History

I watched the Inauguration yesterday on television. And as unhappy as I have been about the passage of Proposition 8 in California, Proposition 102 in Arizona, Amendment 2 in Florida, and Arkansas Initiative 1, I was happy to see that our country has finally been able to elect a President who is not 100% Caucasian.

I was also deeply disappointed in Obama's choice for the invocation at the Inauguration. Pastor Rick Warren is not someone that deserves mainstream credibility. He has compared gay people with pedophiles and participants in bestiality and incest. It is not a secret that women working for his Saddleback Church are not allowed to be in supervisory roles, because, according to HIS interpretation of the Bible, women are to submit to men. Not to mention Rick Warren's "AIDS Minsitry" is based upon abstinence rather than scientifically proven safer sex practices. Adult human beings are sexual beings, and preaching abstinence is not a real effective strategy for combating sexually transmitted illnesses. That is the reality. Rick Warren is patently anti reproductive rights and anti stem cell research.

I listened to his "prayer". It was NOT a non-sectarian prayer at all, in fact, it seemed to me to be more of a mini sermon. There are ways for Christians to be inclusive of other spiritual traditions in a prayer. Rick Warren's was not one of them.

Yes, Pastor Rick, there are people in this country who are not Bible Thumping Baptists. Yes, Pastor Rick, there are people in this country who are not Christian. Yes, Pastor Rick, there are actually people who do not believe in God at all, or question what it is they actually do believe. We are all here, we are all part of this rich EVOLVING tapestry that is society in the United States of America. Not all of us desire joining your "Hitler Youth" type movement for "Christ". My guess is, if Jesus Christ came back today, you might be surprised at His reaction. Pastor Rick, you are an anti-gay bigot. Not sure how you are on the non Caucasian races, but your homophobia speaks volumes about your commitment to Christ's teachings, ergo "Love One Another as I have Loved You". Dude, you fall WAAAAAYYY short on that one. Actions speak volumes. And do not get me started on your "embrace" of the Jews. Dominionist actions and attitudes never seem to end well. Read the history books and you will know what I am talking about.

I honestly hope that Obama does put his money where his mouth is regarding being a "fierce advocate for Gay and Lesbian rights". Quite simply, marriage rights are civil rights. And since 4 states voted to remove rights from a class of people, I am quite nervous that my marriage may be next. I am a mostly Caucasian woman married to an Amerasian man. Are mixed race marriages next? If the racial purists and Aryan Nations types had their way, my marriage would be next. That thought makes me quite ill.

As long as there are peaceful protests at Saddleback Church of their stance on civil rights, my family and I will be there. Civil rights are NON NEGOTIABLE.

Elementary School

I just spent all morning and early afternoon at K's school taking group photos and candids for the yearbook. I am the yearbook co-chair and we are coming up on our first deadline and NOBODY has submitted photos to us. *freaking out in a huge way here*

I took group photos of eleven classes (grades K-2). I have two more to do but my back can no longer handle it for today.

Honestly, I do not know how the teachers do it. I do not even really have enough patience for the two children I have spawned, much less 20-35 strangers' children. Ay yi yi. What I thought would only take me about two hours is going to end up taking me four. And that is not including uploading the pictures to the yearbook software. I need a nap. Don't get me wrong, they are all darling children, and pretty much mostly well behaved, but man, the noise level, even when they are quiet is something to get used to. My ears are ringing two hours after I left the school.

I am thinking a dark quiet room this afternoon is in order after I pick K up from school.

Some Men

Why do some men think that because they are men, it is OK to get all up in a woman's face and try to intimidate her? And that when a woman does her best to protect herself and her children from the intimidation, that same woman is referred to as a Bitch.

A man got mad at me because I parked in a parking space that he thought he was entitled to. He got out of his car and started screaming at me about how it was his spot. (I did not see his name on it, nor did I see a reserved sign as it was at the damned grocery store). My daughter and I started to walk into the store, but he stayed right next to my car in a threatening manner. Like he was going to do something to my car, or maybe even to me.

I went back and yelled at him to get away from my car, so he came very close and got all up in my face. The store manager came out and allowed me to get into the store and get done before the asshole went into the store. I am still shaking. K is very upset and scared. But I am a Bitch for protecting myself and my daughter.

Social Networking

I have a MySpace page and a Facebook page. Quite frankly, the MySpace is way too cluttered and clunky that I never go there unless I get an email notifying me that someone has commented to me from there. I do like that you can customize MySpace more than you can Facebook. But I have rather liked the simplicity of Facebook. Now one of my Facebook friends has convinced me to Twitter. Cute concept. Not sure if I like it, and things are not very intuitive on Twitter, but heck, I will try it.

What I find rather ironic, is that the time it would take to actually get together with people face to face like, seems to be eaten up by all the stuff one does on the social networking pages. The cool thing is, I can keep up with my friends in Minnesota via Facebook.

Bugs

I am trying to figure this out. Here in southern California, we have an array of bugs I had never experienced up on the tundras of Minnesota. The most notable of which is the palmetto bug. Now for those of you who do not KNOW the palmetto bug, do not let the innocuous name fool you. Palmetto bugs are, in essence, gigantic flying cockroaches. We are talking 3 to 4 inch long flying cockroaches. Cockroaches that, if so inclined, could probably eat your children. EEWWWWW. And I used to think June Bugs were bad.

Anyhow, we also have a large family of crickets that wander in and out of our garage. Every once in awhile we get a stray cricket in the house, and other than the racket, the crickets are no big whoop. The palmetto bugs, on the other hand, EEWWWWWW! Maybe once every few months, one of the big, nasty, ugly, disgusting, gross, abominable, foul, awful, icky, revolting, vile and gruesome creatures finds its way into the house. And my reaction to them is NOT pretty.

Well, our daughter, K, whenever she sees a cricket, she goes running to her dad and says, "Daddy, cricket!" and M comes to chase the cricket, catch it, and release it back outside. Whenever she sees a palmetto bug, she comes to me and screams, "MAMA! ICKY BUG!!!!" Even when her dad is home. How the hell does this work, that I, the person who is most revolted by the palmetto bugs, have the demand for disposal of the foetid creature placed on me??? It is NOT fair!

Here We Go Again

Today was the first Santa Ana Wind incident of this fall season. Of course there are like 18 active wildfires here in Southern California. Most of them are suspected to be arson. What the hell is wrong with people.

One of the fires destroyed an entire trailer park up near the San Fernando Valley. So far there are two human fatalities and one dog has died. And there may be one more human fatality. This crap is ugly.

San Fernando high school is among the shelters available to those who have been evacuated.

I can tell I am not going to sleep tonight.

Good News and Bad News

Today was the day I was on call to appear in court to testify against the thugs that "allegedly" stole my purse. I did not sleep well last night, due to nerves and stress.

All day long I had my cell phone next to me awaiting the call. At about 4:30 I called in to make sure the case had not been continued to another court calendar.

The woman who answered the phone told me that one of the defendants pleaded guilty to the charges. That is the good news.

The bad news is the other defendant jumped bail and now has a warrant out for her arrest, after which it is very likely that I will receive yet another subpoena in the mail, calling me to make arrangements to be available to testify.

Thing is, I did not see anything. I was not aware that my purse was gone (it was stolen out of my car which was parked in our garage - the garage door opener had been tripped that day). I did not discover it was missing until probably 4 hours after it happened. In my humble and not legally educated opinion, I have nothing to testify to.

Oh well. I am sure I will get all worked up about this again at some later date when they find her.