This might be one of the last PUBLIC (non-meme, non-political-ranting) posts I do in my journal, and I was thinking it might be neat to know who stops by. Since there is no hit counter for LJ (or at least, a hit counter that I *want* to use), I thought I'd set up a sort of guest book.
If you read me but never friended me (which would be frustrating since I do almost all of my posts as friends-only), or just stopped by, please drop a comment. I'm curious whom the gawds drag past my interwebulary doorstep.
Of course, adding you is not out of the question at all.
And while you're here, you're welcome to stick a pin in the map and say where you hail from.
"Never wrestle a pig. You both get filthy, but the pig enjoys it".
You know who WBC is. They're the people who hang around the funerals of soldiers and victims of tragedy with their "God hates Fags, thank God for dead soldiers" signs.
Recently, they won a court challenge granting their freedom of speech. Like KKK marches, like Republican hate tirades, their freedom to spew hatred and intolerance is part and parcel of our package of freedoms still left to us.
But I don't think we need to let families in shock and in mourning be subjected to their spite.
I've seen lots of thoughtful, clever, even hilarious counter-protests done over the years.
But I don't think that WBC is subject to shame, or humor, or even being challenged over their woefully inadequate understanding of the Bible.
So here's my suggestion: Let them protest, 300 feet away.
But some people of better will and sense should be allowed to counterprotest 270 feet away. They don't need to be clever or scripturally-sound. They just need lots of great big white signs, 15' tall by 4' wide, locked together and blocking the view of WBC's hate. If I were organizing this, I would suggest exactly 2 logos: " Amor Omnia Vincit" and "The greatest of these is love".
There's no need to be witty, or show how much more compassionate we are. A rabid hyena is wittier and more compassionate, and has a better understanding of Gospel. All that the counterprotest needs to do is allow the families of the lost to conduct their mourning in peace, with dignity.
I am a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist (entitled to add a CHt after my name when I'm feeling hoity-toity).
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And again: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/01/founding_fathers_favored_gover.html
So the only argument left is... why do the Republicans and Teabaggers think we're too stupid to do what continue to argue that America is just too feckin' stupid to manage to do what England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Austria, Japan, South Korea, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, China, India, Denmark, Italy, Greece, Monaco, Portugal, Turkey, Macedonia, Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and for all I know the freakin' Vatican have managed to do, in almost all cases far more efficiently?
The Tea Party has roundly criticized the Democratic-held Congress for not repairing all the damage that 8 years of BushCo's rule did within slightly less than 2 years.
Therefore, I suggest that they be held to the same standard.
Unless I am employed at the same level as I was in January 2000 by July of 2011, I call shenanigans on them, and will bitterly criticize them for not living up to their promises.
Unless all terrorist activities are completely quelled worldwide within the same period, I am calling bulls*** on their capacity to put their money where their mouth is.
Unless the deficit is paid off by July 2010, I suggest that they be publicly reviled in all media.
Unless the stock market is at the same productivity, housing foreclosures completely cease, and unemployment is at the same level as it was in fiscal 1999, I demand that they give us recourse to their own "second amendment remedies".
I also call upon President Obama to give them the use of his time machine. (You know he has a time machine, right? That's how he planted his birth announcement in the Hawaii paper, and ruined the country before he was even elected.)
In short, if they can't walk the walk they demanded the 111th walk, then GTFO and let some qualified people take over.
I just listened to "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Aaron Copland for the first time in awhile, and I'm still wiping tears away, swallowing the lump in my throat.
Some people say that Copland's music is bubblegum classical, pure mawkish sentimentality.
I disagree. I think Copland is one of the premier composers of America's golden age, in the days when we had a clear vision of who we were, what our ideals were, and what we were willing to lay down our lives for. Fanfare was written in 1942, a year when we were deeply embroiled in a war we weren't sure we could win. America had been stripped down to it's barest essentials, and we knew that even the best leadership in the world couldn't save us. Our fate lay in our own hands... the fate of the world lay within the hands of the common man. Shopkeepers, factory workers, accountants, mud-spattered marines and grimy soldiers.
And in slightly less than three minutes, Copland told a nation that it's okay, you're important. You keep the nation turning over. You will save the world.
And I think that's worth a couple of tears, even 68 years later.
I am a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist (entitled to add a CHt after my name when I'm feeling hoity-toity).
I am currently making an effort to do this full-time, so I welcome your inquiries.
I offer in-home appointments for smoking cessation, weight management, pain management, past life regression, forensic hypnosis, recreational hypnosis... essentially soup to nuts.
If you'd like options beyond house-calls, I have them.
You can contact me at peterboundy_cht@cox.net , or visit my website at www.mesahypnotherapy.NET to schedule an appointment and inquire about rates.
Obviously, I'm not just kink-aware, but positively kink-friendly, so I am comfortable addressing issues that someone less lifestyle-friendly might not be able to do a good job with.
If you have something you'd like to explore, hit me up. I'm offering a rate of $75/session. Most issues can be adequately addressed in 3 sessions, plus or minus, depending on severity and motivation.
I'm here to improve your life :-)
IN ADDITION: I'm trying to build this up, so if you give a recommendation to a client who pays for a first appointment, I will kick $10 back to you.
So apparently the GOP is promising that if they elect a majority, they'll open a Kenneth Starr-type of investigation into President Obama.
We all know how successful that was when they spent 7 years and $30 million in taxpayer dollars digging into Clinton's background in order to finally arrive at the conclusion that he enjoyed receiving oral gratification. We all know that this is yet another nuisance ploy by a party that hasn't got any ideas of their own to present.
My suggestion is this:
If they want to launch an investigation into his birth certificate, or why he never actually used the phrase "death panel", or whatever... they should go ahead.
BUT THEY SHOULD PAY FOR IT OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKETS. Not one dime of tax revenue, no campaign slush fund money, no contribution drive... If they're going to waste money on feel-bad posturing, they should pay for it personally out of their own wallets. The "fiscal responsibility" party should show some damn accountability for their own booga-wooga frightwig initiatives. If they want to waste money, let them throw their own money into the rathole. Not mine, not yours... THEIRS.
