HOPE

In response to my previous post regarding voting for hope...

I just finished voting. When I arrived at the courthouse to vote, they told me where my precinct headquarters was located.

"Go to "New Hope Church of God"

Really...a church? To Vote?

And when I arrived, my eyes focused on one word...

Hope.

It will be intersting to see what happens when the polls close.

I voted for hope.

Vodka...and life

So, we work, we come home, we prune our plants, drive around the lake with friends, order pizza, which ultimately is made in a pizza place in the wrong town. We write checks to companies who feel its unreliable, asking for cash, or for debit cards, credit cards, maybe blood is the new commodity. We watch movies about genocide, Rowanda wars...fought on the side of some idea of vindication of the down trodden, , some idea of creating a better or holier world. Some simply for power, for money, for resources. The result a bloody bath of ignorant hate.

The news reports the Chinese are taking up the world's blood, smiling as they buy another project, invest, moving their people into the Africa, setting up towns of lightened skin amongst darkened poverty. Isolating money flowing from its grounds, sending their affluence home, empowering only themselves. History has a trend. Men laugh at their conquests, laughing as they kill. Women hide their faces from the facts. The color of the skin does not matter, Americans have done it for years. We have killed in our history, whether native or our own. but eventually, it all becomes our own. The Chinese, become Chinese American, the Iraqi, becomes Iriaqi American, I have become a combination of the Heinze 57 of my bloodline, some french, some cajun, some turkish, german, and even ethiopian, and I am blonde. I wonder of the countries that do not allow this type of evolvement, realizing their people are no longer purely anything, but rather a beautiful blend of diversity.

Some countries kill that.

I came home today, annoyed with a society that seems to sleep while others starve, throwing out food rather than risking a lawsuit of food poisining, of suing rather than being thankful, of being confused about how to talk out an issue without a judge and jury.

Frustrated that parents have children they cannot raise, that children have beds they share with whomever they are being bartered to for the night, their bodies the price of a mother's fix. Their father's an absent commodity at child support court, taking jobs paid under the table so they don't have to lose a dime.

As we build our McMansions, pretending like we are civicly and green minded...do we ever ask..what happens if we are wrong?

Vodka is kicking in...

State of Affairs....

Last night I spent an evening with some dear friends, both are years older than I, and yet, our spirits are connected by a similar zest for self actualization and experiences. Our love for food and wine are rivaled by no one. We passiontely explore religion and the effects of its' oppressive nature when applied by human intent. Exploring doctorines' whose commands often involved the denial of self and the adherance to morals that are sometimes questionannable at best. I appreciate that these women exist, their journey in life and the questions they have give me hope that our minds don't have to become more closed and traditional as we age, but rather that a fresher, wiser, and more open outlook can be what I have to look forward to.

I wonder where intelligence is in our daily world.

The news ripples with parents defending their children's out of control behavior, all the whole looking for a side door to sneak out through. Schools are being tied down from encouraging thought and critical thinking, the new focus being trained puppets of rhetorical regurgitation. Creationism is now a science. Evolution is a myth. And while I actually understand a parent's desire to make sure their children adhere to a faith--whatever faith they are following, I don't understand their fear of allowing their children to learn and decipher information. But history has shown that all one has to say to explain their reasoning is "the devil is in knowledge, so limit the knowledge you seek to only that which complies with our belief". No wonder the apple was so dangerous...knowledge gives choice.

A friend asked what I thought of Jeff Warrens, that self proclaimed prophet of monetary bliss and sexual dominance. Oh, I mean prophet of faith. He asked about the state of polygamy being against US law. Well, after thinking about this, I came up with this...if the US is using the definition of marriage from a religious definition as defined by a particular faith, than that violates the seperation of church and state. So since it can't endorse a particualr relgion, the question becomes one of recognizing a religion's right to establish it's own beliefs and how marriage is defined would be one of them. Now, as to children being married to old men (or young, or females, or whatever) the state has a legal obligation to protect children from abuse, so the state needs to interecede, since child abuse is not a religiously protected right. What makes this more difficult though is that there is a tradition in some countries where young girls, age 12 are put into arranged marriages by their parents, it is part of their culture. The US, if the child is living here, cannot apparently overstep what is the norm in a culture for that child's peers, even if our law does not agree. So I am not sure why we have contradicting considerations. (SVU epsiode covered this scenario-I was suprised that this was the outcome and the reasoning it was based on)

I find it interesting that we consider raising a child in a belief as brainwashing if it is one way, but consider it bringing our children up with morals if it's in another. I know alot of people that were raised without the right to explore ideas different than what their parent's thought or believed.

So what is really the difference in brainwashing other than activities and media attention?

Rambled thoughts...The Patrioic Hippie

Fox News and other such jokes....

"Open border 101 types" her comments about a teacher's assignment, to create a political sign, activism encouraged. Since when has asking a student to promote a thought of their own considered taboo? If the child had written "Go God, Pray Hard" the mouthpiece of Fox would have applauded, called in the lawyers for the student's right to be an activist for prayer in school. This mouthpiece's ethnic heritage evident, more so than mine and yet she labels progressive thought and a desire to give each person a chance for freedom and life as the eptiomy of why our country is falling apart. Closed borders and closed minds exist in the same brains.

Unfortunately, Fox News hasn't adopted the tag line of "comedy". Even worse, they take themselves pretty seriously.

At least they finally let Ann go.

Life is interesting...

The Patriotic Hippie

"Blogging...to reveal one's thoughts in an open forum, without regard for the outcome or response."

I am new to this. But the current of anger and frustration, confusion, and overall wonder at the way the world seems to be playing itself out has prompted a much quicker response to providing one more thought to an overwhelmed society.

Daily, I sit in a room, piecing together the unpieced life. A quilting of people's experiences, trying to help them create some beauty out of destruction. Some decimate me in their resourcefulness, and ability to survive. Others' inspire questions as to why procreation requires no thought, no preperation, no skill, our desire to protect civil liberties leaving child rearing and planning out in the cold.

I wonder if the road to hell is simply that...a road. Possibly paved, maybe asphalt, might even have traffic lights, since the flow of seekers seems to increase in every second.

Religion has influenced a world with varying regard for its' inhabitants. Gods, goddesses, Deities, Buddha, Allah, Confucius, Jesus...sitting drinking tea, watching the ramblings of a people who disregard the main tenant. A crap shoot of saviors...who's on first? Who makes it in? Who does a drive by at the pearly gates?

My first blog...at midnight, long past my bedtime.

PMS contributes to negative thoughts...

Maybe next week it will be sunnier.

The Patriotic Hippie