Sentient Beings vs. The Lizard People

Now, my point in posting that was not to argue over Republicans and Democrats but to point out the part about the media not having the balls to call nonsense on stuff like this. On the internet broadcast I co host each week we do a lot of calling nonsense on people and we are considered bitches. Today I raised some questions about an event coming up in Enid and I get accused of just causing trouble and being negative. Why does asking questions and expecting accountability make someone the bad guy? Why doesn't the media have the balls to up and say this kind of stuff is bullshit and we will no longer entertain it? What is wrong with good old fashioned blatant honesty???

By Bill Maher, who I think makes perfect sense all the time.

Never underestimate the ability of a tiny fringe group of losers to ruin everything.

For the last couple of weeks, we've all been laughing heartily at the wacky antics of the "birthers" -- the far-right goofballs who claim Barack Obama wasn't really born in Hawaii and therefore the job of president goes to the runner-up, former Miss California Carrie Prejean.

Also, when Obama was sworn in as president, he forgot to give his answer in the form of a question.

And yet, every week, the chorus of conservatives demanding to see his birth certificate grows. It's like they're the Cambridge police, Obama's in his house -- the White House -- and they need to see some ID.

And there's nothing anyone can do to convince these folks. You could hand them, in person, the original birth certificate and have a video of Obama emerging from the womb with Don Ho singing in the background ... and they still wouldn't believe it.

Which raises the question: Why, in this country, is it always the religious right that won't take anything on faith?

So far, the reaction from Democrats is to laugh this off, and I understand why. If you seriously believe that President Obama is an African sleeper spy, get out of your chat room and have your house tested for lead.

But we live in America, and in America, if you don't immediately kill arrant nonsense, no matter how ridiculous, it can grow and thrive and eventually take over, like crab grass or reality shows about fat people.

This flap might be a deluded right-wing obsession that is a total waste of time, but so was Whitewater, and look where that ended up. A handful of Republican operatives, enraged at Bill Clinton's unprecedented economic growth and budget surpluses, found a woman named Paula Jones, which led to a woman named Monica Lewinsky, which gave me enough material to eventually be able to buy a big house in Bel-Air. Which I'm still conflicted about.

More recently we had the Swift Boat allegations against John Kerry, in which Kerry was accused of volunteering to serve in Vietnam so he could jump in front of a bullet so he could get a medal and then throw it away to satisfy his urge to insult real Americans. This was so stupid that Kerry refused to even discuss it.

And we all know how well that worked out.

And once these stories get out there, they're hard to stamp out because our media do such a lousy job of speaking truth to stupid. Vietnam, Iraq and the Spanish-American War were all sold on lies that were unchallenged or even abetted by the media. Clinton got impeached and Kerry got destroyed in large part because the media didn't have the guts to say, "This is nonsense."

Lou Dobbs has been saying recently that people are asking a lot of questions about the birth certificate. Yes, the same people who want to know where the sun goes at night.

And Lou, you're their new king.

That's why it's so important that we the few, the proud, the reality-based attack this stuff before it has a chance to fester and spread. This isn't a case of Democrats versus Republicans. It's sentient beings versus the lizard people, and it is to them I offer this deal: I'll show you Obama's birth certificate when you show me Sarah Palin's high school diploma.

-Bill Maher

The Lost Highway Tour

Route 60, otherwise known as 412 to us locals, runs east and west across Oklahoma. It was originally said to be the shortest east-west route from Virginia to California. In our part of the state, it runs through Enid to Fairview and on into Canadian and Pampa, Texas.

According to the Enid's Good Roads Boosters article on Gary Brown's website:

"In the mid ‘20's, the Route 66 boosters in the state took the upper ground in the battle for an eastwest transcontinental roadway through Oklahoma. Enid did not give up the battle, however, and in the late ‘40's, local attorney Harry O. Glasser became active in the U.S. Highway 60 Association and became it’s president in 1947. In June of that year Enid hosted the national convention of the Highway 60 Association and attempted to chart a strategy that would gain prominence for this route over Route 66. The game plan was to divert westward bound truck traffic off of Route 66 at Vinita where US 60 intersected with US 66.

Truckers did not like Route 66 because it had become congested and was not well constructed for large trucks. If successful, Enid would benefit from the increased truck traffic. Geography and Oklahoma politics did not fair well for Enid and it’s Highway 60 plan. Progress west of Enid through remote western Oklahoma proved slow and the Route 66 proponents got their route paved first, thereby establishing it’s supremacy."

So, you see, the highway that runs through Enid was almost the Mother Road.

