Venting

It’s been a long time. I think I need to spew out what i’ve been holding in. Just some random excerpts and thoughts that have crossed my mind recently; mind you, they have never been uttered publicly. Well, okay, just a few haven’t been. See if you too can play along and follow the stream of this consciousness:

“Clipping your nails on the train is so cultured of you.”

“No really, I love it when you play Schoolboy Q at top volume on your headphones next to me on the train. Oh how did I know who it was? I Shazam’d it.”

Girl, your weave looks like you’re trying to be Thulsa Doom. No. That’s not a compliment.”

“You hair looks like a basket of brown and yellow yarn that some cat played with and got all tangled up. No honey, that’s not a compliment, either.”

“When I go to the bar Friday evening at 5 PM for happy hour to enjoy my adult beverage, naturally I am thrilled when you bring your children in to the bar. Just like in the Appalachians.”

“Fucking Polar Vortex continues to leave it’s mark… and it’s August. I mean, every other woman is pregnant. Is playing Cards Against humanity not enough for you breeders during the winter months?”

“Pull your goddamn pants up! You know that means you want to be prison fucked. No, I am NOT interested.”

“Ten reasons I’m glad there is a hand gun waiting period: 1. John Boehner, 2. Sarah Palin ( I mean, does she never go away?), 3. Michelle Bachmann (You’re still around?), 4. Justin Bieber, 5. People who are cruel to puppies and other animals, 6. Kanye and Kim, 7. That guy who refuses to pick up his dog’s shit and leaves it in my front walkway garden, 8. Rick Perry, 9. Ann Coulter (bitch is crazy), and 10. ignorant dumbass people.”

“Ah, Lollapalooza weekend: when your suburban sons and daughters invade downtown and insist on acting like douchebags. That, and how they dress: the crop top belly shirt has made it’s great return! And your son- yes, yours- was wearing blue Hawaiian flower shorts, a navy mesh (!) sleeveless tank, and Pharrell’s fucking hat! The horror! He’s just asking to get his ass kicked.”

 

yeah. That feels better.

 

 

 

 

 

The art of hate

The art of hate

A friend of mine on Facebook posted a call to arms on an image today. A group called Weda People LLC posted on their FB page a drawing , similar to Obama’s Hope poster, but depicting him being lynched, with the verbatim and grammatically incorrect comment, “hehehe string the basturd up from a tree”.

My friend has a page where he shares Pop culture images, and it’s skewed towards the homosexual population. It’s a quirky, retro, cheeky page. In the past week he had been threatened by FB for posting semi nude images of men, nothing full frontal mind you but  leaving a bit to the imagination. They threatened to kick him off Facebook for these images.  And yet today, because the  above image is offensive and incites hate, he reported this image… and was subsequently told, eh, nothing we can do about it.

And I know many people out there are saying, well it’s freedom of speech, a first amendment right, nothing can be done. They can do it.

But at what point does the first amendment blur into inciting hate and threatening the President’s life?

I am appalled at this art. It took a pop culture image of Obama asking for Hope., and turned into a Jim Crow propaganda image for the new millennium. So I guess we haven’t evolved as much as we would like to think. And it endorses the lynching of our Commander in Chief. I don’t care who you are, Republican or Green, Muslim or Christian, but hate is blatant hate. I can hear the outcry if this was an image showing W in a similar setting. Yes the political comics that are posted on a daily basis are quite partisan, but come no where close to out right hate.  And I do not seeing the Washington Post, or the New York Times, or any reputable publication running this in their op/ed section of their periodical.

But this got high profile release on Facebook. And suddenly I’m wondering has the social network become the social hate network. To believe in this is one thing. I still think you are despicable and need serious assistance. But to share and endorse murder, a hate crime, makes me wonder. Have we devolved so far? Are we so divided that a new civil war isn’t just some red neck judge making an observation, but a reality? Hey I joked that Arizona (with the most anti-woman woman politician ever), Texas, Utah and those wonderful anti immigrant gardeners of Alabama would make a great new United States of White Trash Bigot Red Necks.

