"...followed by a brisk mauling."

think-progress: There are only two countries that have child...

Wed, 30 May 2012 03:45:00 -0400

think-progress:

There are only two countries that have child poverty rates over 20%: Romania and the United States.

refabbedvintage: Love this! It’s so true & perfect!

Tue, 29 May 2012 19:15:41 -0400

refabbedvintage:

Love this! It’s so true & perfect!

All things truly wicked start from innocence. Oh, Loki. <3

Tue, 29 May 2012 17:35:55 -0400

All things truly wicked start from innocence.

Oh, Loki. <3

Photo

Tue, 29 May 2012 17:33:32 -0400

Florida: Well, the zombie apocalypse had to start somewhere. In...

Tue, 29 May 2012 17:31:26 -0400

Florida: Well, the zombie apocalypse had to start somewhere.

In all seriousness, I’m really very concerned.

His shirt reads “They gave me a medal for killing two men, and...

Mon, 28 May 2012 22:31:50 -0400

His shirt reads “They gave me a medal for killing two men, and a discharge for loving one.”

You are a bad-ass.

That slogan pretty much sums up my feelings about war and our military-industrial complex.

Happy Memorial Day.

Nyamh Iris Newell

Sat, 26 May 2012 18:16:01 -0400

You’ve been on my mind a lot lately. I suppose that’s perfectly natural, given the sort of year it’s been. It’s been six years now; I’ve grown, I’ve moved on, and I’ve let some things go. But not you. Never you.

I never got to hold you. Never got to see you smile, feel you grasp my thumb, hold you against my heart and soothe your tears. I never got a chance to know you as anything less—or more—than my daughter.

Because you never had a chance, you remain in my heart and head as perfect. The doctor told me over and over you wouldn’t be; that if you lived at all it would be as a sickly, malformed thing. But how could you be anything but perfect? You were the one good thing to come from that time in my life; conceived on Valentine’s Day, the one day when our relationship wasn’t abusive or coercive. You were my one perfect thing, from my one perfect day. No matter what happened, you were mine and you were perfect.

I’m holding on to you, Nyamh. Daughter. Mine own. My precious, perfect baby. I’m holding on to you because how can I possibly let go? You are a part of me. You are a part of me and I don’t want to let you go. I want to hold on to you, daughter.

I love you, Nyamh. I miss you every day.

World of Warcraft account has been hacked and then banned.I was looking forward to playing now that...

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:39:44 -0400

World of Warcraft account has been hacked and then banned.

I was looking forward to playing now that I finally hit 85 and bought another month’s worth of game time (that until I got paid today, I really couldn’t afford). That’s what kept me from just collapsing during my 10-hour day at work.

I realize this is NOT a real problem, compared to EVERYTHING ELSE THAT EXISTS. But it still makes me really sad right now.

Seriously.

"Winter is coming. And I’m going to punch the hell out of it."

Fri, 11 May 2012 23:08:35 -0400

“Winter is coming. And I’m going to punch the hell out of it.”

- Tony Stark

"We are the most well-fed country in the world, on the backs of people who go to bed hungry."

Fri, 11 May 2012 22:42:56 -0400

“We are the most well-fed country in the world, on the backs of people who go to bed hungry.”

- Eva Longoria, “Real Time with Bill Maher”

face-down-asgard-up: thequietworld: #the trickster is my...

Fri, 11 May 2012 03:51:55 -0400

face-down-asgard-up:

thequietworld:

#the trickster is my favorite villain archetype

The best villains are smart, sneaky, cocky, and extremely manipulative. They’re always fun to watch/read.

Not All Black People Look Alike, But All New Englanders Do

Thu, 10 May 2012 21:38:29 -0400

I have one friend who thinks Will Smith is in Pulp Fiction and another who thinks Samuel L. Jackson is in The Matrix.

It shouldn’t be funny, but when the Somalian exchange student laughs about it, I just go with it.

"A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who..."

Thu, 10 May 2012 19:12:02 -0400

“A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair.”

- Abraham Joshua Heschel (via theconsciousmuslim)

"The Arabic word تكلم (to speak), has another root meaning كلم which means to wound. How many people..."

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:09:52 -0400

“The Arabic word تكلم (to speak), has another root meaning كلم which means to wound.
How many people have we wounded with our words?”

- (via theconsciousmuslim)

Atheism and God

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:00:00 -0400

A friend recently asked me the following:

How do you calmly debate with people who shove atheism down your throat & personally insult you for believing in something above yourself?

I thought about my response for a long time, and it’s something I want to put here, too, because I think it’s something that all of us with faith struggle with (being one of three Muslims in my community, I know it’s something I’ve struggled with). Before I begin, though, I want to acknowledge what it is I believe in.

