Trayvon Martin: The Facts and The Future

     It's been one month since the shooting death of 17 year old Trayvon Martin and police have still not arrested his killer. For some reason George Zimmerman is still walking around free after he brutally murdered the unarmed African American teenager. There is more than enough evidence to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was a case of murder, not one of self defense as claimed by Zimmerman, but yet this man is still walking free. Even a police officer who fires his/her weapon and kills a suspect has their gun taken, is put on desk duty and given a mental evaluation. Zimmerman still has his 9mm and has yet not had a mental evaluation.

   So, lets go over the absolute facts in the case:

1. Trayvon Martin weighed 110 pounds less than George Zimmerman
2. Zimmerman was told by the 911 dispatcher not to follow Martin (Listen to the 911 call here)
3. Martin had a bag of Skittles and a can of ice tea. Zimmerman had a 9mm handgun and an SUV.
4. Witnesses heard Trayvon cry out for help (See story here)
5. Zimmerman has a police record, Martin did not. (See more here)

     And there is more and more evidence coming to light that make Zimmerman look more and more guilty. According to ABC News, Police officers corrected a witness when she said she heard Trayvon call out for help and told her she heard Zimmerman. Another witness, Mary Cutcher, said she heard the whole incident occur as it happened right outside her open window. According to theflowlive.com, Cutcher heard the entire incident and said, “We heard no fighting, no wrestling, no punching. We heard a boy crying. As soon as the shot went off, it stopped, which tells me it was the child crying..."
     We'll find out next month if Zimmerman will be charged with murder, the Florida state attorney has sent the Trayvon Martin case to a grand jury. The Seminole County grand jury will be called to session on Tuesday, April 10. Let us all hope that the Grand Jury will come back with an indictment and that Zimmerman will be found guilty.

     

Trayvon Martin 

1995 - 2012

Mormonism: A Cult By Any Other Name Is Still A Cult

I wasn't always a Wiccan. For the first sixteen years of my life I was raised a Mormon. I went to church every Sunday, and on Temple trips every year. I asked to be baptized at the age of eight because I was told I was old enough at the time to make that choice. I was also baptized in the names of several dead people, all the while thinking I was doing Gods will. I was a good little Mormon too. I used to carry my Quad (That's all four of the Mormon holy books in one) to school and read it at lunch, I used to go on Missionary training visits too. I had even started saving up to pay for my Mission shortly before I left the church.

So why do I now call the Mormon church a cult?

The answer to that question isn't simple, I wish I could tell you it was. The following is my list of reasons why; hopefully this simplifies what I'm wanting to express here.


Reason #1. I was taught in that church that God was once a man on an alien planet who was made a God by his God and that I too could be a God one day if I was good enough. --- How fucked up is that? Why in the hell would you tell a child something this fucked up? This is just the tip of the iceberg

Reason #2. Baptism by proxy is Gods way of making sure everyone gets to Heaven regardless of what blasphemous church they belonged to in life.--- How completely arrogant can you get? How can you even fathom being so holier-than-thou that you think going against the choices of the dead and their chosen faiths going to get them closer to God? Come the fuck on!

Reason #3. Women cannot hold high office in the church because women would lead the church astray like Eve did to Adam.--- Are you kidding me? These idiots are just as bad as Southern Baptists.

Reason #4. Only the President of the church can talk directly to God, just like Joseph Smith did. You can pray, but the church President gets a verbal response.--- I'm sorry, but are you insane? Is that how you get to be the President of the Mormon church, you have to be worthy of a rubber room at Bellevue? Not only is it insane, but it's arrogant as hell to boot.

Reason #5. This is the incident that finally opened my eyes to how twisted the Mormon church really is.

     I was taught for sixteen years that if I had any questions that I was to talk to one of the elders of the church (no I don't mean missionaries), so that's exactly what I did. When I was half way through my sixteenth year of life I started having reoccurring nightmares. Horrific stuff that ended up coming true many years later. So because I always tried to do what the church told me to do, I went to talk with one of the heads of my branch. The response was so NOT at all what I had expected. I expected some reassurance that these where just nightmares and they would eventually go away, but what I got instead was a very harsh shaming. I was berated by a man I had though of as a friend. I was told that what I was saying was blasphemous, and told I was claiming to be a prophet. I couldn't even respond, I was shocked to say the least. There I was, a scared sixteen year old kid asking for help from the church that I was taught was my one saving grace and way to salvation and what I received was a verbal beating. I felt even more scared after I left that office then when I went in. So out of pain and anger I left the Mormon church never to return.

     After leaving the church I looked back on everything they had taught me over the years, but this time without the rose colored glasses. And I realized that I hadn't been attending a church, but rather a cult. A cult that requested that you testify about your love for the church first, it's founder second, and God last. What kind of a church does that? From what I've researched, NONE. What kind of a church teaches you that you too can become a God? NONE. What kind of a church asks you to go against a persons wishes after they're dead and be be baptized in that persons name? NONE. These are all indications of a cult.

