Here is another example of Joan’s LIES. Joan’s blog on wordpress was not shut down by wordpress. If you go to her blog, you get the message that the blog was deleted by the author. NOT by the webhost.  http://halforphan56.wordpress.com/articles/

She then BY HER OWN CHOICE, decided to get her own domain, which she was willing to pay for, because she said she “WOULD NOT BE CENSORED.” WHY THEN DOES SHE WANT TO CENSOR ME? Why is she afraid of the truth? I’m not. And why is blaming me and my sisters for HER decision to obtain a paying website.  Fact of internet life Joan: when you use a free webservice, you are subject to THEIR rules, not Ruth’s Rules. If you violate those rules, you get censored. I don’t know what you did to get wordpress mad at you. go ask them. I’m just trying to write my blog here, and abide by the rules of wordpress.com.  Because I respect my site’s host’s rules and regulations. If I make a mistake, and they delete one of my posts, I will ask them what I did wrong, so I DO NOT REPEAT MY MISTAKE. This is how we as human beings grow and learn, by taking responsiblity for our mistakes and  learning from our mistakes. We’re all human, we will all screw up. I have put my foot in my mouth in real life and cyber life many times. But I always take my lumps and don’t pawn the blame off on somebody else. JOAN: YOU TYPED WHAT YOU PUT ON YOUR BLOG, NOT ME. NOT MY SISTERS. SO KEEP THE BLAME WHERE IT BELONGS: ON YOURSELF.

 What happened was: Joan on her “adoption reform blog” made an erroneous statement about the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Someone posted a comment and told her she had made a mistake in one of her statements, and corrected her. Joan left the comment, and after seeing the email, saw it was from our sister in England. She then sent her a nice email, stating “I always knew we would get reconnected again.” or words to that effect. Two days later, Joan removed my sister’s comment and nastily said that her blog was for adoption reform NOT for religous debates. What happened in those two days? NOTHING! And if her blog is only for adoption reform, why was she posting things about religion? she also showed her religious bigotry in an old post on her blogspot blog when she attacked “pagan values” knowing full well that her oldest birth sister (and me) are pagan.

For some reason, wordpress.com deleted Joan’s post about Yom Kippur. Because Joan didn’t like that, she started her other blog. Why was her blog at blogspot shut down? I DON’T KNOW. I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. Joan’s blog at wordpress.com was shut down over a month ago. yesterday, on January 2, 2010, she says that I have complained to wordpress about her “AGAIN.” Why would I do that? She no longer has her blog at wordpress. This makes no sense! Why would I complain to wordpress.com if she no longer has a blog at wordpress.com?

Joan, please, stop. Your hatred of me and my sisters is making you say stupid things. Are you capable of putting together a sentance that makes sense? Because you just showed the whole internet that you just blithly keep making accusations against your birth sisters with no justifications, no reason, no sense, no logic. You keep making accusations just because we are telling the truth, and YOUR lies and YOUR misdeeds are now coming to light. I don’t know why your mother is afraid of me. I didn’t do anything to her. I don’t know why you are afraid of me. What is your problem? As for your children thinking that I am scum of the earth – that is because YOU brainwashed them. but why don’t you tell your adoption reform friends, how three years ago, I connected with your daughter via myspace and we had a nice “penpal” relationship? I terminated it in November (to keep peace between you and me, and to keep your daughter out of our feud) 2009, because of YOUR verbal abuse of me over the telephone when I called you to inform you of a relative’s death. Why don’t you tell the truth about that phone call? mmm? Yes, I got the number from my father. I called him to tell him aunt Doris died. I asked if he had your number. Because I knew that just a couple of months prior, he had to throw you out of his house.

When I called, he sounded tired. To spare him a phone call, I called you. And you started screaming like a banshee. Can you not keep a civil tongue in your head? The obscenities! Yet in your blog, you tell the world that I use swear words in my normal speech. How dare you?
Anyway, yes my father gave me your number and I shredded the piece of paper I wrote it on. Believe me, don’t believe me, I don’t care what you think. I only care about you NOT LYING about me. I emailed your daughter, apologizing for upsetting you.

Oh, but I’m such a bitch, ain’t I? lol. I told her that it was NOT my intent to upset you, that I made a mistake in judgement. I WAS NOT INTERFERING WITH YOUR LIFE OR TRYING TO WEASEL MY WAY INTO YOUR LIFE? WHY WOULD I WANT TO BE PART OF YOUR LIFE? YOU ARE ABUSIVE TO ME! I DON’T WANT YOU IN MY LIFE. I DON’T WANT TO BE IN YOUR LIFE. We are connected by blood. We share family members. We will always run into each other. I have been cordial to you. In the airport September 2, 2003, waiting to go to our brother’s funeral, I WAS NOT THINKING ABOUT YOU! YOU ARE NOT THAT IMPORTANT TO ME! IF I LOOKED UPSET, YEAH, MY BROTHER JUST DIED. On July 21, 2003, my husband’s maternal grandfather died. On July 28, 2003, my mother-in-law died, On August 4, 2003. my cousin died, on August 19, my ex-husband and still good friend died. And on September 1, 2003, my brother died. I was going in and out of the airport TO SMOKE! Yet in your book, you say there was tension in the airport.

What the f are you talking about? Your boyfriend was there. Did you think I was going to jump on you and beat you up? JOAN, YOU ARE NOT THAT IMPORTANT TO ME. YOU ARE NOT WORTH ME GOING TO JAIL OVER. SO GET OVER IT. My god woman, I even left my carryon baggage near YOU, because in a silly way, I STILL TRUSTED YOU, THAT IF I WAS OUTSIDE SMOKING, OR IN THE BATHROOM, NO ONE WOULD STEAL IT. Then again, the snake you are, you probably would have left somebody steal it.

