Hopeful Humans

It’s Rude to Talk About Religion…

In the movie “Big Fish” the father, who will talk about absolutely anything, sits down for dinner and tells his daughter in law that religion is the one thing he won’t speak on. “It’s rude to talk about religion, you never know who you are going to offend.”

But I am an offensive person by nature and I have been offended recently about the religious atmosphere of the world. There is the religious atmosphere that surrounds politics and war, and there is the religious atmosphere that surrounds my interactions with the people daily. While I would normally like to get into why organized religion has been sullying the political atmosphere and promoting ignorance among other atrocities (see war on women, abortion, same sex marriage, international prayer day, ect.) it is rather unnecessary as the evidence is very clear. Instead I want to talk about Atheism.

Atheism is the conviction that there is no such thing as a god and that reason and logic should be employed to convince everyone that there is no such thing as god. And Atheist do have some things that I like. Specifically, Atheists promote the idea that religion should be kept out of politics, (ie health care and marriage) and to that end I support them.

I should confess now that I do believe in a higher power. I do not attend a church, I do not vote based on a politician’s faith or his political stances that align with a certain religion’s current fad. I do not attempt to convert others to what I believe, mostly because my opinion on the matter changes frequently and I despise hypocrisy (yet I can be a hypocrite at times.) I don’t go out on the street and talk about god, nor are my acts of compassion for my fellow man based on the fear of punishment or hopes of reward. I don’t force my morals on anyone and vehemently defend the right of every person to say and do as he chooses so long as it does not overly interfere with the lives or health of others.

The Atheist argument is well laid out by the late Christopher Hitchens (among others) in his series of books on the topic. In fact, it is so well laid out that I do not care to argue with them. (I mean really, I am 22 with a religious perspective that changes daily, where as he has devoted his literary career to proving that god doesn’t exist and religion is the ultimate evil, how could I argue?) And those who have devoured his works and base their own faith off of his logic also know well his arguments for the lack of a god as well as his examples to that end. But I do want to present the idea to Atheists that they are indeed no better than their religious counterparts.

First, there is the fact that like every religion on the planet, Atheists are constantly trying to convert the religious to their way of thinking. Various Atheist organizations have paid for billboards and public transportation advertising all over the country. Here in Seattle, every Christmas there is an ad that appears on buses that says “That’s right Virginia, there is no God.” But that is one example among many. Atheists will read books on the topic of Atheism and then use the arguments therein to convince others of their beliefs. They will hand out pamphlets and stand on street corners to promote their ideas. In fact, certain Atheists will go so far as to name call and verbally bash other religions and the followers of those religions.

Second, while there is no specific or singular book about Atheism, there are several that are considered the corner stone of the Atheist argument (See Hitchens). And although there is not a meeting house and services for Atheist on a regular basis, there are lectures and conferences where the Atheist plebeians may come and listen to the most logical and educated Atheist minds repeat the arguments from their books and use modern examples to prove their point. Then the followers of Atheism take arguments not inherently their own and promote their lack of faith with it to those that believe in a deity.

Third, like every religion, the argument is circular. When you can argue with a Christian about the logic of his faith, his devotion to his beliefs will have him taking an opposing argument and talking in circles. When a well reasoned and logical explination for a person belief in a god is brought to the Atheist, he will, out of his devotion to the lack of god, circularly argue the point to death. And, because both parties are so convinced, neither side will give and after an hour or so the arguments will start to repeat.

Fourth, Atheists claim that organized religions are based in the fear of punishment from the man in the sky, and that benevolent actions on the parts of religious participants are void because they are dictated from above. To counter that, Atheists have no higher morals that they strive for outside of what each person believes. No code that say over all be a good person at all. Which makes them equally as annoying as their religious counter parts because their reason to promote is because of the evil of religion, but they have no moral basis of their own, no greater good that they can claim. The promotion of reason and logic is ultimately void because I can reason any action in my head and form a logical explanation for any thing I set my mind to regardless of if the action is “right’ or “wrong.”

