Miranda

Proving again that it's ok to commit abuse in the name of Jesus

2008-06-28T12:47:13Z

Court claims exorcism protected

"The Texas Supreme Court on Friday threw out a jury award over injuries a 17-year-old girl suffered in an exorcism conducted by members of her old church, ruling that the case unconstitutionally entangled the court in religious matters."

"Schubert said she was pinned to the floor for hours and received carpet burns during the exorcism,"

I suspected that kidnapping and assault were religious matters, but it's good to have that confirmed

"The 2002 trial of the case never touched on the religious aspects, and a Tarrant County jury found the Colleyville church and its members liable for abusing and falsely imprisoning the girl."

"Justice David Medina wrote that finding the church liable "would have an unconstitutional 'chilling effect' by compelling the church to abandon core principles of its religious beliefs.""

When they start sacrificing the firstborn, that'll be ok too. I'll be very happy when the words "It's our RELIGION" or "It's our CULTURE" no longer have standing in law. Beating your kids, abusing your wife (submission!), forbidding same-sex marriage, disallowing women's autonomy over their bodies, unnecessary whale/eagle hunts. All Gone

The Texas Fence

2008-04-28T10:12:01Z

Or, just how far everyone wants to go to keep illegal brown people out of this country.

link

Chief among their concerns is the possibility that the fence will despoil the environment. In early April, wielding authority Congress granted him in 2005, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff waived three dozen laws that he said interfered with his ability to build the fence. Among them: the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Wouldn't want to interfere with the fence. The health and safety of the citizens can only be protected by keeping out illegal brown people.

The fence's proposed path would slice through parts of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge

The irony in this is staggering.

For instance, a Nature Conservancy preserve east of Brownsville that's populated by stands of sabal palms and rare birds like chachalacas would wind up on the Mexican side of the fence.

We're cutting off slices of our own country in this endeavor.

Farmers worry about losing access to irrigation water. Local business owners fret that Mexican nationals, many of whom cross over legally to go shopping, may decide to stay home. And consider the predicament of Bob Lucio, who poured his life savings into a deal to run the Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course at the University of Texas at Brownsville. The fence would leave all 18 holes on the Mexican side of the barrier.

Take this money and beef up patrols if you must, but is the hatred for illegals so strong that they are willing to destroy the land so that no others can touch it?

Why I'm generally against the death penalty

2008-04-13T01:48:09Z

Too many people in the legal system pull shit like this:

secret could free client after 26 years

"when Andrew Wilson told his lawyers that he, and not Alton Logan, had killed the guard, they felt powerless - aware of information that could free a man they believed to be innocent, but unable to do anything with that knowledge. And for decades, they said nothing."

"Now the lawyers had two big worries: Another killing might be tied to their client, and "an innocent man had been charged with his murder and was very likely ... to get the death penalty," Kunz says.

But bound by legal ethics, they kept quiet."

Legal ethics my ASS. Ethics are not about lying by omission, not when someone's life is on the line.

"The lawyers say it was about their client - Wilson - not about their jobs, and they maintain that the prosecutors and police are at fault.

Kunz says he knows some people might find his actions outrageous. His obligation, though, was to Andrew Wilson."

If I had ratted him out ... then I could feel guilty, then I could not live with myself," he says. "I'm anguished and always have been over the sad injustice of Alton Logan's conviction. Should I do the right thing by Alton Logan and put my client's neck in the noose or not? It's clear where my responsibility lies and my responsibility lies with my client."

The obligation should be to the truth of the case

The Opium Brides of Afghanistan

2008-03-30T13:40:20Z

link

Khalida's father says she's 9—or maybe 10....The trafficker found them anyway and demanded his opium. So Shah took his case before a tribal council in Laghman and begged for leniency. Instead, the elders unanimously ruled that Shah would have to reimburse the trafficker by giving Khalida to him in marriage. Now the family can only wait for the 45-year-old drugrunner to come back for his prize. Khalida wanted to be a teacher someday, but that has become impossible. "It's my fate," the child says.

Local farmers say more than one debtor has been bound hand and foot, then locked into a small windowless room with a smoldering fire, slowly choking to death.

In the two districts she studied, approximately half the new brides had been given in marriage to repay opium debts. The new brides included children as young as 5 years old; until they're old enough to consummate their marriages, they mostly work as household servants for their in-laws.

. "I pray that God doesn't give me a daughter if she ends up like me."

