Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Progressively Yours,

I recently received an email from my Aunt V. which contained the following (I haven't changed any of the text or spacing, but when I copied it here the colors and size of the text didn't transfer). The first line was in big red letters and the rest was written in eye catching colors, some of it highlighted in bright yellow; you know, so you can see the "important" stuff.

THE MUSLIM ON CAPITOL HILL...This is chilling...
=============================================
In 1952 President Truman established one day a year as a "National Day of Prayer."

In 1988 President Reagan designated the First Thursday in May of each year as the National Day of Prayer.

In June 2007 (then) Presidential Candidate Barack Obama declared that the USA Was no longer a Christian nation.

This year President Obama canceled the 21st annual National Day of Prayer ceremony at the White House under the ruse Of "not wanting to offend anyone"

On September 25, 2009 from 4 am until 7 pm, a National Day of Prayer for the Muslim religion was Held on Capitol Hill, Beside the White House. There were over 50,000 Muslims that Day in D.C.

HE PRAYS WITH THE MUSLIMS!

I guess it Doesn't matter if "Christians" Are offended by this event - We obviously Don't count as "anyone" Anymore.

The direction this country is headed should strike fear in the heart of every Christian, especially knowing that the Muslim religion believes that if Christians cannot be converted, they should be annihilated.

This is not a Rumor Go to the website To confirm this info: (
http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/ )

Pay particular attention to the very bottom of the page: "OUR TIME HAS COME"
I hope that this information will stir your spirit.

The words of 2 Chronicles 7:14
"If my people, Who are called by my Name,
Will humble themselves And pray,
And seek my face, and Turn from their Wicked ways,
Then will I hear from Heaven
And will forgive their Sin and will heal Their land."

We must pray for Our nation, our communities, Our families, and especially our children. They are the ones who are going to suffer the most.
.
If we don't PRAY May God have Mercy. IN GOD WE TRUST.

Please pass this on Maybe someone, somehow can figure out a way to put America back on the map as it was when we were growing up, a safe place to live, and by The Ten Commandments and Pledge of Allegiance. For Obama to continue as our president is an INSULT TO OUR FOUNDING FATHERS


This kind of email just flat out pisses me off. Yes, I could just delete it and not read it but I usually don't delete without opening if it's from a family member or friend. I DO delete without reading it once I see ONE WORD that implies it's going to be one of "those" emails. Although in this most recent case, I decided to hit "Reply To All", and wrote the following:
First, this is offensive. Our President is not Muslim (not that it would matter if he was) and he did NOT cancel the day of prayer, rather he issued a proclamation to all those wishing to pray.

If you want to see the actual information concerning this false email and the actual source of the photo depicting Barack Obama taking off his shoes, review this link from Snopes.com:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/prayerday.asp

And if that doesn't do it for you, we can go straight to the Bible. Let's not forget these basic little gems:

"Love your neighbor as yourself" - James 2:8

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." - John 13:34

Perhaps these should come to mind before you forward emails that perpetuate fear and spread hate. Last time I checked, it was not very CHRISTIAN to be doing either of those things. It's pretty ironic that a group of Christians, who so publicly proclaim absolute love as its basis should spread such hate for another person. Being a Christian means to be Christ-like.

Try it.

Well, I then received a reply from
Joseph “Joe” Pierro who goes by the email of BigBand17@aol.com. This is what he had to say:

Your response to V. should not have been sent to everyone. I find YOUR comments offensive to say the least. OUR president as you describe him no Christian. If you are going to throw scriptural passages at people, try looking up the one where the Lord suffers no fools. Or how about millstone around the neck. "YOUR" president supported partial birth abortion and abortion survival. Get with the program and apologize to V.

Yeah, okay. 'Cause that's ever gonna happen. Of course, I was compelled to reply. Here's my next email to BigBand17:

BigBand17,

I offer no apology. I understand your desire to defend my Aunt V. but I am tired of getting emails from people (friends and family alike) which malign my President by propagating hate. It is MY policy to respond to those emails, TO EVERYONE, in an effort to provide CORRECT information and to STOP the constant flow of hate that so many seem to have towards religious or ethnic groups that they do not "like".

My use of those two scriptures were to illustrate if you ARE a believer, you are not even following the most BASIC of tenets by sending out an email like this. That said, even a NON-believer knows that "love your neighbor as yourself" should be applied to the way you treat humans IN GENERAL. You really shouldn't need a scripture to know that. It's not brain surgery.