Finally, Atheists are just as annoying as their religious counterparts because they treat everyone who doesn’t believe like them as if they are idiots. As if their religion is enough to condemn them as humans. The reason and logic so highly touted by Atheist somehow doesn’t seem to expose the fact that they are as equally intolerable and arrogant as the persons of faith that they counter.

So that in a nut shell is why I believe that Atheists are just as annoying as the preachers, followers and believers of every other religion. In my honest opinion, every religion needs some help. The leaders of those religions need to teach tolerance of others, to act for all men out of love, and that fear destroys everything. I also believe that all religions would be better if they taught the basic principles of Buddhism along with their holy doctrines. But that is a topic for another time.

War on the 99% hits home

All this talk about the war on the middle class can seem confusing and like a giant conspiracy theory. But in these past two months I have seen this war hit home.

My friend and his business partners have an idea for a new type of venue to hopefully revitalize the Seattle night life. It is an idea that my friend has been perfecting for years and he has now got the investors to make it a reality. They even have their liquor permits, all that is needed is a building. They are not wealthy, and are on a strict budget.

While they were shopping for a space, one space that would have worked wasn’t fully available, as a business owner from the neighborhood was leasing the upstairs for his new project. The second building my friend and his business partners looked at was perfect and everything seemed set. The owners and the leasing agent liked my friends and their idea and lease negotiations began.

Through the process, it became clear that the male co-owner and the female co-owner were on different pages. The male co-owner began asking for a detailed business plan including the menu. While my friends told him no to that, they did give him a vague outline of the venue idea and negotiations continued. One month after the initial offer the leasing agent came to my friends and told them that the male co-owner has been in secret negotiations with another business owner about this space. Sorry but this space is no longer available. Not only that but the male co-owner shopped my friends’ lease and letter of intent to said business owner to secure a better price. The woman co-owner of the building was so furious she sold her portion of the building in disgust. 

Now the catch to this is that the business owner that is renting the upstairs of the first building is the same business owner now interested in the second building. I say owner but who I mean is the management team/owners of The Matador, an upscale tequila chain bar and restaurant.

Some things you might not know about The Matador that is important to this story is that the owner of the Matador stole the style and menu from another restaurant in Seattle called Pesos, then capitalized on it to a massive scale… 5 restaurants to be exact. Ballard, West Seattle, Redmond, Tacoma and Portland, OR. Their rip off was so obvious and profoundly disturbing that Pesos sued the Matador and WON. But that hasn’t stopped the Matador to make tons of money with someone else’s idea and style.

So one month of wasted negotiations for the Matador to take the space and occupy three prime locations in the heart of Ballard. Normally, that is just considered cut throat business… if it wasn’t for the fact that he shopped my friends’ lease and letter of intent to the owners of the Matador.

My friends began looking at other spaces when two weeks later they received a call from the aforementioned leasing agent. The leasing agent said that the owner of the building and the owner of the Matador reached a head and no solution could be found, so, if you are interested, the building is still available. 

Naturally, a prime location in Ballard with the most perfect layout ever, my friends were still down. They wanted two weeks letter of intent signed so that they could ensure they were protected in contract from previous and future ass-hattery of the owner.

Two days later the leasing agent called my friends back, furious. He had been had and so had we. The owner of the building used the negotiated lease terms from my friends for two months to go behind the leasing agent’s back and secure for himself an additional $400,000 from the Matador owners. No deal and my friends are out one month of searching and negotiations elsewhere. The leasing agent  claims in the 28 years he has worked as a leasing agent he has never seen shady dealings on quite this level.

This is a classic case of those with money bullying those without. The owner of the Matador has a lot of money - I mean, the Matador is a successful chain restaurant and bar. The owner of the Matador is a 1%-er. My friends however, are part of the 99%.  My friends are trying to open a venue, not to make piles and piles of money, but to support the local art, music, performance, foodie scene here in Seattle. But the owner of the Matador now has three buildings within a one block radius in Ballard and will make them all the sickeningly “perfect” night spots without any real character or charm. Money collecting points on three corners without regard to the community in which they reside.