     You know, I really should have gone back and thanked the guy who screamed at me all those years ago before he died. Because if it wasn't for him I'd still be drinking the Kool-aid.

Andrew Breitbart: Dead and Still an Ass

     People all over the Internet are reacting to the death of one of the right wings favorite poster boys, Andrew Breitbart. Most of his enemies are granting him a pass for all the crap he did and said while alive. This is hypocrisy at it's finest. Just because you buy the farm doesn't grant you a free pass for the evils committed while you where alive. We don't mourn Hitler, Dahmer, or John Wayne Gacy do we? Of course not; so why are we so forgiving of Breitbart? All this man did while living was help to destroy this country from the inside. This man was just shy of a terrorist as far as I am concerned and does not deserve my respect anymore now than he did while he was alive.

     So to all of you out there who are now acting like Breitbart was some great man now that he's dead, I say this: Breitbart was a piece of shit when he was alive and now he's a dead piece of shit, end of story.

Through The Eyes Of The Bullied: Why School Shootings Happen

     Someone recently asked me what I thought about the latest school shooting in Ohio and It got me thinking. You see, I have an insight into the mind of these kids who unload round after round into their classmates. I was just like 99% of them. I was the kid in school many of you didn't even know existed, and those of you who did realize it made that existence even more of a living hell.

     Many of you won't, or will never care to, understand why these school shootings happen. You'll go on believing that Rock 'n' Roll and video games cause this kind of behavior. And you'll be believing wrong. These tragedies are not, I repeat, are not caused by violent media. These tragedies are caused by the shooters reaching a breaking point; a breaking point where they stop turning the anger they feel from being bullied inward and direct it back at those who have caused the pain they are now voicing with the sound of gun fire. Most of you will never truly understand what it's like to live four to thirteen years of your life in total hell; a nightmare you never wake up from.

    So after years of being insulted, beaten, and constantly tortured by classmates, parents and teachers alike they finally break. Some of these kids take their own lives, so ruled by their pain that they just can't take it anymore and end their lives hoping to escape. Others however stop turning that pain inward. These are your school shooters; your Columbine, your Chardon High School. So ask yourself, "What kind of lives have these kids lived that could push them to kill their classmates?"

     I know what kind of life these kids had. I lived their lives to an extent. These kids most likely have parents who are too busy to care or just don't give a damn and/or teachers who look the other way or join in with the bullies torturing them. And it's never just one bully that pushes a kid to unload a gun, it's the entire school. These bullied kids don't just blame the bullies, they blame the other students who stand by with indifference as well as the ones who cheer every time the bullies fist lands. They're sick and tired of feeling weak; they want to show everyone just how tough they can be. A select few who don't end their lives or just go on living with it fight back, and these are the kids who tell the world how they feel with every round they squeeze off at their fellow students.

     You're probably asking yourself how I know this for a fact. I know because if I could have gotten my hands on a gun I would have been one of them. From third grade until I quit high school I endured attacks from bullies and teachers alike. If I reported a sucker punch the bully would just say that I called his mom a bitch and I would be the one sent to in-school suspension for starting a fight. If a "kick me" sign was put on my back even one of my teachers would kick me in the ass. I lived through a hell most of you could never imagine. So many times did the idea of killing myself cross my mind, so many times did I carve symbols or words into my own flesh just to feel something other than fear. And I can't tell you how many times I planned out what I would do if I could have gotten my hands on a gun, any gun. But, lucky for both me and those I went to school with I never knew where to get one.

     What? You had no idea that your friendly internet Mr Liberal once thought it would be a good idea to unload a firearm into a crowd? I'm sure you didn't, it's not something I've ever admitted before to people outside of my family. But I didn't do it, I never found a gun and I didn't take my own life. I survived. Sadly others are not as lucky as I was. Sadly, others don't think that there is any other way out of their nightmare.

     So now maybe you have a better understanding of why these school shootings happen. Maybe now you'll understand that bullying is not only lethal for those who kill themselves because bullying, but can also be just as lethal for those perceived to be siding with the bully. If these school shootings and student suicides don't make you think that bullying is a problem that needs to be stopped, then you're part of the problem. Because in most cases, the shooters are victims too.

To The People and School Board of Anoka County Minnesota

Dear Residents of Anoka County Minnesota,

     I just read a very disturbing article from 'Rolling Stone'. So disturbing in fact that I am now morally urged to write to you all as a whole. There are some in your community that have made it their life's mission to "hunt down" and "weed out" the "gay agenda" from your little corner of the country. They claim it's the "Christian" thing to do. Really? The CHRISTian thing to do? Feel free to try and prove me wrong here, but Christ did not come to Earth to give these members of your community a free pass to hate, torture and bully those in the LGBTQ community who happen to share your little corner of the world. Christ did say however not to judge others unless you wish to be judged in the same way (Mathew 7:1). Christ also said that it's better to worry about your own sin than to point out and judge the sin of others (Mathew 7:3). 

