Looking back at 2005

"I want to say one thing specifically to the world today. This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at Presidents or Prime Ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever." The Mayor of London, shortly after July's transit attacks.

Hello but does anyone remember the London bombings? You'd think it had never happened the way Americans don't hear about it in the news, the way Bush keeps saying the same old things over and over about the war on terror keeping us safe at home. Who's home? Isn't England part of our "homefront?" What are we really doing to prevent such attacks here?

Peace

Who's Stroking Your Holiday?

I saw that Congress is considering a bill (or resolution?) to protect Christmas, I presume, in the context of Fox News' lovely phrase "the war on Christmas." Oh, the suffering majority! Can we please stop this war because it makes me, someone who's MINORITY religion doesn't celebrate Christmas, feel like an ENEMY of Christmas (which is wrong because I'm a big fan of the mortal Jesus, if anyone remembers him at this time of year...)

Last year I remember people getting offended when the school my niece attends changed their Christmas celebrations to Holiday celebrations. I didn't get the problem since it was a PUBLICLY FUNDED school. Jews got blamed, although I'm not aware of any up there in rural Illinois, when it was apparent to me that the real culprit against "Merry Christmas" was SECULARISM and the wish among many to keep sticky, awkward religion separate from PUBLICLY FUNDED school activities (after all, Christ isn't in Christmas much these days even for Christians, ask the Pope about it).

Why anyone cares which religions Target markets to is beyond me. And a Holiday Tree is a laughable attempt by a seller to market a tree to a larger audience, not to take Christmas out of the picture. So there's another trend that angry Christians might want to fight: opportunistic CAPITALISM! Besides, if you're hankering for a dose of Corporate-Christmas, just walk into any Starbucks and take a deep breath.

Now a bunch of conservative blogs are saying that the U.S. GOVERNMENT Post Office isn't issuing religious stamps (Madonna and Child stamps). First of all, USPS is IN FACT ISSUING MADONNA AND CHILD STAMPS. And second, they ARE ISSUING MADONNA AND CHILD STAMPS. Get yours now!

It seems to me that blogs like these are short on facts and big on fear (try to find a stone cold fact among their paranoid, bleeping threads):
What War Michelle?

And why in the world does "Happy Holidays" make someone angry? Why do you choose to see the cup half empty? Why must everyone and our government stroke YOUR holiday by name?

Merry Christmas!
Happy Chanukah!
Good Kwanza to you!
Happy New Year!
Enjoy the winter solstice (which is truly the basis for this season, and the tree, anyway...HELLO)!

Bush and our Constitution

Bush claims that his test for Supreme Court nominees is that they adhere to a strict interpretation, you could say literal, of the American Constitution. He talks about upholding it in one breath, while he's undermining it with his own actions--spying on Americans outside of established law (when there appears no need to do so!!!). According to John McCain, the White House can legally spy on anyone and get court approval AFTERwards (within 72 hours).

They choose not to do that, and publically admit it.

What are these fascists doing to us?

In his press brief today Bush misleadingly says they get oversight (A LIE), he says he's not using dicatorial tactics (A LIE). They basically say the truth is a lie, and lies are the truth. It's 1984 folks. We need to get these crazies out of the White House, pronto.

Let's Trust Bush and his cronies to tap our wires without oversight and in SECRET

Bush Vows to Continue Spying on Americans

Bush and his Justice Department can willy nilly spy on U.S. Citizens. Sure they say that they only spy on terrorist connections, but with Bush's caveat of, "You're with us or against us," pretty much anyone who disagrees with him falls into the terrorist file. I think that there's reason to believe that they've spied on anti-war protestors, maybe they spy on political opponents as well. Who knows? There's NO Congressional or Judicial oversight, and it's SECRET. If this program deserves the light of day, and could deter terrorists, why is it secret? King George indeed.

Wake Up America. We have a dictator and a CABAL running our government. How do we trust it?? Impeach now.

Reading between the LIES

Every time I hear the Bush administration statements and Condi Rice say something about how America does not torture, I keep thinking, "Oh, they can say that and there's still technically room for us to hire mercenaries to carry out the torture on our behalf."

Who are they trying to kid? Most Americans don't care about torture do they? So are Bush and co. saying this for Europeans because they think Europeans are stupid? It's so odd because I know they don't really care what the rest of the world thinks so they must be trying to convince Americans of something. Maybe they are saying this for the evangelists...but then there's Pat Robertson who doesn't seem to care about torture either (it's definitely an eye, or worse, for an eye for that 'we don't turn the other cheek here, Jesus' Christian).

Boys are better

Ever since I was pregnant with my son people have informed me that boys are easier to raise than girls. It's usually moms that say this--and since we were having a bit of a rough time with our screaming, hardly sleeping baby (in the beginning) it didn't mean a lot to me. And I never thought about the comment as much as I thought about how boys are thought by science to be more emotionally sensitive than girls (Shocker huh? I think that goes in large part to explain why men tend to be more violent--the suppression of emotion in boys).

The other day I ran into a man that said, "Your husband must be so glad to have a son...boys are better." I'm sure you can find such comments among those of all creeds, but let's just say he was an old, traditional man.

Hmmm. That struck me a litte. Boys are better? How do you so easily say that to a woman who used to be a girl?!

I got to thinking. What Mr. Traditional was saying isn't very far from what all the moms have been saying in an indirect way. Why have all these moms being throwing girls under the bus as "hard to raise?"

Let's just say this, people: boys and girls are different, not better. What's more, boys and boys and girls and girls are DIFFERENT!

Best to all parents and those who love children,
Urban Pink