As for your threats of revealing the secrets that I and my sisters have, GO AHEAD! WHAT SECRETS ARE YOU HINTING AT IN YOUR O-SO-PROFESSIONAL BOOK? What a professional, you showed your readership what a nasty slimeball you are. That you know secrets about your sisters and will reveal them. I’M CALLING IN YOUR BLUFF LITTLE GIRL. REVEAL AWAY! AND SINCE MY OLDEST SISTER GERT HAS NO COMPUTER, SHE HAS AUTHORIZED ME TO SAY THIS: REVEAL HER SECRET AS WELL!
WE THREE SIPPEL SISTERS SHALL NOT BE HELD HOSTAGE BY YOU JOAN. IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE A HOLD OVER US,BY ALL MEANS, REVEAL IT.

WE WILL NOT BE BLACKMAILED BY YOUR SILLINESS AND YOUR LIES. YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY? THEN SAY IT!

AS FOR YOUR REPEATED ACCUSATIONS OF OUR INTERFERENCE WITH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY, WOULD YOU KINDLY TELL US WHAT THEY ARE? ALL YOU KEEP SAYING IS *whine* “they keep bothering me.” *whine* BE SPECIFIC. GIVE DETAILS. INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW. (ME TOO). I sure would like to know what I’ve done, since November 3, 2009. And the last time I saw you was April 9, 2004. And NO, I was NOT warned at the birthday party. By whom Joan? YOU?

NO, no, no. what happened was: this was just after I booted you off my website (and as the webmistress, I had every right to do so). Why? Because you acted like an idiot again. At the party, everything was just fine. I was sitting in the living room with my stepmother. You were on the way out the door, and instead of keeping the peace, you just HAD to start your sh!t again. You turned to me, and said “Ruth, we have to talk.” I said nothing. You said nothing further. You turned and went out the door. OH MY GOD, I WAS JUST WARNED. yeah, warned that YOU wanted to talk to me again.

And liar, tell them the last contact we had in December 2004. I sent you a letter BEGGING FOR MONEY. My house was being foreclosed for back taxes. Due to my husband’s open heart surgery on September 24, 2003, we fell behind. YOU STILL OWE ME MONEY FROM WHEN YOU STOLE FROM ME IN 1990, ALMOST $900.00. I asked you for even 10 bucks. What did you do Joan? You tried to pull me into court for harrassment. And the court denied your claim, because they read my letter, and saw that it was not a harrassment letter, but a plea for help. So much for YOUR INTEGRITY AND HONESTY JOAN.
YOU ARE A FILTHY LIAR, AN ABUSIVE PERSON.
People reading this: I NOT WANT JOAN IN MY LIFE. I DO NOT WANT TO BE IN HER LIFE. The only thing I am doing is standing up for myself and my family and calling Joan out on the carpet for her lies about me and my family.

Seriously.. I’m just sick of it!

Okay, was wrong and absolutely disrespectful to draw a picture of the Prophet (PBUH), I can agree with that, but c’mon.

The guy isn’t a Muslim and he’s obviously an asshole looking to provoke people. Responding to this moron was exactly what he wanted.

He did a rotten thing to the ummah, but the ummah took the bait and the outspoken fools who decided to call for violence against the cartoonist – I think they were the ones who did a LOT more damage to the ummah than this man and his stupid cartoon.

Now today I see that some crackpot Somali broke into the cartoonist’s house and attempted to murder him with an axe. That’s just pathetic. Thanks to Mr. Somali, the cartoonist is back in the spotlight. More attention on him, more free publicity for him, and more negative attention for those ‘crazy Muslims’.

Thanks a lot Mr. whack job Somali. Yeah, you really did us all a favor. Eff you!

I’m Muslim and I don’t really care if they use them, though it would be nice to have the option to be patted down behind a curtain or something versus the machine. A CHOICE would be nice.

However, if they’re going to do this, I wish they would do it for EVERYONE. Otherwise, it simply doesn’t make logical sense.

Here’s a personal example: My husband and his friend fly home to Turkey and back together about once a year. My husband is about 5′8″, light skinned and dark haired. I guess he looks ‘foreign’. His friend is about 6′4, light skinned and light haired. My husband gets stopped EVERY TIME and his friend has NEVER been stopped. They both hold the SAME passport, the SAME nationality, the SAME point of origin and destination, and take the SAME trip. Something is WRONG with this picture!

Point being – if some idiot terrorist wanted to blow up a plane, wouldn’t they send the whitest, most Western looking person to get past the screeners versus the ‘obvious’ looking dude? (and my husband doesn’t even dress like the ’stereotypical Muslim’.. It’s tee shirts, jeans, baseball caps and sneakers all the way!)

Half of the time the screeners aren’t making ‘educated guesses’, they’re just making stereotyped guesses.

If they want to do a thorough job, they should do EVERYONE, because if they think my husband could be a terrorist (ha!), then it’s just as likely his friend could be (also ha!).. But if the terrorist masterminds actually wanted success in their venture, they would have probably chosen his ‘European-looking’ friend versus the ‘Eastern-looking man’.

Seriously. Do you think the terrorists are going to send the bomb with the guy dressed up like the Saudi sheikh or the guy dressed up like the Disneyland tourist? Because does it really take many brain cells to figure out which one is going to be pulled from the line to get searched and which one is going to breeze right on through?

See my point?

On another note, I what I wish they’d do.. I wish they’d start monitoring lone men (especially sex offenders!) traveling frequently to Thailand and other pedophile paradises. I don’t even think they monitor perverts and violent criminals up in the friendly skies – and there are a hell of a lot more of them than terrorists!