Part of me is beginning to wonder if it’s not so far fetched image of the future to be.

 

note: I updated this post in January 2013

And today in Healthcare news…

The Supreme Court today upheld the central mandate of the Affordable Healthcare Act, aka Obamacare, making it mandatory that a person has health insurance. For millions of people with preexisting conditions who currently cannot get covered by an insurance company to literally save their life, this is a godsend. It also will make prescriptions less expensive for seniors, and their are tax benefits for small business should they chose to provide coverage for their employees. It’s a move towards a socialized healthcare system that works for many countries around the world, and will lower costs.

Not everyone, naturally, is thrilled with this.

The Republican and Tea Party people are absolutely appalled. Well, at first they weren’t. All the GOP tweets about letting freedom ring and the law has been struck down… oh wait, what’s that you say? To quote Rick Perry, ‘Oops.’ Delete. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney has already vowed to repeal it the first day he gets into office, which would happen if we live in the Twilight Zone. Admit it, you just shuddered at the thought. Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry both tried to say something intelligent but, oh yeah, no one cares about them anymore. John Boehner looked like he wanted to cry in even picture taken of him today. Oh, and Rush Limbaugh vows to leave the country; on a related note, hundreds of people began taking up a collection for his going away party and travel expenses, with volunteers to pack his suitcases fighting for the coveted roll.

Then there are the common Facebookers, my apologies, newly minted Constitutional scholars, who also vow angrily to leave and move to Canada, now disgusted at how socialized the US has become. Because, as everyone knows, Canada doesn’t have anything remotely like a universal healthcare system, right? My first thought is, who says Canada even wants you anyway?

I guess you can’t please everyone. So okay, good luck. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. And don’t you come back now, ya hear?

The Oreo that broke the camel's back

It’s been sometime since I’ve posted on here, and leave it to some dumb ass comments about Oreos to get me rolling again.

In case you don’t live on Facebook like some people do,  the Oreos page posted the above picture and message this week in time for many Gay Pride celbrations going on all over the country. It’s a simple, nice sentiment: celebrate love.

The posts that came shortly afterwards, however, are proof that ignorance prevails:

These are only a few gems. You can see a whole lot more at this link here, or on the Oreo FB page. It appalls me that people are so mind numbingly stupid about things. It makes me glad that the law in Chicago regarding handguns is so strict, because you would not want me to have one or I might go on a little spring cleaning. Just saying.

But I’m gutted over this for a few reasons. First of all, you boycott a company for supporting unity and love in the world? WTF? So obviously you not only hate cookies, but now you declare your bias towards people who are different from you. That’s so genius! Then comes the comments. ‘Gays need to leave America, or my favorite, ‘it should be a crime’ to be gay. Well, I guess that’s better than putting us all behind an electric fence and burning us alive. Because, after all, this is the 1500’s and it’s the Inquisition. Wait, someone did suggest that we should all be sequestered to an island somewhere and ‘share aids together!’ , so I guess that is similar. Why not go further…make like the Salem witch trials and see which of us drown and which of us sink? Or bringing back the guillotine as corporeal punishment for the drag queens? ‘Let them eat Oreos’, I can hear them cry, as they drag us off to the dungeons before we are drawn and quartered.

I mean, what century is this?

But the best part are the religious comments: It’s a sin. God says homosexuals are evil. Die faggots, burn in hell. The Bible says you should be stoned, go to hell, burn, blah blah blah. Gee if I wanted to hear that talk I could call my Uncle Mike or my brother Matt, I’m sure they would be more than willing to share their feelings on the subject. Which, of course, is completely wrong. The Bible is how old? And statement in that book taken verbatim today, well then let’s line up Bristol Palin, John Edwards and a chorus of other people who are not gay but have sinned because, you know, we would stone them too. Or cut their tongue out. Because that’s completely rational. Not only that, but no where in the 10 commandments or the beatitudes does it say ‘thous shall condemn and kill homosexuals.’ I looked, not there.  And unless you just got off the phone with God or received a tweet from him, just shut the fuck up. No one can truly say ‘I know God says, believes or means’ whatever. Because you don’t. And if you have had a conversation with him, I think it would be more along the lines of, why can’t you people all just get along? And just shut up or I will have to send the plague to wipe your stupid asses out.

