For the last couple of days, I have been extremely upset with Christians. Not so much with the ones I know, but with our representatives in public. Here are a few examples:

1. Tom DeLay
Dave posted about this speech here. It's another example of idiocy, or of complete disregard for human dignity; possibly both.

2. Star Jones of THE VIEW
Not that I really care what she thinks, or ever watch this show, but I did hear a quote from her that went something like this: "I was there on my honeymoon a month ago; it could have been me. God really blessed me [by making sure I wasn't there]." I don't know why exactly, but this rubs me the wrong way. I guess because it sounds self-centered and is of the "I have to make everything, even a global tragedy, somehow relate to my own piddly life" school of thought, which I also can't stand.

3. This article in The Lookout
For those of you who are not familiar with this fine piece of literary work (or with my sarchastic nature), I apologize. I also must apologize that it will not work in Mozilla. Grrr. I stumbled across this issue, all about the 'dating dilemma', when I had nothing better to do. I should have watched some more Dawson's Creek. Suffice it to say that this is the best (read: worst) quote in the whole article; it also sums up the guy's lack of credentials very well.

"I would never encourage Christian parents to allow their children to date unbelievers. I wouldn't want them to experience my anguish."

His anguish? The only thing that happened to him was that he was too controlling of his daughter, and that she rightfully got angry. Then, when they broke up, he saw this as the 'hand of God', thus proving him right. How convenient.

4. Yet another article
Another Lookout prize-winner, the very scientific writer of this piece of work writes, "Though I know of no studies that have been conducted, I suspect that the divorce rate among those who maintain their sexual purity before marriage is significantly lower than that of those who choose not to.

WHA?
(a) "Though I know of no studies...." is not a good way to gain credibility, especially when you are making erroneous claims.
(b) I'm not so sure that if this poll were to be taken, it would come out in this guy's favor. If you've ever been around those Christian couples who love to tell everyone how great their sex life is (in great detail) because they waited until they were married, you know what I mean. Yuck.

5. This
But if you read this site, you probably already know what I'm talking about.

And finally, the whole reason I decided to post this rant,

6. www.realrelationships.com
I got this book for Christmas from one of my good friends, and I was very excited because it has a special online evaluation that you get to access for free (a $30 value, so the book cover says). First, as I'm reading, I can't help but notice that there are several ploys to get me to purchase their workbook; namely, that I can't get all that I want out of the book without the exercises therein. "That's all right," I keep telling myself, all the while waiting for chapter 9 when they tell me about the online personality evaluation, the evaluation for my mate, and the couple's evaluation. Of course, I go to the website and am told this:

"To take your indicator, click here now and insert your passcode, and remember, you can always come back later and purchase an additional love talk indicator for your partner ($15) and receive your Love Talk couple's report."

Gee thanks for lying to me. And as if that weren't enough, I then read that I have to purchase the couple's report for an additional $15.

So, as far as I can tell, Les and Leslie, if I took your stupid test (which actually did sound interesting, and may have saved me from horrible communication blunders down the road--do you know how valuable that would be?), I wouldn't save $30, I would actually spend it. Capitalism at its best.

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In unrelated news, Emma performed her first successfully funny prank today. We were at a friend's house, and she ran in the kitchen saying, "Is there something on my teeth?" while laughing hysterically. She had strategically placed a raisin on her front tooth, making it seem like she was missing a tooth--Genius.