Religious Liberty

genessa comments on Feb 17, 2019:

the same thing applies to their definition of freedom of speech: "i have freedom of speech so you shut up!" g

What is a book that has been important in the development of your worldview?

genessa comments on Feb 17, 2019:

there have been so many, so VERY many. i don't think one book changed my WHOLE world view, but many books changed many parts of it. a spaniard in the works and in his own write changed my view of writing itself, which is important as i am a writer. stranger in a strange land was seminal. if i listed them all the computer would explode. g

Is it OK to be racist against white people?

genessa comments on Feb 17, 2019:

first of all, there is no such thing as pc. it's just a phrase concocted by people who can't understand why other people would be nice to still other people without some ulterior motive... as if everyone would casually use the "n" word unless someone was around to tell them not to. it's a little bit like being good because there's a god. or to put it more succinctly, fuck pc. second of all, not everything you mentioned is racist. let's go through that list. You CAN be racist against white people but is it OK? racism is not okay. Is it OK to tell an entire race they need to atone for the actions of their ancestors? no, it wouldn't be, but it might be appropriate to tell the powers that be (and guess what race that mostly represents, right?) that something needs to be done to 1. stop the actions that are STILL CONTINUING even if in a slightly different form and 2. give some kind of compensation -- not atonement, but compensation -- for even the past actions, if they were dreadful and had long-lasting consequences. we are STILL feeling the consequences of the slavery of kidnapped africans. "well, i didn't personally do it, so fuck you" is not appropriate. Is it OK to tell an entire race they are racist simply because of their race? no, but who's doing that? if you think that's what protesting against racism is, then you don't understand the situation at all. asking that question implies that thought. Is it OK to blame an entire race on the actions of 2 people? which two people? i don't understand who would be doing this. this doesn't relate to any reality of which i am aware, and i DO pay close attention. asking this question implies that this is an actual issue. Is it OK to purposely tell your kids to not trust an entire race? no, but it IS okay to purposely tell your kids how to survive an untrustworthy system that is skewed toward an entire other race. it would not be okay NOT to do so because the kids might be harmed or killed otherwise. i have heard repeatedly from black parents that they had to sit their kids down and explain how not to be shot by white cops. should they have to do that? of course not! but they DO have to do that! so it's not just okay, it's necessary! and it's not the same thing as telling kids not to trust a whole race. g

True. Very true.

genessa comments on Feb 17, 2019:

gratitude doesn't exist in a vacuum any more than love does. you love something or someone. you're grateful to something or someone. gratitude as an attitude, at least to me, implies a deity. it doesn't SAY a deity, the person feeling the gratitude may simply feel "lucky," but to express it as gratitude does beg an object. therefore i generally object to the concept of gratitude unless it's TO a specific someone. g

There is no agnostic vs. atheist! The peeve I have...

genessa comments on Feb 17, 2019:

i will quote isaac asimov: “I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow, it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I'm a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally, I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time.” now i will quote myself: i can't be an agnostic because i know that there is no tooth fairy, even though i've had more evidence of a tooth fairy than of a deity of any sort. i am not unsure. i feel sure. i don't think i have to prove to myself that the sidewalk (still) exists (or ever existed) by checking every morning. some things are so ridiculous that we DO know, even without proof, because of that good ol' not being able to prove a negative thing. i can't be an agnostic about every damned thing in the world. logic prevails, logic and observation, and those things tell me there are no gods, not abrahamic, not anything that fits any definition of god. (therefore i also am not "spiritual.") i like prometheus a lot but nope, he's not real either. that doesn't mean i think agnostics are fools. that only means i can't be one. g

Would you vote for Kamala Harris for President?

genessa comments on Feb 17, 2019:

i will vote for the democratic candidate whoever that is. do i like harris best of all the contenders? i don't know. she seems fine. no candidate will be perfect. i don't know why everyone seems to expect to find one candidate who is perfect, and just about die of disappointment, maybe even to the point of not voting, or voting foolishly, when nobody turns out to be perfect. NOBODY is perfect. choose the best candidate available. if you're that disappointed, run for office. g

I'm just wondering why all you atheists celebrate Valentine's Day?

genessa comments on Feb 17, 2019:

how do you know ALL of us celebrate it? do we have to eschew everything with religious origins even if they no longer have religious overtones? (we don't have to buy cards to celebrate.) what makes you think that someone who goes out with you on v-day isn't going out with you for your fabulous brain? lots of assumptions there! g

places to meet people?

genessa comments on Feb 17, 2019:

before i met my guy, i never in my life went somewhere with the primary purpose of meeting people. if i went to the grocery store it was to get food. if i went to the library it was to get, or read, books or records. if i took a class (apart from when i actually matriculating and had to take certain classes for credits whether or not i was interested) it was to learn what the class was teaching i don't think it ever crossed my mind in my whole life to go anywhere just to meet people. g

I find that transgender women are nattier netties between themselves--as a group-- than cis-women.

genessa comments on Feb 16, 2019:

yah okay, i have no doubt that trans women can be supportive of one another. that's a good thing. i don't understand why there has to be a dig against cis women, who, in MY experience, also support one another (and support trans women while we're at it). you indicate that you don't like how competitive ci women can be, and at the same time create a false competition between trans and cis in who's more supportive. g

What is your fondest childhood memory?

genessa comments on Feb 16, 2019:

it is hard to choose one, but i remember going with my family, when i was maybe 10, maybe younger, to a pete seeger concert. pete sang (among other songs) abi-yoyo, about a giant of that name, and when we got home, my father chased my sister and me around the yard, pretending to be abi-yoyo, shouting ABI-YOYO! ABI-YOYO! and for a while after that, not just that day, that was a thing we did. g

