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I was just invited to an event called Red Friday and firmly declined with the following comment: I won't attend because you identify yourselves with "The Silent Majority," which hated women and LGBTI people. I am very sorry our troops are being squandered, abused, disabled and killed for oil profits, and i would applaud in an airport.... But YOU do not represent ME, freedom, liberty, equality, the Constitution or freedom of choice in religious matters. You've confused religion with nationalism, and that makes you unAmerican.

Immediately after that post, as I caught my breath, still shaking, I found THIS event! One of my favorite moments of the Egyptian revolution was seeing a line of ordinary citizens, holding hands, making a chain around the Library of Alexandria.

Well, you know I just started bawling like a little girl!

HYPATIA DAY

You are Attending · public event

Like · 163 people like this.

Time	Tuesday at 12:00am - Wednesday at 12:00am
Location	Wherever you are.
Created By	Newell Fisher
More Info	A pagan, and probably an atheist, Hypatia of Alexandria was a woman of remarkable intellect who advanced mathematics and the science of astronomy in her time. Her death at the hands of a christian mob in March 415ce has been described as marking the end of classical antiquity. If pagans and atheists had saints she would be foremost among them and it is for this reason that it is only right that she is celebrated. As only the mont...h of her death is known, the date for this occasion has been placed at the mid point of the Ides of March (the 15th). According to one story she was flayed alive by monks using scallop shells, so to mark this day I am suggesting the wearing of a shell as jewellery. And as a sign of reconciliation, as she was also killed during Lent, the giving up of a luxury or even fasting for the day. Perhaps followed by a feast in her honour. In doing so we remember the tragedy of the Christian destruction of classical learning, from which it can be argued the West did not recover for 1000 years. It is a sobering reminder to always be prepared to look again at history before assuming that things could not have gone another way. In her own words, as attributed to her: "All formal dogmatic religions are fallacious and must never be accepted by self-respecting persons as final." "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all."

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Hi, I am an agnostic, Unitarian Universalist, atheist witch.

I'm agnostic cuz I don't know (puny, human brain here; can't conceive the mind of G*d, if there is one; has no idea what happened b4 the Big Bang or how life started on Earth).

I'm Unitarian Universalist because, oh, hell, go look it up, but I appreciate the respect for all/no faiths and the inherent worth and dignity of every human.

I'm atheist because I am without belief in a deity. I'm not saying there might not be one, or millions, but I don't believe it (refer back to puny, human brain), based on theologies with which I am familiar (refer back to Unitarian Universalist here).

I am a witch because that's what we're always called, when they come to rob us of our property, rape us, torture us and kill us, just because we don't fit the stereotypes, gender roles or social norms they dictate to us (even though they could never conform to their own demands, either) AND because, in my ethnic traditions (Cherokee, African American and British Isles: all escapes from slavery, servitude, etc), women held great power before the xians came, took our languages, our traditions, our land, our bodies, our health, our sanity, our faith, our medical practices, our oral and written histories, our liberty . . . .

Heather Wilson: she's BAAAACK

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I just can't take anymore bad news today. I won't watch this. Much as I dislike her, I have to say: She should be totally pissed @ GOP & Tea Parody for runnin Barbie Palin as a serious candidate, when Wilson has DECADES of serious work behind her. Palin is an insult to all GOP women who had to deal with SO MUCH sexism to achieve any rank at all! But the KKKarl Rove machine wanted pretty, docile puppet grrls for candidates, and Ms. Wilson isn't "cute" by popular standards, so she got left out in the cold. I'll bet she had too many opinions, too! NO INDEPENDENT THOUGHT ALLOWED!

 

Women of the Arabic revolutions

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Older woman, holding flag, making fist: They say that we do not have weapons These are my weapons: I die for this, I live with this. And there they are, with bullets.

Younger woman at banner: "The suppress with bullets the Tunisian citizen who dies under fire of weapons in his country. Where is the justice? Where is the liberty? Where is the democracy?"

Happy International Women's Day! Wow, did I need this!

2 moms on birth certificate?

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In heterosexual marriage birth certificates: is the stepfather automatically included as a parent on the birth certificate, if the sperm donor isn't part of the family???? If not, would this be a discriminatory policy, or show preference to Gays and Lesbians? If the latter, are we not setting ourselves up as validating the argument that we have a social "agenda?" Won't reactionaries challenge this in court, and probably win?

 

Iowa should include both moms on birth certificate

Jeebus lub

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"There is no hate like Christian love"-- Chuck E. Jesus

 

spring is coming.

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Kate,

I was thinking: I don't know which is worse; oral surgeries, root canals and fillings or just having teeth decompose & pulling them myself. I think it's the former and not the latter. It's very traumatizing, invasive, alien, foreign and unnecessarily... I don't know .... hysterical, I guess. It's lots of drama, doing the dentist thing.

Letting them just fall apart happens gradually, so I have time to get used to the idea. Ok, so, for a few weeks, I can't chew on one side of my face, while a tooth socket rebels and starts to push out another one until I can loosen it and pull it out (that takes weeks of work, by the way. I just push it in different directions with a finger and finally whatever anchors it begins snapping. Then, it's not too different than baby teeth.) The ones that break are harder to cope with; they're sharp; they are open to the nerve, etc. I've learned aspirin is a very good friend: 3 at a time, every four hours. Also, I like doing things for myself, esp. with my own body. I've had too many invasions, I suppose.

I'm cranky, sad, intolerant of serious stuff people say online. I wish I had a house. I wish I could wash my hair every other day, as I used to. i wish I had a toilet.

i don't think I'm wrong for having boundaries and I don't think I'm rigid or unrealistic. I've had enough abuse to kill ten strong men, so I don't have any patience with it from folks online. I need to live in solutions, not problems, so people who insist on using epithets and the like get "unfriended" quickly. It takes me some time to work through that, and today was a challenging day.

My physical endurance is low these days. I don't have much strength, rest a lot and don't want to fight wind or cold to get things packed, built, etc. But I'm taking good care of myself, as best I can.