An email that begins with "THE MUSLIM ON CAPITOL HILL...This is chilling..." is not only misleading, it's inaccurate. And to include a photo with a caption that reads "Obama prays to Allah" is also misleading and inaccurate. It's divisive by pitting those in one religious group against another. There should be no CHRISTIAN National Day of Prayer at all in my opinion. That said, the President was in favor of keeping the day as one of observance by "acknowledging the role of religion in American life."

I don't care what Aunt V. believes or what you believe but you can damn well be certain that you won't be getting an email from me, forwarded to ALL my friends, without being fact-checked before I send it...ESPECIALLY if I didn't know what your political/religious belief was. To me, people who send out those kinds of emails are the ones who should be offering an apology - for offending ME with unsolicited hate mail.

And of course, as any self-respecting Republican would do, he was incensed by being challenged, so he wrote back again. Oooh, lucky me.

If V. is in fact your aunt, then you should know she meant no harm to anyone. I am quite familiar with this email she sent as I have received it several times. She may not have known to check it on SNOPES; V. only learned to send pictures on the Internet, so perhaps you could cut her some slack there. As for me, I don't think I know you. But that is not important.
I have studied Christian Dogma and Theology over 50 years and have well over 300 credits. I am still learning, but I find Mr Obama totally opposite anything that has value.But I do agree, that he did NOT cancel the prayer day. He has done enough repulsive things without having to make up any fabrications to add to the pile. In any event, don't write back, as it will be deleted without reading. Go make your peace with V., she is worth 1000 Obamas.
BB17

OK, I'll give him that...Aunt V. is a loving, kind person and it's not my intention to hurt her in any way, but I'm not apologizing for what I believe in. Also, I don't care if she just learned how to send photos on the internet, she's old enough to know how to read. And people who know how to READ should review the email before hitting send; take a minute to think about whether or not the people you're sending the email to agree with you. If you don't know, leave them off the list.

As for Joe Pierro, I'd say 50 years of studying Christian Dogma and Theology isn't quite enough. It apparently hasn't taught him a thing because he's clearly not an example of "leading the flock". And since he preaches hate and dissention, having "well over 300 credits" seems pretty useless.

This is EXACTLY why I dislike people who claim to be Christians. He couldn't even be CHRIST-LIKE in his email. He had the perfect opportunity to show himself as one and he didn't. The perfect opportunity to turn the other cheek. The perfect opportunity to do everything he probably preaches (but doesn't practice).

These people stir up and propogate hate. They keep division among people alive. They polarize the country. And they certainly DO NOT live how their God and their Bible requests of them to live. This email from this church-goer/student of religion is a shining example.

He stated Obama is totally opposite anything that has value. I recently read a quote that said, “When we talk about values, I think of rationality in solving problems. That’s something I value. Fairness, kindness, generosity, tolerance. When they (the Republicans, Conservatives, and Christian Right) talk about values, they’re talking about things like going to church, voting for Bush, being loyal to Jesus, praying. These are not values.”

I agree; you don't have to be a Christian and you don't have to even be a believer to be fair, kind, generous, tolerant, honest, faithful, devoted, trustworthy, lovable, noble, loyal, family oriented and any other "valuable" characteristic you can think of. Going to church doesn't make you any of these things. Neither does claiming to be a Christian.

In my opinion, if you DO claim to be a devout church-goer and/or a Christian, you should certainly be held to a higher standard. Yes, everyone is human and makes mistakes, but it's not a mistake when you make a concious decision to send an email or pass on something that keeps hate alive. If some of the Christians in this country would start ACTING like Christians, we'd probably be better off.

As for the Christian nation thing, during his studies, he probably missed
Article 11 in the Treaty of Tripoli. The one that clearly states, "...the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion..." He should probably brush up on a few things.

Since he's likely at an advanced age, he'll never see this country become the melting-pot of religion that it's already on its way to being. He probably won't even live to see the day that whites and/or Christians are in the minority. But I will.

So in case you don't get the point of this rant...

DO NOT send me anything that maligns my President.
DO NOT send me anything that is anti-Obama; Barack, Michelle or the girls.
DO NOT send me anything that is anti-Black/African-American
DO NOT send me anything that is anti-Muslim.
DO NOT send me anything that is anti-Mexican.
DO NOT send me anything that is anti-Immigrant.
DO NOT send me anything that is anti-ANY religion, ethnicity or nationality.

I do not find it funny and I will not agree with you. EVER.

For all the people like him and the Tea Baggers who want to "take our country back"...

I'd rather side with the words of a wise man who said, "I want to take our country forward."