If this site wasn't here, what would you be doing now?

genessa comments on Feb 16, 2019:

the same thing i AM doing, since i'm not just sitting here on ag dot com to the exclusion of all else. i am doing this, also doing the same thing on facebook, checking my mail, listening to planet earth on tv, finishing up the grand dinner i just cooked for me and my guy, just sent him off to watch the great escape on the living room tv, playing three (not facebook) intense games online, looking up some stuff pertaining to geography, history and other stuff, will be playing trivial pursuit with my guy when he's done watching tv, and there is more. it's called multitasking. g

At what age should children be exposed to religious instruction?

genessa comments on Feb 16, 2019:

ninety-six. at that age they need a good laugh. g

How important is having the same taste in music for a relationship?

genessa comments on Feb 16, 2019:

well, i guess it's not as important as i thought under my particular circumstances because he won't keep his hearings aids on. if he were a hearing person and he played marie osmond all day long i'd be in hell. our tastes do intersect -- 100 percent where i've introduced him to stuff. stuff he already liked... not so much. g

did you ever have that feeling

genessa comments on Feb 16, 2019:

i was raised in a secular jewish family. we knew we were jewish but we didn't go to shul except for weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs. i know we celebrated passover and the other holidays but we didn't go to shul for them. it was a home thing. we didn't talk about god; i received no actual religious instruction. i never read the bible (not old testament; bible!) when i was 14 i decided to get into it and i began going to shul by myself. i enjoyed it. i also went to talmud study once a week, but i had no background in it, and it was alien to me -- fascinating but alien. after a year of that i decided i'd like to study more but didn't particularly care to hang out with the other people my age who were studying. they seemed like prematurely old people somehow. that's not a reflection on judaism; that's just the crowd who went to that particular class. so i stopped going but didn't think anything of it in terms of belief in god. that was just something i took for granted. god was just this friend i had who observed my life when i needed a witness, which was often. then when i was 15 i had a realization about a completely unrelated matter that my parents were wrong about something on which i had just taken their word, so i decided to catalogue my beliefs, in my head anyway, and see which ones were true and which were just me going along with what i'd been told. god went out the window pretty fast. it wasn't traumatic and i didn't stop being a jew, or feel betrayed, or rebel, or anything like that. i just realized there were no gods. easy peasy. i mentioned it casually to my best friend and found out she didn't believe in any gods either. she'd been raised catholic. i don't know how she came to her conclusion or if it was as easy for her. g

How much does your ego get in the way of you meeting others? Asking for a friend

genessa comments on Feb 16, 2019:

not even the least little bit. why would it? g

"To vote is to abdicate.

genessa comments on Feb 16, 2019:

so don't vote? what a fucked-up message! do you expect anyone with a brain to go along with this? g

Politics is just coffee table fodder.

genessa comments on Feb 16, 2019:

i don't even OWN a coffee table. and you're wrong anyway. politics is what you pay for a quart of milk or a gallon of gas, or whether your kid gets to go to a school that serves lunch or christian propaganda, or whether you get shot by a policeman while sitting on your own porch because your skin is the wrong color, or whether you're allowed to vote and whether your vote is counted, or whether your father, who served in the u.s. military with honors and has been living peacefully and productively in the community for half a century, gets deported back to a place he won't survive, or whether your local bridge crumbles and dumps you into the drink because the funds to keep it in good repair got allocated to something else, or whether you have to choose between feeding your kids or getting cancer treatment, or whether you have clean air, water and food, or whether you're homeless or not, or whether your neighbor's place of worship is vandalized because it's the wrong place of worship, or whether you are forbidden to run for office in seven states because you choose NOT to worship, or whether the planet is hospitable to humans and other species for a short time or a long time to come, or whether there should be substantially fewer butterflies in the americas because a delusional old man promised some desperate people a wall, or whether you can get married to the person you love if someone doesn't like that person's skin tone, gender, sexual orientation or age, or whether you can post stupid crap on social media or whether instead you would be censored not by the private entity that owns the medium, which is fine, but without fear of arrest. there's more but i think i've presented a long enough selection of random examples of what politics is. as for changing it, you used the wrong pronoun. you are not going to change any of it -- THAT is apparent. but maybe some of us are! g

[aish.

genessa comments on Feb 16, 2019:

not everyone is willing to see so clearly when there is something ugly to see, and not everyone is willing to keep the ugliness exactly what it is, and neither less nor, incredibly, more (and there's a lot there already). it's called perspective and it can be elusive. this author appears to have achieved it. g

Can you be a spiritual agnostic?

genessa comments on Feb 16, 2019:

atheism isn't a religion so it hasn't got rules. it has a definition: lack of belief in a deity, or belief in the lack of a deity (people argue about which; i think it's either). the definition is ALL it has. no one excommunicates you from atheism if you consider yourself spiritual. i personally think spirituality is religion light, but i am not the atheist pope, so that's just me. if you feel comfortable not believing in any gods but feeling nontheless that the trees are holy or ghosts are about or your pets cross the rainbow bridge or whatever, i may raise an eyebrow, but what is my raised eyebrow to you (or anyone), right? g

One religion, no religion or multiple religions

genessa comments on Feb 16, 2019:

the world is not entering any such era. it is a continuous process and predictions can be reversed in an instant. g

Why is there no place to put or see a persons height?

genessa comments on Feb 15, 2019:

one can put one's height in one's bio if one wishes. not everyone considers it a hot issue or a dealbreaker. g

Is this God?

genessa comments on Feb 14, 2019:

what do you mean by initiary? you mean someone or something that created the universe? no. anyone who knows even the tiniest bit of science knows that there was and is no creator. if you can't believe that, i am sorry. you are entitled to your beliefs but it saddens me that you cannot accept reality. g