Born-again Virgins

2008-02-29T16:22:37Z

There's so many ways to title this:

For the one I love, the gift of dihonesty

It's not real and pure if the first time doesn't hurt

Why let a pesky thing like reality get in the way?

Religion screwed me, but I won't let anyone else! Again.

Born-Again Virgins

She wished she could step back in time and recapture her lost virginity. Thinking of how “I could have ruined one of greatest fulfillments of my life,” the first time having sex with a husband, she wanted to “have that opportunity again. I know my [future] husband deserves a whole person.”

She felt guilty through 7 years of sex and 2 children? That's a lot of guilt. And a WHOLE person? There are lots of other things that can take a hymen other than sex.

So Watts engaged in a lot of prayer and thought, and now declares herself a virgin once again.

And everyone else is supposed to consider those 2 children immaculately conceived? Is she supposed to be fooling God? If someone is really convinced that pre-marital sex is a bad thing or regrets earlier actions, then by all means, declare yourself chaste from that point forward, but ignoring what happened earlier in your life doesn't make it go away.

Other women are opting for a more radical route to reclaim their virginity: surgical replacement of the hymen, the small membrane that stretches from the walls of the vagina and that typically breaks when a woman first has intercourse — or for many other reasons, from tampon use to vigorous exercise.

That is just mind-boggling to me. Are they planning to not do anything that might endanger that precious piece of skin? No exercise or tampon use? If painful first-time sex is that important, maybe he could lean on your hair or something.

"Have you already unwrapped the priceless gift of virginity and given it away?" asks the Web site for the Pregnancy Resource Center of Northeast Ohio, where Watts began working part-time after she reclaimed her virginity. "Do you now feel like 'second-hand goods' and no longer worthy to be cherished? Do you ever wish you could re-wrap it and give it only to your future husband or wife?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Second-hand goods? Unworthy to be cherished? Is your partner only supposed to love your intact genitalia? And, once again, if you're claiming you're a virgin when you aren't, then you are LYING to your partner. I'd rather have a 'shopworn' partner than one who was dishonest.

In response, some Christians adopted a form of “chaste marriage,” often after having had sex and producing children, by agreeing between themselves to forsake any future sexual union, thus becoming spiritual virgins.

At least they're being honest about what happened in the past.

Virginity is not special if you can be a virgin again.”

Virginity is not special in general unless you're being used as a demon sacrifice....which is a pretty good reason for getting laid early and often.

They come to his clinic in Laguna Beach, Calif., and pay $5,000 because their honor, and sometimes their lives, depend on it.

I think this problem needs to be addressed a little more strongly than someone feeling unworthy to be cherished. It's that attitude taken to extreme that causes sexually active women to be endangered.

Once in awhile, Baker says, she’ll get a patient who just wants to give a present to her husband. “One patient of mine gave it to her husband as an anniversary gift," says Baker. "She was not a virgin when they got married so we re-attached her hymen to reproduce that experience.”

Here, honey! Here's the chance to make your mark on me like a REAL man! Now, club me over the head, and lets get started.

Rape in the good ol' days

2008-02-14T11:37:45Z

From Feministing:

Tennessee state Sen. Doug Henry:

“Rape, ladies and gentlemen, is not today what rape was. Rape, when I was learning these things, was the violation of a chaste woman, against her will, by some party not her spouse. Today it’s simply, ‘Let’s don’t go forward with this act.’ ”

Let's see what we learn from this:

A sexually active woman cannot be raped, including stranger rape. Again, this is the least common form of rape. A woman is much more likely to be raped by someone she knows, including family members.

If a woman's husband forces her to have sex, it's not rape.

If your partner (even if you aren't married to them) continues to force sex on you after you've told him to stop, it isn't rape.

First Bill Napoli and his ~~fantasies~~ discussions about sodomizing Christian virgins, and now Doug Henry the violation of chaste women. Tells you what they think about, doesn't it.

Finally something helpful on elections

2008-01-31T02:33:59Z

Without the rhetoric and talk about who's most inspiring, CNN has a chart of where each candidate stands on the issues.

link

Since McCain is almost definitely the Republican nominee, I'll mention his stances.

Clinton's definitely strongest on women's issues, promising to code Roe into federal law and overturn the global gag rule on family planning/abortion. She voted against the Partial Birth Abortion act (a misnomer, btw).

McCain, would overturn Roe.

Clinton's also the only one of the candidates that will go for national health care.

