September 19, 2012 by sarahjanelives

Does A Non-Deed Count As A Good Deed?

So Chik-Fil-A has reportedly taken the bold step of ceasing financial support to hate groups. 11 Alive posed the question ‘Do you think this helps or hurts the Atlanta company?’

Hmmm. Don’t need to think long or hard about that, at least not in regards to whether the purveyors of intolerant chicken rise or fall in my estimation in light of this new information.

All this does is put them back at the square one of not doing anything intentionally harmful or discriminatory. So after all this controversy, the best they can apparently manage is to do nothing at all. Well, I’ll take nothing at all over the knowledge that they actively finance hate groups and dogmatically driven legislation, but it would be nice to see them take a further step and join the ranks of those who are actually trying to do something positive.

So…….it won’t hurt them, but I see no reason why it should help them, either.

September 15, 2012 by sarahjanelives

Defriended Over a Wedding, a Straight Man Gains Perspective

Reblogged from evoL =:

My younger brother is gay. Gay as laughter. Gay as the day is long. One of the finest moments in my life, and one of the greatest compliments anyone has ever paid me, was the day he felt safe to come out to me. He’s in his mid-30s now, but he’ll always be my little brother. And man, I love that kid.

Another Skirmish On My Wall…….

See, here’s the thing. I keep my Facebook alive mostly because it is the easiest way to keep in touch with several old friends I will almost certainly never see in person again. Unfortunately I cannot stand to see others continuous ideological, religious, & political posts without posting some of my own. Wouldn’t you know it, every time I do, it seems I pee in somebody’s petunias.

I didn’t post any commentary on this one when I re-posted it. I thought it covered my opinions pretty well without any extra help from me.

This was followed shortly afterwards with this:

It is far more exhausting to think of new and creative ways to form tactful answers than to comment on original posts. Remind me again why I am working so hard to avoid hurting the feelings of those with no regard for mine?

Now here’s where I am genuinely curious about internet etiquette. I make it a habit never to post argumentative commentary on friends’ posts. If I feel I just have to say something and I know it will either offend my friend or go completely against what they believe, I go around their re-post to the original page and post my comment there. I tend to think that is just the tactful, polite way to behave.

While I certainly would never seek to bar my friends from posting or make them feel their opinions or thoughts are unwelcome, I still kinda’ think it would just be more polite to simply re-post on your own page and make your comments there, or do it on the main page. If you don’t agree with a post, why argue on their public wall? That puts the first poster in the position of either having to defend their post or to let contrary opinions stay under it, and all in front of every friend who can access their wall. It just seems a bit tactless to me. Sometimes it seems to me that many social media sites are slowly being taken over by a cacophony of squabbling.

What do you think?

Thank you to the Facebook page of Liberal Hippie Nerd, from whom I re-posted the above graphic. It’s a great page, check it out sometime.

The original exchange on Facebook has been altered. I noticed I had left out the key word “not” in my comment on the upper percent. It now reads “not to pay a decent percentage.” What can ya’ say, you forget some of those connecting words when you are typing long responses.

September 7, 2012 by sarahjanelives

I Admit It. Sometimes I Feed The Trolls……

Okay, so I wasn’t all that nice. In my defense, if you lack a sense of humor and are blessed with hyper-active and easily hurt feelings, you should probably not hang out on an off-color adult oriented humor page.

Sometimes, I just can’t help myself.

Seriously….show of hands, folks. How many people really thought this was an intentional slight against the handicapped? Geez. Try decaf, dude. And TURN OFF YOUR DAMN CAPS-LOCK.

My comment would, of course, be the last one. My troll refuses to talk to me now. Sniff.

September 5, 2012 by sarahjanelives

Thank You, Bill…….

It seems such a rare thing to see anyone of note from Arkansas doing anything positive, or that generates good press, that I simply wanted to give respect to our man Bill. His DNC speech was excellent, and tonight, at least, I can go to bed with my head held high, because he is one of ours. You rocked it, sir.

August 17, 2012 by sarahjanelives

Watching The Sun Rise With Simon’s Cat………

I am up quite early this morning, in a silent house filled with my sleeping family, watching the sun come up. In about half an hour or so, there will be a little boy chirping and singing in the next room, but for now nobody needs me, or wants anything from me. This is my net surfing, coffee drinking, sneak in a hot shower time. In honor of a beautiful morning full of happy vibes, I thought I would share what I am watching right now with all of you, so y’all can all have a smile first thing this morning, too.

This is every cat I have ever owned. I have yet to see one of these clips that doesn’t make me smile. All of y’all have a beautiful day, afternoon, evening, wherever you are!

June 7, 2012 by sarahjanelives

Is secularism a gateway drug?

Reblogged from Recovering Agnostic:

Religion seems to fear secularism. I often hear people saying that secularism is a threat to religion, or treating it as synonymous with atheism. I find these arguments rather odd - secularism has no relation to religion, being a position that can be held by all beliefs or none, and it actually protects believers from persecution by ensuring that no religious belief can take precedence over others and claim the right to enforce its own particular dogma in the public sphere.

Ray Has Gone Home………

One of my favorite lines from Men In Black came from Tommy Lee Jones, when he informed Will Smith that Elvis was not dead, he just went home. I was saddened today to hear that Ray Bradbury passed away. Over the course of his prolific career he bestowed 600 some-odd short stories and 27 novels & short story collections upon those of us who love science fiction. He was one of the first authors to capture my imagination and send it soaring. He made me think, and he made me laugh. Now that he has ‘gone home’, he has made me cry. He will be missed by many, and his work will remain admired for it’s texture, finely crafted details, and vision.