Men…Perhaps It’s None of Your Business!

The stupidity of congress conducting a hearing on birth control portions of the Violence Against Women Act with 100% men at the witness table caused me to wonder a bigger question…why should men be involved in any way in deciding the issue of birth control for women? I mean really…all men need to concern themselves with are condoms and vasectomies. All forms of contraceptives for women are not the business of men. Why should men have any say at all about women’s bodies?

Oh, I know all the  right wing moral guardians will rant and rave that men are half of the heterosexual coupling equation, but the truth is that from the beginning of time, men have had much more than half of ‘the say’ about such matters…in fact, all matters really.

Perhaps this is one that women should alone decide for themselves. Men, if you want to be sure a woman won’t get pregnant, stay out of her personal decisions and wear a condom! And if you are afraid that your female partner will keep you from fathering a child by keeping her decision private and keeping you in the dark, why on earth would you want to father a child with a woman who had made the decision to not have a child at this time.
That truly is her body, thus her business.

Of course couples ought to talk honestly and open about such things to try resolve differences and come to a decision that both can live with, but in the end, all women ought to decide whether she wants to be pregnant or not.

Unless of course one is of the mind that men should have the right to veto such a decision…and I suspect the male witnesses in that hearing room today all feel that way, whether they would say it or not.

I Still Chose to Hope

Santorum takes lead in Ohio…a headline I didn’t expect to see. In fact, it seems nearly impossible to me. Even with Ohio’s notorious religious conservative population and survivalist movement and neo-Nazis…I never dreamed his ilk could ever be taken seriously enough to achieve that headline.

Well, I was wrong and that doesn’t sit well with me. The fact that my state and apparently large pockets of my nation are losing its/their minds is a bit unsettling. Do folks really listen to what he is saying? Do they truly understand that he wants to undo all the progress we’ve made in human rights, environmentalism, fairness and decency? And destroying all of that in the name of a Jesus he has clearly misunderstood or has purposely chosen to misrepresent?

I used to joke about moving to Canada…but I’m not laughing any more. I suppose I’m too old at this point for such a huge change in my life, but if I was younger I would have to seriously consider continuing to live in a nation that is getting dangerously close to blatantly informing me that I’m not wanted here and will never have the same respect and rights as other Americans because of who I love, or what I believe, or how much income I have.

But thankfully, we’re not there yet, I realize that. I’m not convinced the currently wacky President-wannabes can win, and the primaries always bring out the kookiest folks who the media loves to cover. So I remain hopeful, but that hope gets a bit tarnished each time one of these strange folks gets held up by the so-called ‘base’ of their party.

I choose to continue  to believe that most Americans are sane and have enough common sense to elect someone who won’t lead us to a theocracy or oligarchy form of governance. And although more people than I thought possible seem to be embracing such a perversion and calling ‘democracy’, I still believe the vast majority of us are smarter than that.

We’ll see in a few months if I was right about that.

It Works for Me!

I’ve been a bad boy…well, maybe not bad, perhaps just lazy. The truth is I’ve been battling a four-month bout of some kind of bronchial thing and have been going through lots of tests to discover its origin. So far….zilch. Everything is normal. Of course I’m relieved about that on one hand, but on the other…what the hell is it???

I actually did consider lung cancer, or COPD, or some other chronic, horrible disease with which I will have to live for the rest of my senior years…and then I began wondering just how many of those years I’ll have!

That kind of thinking can be part of my other disease…the one from which I have been recovering for over 21 years. I tend to think the worst. Although I must admit, it makes total sense to me to at least consider all the possibilities, even the awful ones, just so one has a plan of action if it turns out that way. Maybe that’s rationalization, my other disease talking, but I don’t think so.

Now, worrying and fretting over something is not healthy, that I believe. But logically considering all possible outcomes seems to me to be a very rational thing to do. Sure, it might end up wasting my time when one of those horrible outcomes doesn’t materialize. But the way I see it is that first, I was prepared in case they do, and second, it’s a great feeling when one of those horrific outcomes isn’t the case!

Call it rationalization if you want, but it works for me; and that’s all that really matters. The same goes for you…whatever works for you is just fine. It really is. Just don’t kid yourself…like I sometimes do!

