Don't wait, there's more where that came from! Are you feeling dissatisfied with your weight-loss regime? Well, Laurette has more great tidbits to keep you motivated- fasting! If you aren't motivated to walk to work, well just make it a prayer walk and read prayers as you exercise! The new "PraiseFast" program will help you to lose weight and get down with J.C.! Here's some passages, "Physical food is nourishment for the body. Jesus Christ is the only FOOD which can truly fill us. Discover the connection between overeating and sin!" (At the bottom of the page, there's something about "Ascential Bioscience nutrition products," which suggests that sin is not the ONLY thing keeping you wobbly.) Ok, I don't want to come off as an anti-Christian biatch. I'm really not. But this is, once again, ridiculous. I think it's fine to want to combine spirituality and exercise, but I once again, have issues with proclaiming it as the only way, or the word of God, as Laurette proclaims on the praisefast page. (She's waiting for a clear "go-ahead" from a higher power to continue on.) As the lovely yoga ladies wrote below, Laurette's work really just shows her closed-mindedness, and her inability (along with many others) to believe that there is more than one path to God or spirituality. If we go back to the PraiseMoves page about books, she gets excited that her work (and that of Mike Shreve) has closed yoga studios. "It has been instrumental in the closing of several yoga studios already!" One of the major issues I have with dual party politics in the US is that everyone thinks that they are absolutely 100% right about everything, and that their way is the ONLY way. Conservatives think this, and liberals think this, and battles over black and white moral issues ensue. There is little moderation, little compromise, little problem solving. Let's take a look at another highly opinionated work about one of every feminist's favorite topics: abortion.
"Thoughts from an Ex-Fetus" by George Jonas. Let me preface this by saying that I believe both sides have valid points about abortion. Yes, I think killing is bad. But I also think that it isn't just about killing. It's sometimes about the life of the child, the life of the mother, the circumstances in which the fetus was conceived (rape!!!!!), the illnesses of the fetus, etc. This article is quite incendiary, at least to me, because the way that Jonas crafts his arguments is by saying that
1) Killing abortionists is basically as bad as killing fetuses.
2) Abortion means "We don't want standard or superstandard children if they cramp out style."
3) We live in a matriarch. "Living in an epoch that is selfish as well as matriarchal..."
4) Abortion is a way to allow women to have "a healthy sexual appetite" (which is clearly wrong). Jonas then goes on to insult women further, "Some put the question in terms of a woman's right to control her own body. That would be valid enough in the realm of smoking, diet, liposuction or sex- but abortion?"
I personally think that women should have the freedom to have an abortion, but I don't necessarily know that I personally would get one. First of all, being pro-choice isn't necessarily being pro-abortion. Second of all, abortion does not always amount to feminine selfishness, as the author seems to think. Third of all, if abortion is killing, then why not try to decrease all killing as well? Why are we still a violent and hostile nation in foreign policy? Why kill animals that are treated terribly in factory farms? Why kill forests? Why kill our world with gas guzzling cars and plastic? If we're going to say that killing humans and fetuses is tantamount and it's bad, then let's try to stop killing everything else and everyone else in the world first. Then we can talk.
If we are against abortion, why not get to the heart of the matter? Birth Control and education. Some people do not have sex in a pre-marital situation, but it is not necessarily a religious choice. Some people do. Not all liberals lack religion and have lots of sex, not all conservatives are extreme Christians. The bottom line is that sex leads to babies. And I think that "abstinence-only" education is really not cutting it. So as parents and leaders, we should educate children and teenagers about the importance of safe sex, and allow girls access to morning-after pills. If people are smarter about sex, they'll be less likely to get pregnant. If they're less likely to get pregnant, then they're less likely to abort. Outlawing abortion and denying birth control to women isn't going to do anything, but helping people to have access to birth control can prevent this killing in the future. And Mr. Jonas, please remember that it's not just a woman's "healthy sexual appetite" which results in sex. As I recall, it takes two to tango, which means that birth control is as much a reflection of female sex drive as it is male.
In the end, it all comes down to being right 100% of the time. Things are only black and white. Always right and wrong.
Listening to: Grizzly bear (I'm also super addicted to Weeds, the TV show, even though I've never smoked.)
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