The next time you hear about the 1% waging war on the 99%, think about my friends, whose lease was shopped around to the highest bidder. And the highest bidder who now has three buildings in one of the hottest nightlife spots in town, monopolizing the area with sameness and the generic version of my friends’ business plan. - After all, what more do you need beside three buildings and a revolutionary idea to make more piles of money.

Regardless of what has happened, my friends are still moving forward with their project, and you’d better believe it will be phenomenal once it opens. Phenomenal and untouchablely cool. But in the mean time my friends, their friends, as well as others who have been hurt by the unquestionably gross business practices of the Matador are boycotting both the Matador and their new projects. Their first project is on Shilshol Ave NW and 22nd Ave NW in Ballard, and the second project is at Ballard Ave NW and 22nd Ave NW. 

Some Words to Help

Apathy is our greatest enemy as humans. Here in America it has been bred into our society. It has taken over a century to create a population that consumes as much as we do without a second thought of how our blessings came to be. Do not let apathy over take your hearts. And do not let your souls be corrupted with a sense of superiority, because when the pendulum swings back the world will have no empathy for us.

To all humans, defend yourselves but do not make war. Take what you need to survive and leave the rest for those who come after you. Share your resources with your fellow man, but do not allow business to steal from you what belongs to all men. And always stand together when under attack.

Soldiers, do not allow your orders to override your moral judgment and good conscious. Protect all women and children who cross your path. All women and children regardless of race, country or heritage. One day, somewhere, a soldier will meet your family too.

Pray for your enemies, that they be healthy and well. Pray for peace and understanding, and that love fill your heart.

Do not trust the words of men of power. A man who promises peace through war is selling you lies. Fear will do more harm to your heart than an evil man will do to your body.

Undebateable

We live in the twenty first century. Women can vote, work, have houses and bank accounts. Women are capable of many feats including achieving political office and titles such as CEO and President of major companies. Women can join the military or choose never to marry. The idea that in our modern society reproductive health care can be denied to women is absurd and the debate stops here.

First, the religious bull shit. Conservative, Christian Identified Republicans, and a few other fundamentalists say that women can be denied access to certain types of health care because of the body parts represented. In short the coverage denied could range from an annual mammogram to an abortion because they disagree with the treatment. Under that guise could you imagine working for a Jehovah’s Witness, or worse, a faith healer? The ideals of one religion are not necessarily the ideals of all its members. Nor are the ideals of an employer the ideals of his employees. Therefore no one type of health care can be denied, to anyone, for any reason.

Second, the chauvinist bull shit. Enough with the “women should be seen and not heard,” and the “only someone having a lot of sex would need birth control” talk. All of it. The problem here isn’t that this opinion is wrong, its just that it is unpopular without the lofty morals that the religious flaunt. It is almost as unpopular as the feminist arguments, except the sex is way more boring.

Third, the tax payer money bull shit. I don’t like my tax dollars being spent on war. I don’t like my tax payer money being spent to arrest Americans protesting. I don’t want drug addicts to live off the welfare system, draining resources from Americans who need it. I don’t like government subsidies for Walmart stores and paying more taxes while the rich pay less. If I can deal with these things I don’t like, you can deal with ensuring every person gets adequate health care.

End of conversation.

America I Weep

For the past two weeks there has been mention of a bill in the Senate known as S.1867. It is a bill to authorize the powers and funds available to the Pentagon and US Military. Introduced on the 14th of November, it became a topic of interest as one provision in the bill will allow for the capture and detention of any civilians suspected of terrorism anywhere in the world. This includes American citizens on America soil. It would allow the Military, Pentagon, President or whoever else in these positions of power, to hold citizens without charge, indefinitely just because they “could be” terrorists.

And today, Bill S. 1867, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, passed the Senate and is on its way to the House of Representatives for consideration. If passed there, the President has 10 days to sign it into law, 10 days to do nothing and it becomes law or 10 days to veto…. Unfortunately, the Senate passed S. 1867with a 93 to 7 vote. Veto proof. We shall see what the House does will this measure.

