Check THAT off the Bucket List!

Anyone who knows me well knows I am a speed demon. From roller coasters and airplane take offs as a kid, to motorcycle rides and racing my car on the streets of Fairfax as a teen, speed has always been in my blood and, as scared of things as I am, I hardly remember a time that going fast did anything but exhilarate me. There is a high about it that nothing compares to.

My birthday just passed and I asked Ryan, my to-be step son, to take me out in his uber-fast BMW as a birthday gift. Yesterday I got way more than I could have hoped for.

Seems Porsche had a patriotic moment here in the US and brought several of its newest, fastest cars, the 911 Carrera 4S, (a bargain at just $129,740) to Mayport Naval Station here in Jacksonville where both Mark and Ryan work. Porche set up a course on the air field and brought professional drivers (just like all the TV commercials that say "do not try this at home, professional driver on closed course") and offered free rides to the sailors. One course was more of a long straight away with several bone jarring turns, the other was a slalom, where you could ride along or actually drive it yourself. Looked like Ryan was going to surpass my request for a speedy ride.

The cars were attractive and sounded fierce, which I  hate to admit considering I always thought of the Porsche as a fancy Volkswagon with a lawn mower for an engine (listen to it, it sounds like a tractor!)but these cars were far from your usual 911. Sleek and attractive, the engines not so much roared as hummed, with an undercurrent of power you could feel in your bones. The day was overcast, cool but a bit breezy, so top speeds of over 180mph were impossible.

I signed my life away and all the rights for my kin to sue if I died a fiery death, got my hand stamped, grabbed a helmet and was off. I happened to get the best driver in the fastest car...yea! He asked if I was a screamer like the girl before me and I laughed my best Dorothy Parker laugh. Never could he scare me. The challenge was deliberate. I wanted FAST.

We hit 120MPH before I took my 3rd breath, which was a bit hard to do since the G-force was pretty impressive. As we picked up speed I could feel that exhilaration mixed with an odd feeling of calm that I always get when going stupid-fast. Then he hit the bakes to turn around and I dscovered the human eyeballs could simply shoot out of the head when you go from 167MPH to 30MPH in a nanosecond. Around the cones we went, the slalom looking impossible as we neared each cone, yet the car handled it with grace and class, not to mention the driver. Then it was back to the straightaway and it was over.

I thanked my driver, who seemed a little disappointed that he did not scare me (Ha! He has never been on the back of a motorcycle with Mark obviously!) and I met up with Ryan, grinning ear to ear the whole way but trying hard to look cool about it.

We then walked to the other end where the slalom was and where you could drive one of these beasts yourself. Ryan is under 21 so he could not drive but did take the ride. I watched his car, an insanely fast bright yellow machine, as it twisted and turned at break-neck speeds around the cones. I felt like I was in a a Porche commercial. Unfortunately, when it came to my turn (I was going to drive one myself) they were closing so I did not get the chance.

The whole experience was amazing. The car, even over 165mph, didn't shimmy or shake or act like any of this was a big deal. It was comfortable and smooth and had remarkable brakes that must have been reverse engineered UFO technology.  I have seen NASCAR drivers take random fans around the course pre-race and have always wanted to do that, knowing I would not be scared, I would be electrified, and yesterday I was.

So thanks Ryan, for the best birthday gift ever (along with the Fire of course) and the next $120,000 I come across I am getting a red one and you can drive it anytime you like.

The God State

A 51-48  vote Thursday killed a Republican effort to let both employers and insurance companies deny coverage for contraceptives and other items they object to on religious or moral grounds. In doing so, the Senate upheld Obama's policy, which guarantees women access to coverage for contraceptives through an employer's health plan or directly from an insurance company.

If it had passed, the amendment would have allowed insurance companies and employers to refuse to pay "if the coverage would be contrary to the religious beliefs or moral convictions of the issuer, or other entity offering the plan". Considering that health insurance is part of an employee's pay package, it would have been very disturbing to be paid only what your employer felt abided by his personal set of morals.

This issue illustrates a frightening trend in America, the assumption that if you are not a Protestant Christian you are not a decent person, a family person, or a "good American", whatever the proper definition of that is. And if you are an agnostic or atheist you are both vilified and prayed for.

Senator Scott Brown has called the issue "one of our most fundamental rights as a people - the freedom of religion," adding: "No one should be forced by government to do something that violates the teachings of their faith." (we are not putting you in the stockades, we are asking for the pill).

"The Blunt amendment would allow employers to deny  virtually any preventive or essential health service based on a religious or moral objection," Senator Jeanne Shaheen said. "An employer could deny coverage of HIV/AIDS screenings, prenatal care for single mothers, mammograms, vaccinations for children, or even screenings for diabetes based on a moral objection to a perceived unhealthy lifestyle."

Hm. I did not realize my work benefits and fair compensation were a moral issue, or that freedom to practice religion included depriving me if my rights as a citizen. This frightens me. As these conservative Christians are claiming to be protecting their freedom of religion (which is conveniently subjective), I find my basic freedoms being threatened, and not just regarding this amendment (which never uses the word "contraceptive"). One feels that if you are not part of a "traditional" family unit, if you are not "God fearing" or if you do not abide by the social and moral standards of the 12th century you are somehow a bad person, a dangerous person, with your liberal, socialist ideas. God is now the new excuse for controlling others, for justification of claims of being superior humans and citizens, and for being intolerant of anyone or anything you do not agree with.

I see old prejudices coming back into vogue and being embraced as positive things, moral ideas, God inspired beliefs. Homosexuals, unmarried couples (of either same or opposite sex), single parents, indeed, college students pole dancing for tuition, Wiccans (which is also a religion I might point out) are all back on the whipping post because "our American way of life is being threatened by these non-conformists and if you do not let me protect myself by allowing me to be judge and jury you are depriving me of my religious freedom and that will lead to the downfall of America". This is dangerous stuff people, this is a get-out-of-jail-free card for witch hunters. Do what you want and include "God" in it and you are untouchable.

Another joke is the newest reality show called The Republican Debates. They are nothing more than an "I am more Christian than you" contest and if you do not believe me, write a transcript of any one of them, but leave out any mention of religion, God or "traditional values". You will have even less substance than you do with these ideas. And these supposedly intelligent, educated old white males (sigh, once again) are going to convince us with a few references to the Bible that they are competent to lead this vast and complex nation?

These Christians (who are anything but in my book) act as if they are being persecuted at every turn, that they are the misunderstood guys in the white hats that will be fed to the lions at any moment and that you must band together with them to protect all our rights as religious people, when the truth is it is the non-Christians who are in danger of losing  freedoms. They have been labeled sinners and anti-American and told that, despite recent studies, traditional families are the ONLY acceptable ones and if you are not part of that well your healthcare needs to be limited. (Children who grew up in single parent households are better adjusted and more successful than ones who grew up in "traditional" two parent households where the parents were together only for the sake of the children. Further, newer studies are showing that same sex partners raise MORE mentally stable kids than households with parents of the opposite sex who are not happy).

So please, let's start talking about issues that matter and leave God out of it because frankly, as soon as you get all religious on me you lose all credibility. If I do not believe in your Bible, in your faith, than you may as well be arguing for the existence of unicorns. You sound ignorant, bigoted, narrow-minded and basically intellectually lazy to me, when you probably are non of those things. Just leave it for Sundays and for those of you who chose to drink the Kool-Aid.

(please note, religion and Christianity are different than spirituality and you do not have to be Christan to believe in a God-being.)