Things that are wrong in this universe...

Pastor Rick Warren Appeals for Close to $1 Million in Donations for Saddleback Church - Sphere News

I saw this on AOL and it makes me sick! Just like our very own World Harvest Church/Rod Parsley cry for help...this showcases exactly what is wrong with organized religion. It is what gives "Christianity" a bad name.

I never bought into the whole paying your way to heaven scam...but there are plenty out there who do. I believe a person's actions not monetary donations will be the true test in the end. It doesn't stop these mega-churches though.

Why don't these pastors (who should be living a humble life) sell off their million dollar homes, expensive cars and boats to make up the missing money? Maybe they should stop running their own TV stations. The list goes on. It is such a scam and it angers me.

I once read an article in a magazine about a couple who needed financial help - they were spending more than they could bring in. One of the reasons was that they were giving like $300 a month to tithe at their church. The counselor advised them to dramatically reduce this amount until they could get caught up on their bills. They flat out refused...and tons of angry letters followed. I thought it was absolutely the right advise. These people couldn't pay their electric bill but they just doled out $300 to their church. Is this really what Jesus would want?

These "men of God" ought to be in jail. These Mega-Churches ought to be illegal. Until their flocks wake up and realized they are being duped, however, it never will happen.

God save us.

POP! goes the Decade...

Last night I watched this cool video from Newsweek – it’s the decade in review in only seven minutes: http://2010.newsweek.com/video/decade-in-seven-minutes.html

It’s hard to imagine that in 1999, there were no I-Pods, Wii or even Facebook!

I know that yesterday I was 'Ms. Downer'…and well, I still think the 00’s pretty much sucked, but it wasn’t a decade without some high points too.

Let us focus on the fun stuff today:

Pop Culture:

The OO’s will certainly go down in history as the beginning of over-sharing and self-importance: I got ‘My’ own ‘Space’, found a few friends on Facebook, started a blog and learned how to Tweet.

The OO's were also the decade to bring everything 80's back around again:

I rekindled my love for an old gem in Weird Al Yankovic…a musical genius!

I re-discovered the hilarious and multi-talented Neil Patrick Harris.

I finally got to wrap my arms around Boba Fett when I met Jeremy Bulloch!

I finally got to meet my favorite New Kid, Donnie Wahlberg...and saw NKOTB in concert again!

They finally made the movie – Freddy versus Jason – and my 80’s inner horror geek rejoiced! (Ok…it sucked – but still!!)

Indiana Jones dusted off his fedora one more time and we finally got to see Episodes 1-3 of Star Wars (OK...technically Episode 1 was released in 99.)

Elsewhere...The OO's left it's mark when...

I learned that some vampires sparkle and I rooted for some Gryffindor wizards.

I was astonished to find that the best Bond had yet to come when I fell for Craig’s version in Casino Royale.

British Man of Many Hats, Hugh Laurie, knocked my socks off as an actor, author and musician.

I said “Seriously” a lot and called everyone “Mc” so-and-so for at least a year.

I got my news from Jon Stewart and fell in love with his zany cast of characters.

I preferred Tina Fey’s version of Sarah Palin…and thankfully the majority of the country agreed.

I got LOST, dug Bones and checked into hospitals Seattle Grace, Sacred Heart and Princeton Plainsboro regularly.

Queer As Folk became the first television series I actually paid to be able to view…and I discovered that a man named Gale could make me weak in the knees!

I out-grew my long-held subscription to Glamour and traded it in for Redbook.

I got hooked on Post Secret.

Adopted a Webkinz or two.

TMI got kicked-up a notch with the introduction of the term "Va jay-jay."

I got "green"!

I celebrated Same Sex Marriage victories - in my own country!!

I helped elect the country's first black president!

There's more...I know I'm forgetting so much...but those are the things that stick out in my head tonight as I write this.

Tomorrow I'll focus on the good things in my own personal life.

Good Riddance...

Greetings Dear Readers…I am back after a lengthy time-out. I hope life treated you well in my absence. Since my last entry, life has kept me busy (and aged me a year older back on November 10^th). My children have also increasingly been hogging the computer (and thus keeping me from getting online long enough to blog)…but hopefully I will not stay away so long again.

As these last few days of 2009 tick down, I like many others have become reflective. Mainly I was thinking about the past year and the ways my life has changed since the year before, but my son got me thinking on a larger scale. He is obsessed with the fact that we are about to change decades. (Considering this is the first time he has ever experienced this, I guess I can see the excitement.) So now I’m pondering the 00’s - or whatever you prefer to call this decade we are currently still in.

From my point of view, this has been a decade to forget! Not that there haven’t been good things to celebrate and cherish – like the birth of said son in 2000 – overall though, this has been a terrible decade.

Being a glass half-empty sort of gal, I think I’ll focus on the bad before the good…

During this past decade, I have watched my country steadily crumble under the leadership of the worst president in our history – George W. Bush. Economically we are in the crapper…my husband became one of the countless Americans who lost his/her job (of 12 years) – and then again only six months later when he was let go from the job that replaced the old one - during the recession. This of course changed our lives immensely – mainly for the worst. Although I don’t have the tax forms in front of me to prove it – we are probably worst off now than in 1999. We still only have one vehicle and do not own our own home.

I won’t even bother to pull out my soap box on the devastation that 8 years of Bush brought upon the civil rights of this country’s citizens. I am only grateful that because of this, my social conscious finally awoke and I became a much more aware, active participant of the human race…

If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make the change. (The Man in the Mirror ~ Michael Jackson)

Our lives were forever changed by the events on September 11^th, 2001. These events continue to affect our lives as we are still entangled in not one but two wars. I once felt justified that we went to war with Iraq after 9/11; but once the death toll of Americans killed in Iraq reached and surpassed that of those lost in 9/11 (and we still had not captured Bin Laden), I had to rethink my usual pro-military stance.

I’ve already mentioned the addition of my son to our family in this decade, but my family unit was also permanently altered when my parents divorced…leaving me essentially without my father in my life. Brian lost his father as well when he took his own life.

Medically it has not been a banner decade in my home: Being diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorder has altered the person I am today. Brian was diagnosed with vertigo. Brandon was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Heck, even Meg had to get glasses.

I have lost more friends this decade than I would like to remember…

I have lost the gift of gaming in my life…

This has been a trying decade in my marriage to Brian – but we are still hanging in there.

Career-wise, I’ve been a temp at my current place of employment for almost a year now. Is this what I get for all the effort I put in working my way through college, while raising a family? I am nowhere near the job I thought I would have at this time in my life. Brian isn’t even working and is trying to re-create himself.

I’m sure there is more…of course there is more…but I think you get the bleak picture. We lost our sense of security; kicked out a planet (Pluto) from the solar system (As a Scorpio, Pluto was my ruling planet! Hey! Maybe that’s why I’m so adrift…I have no planet!) & almost lost New Orleans to the sea. This decade can’t be over fast enough if you ask me!

Tomorrow…I (attempt to) look on the bright side!