niankhsekhmet

eave it to the Indians, not the calvary, to come to the rescue! In a culture where women are held to be the life bringers and keepers of the culture, there is plenty they have to say about SD's new anti-abortion law.

This is ABSOLUTELY great news! Please post ithis far and wide and let EVERYONE know. Get the word out there!! If more states try to ban abortions, look to Sovereign American Indian Nations to tell them where to get off!!

Giago: Oglala Sioux president on state abortion law
Tuesday, March 21, 2006

"When Governor Mike Rounds signed HB 1215 into law it effectively banned all abortions in the state with the exception that it did allow saving the mother’s life. There were, however, no exceptions for victims of rape or incest. His actions, and the comments of State Senators like Bill Napoli of Rapid City, SD, set of a maelstrom of protests within the state.

Napoli suggested that if it was a case of “simple rape,” there should be no thoughts of ending a pregnancy. Letters by the hundreds appeared in local newspapers, mostly written by women, challenging Napoli’s description of rape as “simple.” He has yet to explain satisfactorily what he meant by “simple rape.”

The President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Cecilia Fire Thunder, was incensed. A former nurse and healthcare giver she was very angry that a state body made up mostly of white males, would make such a stupid law against women.

“To me, it is now a question of sovereignty,” she said to me last week. “I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction.”

Strong words from a very strong lady. I hope Ms. Fire Thunder challenges Gov. Rounds and the state legislators on this law that is an affront to all independent women."

From:

http://www.indianz.com/News/2006/013061.asp

To those of you on my friends list, and those of fannyfae, would, you /could you PLEASE use a LJ-cut when posting images and super long and verbose posts? I live in the boonies, and I know that isn't anyone's problem but mine, but this means I am on dialup. I will end up getting high-speed internet like the rest of the civilized world in about five years or more precisely when hell freezes over. I do not have cable, I do not have DSL. Unlike some of you who are so very spoiled you don't even remember what it is like to have to wait several minutes for a single page to load, I am pleading, begging, cajoling, for the sake of my sanity, put it under a LJ cut. My speeds range between 14.0 and 41.0 bps. I'ts not the greatest, trust me.

Those who do not or refuse to comply with this hunble request, unfortunately will have to be removed from this and fannyfae's friendslists. It isn't personal, but I am tired of having to ask.

I want to express a very heartfelt thank you to the anonymous person who gifted me with a paid account and extra user pics!

*HUGGLES*, and Dua Netjer, to whomever you are! :))

Today in the Wall Street Journal, we had a bit of a chuckle over the name of the Typhoon off the coast of China. Apparently the storm has been named, Longwang.

So, in spite of all of our best efforts to keep sexual innuendo out of this announcement, it is safe to say that China will be "getting theirs", too, it seems. ;)

Today I came across a really wonderful article in the Wall Street Journal. It was in the Weekend section of the paper under book reviews. I am of the opinion that eveyrone in this culture should be at least moderately biblically literate. My reason for saying that is because in order to refute someone, to activlely participate in the dominant culture - which was largely defined by reference back to the bible. Even if you do not consider yourself a Christian, you need to at least know the text in order to be able to understand the why's and wayfores of the context. We have a lot of fundamentalists in this country, and in order to refute them adequately and defend what it is that we believe, we need to at least know, and know correctly what this important liturgical document actually says.

to quote the aforementioned article in the Wall Street Journal, "The Bible Tells Me So" By ADAM NICOLSON
September 23, 2005; Page W13

" If you didn't know what "the powers that be" originally referred to, or where "the writing on the wall" was first seen, or what was meant by "the patience of Job," "Jacob's ladder" or "the salt of the earth" -- if you didn't know what an exodus was or a genesis, a fatted or a golden calf -- you would have been excluded from the culture."

Unfortunately, 80 - 90% of those outside of Christian affiliation, and even many Christians themselves, know very little about what the bible actually says. Not to imply anything in saying so, but it is a good idea to know one's enemies. You should never underestimate them, but hold on to the hope that they are foolish enough to underestimate you. One of the best ways to know them best is to study that document that drives them. But do not stop there. Any well educated person, regardless of religious or personal convictions or affiliations, should make it a point to study the liturgical texts of faiths outside their own. They should have at least rudimentary knowledge of them. I cannot tell you how many times I have impressed a Hindu or a Muslim because I not only knew about their holy scriptures but could discuss these with them. To have the tenacity and the courtesy to avail yourself of them, to care enough to do so, opens doors, and produces lifelong friendships. I used to have endless discussions with one of my coworkers, Subhajit DasGupta, a devout Hindu about the various Vedic texts. I also would enter into deep discussions with my Egyptian and Pakistani co-workers about the Holy Qúaran, and as a result, I was introduced to these gentlemen's parents and wives or wives to be. This is something, I understand, that isn't done very often from at least one of the cultures. They tended to keep their wives completely seperate from what they dealt with in secular society.

