Shenanigans, Phelps, and the ACLU....OH MY!!!!!!

"How are you today?" I asked the face in the mirror. "Fine!" I replied. Boy did I miss the mark on that  one. Well....actually I was fine, until I found out more shenanigans my son has been up to. (Shenanigans....I love that word. It makes the unacceptable...sound much more acceptable.) At any rate...when you live within small communities....nothing goes unnoticed and therefore....childrens shenanigans....ALWAYS get back to Mom.

Once again I am pounding my head against the wall and wondering what the answers are to raising a young man whose favorite words are "I am a grown ass man," and then turns around and acts like a 16 year old without a brain cell in his head. Oops....I forgot. He IS a grown ass man and he shouldn't be acting a fool and getting himself into things that he can't get out of. More over that though.....my days of raising him are through. That ship sailed years ago as he ran from my home screaming what an adult he was and how I was too stupid to dress myself....let alone give him advice on how to live his life.

Funny though, every time he has  a car repair, a divorce,  a run in with the law, or a problem of any kind....Mom apparently looks pretty good. Then once Mom runs to the rescue....helps to get things fixed...and things start looking up....I am once again the dirt beneath his shoes. I will say however, he is an equal opportunity user....for any family member who is willing and stupid enough to help him gets equally walked on.

Do I sound harsh? I feel harsh...and to be honest....all my anger is not at him. I own a good percent of the blame in his willingness to use me....as I have allowed it. Being Mom, I always want to fix things and make it all okay as if he was still coming to me with skinned elbows and knees. But there comes a time when fixing things doesn't really help any more. Sometimes, we as parents, have to stand back and let those wounds sting and bleed. No kiss....no bandage....no help. Now is that time for my son.

We have not talked since Christmas when I realized what a fool I was being and how I was being lied to and taken advantage of. Then the day before Mother's Day he called. I knew he was wanting something and it wasn't just to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. I cut him short and ended the conversation just as he began telling me that our problems were my fault. Now I find out this. The details don't matter. It is just another in a long line of shenanigans that will require money to fix and this time maybe even more. But this time....I can't help. This time he is going to have to do more than pay lip service to being..........a grown ass man!

          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


http://www.kansas.com/2010/05/19/1320501/kan-ag-readies-brief-in-funeral.html
This article was in the local paper. The people being referred to....the Phelps family....I simply do not understand. I am sure I am just one of a multitude of Christian Americans who stand back and scratch their heads wondering how these people can call themselves Christian or American?


This family prides itself on using their Constitutional rights (mainly their right to free speech) to constantly put down all things Christian and American while hiding behind a self proclaimed Christian church...better known as the Westboro Baptist Church. Fred Phelps...the leader (preacher, minister, whatever) of this church, teaches his flock (many of whom are related to him) that hate is the Christian way. And hate they do!!!! They hate other Christians, service men, the families of service men, politicians, the court system (which they try to use to further their message of hate), America in general......and most especially gays!!!!! And what is sadder is....they have such a warped sense of  God, religion, and most things in general....that what comes from this is nothing more than someone teaching a whole new generation that hate is the answer.


And they are not satisfied to practice their hate filled beliefs in the confines of their church. Oh no...these followers of Phelps take their hate on the road. Most particularly they choose military funerals of young men and women who have died for their churches right to free speech. They come with signs a blazing about how God hates fags! or Thank God for IED's or simply God hates you! The fact that the poor families of these brave soldiers must be subjected to such hate on what is most likely the worst day of their lives.....is reprehensible to say the least.


Now the KS Attorney General is trying with the help of AG's from other states to make it illegal for Phelps and his hate-filled flock to picket at military funerals. While I am a proponent of free speech. I also believe that when our founding fathers gave us the 1st Amendment.....they had in mind a more civilized and dare I say responsible America than what we now seem to have. I think that there was an expectation that just because you can say or do something.....doesn't always mean that you should. This concept apparently goes over the heads of Phelps and his congregation. I am of the firm belief that All funerals should have a strict policy that no protests, picketing etc. can be done within the perimeter of the cemetery. That way no one is taking away Phelps' 1st Amendment rights....and the privacy of the family in mourning is also being respected.


It is a tough world we live in and sadly....where there are rights....there will always be those around to misuse, abuse, and twist them in a way that was never intended. To take those rights away from the few who abuse them is impossible in a democracy for if a few are judged unworthy of the right.....how long will it be before others are deemed just as unworthy because they are voicing something someone else might not want to hear?

          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And finally today.....on the same note...yet different (sort of)....the ACLU is suing for the right to swear. 
http://www.funnymos.com/aclu-sues-to-protect-right-to-swear.html#more-454

You just can't make this stuff up. Apparently Pennsylvania has a real problem with swearing and finds verbal profanity unacceptable. Yet a Google search of strip clubs in the state finds that physical profanity is obviously not so frowned on. Again I have to scream REALLY!!!!!!

Come on! If you cuss in PA you can get a fine and a jail term but promote the skin trade and the powers that be look the other way?!  Hmmm.... I am no big fan of the ACLU (The American Civil Liberties Union) but I think this one they got right. And shame on Pennsylvania for wasting man power and tax dollars on someone who's only crime is to cuss. Don't you have drug dealers, murderers, and pedophiles to put away like the rest of the country?????

So as you can see....today I have not been in a good place and my blog is evidence of such. In fact...you might say that today has been really  f*@%#& up!  Oops.....Thank God I don't live in Pennsylvania!