The bitch is back!!

Hot damn its been a while since Ive come to tend my little piece of the internets! Its been a busy busy busy couple months (as always) and Ive thought of a bazillion things that I wanted to blog about but just have just not taken the time to actually sit and write them out once I get home from work.

So this post is going to be a "random" post in a way because I have a goal here I want to share~

• The primary reason that I havent posted for a bit was because I was feeling a bit exposed.  I have unleashed my store managers on the Twitters because I couldn't keep up with the comings and goings that were necessary for the 5 of them.  My Twitter account is public (because I kind of feel like what is the point of twittering if you are going to privatize your account - if you are that worried about what you have to say then maybe you shouldnt be saying it) and it is my personal account - so the views, opinions and thoughts expressed here and there are MINE and mine alone. I make it a point to not mention anything specific about my place of work or my coworkers & employees here or there and always have.  Well it took them all about 2 weeks, but the Pittsburgh beer scene is a close knit one but they found me so instead of blocking and hiding I just let it go and they follow me.  This is good and bad. But bottom line is I shouldnt let it effect me saying & doing what I want to do on my personal blog or twitter account. I think I can safely assume that all of my peoples get that there is the Me they work for and the Me that exists outside of that realm and though they both live in the same body they are very different people. Well that and I swear to all thats holy that if they are reading this and decide to turn my blog or twitter into any kind of gossipy bullshit with ANY of my employees or coworkers that there will be extreme hell to pay (If youre reading this guys you have been fairly warned...ok).  I do NOT invade their personal lives and doing that to me would be an excessive invasion of my personal life...but after much consideration I dont think they will. I work with some pretty awesome people and they are all grown ups...so I am going to roll the dice and see what happens. 

• I think Im really done smoking. Been pondering this a lot of late and I feel like its time.  I had this AH HA! moment a couple weeks ago. Im a smart person. I have a good job, I pay my bills, I am a good person, I possess the ability to make all kinds of good decisions large and small all day every day.  And yet at least 10-15 times a day I CHOOSE to put something in my mouth, light it on fire and inhale the smoke full on KNOWING that it will kill me. I wouldnt step in front of a bus 15 times a day. I wouldnt play Russian Roulette with a double barrel shot gun 15 times a day. I wouldnt jump off a roof 15 times a day. But I will smoke 15 cigarettes a day. Took me 17 years but yeah...thats fucking stupid. So there are 2 left in my current pack. I am not buying or bumming (see how I sealed up that loop hole right there) anymore of them after these last 2. I also am going to do this cold turkey even though the general consensus is that may be a bad idea. Through all this thinking and pondering I have also come to this conclusion - my smoking is a choice. Yes...there are things that make them addictive, yes there are chemical receptors in my brain that are going to be PISSED for a couple weeks, yes I might be more bitchy & aggressive than I normally am (sorry in advance) but fuck it. I am NOT going to spend a couple hundred dollars a month to make it easier for me to quit. I am not a weak person and there has not been one thing outside of this that I havent been able to accomplish in my life once I have set my mind to it and this is no different. I am not going to stop giving my money to Big Tobacco only to give it to Big Pharmaceutical. Fuck ya both...Im gonna buy a flat screen or a new Mac!! 

•  Related: I am going to blog my quitting. I am promising myself I will post at least once a day until I have kicked the habit and have realigned my routines accordingly. I genuinely enjoy blogging, it gets a lot of things that get trapped in my head out for me to look at and I want to do more with my little space on the internets. I like being able to read my thoughts with some objectivity...which is hard to do when wrapped up in your own head.

