I generally reserve my blogs for something that will find a giggle in someone’s day or some meaningless event that happened to me that I owed it to put pen to paper (metaphorically speaking) to share with whoever reads the nonsense I post.
Today, however I was emailed this link – http://www.sustaining.me – to a blog of someone who would have you believe he is educated. I mean, shit… line 3 of his pathetic little ranting gives self-proclamation to the very idea. I’m curious though as to what he’s actually attempted to educate himself on now that he’s sans a TV. Because what I find below is quite possibly the most ill-thought out 3-bullet point assessment of the liberties of Americans coupled with unfounded accusations. He has the right to think how he chooses – again, another right he is afforded by being a US citizen – but ignorance isn’t a right, it’s simply genetic make-up.
In the famous words of Ron White – You can’t fix stupid.
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Sustaining me
The blog of Jeremiah Joseph Hammer
Islam – It’s the New ‘Black’ at Ground Zero
I don’t watch TV, let alone own a TV, for 2 main reasons:
I have better things to do (like educating myself).
The content stinks.
I do read quite a bit though, and felt it important to weigh in on the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ topic before all the major networks go back to stalking Lindsey Lohan.
I’ll lay this out as plainly as possible:
- If the organization building the Mosque legally purchased or has leased the property from the owner, and it meets all zoning requirements; then they have the same right to build there as any other person or entity who sought to lease or purchase and build at that location.
- If you do not believe they have a right to be there, then you support segregation.
- If you are angry at Muslims for wanting to build there, then you are a bigot.
How easily we forget what our fellow black Americans endured just over half a century ago.
No repita, por favor.
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Whew, thanks Jeremiah! We almost enslaved the all the Muslims living in America and ripped them of all their rights. What a gross-oversight that everyone else on the planet has made. Thank God you were here, to get us back focused on history not repeating itself.
Well it seems as if you are missing the point, now aren’t you Jeremiah. Yes, in our country urban development/planning isn’t based on religion solely. Because of those freedoms that this country allows its people, the mosque development will continue in a forward progression. As a matter of fact, there is defense to the mere idea of dictating where and how you can build as long as the builders have abided by the appropriate means of doing so.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg stated in regards to this very topic – “Should government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion? That may happen in other countries, but we should never allow it to happen here.”
Fair enough Bloomberg, but his generic – We’re a free democratic country that allows our people to build where they’d like to (under proper legalities) and worship where ever they find their God under whatever name they call their religious beliefs – is just that, generic and of no consequence to the underlying contention.
It’s curious though, the controversy surrounding the decision to build a mosque 2-blocks from ground zero is being made to be all about tolerance and sensitivity. It seems that the people organizing the building of this mosque would show the same decency and respect that they so adamantly demand when it’s in relation to their personal and religious sanctity.
Furthermore, it seems a bit odd that there are active Muslim members on the Canadian Congress (Raheel Raza and Tarek Fataf) that say that what Rauf is doing has no relation to tolerance, in the least. As a matter of fact, these 2 individuals recently wrote in the Ottawa Citizen – “Muslims know the idea behind the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation to thumb our noses at the infidel.” A little later in the article they go on to say – “The proposal has been made in bad faith. Do [the mosque organizers] not understand that building a mosque at Ground Zero is equivalent to permitting a Serbian Orthodox church near the killing fields of Srebrenica where 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered?”
Well that drives the point home, now doesn’t it? There is an uneasy and disagreeable feeling from people within the Muslim community as to the decision to build a huge multi-level mosque within viewing distance where not only 2 historical landmarks were brought to the ground in an instant, but more importantly where over 3,000 Americans were murdered by Islamic jihadists.
People aren’t bitching because of bigotry or religious hatred. They aren’t bitching because they feel they shouldn’t have the “right” to build their mosque there. They aren’t even bitching that this is yet another terrorist attempt for better positioning within our US borders. The issue above and beyond all else is that we grant all people living within the borders of the USA the rights and freedoms that are afforded to them by the laws in place and their constitutional rights. It’s not a pass to show a lack of sensitivity to the Americans that perished on 9/11 when they demand respect, tolerance and sensitivity to their choice of beliefs.