I made some very tasty tuna salad today and cats danced all over, cuz you know I shared. Tonight, I baked some pork "ribs." What passes for "ribs" these days is astoundingly ridiculous. Actual ribs have meat cut out BETWEEN BONES, so you're really only buying meat-flavored bones. The little scraps are mixed with sauces and sold as stew or other meat. So I don't buy ribs anymore. These "country style" ribs are actually just thick strips of pork shoulder. Baked slowly, they'll stay pretty tender, if kept moist. So, tonight I made about 2 pounds with incredible sauce: pineapple in its juice, minced onion, ginger powder, sesame seeds, black pepper, garlic, just a dusting of brown sugar, soy sauce, cardamom, savory, tarragon. When the ribs were done, I dumped in a can each of mushrooms and green beans, some frozen peas and carrots and sprinkled coconut on top. I got the coconut (shredded, sweetened) after xmas: 4 oz bags for twenty-five cents, brought them home and froze them. I feel very Hawaiian. i boiled some jasmine rice to go with. It smells like perfume in here. i have enough to last about a week at a meal a day.

I fixed up my 'fish pond,' which is a kids' wading pool. I still have the fountain Rachel bought me. it's imitation stone, with water lily mosaic in the bottom and a little fairy girl with a shell who's the fountain. I extended the pump hose, so the pump can be down in the pool and pump up to the fountain, into the fountain bowl, which is elevated on a milk crate. Fish like oxygen. And there's a little bowl with some batting in it, to use as a filter. It sounds very nice. Last time Rachel and I went shopping, I bought some "feeder" goldfish, to keep my big goldfish company. She was about an inch long last year and is nearly three inches now. As long as you keep ammonia out of their water, they'll keep growing! I also ordered some bog plants on ebay; they'll be coming soon: rushes, a primrose and something else that flowers...small plants, good for filtering fish poop.

I haven't put up the parachutes yet, as the winds have been hideous and I haven't been feeling very strong. The chutes will have to be raised and lowered, like boat sails; I don't want them in wind.

The landlord has not been back. It's been 3 months.

i think I'll take the risk of gardening, at least in my tubs. I'm even thinking of getting chickens in April. this place sat abandoned for three or four years. he's in no hurry to fix it. he'd have to take me to court to evict me. why leave, unless i can find some place right?

I'm becoming a lot more articulate. My thought processes are much more clear, complex, intricate, etc. I see things that seem to startle people. If they're not reactionary, don't immediately become defensive or take offense or dismiss me as rambling, they're really appreciative of what I'm saying and very enthusiastic. So, I'm saving a lot more of my comments from facebook onto my blogs, for safe storage. facebook is ephemeral: stuff just disappears. It's a constant feeding, rolling over. it's like there's no history; it's constantly NOW. I need history. of course, I also don't know how to type with my thumbs, either. A lot of people I know on facebook only use cell phones! amazing!

Egypt is moving right along; people are forming political parties. They wish there was more security. Mostly, everybody's ok there. There have been rumors of thugs and looting, but no actual news reports of much disruption. Libya and elsewhere break my heart. Arabia (I'm no longer calling it "Saudi"; that's like calling USA Washingtonian States or, worse, Reaganian States, and the people don't really want to be called Saudis, since it's like they're owned by the royal family) anyway Arabia is chugging along modestly but well: a few hundred here, forty there, out in the streets, protesting... which is against "Sharia law" and, therefore, Islam (yeah, sure...). It's going to happen. It will be very slow, and that's good; let people build some confidence. Arabs aren't allowed to gather, you know. It'll take a different kind of organizing to pull that one off, but it'll happen. Might take twenty years.... the young people are fed up.

The US saddens me more than any other time I can think of. I won't go into it; I'm sure you know. Progressives are just huffy and pointing fingers at the rabid, overtly prejudiced, outright sexist, racist, etc. elements. Everybody's calling everybody else Hitler, which I think is disrespectful of those who died, and survived, when he was alive. I don't involve myself in the rhetoric and chicken little stuff. I make cartoons out of news photos and post them. I try to keep people laughing, instead of screaming and thinking calmly, instead of throwing tantrums. I try to be the quiet, fun, funny, creative, inspiring place. I don't mean like I'm an inspiration; I just find positive stuff and share it. I'm sort of like aspirin: relieves fever, swelling and pain, thins the blood, doesn't cost much, isn't toxic, comes from a renewable resource. That's me: aspirin.

I don't recognize the USA now. I really don't. I'm a little disoriented. I do know there's a very efficient machine, well planned, extremely well executed, coming right at us like that tank in Tienanmen Square, and the US citizens are that guy standing in front of it. They never show what happened to that guy. I know people are TRYING to resist, but whatever that machine is, it was very well constructed. It's tearing up everything, all over the country. It has a beautifully, wickedly organized agenda, a real military operation, against us.

I will give you a link to one blog post about medical care I wrote. That Rio Grande foundation linked to an editorial in the Albuquerque Journal, "Health care is not a human right" by an emergency doctor, like an administrator or something. Here: http://livinginthehood.blogspot.com/2011/03/health-care-is-not-human-right.html warning: it has pictures of hurt kids. if you'd prefer, I can just send the text, so you don't have to see the pictures. but I had a very good reason for putting them there.

Well, this is probably a very long email. And I want to go nibble some pork & vegies before I go to sleep.

I'm sad. I'm lonely. I'm still hopeful and still working hard as I can. spring is coming, some day. BOOM! I just figured it out: this is March! March 21, vernal equinox, would have been Viri Diana's birthday. That's the problem. I always forget. It's not a conscious dread any more; it's just grief, longing and regret. She would have been fifteen this year.
http://rogiriverstone.com 

Facebook feminism transforms Middle East

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Kate,

Ok, so you don't want links to outside sources, but only personal correspondence. I'm reading an opinion piece in Al Jazeera, "The Middle East feminist revolution Women are not merely joining protests to topple dictators, they are at the centre of demanding social change." by Naomi Wolf

I wasn't sure why what's going on it the ME an Northern Africa "feels" so different to me. Was it cultural? I mean, in Egypt, they cleaned the streets of litter as they protested. And the organization of Tahrir Square, from overhead shots, was fascinating: shops over here, bathrooms there, medical on this side; child care over there, space to pray here . . . etc.