And regarding being lazy about this blog…it worked for me to take a break! I’m back feeling better and will continue my meandering through life and occasionally dropping some thoughts on my way…as long as it is working for me.

Rachel, your love is wasted on me….

Now Rachel is calling me cell phone everyday. I’ve done everything I know how to do to stop her harassing stalking of me. She simply won’t leave me alone. She uses the ruse of being employed by a credit card company to get me attention. But I caught on to her months ago. First it was my home phone. I tried speaking to a live person and all they did was get rude with me and say they would even call me more (not a joke!). I’m not ever sure who they are. Rachel says it’s ‘member services’…but what service? She won’t tell me and her live pimp won’t either….he’s just mean and nasty.

So now the cell phone. Registering with government no call registry has done nothing to stop this mad woman from seeking me out for God knows what scandalous and perverted purposes. She uses that seductive voice to try to woo me…but to no avail. She obviously has me in her sites and won’t give up.

Oh, the curse of being so attractive that she can’t help herself. Rachel, if by chance you end up reading this, know that I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but Baby, you must stop intruding in my life. It’s no use. I have all the love I can handle. There’s nothing from you that I desire. Your chances are nil. Find yourself someone who can give you want you so desperately crave. I’m sure you deserve it.

Actually, there are other things you deserve, but I’ll refrain from getting ugly on this blogs site. Rachel…get your own life, I have one, thank you very much!

Good To Be Back!

Gosh, it’s been awhile, I know…that’s the way to lose followers! But frankly, after pushing through an Advent/Christmas season with severe bronchitis for two months, I needed a break. But here I am, feeling almost normal (not really certain what that is for me) and ready to react a bit to all the fuss about Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. My reaction? Yawn….. Watching the GOP this year is like watching a really bad reality show…and as much as I sometimes like a good silly reality show, this is one I simply cannot stomach.

I realize all politicians exaggerate, even lie to get votes. They bend in the winds of special interests and money and voting blocks…all of them do it, regardless of brand or party. But this fiasco is beyond the scope of acceptability…it’s downright insanity. People are fickle in their anger…they leap from one candidate to the other on a weekly basis…listening to news channels that have their own clear agenda, and follow one sound bite after another, chasing the one you says the most outrageous thing the latest…and those are hard to keep up with.

So I have ‘checked out’ of the GOP race…not that I was ever in it, but at least I tried to listen to what they had to say other years. Not any more. They and their silly (albeit dangerous) followers can fall over each other and themselves trying to catch the biggest Obama hater of the week. The only pleasure I get out of any of it is the pleasure of watching them implode, over and over again.

Even if the least wacky one ultimately wins their nomination and it appears he will, the others will have divided themselves up to such an extent they, will have damaged each other so much with their usual vitriol, that they’ll be whining and screaming their ludicrous babble for four more years.

Good to be back!:)

Advent

Flakes fall quietly and melt

before they reach the ground.

The air looks colder than it is,

yet  I shiver at the view.

The birth is closer,

the cows and sheep sense it.

Waiting has made me colder,

anticipating the warmth to come.

Straw strewn about to form a nest,

to comfort a new life;

as I still wait for mine.

Come, infant of hope,

Come.

Forgive Them…+

As a recent recipient of hate mail from an infamous so-called Christian organization formed to act in terrorist ways to bully those of us and our churches who are doing the best we can to serve the One we follow, his teachings and his example, by being open and affirming to all folks, welcoming them into our churches, I’m saddened.

The intended bullying or scare tactics make me more sad than anything else. I’m not sure what happens to folks who insist on living their lives from a such negative, even  hateful place. Obviously, they are wounded souls. But whatever it is, it saddens me, and I’m sure it is the source of lots of Divine sadness as well.

So my response to such things is to pray for their leader and for his followers, that somehow their hearts will be touched to recognize how misplaced their religious fervor is, and how it not only dishonors the One they profess to follow, but entirely misses the points of his teaching, in fact his very life and death and resurrection.

I also pray for all of those folks who are hurt by such tactics…folks who are already wounded by oppression, hate, bullying, discrimination…all of it. Anyone who chooses to prey upon the wounded are engaging in behavior solidly contradictory to the essence of the One whose birth we celebrate next week.

May God forgive them all, and work a miracle in their lives.