Does anyone else have this type of problem.

genessa comments on Feb 14, 2019:

i wear vinyl sandals from walgreen's, even in the snow. i have neuropathy too, also extra wide feet, and my toes won't tolerate closed shoes. they're not dressy but i've seen uglier shoes that purported to be dressy. anyway, i don't care! i wear them because they're the only shoes i CAN wear. they're also cheap. g

A good example of why I don't support "Free College for Everyone".

genessa comments on Feb 14, 2019:

your objection and the meme both presuppose some things that are not true. one is that the purpose of college is to prepare the student for employment. some college courses do. we don't want doctors who didn't go to med school. but the overall purpose of college is to teach students to think, not WHAT to think but HOW, and how to learn. another presupposition is that jim doesn't think people who don't go to university are stupid. people who think jim thinks that are stupid, and slandering jim while they're at it. meanwhile shame on bob for cutting jim's power. is bob supposed to be the good guy here? there are no good guys in that meme, least of all the delusional mememaker. yet another presupposition is that free college for everyone means everyone HAS to go to college, and/or that private colleges have to be free, or that those who go to college do not have to qualify to get in. altogether false and illogical. g

LAND MINES cannot be ruled out as something that can be placed at our border with Mexico according ...

genessa comments on Feb 14, 2019:

yes he is that seriously deranged and that's just the tip of the iceberg. not only can the wall never happen as he describes it, it SHOULDN'T. ask any butterfly! g

Okay guys, East Coast or West Coast?

genessa comments on Feb 14, 2019:

there is a country in between those coasts. i am on the north coast. g

Hey everyone .. what am I supposed to say ., nice to be here .., let’s chat

genessa comments on Feb 13, 2019:

snoop around the categories, find a post that interests you, respond to it, think of something that interests you, figure out which category it belongs in, post something on that topic in that category. snoop around groups, see if there is one you'd like to join, join it, post in it, respond to others' posts in it. wait, you say, but i don't care about all that -- i just want a date! well, wouldn't you like to find someone who has a brain and a voice and thinks thinks that appeal to you? this is how to find them! no one is going to go to your page and read your bio once you've written it except to see who it was who made that fascinating post! g

Oh dear! Oh my! Guess who's been found guilty? [msn.com]

genessa comments on Feb 13, 2019:

weak rhyme with teleport? g

“In order to truly learn, the first step is to empty ourselves of our preconceived notions.

genessa comments on Feb 13, 2019:

on the other hand, if you totally empty yourself of all of your knowledge, you have no context for what you are about to learn. google pol pot, killing fields, khmer rouge. you have to keep an open mind, not an empty one! g

What of all the sexual activities in the world turns you own the most and gives you the greatest ...

genessa comments on Feb 13, 2019:

why is this question under philosophy and meaning, and why would i tell YOU (and the world) what sexual activities gave me the most pleasure? that's MY business! g

[rosesonly.

genessa comments on Feb 13, 2019:

sell a lot of chocolate and flowers day g

oh sorry i forgot that am new here how on earth do people text on here can someone put my fat ass ...

genessa comments on Feb 13, 2019:

we don't text. we message -- not a semantic difference, since when you message you are not restricted as to length and thus do not have to use awful text speech (which i see you are not using here: GOOD!) but you're level one. you can't message at level one. see the heart icon next to the word "learn" at the top of the page? that is one source of information about how the site works. if you want info specifically on how levels and points work, hover over your picture (top right portion of page) and you'll see a menu about your points and level. click that and see how to get points to raise your level. soon you'll be able to use the message feature. g

Help! I need advice.

genessa comments on Feb 13, 2019:

you can't. he's married and apparently not available. you can't be with him. if you keep thinking about it you'll obsess, and whom does that help? and how great a guy would he be if he cheated on his wife? g

A free spirit is someone who believes in who they are and who does not need the approval of anyone.

genessa comments on Feb 13, 2019:

i have been a free spirit since WELL before you went off to college :-)) g

What made you an atheist/agnostic?

genessa comments on Feb 13, 2019:

realizing there were no gods. it's as simple as that. g

What do You think about philosopher's stone? Exist or not ?

genessa comments on Feb 13, 2019:

i don't think about the philosopher's stone (or unicorns, or leprechauns) at all. i do exist. g

How dose Mental Illness affect you?

genessa comments on Feb 13, 2019:

it makes me really cranky when people type "dose" when they mean "does." g

SO How do ghosts fit in with atheism? Does one preclude the other?

genessa comments on Feb 13, 2019:

atheists have one thing in common: they either believe there are no gods or at least decline to believe in any gods. there is no rulebook for atheism. not believing in any gods is definition, not canon. so ask one atheist and s/he will believe in ghosts; ask another and s/he won't. it's not as if we've organized and decided what we can or cannot believe. that would make us, oh, i dunno, a religion or something. that being said, i think most atheists extend their disbelief to anything that sounds hinky, for which there is no evidence or hinky evidence, and has a history of being connected with other hinky stuff. so while one does not, as you put it, preclude the other, your average atheist (whatever that turns out to be) is probably less likely to believe in ghosts than your average catholic, who believes in at least one (and it's holy at that). g

Do you believe in UFO's?

genessa comments on Feb 13, 2019:

of course there are ufos. many flying objects are unidentified. are they aliens? nope. but they're definitely unidentified. g

This Valentine's Day, why not be a little daring and try your luck?

genessa comments on Feb 12, 2019:

anyone who copied and pasted ANYTHING to send to me on v-day or any other time of the year gets a reproach from me. i do not want anything copied and pasted. i'd rather have something from the heart. besides, beknighted is misspelled, gods are mentioned and the whole thing is more or less a bunch of sappy crap. no thanks. g

