning on getting one of these emergency contraception drugs.

Hobby-Lobby-decision-birth-control-

Clinton liaison for Israel & Palestine

yllwdaisies amnesty, gov't, my thoughts, politics, religion, sad/scary stuff, terrorism + 9/11

Am I the only 1 who thinks that sending former US President Bill Clinton to motivate a treaty & peace between Israel & Palestine, is a likely solution?

He almost had them at the cusp of something back in 2000. No one has come close to what he’s been able to do in extreme foreign circumstances.

UPDATE (Nov. 21, 2012): I knew it! Well, I knew it’d take a Clinton! I just had the wrong Clinton pegged! I saw Hillary Clinton do her whirlwind tour yesterday, from Myanmar/Burma to Israel, Egypt, & the West Bank. AND NOW LOOK! CEASE FIRE. THANK YOU, Sec. Clinton.

the “mosque” at “ground zero”

yllwdaisies change, commercialism, complaints/hating, my thoughts, religion, sad/scary stuff, terrorism + 9/11, tweet-tweet

You knew I had to talk about it here at some point, right? I mean, I’ve been tweeting & leaving comments on everyone’s fb statuses about it.

First of all, “mosque” is in quotes b/c it’s not a freakin mosque. It’s an Islamic Community Center. Yes, there will be a place for prayer there, but it’s a smaller part of a $100 MILLION Cultural Center. It will also have a swimming pool, a gym, basketball court, an auditorium, a restaurant (& culinary school), a library, and art studios. Are we calling it “the ground zero pool”? No? Then why “ground zero mosque”? Plus, wouldn’t it be nice to stimulate the economy ($100 Mill project) whilst adding to the community?

If you want to find a Mosque, there IS one INSIDE the Pentagon, open for worship, rebuilt after the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon.

Are we criticizing Christian churches around the Oklahoma City building site? Why is it that American laws seem to apply or be exempt for Christians? Division of church & state doesn’t exist like it should. Lots of religious organizations receive tax-exempt statuses, then give money to fuel their political interests. It’s like certain things are ok, as long as you’re the “right religion”.

“Ground zero” is in quotes b/c it’s not at ground zero! It’s 2 blocks away. Though, there was a mosque already 5 blocks from ground zero (GZ); it was there for like 30 years!

Though, there are currently strip clubs way closer to GZ. & they’re planning to build a 55,000 sq. ft. mall right on GZ. How is a mall paying tribute to those who lost their lives on 9/11?!?! Mall to me means a bunch of corporate stores. Not even small businesses. Starbucks. The Gap. Banana Republic. How does that remember fallen heros?

Roger Ebert recently re-posted an op-ed piece that he originally published on Sept. 12, 2001:

A Green Field

If there is to be a memorial, let it not be of stone and steel. Fly no flag above it, for it is not the possession of a nation but a sorrow shared with the world.

Let it be a green field, with trees and flowers. Let there be paths that wind through the shade. Put out park benches where old people can sun in the springtime, and a pond where children can skate in the winter.

Beneath this field will lie entombed forever some of the victims of September 11. It is not where they thought to end their lives. Like the sailors of the battleship Arizona, they rest where they fell.

Let this field stretch from one end of the destruction to the other. Let this open space among the towers mark the emptiness in our hearts. But do not make it a sad place. Give it no name. Let people think of it as the green field. Every living thing that is planted here will show faith in the future.

Let students from all lands take a sunny corner of the field and plant a crop there. Perhaps corn, our native grain. Let the harvest be shared all over the world, with friends and enemies, because that is the teaching of our religions. Let the harvest show that life prevails over death, and let the sharing show that we love our neighbors.

Do not build again on this place. No building can stand here. No building, no statue, no column, no arch, no symbol, no name, no date, no statement. Just the comfort of the earth, to remind us that we share it.

old ppl are just wrong

yllwdaisies complaints/hating, loopholes/sneaky, my thoughts, religion, terrorism + 9/11

Does anyone else feel this way? Old ppl just do whatever they want, & the rest of the world needs to adjust to them.

I can’t tell you how many dinner parties I’ve been to where ppl tell funny/quirky stories about their grandmas. Uh… their racist grandma. Not that I can’t tell a few too. I could give you anecdotes of grandmas of every race, from anywhere in the world, being racist. But I really don’t think that’s necessary.

Old ppl often use the excuse that they just didn’t know it was wrong, when they do something wrong. Recently, an older man hit me in my new car. He turned left in front of me, & said that he didn’t think that he was in the wrong. Why? B/c old ppl can do whatever they want, & we should just accommodate them?

Anyway, this post is really about the Retired Catholic Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, the louse. He’s selling a memoir about his life, including his time as Archbishop in Milwaukee.

He allegedly covered up widespread child sexual abuse. In 1993, he oversaw the evaluation of Father Lawrence Murphy, who was being prosecuted at the time for abuse. Jump to 2003, when a report came out that made allegations of sexual abuse by 58 clergymen under the direct supervision of Archbishop Weakland.

As of 2009, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee spent about $26.5 million in legal fees & settlements for the victims.