It’s been a tenuous year around the rights of gay marriage and gay rights, and I am seeing more and more the derisiveness and hatred that people are spilling into the everyday. It’s no longer live and let live, it’s die. And I’m particularly disappointed in the southern black religious group who recently declared that our fight is not one of civil rights, because instead of being supportive and unified, they segregated us… ironically, much like they had been more than 40 years ago. But then, this…to see people get inflamed, spew hatred and ignorance, because one of the most beloved cookies ever takes a picture of it’s likeness, and put a rainbow of layers in between the caps, just to show their support of the community. For me, it’s become a tipping point, to say the least.

Maybe the gay community needs to strike back. I watched a show just this past Sunday morning about the Stonewall riots in 1969, when homosexuality was illegal. We were being killed in the streets, had to live behind closed doors. And we finally rose up and got angry and struck back. Well, 43 years later, I’m wondering if it isn’t time for the community to run riot again. We’ve gone from having a difference of opinions to outright hatred and vitriol. I’m tired of it. So maybe we need to start taking a more aggressive stance against the attacks. I know I will be. Because I’m done. I don’t want to live in this kind of world anymore. I’m going to fight to see some change.

And I’ll be armed with Oreos.

The angry social network

I’ve been a bit taken aback as of late of how people treat each other publicly on Facebook.

Take for example: a friend, a young guy with a great up front and passionate demeanor, which I find refreshing. One night he  wrote how glad he was that he was no longer in a relationship a certain person. This certain other person is also a friend of mine, and the two have many mutual friends. The statement was blunt, which I can appreciate. It was just a little cruel. I mean, it was his right to post how he felt, but it was such a public airing of a personal event. I responded that it appeared he was burning a bridge, to which he posted (and not necessarily in direct response to me) that regardless, it was the truth.

Ouch.

At least this was not as bad as what happened directly to me last evening, as I was out with a group of friends after my regular Saturday evening of euchre. I ‘checked in’ with some of my friends at the restaurant we were at. Then this guy who we all play cards with, and all are friends on FB, posted in response to my check in:

Needless to say I was stunned. This person and I saw each other a mere hour before hand, and nothing had transpired between us to suggest such a mean spirited reply. Everyone at the restaurant table were shocked and pissed by the comment, which in no way was to be taken as a joke. Not that the two of us are very close, and in fact we had disagreements in the past, but to take things to the public field and for no obvious reason? I’m flummoxed over his train of thought.

He could of simply done what my sister-in-law did after a recent family squabble, which was un-friend me. Oh yes, the pettiness of a family disagreement over how we treat others and shirking of familial responsibilities, and I get dropped as a friend. It’s mind blowing  to me, that because I acted and did something on behalf of another family member that they were not willing to do, and that fact was embarrassing to  her and my brother, and I get treated to a one two slap like that.

Oh, you can say I’m doing the same exact thing, airing dirty laundry and getting my digs back in at these people for how they treated me or someone else. But I’m not like them. I’m not a bully. I’m not being malicious, or hateful, or rude. I’m simply pointing out that these three incidents are not an isolated trend. They are happening all over Facebook, and MySpace, or Tweet. The consequences here aren’t as bad as what we see in the news. The girl who killed herself because of the abusive comments that girls at her school posted on her FB page. Kanye West’s tweets on any given day. Charlie Sheen vs Chuck Lorre. It’s happening more and more, and the results aren’t just hurt feelings any more.