• Sarah Palin. I am pretty sure I have launched off about her before, but I read an article today that really pissed me off.  Michelle Obama has made it her initiative to help curb and control childhood obesity. I dont give a flying fuck how you feel about her politics - but this IS a huge problem. I dont have kids - but I know kids and shes right. They spend far too much time sitting on their asses in front of monitors & TVs than is good for them shoveling shit they really shouldnt be eating into their faces. I walked around for trick or treating with my nephews and my sister had her husband go home and get the car because  HER 9 YEAR OLD COULDNT WALK ALL THE WAY HOME BECAUSE HE GETS TOO TIRED. Hes 9. Are you fucking kidding me?!?!? I wanted to hit her and make him run laps. Through this entire conversation he is rooting through his bag looking for more reeses. Sheesh. Her kids also dont eat vegetables. They eat garbage. She eats garbage. Maybe if they learned about healthy eating in school it would help. Maybe it would inspire then to try different foods. I full on blame my sister for the poor eating habits of her kids...but maybe healthier school lunches & better budgets for those programs would help all kids. Its possible. It definitely cant hurt.  But Mrs Palin launched off about Mrs Obama's program saying it is the government's attempt   to tell us how to eat and control our diets. She was down right obnoxious about it, ill informed and just plain wrong.  I wont even link to the story - I cant bring myself to contribute in any way to more people hearing what she has to say. The School Lunch Program and its supporters are not trying to control our diets, they are attempting to educate kids and families to make better choices for their overall health and if that woman is too dumb to see that WHY DOES ANYONE GIVE HER THE TIME OF DAY?!? I dont get it. It scares me...sincerely scares me...that she may make a run for President in 2012 and there are a large amount of vocal people who insist she will win. Please. No. Just No. She is terrifyingly stupid. Believe what ever political ethos youd like - hell! be a tea partier for all I give a shit - but see her for the vapid & ignorant woman she is and make her go away. Her and her entire family. Oh...and take Glenn Beck with 'em - hes just an asshole no matter what you believe.

I will return tomorrow with more focus...promise. I hope you all had a great Turkey Day and Im doing my best to get in the Christmas Spirit without much luck.  The icky rain today isnt helping. Go ahead and assassinate me if you want...but I really really really wish it were snow!!

Google News made my head explode...

*WARNING* this post is about politics & religion...if you dont want to hear it stop reading.

Third day in a row I opened up my browser to my google news page and saw ANOTHER article, the 3rd in as many days, speculating about Obama's religious preferences.  I will not link to any of them because I feel it perpetuates the problem, but they were from various legit news sources & were editorial pieces, to clarify.

The first was loaded with opinion pole data about what we, as Americans, THINK his religious views are regardless of what he says they are. This made me twitch. So we are placing it to a vote now as to what church we think he attends and what religion he practices? Silly me, I thought that if the man and his family SAY they are Christian that should be enough and what a percentage of our dear population THINKS is really quite irrelevant.

The second I read was more or less an open demand for Obama to PROVE hes Christian by stopping the building of that Mosque, proving he isnt Muslim and for him to find a way to show Americans that hes Christian and not Muslim. I have a slew of issues with the whole article. 1) How does him stopping that build on PRIVATE PROPERTY prove anything outside of him caving to political/religious pressure? 2) Why does he have to prove a damn thing? I dont have to justify or prove my religious beliefs at all, why is it different for him and what business is it of anyones? Faith is a very personal thing and something that you have to choose on your own, not justify to a nation built & founded on the basis of FREEDOM, freedom of religion specifically for fucks sake, read a god damn history book. 3) What fucking difference does it make what religion he practices? He wasnt elected to the Presidency because of his religious affiliations, he was elected to do a job, and that job was not The Pope.

The one I read today wanted to know why Obama doesnt wear his religion on his sleeve.  Why the hell should he? If that is how you choose to celebrate your faith more power to you, but just because he doesnt treat the Oval Office like a church pulpit doesnt negate his role as a leader or render him less effective in his job.

Honestly I dont care if you like him, if you voted for him or if you agree with what he has done thus far.  As I stated in previous post, I dont think it matters who was elected last term - this was a shit sandwich of epic proportions and I feel he has handled it as admirably as possible given our polarized political climate, the complete lack of cooperation in our government and the almost total collapse of our economy. I challenge any of you to say you could do better given the hurdles that man faced the day he stepped into that office. I sure as fuck wouldnt have wanted that job and it irks the hell out of me to listen to arm-chair presidents think they can fix this. If it was possible to make it all better easily it would have been done by now. He sure as hell didnt make the mess but has been trying to clean it up and anyone who holds him totally responsible for the state of our nation is either naive or looking for a reason to hate him.  Took decades to make this clusterfuck - gonna take just as long to get out and I dont think remaining open minded to change and maybe trying to support the COUNTRY is too much to ask and just may serve us better as a society instead of picking out demons and angels. All politicians suck. Period. Our local government proves this every day, and their political or religious affiliations dont change the level of suck.

That being said I think what truly bothers me, and bothers me a lot, is that the line between Church & State has become so blurred that discourse like what I have seen on Google is deemed ok. Its not. At all. I firmly believe in everyones ability and right to practice the faith of their choosing and not have to justify that faith to anyone. This country was founded by people who were run out of their homes for not agreeing with the religious mandates of their country's government, they came here so they could be free to worship as they believed and we built our governing rules on this principal. Since when are the only acceptable religious beliefs from that of Christianity? Since when did it become a crime to practice something other than Christianity? When did it become necessary to prove your Christianity in order to not be crucified on a national level if you are in a position of power? Never is the answer to all 3 of those questions. I understand that the majority of people in America do practice one form of Christianity or another...but that doesnt mean it is the ONLY acceptable option out there by any strech of the imagination.