I wish she was less hawkish and agree with Obama more on stances on Iran and Iraq. He supports diplomatic efforts.

I wish one of the main candidates would pony up and support gay marriage. At least both are in favor of civil unions. McCain would support a federal marriage ban if the courts overturn state requirements.

All 3 are ok on stem-cell.

Snort. All 3 want that ridiculous 700 mile fence.

Both Dems are willing to revise NAFTA. McCain is a fan.

I prefer Clinton on economic stimulus. She's not talking tax cuts, and I like the 90-day moratorium on subprime lending.

I don't know what Obama thinks a $250 tax cut is going to do. That will help slightly in the very short term.

Nobody has anything about restoring the personal liberties taken by the Patriot Act. McCain wants to increase numbers in the military...guess that'll be needed with so many of our soldiers suffering from PTSD. No one has anything to say about additional help for Vets either.

Guns, I don't worry about too much. There's such an underground trade in them that any effort at restriction is essentially meaningless. If you want a gun, you can get one.

On the issues, I have to go with Clinton.

Why I like Bill Adama at least most of the time

2008-01-16T23:54:30Z

I brought some of this up after Razor, but I'll say it again: Bill's primary concern is he crew's physical well-being, and he'll go to some extremes to ensure it. He'll lie about knowing Earth's location. He'll drop everything to look for a lost crewman. He'll plan to rescue colonists. He can be kind if he understands the problem, and he can be forgiving once he gets past his anger.

Now, once everyone's rescued and back on the ship, Bill will expect them to get to work and be happy because Bill is about as sensitive as part of the hull. He is a terrible person to be a father to Lee because they are completely opposite. Lee is all internal and idealistic and angstful. Bill is external and pragmatic and hopeful.

That was why Lee's weight gain pissed him off so much...it was a flashing signal that Lee WAS NOT OK, despite the fact that he had a ship and that he was safe, and Bill didn't have a reason for the lack of ok. Yes, the colonists were trapped. Obviously, therefore, one should come up with a plan, implement said plan, and move on.

Even in the mini, he eventually agrees with Roslin that the answer is not to fight (his first instinct), but to flee and survive, the move toward hope.

He has a terrible temper, and knows it, especially when he thinks someone has been disloyal. This is, I think, why he keeps his emotions under tight control most of the time. In his anger over Roslin's insistance on going after the Arrow, and in her suborning of Kara, he allows the fleet to split. Eventually, Dee (who's going to make the 'I love Dee' post? ;)), is able to talk him past the anger, and make him see that he is physically endangering everyone. In a telling moment, he goes after them and basically apologizes. That was a big move for him, agreeing to support Roslin, in sight of the crew after what happened. He give her his loyalty, and it's pretty much unconditional after that.

His belief in loyalty makes him overlook/forgive Tigh's many faults. Tigh screwed up while Bill was shot, but he was trying to do what he thought Bill wanted. Rightly or wrongly, that counted with him. Once Tigh no longer endangering the crew with his actions, he accepted him back without question. I imagine the same happened with Starbuck.

Other points...Boomer is caged and restrained, but not abused. Certainly, Bill doesn't allow what happened to Gina to happen to her. He goes to war with Cain to retrieve Helo and Tyrrol. I'm pretty sure he didn't know about the decision to tell Boomer that Hera had died, because he wouldn't have gone along with it. He was starting to feel some loyalty towards her by then and I don't think he would have allowed her to believe her child died.

Some of the matters that make Bill look bad are the result of the writers' shorthand. We don't SEE Tigh or Starbuck doing anything that would actually endanger the ship, so Bill's reaction is out of proportion. I gather there were supposed to be some scenes that showed them in worse light. Same with him brushing off Helo. He was supposed to have done some wolf-crying earlier that made the reactions of the others more believable.

So, yeah, I like Bill...at least most of the time.

Movies

2007-08-10T01:37:36Z

The Messengers: Given the current technology, there's really no excuse for that bad a level of CGI. What was their budget, what they found under the couch cushions? Also, if you're going to have a sullen teen, the best move is to make her be sullen as opposed to pretty nice. It makes the parents look like twits. Of course, the parents both joining together to pull her out of the, ah, mobile basement swamp, was head-poundingly symbolic.