Women, Would you date a man who has had sex with a transgender woman(shemale)?

genessa comments on Feb 12, 2019:

i see you have changed your question. you still include the slurring term though. it is still offensive. g

Women, Would you date a man who has had sex with a transgender woman(shemale)?

genessa comments on Feb 12, 2019:

i scrolled down and saw another respondent's definition, "chicks with dicks." so a ladyboy might refer to a trans woman? those are not called ladyboys. those are called women. g

Women, Would you date a man who has had sex with a transgender woman(shemale)?

genessa comments on Feb 12, 2019:

what's a ladyboy? is this some new term for a gay guy? it sounds both sexist and homophobic (of course homophobia IS sexist anyway). g

Trump Calls On Rep. Ilhan Omar To Resign Over Remarks Criticized As Anti-Semitic : NPR

genessa comments on Feb 12, 2019:

i call on trump to resign for everything he's every breathed, said, done, thought (giving him the benefit of the doubt) or farted. meanwhile, people keep telling me omar made many antisemitic tweets, but they can only point to one, to me it's not antisemitic (and i'm a jew, and i know all the damned dog whistles, thanks!) and she apologized "unequivocally" (which nonetheless the same people are saying is insincere). you can agree or disagree with her regarding money's being the basis for the support that adelson, a rightwinger, professes for israel, and the rightwing machinations of the pro-israel lobby group (which isn't just pro-israel -- i am pro-israel; i think israel should exist -- but pro-bibi, pro-expansion, pro-one-state, pro-jerusalem-as-capital) but either way it has nothing to do with being for or against the jewish people or, as i mentioned the continued existence of israel. it has to do with calling out facts. the so-called pro-israel lobby isn't even pro-israel when you come right down to it, because anyone who really cared about israel's wellbeing would want bibi OUT and expansion STOPPED and the capital moved back to tel aviv, and the two-state solution pursued. so as i was saying, you can disagree with all that, or agree with it, and either way, it has nothing to do with antisemitism. saying the least little thing about israel is not tantamount to antisemitism. being against the highly rightwing lobby isn't antisemitism. being against the highly rightwing adelson isn't antisemitism. i have been the recipient of antisemitism and i know whereof i speak. i've been beaten up, i've had pennies thrown at me, i've been called names, i've had my childhood "friends" drop me because their parents didn't want them to associate with a jew, i've lost at least one job because my name is jewish and gave me away (i wasn't hiding) and more, much more. i know what antisemitism is. this ain't it. now trump... yeah his daughter is jewish (how she considers herself jewish with the crap she pulls i'll never know) but what was that he used to say about not wanting black people counting his money, only short little men with beanies? hmm. g

Marijuana is now legal throughout Canada and USA is thinking of doing likewise.

genessa comments on Feb 12, 2019:

accidents will go DOWN. laid back beats violent, and not everyone reacts to grass by becoming unproductive. marijuana will not increase problems in society; it will decrease drunk driving, and drinking in general and by virtue of that alone, never mind other benefits, will decrease problems in society. what ABOUT families and children? what is your point in mentioning those? g

God? Anyone...?

genessa comments on Feb 12, 2019:

no such thing, such absurd question. on the other hand, a good question would be how come you list yourself not only as atheist but antitheist and yet also list yourself as a believer? g

Do you find most people too selfish - or much more rarely too giving?

genessa comments on Feb 12, 2019:

are those actually the only too choices, the extreme ends of the stick? and you've loaded the question by answering it in the subject line. at any rate, most people i know are neither too selfish nor too giving. they may not be perfect but they're more or less balanced. g

“At the end of the day, what gives our lives meaning is how we are loved.” Do you agree?

genessa comments on Feb 12, 2019:

no, i do not. it is not how we are loved. it is how we love. g

Jesus, historical figure behind the legend or straight legend?

genessa comments on Feb 11, 2019:

i will add to my previous comment that when i speculated that he may have lived (no proof or even evidence of that) i did not mean that any of the magic crap attached to him had a chance in hell of being real. virgin birth, walking on water, water into wine, feh, not a chance. everything i mentioned in my comment was in the realm of real, human activities. whether he existed or, if he existed, performed thos human activities is another story. g

Jesus, historical figure behind the legend or straight legend?

genessa comments on Feb 11, 2019:

we'll never know. i, for one, don't care. if he existed, he was jewish and his gospels were not his; they were written by people who never met him (and there are those who say even the originals were forgeries; there are plenty of books of the christian bible that were suppressed by emperors and popes). most of what i have heard he said was just the standard judaism of his time. even the wine and wafer bit is just standard seder stuff, except for his saying it's his body and blood and all that. on the other hand, if he never existed, what changes? christianity is still weird. g

wow.

genessa comments on Feb 11, 2019:

what i can't understand is not how the author of the book can be so ignorant; ignorance is rampant. nor do i doubt that fox news would run such an editorial; everything they do is disgusting. what i can't understand is why mavenroundtable is reprinting the fox editorial without comment, as if it reflected their own views. g

[washingtonpost.

genessa comments on Feb 11, 2019:

i am not anti-zionist. zionism, whatever everyone THINKS it means, simply means being in favor of israel's continuing existence. people try to make it mean being against israel's policies. that is NOT what anti-zionist means. it means being against israel's existence. i wish people would realize this. meanwhile i don't even understand the benjamin's baby reference. i don't know what that even means. g

It's possible to be against the Israeli treatment of Palestinians without being anti-semitic.

