Rant

This whole fuss about the Mohammed cartoons is irritating me mightily. There was a protest against it in New York this weekend by an Islamic group and NY1 showed a clip by one of the protesters. She said "No one has any right to, uh, discriminate against Islam like that...they talk about freedom of speech but, uh, if they were to discriminate against, uh, the Bible, they wouldn't let that happen." If what you're saying is, there have not been similar cartoons against Christianity, or criticism of any kind against other religions here in America or in Europe, you would be wrong. Ever hear of the art exhibit with the crucifix in urine? Or the one with the Virgin Mary covered on dung? Because that is what happens in a free society, with a free press. Welcome to the rest of the world. She doesn't even know what those terms mean, she's just parroting what she sees as the hotbutton words, the victim buzz words. Discrimination! Rawk! Unfair!!

Not only that, the Arab press has no problems whatsoever leveling cheap shot against mostly Judaism, but any other religion or belief systems--oh, but somehow turnabout is a crime against humanity? This reminds me of when Bush started operations in Afghanistan and the squawking about how terrible it would be force them to fight a war during Ramadan--uh, not only do some Muslims have no problem picking fights during someone's else's holiday, but they have no problem fighting during their own--the Yom Kippur War is also known as the Ramadan war). Ugh! I'm just so disgusted with this reaction.

Rest in peace, great woman

Betty Friedan died on Saturday. I read her autobiography in 2000--Mia's mom, Carol, who was an editor with Woodrow Wilson Press (she's my proofreading connection), met her. I have a great picture of Tatiana lounging on my bed on top of the book with Betty's picture but I can't link to it (not digital). I'd like to think Betty's message was meaningful even to horrible kitties--Tatia certainly sees herself as an equal in every way to Tibby Two-Shoes.

News!

Lisa Pierce--my brother's best friend, former opera singer who did some shows at DeBaun--is getting married in August! I got a "Save the Date" postcard last week. I was happily surprised to get the invite--although I enjoy her company very much, Lisa is not a particularly close friend of mine, she's much closer to Bart. But yay!

I wonder if David Hyde Pierce (her first cousin) will be at the wedding?