Apparently, in his memoir, he contends that he didn’t realize that raping/abusing young children was a crime. Weakland retired in 2002, when it came out that he paid one of his victims $450,000 in 1998.

We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature.

Accepted naively the common view that it was not necessary to worry about the effects on the youngsters: either they would not remember or they would ‘grow out of it’.

I’m sorry, but isn’t knowing that something is wrong enough to keep you from doing it, esp if you’re, like, a man of God. How can you not know it’s wrong? I mean, we all have a sense of what’s appropriate behavior & what’s not. That’s why we feel guilt.

If anyone knows about guilt, it’s a Catholic. Just sayin.

I guess the sex scandal is just a chapter of the book. It also covers his childhood, his time as a Benedictine monk, his acknowledgment of his homosexuality, & his difficult relationship w/ the new Pope. Maybe his relationship w/ Pope John Paul II was so strained b/c he knew the new Pope won’t ignore this type of stuff.

He says proceeds from the book will go to the Catholic Community Foundation. I don’t know what that means; it’s so vague. What percentage of the proceeds will go there?

& is this supposed to make me feel better about ppl buying the book? I went to the Catholic Community Foundation’s website to try to find out where the money goes, but they just tell you all the diff ways you can give money, not what they do w/ it.

What I do know is that the almost half million he paid out to the victim came from the archdiocese, & he even concealed it from them at the time. & I also know that this summer, he’s moving to St. Mary’s Abbey in Morristown, NJ. So, it’s prob more of a case of his having to re-pay the Catholic community. Financially, but also for the bad PR. Not that he’s the only one.

May 2009 Indian elections – Massive Attack!

yllwdaisies my life, my thoughts, news, politics, religion

My childhood was pure childhood.  I knew nothing of what went on outside my lil area.  I read my books, did my lessons (education was/is very imp in my fam), & played.  We didn’t really watch any tv.  Maybe on Saturdays.  Cartoons in the morning; & I remember there was a Disney movie every Sat evening.  Sometimes after school cartoons, but not when we were really young.

The books I read as a child were Indian stories; my grandfather would always ship or bring back books (written in English) of Indian tales.  We even had a subscription to Chandamama, an Indian magazine for kids.  It’s all hip now & online as an interactive website. It was similar to Highlights magazine; even had a good boy/bad boy page, Vikram & Vetal like Goofus & Gallant. It had some religious stories, & a serial fiction story that was to be continued every month. I looked forward to each magazine!

Then, I think around the time I turned 10, we started watching the news as a family. The local news & national. It was the Evening News w/ Dan Rather at first, then switched to World News Tonight w/ Peter Jennings in the early 90s.

Why is this important? I think b/c what’s going on in the world is important. I’ve always believed that any one person, & every one person should do what they should (not what they can, but what they should do, as in it is their duty to do it).

I’ve told y’all before that I was naturalized as a US citizen when I turned 18 so that I could vote.

But the whole point of this is that I was looking at pictures from a recent Indian election, & it made me proud of where I come from. India has the largest democracy in the world. The largest. & they take their responsibilities seriously.

Ppl make such a big deal of this last election here; w/ the highest voter turn-out. & that’s great. But it’s only great if the voter turn-out continues to increase election after election. I’m interested to see what this country does in Nov. 2010, & Nov. 2012.

129,446,455 showed up & voted in the Nov. 2008 election. That’s just under 43% of the population at the time (304,059,724 in July 2008).

Last week in India, about 714 million ppl voted (out of a population of 1.2 billion, that’s about 60%, folks). That’s good stuff.

Check out these pictures from the recent Indian election. Truly amazing. In #5, you’ve got an older woman who walked 68 miles to vote. And I know everyone’s aware of Hindu-Muslim tensions all over the world, but #25 & #35 say it all. We’re talking about tensions that go back thousands of years, yo!

You have to check out the pictures. They are amazing. Ppl hanging out on rooftops to attend an election rally. Ppl taking cable cars across valleys/rivers to get to the election site.

I really can’t imagine ever living in a non-democratic nation.

Ok, I made a collage of 4 of the pix to try to entice you to click on the link to view the pix. Also, if you click on the pic below, it’ll take you there. I did NOT take any of the pix, the credits are on the page when you click on the link!
india elect pix

don’t we watch to hear their opinions anyway?

yllwdaisies commercialism, complaints/hating, my thoughts, politics, religion, tv

So, I guess Chris Matthews said “Oh God” before someone spoke. Dude, who cares?!?!!

Seriously, I was shocked when I heard d*ck on primetime tv. I didn’t know you could say that on primetime. I know when JT did that digital short on SNL, they beeped it out everytime. And that was around midnight!

Those aren’t like a regular news broadcast anyway. Those are like commentary shows. Isn’t it the point for them to express their frustration anyway? Isn’t that why ppl watch? I know my sister loves to watch Keith Olbermann simply b/c of how he states his views. It’s total entertainment for her.

matthews-god

Inauguration speeches

yllwdaisies amnesty, change, news, politics, religion, speeches

President Barack Obama Delivers Inaugural Address
at US Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Jan. 20, 2009

Full transcript as prepared for delivery of President Barack Obama’s inaugural remarks on Jan. 20, 2009, at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Continue reading →