genessa comments on Feb 11, 2019:

it is a very narrow road, because there is a difference between believing israel has a right to exist and believing israel is treading the palestinians badly. the palestinian leadership doesn't want a two-state solution and never has; it has always wanted itself to be the only state, and has called not only for the demise of israel but the demise of jews worldwide. the current administration of israel, and indeed trump as well, also does not want a two-state solution, but other israeli administrations have. meanwhile, the israeli people and the palestinian people get the shaft from their own governments and from each other's governments. republicans support the current israeli administration not from any love of jews (spare me!) but from the love of israel's fascist current leadership, and from any residual belief that when the jews all gather in israel, the end of days will elevate them all the heaven (presumingly leaving said jews behind). some liberals fall into the trap of hating israel because of what it is doing now. does this mean the world should hate america because of trump? i don't want to be hated; i despise him and want him in an orange jumpsuit behind american-made steel bars. if north korea or russia happen to bomb where i live, they won't care about that. so yeah, it's an extremely narrow road. g

Who Hates America?

genessa comments on Feb 11, 2019:

who hates america? well, just off the top of my head, putin... trump.... g

Religion/Agnostic/Atheist

genessa comments on Feb 11, 2019:

nope. i was raised as a secular jew. secular jews focus on tikum olam, whether we call it that or not it means fixing the world, specifically working to end poverty, slavery, hunger, bigotry and bullying, and to promote education, freedom, democracy and charity. i don't see the point of rejecting those concepts. the god thing? yah, well, not so much lol. but you don't need a god to continue tikum olam. you can even try to help the world be a better place while eating a cheeseburger. g

What if magic erasers are dimensional cleaners and that's where all the dirt and stains go.

genessa comments on Feb 11, 2019:

what if no one made ridiculous, meaningless posts, miscategorized at that, just in order to get points? g

[jta.org] I was barred from becoming a foster parent in South Carolina because I am Jewish.

genessa comments on Feb 11, 2019:

while i was living in japan, my sister asked me to find her a baby to adopt. i knew nothing of such things but set out to learn and to find her a baby. she didn't care about gender or ability or religion or anything; she just wanted a baby. in japan, there are, or were when i was there, very few adoption agencies; children in orphanages were expected to stay there until majority. there was one agency, a lutheran one, but when i contacted it, its representative told me that it could not possibly adopt a child out to a jewish family. i finally found the missionary sisters of charity (mother teresa's gang) who did not run an orphanage but did run a shelter for unwed mothers. (this was long before the current scandal involving nuns selling babies!) okay i'll cut to the chase: they said, more or less, "jewish, shmooish, y'all gonna love the baby and give it a good home? great!" upshot: i have a japanese niece g

Television commercial music.... How much do you like it?

genessa comments on Feb 11, 2019:

i pretty much hate all commercial music. some i hate more than others. that doesn't keep the worst of them from sticking in my head, and i hate that too. exception: two suburu commercials have good music, one a song by gregory alan isakov, and i forget the other but i have a vague recollection that i liked it. there is one commercial, i forget for what, that misuses the queen of night's song from the magic flute. whoever is singing it sings it so sweetly, and it's pretty, but damn it, it's not supposed to be sweet and pretty -- it's a threatening song and it should be scary and strong! anyway i will post the link to isakov's song. i bet you'll recognize it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFoENVgNGFE g

[jta.

genessa comments on Feb 11, 2019:

people who set fires and paint swastikas do not know the difference between jews and jewish extremists, whatever that means (what, they're extremely jewish? how does that hurt anyone?) they just hate jews. the perps ARE extremists. i don't hold with victim-blaming. g

" .

genessa comments on Feb 11, 2019:

nope, not buying it, not even the spelling (it's peyton place, unless someone has made up a joke name). love is NOT only in somebody else's heart. it's in mine, for example. and right now no one i know is looking everywhere for me, because everyone i know knows where i am, and WHAT is in me? this makes NO sense. g

Is the concept of monogamous marriage secular or religious

genessa comments on Feb 10, 2019:

ir is neither secular nor religious. it didn't even start as an idea. some species are monogamous because that is what helps the species survive, and some species survive better polygamously. humans survive better monogamously, especially since our progeny remain helpless for much longer than the young of other species. g

How do you honor family and friends at weddings, baptism, bar mitzvah, etc.

genessa comments on Feb 10, 2019:

i don't mind bar mitzvahs or other jewish ceremonies; my atheism wasn't a matter of rebellion. i just realized there were no gods. i still enjoy some of the rituals. i'm not offended by them. i just take the god stuff allegorically or outright ignore it, and the rest of it -- being kind of people, protecting the planet, working to end slavery and starvation worldwide -- i certainly have no objections to those things. g

Goofy church signs.

genessa comments on Feb 10, 2019:

i never see goofy church signs. admittedly i have never been a christian so i have never gone to churches and don't get out much so i don't get driven past many, but i do sometimes get driven past one near my home that says something like "immigrants welcome here." i can't say i find that goofy at all! g

Can a woman enjoy her life fully without a man?

genessa comments on Feb 10, 2019:

of course she can. many do, and i mean many straight women as well as lesbians. can every woman do so? i don't know. maybe, maybe not. it depends on how she was raised and what she wants from her life. i spent most of my life without a man and got a lot done, and enjoyed a lot. now i have a man and i am getting less done, not because of the man but because we're old and not well. romantic love is a good thing. it is not the only thing. g

Due to the overwhelming hatred of Trump on this site, would you vote for the genius Ocasio Cortez ...

genessa comments on Feb 9, 2019:

by the way, aoc will not be old enough in 2020 to run for president. she will still be five years too young on election day. that is not a judgment; that is a fact, according to the specifications set out in the constitution. g

Is this thing still valuable?

genessa comments on Feb 9, 2019:

i do not see a picture or description of a thing, or your finger pointing to a thing, so i do not know which thing you mean. g

I am level one and hopefully will stay on it.