As the old year passes, and with it the old decade, those of us who believe in Justice for LGBTQ people have memories to preserve, work to do, thanks to express, and hope to rekindle.  The Unfinished Lives Project was conceived as a visual and verbal resource for the public to use in the on-going struggle for freedom from violence and fear that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer folk face every day in the United States.  WordPress tallies show that as of this writing nearly 44,000 have visited this site since its first posting in June 2008: to educate themselves about the slow-rolling holocaust facing members of the sexual minority, to bring the stories of so many casualties of homophobia and heterosexism to light who would otherwise be forgotten, and to steel themselves for the long, difficult, painful work of changing the culture of violence against the different in which we must live.  While countless hours of writing and research have gone into creating and maintaining this web site, that is nothing compared to the stress and loss faced by so many families and loved ones who have experienced the horrors of hate crime murder during these years.  The backstory of this blog has been and continues to be the awe-inspiring courage of the bereaved mothers, fathers, lovers and friends who have been thrust into the harsh glare of activism on behalf of the LGBTQ community because they refuse to allow their loved ones to have died in vain.  We owe them, and you, Dear Reader, our thanks and our continuing labor until Justice comes.  It is to that end we at the Unfinished Lives Project keep telling these grim stories of real people who suffer in America for no other “crime” than being who they are.  The past decade, especially the past year, has seen substantive change–not enough, nor comprehensive enough, to be sure–but real change nonetheless.  Cultural, political, and religious attitudes toward LGBTQ people are changing in this country.  The passage of the James Byrd, Jr. and Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the first comprehensive hate crimes law in federal history, is now law.  Convictions under state and federal hate crimes statutes, something conservative law makers and law enforcement officers said would never happen, are occurring already in bellweather states like Colorado and New York.   This trend will no doubt continue as the New Year dawns.  The infamous “gay panic” defense, and its evil twin, the “trans panic” defense are increasingly discredited and ineffective in American courts of law. Religious attitudes have thawed slightly, but the progress is real, if spotty.  Religion and Faith offices and activism, once thought to be the “third rail” of human rights politics, have been established in all the major advocacy organizations that lobby for change.  LGBTQ lives and practices are no longer viewed as criminal by the religious leaders of conscience in the United States, and tolerance toward queer folk in congregational life and leadership is on the rise: the Episcopal Church, the Alliance of Baptists, the United Church of Christ, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America are cases in point.  Homophobia in churches, synagogues, mosques and schools is not going unchallenged in American daily life, and that is encouraging.  ENDA, DADT, and many other legislative initiatives are on the horizon for the new decade.  Marriage Equality, which heretofore has been fought for state-by-state (often attended by an alarming hike in anti-LGBT hate crime violence where the issue is most hotly contested), and now advocates are re-evaluating the tactics and strategies of equality.  There is nothing magic about the passage of the Shepard Act.  Every day, in every region of the nation, LGBTQ people and those mistakenly assumed to be like us, are suffering violence and death, and from our researches at the Unfinished Lives Project, these statistics are increasing alarmingly.  One more life lost is one too many.  Fear is no way to live in the Land of the Free.  So, we who believe in Justice will greet the New Year with resolve.  An African American spiritual lyric testifies, “We Ain’t in No Wise Tired,” and that is providential.  We cannot rest until Justice comes.  And, we are glad to be in the fight for true “peace on earth, goodwill to all,” with you.

I’ve really got to give this guy kudos.. A brother after my own heart!

Here’s his post called: ‘Grow the Beard – How to Give Dawah and Not Scare Muslims Away’

http://www.chillyoislamyo.com/grow-the-beard-how-to-give-dawah-and-not-scare-muslims-away/#comment-31570

This is another great one: ‘Trust in Allah but Tie Your Camel’

http://www.chillyoislamyo.com/trust-in-allah-but-tie-your-camel/

Another lovely snippet I’d like to share. It goes along with my previous post on people pointing fingers and accusing people of ‘bid’ah‘. If they only knew how their actions pushed people away..

I am Gay… I’m not going to deny it and I’m quite open about my sexuality because it is who I am and as long as we live in a world where people are too afraid to be who they are then nothing will ever change. My partner is fighting internal family religious bullying, yet is still standing strong against those who wish to “convert” her and “pray away the gay”. She is strong, but I’m honestly sick and tired of religious intolerance, especially from the Christian faith. I was born and raised Catholic; I’ve read the bible and I know what it does and doesn’t say about homosexuality, but the bible is a collection of stories written by a group of people to depict moral superiority and to also project stories of hope, love and morality. Yet more often than not these stories get twisted into literalisms which are dangerous… But we won’t get into that right now… What I want to get into is how religious intolerance and homophobia have, in the United States, stooped to a new ultimate low… Now the public restroom is a battle field for discrimination again us queer folk…

To read the full article written by Stephanie Mencimer go to the following URL: http://www.alternet.org/sex/144512/the_religious_right%27s_potty_paranoia/

On December 7, Joan Wheeler very cockily posted personal information about me and my sisters on her blog. She was very ticked off because I dared to have this blog. This blog that is designed  for getting out the truth behind my mother’s death, Joan’s adoption, our reunion with her when she turned 18, the stories of the abuse that I, and other people have suffered at Joan’s hands, and to refute the LIES that Joan says about me and my family.

She also had a page devoted to “Cyber Bullies” inferring that I am a cyber bullie, merely because I am putting out the truth.  On that page, she provided links to my blog.

Part of her ranting and raving on December 7 and December 9, yes, I said ranting and raving, she had posts titled, “Warning: Abusers Stay Away,” and, gee, I can’t remember the exact title, but it did contain the “Rant.” In the Abusers Stay Away post, she goes on and on about me, about how I am using multiple IP addresses to visit her blog, using my employer’s internet to spy on her. – I explained in a post here about IP addresses, that if you shut your modem off, the IP address will reset. And when I am on my lunch break, am on my off hours, on my personal laptop, using a complimentary wireless, then what the heck is she complaining about? And when I shut off my laptop, the internal modem is shut off, so Joan needs to just stop accusing me of doing everything and anything under the sun. lol.

She names various members of her adoptive family,  goes on and on about all kinds of abuses that she thinks happened to her. She never goes into specifics on these “abuses,” nor does she scan and post the evidence! Just names of people she obviously hates. (is there anybody on this planet that she doesn’t hate?) Then she posts the name of my employer, the cities where my two older sisters live, the maiden name and married names of my oldest sister, then goes on about my sister’s Pagan religion and holds that religion up to ridicule.

Now over here, at my blog, I hold to the truth. lol. On my page, visit my other websites, I invite people to visit me at myspace and facebook. On my facebook page I had already listed my employer. So I don’t know what Joan thinks she was “hurting” me with.  But all that aside, her goal WAS to hurt me. Sorry, Joan, after that last tirade of  filthy verbal abuse you flung at me when I merely called to tell you that your godmother died, I am no longer going to be hurt. I recognize you for what you are: a little 5 year old tyrant. All your threats mean nothing to me. And as Sarek said, “Threats are illogical, and payment is usually high.”