Why did it appear leaderless? Why was it secular? How did it incorporate, as near as I can tell, almost every aspect and race of society? Why wasn't it violent? Where were the angry men with megaphones? How did it succeed so quickly, organically, like a sudden infection?

The answer is women. They weren't just making coffee and photocopying; they are intrinsic to the movement, on all levels. The movement was, organically, collective and leaderless, as a result. The movement reflects the priorities, skills and social preferences of WOMEN!

"The role of women in the great upheaval in the Middle East has been woefully under-analyzed. Women in Egypt did not just "join" the protests – they were a leading force behind the cultural evolution that made the protests inevitable. And what is true for Egypt is true, to a greater and lesser extent, throughout the Arab world. When women change, everything changes - and women in the Muslim world are changing radically."

Education of women has made this happen. It's not just the data they absorb. It's the atmosphere of mixed-gender education, as well. of course, they learn critical thinking, public discourse, debate, expressing points of view. They also learn, and this is what is probably scariest to men in power, to challenge men in power!

"But, as Westerners should know from their own historical experience, once you educate women, democratic agitation is likely to accompany the massive cultural shift that follows."

But, with all that, one ingredient has been missing in prior social protest movements that has kept the influence of women from creating collective revolution, without heirarchy, without charismatic personality leadership. That's social media: twitter, facebook.

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"The nature of social media, too, has helped turn women into protest leaders. Having taught leadership skills to women for more than a decade, I know how difficult it is to get them to stand up and speak out in a hierarchical organizational structure. Likewise, women tend to avoid the figurehead status that traditional protest has in the past imposed on certain activists – almost invariably a hotheaded young man with a megaphone."

Facebook mimics, quite well, the small town. I can sit here in my little house trailer and communicate quite efficiently and effectively with my small communities of friends. And my influence, preference, analysis, argument, radiates outward, like ripples in a pond. I find thigs as I surf around the internet and post them on Facebook. And other people post things on their news feeds, and I share them, too. Links I post, people I quote, pictures I like come back to me, as my "friends" post them on their news feeds. Sometimes, weeks go by and I'll still see people, farther and farther from my center, post back things I received earlier.

The piece I wrote that NMPolitics.org published is influencing conversation. As I told you, I have made a blog post of it and have been spreading it through progressive media sites, such as Mother Jones, Utne Reader, Rachel Maddow. I've posted it to my Congressional representatives' and Barack Obama's facebook pages. And guess what has now happened? The conversation is beginning to shift toward my argument that union busting is actually a way for corporations to privatize the public sector at taxpayers' expense. A new Dennis Kusinich interview is peppered with my idea. NOBODY was talking this way before I published my article and spread it around!

Now, as a feminist, I absolutely know it's important to reclaim language and words. One word that has always bothered me is "gossip." Women gossip to share news, evaluate social situations, decide what to do about those who have violated cultural and social norms, etc. When we were illiterate, had no say in public policies, laws or law enforcement, gossip was the best, most efficient and most effective way we had to organize ourselves around issues impacting our larger community and do something about it.

Facebook is the logical extension of that! And it's better than gossip, because it doesn't turn into a game of "playing telephone." If I post a link to you, it doesn't change by the time a friend of a friend of a friend posts it to her friend. And my original comments about that link are often passed on, as well, depending how subsequent users post it. Ripples.

And I am not the center, nor are you, nor is anybody else, of the ripples, because there are millions of other people making their little ripples, too and they interconnect as they spread out: we are all influencing each other, even me, stranded in a house trailer in a drive way in frontier New Mexico, with no political clout, no influence, no car, no toilet.

I'm quoting now the summation of Ms. Wolf's article. I think she is right. I think it is a very exciting time to be a woman. I think the last barriers to female influence in culture are dissolving. Any literate woman who can get to an internet cafe or has wifi in whatever confinement she is sequestered now shapes the world. There's no going back. The Jinn, as they say, is out of the bottle!

"Projection of power

"In such contexts – with a stage, a spotlight, and a spokesperson – women often shy away from leadership roles. But social media, through the very nature of the technology, have changed what leadership looks and feels like today. Facebook mimics the way many women choose to experience social reality, with connections between people just as important as individual dominance or control, if not more so.

"You can be a powerful leader on Facebook just by creating a really big "us". Or you can stay the same size, conceptually, as everyone else on your page – you don't have to assert your dominance or authority. The structure of Facebook's interface creates what brick-and-mortar institutions - despite 30 years of feminist pressure - have failed to provide: a context in which women's ability to forge a powerful "us" and engage in a leadership of service can advance the cause of freedom and justice worldwide.

"Of course, Facebook cannot reduce the risks of protest. But, however violent the immediate future in the Middle East may be, the historical record of what happens when educated women participate in freedom movements suggests that those in the region who would like to maintain iron-fisted rule are finished.

"Just when France began its rebellion in 1789, Mary Wollstonecraft, who had been caught up in witnessing it, wrote her manifesto for women's liberation. After educated women in America helped fight for the abolition of slavery, they put female suffrage on the agenda. After they were told in the 1960s that "the position of women in the movement is prone", they generated "second wave" feminism – a movement born of women's new skills and old frustrations.

"Time and again, once women have fought the other battles for the freedom of their day, they have moved on to advocate for their own rights. And, since feminism is simply a logical extension of democracy, the Middle East's despots are facing a situation in which it will be almost impossible to force these awakened women to stop their fight for freedom – their own and that of their communities.

"Naomi Wolf is a political activist and social critic whose most recent book is Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries."

kiddy porn bought by Pentagon

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I damn near froze to death, quite literally, this winter because there are no funds for Low Income Heating Assistance, they didn't warn me and my fire wood ran out. My electricity was nearly disconnected, because I couldn't afford a very modest heating bill.

I am a survivor of SEVERE childhood physical and sexual abuse. I have brain injuries, post traumatic stress and torn genitals to prove it.

And the Pentagon is buying child pornography?

When are the people of the United States going to walk like Egyptians???

