Tough Way to Live

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Fundamentalists, of whatever creed, are dangerous (and usually misogynistic)

true even with what would have been otherwise seemingly to me innocuous new age thinking. i've mentioned before that i had a friend who was so convinced that he determined everything that happened to him in life that when he found out he had a disease he decided that his "higher self" must have determined that it was time to die and so he did.

as well, i recently lost a very old friend, also to fundemental new ageism. among other outlandish assertions, she told me that my mother's alzheimer's was her own damned fault; that she wouldn't have gotten it if she didn't want it. of course she never noticed that when trouble came her way i simply offered support instead of attack.

oddly, intelligence level was not the deciding factor in who went over that edge. my dear dead friend had an i.q. of over 135 and though i never considered my now dead-to-me friend very bright, at least she used to be a caring and thoughtful person. but when i confronted her recently on another matter she said to me (i'm paraphrasing): "i have a message to deliver; i don't have to be nice." ick.

during another one of her brilliant other-worldly observations, she said to me that i'm gay because when i died last time (rather presumptuous, don't ya think?) i didn't stay dead long enough or some such crap to make her feel superior for being hetero. well, at least she didn't stone me.

 

[Nords]

Taking advantage of my Netflix subscription, I recently saw "Fog of War", an hour and a half interview with Robert McNamara. One particularly impressive portion dealt with his return visit to Vietnam in 1995 to meet with the former North Vietnamese Foreign Minister, who to that day was sure the USA wanted to colonize Vietnam like the French and stated that was what drove them to resist so vigorously. McNamara claims the US was not against reunification.
So, it seems a lot of people died for a lack of an honest dialog.

Or it could be that they died because of McNamara's stupid management interference.

It galls me that a Ford exec gets religion just before he's "recalled" to meet his maker. Sorta like Jane Fonda apologizing for anybody offended by her doing things that she's not going to apologize for.

But I wasn't personally there-- perhaps a Vietnam vet or two has a better perspective.

For those of you interested in 'the other side', you might be interested in this blog:
It's written by a young Iraqi woman.

Or, as far as we know, by a 14-year-old from Missoula...

 

[travelover]

Or it could be that they died because of McNamara's stupid management interference.

It galls me that a Ford exec gets religion just before he's "recalled" to meet his maker. Sorta like Jane Fonda apologizing for anybody offended by her doing things that she's not going to apologize for.

But I wasn't personally there-- perhaps a Vietnam vet or two has a better perspective...............

McNamara was self serving in this movie, but I found the movie to be a candid inside account of that era. His telling of how close the US and USSR came to exchanging nuclear missiles over the Cuba crisis is chilling.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran's 'diagnosed transsexuals'

Homosexual relationships are banned in Iran, but the country allows sex change operations and hundreds of men have elected for surgery to change their lives...Iran carries out more sex change operations than any other nation in the world

The government even provides up to half the cost for those needing financial assistance and a sex change is recognised on your birth certificate.
"Islam has a cure for people suffering from this problem. If they want to change their gender, the path is open," says Hojatol Islam Muhammad Mehdi Kariminia, the religious cleric responsible for gender reassignment.

 

[Sarah in SC]

In November, it was widely reported that an unmarried Saudi woman who was raped was given 90 lashes for being alone with an unrelated man (she was raped by a group of 7 men, not by the man she was with). Needless to say, the media went on a rampage. Women's groups were outraged. "This is an example of how the Muslim world treats females," they protested. However, what these people conveniently failed to mention is that the man she was with was also raped and was also given a sentence of 90 lashes. But he doesn't count. He's only a man. If you want to discuss the merits of Saudi law, fine. But in this case, in essence, people were upset because the woman was given the same sentence as the man. So much for equality.

Um, no, we weren't upset that she got the same sentence as the man, we were upset that she was sentenced for BEING RAPED!

Read Princess by Jean Sasson for a good idea of how life is for these women. And wasn't it just last week that woman was arrested for sitting in a freakin' Starbucks? I'm with Martha and Want2, watch out for the influx of Muslims and their interest in pushing Sharia law on western countries.

Telegraph
Mr Yusuf told the programme he felt more bound by the traditional law of his birth than by the laws of his adopted country. "Us Somalis, wherever we are in the world, we have our own law," he said. "It's not sharia, it's not religious — it's just a cultural thing."

 

[cantlogin]

Um, no, we weren't upset that she got the same sentence as the man, we were upset that she was sentenced for BEING RAPED!

Read Princess by Jean Sasson for a good idea of how life is for these women. And wasn't it just last week that woman was arrested for sitting in a freakin' Starbucks? I'm with Martha and Want2, watch out for the influx of Muslims and their interest in pushing Sharia law on western countries.

Telegraph
Mr Yusuf told the programme he felt more bound by the traditional law of his birth than by the laws of his adopted country. "Us Somalis, wherever we are in the world, we have our own law," he said. "It's not sharia, it's not religious — it's just a cultural thing."

I agree with you Sarah in SC. We need to protect ourselves from those christians too. Some of them want to change the laws of nature!

 

[youbet]

I agree with you Sarah in SC. We need to protect ourselves from those christians too. Some of them want to change the laws of nature!

By the time you get everyone who isn't exactly like you on your "need protection from list" there won't be many left!