I LOVE MY LIFE!!

and...... Karma can be a bitch, but.... I'm on top anyways.

Your body makes you sexy. Your smile makes you pretty. But your personality makes you beautiful.

WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?

Italy. The whole country is just rich in history and culture. I would love to tour the whole country. Ireland would be my second option.

The way we damage our kids

One may have the best intentions at heart and still be their child’s biggest bully in life. Why choosing your words wisely does NOT equate to “babying” your child.

We all want what is best for our children. We’re their parents, we love them. So it’s instinctual to want to see them happy, and to protect them. Part of that happiness is teaching them to love themselves unconditionally for who they are. As much, or more so, than you unconditionally love them. To embrace their personality, preferences, style, and sense of self. To ensure they have self-confidence, courage, pride, morals, ethics, respect, and love. 

Too often we let fear over shadow those efforts, and drive us to counter our own efforts. There is a meme constantly cycling through social media that I absolutely love. “We should not teach our children to change who they are to fit into a cruel, hard world. We should teach our children to be the change that makes the world a little less cruel and hard.” Many times we worry so much about what other people will think about how our child looks or acts, that we lecture our children not to be themselves. 

Let me just say this first: Letting your child be “themselves” should not translate into letting your child have free reign over everyone around them. You should not be condoning your child’s behavior if they are running around a store tearing things off the racks\shelves, tripping people as they cut them off to run past without a single apology shouted back at the person they nearly toppled, are throwing things at people, are taking items out the hands of other children without permission from that child to use it first, or are exhibiting any other negative behavior. Being disrespectful, rude, and obnoxious are teaching moments in which you as the parent should be correcting. Not because of what other people may think, but because it is what’s right. 

That out of the way...

Children try at an early age to express themselves. While they are still too young to know anything about the ‘fashion fads’ of the time, or what “the social norm” means, they express their personalities with the things around them. When they are toddlers we think it is the cutest thing to see our son try to dress himself by pulling out a pair of canary yellow shorts, powder blue tee, green socks, any 2 sneakers they find (whether they’re from the same matching pair or not), and Dad’s over sized hat. We’ll take a picture to commemorate the moment and let them strut around the house all day ever so proud of themselves because they performed a ‘big boy’ act. Or nearly split our sides giggling when our daughter tries to make her hair pretty by putting just about every bow or barrette she owns in her hair, pulling on a dress, and stepping into her Mom’s high heals. It is extremely easy to let our children express themselves when they are young and help them embrace their uniqueness. Mainly because we assume they do not know what they are doing and write it off as silly toddler behavior.

The challenge to continuing that message and nurture your child’s ability to express themselves and be comfortable in their own skin, is to continue that happy support after they are school age. (standard kindergartner age is 5) If your daughter asks you to split her hair in half, put the left half into a pony tail and curl it, then put the right half into a french braid because she thinks both styles are super pretty and would love to wear them both at the same time... You do it. Don’t tell her “Honey that will look foolish. I’m not paying for school pics with your hair looking ridiculous” or “No honey, people might laugh at you because your hair looks silly.” Doing so with such terminology emotionally harms the child. A one off on rare occasion will just hurt her feelings by making her feel like the things she prefers, what makes her happy, her desires are foolish and not worth considering. She’ll wonder if anything she likes is worth considering or are people laughing at her instead of with her when they giggle at the site of something she does. Things we may actually be laughing with her on because we think it’s the cutest darn thing every, she will question. If you belittle her unique ideas of expression with such harsh words frequently enough she will start to think she’s not good enough. Her happiness is not important. Her feelings are irrelevant and matter not as a result of the constant shaming such words enforce on her for trying to express her personality. She may even begin to get upset when someone giggles at something she does as a result. She will feel like that giggle is ridicule from the harsh message you have taught her accidentally in your efforts to avoid her being teased at school. She will never believe someone is laughing at her for a good reason and the giggle of cuteness will become a weapon against her self-esteem each time she hears it. Instead of being a reinforcement of her confidence. She may not outwardly express that hurt when someone giggles by speaking up either. Mainly because she has learned to feel like her feelings and requests don’t matter. So why express hurt if happiness is such a crime to express? Your beautiful, playful, little girl will grow to be what society expects her to look and act like, but suffer inwardly with confidence and esteem issues, and will be that much more likely to suffer depression. She may never get bullied in her life at school because she conforms and fits in perfectly as you taught her to, but feel alone inwardly and hate herself. Feel like she’s being bullied at home and thinking you don’t love her half as much as you say you do. She will become that much more likely to go down the wrong path in life, and get mixed up with bad boyfriends who will pick up the torch and emotionally\verbally abuse her.