 

Fat and SASSY!

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If you're ashamed of who you are, you'll NEVER get a standing ovation in your underwear! I'm SO TICKLED!

 

 

We'll always have Brownies

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Mina's Dish: The Girl Scouts host a cookie caper
Dear Girl Scouts, 

 

I have supported you for many decades now, even though my dingbat troop leader slammed my ant farm in a large pickle jar down on a table and killed all my ants, thus causing me to take a hike.

I have, over the decades, bought close to a pick up truck load of cookies. Yes, most of them were Thin Mints, but I've noticed, in recent years, that I haven't found them as satisfying as i remember from previous decades.

So, this year, I bought a box of my second favorites: Lemon Chalet Creme, even though I noticed, with disappointment, that they're no longer "Cream," meaning they're probably lard or plastic or silicone caulk or something. They weren't very lemony; there wasn't very much "creme," which is probably just as well, when you think about it. I didn't bother to read the ingredients; I assume they were pretty poisonous, but that wasn't the point of my purchase, anyway.

And I would have bought more than one box, but they're very small for the new price of $3.50. So, who ever is baking your cookies is baking you, too, and me, as your supporter.

I realize you're risking arrest even selling these anymore. I read about the town cops somewhere that rousted your moms for not having a peddler's license! And I appreciate that there's a recession and that you have to buy your uniforms, badges and lots of other stuff from the Girl Scout Cartel, and that a lot of low income troops really struggle with this.

But I want you to know that, until and unless you decide to contract with a MUCH better baker, with MUCH better ingredients at more reasonable prices for junk food I could pick up for a third the cost at a dollar store, I won't be buying any more Girl Scout cookies in the future.

Thank you for teaching young women self-sufficiency and confidence. Thank you for not taking an anti-Lesbian policy, similar to those sissy Boy Scouts, who should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you for teaching me how to make s'mores, ride a horse, sew a badge on my sash and sing "A Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall."

And I forgive you for the ant farm. The ants do not.

French hell for Muslim women

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Full-face veils outlawed as France spells out controversial niqab ban

I'm an American, educated in US Constitutional rights. This violates freedom of religion. The President actually voices his prejudice against Islam in the article:

Sarkozy, desperate to secure the far-right electorate in next year's presidential election, is under fire for deliberately stigmatising France's Muslim population to win votes. He has ordered a nationwide debate on Islam's place in secular France, briefing journalists he wants no halal food options in school canteens, no prayers outside and no minarets. He was defiant on Thursday, giving a speech lauding the "Christian heritage of France".

This is harassment of a religious group. They're even trying to outlaw halal-only restaurants and won't serve halal menus in schools. 

Look at this taunting:

 One indication of the mood of unease in France is local authorities taking steps to ban proposed "pork and wine aperitifs" by rightwingers deliberately staged near Muslim places of worship, including a "rosé wine and porchetta" evening to be held near a Muslim place of prayer in Nice on Friday night.

VERY FEW WOMEN IN FRANCE WEAR hijab: 

"A tiny minority of women in France wear full niqab, far fewer than in the UK: Muslim groups estimate only a few hundred out of France's more than 5 million Muslim population."

They can't even wear scarves: 

A worker in a private creche went to court and lost after she claimed she was fired for refusing to take off her headscarf. The education minister insisted that mothers in headscarves should not be allowed to accompany children on school outings. One mother banned from escorting her son's primary school class for wearing a simple head-covering said: "I'm French, not a fanatic, I just want to be able to practise my religion without being ostracised."

This is the same racist immigrant bashing as Arizona's anti-immigration crap, under the guise of "secularism!"

France doesn't give a DAMN about "liberating" Muslim women. They just want to provoke Muslim MEN, but disrespecting their women! Imagine, in this country, if women were ordered to go topless at the beach, under the guise of "liberating" us and FORCING us to be equal with men! Imagine your shame and embarrassment, the tears behind your eyes, if you were forced to remove your top in public!

Many Islamic women wear hijab out of cultural modesty. MANY wear it BECAUSE of this sort of religious persecution! I know women who went uncovered most of their adult lives who've begun wearing hijab as a progressive political statement: we will not be assimilated, we are as equal as you, we're just different and we have that right, it is our tradition, it is not a shame but a source of strength and pride.

If I were a French woman -- and especially if I were a French MAN -- I would BEGIN wearing hijab BECAUSE OF THIS LAW! How DARE Europe, ONE MORE TIME, impose its arrogant notion of cultural superiority on others??? It's PSYCHOLOGICAL COLONIALISM! They are FORCING the women, to show they have power over the men! Any woman caught veiled will be fined and SENT TO REEDUCATION CLASSES!

The Crusades are OVER! STOP imposing YOUR will on other traditions! This won't convince anybody; it will just alienate them and make them cling more desperately to what traditions they have left!

ANYBODY REMEMBER WHAT EUROPE DID TO JEWS FOR TWO THOUSAND YEARS?????

PS: I am an atheist! I DO NOT GIVE A CRAP ABOUT RELIGION!

free speech won today

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U.S. Supreme Court in favor of anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church

Westboro wins NOTHING. The CONSTITUTION and FREEDOM OF SPEECH win EVERYTHING!
"REALLY?"

my reply:
Absolutely. The right to freedom of speech is too difficult to get back when lost. Do I detest WBC? Of course. Do I wish they'd shut up? Of course. Do I want a law to enforce my wish? Absolutely not. Because an entire political, religious and social system wants to shut ME up, and I need the protection of the Constitution to keep them from doing it.

Can we bring down WBC? No. But the thing is, THEY are doing it to themselves! Folks who NEVER would have "sympathized" with LGBT rights in the past are seeing what WBC is doing and they're starting to hate them. Hell, even Anonymous, who are MUCH too busy with the pro-democracy movements in Northern Africa and the Middle East right now, not to mention Assange and Wikileaks, ANONYMOUS knocked ALL of WBC's domains off line! I haven't been able to access http://godhatesfags.com/ for DAYS now! And Anonymous absolutely defends freedom of speech, no censorship, etc.