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1 YEAR AGO:
Spill It
2 YEARS AGO:
I’ve NEVER Colored Inside The Lines. Why The Surprise?
3 YEARS AGO:
I Didn’t Make It, But I Ate It
4 YEARS AGO: Sorry, no post for this day.
5 YEARS AGO:
Slim Or None? I’ll Take None.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love when you get up on your soapbox. Well Done!!
Greggie

tokyo working girl said...

I never comment, but I just have to say, "BRAVO!!!" to this one :)

ldimes4 said...

I have been reading your blog for a few weeks now but have never commented. All of your posts are very entertaining, but I especially want to thank you for writing this one. Very well said! If only more people would stand up for their beliefs without violating someone else's.

Anonymous said...

Good for you! I recently started to "reply to everyone" with the fact-checked info when one of these hits my email. Enough already. SO many people believe this stuff, now THAT is chilling! Good job.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for saying what so many of us are thinking. Great Job!!

Michelle | Bleeding Espresso said...

Yeah, everything you wrote? +1

I had to send a similar email to my (Christian) aunt as well a few years ago -- but that was before Obama at least....

Terry said...

Ahh Salena, we will have to agree to disagree on politics and honestly if we all thought exactly the same life would be pretty boring. That being said I whole heartedly agree with you on those emails. Really, if people want to think they are politically savvy you would think they would want to send out accurate information. I was raised Baptist, although I have not spent much time in church in the last 30 years, so I have a very basic belief system. Personally I am worried about the direction the world in general is going in but I believe it has more to do with the moral structure of the people inhabiting it than the pols running the show. I know I am part of the problem, but I think we all are. Somewhere, somehow people lost respect for each other and the value of a human life and unless or until these things are reversed I don't think we can expect much improvement. People basically want to have someone to blame instead of taking any sort of personal accountability. My kids will tell you, one of my favorite sayings is "Your the master of your own disaster". Unfortunately I spent quite a few years mastering that particular tenant. Stay safe, Terry.

Terry said...

Ohh, I thought of something else...Don't ya hate those emails that are all sappy and then tell you if you pass it along to 10 people God will bless you with something wonderful? I still havent gotten that diamond tiara I've been praying for, dang it.

Anonymous said...

Well said Salena!!! BRAVO!! (standing ovation)

Grace

Evil Pixie said...

I couldn't have said it better myself. Well done!

Sarmen Khosdeghian said...

Nicely done Salena.

For those who want to take the country back, let's not forget that even the founding fathers (the rebels) had tons of people who disagreed with them (besides King George and his pals across the pond). Some of these "loyalists" just ended up going to Canada. Now, is Canada a "christian" nation? Like Robin Williams says, "Canada's like a loft overlooking a great party!" I guess that makes us so much more fun to watch when we're having apoplectic brain farts.

It seems to me that we (humans) chose this path of separation from everything a long time ago:

First we separate ourselves from God, taking license to create a better religion than that of our neighbors, and when the marketing plan fails we wage missionary wars against them.

Then we separate ourselves from nature, taking license to rape and destroy at will that which sustains our very life.

Last, but not least, we then separate ourselves from each other, taking license to wage genocidal wars. And we want to take this act to the stars...What's left?

Anonymous said...

You suck and so do your politics. Get a clue you liberal piece of crap.

Anonymous said...

You are funny. You own nothing but what is under your rear-end, you don't belong to any community, or pay any school or property taxes, among other things. You are practically an immigrant yourself. It is no wonder you side so furiously with them. Way to help destroy America.

Anonymous said...

"...without being fact-checked before I send it.." Really? What do you use to check your facts? Snopes? I guess everything that Snopes posts on their entertainment site should be considered fact according to you. You are laughable. It is funny how YOUR president "Barry" wasn't even born in America. See if you can find that on Snopes ignorant one.

The Daily Rant said...

Greggie: Thanks!

Tokyo Working Girl: Nice to see your "face" - thanks for commenting.

Idimes4: You're welcome.

Anonymous #1: Everyone should "REPLY ALL"

Liz: More of us need to say what we think.

Michelle: I'll take your +1

Tannedon/Terry: It's okay if we disagree on politics - to each his own. I just don't appreciate someone sending me an email trying to cram their beliefs down my throat. I see your point and your saying is perfect - people do master their own disasters - we see it everyday.

Grace: You may sit now! :)

Evil Pixie: Thanks for the support!

Sarmen: You make excellent points. It's nice to know what you're talking about, isn't it?

Anonymous #2: I'd expect nothing less from a Republican than to be called a liberal piece of crap - you just illustrated my point perfectly about how hateful some of you are.