So next time you’re angry and decide to call someone a nasty name, do it to yourself. Or in a text to a friend privately. It doesn’t always need to go viral.

Shopping oddities and ends

A few random and aggravating happenings as Rick and I took a shopping excursion today in Lakeview, aka Boystown:

– What has happened to the Gap? First of all, loved that it was Friends and Family (30% off!), but the service seems to have fallen into a gap. Items that are on the website are no where in the store. Really? Then why have a store at all? An associate ‘helpfully’ suggested that it may be at Michigan Avenue, then walked away. When I worked at the Gap (yes, I’m pulling that one), I would have stopped and offered to call another store or order it from online. Yeah I waited for that to happen… and I would probably would still be waiting now. I had to call on my cell to another store and discover that they didn’t have what I was looking for either. Then Rick needed a certain size in khakis, and while they searched in back for us, again there was no offer to call another store- we had to suggest it. So then they offered to call, but items would only be held until the end of day. Uh, what? I held items up to two days for a customer. And evidently, ordering in the store from online can’t happen anymore. It just seemed that overall they really didn’t care to have our business. It was dissapointing to say the least. And yet they think it’s exceptional service to be open on Thanksgiving day. Well, maybe if you tried a bit harder on the regular days, you wouldn’t need to be open on a holiday. Just saying.
– Caribou Coffee on Broadway had a better service experience, but this time I was repulsed by other customers. I needed to use the bathroom, and I walked in to urine on the toilet seat, on the floor, and the toilet unflushed. Foul. Now downtown, I might expect this, but we were in Boystown. Gay central. And this is how the gays treat a local hang out? What kind of bums are living here now? Disgusting.
– CTA, always a trip, was just as heinous as usual. First there was the woman who kept screaming, ‘Out of my way, I’m getting out here!’ as she knocked into every person crammed in the aisle. Come on, the bus is crowded, don’t get angry at people just because the CTA can’t keep buses running on schedule and cause over capacity buses. Then there was the guy talking on his phone and making sure everyone around him knew it. I don’t care if you think the girl was creaming her pants over you, I don’t want to hear it!
– The grocery store: did you know the elderly can not only not drive a car, evidently a shopping cart is problematic for them as well. I was run into at least three time without so much as an apology. Then while in line at the self checkout, we were trying to finish bagging our groceries, and this woman walks in front of us and starts ringing her stuff! Can people not wait their turn anymore??

To quote Cee Lo, fuck you and fuck her too.