genessa comments on Feb 9, 2019:

why would you want to stay on level one? the levels slowly grant you more privilege to interact on the site. this is a flawed but nonetheless somewhat effective safeguard against an influx of trolls and scammers. there is no advantage to you for you to stay on level one. if you were a scammer, there would be an advantage to the rest of the community for you to stay on level one lol. g

I don't pick on the people in religion I do pick on all religions equally.

genessa comments on Feb 9, 2019:

ALL? don't be so sure. not all. religion has it problems. it doesn't need more. those commands to wipe out entire villages were about land, not religion. g

is it time to put a cap on the number of posts someone makes everyday.

genessa comments on Feb 9, 2019:

i disagree totally. why should someone not express him/herself because you don't feel like clicking? don't click! problem solved! g

Due to the overwhelming hatred of Trump on this site, would you vote for the genius Ocasio Cortez ...

genessa comments on Feb 9, 2019:

i would vote for a used piece of toilet paper against trump. i am neither dissing nor endorsing aoc by saying that. i am just saying that in the primaries i will vote for whoever seems as if s/he would make the best president, and in the general i will vote democratic, period. g

God does exist .

genessa comments on Feb 9, 2019:

you are most certainly not a fountain of infinite understanding and knowledge. you are a person who deliberately comes to a place where agnostics and atheists can feel comfortable not being harassed by believers and harasses us with your assertions that we're wrong. guess what? that is, at best, a bore. no one here needs your nonsense. seriously. g p.s. those with knowledge are feared? people with knowledge should be admired, learned from, protected from anti-intellectual assholes, encouraged to share their knowledge and not hide it, treasured by society, NOT feared.. when i say "people with knowledge" i am not referring to you. i am referring to people with actual knowledge, not egotists who want people to think they're being done a favor by being preached to with total nonsense. pps. you talk about the true god, but look at all those gods (including satan) in whom you purport to believe. not too choosy, are you? which one is your true god? your intellect was in doubt from the word go. now so is your sincerity.

How a day

genessa comments on Feb 9, 2019:

your post has no meaning. what are you trying to say? g

Do you believe in homeopathy?

genessa comments on Feb 9, 2019:

homeopathy definitely exists, whether or not we believe in it. does everything labeled homeopathic work, and if so, does it work for everything? there is no such thing as a panacea and growing out of the ground instead of being compounded in a lab is no guarantee of effectiveness or even harmlessness. i use goldenseal as an anti-infective. i can tell you that when i had a raging, festering infection on my toe for a MONTH, and no topical or oral medical treatment would cure it, and doctors were baffled, i put some goldenseal powder on the wound and it stopped festering within an hour; in three days the wound was totally healed with barely a scar showing. but that doesn't mean some other herb is good for whatever it is people say it does. when i have bronchitis i let my doc choose an antibiotic for me. goldenseal isn't going to touch it. if i have cancer, i may or may not agree to chemo and/or radiation but i'm sure as hell not going to go on someone's hinky diet and expect the cancer to be cowed. so when people say they do or do not believe in [the effectiveness of] homeopathy, what are they talking about? the whole concept of using herbs at all for anything but flavoring, or the avoidance of chemicals, including lifesaving ones, or...? i don't think most people even KNOW what they mean. when they embrace it, they naively embrace everything "natural" (poison ivy is natural; death is natural!) or condemn the idea that anyone could possibly benefit from something a doctor didn't prescribe (kind of a blanket condemnation). life doesn't work that way. g

Do you support the idea that we are all created equal as stated in the constitution?

genessa comments on Feb 9, 2019:

i support our all being equal. it needs work; we are not treated equally. i try to ignore the word "create." g

Instead of voting along the party lines either Democrat or Republican, how about us citizens start ...

genessa comments on Feb 9, 2019:

how about meaning "why," i have a pretty good answer. you see, we have one major political party at the moment, and one criminal organization (i am neither exaggerating nor slurring; i am telling the truth) posing as a political organization. so things work out one of two ways: either the criminal organization retains power, or it loses power and we can start to get the country back together again. if people ignore party lines, vote for their great-uncle's wife's daughter's ex-boyfriend because he seems like a really good guy and you just don't trust politicians anyway, then the republicans keep control, because your great-uncle's bla bla bla isn't going to win, and if he did, he would have no power anyway because you have to have the majority to get much done. if the majority plays fair, the minority can have a say, but if the majority is republican, that just doesn't HAPPEN. they write bills without any democratic input, in secret, and won't let anyone read the bills before they vote! it's insane! also, the purpose of electing a president is not to teach bigots a lesson. it's to take power away from them. so instead of electing a black woman for president to teach someone a lesson, how about electing someone who will get good things DONE (and try to fix the bad stuff that's already been and is still being done), and if that's a black woman, COOL, and if it's someone else, COOL. i'd rather vote on party lines than vote on racial or genderic lines! parties have platforms. races and genders and ages and hair colors and shoe sizes don't. g

I sadly encountered anti-Semitism in my home in NH.

genessa comments on Feb 9, 2019:

i am saddened, and feel for you, but i can't say i am surprised. it's never been gone, and it's coming back in force, with blessings from the powers that be. hang in there. we're working on changing things. g

What's the one line that made red flags pop up and your brain say... "deal breaker"?