And beyond what is seemingly blatant, the refusal of the release of where the funding is coming from to build this mosque is suspect. Rauf and his organizers dodge the inquiries refusing to share what should be public knowledge. Now, why is that? There’s something to be said when even Nancy Pelosi is vocal about investigating where the funding is coming from. She’s bat-shit loony. I never thought I would see the day that I would ever quote one damned thing this woman ever said, but she went on record saying...
“The freedom of religion is a Constitutional right. Where a place of worship is located is a local decision… “I support the statement made by the Interfaith Alliance that ‘We agree with the ADL that there is a need for transparency about who is funding the effort to build this Islamic center. At the same time, we should also ask who is funding the attacks against the construction of the center.’”
How is standing firm on where they decide to build this mosque with such opposition from a seeming majority of people legally living within the US bringing the cultures any closer together – you know for that unity and world peace thing that everyone is always talking about? Just because it’s within their legal rights to build there, doesn’t mean that it’s the right thing to do. This idea is supported by a substantial number of these “moderate Muslims” that everyone keeps referring to – the ones who aren’t associated with known terrorist organizations and who genuinely use the mosque to worship freely and without prejudice. It is certainly cause for question and it’s the farthest thing from bigotry, terrorist accusations or even some truly sad attempt to connect this back to slavery in any capacity. It’s people like you who perpetuate and exacerbate the dissention in a country so torn on the idea of being able to cohabitate with freedoms that are refused in other countries. It’s simple, play nice in the sandbox children.
I personally saw Rauf appear on a 60-Minutes special that was somewhere around 20 days after 9/11 and he was asked quite pointedly if the USA deserved this vicious attack. His response was as such (and I looked it up to quote it, because I remember being appalled the second he said it) – “I wouldn’t say that the United States deserved what happened. But the United States’ policies were an accessory to the crime that happened.”
Then, and here’s the real gem, he says, “Because we have been accessory to a lot of innocent lives dying in the world. In fact, in the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden is made in the USA.”
This is the guy who is organizing the urban development of this mosque. So Jeremiah, you miss the point on anything you’ve so flippantly written here. It’s pathetic that you would even make such correlations to this event and slavery. And – “No repita, por favor”?! If history was repeating itself, Jeremiah the building wouldn’t be moving forward with development, which it is. It is our right to have an opinion about it.
Welcome to America, fool.
It’s difficult to defend one set of rights while shitting on the ones you choose not to look at because they might just make it a little difficult for you to look educated in any capacity. I’d recommend you turn the TV back on and keep your ill-thought platitudes to yourself.
And just as a last note… the reality is that there most certainly exists a group of people out there, who like Jeremiah are equally as uninformed and uneducated. It’s without doubt, that some opposition of the building of the mosque so close to ground zero comes from a place of bigotry, thoughts of terrorists and terrorism in our own country and what I suspect to be the number one factor – fear. But to blanket statement that anyone who has finds some opposition to the decision to move forward with the build of this mosque, is ignorant; plain and simple.
Delete your blog, in its entirety, Jeremiah and do us all a favor because no one wants to hear you pontificate.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
these busted feets?!
I think I might actually be ready to admit that I am completely oblivious somewhere around 95% of the time. It’s really quite shocking to me given that I take ADD meds on a daily basis, but lo and behold, I still manage to not be aware of much that is going on around me. I like to think that I have a solid grip on my surroundings, but I am constantly met with opposition to such thoughts.
Thus births an event that I classify in the – creepy – category.
