Cults

Last year, my man and I started watching the Leah Remini series about Scientology. Since then, we've had several conversations about religion and cults. Mostly, they've been along the lines of - what the hell is wrong with you!?!?!?!? I don't get it. AT ALL. I'm not saying I'm a particularly strong person. As a matter of fact, sometimes I'm kind of gullible. Maybe I have a small authority issue. Or, maybe I just grew up in an era where it was trendy to question everything, so I do. I don't know. Regardless, I would question the teachings of a cult. I questioned the teachings of my church! Oh yeah...anyway...we watched the series. It was really fascinating. L. Ron Hubbard was a NUT!!! I can't even believe anyone would fall for that shit. Ewww. 

Last week, as I passed a coworker in the hall, she said, OH!, Cynthia, come see my tree! So I did :-) In her work space she has a 3 foot flocked tree adorned with peacocks. It's so pretty. I like those colors together. So I said that I didn't know she was peacock fan. She looked at me and with a straight face said, I'm not. But peacocks have about as much to do with the birth of Christ as a fat little man in a red suit so I figured what the hell! I laughed right out loud! That was pretty funny. So we started talking about religion, in general. She happens to be a very spiritual woman, I knew that. But then she told me something that completely floored me! At one time in her life, she was a member of the People's Temple...you know, Jim Jones and Guyana and drinking the kool aide!?!?!?!?!? She got out a couple years before they went to Guyana though. Whoa! She was pretty straight forward about it so I said, why?! Because I was really interested. Her answer made some sense to me. She said that she was a freshman in college and felt like her life was in kind of a disarray and they sort of said, we can full-fill you and all you have to do is follow the rules. So she thought, hey, I can do that. And everything will be better and my life will be easier and all I have to do is follow the rules. Yep, that sounds good to me! Wow. She barely lasted a year as a cult member and then she went, huh? And snuck out in the middle of the night and went home. Dang. Good for her but again, wow! 

BOOM!

This story is interesting to me for so many reasons;

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/this-angry-inventor-has-a-special-gift-for-package-thieves-revenge/ar-BBH1b5n?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=ientp

It's about a guy who is sick and tired of his packages being stolen off of his porch. You'll have to watch the video. Anyway, first, the whole notion of "porch pirates" is just wrong. What the hell people. Geez! Next, his invention is a little extreme but it is kind of funny. Last, in this article he says that he's caught 20 would be thieves, with his invention! Ummmm, TWENTY? I want to know what the hell he does that he's getting so many packages AND why the hell has he clearly been targeted by porch pirates?? I mean really, why does everyone want to steal his packages?! Something seems a little sketchy to me!

Skip presents?!

69 percent of Americans wish they could skip holiday gift giving

Nearly 7 in 10 Americans say they would skip exchanging gifts this holiday season if friends and family agreed to it.

That's according to a new online survey conducted by Harris Poll.
Forty-three percent said they feel pressured to spend more than they can afford. If they didn't have to buy or make gifts, 25 percent said they'd use the money on activities with friends and family, 37 percent would pay down debt, 47 percent would save or invest, and 60 percent said they would spend more time with friends and family.

Isn't that interesting? I think that the 37% that said they would pay down debt, aren't telling the truth. They just don't want to seem like grinches so they chose that answer vs. the I don't want to give a gift answer. That seems true to me though, that most people would rather DO things with their money. Especially as you get older...when you don't have kids at home, etc. That would be a nice shift if people did that. Memories of good times are always better than things :-)

Pretty, pretty, pretty!

Do you like warm white or cool white? I like them both but I guess I prefer warm white. It's just, I don't know, warmer :-) Did you even know that there's a difference? In case you didn't, I'll show you;

This is cool white

 This is warm white 

I love Christmas lights. I wish we could leave them up all year. Really, how can you not love all this bright, cheerfulness!?!?!

harassment et al part 2

I know what sexual abuse is. Don't you?
I know what they're saying when someone says they've been sexually molested. I bet you do, too. I know what attack means. I know what rape is. Do you?
So, I don't want to talk about those things. Those acts are real. Physical. Tragic.

I want to talk about, allegations. Harassment. Sexual harassment. Misconduct.

Allegations. What happened to, until proven guilty? Yikes. People are being fired left and right because someone said somebody did something. Sure, sometimes that's an appropriate response, but not every time!

Harassment. I've been harassed. I've been sexually harassed. I bet you would be hard pressed to find a woman anywhere in this country, by today's standards, that has not been harassed, ever. In general or sexually. Harassment seems to be so vague to people. If I'm offended because the guy in the cube next to me is telling dirty jokes to his buddy on the phone - is that sexual harassment? Or is it misconduct? It's not directed at ME. If it were me, I would just go over and say, dude, I don't want to listen to your dirty jokes, keep it down. Now, if he gave me a bunch of shit, that's harassment and I would have to tattle on him for being a jerk. But, if my male boss says, I'm gonna give this job to John, unless you fill in the blank.
That's totally about power and control and he's BIG jerk and that's sexual harassment.

Misconduct. Oy. Now the line is becoming real blurry. (For now, I mean verbal misconduct.) Mario Batali, the big chef, has stepped down because of allegations of sexual misconduct. He's 57. Not that that matters, but it kind of does. It speaks to the mindset of a culture. Poor Mario grew up in a culture where it was ok to make sexist remarks and be rude. Until now, maybe no one told him, that's not cool, knock it off. I grew up in the 70's. There was a whole lot of sexual misconduct going on!!!! Everywhere! Whoa. And what about the 60's? Sex, drugs and rock and roll?!?!?!? Sometimes it was a wold whistle or snarky comment. Sometimes it was just that creep that pinched your butt. And that goes for her pinching his butt too! Yeah. I did that in the 70's. I'm guilty of sexual misconduct. Boy am I!
I'm having trouble with whatever sexual misconduct is. 