genessa comments on Feb 8, 2019:

well, i live with my guy and i don't date, but i can safely say that anything that sounds like a line is a dealbreaker by virtue of being a line. i certainly would never have gone out with, or refrained from laughing at, someone who tried to make me wear makeup. i don't mind when folks don't use my name. in fact, i think it's overused and can be a tactic. if someone used my name a lot in writing, or if not actually trying to catch my attention in oral speech, i would find it irritating, kind of fake. so i feel differently about that. i do recall once i met a guy at a party my then-roommate also attended. i may be remembering wrong but i think i was invited and brought her along because she begged me to do so. anyway, we both met this guy and liked him, and she threw herself at him. we both gave him our numbers. he called me, and i invited him to my house (by that time i was living alone). he told me how turned off he was by my ex-roomie's having thrown herself at him. he expressed interest in me, and how i lived. he didn't seem fake. i usually have pretty good radar for that. my radar isn't perfect, though. we ended up in bed and after we had made love he said he had to tell me something. uh oh. he said he was in a relationship. oh, i said -- i thought you were going to tell me you were married. yeah, he said, that's it. sheesh. so i didn't want to see him anymore (right?) but he kept calling me and asking me if i liked it when he did this, or did that, sexually, that one time. i had to tell him, look, i enjoy doing it, not talking about it -- but because he was married, and even more importantly, because he didn't come clean BEFOREHAND and give me a chance to decide whether to sleep with a married guy, i wasn't going to be doing it with him anymore. he declined to "just be friends" -- he didn't see the point. well, that was strike number three: if he doesn't want to be my friend, he sure as hell isn't qualified to be my lover. g

Would you say that, given your knowledge, etc, of the Goat-herder's Guide to the Galaxy ( Bible) and...

genessa comments on Feb 8, 2019:

i am not familiar with most of what christians call the new testament, and of course old testament does not describe the hebrew bible, with which i am more familiar, and which is the only bible on which judaism is based at all (i think islam gives a nod or two to jesus). i agree the god of the latter is a rotter. g

my advice to all you people out there.

genessa comments on Feb 8, 2019:

carlin is wonderful. he's truly wonderful. however, i would not go as far as to say NO better person on earth talked about and explained, when he was alive, the behavior and psyche of man and mankind. carl sagan was no slouch, you know. g

whats important in life ?

genessa comments on Feb 8, 2019:

what is important in life is up to whoever's life it is. what is important to me might not be important to you. this is not something that can be decided for you by strangers on a website, or even by people you know. you decide. likewise why we live and for what. why, of course, is because our species procreates. for what is up to you. reason is the ability to look at evidence and figure out what it means. common sense is uncommon. a dictionary will help you define it but not to have it. why mankind keeps on going is because that's how we're wired. g

Why is the hard-Left so conservative? - UnHerd

genessa comments on Feb 8, 2019:

they're not. and who in the world is unherd anyway? the question in the title is loaded, like "when did you stop beating your wife?" g

Planning to stream some Albert Finney movies this weekend. Suggestions?

genessa comments on Feb 8, 2019:

saturday night and sunday morning; tom jones; the dresser (you'll become a tom courtenay fan too -- come back and ask for a list of his best, and meanwhile watch unforgotten on pbs). g

On the Zodiac I'm a Gemini. Whats yours?

genessa comments on Feb 8, 2019:

i was born on a day that people who follow the zodiac consider to fall under the sign of pisces. i am not one of those people. g

What is the future of western Europe without God?

genessa comments on Feb 8, 2019:

europe has always been without god. europe might not have KNOWN it, but since there never was a god, why would the future be different now? g

Is it just me, or do people seem less polite than they used to be before social media?

genessa comments on Feb 8, 2019:

it's just you. before social media, people were rude but only had access to a limited number of venues in which to express their rudeness. now we see them more easily. but those people were always rude. g

How Can Someone be an Agnostic and an Atheist at the Same Time? | Courtney Heard

genessa comments on Feb 8, 2019:

i will belatedly add a thought: atheist has two definitions. one is someone who does not believe there are any gods. the other is someone who believes there are no gods. either way, the atheist doesn't claim knowledge, just belief of lack thereof. an agnostic is also someone who does not claim knowledge. there is no definitional aspect of agnosticism with regard to belief. an agnostic can be either kind of atheist, or undecided or indifferent, neither of those last being compatible with atheism, so an agnostic might or might not be an atheist. asking how you can be both agnostic and atheist is like asking how someone who likes potatoes can like rice. you can like either, neither or both, or one better than the other.... g

My belief, my faith, my hopes, my trust are all in in Humans.

genessa comments on Feb 8, 2019:

why? i don't think i need to belong to a group because i think or don't think a certain way regarding the universe. it's not as if we would have rituals, or need to confirm what was or wasn't acceptable to the group. as for believing in humans, anyone can see humans exist. believing in our goodness... well, some people are, some are not, most are a mixture. i don't need to get together with a gang to confirm this! g

Are we in the Anthropocene.

genessa comments on Feb 8, 2019:

madagascar g

How do you have sex with someone without sexualizing them?

genessa comments on Feb 7, 2019:

there is no such thing as nonsexual sex, nor does there need to be. treating someone as an object is sexualizing them. you can make love with someone and not treat that person like a thing instead of a person. it does involve caring about the other person. how does caring about your partner equal nonsexualization? g

I'd love to hear from single adults who live alone by choice.

genessa comments on Feb 7, 2019:

it may be true of many. i thought it might be true of me. however, after a lifetime of almost always living alone, i find myself living with my guy, and no, it's not true of me after all. g

I am repulsed by the view that since this is the only life we apparently have that we’re supposed ...

genessa comments on Feb 7, 2019:

name someone here who came crying to you. hint: it wasn't me. further hint: it'll never be me. oh and since you mention it (i am too kind a person to bring it up myself, but you did open the door) fuck you too. g

Pelosi: "The green dream, or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they're for it, ...

genessa comments on Feb 7, 2019:

and your source for this? i see several sources for it, and they're all suspicious. mother jones, on the other hand, has a pretty level-headed take on it: https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/02/is-nancy-pelosi-opposed-to-medicare-for-all/ but by all means, let's panic and diss pelosi because... because.... y'all will surely think of something.... g