But getting back to Joan showing her religious intolerance, I am also Pagan. I am a Wiccan. I know that many people do not hold Pagans near and dear. I do not wish to start a religious war. I was raised Roman Catholic. I left Catholicism because it wasn’t for me. I studied Islam when I first married my first husband. But I have been studying all forms of metaphysics since I was a teenager, and officially became a Wiccan in the year 2000. Wicca is a nature religion. We believe in God, we also believe in the Goddess. We believe in the duality of nature, male and female in all things, Divinity included. We hold reverence for Mother Earth and Father Sky, and reverence for all life. In Wicca, our basic rule for morality is “Harm None.” With this, and our reverence for life, we don’t even like to squish bugs. Because they are a lifeform on this planet too.  We also hold truth, honesty, and integrity very high. Are we perfect? No, not at all. Am I perfect? lol, nooo. I’m not. I make plenty of mistakes. But when I do, I own up to them.  I don’t kill or eat babies, human or otherwise. Wiccans don’t worship Satan, because we don’t believe in Satan. As I said before, we believe in the duality of nature, male and female, dark and light, good and evil. They just … are.  See, we don’t believe in a devil “tempting” us, and we don’t “blame” the devil when we do something bad. “the devil made me do it.” NO, the devil did not make you do it, YOU made you do it.

Now a lot of people will just say, “oh, you’re a Wiccan. ” and keep on going. Others, like Kathie Lee Gifford will stick her foot in her mouth and say, “oh those dirty evil pagans.” and get reamed out. I’m not dirty, I bathe regularly. Evil? Nope, my choice of career is to take care of the sick and dying in a hospital.

There are a lot of religions out there. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddism, Shinto, Theodism, Wicca, Druidism, and many, many more. But they all seek the Divine, a oneness of humanity with the Divine. Divinity is all the same to all religions, it is simply called a different name in each of the religions. The difference of religions, is how each religion is practiced under it’s own set of man-made rules. If the set of rules of one religion is not for your taste, then you have the choice to find a religion that has a set of rules and its own particular path to Divinity that you feel comfortable with. Just because I don’t feel comfortable with the path of Christianity, or the sometimes hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, doesn’t give me the right to put the Catholic Church down. I USED to be a religion teacher with my cousin at The West Seneca Developmental Center for the profoundly mentally and physically handicapped. We taught children ages 10 – 17, under a Catholic priest, who later came forward as a child molestor. oh, ugh! And we had his name on our resumes! But this does not mean that everyone in the Catholic Church is a child molestor.

Today, at a funeral mass, I was still awed and humbled by the Catholic mass. Did I turn my back on my Wiccan faith? Nope, just partaking in a different ritual to bring me closer to Divinity. Morally and ethically, we should not put down anybody’s choice of religion. The founding fathers of America knew this. Yes, America is predominantly a Christain country, the Puritans coming over from England were escaping religious discrimination. But oh, how the Native American religions got trampled. Still, when the Constitution of the United States was drafted and approved, one of the most highly regarded rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, is freedom of religion. We do also have the freedom of speech. So I recognize Joan’s freedom of speech to basically put down somebody’s religion. But it is not a wise thing to do. Putting down someone’s choice of religion is not nice. You may have the freedom to do it, but it’s just not nice. It’s not respectful.

So now, Joan seems to have second thoughts about posting all those hateful things she did last week. The warning to abusers is password protected and the Cyber Bully page is gone. As the webmistress of the site she has every right to do this. But it just smacks of cowardice. And typical of Joan’s “attack and run” personality. She doesn’t have the guts to stand by what she says. Or if it is pointed out to her that what she did was wrong, instead of owning up to her mistake, and apologizing for it, she simply wipes it out, deletes the posts, and pretends it never happened. So typical of Joan, because she has never, NEVER EVER, taken responsibility for her own actions. “don’t pin any negativity on me, ” she said in one of her posts she deleted,  and “It’s not my fault my reunion went bad.” 

No, Joan, we CAN’T pin the negativity on you, because you’re Teflon, it slides right off. But all kidding aside, this is Joan in her classic mode. She steals money from me in 1990 and 19 years later, will not admit it. Her ex-husband owned up to me about it, but never Joan. Why, once, my roommate Joyce, my husband’s cousin, who was living with us, had Joan on the phone. She told Joan, “Joan, if I gave you $50.00 to go to K-Mart and pay on my lay-away, and you go to the store, and the store is closed, what do you with the money? Do you give it back to me, or do you spend it on yourself. ” With me standing next to her, Joyce then held the receiver between our heads so we could both hear Joan’s response: “I give you back your money.” Joyce then asked her, “well why won’t you give Ruth back her money?” Joan didn’t answer. Because she couldn’t, the little thief and liar couldn’t. Her sin caught up to her. She stammered something about my car, (she had stolen the money to get her car fixed), and John and me had two cars, and some kind of nonsense like that. BUT she screwed herself. We only had one car in August 1990, when she stole the money. My friend Hassna gave us her clunker car in October, two months after Joan’s theft. The clunker car needed work, and our other car, the Grand Prix died the end of September, 1990. Because of Joan’s theft, we didn’t have the money to fix either car. It took us a couple of months, we got the clunker Cadillac going, it lasted about 5 months. We still did not have the money to fix the Grand Prix. We went for years without a car. The Grand Prix dry rotted out, we sold it for junk for $40.00. I was still paying off the bank loan that was part of  the money that Joan stole from me. So Joan’s thievery and selfishness left my  husband and me, taking public transportation in the cold.  And in a financial bind. BUT TO THIS DAY, JOAN WHEELER WILL NOT OWN UP TO WHAT SHE DID! She’s a thief. We all know it. But she will not admit to it.

Come on Joan, where’s your courage? Got none? NOPE, because you are a thief. You are a liar, and you are a coward. When you post something on the internet, have the courage to stand by it. You have no honor.  You broke your promise to me many years ago, when you promised to pay me the money back. Your word is yourself. You break your word, you break yourself.  Not me, not your other birth sisters, not your adoptive cousins, but you, you and you alone. “It’s not my fault.” oh yes it is Joan, yes it is.