Premonition: The way *I* would have solved the problem would have been to point threateningly at Jim and intone, "If you keep lusting in your heart after that hoochie-mama, you're going to have your head cut off by an 18-wheeler." You have to admit, that would have changed the dynamic. I would have put the window stickers up on Sunday too. Screw the hubby (which she did), I would have made sure the kid didn't slice up her face. Still, it's all fine because she knew Jim really did love her and managed to implant his seed, which you KNOW is going to be a boy-child.

On a cheerier note...

2007-08-09T21:05:55Z

Tomorrow night features the premiere of Flash Gordon on scifi. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the glory of Super Whitney. I have high hopes of a wrecked pickup truck to provide that all-important sense of transition and continuity.

Still around

2007-08-07T22:07:43Z

I have no plans to leave LJ...at the moment, I have warm fuzzies for people who take down porn, no matter in how un-customer-service-ish a fashion. Yes, of course, I know it isn't all the same people, but I'm not feeling all that forgiving and forbearing right now.

The attacks on Heart continue. A hit piece, referencing her real name, was put up on a site. Other women who support the boards have had their journals spammed with rape and child porn posts. Her board and another of the same mindset were taken down because of too much traffic.

But her friends, even those who don't always agree with her (we have tap-danced on each others nerves in the past, she and I) support her.

Funny that the people who defend their right to porn in the name of free speech, will do everything possible to shut down the speech of others.

And as some of you may have noticed before I deleted

2007-08-05T18:41:46Z

The brave, upstanding people who spammed the other board with rape threats did the same to my journal. Comments are going into moderation for awhile.

Blogging while female

2007-08-05T11:41:06Z

The following message was sent to the woman who runs the Womansspace board and blog, a radical feminist and anti-porn site. The boards are down because they were hacked, with men leaving sexually threatening messages and racial epithets all over the boards.

This is what women face when they go against the mainstream.

Heart, this is horrible. I’m sorry that this is happening to you. These people want nothing to do but to hurt you and your cause. I feel for you.

In fact, I want to feel you now. I’d like to tie you down, take a knife, and slit your throat. I’d penetrate you over and over in all orifices, and create some of my own to stick myself in.

For the crafters, particularly needleworkers

2007-08-04T22:42:58Z

Something I ran across while starting to inventory Mom's stash:

Fantasay Crafts Distributing

Lots of sites selling cool stuff. Check out this:

Vickery Collection Gallery.

I LOVE the Celtic 4 Seasons.

Deep questions you want to ask your departed loved ones

2007-08-04T13:10:11Z

Mom, why did you first buy and then keep a kit that makes a 5.5-foot long latchhook cactus?

(Two more rubbermaid bins of kits and I'll have both closets emptied. Then, it's just the seachest that has the BIG kits)

WTF?

2007-07-31T21:22:09Z

I was working this afternoon, despite wishing I could stay home because mr.mir kept me awake with his cold. Being professional.

When I get hit, really hard, in the back by a thrown or kicked hacky-sack, which was thrown or kicked by one of my managers. The other manager, who has taken over from I while she's caring for her husband, was in the hallway as well. Apparently, they were horsing around.

When I say hard, I mean it. The blow hurt, and if it had been to my face would have easily broken my glasses.

I said "That REALLY hurt", and they acted like two little boys who have irritated the teacher. These are men in their 50's. They half-assed apologized and went on, although one came back and apologized some more. I didn't have any sense of sincerity, just 'must handle bitchy employee'.

Seriously, what the fuck? On what PLANET is that deemed acceptable? I don't *think* they threw it at me, were just thoughtless about what they were doing, but still.

I emailed my contract firm, although I know it sounds like I'm tattling about a playground incident, but I don't see a reason for me to put up with this level of asshole behavior.

Bionic Woman and Sarah Connor Chronicles

2007-07-28T21:00:57Z

Bionic Woman: Or La Femme Nikita with superspeed. Very nice reaction from the actress playing Jaime to her new legs. She kind of reminded me of my cats when they have Advantage put on their necks. It's hard to escape your own body parts.

Except for that, she seemed a bit weak, but hey, it's hard to compete with Crazy!Evil!KateeSackhoff! Seriously, I haven't seen that psychotic an evil since Glenn Close.

There were some chilling scenes, including Sarah NotConnor stalking away from the truck. A good fight scene on the roof as well. I wonder if Sarah has those chips in her head like Jaime. I think that's what let Jaime take over during the fight.

Who is being recast? Ruth? The sister?

Will has the Sensitive (if somewhat weird) Boyfriend syndrome down, but also can't really compete with DannyFromWitchblade (I'll learn everyone's name at some point). And of course, Badger gets everywhere.