Now I have very few things that I actually spend money on in any notable capacity. Handbags and shoes are easily 2 things that rank in the category of excessive spending. I’m partial to Coach and can drop $500 without the blink of an eye when I am on a mission. Shoes on the other hand, I am a little more cost contentious of from the standpoint of not spending a substantial amount on one pair but rather spending smaller amounts on a lot of pairs. I lean towards the more unique work shoes. I have 4-5inch heels that in most occasions could be considered stripper shoes. I have heels that are leopard print with a bow on the sling-back. I have a pair that is wrapped in a red Japanese-type printed cloth. I have recently added a pair of electric blue snake skin heels to the collection. I love anything Steve Madden and a newly acquired favorite being Santana’s line of heels.
These are just to name a few… the selection is endless, really.
Ok, I’m sure you don’t care about what kind of heels it is that I am wearing, but there’s a purpose to the somewhat detailed shoe explanation, I swear.
Last Friday a couple of the gals from the office and I went to get pedis during lunch. Which I have to tell you, getting a pedi is quite possibly one of my favorite things to indulge in. I digress. Since the idea to go and get one during lunch came up after I had already gotten to work that morning, I didn’t have a pair of flops to take with me. I conceded to the fact that I would have to wear those paper-thin “things” they call flops for the majority of the day to let me tootsies dry. Eh, I didn’t have any meetings planned that afternoon, so it was just going to be more of a dull annoyance than anything else.
We get back to the office and I am carrying my Steve Madden heels in hand and am wearing the teal blue laughable flops from the salon. As the other 2 gals went into the building, I sat at the picnic table to take a call. In the middle of that call, a guy who I had never noticed before was walking into my office building. To reiterate – I’d never traded a kind hello with this guy, never saw him in passing, never road the elevator together, didn’t even know he worked in my building… kind of thing.
He says to me – where are your shoes?
I say – They’re right here (as I lifted them from behind my purse to show him). I went and got a pedicure at lunch today so I can’t put them on until my toes dry.
Which, I immediately thought – why in the hell do you feel compelled to tell randoms more information about yourself then 1) they care to know and 2) more than you care to share. Like he cares that I just got back from a pedicure and needed my toes to dry. The question was simple. Where are your shoes? They’re right here – would have sufficed. Why don’t you just tell him your address and social while you’re at it? Good grief. So I was in the middle of making a simple conversation awkward when I was trumped by this guy’s next admission.
He says and I QUOTE…
Oh, that’s too bad. I always love looking at your shoes. I look forward to seeing what shoes you will be wearing every day.
I was rendered SPEECHLESS, followed by a blank stare and an awkward laugh which was then followed by an even more awkward throat clear. I managed to get out – what? – about 15 seconds later and after he’d already passed me headed into the building. He didn’t answer.
Now, I’ve taken a relatively detail poll of my friends – guys and gals – and the consensus is the same. That’s effin weird. A guy who I have never seen before and never talked to before busts out with a loosely veiled – hey I have a foot fetish and your feet are the flavor of my day, every day.
I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING WHAT SHOES YOU WILL BE WEARING EVERY DAY?
What the hell? Who are you? How is it that you have seen me every day and I have NEVER seen you? I’d like to think that I am not that unaware, but it became inherently clear that either I am just that oblivious or this dude is sneaky as hell; sneaking around shoe peeping.
To be clear, there’s a difference in someone you’ve never spoken to saying something like – I really like your shoes. I say that to gals all the time and then usually I ask where they got them. I mean, that’s a legit transaction between 2-people who have never spoken before. Guy or girl – although if the guy is asking where you got them, there’d be some room for concern. I digress, again.
Look I’m not too naïve to know that there is a ranking of girl’s shoes for guys. There are certain pairs of heels that girls wear that guys classify in the – come f*uck me – category. PS girls know which shoes those are and when to strategically wear them. We all know about it; no one talks about it. If a guy compliments a pair that is classified in the afore mentioned category, there’s a silent unspoken understanding hinted in coyness and/or innocent flirtation. I mean, I would be appalled if some random was like – hey, l like your come f*uck me shoes… those are nice. WHOA buddy… tacky much?! Why don’t you just tell me your measurements and what you call him when you’re alone?