Attack and run. This is what you always have done Joan. Attack and run. This is exactly what bullies do Joan. Attack and run. Cyber bullying? Yes, Joan, you have always been a bully, and now that you have discovered the internet, you have found a new way to bully me, and others. “don’t read my blog,” you dictate to me, yet you admit to coming over and reading my blog. Typical bully behavior.

Disclaimer: I’m not of the view that the hateful, ignorant and intolerant people in this image represent all Christians.. These are just a sad, sad minority.

An observation from someone: “She obviously has a one-track mind when it comes to us. Has she actually been diagnosed as schizoid, cos that’s exactly what she is presenting. Her fixation on us, her insistence on blaming us for all her ills,and the fact that she is accusing us of doing exactly what she is doing,the bullying, and the way she targets you in particular, is precisely the way my ex-neighbour behaved-and she was officially diagnosed as schizoid. There’s obviously more going on than bitterness over adoption.”

Yes, that’s exactly it. I have been her target for years. The stealing from me, the bulliness she has shown to me since 1983. The soap opera plots. My god, she must have gotten these sick ideas from watching General Hospital back in the day when Luke and Laura were on. There was one sick beyotch on there, dam if I can remember her name, but I swear, all these silly things Joan has been doing comes from the soaps. I used to watch a lot of them, but got away from them. Now I only watch Young and the Restless. gosh, what Joan has done to me puts Katherine Chancelor and Jill Foster Abbott to shame. Mrs. C. and Jill have been feuding since the show started in 1973. Is that where you’re getting ideas from Joan? From Y+ R? lol.

Also in her blog, she attacks my oldest sister for her Pagan religion. I am Pagan as well.

Excuse me, Joan Wheeler, we live in America and in America, we have the Freedom of  Religion. And in case you didn’t do your research, because I know you didn’t, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DOES OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZE MY RELIGION, WICCA AS AN OFFICIAL RELIGION.

YOUR OWN SON JOINED THE NAVY TO PROTECT OUR DEMOCRACY AND OUR BILL OF RIGHTS AND NOW THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY HIM, A VETERAN, BY SNUBBING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES?

THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY YOUR BIRTH BROTHER WHO SERVED IN VIETNAM IN THE US MARINE CORPS? WITH YOUR BIGOTED VIEWS OF RELIGION?

amd in the past, you slammed the Catholic Church? And you posted an erroneous post about Yom Kippur back in October?

My blog readers, and I know you guys are out there. And anyone who clicks on over from Joan’s site, and ANY investigator, or any visitor from BGH: I ask you now, who is the bully, cyber or otherwise?

Two articles I came across recently. The first article is an older story from 2008, but I thought it was worth mentioning. The second article is somewhat more recent.

Article 1: A London hairdresser gets sued by a hijab-wearing Muslim for discrimination after being told that they would need her to remove her headscarf to model the alternative hairstyles offered by the salon:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1027300/How-I-nearly-lost-business-refusing-hire-Muslim-hair-stylist-wouldnt-hair.html

Article 2: A headscarf-wearing Muslim convert sues a small family-run hotel for ‘anti-Muslim abuse’.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1234509/Hoteliers-cleared-insulting-Muslim-guest-wearing-hijab-breakfast.html

My question to you is, do you think these are legitimate grievances, or simply a case of overly-sensitive people living in a litigious society?

The small town of southern Punjab that I was born in is so unheard of that I usually tell people I’m from Multan – that being the closest semblance of a metropolis in the region. It was no wonder then that many of my friends sent me text-messages asking whether my family was safe after the blast in Multan. My reaction to the news is hard to describe. While none of my family actually live in Multan, it is a city frequented by many due to unavailability of specialized or advanced services. The probability of a relative being the victim of this blast is low, but then again, isn’t that the case of all victims of this senseless wave of terror that has gripped Pakistan lately?

For many the frequency and the viciousness of these bomb blasts and similar armed attacks is unprecedented and unfathomable. But I am convinced that such a view is neither coherent, nor grounded in reality. In fact, many if not most Pakistanis, continue to view the terrorism that has plagued Pakistan as a reactionary phenomenon of the post-9/11 world. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The daily barrages of suicide bombers and cold-blooded murders of civilians are merely a symptom of a much greater problem that has existed since the partition of the country: religious intolerance. Jinnah’s vision of a prosperous Pakistan in which religion had no influence on the business of the state never took off. Within the first five years of the inception of this country, the notorious Majlis e Ahrar, abused religious rhetoric to defame the Ahmadi community–all in an effort to regain political ground lost as a result of its opposition to the very idea of Pakistan. Instead of firm action against the group for sowing the seeds of intolerance, the provincial government of Chief Minister Daultana used imitated similar rhetoric to enhance political support.

The civilian administration’s pleas for action against the groups inciting hatred and intolerance went unheeded. The result was the violence and riots against Ahmadis in 1953. A report written by Justice Munir and Justice Kayani in 1954 is an extensive account of and commentary on the consequences of religious bigotry. It exposes the Mullahs’ and the politicians’ strategy of using religion as a vehicle to advance political goals.

The sham question of whether or not Pakistan is an Islamic state has held the people of this country hostage for all of its life. Pakistanis have been unable to resolve, even more than sixty years later, the ideology and the purpose of their country. Is it an Islamic state or is it a state for Muslims which guarantees the rights of all minorities? Sadly, few Pakistanis even know about the 1953 riots or the subsequent Munir Report–a scathing account of the government and society at large. This history, vital to progress, because it teaches us to learn from our past mistakes as a nation, has been for all purposes, erased from our collective memories.

The ominous writing on the wall went unheeded. And the brave nation and its politicians placed political expediency before principles by arbitrarily making Ahmadis a minority overnight. Many see this as the first step to the radicalization of the country. I insist it began a long time ago, at least as far back as early 1950s. With the overthrow of the popularly elected Bhutto government, Zia sought to consolidate his power through bogus claims made in the name of Islam. With the resurgence of Shia Islam in the post-1979 era, a concerted effort began to undermine the political power of the Pakistani Shia community. Unfortunately, the state became a collaborator. Targeted killings of Shia professionals continued throughout the 80s, 90s, and the 2000s–often turning into a tit-for-tat cycle.