I have a friend that lives in Pampa, Texas who happens to be an Enid native and we are trying to put together a weekend caravan trip down the Lost Highway. We want to encourage people to load up their families and take a bit of a road trip on their portion of Route 60 between Enid and Pampa, with events being planned at the two major towns in between - Fairview & Canadian - and both Enid & Pampa. Maybe some ice cream socials in the towns in between with some folk music or some such entertainment on each end.

It's not all prganized yet, but we're working on it. This is something fun you can do with your family on a weekend that won't cost you a lot. There's a lot of beautiful scenery along the way and some interesting history, too.

Did I tell you I wrote a book???

I'm pretty sure I've plastered this all over the place, but just in case you needed to be reminded to pick one up:

With over 100 years under its belt, Oklahoma has not only a very colorful, but also a very haunted history. Ghostlahoma is the only book solely dedicated to Oklahoma ghost stories and it will take you from the very first published ghost story in Oklahoma to spectres of the present day, chilling you with tales of phantom hitch hikers and warming you with stories of "visiting" loved ones. Everyone has a ghost story - even people that "don't believe in that stuff" and the stories that comprise Ghostlahoma were submitted and in many instances, told by, the people that experienced them. So we invite you to join us as we travel through the haunted history of Ghostahoma and we hope you will enjoy the journey.

Do you have a story about a haunted Oklahoma location? Tell us about it!

The NEXT book, Ghostlahoma, Too! will be covering places where you can eat, drink, and sleep ghosts - Restaurants, Bars & Hotels/B&B's.

Paranormal Pajama Party

Join us for the first Ghost Divas Paranormal Pajama Party August 15th at the Old Johnson House Inn Bed & Breakfast in Hugo, OK. Ghost stories in your jammies, a little Light as a Feather, a little Bloody Mary - good ol' old fashioned slumber party! Girls only! BYOB. $60 includes snacks, lodging, breakfast and a great time! Get your ticket quickly!

Judge Not...

My eyes are still stinging from the tears and my heart is still heavy as I write this. I just finished watching "The Diary of Anne Frank." There those people were, hiding in a cramped attic for two years, waiting, hoping, never giving up. Anne wrote in her diary that she hoped her words would continue even after she was gone and that she hoped to one day make it to Hollywood. Those things came true, though not quite the way she hoped, and her optimism has inspired countless people.

As I sat here with the tears streaming down my face and thinking about the horrid things people have done to other people throughout history, it struck me that even though people aren't being sent to concentration camps in trainloads and gassed to death, people are still being treated horribly for their differences. It may be something as blatant as a KKK rally or something as subtle as the local newspaper completely ignoring the first Pride event in a small Bible Belt town, but it's STILL happening every day.

What the hell is wrong with people??? How hard is it really just to love and honor each other for being a fellow human being? Why does it matter what color someone's skin is? Why does it matter what God someone serves? Or doesn't serve, for that matter? What difference does it make who touches someone's heart? Seriously? What DIFFERENCE does it PERSONALLY make to YOU? Does it affect your ability to feed your family? Does it affect your ability to sleep at night? Does it affect your ability to pay your bills? Does it affect your ability to serve the God of your choice?

I challenge each and every person that reads this to search your soul and ask yourself these questions. Ask yourself how that person you hate just because they're a different religion than you affects YOU? Why does it bother you that they don't have the same beliefs as you? Why does it bother you that a woman can fall in love with another woman or a man with another man? How does it personally affect YOUR life?

I think if you really, really get honest with yourself, you will find that none of it has a damn thing to do with you and the only reason people pass judgment is because there is something about themselves missing. My guess is it's simple compassion and understanding. I don't want to hear any bullshit "The Bible says" either. The Bible says to love one another. I promise for every verse you can find damning someone for their lifestyle, I can find two telling you not to judge and it's not even my choice for spiritual guidance.

Some people in our community have been discussing how disgusted they were that the newspaper slighted the Pride event and we have been accused of simply wanting drama. The people that say that couldn't be further from the truth. Those people have no idea the very real hurt in our hearts that this kind of ignorance and hate is being practiced in our community. It's not about homosexuality, it's about being humans on the same planet. Plain and simple. It physically turns my stomach that people can stick their heads in the proverbial sand and pretend it's nothing to hate another person. It physcially turns my stomach to hear people say their child can't play with another child because their family is a different religion or because so and so has two moms.

STOP teaching your children to be ignorant and intolerant. Teach them love and compassion for all human beings, not just other humans of the same denomination.

One argument I often hear when talking about intolerance is "You're just being intolerant of my beliefs because I don't agree with you." BULLSHIT. What a fucking cop out. Or people will simply act like they have no idea what the big deal is. Avoidance and apathy are just as wrong as blatant actions. Intolerance is intolerance even if you dress it up with the Bible. It sickens me that something that was meant to teach people values and morals is being used as an excuse for ignorance, intolerance, and stupidity. What Would Jesus Do? He'd be sickened at the perversion his teachings have become.