So yeah, now I see this guy everywhere – probably because I have gone from yellow to red alert. He’d told me on Monday he was glad to see that I was back in heels as opposed to those blue things I was wearing on Friday. Uh… that’s weird man. On Tuesday, I was taking a break from work, sitting outside playing on my iPhone when my relationship with… we’ll call him Podo (you know short for podophilia) took an even more awkward turn, as if it really could become more awkward for me.
>> Aside – which calling him Podo makes me think of Frodo which kinda creeps me out even more. Elijah Wood… hobbits… feet… fetish. God, this has gotten dramatic.
The scene was the same – I’m on the picnic bench minding my own business, except this guy straight cut right past the pleasantries of small (awkward) talk to coming up from behind me, outside of my peripheral, to lift up my pant leg to see what shoes I had on. Now, I didn’t do what I thought I would do in such a situation and that’s punch a brazen bastard square in his rabbits. My instant reaction was that clearly since you are touching me, you must be someone I know. And by know… I mean someone that I have known for longer than 4 days and traded more than 20 words with. It wasn’t until he’d dropped the leg of my pant, kept walking while saying something like – I like really those today – that I even realized that it was Podo and not someone I knew. Ok… too far… WAY too far.
Ok dude… I knew I got the creep-vibe for a reason which I that could manage if you were only going to make the occasional comment and just be weird in your own space. But you graduated to touching me! On what planet is that even acceptable behavior? I should get mace and see how he likes being in my personal space, uninvited.
No seriously, I really want to know what the thought process is with this guy? Is it like – hey she talked to me once so I’ve clearly got her permission to just walk up to her all creepy-like from behind and just touch her. Who friggin does that? I’ll tell you who… a damn freak is what. I mean, what’s next… he lifts up my shirt? You know just to see what’s under there then tell me something like I really like those today?!
I think my office building is just sits on top of the 7th Circle of Hell, to be honest. First I had the Garage Dater guy who eventually just got creepy himself and the older dude that worked with the Garage Dater who tried to ask me out on the side, you know on the DL. Although, I haven’t seen either one of those guys in a bit so maybe they don’t work in this building anymore? Which is fine… whatever – because I can tell that Podo is going to require all efforts to keep him off these fine feets of mine. I don’t know why it always happens to me and at work nonetheless. It’s like they pick to do it at the work place because they know exactly where I’ll be for 8 hours of the day. (AH! HAHA! Ok, I laughed at the whole 8hours bit… but for at least a good 5-6hours anyhow.)
Ugh… why me?!
AND I will leave you with my random thought of the day…
I have used the word oblivious a couple of times in this little rant and somewhere along the way, I wondered if while oblivious meant to be unaware then livious should mean to be aware, right? Yeah, if doesn’t. It’s not even a word. I know, I know. You’re equally as disappointed as I. But just do what I’m going to do and start using it. Say it confidently enough and people will believe you… some will even probably go look it up and then tell you later that that’s not even a word.
Then react in my most favorite ways of reacting, by saying – Oh my god, really? Good lord, how long have I been saying that and how many people thought I was an idiot? Thanks man. Then make sure to use it again within 20mins.
>> Funny last story in this ridiculous blog… I decided that if we are going to use the term – using the facility – as a reference for going to the bathroom, then when you are in there you are facilitating, no? So I would jokingly say, I need to facilitate – if I needed to go to the bathroom. I knew I was using it improperly, but I thought it was funny. One day a girl I worked with came up to me after I’d said it, pulled me aside and was like – hey, I don’t think you’re using that word correctly… I looked it up to make sure, and I am positive you aren’t. To which I said – OMG, thanks man, I didn’t know! You saved my life. LMAO – I even looked it up. That happened like 6 years ago and I still laugh about it (and I still say facilitate in reference to using the bathroom)! Good times. I'm an ass. LOL.
Thus births an event that I classify in the – creepy – category.