If this bill passes, it will mean the end of the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th amendments. But that isn’t all. While not in the provisions of the bill - as far as I can tell, opencongress.org which usually allows for full viewing of the text of the bill, does not offer that option for S. 1867 - religion could and will likely be used as a means of discerning “terrorists” from the general population. What I mean to say is that any out spoken followers of Islam could be taken into custody and held indefinitely by the US. Another action that could soon follow is the rounding up of Muslims into modern equivalents of Nazi Germany Ghettos.

Eventually, any “Anti American” sentiment will be enough to declare you a terrorist. You write a blog against a bill (eyes shift to the nearest mirror) and suddenly you are a member of Al Qaeda because you are spreading dissention. Freedom of press, assembly, religion and the right to bear arms will not be suspended by law, just by suspicion.

What bothers me most is that my friends, my family, people on the street are unaware. I was walking through Bartell’s in shock that life could continue with the news of the passing of this through the Senate. I felt like crying as I grabbed a bottle of conditioner thinking that the America they taught us about in school is no longer the America I live in.

I weep for my fellow country men and women. I weep for the future generations who will live under tyranny without knowledge of anything better. They will grow up with a sensor, with stories of the big bad terrorists and the great America that is capturing and torturing them until they confess their plans. I weep for the other countries around the world, the ones we invaded with ideas of democracy and talk of freedoms untold.

I weep because America is no longer free.

I know it still has to pass the house and be signed and the president can still veto it… but that is besides the point. The point is that this is AMERICA, we do not detain, torture and execute citizens without due process of law. This bill should not be on the table, these are not rights that we should ever think of eliminating.

The scariest thing I have read on this topic is from one of its supporters:

“It is not unfair to make an American citizen account for the fact that they decided to help Al Qaeda to kill us all and hold them as long as it takes to find intelligence about what may be coming next,” Graham said. “And when they say, ‘I want my lawyer,’ you tell them, ‘Shut up. You don’t get a lawyer.’”

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/1203/Guantanamo-for-US-citizens-Senate-bill-raises-questions/(page)/2

“Shut up. You don’t get a lawyer.” !?

America, I weep for you. Humanity I weep for you. Unchecked Capitalistic 1%ers with the full support of the largest military in the world. It was so nice to know you America.

The Season of Giving, You Have the Power to Make a Difference

This week officially kicks off the holiday season. This thursday we will prepare an obscene amount of food for our friends and families then eat until we pass out. Wake. Eat another piece of pie (or three). Pass out again. Eventually we put the left overs in the fridge and everyone goes home.

Then Black Friday, probably the most dreaded day of the year for retail employees. The gluttony of Thursday is met with greed, pride and further gluttony as countless parents, grandparents and lovers take to the stores to begin their holiday shopping. In their fury of Christmas shopping, everyone needs something. One month and hundreds of dollars later Christmas finally happens.

This is supposed to be a season dedicated to being grateful for the gifts we have and to spread joy, love and peace. Instead I am sitting at a job that can barely pay me to Facebook all day, thanking the heavens that its the Christmas season, because Lord knows there is no other reason to buy any of the crap that I monitor.

What have the holidays become? Days for us to fill our refrigerators full of food that we cannot possibly eat and buy crap that will likely be returned or thrown out in a year. We are raping our food resources while starving others and then polluting the earth with our consumerism. All the while we drop some change into the fish bowls of the Salvation Army Santas think that we are helping those less fortunate. The season of giving and gratitude has become a season of consumerism and greed!

I’m not saying that I don’t have a christmas list, I do. There are things I need and would prefer to have specific versions of the things I need. Likewise, I have Christmas lists for my friends. Things I know that they need or could use. But what about things that you can’t buy in a store?

In the spirit of giving I have a few suggestions of ways that you can enrich the lives of humans both in your community and around the world.

1. This is the easiest, donate to goodwill. Just go through your stuff, your kids’ toy box, your husbands 6 same sized ratchets, your teens thirty fully functioning hair straighteners, ect. Donate what you are not using. You’re just gonna get more crap soon anyways.