Why should we care? Why should we be anything other than self-involved and self-absorbed and to hell with everyone else? We are poorer in this world because people don't stop to take time and interact with each other as fellow human beings. We are not our religous symbols or the religous texts that we ascribe to. We are human beings trying to search for personal meaning in a world that is increasingly frightening and cold to us. We are a world struggling with our individual identities and ideologies and there are those that say we are in the midst of an all-out holy war of one kind or another where the winner takes all. It is a war, in my opinion, that we cannot hope to win if we do not venture outside of our own fortress walls. Building up and locking ourselves away inside is a dangerous game. If anything we should have been taught in the very recent past, in fact over this past year, is that human tragedy knows no religious affiliation. Americans in New Orleans suffer just as much at the hand of Mother Nature as the peoples of Sri Lanka and India did with the Tsunami. Genocide is just as ugly in the Sudan as it was in Bosnia. Religious intolerance is just as hideous espoused by Dominionist Christians as it is in Afghanistan under the Taliban's restrictive Muslim population.

Those who do not know their own liturgical texts do not have enough knowledge or maybe even courage to question the authority of their clergy or religious leadership. Those who question are assumed to be trouble makers and are sometimes therefore shunned. There was a time when the bible itself was not even available to be read by common people. Much of the reformation and the upheavals in European history were around whether or not there should even be a bible that was translated into English. In some sects of other religions, women were not even permitted to evn hear the texts, let alone ask questions about them. They were often to simply take the word of the religious teachers and were given seperate instruction. Why, now with all of the advances in technology, in the openness of information available in print and on the web, would someone choose not to avail themselves of knowledge? Is this our modern version of the fruit of the tree, that gives tjhe knowledge of good and evil? I sometimes wonder. I sometimes wonder that we were forbidden to eat of the tree because questioning and asking was something that was considered somehow bad. I remember the one time I was kick-banned from an IRC channel, it was channel #bible in fact. I asked the question, really very curious, why women were required to be "obedient" to their husbands. It was explained to me that Christ was the head of the church, and the Church was in fact the bride of Christ. The husband, therefore was responsible for those things which the wife did in his name. It was the proper way of things. I thought for a moment and asked, " If this is true, then don't you think Jesus would be more than a little pissed off at a few of the things that his wife was doing in his name? " There was silence in the channel, and then I was kick banned. There was no answer - how dare I ask, apparently. My ban lasted almost two years. What did I ask that they were so afraid of?

This leads me back to the idea that in order to know what the other guy has in his head, to be able to understand him, to be able to bridge the gap, or God forbid, combat your enemy on his own home turf, you need to know what it is that drives him. What it is that he believes. We are poorer as a society because this level of discourse is almost now non-existent. Few people care to know these things.

And that is a damned shame.

1. Who is your mobile phone provider, and how many minutes are in your plan?
Iowa Wireless (T Mobile) - 1000 minutes, anytime anywhere. No roaming fees.

2. What program do you primarily use for instant messaging?
Trillian Pro, of course! That means I can have AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Google, MSN, etc etc on one client.

3. Who do you send and receive text messages from most?

Everyone on my contact list! I can't really narrow it down like that, but it seems to be a tie between about five to ten people, at varying times.

4. What area code do you live in?
319

5. What year did you first get an e-mail address and do you still use it?

1995 and yes, I do. I still have my same website address, too.

Mr. President - if I can even bring myself to call you that, because in my very humble opinion, you were never elected. And to be re-elected you have to have been elected in the first place. But let's not go there right now. I have another bone of contention to pick with you.

The People of New Orleans, Louisiana, Mississippi and all along the Gulf Coast deserve better than what they have been shown by you and your Administration. There was no help to send to them because either you have them committed over in Iraq and Afghanistan building democracy in the Middle East, or you cut the funding and closed down or reassigned military personell in order to deal with a deficit crisis that you and yours helped to create. In 2004, there were not one but TWO scenarios written out about what would happen if "The Big One" ever hit NOLA. Of course, the chances of that happening were so very small, it only happened a handful of times before, and so the warnings were ignored, the funding for strengthening flood control and prevention were diverted to other pet projects of yours - mainly the war in Iraq and Homeland (In)Security.