Trump Has Nothing Left to Say

genessa comments on Feb 6, 2019:

with nothing left to say, he will nonetheless say it. it will come out "bla bla bla." g

Just had a weird conversation with a co-worker.

genessa comments on Feb 6, 2019:

he is the one who is not logical but because he isn't, he'll never see it. pat him on the head and say "there there, it's all right" and walk away. he'll never ever get it. g

Do you tell yourself what you love about yourself?

genessa comments on Feb 6, 2019:

1. brr, go away february. 2. i'm not irish and i've never been christian, so NO imbolc for me. 3. i do. my bladder wakes me up in a couple hours. 4. it is spelled stretch, and my body hurts. 5. i can't drink more water. i already drink a LOT of water. i mean a WHOLE lot. and anyway this is the day my cat died. 6. too distracted by the death of my cat yesterday. 7. i don't have one favorite movie and if i did it probably would not be available to watch. 8. i can't walk well and it's ICY and dangerous out anyway, so if i could walk well, i sure wouldn't pick a day in february in minnesota to do so. 9. NO. i am disabled and this is my lifeline. 10. i can't. i need help. 11. not joking, i will not meditate, EVER. ugh. 12. i don't like tea. 13. i have asthma. 14. i don't have a car. anyway i am engaged. he doesn't have a car. what he has is alzheimer's. if i had a date with someone i'd ask that person to take me food shopping. 15. i always have a wholesome breakfast. 16. most of my time is ME time. 17. i don't need to write down anything like that. that's a nice exercise for someone else. 18. to WHAT? 19. last time i lit a candle (this past chanukah) one of my cats set herself on fire. 20. see #10. 21. see #4. 22. gratitude? to WHOM? i find that people who say that do not have a recipient in mind. well, you know what? i consider that an oblique reference to a deity. feh on that. 23. every day; i don't need a special day for that. 24. i nap all the time but see #3. 25. i learn something new every day. i learned what imbolc was tonight. 26. i need help with that too. 27. i can't hold a book. i have arthritis in my hands. 28. that's pretty general. how about i just follow my own schedule without any suggestions from people who don't know that i even exist but just throw out lists as if one size fits all? no offense, but that is how it feels. g

If you don't agree, I'd say you're not human.

genessa comments on Feb 6, 2019:

yesterday my golde died... at home. the vet wanted to put her down and i said no. i took her home and she died hours later, as expected, but we had some snuggles. at one point she emerged from the safe, soft, warm place i had put her, so that she could put her paw on my shoulder and lay her cheek on my cheek. i'll remember that forever. but that's not always an option for everyone, and we should be considerate at the vet in case someone has no choice but to say goodbye there. g

NY Abortion Law, governors article [nytimes.com]

genessa comments on Feb 6, 2019:

for those who have run out of free nyt reads: Opinion Andrew Cuomo: Trump’s Assault on Abortion Rights Must Be Rejected The president and the religious right are spreading falsehoods about abortion laws to inflame their base. By Andrew M. Cuomo Mr. Cuomo is the governor of New York. Feb. 6, 2019 687 Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times Image CreditCreditDamon Winter/The New York Times In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Trump attacked the law that New York passed last month codifying a woman’s right to an abortion, and he proposed federal legislation to roll back the protections provided by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The president’s diatribe was part of the far-right’s escalation of its assault on a woman’s constitutional rights. It’s worth recalling that in 1999, long before he ran for president, Mr. Trump described himself as “very pro-choice.” Today he claims to be anti-choice, and he shamelessly courts the religious right to win votes. Too much of today’s political discourse is extreme. But emotions run especially high when politics and religion intersect — as in the debate about a woman’s right to choose. As a Roman Catholic, I am intimately familiar with the strongly held views of the church. Still, I do not believe that religious values should drive political positions. I just signed the Reproductive Health Act into law to protect against the Republicans’ efforts to pack the Supreme Court with extreme conservatives to overturn the constitutional protections recognized in Roe v. Wade. Roe has been repeatedly reaffirmed by the Supreme Court, in multiple decisions, as recently as 2016, and has been supported by justices selected by both Democratic and Republican presidents. In fact, Roe was decided at a time of Republican control of the White House, under a chief justice, Warren Burger, who was nominated by Richard Nixon. The decision’s author was another Nixon justice, Harry Blackmun. As Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a Republican appointed by Ronald Reagan, stated in 1992 in the Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision, the court recognizes “the right of the woman to choose to have an abortion before viability and to obtain it without undue interference from the state.” She also confirmed “the state’s power to restrict abortions after fetal viability, if the law contains exceptions for pregnancies which endanger the woman’s life or health.” You have 1 article left. Create an account or log in to get more As part of their attack on women’s rights, Mr. Trump and his allies are intentionally spreading lies about New York’s Reproductive Health Act. Their goal is to end all legal abortion in our nation. The Reproductive Health Act ...

Hello everyone! Just wanted to say hello to everyone.

genessa comments on Feb 6, 2019:

we can't know what's in your mind, to let you know. but you do, and you can :-)) so you let US know! g

Do other people on this site frequently edit their profiles and bios?

genessa comments on Feb 6, 2019:

i edited mine yesterday for the first time, and i hope for the last time in a long while. yesterday one of my beloved cats died so i adjusted the number of cats mentioned in the profile. g

I watched 45s state of the union.

genessa comments on Feb 6, 2019:

it was actually more insidious than that. it boiled down to "if you don't stop investigating me, i will start a war, and i won't sign any legislation." there was also a bit of "immigrants are murderers and new york lets doctors murder babies minutes before they're born," neither of which is true of course. g