Anonymous #3: Glad I amuse you. It's irrelevant what I own and my community and personal ties are none of your business. As for taxes, I pay a BOATLOAD of taxes that you probably don't pay - like road tax, mileage tax, fuel tax, property tax in some states, heavy vehicle use tax and tolls for every state I drive in - taxes that keep those roads in good condition for the people who live there. I pay over $90,000 a year for fuel. I spend money in every single state I drive through. I support local businesses in towns I don't even LIVE in. I help keep people employed by eating at the restaurants they wash dishes at or shopping in the stores they are cashiers at. And I spend A LOT of money doing all of that. I don't destroy America, I help keep it functioning.

Anonymous #4: I don't use Snopes to fact check....I was using that as an example as a place to go to check chain emails. You don't have to use Snopes as a source to know the information in that hateful email was inaccurate - but I don't expect you to get that - you've probably already forwarded it to your friends. If only you knew how ridiculous you sound spouting the right wing/birther/tea bagger talking points. I don't care if MY President, Barack Obama, was born in Timbuktu, I'd vote for him again TODAY. You may go stamp your feet now.

Don Olney said...

As always - I love you!

I had a true friend who was forwarding things like that to me, and I asked him to read the e-mails carefully before sending them. The ugly ones stopped. I still get some well thought out conservative things from him, and I respect him a great deal despite his "wrong" political views - ;-)

Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

Ha. "Wrong" political views, huh? All I can say is Ron Paul in 2012.

Anonymous said...

If all you assholes worked as hard as you blogged, this country wouldnt be fucked up.

The Daily Rant said...

Louise's Son-in-Law: You know I love you guys too! And did you say "well thought out conservative things"? What an oxymoron.

Anonymous #5: Rand Paul's FATHER? Yeah, we need him like a whole in the head. You planning to move to Kentucky to sit at the White-Only lunch counters too?

Anonymous #6: I was just sitting here with my feet up on a footstool, sipping a steamy hot caramel latte, fucking up the country, when your message came in...

And I'm so damn relaxed, I forgot what I was going to say. Well, there's always tomorrow! :)

Anonymous said...

Did you have to say "Tea baggers"...how many do you insult with that label?....you know the connotation for that and it's insulting to many.

Gil said...

Your response is just Great! I had a few relatives and associates that you to send that crap. They have currently stopped sending fascist and racist crap after I bombarded them with nude emails!


How are members of the Tea Party insulted by being called "Tea Baggers"?

Lynn said...

Kudos Salena!!! It is ALWAYS my pleasure to read your Blog!!!I too would vote for him again!!!

Anonymous said...

Why don't I talk about politics anymore? Well...The last word in politics is spoken at the end of a barrel of a gun.
-Ed

I guess I would rather drive my truck and enjoy my life than participate in an endless war of words about people who don't even know I exist. I know the issues and I don't get them from any talking heads.

I read the news and use common sense. And the biggest reason I don't talk about politics is that every four years there is a Presidential election and out of the 300 million people that live here, it comes down to 2.

There is something glaringly wrong with that.

Someone in this country will never have a voice or power and it is and will always be the working class, no matter what color the President is wearing. Just look at the history of the world. There is no reason this will ever change. And as for those of you who FEAR the worst all of the time and like to go around scaring everyone....well Here it is,

All governments need workers and tax payers no matter how they are run or they fail. No matter whether the President is a conservative, liberal, green, independent, or even my favorite party "The Beer Party" (for some reason they don't have a national voice, go figure) The working class will keep being given whatever they need to keep working.

No party wants to disrupt this cash flow. There is no reason to leave the US. There is no reason to ever FEAR the President that is in office because they are ruining the country. At the end of the day, every person who consumes or produces in this country supports whoever is in power no matter who it is.

If you have a job(all jobs generate taxes and support our infrastructure), you support our system and whoever gets elected. And whoever is in power thanks you. Without you, this country wouldn't exist. No money, no country. Simple as that. Vote for who you like, but don't ever let FEAR be the reason. That is ridiculous.
-Ed

Anonymous said...

Proud of you, Salena! For handling the first emails AND for posting this on your web.

Also for leaving up the brave "anonymous" comments trashing you and your ideas. For responding to same and not censoring them (although you'd be within rights if they were uglier, rather than just stupid and offensive).

You are a class act all around.

Cheers.

Belledog

Alliey said...

The challenge of being diplomatic when confronted with some of this email rubbish is often too much for me, but you handled it with aplomb. My strategy has become to just respond to all with a Snopes.com link. As a result of this I don't get a whole lot of forwarded crap from my friends and relations anymore. :)

I sure do wish the anonymous haters here in the comments would sign their names. You put your name on what you wrote, why can't they be as forthright?