What I find most unacceptable is your reaction to what has happened in NOLA. What does the Master in the Big White Columned Main House have to be concerned about? What difference does it make if a few black rats get drowned in the sewer of New Orleans. By the God of your Fathers. it is a den of iniquity in NOLA! They have whores and queers, witchcraft and voodoo. Why, NOLA had five of the ten abortion clinics in the state of Louisiana, so according to your staunchest constiuency (well, those that are still convinced you are Jesus Christ returned) it is God's punishment. Go ahead and suck on another mint julep and talk about the glory of brining your grand dominionist vision to the world.

Where is the compassion? Has everything fallen apart to such a degree and apathy come to such a degree that we can afford to sit on our hands? Why are you not down there NOW, bagging sand like your predecessor Bill Clinton did during the floods of 93? President Bill Clinton did alot more compassionately in one year than you have done during the entire history of your administration. I loathe everything you stand for. I loathe how you used the death of 3,000 people who died as a result of 9/11 to couch your intentions of settling a blood feud you had against Sadaam. I deplore how you and yours lied to justify the action. I find it nothing short of criminal how you have committed the lives of well-meaning, patriotic Americans and put them on the front lines in a country we had absolutely NO business being in so that the flow of oil and the profits of you and your oil rich friends could continue and grow to staggering proportions. But what I find most unforgiveable is your handling of this situation on our own shores. If Al Qaida didn't know how weak we were before as a Nation, then they and the entire world certainly know it now. Our infrastructure is in tatters, our deficit is depriving our own people of basic safeguards to keep a society functional, and believe me when I tell you that YOU and the others who helped loot it will be held fully accountable.

Americans need to wake up and realize that all is not as it has been presented by the people in charge. What ARE you paying your taxes for? What ARE you sending your children to die for when they sign on to protect this country against all enemies both foreign and domestic? You are all puppets dancing on the string of the very rich and the bureacricies that they loot and pillage AT WILL! YOU are paying for this and our people...and they are OUR OWN people are dying in the streets of New Orleans, beside the sides of roads, stranded on overpasses in the hot sun, slogging around in toxic waste and filth of our own creation. Look to the man who sits on his ranch ON VACATION for a month. I'm sorry. I don't seem to remember ANY president in all of my forty three years that ever took a month's vacation except *this one*!! Although, I have been informed that there is a journalist somewhere who tracked that sort of thing, and Reagan had him beat, but not by much.

You know, in my shrine to Sekhmet, I have a twenty dollar bill that is carefully folded so that Andrew Jackson's face is fully seen. On top of this I place my icon of Sekhmet. Why? It is sort of a subtle bit of magical payback for Andrew Jackson's gift of the Trail of Tears to my ancestors. Right now, I am going to be replacing that picture with one of George W. Bush. I didn't think I would ever hate any president of the United States more than I hated Jackson, who was still a mean, sorry son-of-a-bitch and deserves to get stood on by Sekhmet. But right now - Dubya has him beat by a VERY long shot.

To start off with, I want to plug the LJ of someone on my friend's llist. Every day I learn something from her, and from one of the communities that she frequents. sunfell has been rocking my world now for almost six months. To say that the woman is astute and connected would be horrible understatements or just stating the blatantly obvious. She is an activist, she's been around the block a few times. Hey, she listens to NPR and digs Strong Bad! What more do you want?! ;)

One of the groups that she is often a poster in, is dark_christian. Again, this is very lucid, and sunfell and the other members have a penchant for digging out the articles and the websites that talk about the Dominionist bent that so many in our country seems fixated upon. You owe it to yourself to do a quick peruse of the community, because there is alot there to read.

Tomorrow I will most likely be working at least a 12 hour day. We are two waitresses short and we have five psychics, a morel mushroom dinner that starts at 7PM and live music. I will be working most probably from 9:30AM to about 11PM or so. With us being short on waitstaff and a full reservation book, looks like I get to wait tables. However, if the tips were anything resembling what they were Sunday, I won't complain! ;)

1. Who are you?
2. Are we friends?
3. When and how did we meet?
4. Do you have a crush on me?
5. Would you kiss me?
6. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
7. Describe me in one word.
8. What was your first impression?
9. Do you still think that way about me now?
10. What reminds you of me?
11. If you could give me anything what would it be?
12. How well do you know me?
13. When's the last time you saw me?
14. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't? Can you tell me now?
15. Are you going to put this on your blog and see what I say about you?