2. Donate your old glasses. Its a donation that will change the life of the receiver. Imagine a child whose education is halted because he can’t see the words in his book. A mother that has never clearly seen the faces of her children. An artist, a shop keeper, a seamstress, a wood worker, anyone who cannot see their craft an suffer financially. Here is a link to New Eyes for the Needy http://neweyesfortheneedy.org/ to learn more.

3. Donate livestock to needy families around the world. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for life… the same holds true here. Heifer International is an organization that takes your donation, uses it to buy livestock for families in need and send it in the name of your loved ones. It could be a small donation like a flock of chickens or a big donation for a cow, llama or goat. To find out more about this wonderful organization, follow this link http://www.heifer.org/homeview?msource=magento. They have a catalog so you can see the cost and benefits of each option.

4. Support American soldiers. There are plenty of ways. Trees for Troops is a donation programs to donate Christmas trees to the families of soldiers, treesfortroops.org. Or AnySoldier.com allows you to see what would be of use to our service men and women and how to donate. We can all agree it sucks to be alone for the holidays, imagine being in an active war zone, or having your loved one in an active war zone. Agree with the war or not, these soldiers and their families need love, otherwise their sacrifice is pointless.

5. Donate to your local Occupy Movement. Seriously, take them some warm Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Take them blankets and socks. Books and fresh water. It’s cold and wet out, take them hats, scarves, mittens and coats. Bring them coffee, hot tea or cocoa. If you have the means take them gas masks and padding for the occasional police raids. These people are standing up for humanity, protesting the things that have gone wrong with the world. They are present when you are not and they freeze for us. They go hungry for us. They sacrifice their comfort, suffer beatings and pepper spray for you.

6. Look around your community for other charities and talk to your canvassers. There are plenty of ways to offer your help and many more that have not been thought of. Set up a donation drive and get creative. Use the internet to help you, Facebook and Google will get you started.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure it is with love in your heart and compassion in your soul. And finally, don’t stop making a difference just because Christmas is over.

We Are The 99%, But Not Really

This is a very important time in human history. If we really want change, beneficial and long term change then humanity needs to act together and decide now the change it needs and the long term goals of their ideal societies.

The first official statement of the Occupy Wall Street General Assembly calls in to question generalizations of just about every crime the corporate world has committed. But my favorite line in this is not calling out their crimes but rather the acknowledgement “that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members” (If you have not already read it: http://ablazeofbrightblue.blogspot.com/2011/10/statement-from-general-assembly-of.html.)

Once more for clarity: “The future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members” - All its members.

Two days ago was October 15, 2011, the day of occupation. Around the world  hundreds, thousands, millions of people met in common spaces to protest corporate greed, the dividing and widening of the classes, they came to protest that the bankers have taken everything and left the people with nothing but their voices. They have made a system to fail and they pay our politician to promote their own agendas.

But in these developed countries primary complaint stems from fundamental rights not being met, the right to get an education, to have a job that pays the bills with money to spend on ridiculous shit. People are mad as hell that they are in debt because they living, they can barely pay their bills yet alone someday retire…

Wait. These people are, in a way, still the 1% in the world. This whole world is set up so that we can drive our Lexis or Mercedes, so that we can have your triple mocha latte in the morning, watch TV tonight, and buy those new shoes, purse, scarf, whatever.

What about the people whose water has been diminished for the sake of our Coke-a-Cola? Or the people who were happy and thriving who are now starving on their own land because they are growing cash crops for the developed world? The countless developing countries that are suffering in pollution because its cheaper to develop their countries with coal and oil rather than develop cleaner technologies? People who live in landfills because we have exported all our trash to them. Poor souls forced to work in sweat shops, under paid, under nourished and unable to rise out of that poverty! - All because we don’t want to do it, not in our back yard.

And your children! Your children do NOT need jobs, they don’t need more things to try and satisfy the empty feeling that comes with existing in an expendable in a society. The children of this planet need a safe place to live. A place where the water is fresh and clean, where food is un-poisoned and grown in the community, where there isn’t such thing as a garbage bin, where our products and our excess is reused and recycled. They need a world free of oil spills and excessive green house gasses. Fields to play in without cutting their feet on broken glass or losing limbs to land mines.