The basis for the hateful ideologies that underpinned such violence had been developed long ago, and used with catastrophic precision in the prior attacks on Ahmadis. The Munir Report documents the obnoxious and irrational rhetoric used by Mullahs during the 1950s to inflame public passions. Similar pollution spewed from the mouth pieces of the Sipah e Sahaba and allied groups to justify the cold-blooded murders of minorities in Pakistan.

Now the same old crap has been recycled to justify the killings of all Pakistanis who may or may not be opposed to the ideologies of the Taliban. The Taliban are creatures of our own intolerance. They are part and parcel of our society. They may have been given steroids by intervention oft-blamed foreign powers, however it is our society that birthed them, and it is thorough introspection of ourselves that will end them.

When I describe my efforts to spark a revival of the New Age movement, some of my California friends say we don’t need a label for alternative spirituality because, they say, “The New Age is mainstream now.” Guess they didn’t get that memo at the Indianapolis Public Schools.

In November, word got out that the school system was blocking web sites with “inappropriate content” such as sites on alcohol and illegal drugs, tobacco, gambling, pornography, violence and hate, and “alternative spirituality/beliefs.” They helpfully explain this category to include such notions as Wicca and “Occult practices, atheistic views, voodoo rituals and or any other forms of mysticism.” Never mind the odd lumping together of contradictory beliefs. The point was clear: anything other than traditional religion is not acceptable, and possibly dangerous to young minds.

Now what is most interesting is that the blogosphere ran with this only because an atheist organization decided to send the school system a letter of protest.  (Interesting note:  in the fanfare announcing the letter, the atheistic  Freedom From Religion Foundation linked to a ARIS report that says 14 percent of Americans are “non-religious.”  But this puts the actual number of athiests and agnostics at a total of only 1.6 percent of the population, meaning they are using the “spiritual but not religious” numbers to bolster their argument.) And from that one letter, atheist sites and blogs everywhere joined in the outrage over the censorship. I eventually found a few comments from pagan organizations as well.

But by and large, voices that represent alternative and holistic spirituality, or the cultural creative contingent, were conspicuously absent. Of course, that is partly because there are no “alternative spirituality” organizations. It would be impossible to organize such a thing since most people who practice alternative spirituality prefer to do so without a label — perhaps the better to avoid getting pelted with tomatoes like the one just launched by Indianapolis schools.

Sadly, the result of this label avoidance, besides the freedom to hunker down anonymously, is that the religious intolerance against alternative spirituality flourishes unchecked. The mainstream continues to literally block us out of existence in the culture, as the Indianapolis schools just did.

This means the ideas we hold, ideas the world desperately needs right now, stay hidden at the fringes of society. We have no social capital, no voice, no ability to stand up and make ourselves heard on issues that matter.  This is a ridiculous state of affairs when according to Newsweek, 30 percent of Americans now consider themselves “spiritual but not religious,” and most of these presumably practice some form of alternative spirituality.

I grow weary of being misjudged and misunderstood and powerless. I want young people to be able to discover a strong and definite alternative to the failing paradigm that is destroying their future, not just sort of mushy nameless blocked whatevers. I want a strong and proud New Age back.  www.newagepride.org

This has always been one of my favorite cartoons, so I thought I’d share.

I’m not agreeing with everything in the cartoon, and I certainly have nothing against Christianity or Christians. It’s just interesting how the message of Jesus has become so politicized and marketed – that it’s sometimes vastly different from the original.

If you can’t read the text – click the link below to be taken to one of the original sources:

http://rynosseros.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/jeezus.jpg

** Hint – Click on the image in the link to enlarge to full-size  **

Asra Nomani speaks about Muslim women’s rights, extremism, equality in mosques and an inclusive Islam.

Gotta’ love this lady!

Check it out at the link below:

http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Islam/2009/06/Searching-for-an-Inclusive-Islam-Asra-Nomani.aspx

Part 1/5

Part 2/5

Part 3/5

Part 4/5

Part 5/5

Article text below copied from: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/john_mark_reynolds/2009/12/something_that_really_should_worry_europe.html

To be honest, when I first read the title – I thought he was going to go on about Turkey’s shameful ban on headscarves, and indeed, on any shows of religious affiliation in universities and government. Reading on, I was surprised to find something completely different.

I just found it ridiculous, that out of all the Islamic countries he could have criticized for being anti-Christian, that he chose Turkey – one of the most anti-religious and pluralistic Islamic-majority nations.

I also don’t really understand what he was going on about.. How he linked the murder of an Orthodox priest in Russia (the details of which are also never visited) to Turkey not permitting the construction of an Orthodox seminary, and how the lack of a new seminary in Turkey is going to kill Christian Orthodoxy. As if they can’t import priests?

Anyway, check out the article below, along with my submitted comments (as ‘ElleMyBelle’). A link to the original article is included above.

Real religious oppression in Turkey, not Switzerland

Switzerland should not have banned minarets. It was both wrong and stupid, which is something even for government. Condemnations will be loud and are deserved. Meanwhile in November a Russian priest has been martyred in Moscow for the temerity of disagreeing with the Islamic religion or Putin’s oligarchy.

Few will notice or care.

It is sad commentary on the state of Europe and America that a few minarets not built will generate more outrage than a dead priest. It is wrong to keep someone from building a place of worship, but it is worse to kill their religious leaders to silence them.

If we are to condemn violations in Europe of the right to build religious structures, and we should, then we must raise our voices against Turkey.

If you can build a building, but your cleric is not safe there, then you have no religious freedom. We should seek out the murderers of Father Daniel Sysoyev who tried to silence a brave religious man for his opinions.

The titular leader of the world’s millions of Orthodox Christians cannot build a seminary in Turkey. Christians cannot build adequate churches in that European nation, a situation that is not about to change. Surely centuries of brutal second-class citizenship for Turkish Christians are as serious as the wrong-headed actions of the Swiss last week.