Yard Sale Folly

This past Saturday we decided to host a yard sale. The yard sale is that time honored tradition of pulling out all of the junk and miscellaneous nicknacks that you no longer use, remove sentimental value from them, and pass it off as treasure to your neighbors. You never know what you consider junk is truly a thing of value to someone else.
Most of what we were parting with was objects that really were of no use to us, but were in good working order. For example, the DVD player that I sold was in great condition, but I had a new Blu-Ray player that can still play my regular DVDs, so why have two? Sell it. And the TV/VCR combo that we no longer used since I got the TiVo? Perfect for some kid’s bedroom use. The glass jars, great for decorative use, that sat in the basement? Move ’em on out of here. So Rick and I sorted through a bunch of random items, and some clothing that no longer fit but was wearable, and along with the upstairs neighbor set out a smorgasbord of trinkets and finds.
The day went pretty well, as well as one can expect when selling your old hand me downs for a few dollars; and most shoppers were friendly, chatty, good old neighborly people. But there was one woman who just didn’t know when to shut up.
This woman was definitely a piece of work. She was joined by her daughter and a friend visiting from New York, both of whom seemed very nice. This woman, however, was destined to share her opinions on everything with everyone, even if the information wasn’t solicited. Her demeanor was rather condescending towards everyone else; she gave the air that she was affluent, like Chicago North Shore, and that yard sales on Saturday were kind of slumming it to her. And while the friend and her daughter rummaged for treasures, she would turn up her nose and make snide comments.
For instance, there was a picnic basket that Rick and I had out for sale for the bargain basement price of $2; A little rough around the edges, but in pretty great condition otherwise. The New Yorker was intrigued by it, and seemed to hem and haw about taking it. Snobby Sally, on the other hand, was grilling her on the basket’s usefulness. ‘Do you really need it, or do you just want it?’ She implored repeatedly. ‘If I were selling these things here, I wouldn’t be putting this (pointing to the basket) out’. There was a book I had out for sale, on organization tactics at work. Again, she walked up, looked at the book, and sneered “Sure, waste more time reading a book about organization and prioritizing, why not just do it?’ Let’s put it this way, her disdain wasn’t very hidden.
It was obvious to Rick, myself and our neighbor that this woman was in no way a champion to our cause. In fact, she was trying to talk her friend out of buying anything. She actually started to break some of the frayed pieces off of the basket and littered them on the table, and yet refused to inquire to us anything about it, or even look or acknowledge us. It got to the point that I nearly walked up to her, removed the basket in question from her hands, and bluntly told her, ‘It’s no longer for sale, and perhaps it’s time for you to leave.’
In the end, the friend found our basket useful, and bought it. Snobby Sally, apparently disgusted, decided to walk down the street to another yard sale to ‘see if they have anything of worth.’ How ignorant can a person be? Yard sales are all about finding the hidden treasures, not a sidewalk venue for people to judge other people’s things. If she had opinions about our things, talk about it later in the privacy of your own home, but not in front of us. And acting superior is a sure fire way of getting shot in my neighborhood…although in this woman’s case, I don’t think I would have shed any tears. Regardless, word of advice to yard sale shoppers everywhere…leave the opinions at home, and when in doubt dial it down in public.

What not to do on public transit

Public transit. It’s a daily routine for many, including myself. You take it to work. You take it home. You take it to go shopping. Bus, subway, Metra, whatever your vehicle, you end up spending at least an hour if not more a day using it.
For some people, this time spent seems to also mean that it’s a second home where they can do whatever they want.
Case in point: last night, as I rode the train downtown to meet friends for dinner (which was at Frontera Grill, fantastic by the way), I observed two egregious errors of passengers that only adds to my laundry list of public transit no-nos.
First up: the nail clipper. Clipping you nails is something I prefer to do in the privacy of my home, or have done at a salon when I get a manicure. One rider last night felt comfortable enough to clip his finger nails right there on the train. Snap! Snap! went the clippers, and dirty finger nails fell to the floor. I could only cringe. This is not your private bathroom, this is a public train. Nasty!
Then the spitter appeared. A semi intoxicated Cubs fan (hey, if you were a Cubs fan, you’d have to be drunk too) stumbled onto the car and sat across from me with a have case of Miller GD in one hand and a red Solo cup in the other. After a brief moment he lifted the cup to his mouth, and- you guessed it- spit!
I’m gagging at this point.
Chew and snuff are the grossest tobacco products out there. I’m a smoker, so many people would argue what I do is foul. Maybe, but I don’t smoke on the train, and besides, my smoke doesn’t have brown tobacco grounds and spittle in it. It’s so…frankly I equate snuff being a bit white trash. At least smoking is somewhat elegant in comparison.
So joining annoying travelers who feel the need to shout on their phone at the top of their lungs, the trashy gluttons who eat their chicken wings and then wipe their greasy hands on the seat next to them, and the bad music lovers who can’t seem to afford headphones, I add the gross chew guy and the idiots who clip their nails to the list of people who should be banned from public transit.

