Christmas Gauntlets

I've been a little upset this year with all the charities asking me for money.  I mean, I know they need money, and the easiest way is to ask.  But I feel like I'm running a fucking gauntlet every time I go into a store. 

It starts outside the store, with the Salvation Army kettles.  You have to go by this twice, on the way in and the way out.  I usually feel guilty about not putting in at least some change.  But most of the time I don't carry cash.  And when I shop, I go to many different stores and they all have kettles outside!  So I'm exposed to them multiple times for an escalating sense of guilt!

Inside is also a problem.  A lot of stores have their credit card machines set up to ask you if you want to donate money.  But even there they want to guilt you into it.  The one at PetCo asked me Do you want to save a homeless pet?  And then you have the option of saying Yes or No.  So I clicked No.  I do not want to save a homeless pet, because you're trying to guilt me into it.  Cabela's does it differently.  You can round up your final cost to a whole number.  So if you spend $36.58 you can round it up to an even $37 and the change goes to an environmental charity.  How could you NOT do that?

The one I hate the most is when the cashier asks you about donating.  You know the ones I'm talking about.  They have these colorful printouts that you can write your name on in a marker and they put it up on the wall so that everyone can see just how charitable Tamsyn X really is!  I fucking hate those.  Every time I run into one of those I seem to be in a long line and the cashier chimes out Would you like to donate $1 for xxx charity?  No, I don't.  I just want to buy my shit and get out of your store.

And, of course, the best is the telephone ones.  You're sitting there in the privacy of your own home, thinking you're safe, and the police call you up and ask you to donate to help the widows of police officers killed in the line of duty.

Don't get me wrong, I do donate to charities.  But I do it on my own time, and to specific ones that I really want to donate to.  So stop trying to guilt me into donating!  I could spend a hundred dollars a month, easy, on all the charities asking me to donate.  And I don't have the money to spare!

Survived October

Guess what - no rant this year for a Pink October!  I survived October fairly intact.  I'm assuming this was mainly due to the backlash against the Komen Foundation.  I did notice several pink advertisements on TV that mentioned their money going to other organizations.  Whatever the reason, I'm just glad I didn't have a freaking aneurysm this year.

Jesus Married?

This has been one of the religious aspects that has bugged me for years.  Why is it a problem if Jesus was married?  Who cares?  In fact, I read an article somewhere that for his time period, it would be unusual if he WASN'T married.  And that would have been remarked upon.

The GMA/Yahoo! article I linked to above says that priests are celibate because Jesus wasn't married.  I always thought it was because Paul said that priests should be celibate.  Which is why celibacy never made any sense to me.  But I digress. . . I was brought up Christian, and even went to Catholic school for a while.  But somehow, some of the major tenets of the faith just didn't make it into my brain correctly.  I'm not sure why.

Stupidity Rules!

Apparently most Americans are so stupid that certain items must be banned, so they don't die.  For example:  Buckyballs and Kinder eggs.

Buckyballs are these tiny high-powered magnets.  On one hand, I can understand the concerns - if you swallow more than 1 they can try to join together in your intestines so that you can't poop them out.  And that requires surgery.  And yes, accidents happen.  But in general, I would think simply keeping these out of the reach of kids would do the trick.


Kinder Eggs are a truly yummy creation.  They are hollow chocolate eggs.  Inside is a plastic container that has small parts that you put together to make a toy.  Everything from a figurine to a sail boat or a car.  Obviously these are a choking hazard for small children.  Which is why my mom always took the toy container away from my little brother until he was a little older.

What I'm trying to say is: "Don't be an idiot!"  Do we really need the government to ban Kinder Eggs because kids might swallow the toys?  Well then I have a great idea - ban PENNIES!  Pennies are small and easily swallowable and show up everywhere.  Just look on the ground next time you're out and about.  And, I'm fairly sure the metals used in pennies are toxic.  So, US Government:  Please save us from the scary pennies before we all die of stupidity.

Rantings Returns!!!

It's been a while, but trust me, I'm still mad!  I'm just trying to figure out where to start.  Stay tuned for more.

Planned Parenthood Pinked

I meant to blog earlier this week when my rantings against the Susan G. Komen Foundation were at their height (it's not enough with the pink madness, now there's mammogram madness?!?).

I'm sure you've all heard by now that the foundation pulled funding from Planned Parenthood, only to finally bow to Internet pressure and restore funding. And why did they originally pull funding? Because Planned Parenthood has the audacity to use a tiny percentage of non-Komen funding to perform legal abortions. Oh my! How dare they! Performing legal abortions with non-Komen and non-government money? Let's burn them all at the stake.

What pisses me off the most is that they didn't give a shit what would happen to low-income women who depend upon Planned Parenthood for mammograms. That seems to be fairly typical of conservatives. They are all ready to help you be born, but once you are, you're on your own. Screw you if you need help with food or medical care.

And since the turnaround, some politicians are upset about them restoring funding. I really just cannot grasp their mindset. So, abortions are evil. And anybody who performs them is evil. So it doesn't matter if Planned Parenthood prevents pregnancies with birth control, prevents STDs with condoms, and prevents cancer with mammograms. All those people aren't worth shit because Planned Parenthood does abortions. Which are LEGAL. Fuck all you crazy wackos.