Again, I ask you to dig deep. Put what you've been "taught" aside and think about how anyone else's life personally affects YOUR life and think twice the next time you come across someone you want to judge. You don't know what their lives have been like, you don't know their story, and you damn sure don't have the right to judge them.

An opportunity and a challenge

When I was little we used to write letters to people. On paper. With pens. In our own handwriting. There was nothing like the excitement of opening the mail box to find a letter addressed to you or the sadness of not finding the one you were expecting. When we're gone from this world, our children will not have an old sweet smelling hat box to sift through as they sit on the floor with a glass of wine, careful not to tear the aged papers that hold our memories and cry soft, quiet tears over the things that remind them of us. They will not have the experience of wandering through the letters from friends and old lovers and wondering about our lives before they knew us. What will they have? A computer full of emails and photos they can't access without our passwords.

So I challenge you.

Find an old friend and write them a letter and ask them to participate in this with you. Let's leave something for our children to hold onto one day. If you don't know someone you want to send a letter to, email me at oldtimeletters@gmail.com and I will give you an address of someone else that wants to write and receive letters.

Come on - it'll be fun! We've also created a site at myspace - www.myspace.com/oldtimeletters. You can see other people that want to do this and exchange addresses there, too.

Do you relish and long for the days of old when people used to drop in with their calling cards, sipped juleps on the patio together in their finest attire, and exchanged hand written letters? Emails and technology are convenient and wondrous but we can't hold them in our hands and clutch them to our hearts on a warm summer night. Let's revive the art and the excitement of letters.

25 Random Things About Me

1. I was really, really bitter about my Phillips University experience but miss a lot of the friends I made there and am glad to have reunited with them on Facebook :)

2. I will drive for hours to see something weird or interesting.

3. I love scary movies. I can't find anyone to watch them with me, though. I also love going to the theater alone because then I don't miss anything - I get REALLY irritated when I miss things in movies.

4. I love the Frisco bar, too. Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name... LOL My husband has tended bar there for nearly 12 years now. We exchange gifts, go to kids' birthday parties, and go on vacations with the friends we've made at the bar. And it's perfectly normal to us.

5. It does not scare me to spend the night in scary places - in fact, I love it.

6. I was on The Learning Channel once with my friend, Tonya, for a ghost hunting show.

7. My favorite thing to do growing up was to get $2 and go off on my bike. I could eat lunch at Pak-a-Sak and go to the library and spend the entire day finding things to do and it made me perfectly happy. I still like to take a book and go to Pak-a-Sak for lunch.

8. I get really irritated when other people ask me what my plan is. I don't have a damn plan. I'll get there when I get there. That way people can't complain because I'm late :).

9. I love light beer. My current favorite is Moldelo Especial and Landshark - which is getting harder to find.

10. I have tons of books. I have them in nearly every room of my house. I bought books for my kids before I had kids.

11. I am addicted to Real Housewives of Orange County. I love to watch how other people live. I think they're ridiculous, yet I am mesmerized.

12. I want to go back to school but I'm not sure what I want to be when I grow up. I think I've decided to get my degree in history and then I can still go to law school if I decide to later.

13. I am a practicing witch. (that is absolutely a coincidence that is #13, LOL)

14. I have a passion for Volswagen bugs. I have a 1965 one and I love it. Besides my wedding ring, it is my most prized possession.

15. My wedding ring was my mother in law's wedding ring and it meant the world to me when my husband gave it to me for Christmas a couple of years ago.

16. I would honestly like to build relationships with people I didn't know very well in school now that we're adults and highschool bs doesn't matter.

17. I don't have A best friend, I have several. And they are all truly the best friends.

18. I love to camp and go on adventures.

19. I have co-authored a book am really excited about it. It's called Ghostlahoma and it just came out.

20. I felt like less of a person because I didn't finish college. But then I realized that raising productive, responsible, intelligent citizens was really just as important. Being a mom is not less than being a college graduate.

21. I wish I knew how to play the guitar. I have one, but I don't know how to play it. I also have a mandolin but I don't know to play it, either.

22. My biological father was the president of the Heathens Motorcycle Family in Santa Maria, California. He was shot defending someone and was buried on his Harley - no shit.

23. I love the theater and really miss being involved in it.

24. I have a life sized leg lamp in my living room window - like the one from A Christmas Story.

25. My friend and I have made plans that if I am ever widowed, we will find a big scary house and become crazy cat ladies together and scare all the people in the neighborhood on purpose. We want to have that house the kids dare each other to run up and touch.