Why, just tonight, I saw an article: Sarah Palin thinks the Supreme Court is WRONG for not silencing Westboro! I NEVER thought I'd be in a position to "defend" westoboro against PALIN! But that's not what I'm doing; I'm defending the Constitution against Palin and the theocrats!

Look, I'm old enough to remember the Civil Rights movements of the sixties and seventies. Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis were parading in the streets. It was HORRIBLE, the poison coming out of their mouths...JUST like Westboro.

But their hate doesn't change OUR TRUTH, and we need the Constitution of the United States to guarantee we get to SPEAK that truth!

That court decision is a victory for the citizens of the USA.

Westoboro wins NOTHING! They're just riding the backs of people who have suffered and DIED for a right that many people on the planet STILL don't have! I have Pakistani friends. Over there, the theocrats will KILL you if you "speak against Islam," the "blasphemy laws," and crowds will cheer the murderers in the streets! Sarah Palin comes from THAT sort of mentality.

Westboro is silencing itself. We don't have to do anything but ignore them, and it'll all be over.

ATTENTION: sports bras are not all that comfortable...especially when you get three goat heads in one.... that is all.

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lol. I've been out working in the yard all day, burning weeds and preparing these parachutes I bought to be shade covers for the house trailer. I mean, I've been working so hard, it hurts to put my feet on the floor when I get out of bed.

So, I came in here, started pooting around on facebook and thought, dang! I still feel pretty aggrevated, even though I'm in bed and took aspirin.

Well, you know how it is when you're working hard: you just have to ignore little pains and annoyances. So, I hadn't even NOTICED I had goat heads in my bra, until I lay down to get comfortable!

So, I've been lying in bed with my keyboard in my lap, twisted up like a pretzel, trying to take my damn bra off without getting the freaking goat heads in the bed.

You haven't lived 'til you've rolled over on a goat head in your sleep.

Ok, here it is, just as it was on facebook, but with pics.
http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/2011/02/attention-sports-bras-are-not-all-that.html
I had a roommate at a conference from Guam. She didn't know what goat heads were, so I was trying to describe them. Suddenly, I had a snap and opened my suit case. Sure enough, not only were there goat heads in the soles of my shoes, but she could see the hundreds of puncture marks in them, some going straight through the shoe to where my foot would be! She was horrified! They don't have nasty critters or plants in Guam. I said, well, I ain't givin you one to take home, and check your shoes when you check out!

 

PS THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO IRRADICATE GOAT HEADS, FOREVER!

 

puncture vine weevil

marriage

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When men finally figured out sperm had something to do with babies, they needed to control women, to make sure those babies shared the men's genetic material. They didn't want to bequeath their baseball card collections to someone else's kid. Also, marriage is a pretty good way to unite two families into one controlling interest, even among the poor. Marriage is an ECONOMIC institution. Historically and even, in most parts of the world right now, love has nothing to do with marriage. The concept of romantic love in marriage is a relatively new invention. In the past, women, whose uterus now belonged to her husband, could not have romantic love, at all. They were totally dependent on their husbands, economically and socially; to go outside marriage for love was, and still is, a death sentence. Men, of course, were permitted extra marital relationships and were even approved as more "manly" for having them.

There's no anthropological evidence to suggest that lifetime monogamy is a natural state for humans. It would seem men in sexual relationships with women are supposed to hang out just long enough to protect a pregnant woman until she gives birth and weans the baby. It appears SERIAL monogamy is more natural to humans.

Humans group into tribes. Tribes bear living duties communally, so everybody, to some extent, raises the children within the tribe, just as they share duties for the hunt, for gathering, for protecting the tribe from predators and enemies, etc.

The invention of the nuclear family, rather than the extended or tribal family is a very new, post-Industrial Revolution concept. Before mass production, local communities/tribes/extended families created what they needed locally, with trade to other areas.

Since the 1950s, the extended family/tribe/local community has been rendered "unnecessary," and women were segregated into individual households, with scant access to community support. It also coincides with a HUGE upsurge in alcoholism, addiction to prescription medications and child abuse in the USA.

Marriage was and is an economic institution. It is becoming less and less relevant to societies with the advent of birth control, education and employment of women, the transformation of cultures into "service sector" jobs, etc.

i think the main reason Queers want to marry is economic equality. They can't have spousal benefits, have legal rights to adopt children, visit a spouse in the hospital, get marriage deductions on taxes, etc.

what I think of late term abortion

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In my case, the decision to end a pregnancy is probably the most traumatic experience of my life. And I am a survivor of extreme childhood sexual and physical abuse that has left me with brain injuries, PTS and mutilated genitals. I've also been chronically poor and often homeless throughout my life, have been raped, beaten and robbed. So, when I say it's probably the most traumatic, it's not hyperbole; I know trauma.

I resisted the procedure. The pregnancy was killing me, but I felt like SUCH a failure: I couldn't even mother right, that I just wanted to die with my daughter. I CHOSE that pregnancy, planned for it, mentally, I mean. Being an abuse survivor, I'd been afraid, in the past, to mother; I was afraid I'd perpetuate the cycle of abuse. So, my decision to mother was a conscious, well-planned and deeply self-inspected one.

The problem with the idea of dying with my daughter was that I probably would not die, but might end up a vegetable. I had to undergo the procedure.

Because I'm low income, the only medical attention I could get was factory-style. My psychological state was never a factor. They did not honor my request to let me keep the remains for burial. It was all horrible, demeaning, traumatizing, indifferent, impersonal, cold.

If a woman needs a late term abortion, I can only imagine the personal suffering she must endure: the grief, the shame, the sense of failure, the terror. I do not believe any but a TINY minority of women (and that minority ought not mother, anyway, I'd guess) would feel that child growing in her body and not go through agony about ending that pregnancy. And I do not believe most would undergo the procedure only because a pregnancy would inconvenience them. I think that's a reactionary propaganda tactic.

I think we need to respect women, assume women can make our own medical decisions without the Big Brother State (of theocracy) telling us what to do with the contents of our wombs.

Women are not silly airheads. We don't have abortions on a whim. We get manicures, facials, plastic surgery and hair dos for that, if we want. An abortion is not a spa treatment and we don't think of it that way. For the men who think we do, go screw yourselves and stop screwing US! 