Now I have very few things that I actually spend money on in any notable capacity. Handbags and shoes are easily 2 things that rank in the category of excessive spending. I’m partial to Coach and can drop $500 without the blink of an eye when I am on a mission. Shoes on the other hand, I am a little more cost contentious of from the standpoint of not spending a substantial amount on one pair but rather spending smaller amounts on a lot of pairs. I lean towards the more unique work shoes. I have 4-5inch heels that in most occasions could be considered stripper shoes. I have heels that are leopard print with a bow on the sling-back. I have a pair that is wrapped in a red Japanese-type printed cloth. I have recently added a pair of electric blue snake skin heels to the collection. I love anything Steve Madden and a newly acquired favorite being Santana’s line of heels.
These are just to name a few… the selection is endless, really.
Ok, I’m sure you don’t care about what kind of heels it is that I am wearing, but there’s a purpose to the somewhat detailed shoe explanation, I swear.
Last Friday a couple of the gals from the office and I went to get pedis during lunch. Which I have to tell you, getting a pedi is quite possibly one of my favorite things to indulge in. I digress. Since the idea to go and get one during lunch came up after I had already gotten to work that morning, I didn’t have a pair of flops to take with me. I conceded to the fact that I would have to wear those paper-thin “things” they call flops for the majority of the day to let me tootsies dry. Eh, I didn’t have any meetings planned that afternoon, so it was just going to be more of a dull annoyance than anything else.
We get back to the office and I am carrying my Steve Madden heels in hand and am wearing the teal blue laughable flops from the salon. As the other 2 gals went into the building, I sat at the picnic table to take a call. In the middle of that call, a guy who I had never noticed before was walking into my office building. To reiterate – I’d never traded a kind hello with this guy, never saw him in passing, never road the elevator together, didn’t even know he worked in my building… kind of thing.
He says to me – where are your shoes?
I say – They’re right here (as I lifted them from behind my purse to show him). I went and got a pedicure at lunch today so I can’t put them on until my toes dry.
Which, I immediately thought – why in the hell do you feel compelled to tell randoms more information about yourself then 1) they care to know and 2) more than you care to share. Like he cares that I just got back from a pedicure and needed my toes to dry. The question was simple. Where are your shoes? They’re right here – would have sufficed. Why don’t you just tell him your address and social while you’re at it? Good grief. So I was in the middle of making a simple conversation awkward when I was trumped by this guy’s next admission.
He says and I QUOTE…
Oh, that’s too bad. I always love looking at your shoes. I look forward to seeing what shoes you will be wearing every day.
I was rendered SPEECHLESS, followed by a blank stare and an awkward laugh which was then followed by an even more awkward throat clear. I managed to get out – what? – about 15 seconds later and after he’d already passed me headed into the building. He didn’t answer.
Now, I’ve taken a relatively detail poll of my friends – guys and gals – and the consensus is the same. That’s effin weird. A guy who I have never seen before and never talked to before busts out with a loosely veiled – hey I have a foot fetish and your feet are the flavor of my day, every day.
I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING WHAT SHOES YOU WILL BE WEARING EVERY DAY?
What the hell? Who are you? How is it that you have seen me every day and I have NEVER seen you? I’d like to think that I am not that unaware, but it became inherently clear that either I am just that oblivious or this dude is sneaky as hell; sneaking around shoe peeping.
To be clear, there’s a difference in someone you’ve never spoken to saying something like – I really like your shoes. I say that to gals all the time and then usually I ask where they got them. I mean, that’s a legit transaction between 2-people who have never spoken before. Guy or girl – although if the guy is asking where you got them, there’d be some room for concern. I digress, again.
Look I’m not too naïve to know that there is a ranking of girl’s shoes for guys. There are certain pairs of heels that girls wear that guys classify in the – come f*uck me – category. PS girls know which shoes those are and when to strategically wear them. We all know about it; no one talks about it. If a guy compliments a pair that is classified in the afore mentioned category, there’s a silent unspoken understanding hinted in coyness and/or innocent flirtation. I mean, I would be appalled if some random was like – hey, l like your come f*uck me shoes… those are nice. WHOA buddy… tacky much?! Why don’t you just tell me your measurements and what you call him when you’re alone?