     So why is it that some in your community feel they are doing the will of Christ? And why are those of you in the community who know better staying silent? The most vile things that have ever happened in recent history have been in the name of God, and these horrible acts could have been stopped if those who knew in their souls that what was happening was wrong would have stood up instead of cowering down. All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men and women to do nothing. Do not support these actions that have lead so many children in your community to kill themselves with indifference and cowardice. Do what you know is right in your soul and stand up for these children and the rest LGBTQ community in Anoka County. Just do what you honestly know in your heart to be right.

Sincerely,

Mr. Liberal

An America Citizen

For the last couple of years, politicians like Rick Perry, Michelle Bachman, and the like have suggested that being a citizen of this country was to a certain extent about character. And although I have been willing to engage in their attacks on people like me now and then, I've been here for thirty one years, and I can tell you without hesitation, being a citizen of this country, is entirely about character.

For the record: yes, I am planning on becoming a card-carrying member of the ACLU like so many other Liberals, but the more important question is, 'Why aren't they?' Now this is an organization, whose sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the question: 'Why would a Congressperson or a Governor, their party's most powerful spokespeople and candidates for President, choose to reject upholding the Constitution?' Now if you can answer that question folks, then you're smarter than I am, because I still can't fully figure that one out.

America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You've gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center-stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his or her right to burn that flag in protest." Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.

I've heard the right-wings shtick for years, and I'd been operating under the assumption that the reason they devote so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that they simply didn't get it. Well I was wrong, their problem isn't that they don't get it; their problem is that they can't sell it. We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, the right-wing is not the least bit interested in solving it. They are interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.

You gather a group of middle-age, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time and you talk to them about family and, American values and character, and you wave an old Bible around and you scream about patriotism, you tell them that God hates anyone who doesn’t think like them and that those of us on the left are to blame for their lot in life.

We Liberals have done nothing to you, right-wingers. We have done nothing, but put ourselves through school, represent the interests of public school teachers, fight for the middle class, and lobby for the safety of our work places and our natural resources. You want a character debate? You better start with your own reflections, because we Liberals are way out of your league.

We've got serious problems, and we need serious people to solve them. And if you want to talk about character, you better come at us with more than a burning flag and membership cards. If you want to talk about character and American values, fine. Just tell me where and when and I'll show up. This is a time for serious people, right-wing, and your fifteen minutes are up. My name is Mr Liberal, I AM an American citizen and I AM THE 99%!

(This Blog is a rewording of the speech given by Michael Douglas in the film 'The American President. I hold no ownership of the original wording, only the edits.)

The Dangers of a President Paul Part 1

I'll grant you that on the surface Ron Paul's Libertarian ideas sound pretty good. Cutting spending, ending the T.S.A, ending American involvement in war, legalizing drugs. But, when you look closer at what Ron Paul wants to do to this country you can see that though he touts freedom, we will lose even more.


Let's start with abortion.


Right now a woman has the freedom to chose whether or not to carry an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy through to birth or to end one. Under a President Paul we would see this freedom in the most danger it has ever been in. Paul plans to work to overturn Roe v. Wade and institute a "Sanctity of Life Act", stating that life begins at conception. This "Act" is, in and of itself, a dangerous idea, even more so if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned as Paul states he will fight to do. Conception is defined medically as follows, 

"Conception: 1. The union of the sperm and the ovum. Synonymous with fertilization."


This is the notion that most pro-life people love to tout, but what you may not know is that there are two steps to conception. The second being that the fertilized egg must then implant into the wall of the uterus. This takes around four weeks to occur, and in some cases it does not even happen at all naturally. This "Sanctity of Life Act" would in essence make the Plan B pill illegal, thus forcing a woman to carry an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy to term with Paul having Roe v. Wade overturned. This "Act" is not a medically based law, but it is a religious law. And as a religious law, it is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Good bye freedom number one.


Now let us move on to Paul's stance on Healthcare.


Being a Medical Doctor one would think a President Paul would want all Americans to have the right to obtain healthcare. Wrong! As President, Paul would fight to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act  (Obamacare for those of you who only get your info from the mainstream media). Although not perfect, P.P.A.C.A makes it easier for Americans to obtain health insurance. Depending on your income level, you will enter into 'pool' that will determine how much assistance you need in buying a health policy. Sounds complicated doesn't it? What that means is the less money you make, the more help with healthcare you get. Now because this new system makes it easier for every American to have health coverage you really don't have a reason not to get it any more. But, for those who don't get health coverage there will be a tax increase to offset the extra tax money used to pay for the times when you need healthcare.


Other blessings of PPACA are that you will no longer be able to be denied health insurance due to a pre-existing condition and that insurance companies must use 80-85% of premium payment for actual medical costs. As President, Ron Paul would do away with this entirely, leaving us in pretty much the same place we are now, but with the same tax breaks PPACA provides.