The infection of hate

As Gay Pride day wraps up nationwide, I looked at the online media reports regarding the parades. What saddens me is the spew of hatred and religious dogmatic vomit that people felt inspired to post in response to a day that is designed to represent a movement towards equality.
These days, the hatred seems to spring from all directions, and place the blame of this ‘corruption of morals’ and ‘liberal machinations’. One guy on Yahoo! went as far to say that a day of family is ruined by seeing two gay people holding hands and kissing.
Amazing stuff.
What does this all do? it just causes an infection of hate to spread. What happened to love your fellow man? It seems in our post 9/11 world we have only learned that hate is the best way to treat people from different walks of life, sexual preference, race and religion. Culture is training people to hate Muslims, blame ‘queers’ for pedophilia and accuse a black President of being a socialist.
It’s disgusting. And unfortunately no going anywhere soon.
People often wonder why I can’t keep my mouth shut when I feel angered or annoyed by the stupidity and hatred of others. It’s because I’m tired of being treated as a pariah, as the one who doesn’t have his head on straight. I don’t hate people… I hate their ignorance. I hate that they misuse religion or politics to further an agenda that is hateful towards other humans. It’s encouraging rage and destruction. What I do here isn’t destructive, it’s voicing my opinion. And the argument can be made that these other people have a right to their opinion, but I have to ask, when an opinion is so vicious and driven by violence, is it a right or freedom? Or is it just dangerous?
For example, Innocent Bystander, a Yahoo! member since: 06/19/2010, posted this online:
now that these gay freaks are in one place
this would be the perfect time to nuke them
and wipe the off the face of the earth
the less we see their pervert face
the better for humanity
This kind of commentary and language only furthers an agenda of hate, and pretty much insinuates murder as a solution. Genocide. How nice. How far we have evolved in the past 70 years.
I get so angry, and I really want to hate this person. But obviously they are too stupid to realize that they just condemned a group of people that may include a friend, a teacher or a relative. They are so insecure and ignorant that they have to feel superior by tearing someone else down.
The saddest thing is that most people feel this way about one group or another, and if everyone had their wish come true, no one would be left standing.

Hatred of spewing hate

I’m sure the title of this post have a few people going, huh?

I mean, the irony isn’t lost on me either. I’m a self proclaimed misanthrope, which by definition is a generalized dislike, distrust, disgust, contempt, or hatred of the human species (thanks, Wikipedia). And certainly, I bitch, I moan, I point out folly of the stupidity that is the human species, which is not to say I’m ever perfect. Far from it. I just think it’s more entertaining to pull apart the errors of others ways.

Even if I did ‘hate’ someone, this is my piece of lawn out here in cyberspace for people to view if they wish. A link is posted on my Facebook page for friends to come and read, but other than that, no advertising. No force mandated read or observation to visit. Hell, the most views I’ve ever had is 23 in a day, I think that’s a lot. It’s my opinion, in my quiet corner of the world, and I’m sticking with it.

On the other hand, if I stood outside a naval officer’s funeral with big signs that said “Thank God For Dead Soldiers”, I’m forcing my opinion out into the public. I’m intruding on a captivate audience who are there mourning a fallen soldier/son/daughter/sibling/friend/whomever. I’m chanting aloud “I’m glad he’s dead” or “He deserved to die”, and for those people, trying to sit quietly and deal with the loss of a loved one, they are trapped having to hear this vocal barrage. Free speech? Perhaps, like my blog it is to an extent. But a line has been crossed where the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and religious belief has been boisterously inflicted on an assembled group of people of differing beliefs, and who can’t escape the harassment or pain my beliefs have inflicted on them.

Now I would never ever do this, say that I thank God for dead soldiers. First of all, because I don’t believe that officer serving in the military deserved to die. I may not agree or like war, but sometimes it became a necessary evil that in the country’s history, became a determining factor in our existence and freedom. I support our troops, and mourn their loss. They are doing something that frankly I just don’t have the ability to do. It’s brave and exhausting. I’ve had friends spend tours in Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. My Grandfather served in WWII, a Sargent, a member of Merrill’s Marauders in Burma. They all defended our country, and I’m proud of them.