I was just thinking the other day, there are a lot of unacceptable behaviors today, that were perfectly fine 20 years ago. People learned, grew, and moved on. Like; teachers spanking kids in school. That used to be ok. Now it's not. Our opinions and ideas changed and it became a bad thing - we demanded an end to that behavior and moved on. How about the mom that pulled up to the grocery store and told her kids she'd be right back, wait in the car! She could go to jail for that now. But should I press charges against my mom for doing that to me, 20 years ago? 

Change is good. I would just hate to see us go so overboard that we won't be taken seriously. 

Every revolution has growing pains I guess.

Harassment et al

I feel so many different ways about all these allegations.

THE ACCUSED
John Lasseter - head of Pixar? As far as I can tell, he made some sexists comments
Hamilton Fish - Time magazine
John Conyers - House Judiciary Committee and longest-serving member in the House
Kevin Spacey - actor
Charlie Rose - TV host
Andy Dick - wants to be funny, but now he's not
Glenn Thrush - NYT correspondent
Brett Ratner - producer
Ron Jeremy - porn star. OK, so this one might not count?
Dan Schoen  - MN state senator
Al Franken - US Senator. I don't like him but this story doesn't carry a lot weight with me
Andre' Balazs - hotelier
Mark Schwahn - TV show creator
Ray Moore - Senate candidate. A perv in the 80's
Eddie Berganza - TV show creator
Gary Goddard - producer/director
Louis C.K. - comedian.
Matt Lauer - today...and yesterday!
Stephen Collins - actor, pedophile
Mark Halperin - director of ABC news
Knight Landesman - publisher
Leon Wieseltier - editor
Terry Richardson - photographer
James Toback - director/writer
John Besh - restaurantuer
Chris Savino - TV creator
Mario Batali - chef, sexual misconduct
Harvey Weinstein - producer
Bill Cosby - TV's dad, drugged and raped women
Oliver Stone - grabbed someone's breast, 2 decades ago
President George HW Bush - ummm...hmmm
Steven Seagal - I'm so not surprised by this, but again, 20+ years ago?
Matthew Weiner - a writer says Matthew said something inappropriate to her
Sepp Blatter - Fifa president. Hope Solo says he grabbed her butt at an awards banquet
Richard Dreyfuss - a writer says Richard exposed himself to her in the 80's. You mean, 30+ years ago?
Ryan Seacrest - former wardrobe stylist accused him of misconduct. 
Russell Simmons - for something that may or may not have happened 3 decades ago
Sylvester Stalone - sometime in the 80's a then 16 yr old alleged he assaulted her in some way
George Takei - some guy says he groped him while he was passed out, 40 years ago
Dustin Hoffman - made inappropriate comments
R.Kelly - he and his girl friend had a shitty, dysfunctional relationship...

Let those sink in...I'll be back tomorrow.

gone things

Burger Chef. Technically I guess, they became Hardee's/Carl's Jr. But Chef Jeff is still gone.
Bob's Big Boy. I read there are still about 100 of them. I loved the big boy!
Ponderosa Steak House. Were they kinda like Sizzler? I don't think I liked them.
Sizzler! I worked there, all through high-school. I have fond memories of them.
Naugles. That was a mexican fast food place in California. Do you remember them?
Sambo's. I remember them, with the tiger and the little kid.
Chi-Chi's. I liked them. I still buy their salsa :-)
Steak and Ale. I don't think I ever ate there.
Laughner's Cafeteria. My first job was busing tables there!
Victoria Station. I loved them...and eating in railroad cars. It was cool!


America West.                                                   US Air
ATA                                                                    TWA
Braniff                                                                PanAm
Continental                                                        Northwest
DHL                                                                   Eastern Airlines

Gander Mountain                                               Miller's Outpost
GemCo                                                               Service Merchandise
Best Products                                                     Casual Corner

Chess King/Merry Go Round                             Florsheim Shoes

Kinney Shoes                                                     Price Club

Mervyn's                                                             FAO Shwarz

Thom McAn shoes                                             Tower Records

Hook's, Osco, Sav-On drug stores                     Planet Music

Rexall                                                                 Hollywood Video

Circuit City                                                          Camelot Music

Radio Shack                                                       Blockbuster

Wooworth                                                           Borders

Levitz Furniture                                                  B.Dalton Books

Hancock Fabrics                                                Builders Square

wan't that fun?!

the first ammendment

Let's look at it again;

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I'm certain that the Bill of Rights wasn't written to be "interpreted" to mean whatever suits you. Nowhere in there does it say you have the right to express yourself artistically. Does it? I guess you could argue that your expression of speech IS art. I get that. But there are still limits and boundaries provided by other laws. Also, it doesn't say that your freedom of religion includes discrimination.

I just bring this up, again, because the Colorado baker's case is in the Supreme Court this morning. You remember this one, right? The baker says it's against his religious beliefs to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. 

Yes, I believe the baker has a right to his own religious beliefs, in his own personal life. But he owns a business. A business that's open to the public, to serve the public. I believe he is discriminating against the gay couple, by refusing to bake a cake for them, period. I bet there were several different ways he could've gotten around that, if he chose to. Also, because I have an issue with organized religion and hypocrisy, I feel like the baker is using his religion to be a jerk. I don't like that. Pretty sure God would forgive you for baking a cake for a gay couple. That's his thing, right? Forgiveness?!!  

I'm really surprised this has gone all the way to the Supreme Court.