As a Muslim, I believe there is one true god, Allah, and Mohammed is His prophet. But further than that, I believe that Allah, the Highest Power, the Creator, is simply the collective will of humanity to do and create good. I believe that Mohammed, as with other prophets before him, practiced and preached a life spent serving this force.

Now that I’ve more clearly stated what it is I believe, I want to answer my friend’s question

******

Faith and science are not contradictory. They are not mutually exclusive. Neither is faith and critical thought; history is filled with people who both had faith and thought critically. Some of the most intelligent people in the world today are theists or deists. What many atheists do not understand is that, unlike atheism (which at its core is based on the absence of something else), faith is not exclusionary of doubt. Faith, true faith, I believe, is an acknowledgement of doubt. All theists have doubts; doubt is part of belief. But faith does not, I believe, call for us to discard our doubts (and here, let’s be clear that faith is not the same thing as any organized religious system). Faith allows us to question and criticize our systems of belief, to have doubts and to acknowledge them. Faith allows us to seek answers; in my mind, this is the core of what faith is—a way to find answers to otherwise unanswerable questions.

Many atheists deny faith because they believe it is or has done evil. Yes, evil acts have been done in the name of faith. But good has also been done in the name of faith, and evil has been done in the name of things other than faith (patriarchy, nationalism, fascism, etc). To accept one of these facts while denying either of the other two is, in my mind, both illogical and unreasonable. Perhaps, then, faith is not the issue. Perhaps what matters is not why you act, but how. If you have faith in something that requires you to act in a way which is charitable and compassionate, that’s good. If you have no faith, but a moral system which requires you to act in a way that is charitable and compassionate, that’s just as good. I don’t know that it matters what the motive force is, and I’m not sure why anyone should think it does.

I think, honestly, the only way to truly debate people who refuse to accept that other people have faith is to do exactly what you’re doing already. The only way to combat militant atheism is to live as a compassionate and intelligent person who believes in a higher power. To act with empathy and reason. To be capable of charity and critical thinking. And to continue to believe in something greater than yourself.

*****

EDIT: When I say atheist here, I’m not being fair to atheists. Most atheists I know are great and wonderful people, who don’t judge me or others as somehow defective simply for believing in something. Many of my closest friends are atheists, as are members of my family. They don’t hate or harm theists for being theists, and I should have been much more clear that here, when I speak of atheists, I mean the small portion of atheists who are militantly against any religious belief—people like Bill Maher, who truly believe that believing in God makes you a bad person. This is not a statement against atheism, and if it comes off that way, I’m truly sorry, as I never meant it to. Rather, it’s meant to communicate how I deal with certain atheists who truly think less of me once they realize I believe in Allah.

"If your daddy paid your way through Harvard, I think you have a special obligation to help poor and..."

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 22:32:57 -0400

“If your daddy paid your way through Harvard, I think you have a special obligation to help poor and middle class kids get a higher education.”

- Paul Begala, Real Time with Bill Maher

"They’re just donuts; they’re not love."

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:35:28 -0400

“They’re just donuts; they’re not love.”

- Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) , Supernatural S2E19, “Folsom Prison Blues”

kayleelovesstrawberries: b-a-c-o-n-s: fluffywhite: dan-gria: ...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:48:32 -0400

kayleelovesstrawberries:

b-a-c-o-n-s:

fluffywhite:

dan-gria:

REBLOG TO SUPPORT RUE AND CINNA

Recently the actors who play Rue and Cinna have come under attack from Racist fans of the Hunger Games. Reblog if you support the casting of Amandla Stenberg, the adorable and talented actress who plays Rue, and Lenny Kravitz, the unquestionable genius who plays Cinna.

http://www.eonline.com/news/hunger_games_lenny_kravitz_amandla/304193?cmpid=sn-000000-twitterfeed-365-top_stories&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=twitterfeed_celebrities_top_stories&dlvrit=79438

I don’t even read The Hunger Games, but the reactions I’ve seen towards these actors is frankly shameful.

WOW

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but just from the trailer and previews I know that they were the right choices for Rue and Cinna. SMH. Some people need to get a life.

Watching “Rare Exports” for the second time in a week with my mum and 93-year-old...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:46:12 -0400

Watching “Rare Exports” for the second time in a week with my mum and 93-year-old Finnish grandmother. Because that’s how we roll.

(Also yesterday I learned what YOLO means. I’m proud of myself).

vizzz: (10 women who were killed in hate crimes. the other 20...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:41:57 -0400

vizzz:

(10 women who were killed in hate crimes. the other 20 are located here.)

A beautiful artistic tribute. Now we need to honor these women by working to make certain no one else is murdered, assaulted, or victimized by violence based on their gender identity or gender expression (and someday, that people are not victimized by violence at all, though I fear this is truly unattainable).