So yeah, now I see this guy everywhere – probably because I have gone from yellow to red alert. He’d told me on Monday he was glad to see that I was back in heels as opposed to those blue things I was wearing on Friday. Uh… that’s weird man. On Tuesday, I was taking a break from work, sitting outside playing on my iPhone when my relationship with… we’ll call him Podo (you know short for podophilia) took an even more awkward turn, as if it really could become more awkward for me.
>> Aside – which calling him Podo makes me think of Frodo which kinda creeps me out even more. Elijah Wood… hobbits… feet… fetish. God, this has gotten dramatic.
The scene was the same – I’m on the picnic bench minding my own business, except this guy straight cut right past the pleasantries of small (awkward) talk to coming up from behind me, outside of my peripheral, to lift up my pant leg to see what shoes I had on. Now, I didn’t do what I thought I would do in such a situation and that’s punch a brazen bastard square in his rabbits. My instant reaction was that clearly since you are touching me, you must be someone I know. And by know… I mean someone that I have known for longer than 4 days and traded more than 20 words with. It wasn’t until he’d dropped the leg of my pant, kept walking while saying something like – I like really those today – that I even realized that it was Podo and not someone I knew. Ok… too far… WAY too far.
Ok dude… I knew I got the creep-vibe for a reason which I that could manage if you were only going to make the occasional comment and just be weird in your own space. But you graduated to touching me! On what planet is that even acceptable behavior? I should get mace and see how he likes being in my personal space, uninvited.
No seriously, I really want to know what the thought process is with this guy? Is it like – hey she talked to me once so I’ve clearly got her permission to just walk up to her all creepy-like from behind and just touch her. Who friggin does that? I’ll tell you who… a damn freak is what. I mean, what’s next… he lifts up my shirt? You know just to see what’s under there then tell me something like I really like those today?!
I think my office building is just sits on top of the 7th Circle of Hell, to be honest. First I had the Garage Dater guy who eventually just got creepy himself and the older dude that worked with the Garage Dater who tried to ask me out on the side, you know on the DL. Although, I haven’t seen either one of those guys in a bit so maybe they don’t work in this building anymore? Which is fine… whatever – because I can tell that Podo is going to require all efforts to keep him off these fine feets of mine. I don’t know why it always happens to me and at work nonetheless. It’s like they pick to do it at the work place because they know exactly where I’ll be for 8 hours of the day. (AH! HAHA! Ok, I laughed at the whole 8hours bit… but for at least a good 5-6hours anyhow.)
Ugh… why me?!
AND I will leave you with my random thought of the day…
I have used the word oblivious a couple of times in this little rant and somewhere along the way, I wondered if while oblivious meant to be unaware then livious should mean to be aware, right? Yeah, if doesn’t. It’s not even a word. I know, I know. You’re equally as disappointed as I. But just do what I’m going to do and start using it. Say it confidently enough and people will believe you… some will even probably go look it up and then tell you later that that’s not even a word.
Then react in my most favorite ways of reacting, by saying – Oh my god, really? Good lord, how long have I been saying that and how many people thought I was an idiot? Thanks man. Then make sure to use it again within 20mins.
>> Funny last story in this ridiculous blog… I decided that if we are going to use the term – using the facility – as a reference for going to the bathroom, then when you are in there you are facilitating, no? So I would jokingly say, I need to facilitate – if I needed to go to the bathroom. I knew I was using it improperly, but I thought it was funny. One day a girl I worked with came up to me after I’d said it, pulled me aside and was like – hey, I don’t think you’re using that word correctly… I looked it up to make sure, and I am positive you aren’t. To which I said – OMG, thanks man, I didn’t know! You saved my life. LMAO – I even looked it up. That happened like 6 years ago and I still laugh about it (and I still say facilitate in reference to using the bathroom)! Good times. I'm an ass. LOL.
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