I absolutely abhor the power of the Christian right in my government. I find it almost intolerable that laws are written to govern our society that are based on the puritanical views of a percentage of our population. It makes my skin crawl that there is enough money and power in the Christian Right to greatly effect the law making process of our country. Laws & Faith are 2 totally different things. Laws are based on morality, for sure, but there is far more to morals, right & wrong than just faith. Where did the separation of church & state go? In my opinion this is an area that needs reinforced & revisited.

Gay Marriage and abortion are the 2 hot topics off the top of my head that demonstrate this point most effectively. Opponents of both site biblical/faith reasons why neither should be allowed legally. Last time I checked we were governed by the Constitution, not the Bible, so how are these arguments relevant? God is not the president, we elect a human to do that. Laws should not be written that effect all based on the faith & beliefs of some.

For the record I think it is ridiculous gay marriage is even an issue that requires debate. Marriage is not a sacred covenant anymore. 50% divorce rate proves that more than anything else out there, not to mention its more of a legal issue than a religious one. If you are in a same sex relationship and your partner is lying in a hospital bed dying for whatever reason, as a partner you have no say so in the course of treatment or what happens because you are not recognized as a husband or wife or even a family member. Thats some bullshit. Me & Mister were together almost 10 years before we tied the knot. If something had happened to him and they even TRIED to keep me out of that room there would have been blood spilled, I dont care if we were married or not. So these people and groups will go out of their way to stop people who's relationships have ZERO effect on their own from getting married just because they can. Related - all those "God hates Fags" poster carriers I see pics of from their rallys - I disagree - God hates ignorant, mean and stupid people who can only communicate their points with vulgarity & offense. It amazes me that this is even a debate. Why shouldnt same sex couples have the right to get married and all the benefits that come with it and how is this anyone's business but their own? I can get married and divorced a bazillion times - doesnt that ruin the sanctity of marriage more than a gay couple getting married? I would think so.

And abortion I am absolutely Pro-Choice. I know that it isnt a decision I could ever make and one that thankfully for me (because my parents TAUGHT me about how to protect myself - thanks mom & dad) I have ever had to make...but I dont feel its right for the government to tell me that I can or cant have that as an option. There are far too many scenarios that I could see that being viable for someone else, and I feel that it should be their right to make that decision. Yes, it needs to be monitored & there has to be rules for having an abortion, it should never been deemed a method of birth control, but I feel its a personal decision that needs to be made by the people involved, not one that should be made by a politician or religious group on my behalf. Believe what you like and practice it until you die - but forcing other people to live their lives according to your beliefs is bullshit. If 50% of Americans hates broccoli are we going to outlaw it? No. So if 50% of the population hates the idea of gay marriage or abortion why do they get to stop it from happening? They shouldnt, they should just mind their own business and live their lives and leave others to do the same. Just because you have an opinion doesnt mean that the world needs to agree with it. Opinions & Laws are very very different.

It makes me sad and also worries me to see the involvement of the religious fanatics in our government. It makes me angry to hear those same people calling anyone out about extremist religions while being so blissfully unaware that they are just as bad. It makes me want to cry that they feel ok blindly passing judgment on other religious beliefs - like the Muslims - without ever bothering to learn more about their beliefs, practices or faith.  It baffles me that they cant see the forest for the trees and realize that they are themselves religious terrorists on our own soil. The hipocracy makes my brain hurt. I know so many wonderful people that practice their Christianity and other faiths with a good heart, open mind and with love.  I know those that get the press and make the most noise are the minority and the most vocal...but I really think they miss the point of having faith in the first place. Faith is not about forcing your beliefs on another person, its about acceptance, love, forgiveness and understanding...but I think someone must have torn that chapter out of their bibles, because that is def not what they practice regardless of what they preach.

Ok Im done. Well at least ranting about it here. I hope that in my life time I get to see this get better and get to see people start to see the light. Our system doesnt work. It needs adapted to accommodate the times, technology and cultural climate. I hope that we as a society can rise above all the petty bullshit slung across our media by a minority of jerkoffs and find the greater good. I hope we can stop being such sheep and make intelligent choices in the coming decades. I hope we can learn to respect each others opinions and learn to celebrate our differences. I hope...