If you genuinely do not agree with the hairstyle she picked for her school pictures you should talk her into an alternate with respect and positive wording. So she knows you value her idea and think it is a great thing that she wants to express herself so uniquely. Preferably in a compromise that gives her what she wants in a way that wont make her stand out too much in a crowd. “That sounds like a really neat idea princess. I’m a little worried it may be unbalanced. You could get a headache with a pony tail on one side only. How about we split your hair in half by doing a top and bottom style instead of a left and right style? I can make the top half of your hair into pig tails and curl the hair like you want. Then I’ll french braid the bottom half of your hair. It will still be the cutest thing ever and all the girls will think you invented the best hair style.” This way you only see her with pig tails in the school pictures, anyone seeing her walking their way will only see the pig tails, and only the few walking behind her or that look back after she passes will know there is a second style there. (Or if you make the top half a lone pony tail and curl it like she asked, and the bottom a french braid the pony tail be sit over the braid and hide it) And it will actually be a passive enough alternative to a wild style for her to get away with. So you pull off sparing her from being taunted upon arrival at school for her quirky idea, possibly make it better so other girls may actually want to copy it, and she gets her way. Keeping that confidence you did so well those first 5 years to build in tact. ;) 

There is always a positive way to steer your children away from the things you feel society will brand as “over the top” to protect them from ridicule without actually being the one that ridicules them. Children should feel safe in their own homes and in the presence of their parents. They should not feel as if their parents are their biggest bullies and fear doing anything original in front of you. We should be their supporters, not their haters and harshest criticizers.

And hey... if they do get teased by someone for something they chose to do as a means of expressing their individuality. Well... You talk them through it. Comfort them, reassure them, and explain to them that there are people out there in the world that don’t know how to handle things they do not understand. So they say mean things or do mean things because they were never taught by their parents how to positively express their confusion and gain clarity on something. Nor learned how to disagree with someone’s choices that differ from their own in a nice way. Ensure they know that what that person said or did is not their fault, but the fault of the other person and they should not let it get them down. Teach them to over come the hurt, because they will eventually grow up and move out. You can’t be there 24/7 for the rest of their lives to shield them from mean things. Support their emotions and help them learn to rise above and beyond it. Just never be the one instilling it upon them in your efforts to avoid them having to face it.

Jan 27, 2010 .... Except I didnt get the benefit of "justice"

Rihann & Chris Brown Re-uniting

Its kinda beginning to piss me off that people are running their mouths about Rihanna getting back together with Chris Brown. I'd like to first say that I agree what he did was deplorable and evil. I personally feel he should have done at least 5yrs in jail without parole, and been court ordered into anger management for no less then 2yrs post sentence completion. A non-famous man would have been thrown in jail and ordered into anger management for less than the severity of beating Chris gave Rihanna. 

HOWEVER: She did not run straight back into his arms after the incident. What everyone is failing to see is that, there is more to the story then what the paparazzi publish or the police report of what Chris did. No one knows if he got professional help on his own privately. No one knows what he must have done during the time he and Rihanna were separated to PROVE to her that he deserved a second chance to be a better man. She is NOT one of those females that took a beating and said "Its ok baby, I know I made you mad. It was my fault too. I forgive you" and ran back to him straight from the hospital. We all know that 1 female (friend or family) that does do exactly that. He did not beat her regularly before she said 'enough' and left him. It was a single fight between them and he let his emotions and actions get out of control. 

As TRUE Rihanna Navy: We must trust her judgement and intellect. Trust that she did make him get help privately and prove to her that he has learned to control his emotions and actions. Trust that she is not going back to him blindly. Remind ourselves that she did make him wait and has had serious time to consider the impact of this decision. Trust that if he fails again she will walk away from him again and for good the second time. And PRAY, truly PRAY for her safety and for her to be right in her decision so she may find the "happily ever after" she deserves.

