Fire

Super Saturday, my swashbuckling spermophiles!

Warning:  Do not continue to read this entry if you are easily infuriated.  No seriously, don't.  I'm going to throw the Secret Sunday entry on top of this one by tomorrow so you don't have to have a look-see if you don't want one.

It's cool we'll wait here while you click elsewhere.

No worries.

Okay I think they're gone.

So Sunday's prompt in the fabulous EmHart's photo challenge is "Fire".

When I finished my first photo entry earlier, I had a quick glance at what tomorrow's would be, and came up totally empty on what to post for "Fire".  No ideas.  A lighter?  Chit chat and write I can do all day - for instance I am completely terrified of fire, and am half convinced I must have been burnt at the stake in a past life - but taking a photo that has any significance to me in that department is a bit of a challenge.

It is Saturday as I write this (originally thought I'd post this timed for tomorrow - but eh, screw it) and I have spent all day not feeling so hot and watching anything and everything on Netflix streaming that is not baby or happy-family related.

I finished Insidious, and followed up with a documentary on a 'church' in Kansas here in the US.  I was watching this documentary, and there was a woman talking on it, and I thought "hold the phones - I've seeeen that woman before, haven't I?"

Yes indeed, I have.

(For the record - particularly with my shortage, I have never... eaten a child).

Most of you will probably read this and think "ohhh, I've heard of them before, didn't know the name" or instantly know who I'm talking about.  So forgive me if I'm giving you too much information here.

There is an elderly gentleman in Kansas, who is a pastor and therefor started a 'church' with some very, very extreme beliefs. He has a very large family, and they make up for most of the churches members.  They believe that gays are destroying the country, and that G-d is punishing us for being accepting of them by way of killing soldiers, 9/11 - basically anything bad that has ever happened here is punishment for that.  They protest everything - most disgustingly soldier's funerals (not that it matters, but this is whether the soldier is heterosexual or not).  Of course they have the right to say whatever they want, but unfortunately from winning lawsuits defending that exact right they have the money and means to go wherever they want in the country and protest.  If you'd like more info, by all means, google west.boro baptist church.

(And the documentary is called "Fall from Grace" and is full to the brim of delightful pastors & churchgoers who say lovely things and totally rip this church apart, so it keeps the blood down from a boil to a steady simmer).

Let me also make clear, particularly for foreign friends, that if you're an American, whether you're a churchgoer or an atheist, a gay rights activist or someone who thinks marriage is 'traditional', you are, undoubtedly, disgusted by these people.  I have never met a single person, regardless of beliefs, who isn't.

So where did I see this woman?

Ahhh yes, she was holding a sign that said I was going to burn in the fiery pits of hell (you know, for living here).

And so then I thought - aha!  My prompt is fire, and I think that maybe ( and hopefully, at that) I've seen them live and in HD  because I live here, and people from other parts of the country/world have not.  So I'm going to share my photos of awful.

In 2009 Kali and I (she who I'm forcing to see a scary movie tomorrow) had an adventure to the Academy Awards.

Every year at the Oscars, the real show is the few blocks around them.  It's a friggin madhouse.  People protesting things, people in costumes, tourists, cops, helicopters - it's a circus.  But these particular people come every year.  Every. Year.

2009 also happened to be the year that Sean Penn won the Oscar for Milk and in his speech referenced these signs of hate that he had to pass (as did everyone) to get in.

A few more pics of these signs of hate:

(I'd like to point out to the left, a woman wearing the flag as a diaper, and to the right, part of a group of small children forced to participate).

 (This girl is braaaaaave).

And the speech Mr. Penn gave referencing these people:

(Skip to maybe 5:45)

No words.