Annoying People

You know, everytime i talk to my mom about Pakistan or visiting Pakistan, etc, i always get the same "You CAN'T go there!" She hasn't exactly met my husband for reasons out of our control (i'm protecting him lol) so i'm sure she thinks he's backwards, rides a camel, controls me, and well looks like a terrorist since he is "from one of those countries" as she so kindly puts. Now i love my mother although our relationship is not a normal mother-daughter relationship since she didn't raise me and in reality doesn't understand me at all. The last time we talked, our conversation went like this (Now also understand that I was Muslim before i even met my husband...i met my husband because i was Muslim so she can't blame him for my religious differences, thank God):

Mom: I don't understand all this religion stuff, but do you Islams believe in God?
Me: Yes Mom, we believe in God. We even believe in Jesus, but we don't believe Jesus is God - it's the same as what I believed before.

(I never believed Jesus was God...i believed he was a savior and the entrance to heaven, but he was never God, I did think he was the son of God in a figurative, not literal sense. I still don't know where my mom stands on religion. I know she believes in God but in what way isn't clear.)

Me: But Mom, we aren't Islams. Islam is the religion, like Catholicism. And Muslim is the person, like Christians.
Mom: Okay, so Islams do believe in God.
Me: Yes Mom, Islams believe in God.
Mom: Good.

Okay, so you see where i'm at and what i'm dealing with. It all goes in one ear and out the other...it's this way with the majority of my family except my brother who puts his opinions straight out there: "We don't talk about religion in this (his) house. It's good for you but not for us." Okie dokie. There is no real understanding or even attempt at understanding the religion i chose for myself anywhere in my family. I long ago gave up. My Dad did have some conversations at my shadi - i don't know why it's easier for him to talk to others about and not me but as long as he's getting it from somewhere, i'm okay with that. I can remember many interesting comments coming from family members that still apall me such as:

"You look like one of those Iranian terrorists now." after sister first saw me in hijab. Ummm sis, which Iranian terrorists? "All of em." Okie dokie.

"Religion is old fashioned. I'll believe it when i see it. It's stupid to wear that thing on your head and running away from the dog when you are gonna pray." sil

and the many many times i beg and plead for no pork, they serve it just to spite me i swear. The list can go on and on but i'm getting sidetracked.

Who i am mad at is that these idiotic stupid little London bombers from Pakistan. Now my mom has more ammunition, less understanding, and more fear for her wayward daughter. Why oh why did they have to be Pakistani?

Another idiot who makes me mad: Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo (I recently moved from Colorado...thank God)

a few excerpts:

Facing mounting criticism, Rep. Tom Tancredo on Monday refused to apologize for suggesting the United States could target Muslim holy sites if radical Islamic terrorists set off multiple nuclear attacks in American cities.

"It's a tough issue to deal with," Tancredo told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference. "Tough things are said. And we should not shy away from saying things that need to be said."

Tancredo is known for his fiery rhetoric on immigration and other issues, but his words are coming under more scrutiny because he has started traveling to test the waters for a possible presidential candidacy in 2008.

Okay, now this thinking and attitude drives me crazy for a few reasons. First, he's an idiot. If they bomb Mecca, they are going to have every Muslim after them. That would call for all out Jihad for all Muslims. You would have just taken every peaceful Muslim and turned them into Jihadis. He obviously thinks that all Muslims are terrorists or innocent Muslims don't matter. Facts are facts: 99.99% of Muslims are good. Yeah, that .01% really sucks (and we hate them too), it estimates to about 200,000 bad ones i think was the last Newsweek estimate. So he thinks that it's okay to destroy the religion for the rest. Does he know what full out jihad would look like? What an idiot. And this is what we have to look forward for the elections next year. We think Bush is bad...dear oh me.

The full CAIR article about Tancredo is here.

Why oh why is there so much stupidity in the world?