Frontline - Sex Slaves (2005)

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Part-1Documentary Watch Online

 

Part-2 Documentary Watch Online

 

Part-3 Documentary Watch Online

 

Part-4 Documentary Watch Online 

 

Jesus is watching you masturbate

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I went to fundy, xian camps. In JUNIOR HIGH, we were herded to chapel, boys & girls together and a "Pastor" told us God had made our arms this length to tempt us to masturbate. We were told we were to have NO sexual feelings until marriage! Junior High? Mixed gender audience? Can you imagine the shame, humiliation, guilt we each privately, because we could not talk to each other about it, of course, experienced, how much we hated and feared our own bodies, how inadequate, dirty and evil we thought we were????

WOMAN SPIRIT - DEDICATED TO ALL WOMEN OF THE WORLD

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MichelleSheriza | April 11, 2010 | 4 likes, 0 dislikes

Created by: Michelle Sherliza, OP -
Music: WOMAN SPIRIT by Karen Drucker from her CD - Songs of the Spirit 1
Dedicated to all the marvelous women of our World!

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Actual conservatives, FTW!

There is a HUGE difference between being "Conservative" and being reactionary. Ask yourselves: what are "Conservatives" conserving? Before the word "environmentalism" existed, I was taught natural CONSERVATION in my public school, forty years ago. Are we conserving capital, giving corporate welfare? Are we conserving human life, engaged in constant war? Are we conserving our children? Be clear on the distinction between "Conservative" and reactionary, and it's easy to pull the sheets off the ku kluxers who carry the torches. And these women made me cry.

Youth Pride Chorus: "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"

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Youth Pride Chorus, excerpt from Flying, December 4, 2010, The Kitchen, New York City

"I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
"Fly" by Nick Drake
"Ooh Child" by The Five Stairsteps
Youth Pride Chorus website

"New York City's Youth Pride Chorus galvanizes the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and straight youth ages 13-22 in the movement for change. YPC concerts feature these young artists in exciting, high-energy performances of both classic and current pop, rock, and folk songs, original choreography, and spoken word. Through fun and rigorous weekly rehearsals, YPC singers train in voice, dance, and song interpretation, developing both artistic excellence and leadership skills. YPC typically numbers between 30 and 40 singers.

"YPC has recently performed as guest artists at the  GLAAD Media Awards, GLSEN's Respect Awards, Broadway Backwards  at Lincoln Center, and with Cyndi Lauper on her True Colors Tour. Youth Pride Chorus is a program of The New York City Gay Men's Chorus and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center. Under the artistic direction of Wes Webb and musical direction of Matthew Fetbrandt, YPC is facilitated by the Center's Youth Enrichment Services program."

"The Case Against Queer Activism"

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http://www.advocate.com/Politics/Commentary/The_Case_Against_Activism//
My response:

I'm so privileged not to live in a cosmopolitan, urban area where it's safe to hold hands and even kiss in some parts of town, where one's spouse or domestic partner receives my employment benefits, where I can form sub-cliques involving in which back pocket I place what color bandana! I'm actually grateful I live where Queer bashing is as normal as drinking a beer and nobody's ever heard of a boi! Because here, in the real United States, the rural back roads of real life, those who love and support me really do, without conditions or mine fields and, when we find others like us, we overlook minor and petty disagreements, because we so badly need each other's support, assistance, empathy and kindness that we can't afford the privilege of tearing each other to pieces while the Queer bashers just watch us implode! I hope I never live in a city, a subculture or a Queer community again! It sounds heart breaking! Peace to all of you. I'm so sorry this has happened.

reminded of the hate in Indiana

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just a reply to a facebook friend who was quoting some "color purple"

y'know, all that bs about Shug makin' up with her preacher daddy? That ain't in the book. Nope. That's Spielberg for ya: a Black woman from the South, an alien from outer space? Same thing. I so didn't like the color purple. It messed up my head: WHY did Walker allow him to butcher her like that? But the talent in the film is awesome. Quincy Jones is amazing. Oprah was fierce. I loved the juke joint and Mister's house. I showed the kiss as part of my final project in a course called "Effects of Mass Communication," in an oral presentation on Vito Russo's Celluloid Closet. This was in Indiana, too close to Ku Kluxer towns. Very Rush Limbaugh and Pat Roberston. Well, they tore me apart. I'd even learned how to edit video tape to make that presentation. They tore me apart and the instructor let them. I ran from class in tears. Later, a psych proff who's a feminist invited me to give my presentation to one of her classes, so I did. They LOVED it! I went to the little Queer center on campus, feeling vindicated and victorious. They said, "Don't you come in here! We heard you made a scene in Ms. so and so's class! You're giving us a bad name...." It wasn't true, of course. But they wouldn't listen and did not want to be associated with me. I dropped out of school and overdosed on pain meds. Incomplete suicide. Ironically, the President of Indiana University Southeast was on the Board of Directors of the First Unitarian Church of Louisville, my fellowship. After that communications class had been so evil to me, it was Richard, their minister and my close friend, that I called. He rushed to meet me at Campus and, when my instructor REFUSED TO SEE HIM, Richard spoke to the Dean of the dept., who was also a cough "chaplain." Richard leaned over the guy's desk and said, "How DARE you allow this behavior in a university! What if this woman had been Black, doing a presentation on Blacks in motion pictures? WOULD YOU ALLOW THAT BEHAVIOR THEN???" basically, the dean told Richard, yeah, he would and waddya gonna do about it?

I cant' watch any of the films in that video tape I put together for that class without sobbing uncontrollably. When the class saw the kiss between celie and shug, they screamed and moaned and said eewwww and gross and perverted and.......

never went back to a college since. 

Zach Wahls Speaks About Family

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Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old University of Iowa student spoke about the strength of his family during a public forum on House Joint Resolution 6 in the Iowa House of Representatives. Wahls has two mothers, and came to oppose House Joint Resolution 6 which would end civil unions in Iowa.