We are not in her shoes and do not know the whole story. Stop hating, stop judging without all the facts, and just love her as you did before this news broke.

You kids today with your “cloud computers” and your “Googly Docs”…

What is “Fascism” exactly?

At the core, Fascism is a political ideology that can differ significantly from one movement to another. By definition the philosophy, movement, or regime exalts nation and often race above the individual. To stand for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition. All variations of fascism we’ve seen throughout history have many characteristics in common. Including extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy, political & cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy, and the rule of elites. At its heart, fascism is about premising the needs of one group, often defined by race and ethnicity, over the rest of humanity in a nation.

Global History of Fascism

There was a mass movement that dominated many parts of central, southern, and eastern Europe between 1919 and 1945. It also had adherents in western Europe, the US, South Africa, Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East.  

National Fascisms: These parties cam into power in several countries between 1922 and 1945.

The National Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Fascista) in Italy was led by Benito Mussolini. He took the name of his party from the Latin word fasces. Which referred to a bundle of elm or birch rods (usually containing an ax) used as a symbol of penal authority in ancient Rome. He was Europe’s first fascist leader.

The National Socialist German Workers Party (Nationalsozialistiche), or Nazi Party, was led by Adolf Hitler.

Representing Hitler’s National Socialism movement, the Fatherland Front (Vaterlandische Front) in Austria was Engelbert Dollfuss, supported by the Heimwehr (Home Defense Force).

A major right wing paramilitary organization, the National Union (Uniao Nacional) in Portugal was led by Antonio de Oliveira Salaza. Which became fascist after 1936. .

The Party of Free Believers (Elefterofronoi) in Greece led by Ioannis Metaxas.

The Ustasa (Insurgence) in Croatia led by Ante Pavelic.

The National Union (Nasjonal Samling) in Norway, which was only in power for a week, was led by Vidkun Quiskling. He was later made minister president under the German occupation, and the military dictatorship of Admiral Tojo Hideki in Japan.

Spain’s fascist movement, the Falange (Phalanx) was founded in 1933 by Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera never came into power, but many of its members were absorbed into the military dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Which itself displayed many fascist characteristics.

Poland’s anti-Semitic Falanga, led by Boleslaw Piasecki, was influential but unable to overthrow the conservative regime of Jozef Pilsudski.

Finland’s Lapua Movement, led by Vihtori Kosola, nearly staged a coup in 1932 but was checked by conservatives backed by the army.

The Arrow Cross Party (Nyilaskeresztes Part) in Hungary was led by Ferenc Szalasi. It was suppressed by the conservative regime of Miklos Horthy until 1944 when Szalasi was made a puppet ruler under the German Occupation.

The Iron Guard (Garda de Fier) in Romania was led by Corneliu Codreanu. It was also called the League of Christian Defense, the Legion of the Archangel Michael, and All for the Fatherland. The dictatorial regime of King Carol II in 1938 dissolved the party. In 1939 Codreanu and several of his legionaries were arrested and later shot while “trying to escape”. A contended report some of his followers did not believe. In 1940 the remnants of the Iron Guard reemerged to share power but were finally crushed by Romanian Conservatives in 1941.

France had the Cross of Fire (Croix de Feu), later renamed to the French Social Party (Parti Social Francais), was led by the Colonel Francois de La Rocque. It was the largest and fastest growing party on the French right between 1936 and 1938. In 1937 it was larger than the French communist and socialist parties combined. One scholar estimated its membership between 700 thousand and 1.2 million. By 1939 it included 3,000 mayors, about 1,000 municipal councilmen, and 12 parliamentary deputies.

Other fascists movements in France included the short lived Faisceau, led by Georges Valois. The Young Patriots (Jeunesses Patriotes) led by Pierre Taittinger. French Solidarity (Solidarite Francaise) was founded and financed by Francios Coty and led by Jean Renaud. The Franks was led by Marcel Bucard.

After the German invasion in 1940 a number of the French fascists served in the Vichy regime of Marshal Philippe Petain.