The Swiss voters were wrong and the Turkish government is wrong, but the Swiss voters were wrong this week and the Turkish government is now into decades of keeping an Orthodox seminary closed. Our condemnation should, therefore be proportional, but it will not be.

The Swiss voters were foolish to try to solve an inner problem with cosmetics, but the fears of the Swiss voters are not with a basis. A brave, but dead priest in Moscow stokes their fears. Centuries of Christian history may soon end in Istanbul, ancient Constantinople, because the government of Turkey will not allow a seminary to replenish the Turkish priesthood–and this aggravates the worries of the Swiss voters.

By all means, however, let us loudly condemn the voters of Switzerland with their long record of warfare, religious intolerance, and violence against believers. Let us gloss over the Turkish practices, or study them in yet another fruitful EU conference, because of the long record of tolerance for religious minorities in Turkey.

The Ecumenical Patriarch is old and the problem may solve itself, like many problems in Europe, through the inevitable truths of the actuary table.

There is a double standard and the Swiss voters knew it. The martyrdom of Christians in the Sudan, the work camps for Christians in China, the yearly martyrdom of Christians in North Korea, and the destruction of Coptic Christianity in Egypt is hardly a topic for polite conversation let alone passionate condemnation. Islamic radicals can kill Christians, the “secular” Turkish government can inhibit their freedom of religion, and Communist states can massacre them, and too little will be said.

Let Swiss voters ban minarets and we will rally to do something. Two wrongs do not of course make a right, but in a world of wrongs some are worth more outrage than others.

Father Sysoyev is dead in Moscow, but by all means let us condemn the Swiss voters loudly enough that we cannot hear his blood cry out for justice. If we look into it too hard, it might complicate the European energy picture.

If a good priest was killed for his opinions about Islam, it is far worse than a bad-zoning decision by fearful Swiss voters. If a good priest was killed for his opposition to the corruption in the Putin government, then this is far worse than banning minarets.

Christians should unite and ask the Swiss people to reconsider their foolish decision. They should even more loudly demand that European Turkey allow churches and seminaries to be freely built.

Christians should pray that the soul of our father in Christ Daniel Sysoyev rest in peace and the faithful in Moscow should see that justice comes to the killers.

By John Mark Reynolds  |  December 1, 2009; 5:57 PM ET

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Posted by: ElleMyBelle | December 5, 2009 7:14 PM
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There are few, if any,  instances today  of nations banning the installing of a crucifix or other identification on top of houses of worship. So why now are the Swiss, known as a foremost country of religious tolerance, rejecting the construction of a minaret, an identifying prayer tower, on a mosque? The justice minister of Switzerland, when questioned, said that the ban reflects fears among the Swiss of Islamic fundamentalism tendencies.

Every religion has it s own tendencies, for goodness sake. If other countries reacted similarly, we could find ourselves in an era of fearful religious intolerance.

(Audrey) We hear a lot about Islam and intolerance. As somebody who studies Islam (albeit in the past, but no matter) I hear the following objections of intolerance raised against modern incarnations of the religion frequently: Islam doesn’t allow people to convert out, it’s deeply oppressive to women, they sanction cruel punishments, Muslims hate Jews, they desire warfare above all else, the Quran justifies killing innocent people in the name of God, and the list goes on. I was struck to read the following closing paragraph by Thomas Friedman in his NYT column yesterday, directed towards Muslims who would deny accusations such as those given above:

“Whenever something like Fort Hood happens you say, ‘This is not Islam.’ I believe that. But you keep telling us what Islam isn’t. You need to tell us what it is and show us how its positive interpretations are being promoted in your schools and mosques. If this is not Islam, then why is it that a million Muslims will pour into the streets to protest Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, but not one will take to the streets to protest Muslim suicide bombers who blow up other Muslims, real people, created in the image of God? You need to explain that to us — and to yourselves.”

I’d like to turn the tables—why don’t other religions feel called upon to prove that they’re not intolerant… to Islam in particular? Can we take it even further and prove that when some members of a religion show intolerance to Muslims that the rest rise up in protest? Let’s take this straight to my heart—Christianity folks, can we prove that we welcome Islam and Islamic modes of life with open arms, and that we fight against out brethren who are intolerant?

Exhibit of the day: Switzerland. Just yesterday, the increasingly intolerant Swiss voted to ban the construction of minarets in their nation because minarets, i.e. steeple-like towers on top of mosques, are signs of Islamicization. Switzerland has 400,000 Muslims and 4 minarets. That’s not a typo, 400,000 and 4. How is this freedom to practice religion? Add to this that the few mosques there actually are in the country were attacked and desecrated leading up to this vote, and I’d say we have a serious case of Christian intolerance to Islam. Where’s the outcry? Friedman, I’m waiting…

Perhaps, in point of fact, members of a major world religion are not obligated to defend themselves every time that other members do something we disagree with. For the Swiss case, I can say that this is a Swiss problem, not my problem, and leave it there. Why do we have so much trouble conceptualizing that Islam is just as diverse and disconnected as Christianity? What one Muslim does is not another’s problem defacto. To paraphrase a Christian maxim—perhaps we should remove the plank from our own eye before we go viciously stabbing out the eyes of our Islamic brothers.

Update: And in a related story, as they say, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has officially lost its collective mind (here, its “heart” and basic sense of decency having long since departed as well).

Kirk Cameron – a mid-level actor – views himself as a strong Christian. Okay. No problem there.

But when he starts spouting dubious statistics and slanderous claims against college science professors because he wants to be the next Michael Behe or because some little-known outfit called Living Waters wants to insult college science professors using his half fame as proxy, then I have a bit of a problem.

Kirkie Cameron youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM0oBuhTLRI

More on what Cameron and his anti-Darwin creationist buddies at Living Waters are doing can be found at InsideHigherEd. Make sure you read the comments which follow the article.