Cairo Street Debate: When Mubarak Foes and Backers Clash

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It's the women who know how to clean up & to soothe:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2045278,00.html
 

A woman in a brown abaya, hijab and gloves proceeded forward. "What are you all arguing about?" she said, speaking to both groups. "Why don't you all think about working together for Egypt? Egypt — that's what you should all be saying, not screaming at each other."

"Look at it — look at the looting, look at the burned buildings," a Mubarak supporter told her.

"So what? We will clean it up and rebuild it," she responded. "What are you getting so angry about? The President will not stay forever."

The woman seemed to calm everyone down. Some 30 minutes after the fracas began, it was over.

The Divine Feminine

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A response to Stephanie, if you can see the following link
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=154809&id=609338161

 

Well, lady, if you wanna waft around in see-through Madras hippy shirts because you're scared that developing muscles might cause some redneck Jethro to call you a bull dyke, that's your insecurity, not mine. When they do it to me, I just smile and say, "Thanks for noticing!" and flip 'em off.

There's no one right or wrong way to be a woman, any more than there is to be a Gender Queer or a man. I don't have to contemplate my belly button to get in touch with my feminine side; it's right below my belly button, at a convenient arm's length.

Women become "successes" in "a man's world" by aping all those endearing qualities of patriarchy: ruthlessness, callousness, aggression, competition, back stabbing, throat slitting.... Maybe they wear blazers to hide the scars? I don't fault Hillary for killing herself to be a person of influence in the modern world. And I don't think she has sold her gender out. In fact, she speaks of women's issues nearly constantly, even in countries MUCH worse than this one, and THIS one is BAD!

One of my old runnin' buddies, and a current Facebook friend http://www.facebook.com/#!/zbudapest , is the very first Feminist witch High Priestess. She taught me (who came from a very fundamentalist xian background) that the female is sacred, powerful, strong, healing, redemptive, life giving and utterly essential in this perverted, patriarchal society. I was a young, teen runaway, on the streets of Los Angeles, a pretty blond girl. I should not have survived. She's one of the reasons I did. And I love her.

Do I practice witchcraft? Nope. Do I pray to Goddesses for intervention or the bestowing of favors or blessings? Nope. Do I believe switching out genders on an outmoded cultural construct is all religion needed to make it viable? Nope.

I'm still agnostic. I still love science over superstition and I still get weirded out when people try to force me to pray or participate in rituals that have no significance to me.

So, young Earth mother of the newest, more techy and far more polluted generation than mine ever was when gas was twenty-nine cents a gallon and I could live on the beach in L.A. County for less than a hundred bucks a month, You have just rediscovered the wheel. Congratulations.

As you pat yourself on the back for discovering feminist theory and the role of women in comparative religious studies, take a breath and remember your foremothers. We blazed this trail for you in the U.S., starting with Dollie Madison, admonishing her husband "don't forget the ladies" while writing the Constitution to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her Women's Bible to cranky Mary Daly and her Wickedary glossary of women's wisdom through the etymology of words.

Come back when you've grown some hair on your lip, and we'll talk then. Ok?

Dine people struggle with phobias

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The campaign for President and Vice President of Navajo Nation was sprinkled with insinuations about whether one candidate was "Gay." It was silly and ugly. Now, photos of Navajo transvestites or transexuals in femaile clothing are being circulated on Facebook, as though that would be the worst thing in the world. These photos are being "tagged" with the name of President Ben Shelly and appear in an album on a brand new facebook page by someone whose only linked interest was Shelly's opponent, who has publicly made some pretty ignorant remarks about LGBTQ issues.

Here is my response to the photo tagging:

 I see no link to an actual NT article, so don't know if this is an accurate quote from it. I do know Alkenaz Bahe has "tagged" Shelly in a photograph that seems disrespectful. I saw it on my wall http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?fbid=121702131235683&id=100001876914602&aid=21837 and I see the only "interest" linked in the profile of Alkenaz Bahe is Lynda Lovejoy.

I know Ms. Lovejoy has very limited understanding of LGBTQ issues and has embarrassed herself by saying Vice President Jim has "gender issues," which she later confused with "Gay," and that even making a public statement like that is considered, by Navajo etiquette, to be inappropriate. I also believe Ms. Lovejoy thinks LGBTQ people are bad or wrong, and that it is good to spread rumors about them, that they deserve whatever torments might come their way for even being rumored to be LGBTQ.

I know Mr. Jim is a single father and Vice President of his Nation, and sincerely doubt he has a lot of free time or energy to waste on any sort of romantic adventures. I also do not think he is stupid enough to be found out, if he were.

I think it took courage for Mr. Shelly and Mr. Jim to stand in front of a rainbow flag and have their photograph recorded and that photograph brought tears to my eyes because, just maybe, it might mean the beginning of the end of foolish stereotypes and prejudices against people whom the Dine once held in respect and acceptance, before the corrupting influences of non-Navajo "missionaries," who have had a several-centuries-old reputation of NOT taking Dine culture, traditions, lands and people seriously or showing any respect for ancient ways.

Finally, I have to question whom all this benefits and, again, signs point back to a possible Lovejoy smear campaign. She has shown herself to be a "sore loser" and has not gracefully, and with humility, accepted the election of the new leaders and committed herself to the best interests of Navajo Nation. If she is not responsible for the current distribution of these photographs in some misguided attempt to discredit people based on clothing, one of her misguided supporters is, and she needs to publicly denounce such unbecoming behavior.

As a non-Navajo, who has watched this past election and installation of the new governing body carefully, I have to say this: this distribution of photographs, insinuations that people who might be LGBTQ are bad or corrupt or evil or ugly, the very nasty comments to President Shelly's Facebook page at the time of the Inauguration would not leave a positive impression on most people I know who are not Dine. They make the Nation seem, undeservedly, petty, small minded, prone to rumor and gossip, prejudiced, backward and ignorant. I know, for an absolute fact, that NONE of those impressions is, truly, valid or representative of Navajo Nation. Others might not think things through so much or give benefit of the doubt, but make jokes, point fingers and ridicule.

Bottom line: This sort of behavior is undignified, in opposition to basic Dine values, embarrassing and destructive to the entire Nation, not just to a few individuals in public office.