The British Union of Fascist was led by Oswald Mosley and had some 50 thousand members.

Belgium had the Rexist Party led by Leon Degrelle won about 10 percent of the seats in parliament in 1936.

Russian fascist organization were founded by exiles in Manchuria, the United Sates, and elsewhere. The largest of these groups was the Russian Fascist Party, VFP, led by Konstantin Rodzaevsky. While the Russian Fascist Organization, VFO, was led by Anastasy Vonsiatsky.

At the end of World War II, the major European fascist parties were broken up, and in some countries such as Italy and West Germany they were officially banned. Beginning in the late 1940s many fascist-oriented parties and movement were founded in Europe as well as in Latin America and South Africa. Some European “neofascist” groups attracted large following, especially in Italy and France. None were as influential as the major fascist parties of the interwar period.

Outside of Europe and Asia the popular support for fascism was greatest in South Africa and the Middle East.

Several fascist groups were founded in South Africa after 1932, including the Gentile National Socialist Movement and its splinter group the South African Fascists. As well as the pro-German Ox-Wagon Sentinel (Ossewabrandwag). Founded in 1939 it transformed itself from populist to cultural nationalism, and becoming politically radicalized at the same time. As a nationalist movement a considerable part of the Afrikaans white population comprised its members.

By 1939 there were at least seven Arab ‘shirt’ movements. Such as the Syrian People’s Party (also known as the Syrian National Socialist Party), the Iraqi Futuwa movement, and the Young Egypt movement (also called the Green Shirts).

European fascism had imitators in Latin America, including the Nacis, founded in Chile by Jorge Gonzalez von Marees. The Mexican founded fascism group named ‘Gold Shirts’ was led by Nicolas Rodriguez. Peru had a dictator Luis Sanchez Cero who led their fascist group; Revolutionary Union (Union Revolucionaria). Brazil had the Integralist Action party (Acao Integralista Brasileira). Which rose to some 200 thousand members by the mid-1930s and was suppressed by the Brazilian government in 1938 after a failed coup attempt.

Fascism in the United States The Ku Klux Klan founded at the end of the Civil War and revived in 1915 displayed fascist characteristics. One offshoot, the Black Legion, had some 60 thousand members in the early 1930s and committed numerous acts of arson and bombings. In 1930 Catholic priest Charles E. Coughlin began national radio broadcasts of sermons. These became increasingly antidemocratic and anti-Semitic, as did the journal he founded (Social Justice). After running unsuccessfully for the US presidency in 1936 he became an apologist for Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco. In 1942 his journal, Social Justice, was banned from the U.S. mails for violating the Espionage Act. In the same year the American Catholic church ordered him to stop his broadcasts. The pro-Nazi German-American Bund was founded in 1933 and staged military drills and mass rallies until it disintegrated upon the U.S entry into the war in 1941.

History of Anti-Fascism Anti-Fascism began where Fascism began, in Italy. Arditi del Popolo (The People’s Daring Ones) was founded in 1921. Named after the Italian army’s shock troops from World War I after famously swimming across the Piave River with daggers in their teeth. They were committed to the fight against the increasingly violent faction of blackshirts, the forces encouraged by Benito Mussolini prior to his rise to Italy’s dictator. The Arditi del Popolo brought together unionists, anarchists, socialists, communists, republicans, and former army officers to build bridges where these political groups previously saw walls. Those bridges quickly extended to the races persecuted by fascists. The leftists of Germany’s Roter Frontkampferbund (RFP) were the first to use the famous clenched fist salute as the symbol of their fight against intolerance. In 1932 they became Antifaschistische Aktion, or ANTIFA for short. They fought Nazi anti-Semitism and homophobia. The fist that was first raised by German workers would go on to be raised by the Black Panthers and Nelson Mandela, among many others, over the course of time. In the early days of the Spanish Civil War the Republican popular militia was organized much like modern antifa groups. Voting on important decisions, allowing women to server alongside men, and stood shoulder to shoulder with political adversaries against a common enemy. In October 1936 Oswald Mosley with the British Union of Fascists attempted to march through Jewish neighborhoods in London. His 3 thousand fascists with 6 thousand policemen found themselves outnumbered by the anti-fascist Londoners who turned up to stop them. Estimates of the crowd vary from 20 to 100 thousand. Children were recruited to roll their marbles under the hooves of police horses, while Irish dockworkers, Eastern European Jews, and leftist workers stood side by side to block the march. Standing with their fists raised like the German anti-fascists, they chanted “No pasaran!”. (They shall not pass!) They sung in Italian, German, and Polish and succeeded in blocking the march. Cable Street became a symbol of power of a broad anti-fascist alliance in shutting down fascist hate speech on the streets. Anti-fascist volunteers have been quietly slipping through international cordons to northeaster Syria since 2015 to fight against Isis and Turkish conscripts in defense of the Kurdish people abandoned by the world. When Italian volunteer Lorenzo Orzetti was killed by ISIS in 2019, the men and women of Rojava sand ‘Bella Ciao’. An anti-fascist song from 1920 Italy that grew popular in the mountains of Syria nearly 90 years later.