Secondly, I don’t believe God or whatever spiritual being a person prays to has any reason to be glad that people are happy other people are dead. I may immensely dislike a person, even wish that karma gets them in the end. And yes I’ve casually may have told someone to be gone before a house dropped on them as well, sometimes in jest, and sometime, in not so good nature of a way . I’ve been mistreated and can’t stand it when some person who thinks they are above another and so blatantly flaunts it doesn’t think their actions don’t impact the feelings of others. To be deliberately rude, hurtful or inflict pain in the name of one’s God or simply for the sheer bliss it brings is narcissistic and frankly sociopathic. And that person certainly does not worship the benevolent all loving God that Christians were raised to believe in and whose son died for us so that we could eat ham this Sunday and celebrate Easter (well, maybe not just eat ham, but you know what I mean). This is also why I have such an immense dislike of religion as an organization, sects and churches and buildings rather than the sheer joy that it supposedly brings. It’s all been bastardized by people like the Catholic church and, in extreme, Phelps. I don’t need someone telling me what to believe or how I need to believe it. But that’s a whole other post.

So no, I would never do what that unconscionable man Fred Phelps did outside of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder’s funeral, which caused his father and family so much distress. And Mr. Phelp’s Westboro Baptist Church does this at many military funerals, at GLBT events and parades, and at Matthew Shepherd’s funeral. Basically they do this because they say God takes delight in the death of these soldiers, defending our nation, because homosexuality has ravaged the US and we are all going to pay for it. Yes, that is actually their platform. But Albert Snyder had enough, and sued and won against the fundamentalist church for the emotional strain and stress they inflicted at his son’s funeral. He won, too. But of course, in our fair and equitable justice system, the ruling was overturned pending Supreme Court interference, and now Mr. Snyder is being told, as a result, he has to pay Westboro’s legal fees. So not only has a man who’s son serving our military and government lost his life in a war for this nation, but that same government turned around and said, sorry, even though those people upset you, attacked your son, said he deserved to die, they have a right to harass you during your moment of utmost grief, force you to listen to their hateful chants that haunt your dreams, and now you have to pay for their court costs.

Completely fair, right? Fuck that.

To merely say the deliberate spewing of hatred is wrong is a criminal understatement in a situation like this. Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist ‘church’, you are all a bunch of sociopaths. You wish people dead, you say God Hates Fags, you say Thank God for IEDS (improvised explosive devices, used mainly in suicide bombings and road side bombs in the current war), and call military funerals pagan and blasphemous. My head literally wants to explode at this. My immense dislike wants to boil over into hatred. I want to scream, to cry, to hit, to sue, even kill this bastard. To have such an inconsequential repulsion for a human life almost turns me murderous. And to most rational human beings, it should. Hell, even Bill O’Reilly thinks Phelps is a tool.

But then I have remorse. I feel sorry for this man. He’s pathetic. I mean, look at him for starters, he’s practically the Crypt Keeper.

Basically, when he does die, and mercifully may it be soon for the rest of us, he’s going to be in for a nasty surprise if he thinks he’s going to be shown the gates of heaven by his God. Frankly, I have him pegged for the his eternity walking with his head twisted backwards on his body around with the rest of the false prophets and frauds in Dante’s eighth circle of Hell, but where in the Inferno he may reside can be argued.

What it all comes down to is this: I’m appalled at what Fred Phelps stands for and believes in. His right to believe, yes, even as misguided and stupid of a belief that it is. His right to say his opinion, yes. But his right to inflict pain and cheer murder and hatred and celebrate it? No. To force people to endure it in the way they did, while attending a funeral, is abuse of his right to free speech. This man stands for everything that is the opposite of what this nation stands for, and to let him win another battle like this is disgusting. And for him to do it in the name of God… I do not know what God you worship, but I do not remember reading in the Bible to celebrate murder and hate people because they are different. What book are you reading? What it fosters is more hatred, and more acceptance and indifference to this hatred. To spew hate just for the pleasure of spewing it should be just as repulsive to you as it is to me.