Sarah Connor Chronicles: Also very well done. I like Summer Glau (who has about 9 miles of neck). The pink sweater was a nice touch. John is playing his role well. I can see where he doesn't feel like a leader of men at this point. It would be kind of hard to have a destiny when your Mom's bossing you around all the time.

The woman playing Sarah is doing a nice job showing Sarah's drive and about-one-step-from-snapping outlook on life.

FBOFW

2007-07-28T12:25:34Z

Obviously, we couldn't get out of the strip without Becky humbling herself for the hideous crime of...being ambitious and wanting to make an actual career from music.

Sigh.

Meanwhile, I really wish Eva would fall under a train.

I'm starting to think the Vikings were on to something

2007-07-28T02:00:58Z

Pile up the belongings of the dead and have a nice big blaze. Argh. I spent today going between the courthouse and the DMV to file probate on Mom's car, then transfer the title to Aunt. Now, after the title gets here, I have to go BACK to the courthouse and close probate. I also called the two hospitals that oversaw her final care to request itemized bills for the final insurance filing.

I am getting done, and if I look at it logically, it's only been 2 months (since Tuesday), but it doesn't seem to get finished, and if feels like little pieces of paper are EVERYWHERE.

Mail is down

2007-07-27T19:47:14Z

Hey, Annie. I'm not sure my mail is working, so if you didn't hear from me, everything is cool other than Tech, which sucks.

Deathly Hallows

2007-07-26T23:36:26Z

The writing was excellent and I was cheerfully led around by the nose. For example, I was really hating Dumbledore for a while there, but he pulled it back.

And awwwww! Severus was a good guy like everyone said!

Neville killed Nagini and carried the sword!

You go, Molly Weasley. Nobody attacks the youngest cub.

I was sniffling when Fred died...and Lupin...and Tonks.

Finally back

2007-07-26T14:47:43Z

So, we made it back :)

After a week of fairly hard gambling, I'm only out 15 dollars gaming wise. I won LOTS. Hit Bingo 7 times, once for 400, won a lot on slots, and took a high-hand jackpot at poker for an extra 193 dollars. Craps was hitting too. mr.mir wasn't as lucky unfortunately, but I shared the wealth :)

Ate plenty, especially breakfast buffets. Now, I have to get back onto semi-healthy eating. Mmmm. Pancakes.

We did our usual run of burning out stress by completely exhausting ourselves. Now, we have to rest up from the vacation! I'll rest up by finishing Deathly Hallows. I'm about half-way through, so no spoilers!

VIVA!

2007-07-17T10:22:49Z

Soon, I have to go and box up kitties for a trip to the vet for boarding because tomorrow I'M LEAVING ON VACATION!!! I plan to pick up a drink in the Vegas airport and pretty much have one in hand for the rest of the week.

This will be one of the first vacations I've taken in a long time where I'm not worrying about someone in the back of my head. Although I anticipate some sad times. Mom really liked Vegas too.

The Abandoned

2007-07-15T00:59:06Z

Or, why can't people keep a horror movie good all the way through

There were some genuinely creepy moments to start with. The initial scene where the dying woman shows up in the middle of a huge thunderstorm with her infant twins; Lots of scenes of the Russian steppe, which is basically a big bunch of nowhere; creepy white-eyed dopplegangers (although my first reaction to the white eyes was "Is she going to paint the future?")

But then, we dissolve into time loops, the inability to escape from the house even after crossing the all-encircling river, Russian peasants speaking educated English and hogs looking like they're going to eat babies (Miranda: We need to fast-forward RIGHT NOW! FTR, the hogs do not eat the babies), and a bunch of nonsense that's never adequately explained.

There were some unintentionally funny moments like what is apparently miles and miles of flooded basement. There's more basement than house, apparently. I mentioned to mr.mir that if he was down there, that I'd probably try to get him out, but that I'd have to think about it.

I did like the end line. It starts with a voiceover by Our Heroine's Daughter and ends with the same Daughter literally saying "When she went to Russia I knew in my heart that I'd never see her again. But I'm not going to look for her or try to find out what happened. Better to think of something else. Best of all to be abandoned." The 'fuck THAT noise' ending was kind of refreshing.

Flash Gordon series teaser

2007-07-13T23:33:06Z

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's SUPERWHITNEY!!

Oh, it's going to be bad. So very bad. Actress-playing-Corrinne, this will be a bad move on your part.

link