Anti-fascism in the United States The Anti-Racist Action was formed in 1988 on the basis that anti-racism and anti-fascism are one and the same. Across the country autonomous groups have emerged to fight the rise in hate speech and combat hate crimes. Local clergy in Virginia counted on ANTIFA to keep people safe during the “Untie the Right” rally of 2017. Using the 1930s German Antifa logo, raised fist of RFB, and the ‘No Pasaran’ slogan; these groups have stood in front of racists and fascists similarly to their predecessors at Cable Street in Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and New York. While accusations have been leveled at Antifa for turning recent protests violent, there is little evidence that exists to confirm those affiliated with the anti-fascist cause were behind the violence. Some anti-fascist use violence to combat violence but maintain a firm stance not to initiate it.

Sites of reference for material written above: * https://www.britannica.com/topic/fascism * https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/brief-history-anti-fascism-180975152/ * https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fascism * https://www.britannica.com/biographies/history/fascism * https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/172004 * https://www.thefreedictionary.com/exalts Books of reference for material written above: Oxwagon Sentinel by Christoph Marx

Diversity is human nature

I shook my head and “tsk” at the people who up-roared over the Cheerios commercial. Thought to myself “Why do some people go out of their way to hate?” More to the point “Why do they go even further out of their way to spread their hate and try to convince the masses it is ‘Gods’ will to hate, segregate, oppress, and degrade?” People are not born to hate. Babies do not show disgust or fear towards specific types of people. Nor do they act out towards any specific types of people. If anything, the first time a child is instructed to not associate or communicate with a specific class of person they respond with confusion and request to know why. Hate, in any form is taught. Taught to us by our parents, family, and their churches.

If God created people in his image, than how we are born is how he wants us to be. As it is the true reflection of who his is. Those who carry hate and live to teach it and preach it are the ones going against God. Not those who believe in human equality for all and the right to live how you feel fits you.

Let’s all remember something here. Every book of God was written by MAN. Years after Jesus lived and died. Originally written to preserve the story of Jesus and the words of God as they had been told. We all know how the telephone game works right? I think every child has played it at one point in their life. Things get lost in time and re-told inaccurately.

The scriptures are man’s interpretation of God’s word. His understanding of what God wanted based on the how history was re-told to them at the time they were written. The variations to follow were just yet another man’s interpretation of what God meant for his children. So in all honesty, because Jesus himself never wrote a book to tell us what God wanted for us, no one KNOWS what is wrong or right. What is sin and what is not. What God will forgive us for and what he will not.

Those who preach hate and throw stones (metaphoric or other) at people who live differently than the “good” book says we should be living... THEY may actually be the ones to be judged at the pearly gates. Deemed the true sinners who betrayed God’s will for not being humble, kind, forgiving, loving, and compassionate to all fellow man regardless of skin color, sexual orientation, or if they married before having sex and never divorced. NOBODY KNOWS!! Let me say that again. NO - BODY KNOWS!!! The bibles are not FACT. So drop your stones and just live and let live.

BRAVO to J&J for their latest series of ads!!! You get it!!

One day I will have this with a man, and this will be our wedding march... lol (The instrumental of course)