Most importantly, they do not need to inherit our greed, our wars, our hate, our consumption, our persistent dissatisfaction.

The children need a world where education is valued and free to all. A society that has a goal for something better, not just the illusion of better. A place in which you can go to one town and see a rich culture and well balanced economy then travel to another place and see something new, instead of McDonald’s and Subway at every pit stop. A world in which human life is valued as more than just a dollar.

The things we should value is human health, education, spirituality - and find peace and tolerance for everyone within that - hard work, community, honoring the elderly, preparing the youth, LOVE, honesty, protecting and providing for the weak, sharing. And we should create a society in which these values are promoted and honored and exercised regularly.

Please my brothers and sisters, remember when you chant that we are the 99%, you and your neighbors are only a part. There are many who have less and whose only crime was being born in the wrong part of the world. When you protest to end corporate personhood, demand that money be removed from the political system and cry for accountability on the bankers and corporations, don’t just settle at your own comfort. Call for change around the planet that will enrich the lives of every soul.

FAFSA Reform, The Way I See It

The idea that FAFSA, that application that determines which students get federal aid and how much, has been in the news for the past few years as needing reform. The political leaders all agree that the application process is too long and requires too much information. I vote it needs an even more important reform; the definition of an independent student.

I am between the ages of 18 and 24 and prior to being an adult I was not an orphan or emancipated from my parents’ care. This means to FAFSA that I am a dependent of my parents and that they are responsible for my education.

I am completely independent of my parents, I live in a different state than my them and have been told since I was 12 that I will be paying for college on my own. Every year I file my taxes independent. I make all my own money, I pay all my own bills. I have been doing this since I was 18.

My mother and her husband make “plenty of money” and have enough assets (I find that funny, their debt outstrips their assets) that they should be able to contribute XXXX.XX amount of money to my education and therefore I get no financial aid. My father and his wife on the other hand are poor so I file using him as my “provider.”

The problem with using my father for FAFSA is that it takes him until April to file his taxes - FAFSA opens for applications on February 15th most years. After that it takes anywhere between 2 to 4 months to get him to get me his tax information. Next it takes me about a month to get to a point where I am ready to brave the exhausting task of filing FAFSA. The filing process also includes a phone call to him to make sure that not only do I have his tax info, I can ask him if he got any assistance this year, how many this, how much that ect ect. Sometimes it takes two nights.

THEN when I finally reach the end “Please sign with your electronic PIN” God I hate this part. This is another two-week process. And what happens if you don’t sign with your electronic pin? Well apparently your FAFSA is incomplete and you must re-file. Great. By the time this whole process has happened I am sitting at the beginning of the new school year completely disheartened and desperately upset and unprepared for school. I go through this every year, I have yet to attend college.

I am not the only student forced to be dependent on her parents. I have met countless students who live outside of their parents’ home, often times in another state. Students, or should I say potential students, who work their asses off to provide a life of their own, independent from everyone. Yet when they file FAFSA they must answer that critical question - Are you of 23 years of age or older?

What I need from FAFSA is the option to file independently under the age of 23 or 24. (this number seems to change from year to year… maybe its just the time of year I file?)

So many students and potential students have parents who are unwilling or unable to pay for their child’s education even though FAFSA says that they are financially capable. And there are just as many students whose parents refuse to give up their personal information for the FAFSA application. And who can blame them? Filing FAFSA is like being interrogated by the Green Beret… even once you give up the information you don’t go free.

And the issue goes beyond financial aid. If a student doesn’t file for FAFSA then that student is not eligible for a student loan. If that same student does file and finds that she needs $XXXX.XX to finish the year, oddly, she can’t get the loan on her own, she needs to have her parents co-sign.

What if the parents refuse to provide information for FAFSA. Like hell those parents would co-sign a loan. Perhaps the parents’ credit is worse than the non existent credit of the student. What then? Scholarships?.. Hmm, still need to have filed FAFSA.

The lawmakers and Congress people are right. We need FAFSA reform, starting with the first question. “Are you financially independent from your parent or guardian?” Lets start the movement now, let’s get ourselves and our future generations educated.