There is something Rotten...

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" Marcellus says to Horatio, as I recall it.  Except some of us are not in Denmark, we are in the United States.  So, to take the phrase from Marcellus, "There is something rotten in the State of America."  Unlike Horatio, I will not calmly say that the Almighty will guide out nation back to health and prosperity.  There is something amiss, and everyone has a finger to point, but always remember this, when I point my finger at you, there are at least two pointing back towards myself.  What is rotting in America today, why that is the American Dream, that is our rights, it is our collective spirit, and our lives that are rotting.

Just a Day

Been busy today, deep freeze prepping.  Apparently Global Climate change is real, and we now have polar vortexes gripping the nation.  You know what I see a lot of today, as I look at my facebook wall?  I see a lot of pictures of animals covered in snow, frozen.  It is sad when people have such disregard for an animal.  They feel, the bleed just as we do.  What is even worse than an animal weathering a storm outside...  Yeah, that is cold, sadly we felt it best to remove the location, due to some threats made against the individuals (guess some of my rants have incurred some wrathful thoughts).

Homelessness

Photo by Deb Holman (Duluth, 12/13)

As we sit here in the midst of a deep freeze, last night it was around -10, tonight it will be around 0, and tomorrow it will again be around -10, all before the wind chill is taken into account, I want to talk about something that really bugs me.  That is homelessness.  This is about as good of time as any to sit down and discuss it. 

The War on.... WTF?!?!?!

(Thank you to Sharon Navarrette for the picture of a tent city in Hawaii)

Middle Class Blues - (hed) PE 

In my last entry I spoke about the War of Christianity.  A contrived war by Christians on those who are of a different religion, race, or sexual orientation.  But lets take a deeper look at this war, this time from a political perspective.  There is a war on the middle class, the poor, women, minorities, immigrants, gays (trying to be PC on that one Larry), different religions, Atheists, the Homeless, the working poor, the unemployed, the elderly, drugs, and anyone they do not see as being worthy of holding the same rights and privileges they hold. 

Pointing out sins isn't hate…” "Love the sinner hate the sin"..A self-serving statement

That form of intellectual dishonesty and disingenuous platitudes, is exactly why more and more SMART and DECENT people can see them as very false people, if not false Christian.
Those of us who are HONEST and who have eyes and ears can see just how selectively they single out gay people for social, political and civil denial of equal protections that they wouldn't DARE try with heterosexuals that would meet their definitions of sins. Gay people are easier to do this too because of the long legacy of discrimination already in place.

Kubrick

I always enjoy sitting down to a Kubrick Film.  I know the guy died in 99, he didn’t have a ton of movies, well not even 20, more like 16, but the man made you think he forced you to pay attention.  He slipped little thing into his movies.  I just recently watched Dr. Strangelove; or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, which was a very interesting movie, as most of Kubrick’s are.  It did not really feel like I was watching a Kubrick film to be honest, but it was good.  Most of us are more familiar with 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, or his version of The Shining.  Now I am not one for doing movie reviews, or telling the life story of another.  Kubrick’s work does not need that outside of the gentle suggesting that you watch his works.  The man played tricks on us, every detail of every movie was planned out, every detail was shot and reshot until it was exactly the way he wanted it, a place for everything and everything in its place.  He dropped subtle hints, or outright brow beat us.  Changing typewriters and a crushed VW Bug (Read King’s The Shining and then watch Kubrick’s telling). 

The War on Christianity

I constantly hear about the war on Christianity.  However, this is a part of the Christian mindset.  It seems that Christians see persecution everywhere.  Forced to give out the morning after pill, it is an assault on their morals.  Forced to give a marriage certificate to a newly married gay couple, it is an assault on their religious morals.  Say Happy Holidays rather than Merry Christmas, you are now starting a war on the "birth date" of their lord and savior.