Nov. 24, 2009 – Armenian students & activists gathered in Central Yerevan, Armenia’s Republic Square and marched toward the Georgian Embassy in protest of the Georgian Govt.’s intentional neglect of the numerous ancient Armenian Churches within its borders, as well as its restriction against officially registering the Armenian Apostolic Church as an active diocese in today’s Georgian State where several hundred-thousand Armenians reside.

The demonstration against the Georgian Govt.’s policy was an active and outspoken response to the recent collapse of a wall of the ancient ‘Mughni Surp Gevorg’ Armenian Apostolic Church, on Nov. 19, 2009 in Tbilisi, Georgia – illustrating the tragic consequences of such policies of discrimination & religious intolerance.

The damage and collapse caused by the lack of maintenance and upkeep was to such a degree that nearby buildings were also damaged within the Sololaki District of the Georgian Capital (The Georgian Times). Surp Gevorg Church remains closed due to its critically deteriorating condition, and unfortunately, is not the only Armenian Church suffering from such circumstances in Georgia.

The ancient Armenian ‘Surb Norashen Church’, also located in Tbilisi, Georgia, dates back to 1467 A.D. and was closed off from any religious activities in the 1930’s by the then Communist Govt., and instead, was used as a book depository much like many other religious sites at the time.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the newly Independent State of Georgia purposely neglected returning the Armenian church to the Armenian Apostolic Church Diocese in Tbilisi – gating off the church, destroying ancient Armenian tomb stones, and boarding up the church instead.

Chairman of the Armenian Center of Cooperation in Georgia, Karen Elchyan, has categorized this process as “Georgian-ization,” where the government has intentionally isolated & boarded up Surp Norashen Church; restricting public access, encircling it with concrete walls displaying Georgian Crosses and initiating a campaign to annex Norashen to the neighboring Georgian Orthodox Church, claiming it as one of its own.

A U.S. State Department’s Global Report in November 2005, describing the state of religious freedom in the Georgian Republic, declared:

“Many problems among traditional religious groups stem from property disputes. The Roman Catholic and Armenian Apostolic Churches have been unable to secure the return of their churches and other facilities that were closed during the Soviet period, many of which later were given to the Georgian Orthodox Church by the [Georgian] State…

…the prominent Armenian church in Tbilisi, Norashen, remains closed, as do four other smaller Armenian churches in Tbilisi and one in [the region of] Akhaltsikhe.”

Among the 29 Armenian Churches functioning in Tbilisi in the beginning of the 20th-Century, only 1 remains active. Many analysts and members of the Armenian Community in Georgia view this as an attempt to completely assimilate or drive out what remains of this centuries old ethnic-Armenian population.

What is needed now is decisive action within the Armenian Diaspora today by petitioning their influential community leaders, such as the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA), Homenetmen Youth Organizations & Armenian Student groups, who are active within the Armenian-American Community, as well as other communities, so as to lobby their respective governments for support.

Our worldwide Armenian network not only has the access but also the resources and potential determination to rally their respective host countries toward pressuring the Georgian Govt. to not only protect and rehabilitate centuries old Armenian Churches, but to also register the Armenian Apostolic Church, and other active religious groups, as legal religious entities within today’s Georgian Republic.

The several hundred thousand strong Armenian Community in Georgia deserves the same rights of religious and ethnic tolerance as their brethren enjoy elsewhere, let’s not take our rights and good fortune for granted.

Join us in reversing the Georgian Government’s campaign by signing the following petition urging the Armenian Apostolic Church, ANCA, AAA, and other influential organizations within the Armenian Diaspora to lobby in their respective host countries to mobilize and take action in defense of our ethnic and religious heritage:

www.PetitionOnline.com/DefendAM/petition.html

Footage, text and publishing provided by the Armenian-American Students & Activists United.

Washington, D.C. – The annual FBI report on bias-related hate crimes in the United States notes increases in violent attacks against LGBT people, African Americans, and Jewish people.  Mandated by the 1990 Hate Crimes Statistics Act, the collection and publication of these data received voluntarily from law enforcement organizations almost always underestimate the number of incidents and victims of hate crime attacks because of gaps in reportage, lack of funding to support local law enforcement compliance with FBI requests for this information, and the reluctance of persons to identify themselves as targets of hate violence.  CBS News analysis of the 2009 FBI report notes that though the numbers of attacks is up only slightly over the previous year, 7,783 criminal incidents involving 9,168 offenses in 2008 as opposed to 7,624 criminal incidents involving 9,006 offenses reported in 2007, the rise in violence against these three vulnerable groups is particularly worrying.  Anti-black attacks accounted for 72.6% of all racially-motivated violence, which in aggregate amounted to 51.3% of all hate crimes in the United States in 2008.  Anti-religious bias accounted for 19.5% of the total, with anti-Jewish attacks representing the vast majority of these incidents, 65.7%.  Violent crimes motivated by sexual orientation ranked third among all bias-motivated crimes, at 16.7%.  Of these anti-LGBT attacks, a full 11% higher in 2008 than in 2007, most by far were perpetrated against gay men, 58.6% of all hate crimes against people because of homophobia and heterosexism.  Here in Texas, according to the Dallas Voice, hate crimes against LGBT people were up a full 20% over the previous year.  The entire FBI report for 2008 may be accessed in .pdf form here.  Human rights leaders across the nation were quick to call for swift and decisive action to prosecute perpetrators of hate violence, and to reduce the alarming increases among blacks, Jews, and LGBT people.  Joe Solmonese, speaking for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy organization released this statement on Monday: “These numbers are unacceptable.  While it is so important that we have the new federal hate crimes law, it is critical to ensure that we continue working with the Department of Justice to ensure the safety of LGBT citizens.  We have to prosecute each hate crime to the fullest extent of the law, but we also need to get at the roots.  When we don’t know each other as human beings, ignorance breeds misunderstanding, which breeds hate, which too often this year led to violence.  We have to keep fighting the prejudices and stereotypes that underlie these acts.”  Roger G. Sugarman, National Chair of the Anti-Defamation League, noted for the Ha’aretz Service “While the increase in the number of hate crimes may be partially attributed to improved reporting, the fact that these numbers remain elevated – particularly the significant rise in the number of victims selected on the basis of religion or sexual orientation – should be of concern to every American.”