Why I love FARK.

FARK never ceases to amaze and entertain. But it also does a service to people who might not otherwise hear about odd stories in the news. Tonight's gold came with an intriguing tag: The AFA has set up an online form to send Hallmark hate mail for making same sex marriage greeting cards, what a shame it would be if logical people used it to send Hallmark support mail instead.

Naturally, I did just that.

The American Family Association sets forth a rabid argument against what Hallmark is doing. I actually thought it was pretty funny— oh, the fearmongering!! Seems like American families have better things to worry about these days than people getting married, but maybe not. I mean, the housing crisis will fix itself, right?

They write, Hallmark Greeting Cards has announced it will begin selling same-sex wedding cards, even though same-sex marriage is legal in only two states. The purpose, they say, is to satisfy consumer demand. It appears that their purpose is also to push same-sex marriage. Last year Hallmark began offering "coming out" cards - as in "coming out of the closet" -- a euphemism for announcing homosexuality.

So if you're feeling saucy, send Hallmark a letter. In mine, I basically said that I appreciated that the company was promoting tolerance and that it would certainly influence my decision to buy cards from them in the future.

I just don't understand why, in the world we live in today, these kinds of issues are what people are devoting all their time and energy to. But I guess there will always be people brainwashed to the point of irrelevancy. If they want to be on the receiving end of ridicule, well, that's their choice and the lifestyle they've chosen to live. Too bad idiocy isn't illegal in 48 states.

Problem with Religion

Here's one of my biggest problems with religion—

People use religion to justify and explain their lives and things they find unsettling. Death? We're going to heaven. Terrorist attacks? God wills it. Having 18 children [as has just been in the news]? "[C]hildren are God’s blessing and husbands and wives should happily welcome every child they are given." Apparently they've forgotten that humans, as any other animal on earth, are reproductive machines. Having 18 children doesn't mean God has blessed you, it just means that you're not using birth control and aren't afraid of the day when the human population tops out at around 10 or 11 billion people and Earth might no longer sustain our lives. As a bonus, the husband's name is Jim Bob.

I was also disturbed after the September 11 attacks to hear people talk to reporters about their experience. There were many accounts of people who missed their train or randomly showed up late to work, thereby saving their lives. Many of them had answers like "It just wasn't my time to go yet" or "God still had a purpose for me." So what, that means that God decided to save a handful of people while giving a big "fuck you!" to the rest of them? That's such a dangerous way of thinking! That kind of flippant justification leads entire populations to war and genocide.

People also use God in other ways. A guy I went to high school with posts his religious ramblings on Facebook, and lists his religious views as "Jesus is Lord." About a year and a half ago he posted a note that I still think about, reference, and show to friends. He titled it "Dating and Singleness," and it's here for your reading pleasure:

I'm taking a Humanities course this semester about Islamic art and culture. Now that there's only a couple weeks left in the semester we have moved from the ancient history of Muslim civilization to present-day. Today in class we watched a film about "Orientalism," or the West's fascination with the Near and Far East. It was inspired by Edward Said, a Palestinian-American professor at Columbia U who wrote the book Orientalism. According to Wikipedia [I know, only so authoritative], he had been under FBI surveillance since 1971, probably until he died in 2003.

Odd how time chances perceptions.

Observed in McDonel Hall, East Lounge, last tuesday:

Boy with long goatee, wearing a bright green shirt and socks with sandals, orange hair. Coming from Totally Takeout. Sits down at table near my seat. Carefully removes a cup of soup, salad, Dorito and Baked Lays chips from bag, leaving nachos. Also has a pop. Looks over food, bends head, says a quick prayer of thanks. Procedes to eat.

I'm not a big fan of religion but for some reason I found that rather moving.

“Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me.”
— Sen. Trent Lott, following a closed-door meeting with President Bush and other Republicans at the Capitol

Nice. Very nice. The ugly American stereotype persists.


“The party of FDR and the party of Harry Truman has become the party of cut and run.”
— President Bush, criticizing the Democrats at a fundraiser for Alabama Governor Bob Riley

Doesn't this fool have more important things to do than further inflaming partisan name-calling? I mean... I thought he had a country to run. Maybe not.



“The Pakistani president claimed bin Laden is hiding in Afghanistan; the Afghan president said he's in Pakistan; and President Bush said, 'I like sprinkles on my ice cream.'”
— Conan O'Brien, on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden

"President Bush was upset and said, He's making it really hard for me to choose my Halloween costume.”
— Conan O'Brien, on Hugo Chavez calling Bush "the devil" and a "cowboy"

And on the subject of Conan, who I would say is my favorite late-night personality BY FAR... this is pretty interesting, something I'd never even thought about. From Wikipedia:

"His father, Dr. Thomas O'Brien, was a research physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, specializing in infectious diseases. His mother, Ruth Reardon O'Brien, is a former partner of the Boston law firm of Ropes & Gray.

After graduating as the valedictorian from Brookline High School, O'Brien entered Harvard University and, in his three upper-class years, lived in Mather House. Throughout his college career, he was a writer for the Harvard Lampoon humor magazine. During his sophomore and junior years, O'Brien served as the Lampoon's president, making him only the second person ever to serve as president twice, and the first person to have done it in 85 years. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1985 with a B.A. in the History and Literature of America."

Go to Harvard, do late-night television. Rock on.

Mental Illness and... Justice?

Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children in 2001 after suffering postpartum depression, was found innocent today by reason of insanity. I agree that she does not belong in a prison but, rather, in a mental institution, where she will likely spend the remainder of her life.

The tragedy of the case is lies in its preventability. She had a history of suicide. She had a history of depression, of postpartum depression. From the New York Times:

'One of her psychiatrists, Dr. Eileen Starbranch, who told the court that she ranked Ms. Yates “among the five sickest patients she had ever seen,” warned the Yateses in 1999 that Ms. Yates could suffer another psychotic episode if she had more children. Ms. Yates went on to have a fifth child after that warning.'


So I ask you, why has her husband not been held somehow responsible in this case? Obviously I am not a lawyer, nor at all familiarized with court proceedings, but my guess would be that he had the final say when they had that last child. They lived in Texas, the Bible belt, and she herself told police that Satan was inside her and she was trying to save the children from hell. It's reasonable to assume that she submitted herself not only to God but to her husband.

From http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/andreayates.htm, on the subject of Andrea and Rusty:

'They eventually moved in together and spent much of their time involved in religious study and prayer. They were married on April 17, 1993. They shared with their guests that they planned on having as many children as nature provided.'

'Michael Woroniecki was a traveling minister from whom Rusty purchased their bus and whose religious views had influenced both Rusty and Andrea. Rusty only agreed with some of Woroniecki's ideas but Andrea embraced the extremist sermons. He preached, "the role of women is derived from the sin of Eve and that bad mothers who are going to hell create bad children who will go to hell." Andrea was so totally captivated by Woroniecki that Rusty and Andrea's family grew concerned.'

'In March of 2000, Andrea, on Rusty's urging, became pregnant and stopped taking the Haldol [an anti-psychotic drug]. On November 30, 2000, Mary was born. Andrea was coping but on March 12, her father died and immediately her mental state digressed. She stopped talking, refused liquids, mutilated herself, and would not feed Mary. She also frantically read the Bible.'

So there you have it. Rusty wanted that fifth child. So essentially he ended six lives.

And today, he is living free, remarried.