It's very middle school, bullying behavior and it does not belong in public discourse about the workings of Navajo Nation government! If this is the BEST one can do to feebly attempt to discredit Navajo leaders, it shows how very weak and small those discreditors are and that the Nation is probably best served that Shelly's and Jim's opponents did NOT win the election!

There is so much beauty, dignity, grace, joy and honor in the Navajo Nation. I am embarrassed to see it smeared with such foolish, petty hate.

CREATING CRIMES AGAINST UNBORN CHILDREN;

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HOUSE BILL 30
50TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 2011
INTRODUCED BY
Larry A. Larrañaga

http://www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/11%20Regular/bills/house/HB0030.pdf

http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/
You know, when my baby was dying, I had to "kill" her 3 times with 2 procedures: abortion (she wasn't in my uterus) & laprascopic surgery (she was in my fallopian tube; surgery had to be rescheduled cus I drank a Pepsi). I went through HELL, losing my only child. Her name was Viri Diana. Nobody cared; med. staff called her a "collection of cells" (I was apx. 10 wks. pregnant). Father abandoned me. Queer church freaked out cuz I did it with a man....I was totally alone and I turned suicidal. When I saw the abortion dummies at the State Fair, I had to finally run out of the tent, because I just lost it and started SCREAMING at them for making me relive that trauma, and I was afraid someone would call security. I went through those procedures because that pregnancy would have killed me. It almost did, anyway. I do NOT need some MAN telling ME I'm a MURDERER! I did that to myself! The only reason I didn't kill myself (failure even as a mother) was because I didn't want Viri Diana's only legacy to be my death, "she killed herself over that pregnancy."

This crap has GOT to go:
C. Unless acting upon sufficient provocation, upon
a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion, a person who causes
the death of an unborn child without lawful justification or
excuse commits murder of an unborn child in the second degree
if in performing the acts that cause the death, the person
knows that such acts create a strong probability of death or
great bodily harm to another.
D. Whoever commits murder of an unborn child in the
second degree is guilty of a second degree felony resulting in
the death of a human being.
SECTION 4. MANSLAUGHTER OF AN UNBORN CHILD.--
A. Manslaughter of an unborn child is the unlawful
killing of an unborn child through actions committed without
malice.

1996 Atlanta Pride Festival Speech by Coretta Scott King

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For historical and educational purposes only. Mrs. Coretta Scott King speaks at the 1996 Atlanta Pride Festival in Piedmont Park in Atlanta Georgia.

Listen to her speak then and much of it still applies to TODAY!

IN MEMORY OF CORETTA SCOTT KING (1927-2006)

ATLANTA PRIDE (www.atlantapride.org)

DONATE AND SUPPORT THE KING CENTER (www.thekingcenter.org)

This is not a difficult concept

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for straight people who complain we're not trying hard enough

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you don't know how hard Queers work. That's a pretty arrogant, self important thing to say. WE have to LIVE this, EVERY DAY! That is a tremendous, stressful and painful burden. If you want to do work around homophobia, fine. But to COMPLAIN about how much BETTER you do it than Queers do, that's condescending, patronizing and just as heterosexist ans anything the Queer bashers do! 

Are you familiar with the term "intergenerational trauma?" Look it up. Since the Roman army decided soldiers should be replaceable parts & should not care about their fallen comrades, heterosexism has been institutionalized in Western cultu...re. That's longer than the after effects of both slavery and Indigenous genocide. Look at the high level of alcohol advertising in the Queer community; it's higher than "ghetto" billboards. We self medicate, self abuse, isolate . . . these are classic symptoms of intergenerational trauma. Our elders teach us dysfunctional behaviors that are even considered "cool" within our culture. Few of us know ANYTHING about our history, our accomplishments, role models, etc. We learn to objectify our bodies, to try, any way we can, to look cool, healthy, macho, whatever...to be acceptable. We struggle with what I call necessary narcicism: where one is so at risk, ALL one can focus on is one's own abilities to pass, to survive, at the exclusion of being able to form real, intimate bonds with anybody else. We cannot marry. It is difficult for us to parent/foster/adopt. We cannot serve openly in the military. We are always in danger of beatings, being fired or evicted and even having our kids taken from us. We are encouraged by pop culture to be silly, frivolous, decorative and superficial. In most towns in the US, the ONLY places we can meet each other are bars and bathrooms! We lurk in parks and shadows. We are infested with messages that we are sinful, sick, diseased, depraved and dangerous to children. EVERY DAY. Now, if you can't cope with the fact that ALL THIS multigenerational trauma has left us a bit weakened, unfocused, confused, self abusive, self destructive, self obsessed, etc., then you are demanding, unreasonably, I would argue, that we conform to YOUR experience of what courage, hard work and organizing are. Sometimes, and I so know this from personal experience, sometimes, the bravest, most difficult thing in the world is to just get out of bed and face the world ONE MORE TIME with such a broken heart, all you want to do is die.

I can "throw whatever facts" at you, but you'll ignore them (I refer to a previous post when you dismissed what I said with, "regardless..."). If I keep telling the truth, about what we need to heal, we can heal it. We'll always have problems if we IGNORE THE DAMAGE! We are NOT like YOU! And we ARE STRONG! So stop being so damn judgmental and arrogant and LISTEN, have some humility for a minute and LEARN something, instead of running your mouth about how wonderful you are compared to a 'lot of homosexuals you know." To give you an idea how LITTLE you actually know about our history and culture, we don't LIKE being called "homosexuals," because it makes us sound like the stereotype: that we only care about sex, that we're hypersexual, that we're savages and beasts that can't control our own impulses. WHY are we not called "homoamorous:" people who LOVE our own genders? Because LOVE and self esteem and dignity have been stripped from us for thousands of years, to benefit the dominant culture, because if you breeders EVER learned to LOVE each other, the whole fucked up system would crash down around the bosses' knees and we'd all be free! You could have learned something from me, but you're too busy grinding your goody two shoes axe to hear. YOU are part of the problem WE must overcome. Lead, follow or GET OUT OF THE WAY!