oh please.

So Sarah Palin is still claiming to be some kind of martyr but there's a different between getting persecuted for your faith and being justifiably ridiculed for being an opportunist with a big mouth and a seeming incapacity for self-reflection. Some people say I don't like here because it's "cool" to not like her, but this is different. Any time someone uses spiritual language and metaphor in a way that does a great disservice to where that language comes from, it's just not a good thing.

Persecution for your beliefs? Hmmmm...

Considering that merely going to church in Egypt or India makes you likely to get blown up or that you can get dragged into court in Pakistan for supposed blasphemy and converting equals a loss of family, life and livelihood in a lot of other places around the world, snarky people on the Internet and non-Fox News outlets are really not that big of a deal.

I'd like to see these people actually, well, re-read what they supposedly believe because there's a whole lot about being blessed for being a peacemaker and thirsting for righteousness and showing mercy, and the sun shining on the evil and the good. I supposed that's too much to ask, though.

Meanwhile in the world of those who are formerly Catholic (probably the most common religion of my generation at least here in the Rust Belt), everyone else is freaking out about their zodiac sign because vague newspaper predictions like "you may encounter stress today" or "you will find something out about that special person in your life" are forever not the same anymore.

I always found it ironic when my friends in high school would give me a hard time about my preference for "organized religion" when they were reading the daily horoscope as intensely as I read the Bible and consulted the Tarot deck every morning before class and based romantic relationships on said significant other's stars. "Oh it's okay that he's an asshole. All Aries are that way. What can you do?"

It must be a great job to write the daily astrology and keep cycling catchphrases like a housewife Nostradamus. It'd almost be as good as ghost-writing or penning deadpan Telegraph-style obituaries. Why didn't they offer writing classes like that when I was an
undergrad? Damn.

And since I can't think of much in the way of songs about snow, here's some fabulously frigid New Zealand post-punk for your Tuesday morning...