The Cost of Inequality... Our Story.

It was back in the last week of October, 2008.   I was in the UK visting Eric.  It was yet another of the many many trips I was taking back and forth from San Francisco to London.  Being in a long-distance relationship  has its own unique challenges under the best of conditions. For us,  being half a world away from each other meant we tried very hard to maximize what little time we did get to spend together.

So on this particular trip,  we had taken a long weekend getaway to Cornwall. It was a brilliantly sunny late afternoon at Land's End.  Land's End, if you have never been there,  is the extreme south-westerly point of the British mainland, and the extreme westerly point of the mainland of England.  We had just spent the day driving around the coast.  (We even found time to see the wonderfully cheezy Doctor Who exhibit that was going on there.)

Afterwards,  we hiked over to an incredibly scenic point on the cliffs overlooking the  North Atlantic. The sun was just  starting to set, and the  light  was perfect to take pictures.   So  I told Eric to stand there  against the panoramic view,  and I took this photo of him.  --->

It took me a couple of seconds to  adjust my camera to capture the light, and afterwards  I was looking at the photo in the view screen, when Eric asked me; "What are you doing?  Did it turn out ok?"

I  smiled  at him, and showed him the photo,  he  agreed  that with the light  and the view,   the photo was a good one.   I then turned to face him, and with the setting sun  shining in my eyes,  I asked him to marry me. He blinked a couple of times,  and  didn't say anything,  and  frankly my heart stopped for a moment.  A split second later,   he smiled  in that particular way he does, that  makes my knees go weak.  Then looked at me and said.  "I already said yes a long time ago."   What followed  was a  PDA (public display of affection)  that, while relatively mild,  would most likely  cause the bigots over at Focus on the Family's heads to explode.

I returned  to the United States  a few days later.  While sitting on the long eleven hour flight, I looked out  at the Atlantic Ocean 36,000 feet below and one thought kept ringing through my head like a trumpet blast. We were engaged!

On election night 2008,  Eric and I were hopeful for  two things.  The first, was that  Barack Obama would be elected President.   While campaigning  for  President,  Senator Obama had indicated  that  while he was not in favor of  "marriage"  for  same sex couples,  he firmly believed in Civil Unions that couples like Eric and myself should have the same legal rights  as any other American couple.

The other thing we hoped for that night, was  that Proposition 8 in California  would be defeated.   Prop 8 is the  ballot initiative  that  banned  same sex  marriage in California.   At the end of the night  we were disappointed by the passage of  legalized hatred with Prop 8,  but hopeful that  the new American President would live up to his word and work to pass the  Uniting American Families Act.  A law that would allow same sex couples to sponsor their spouse / partner/ whatever- you want to call it,  to come to the United States, just as opposite sex couples can.

We even added our voice to the lobbying effort on this issue.  Creating a  YouTube video that  was shown to lawmakers as part of the push to get a vote on the UAFA.

Yet as 2009 moved into 2010 it was clear that there would be no movement by the Obama Administration on the issue of marriage equality. The Republicans in Congress were consumed with their desire to prevent President Obama from getting ANYthing done, let alone addressing a hot button social issue like LGBT rights.

Faced with this reality we had to make a choice. We could continue the back and forth, long distance relationship we were in now, or we could pursue "plan b". Where Eric would instead sponsor me, to move to the United Kingdom. The UK, like most of Western Europe, grants same sex couples equal rights in terms of spousal immigration. The United States, because of the "Defense of Marriage Act", refuses to recognize Eric as my spouse, but the United Kingdom would recognize me as his.

So in the spring of 2010, we applied for a Civil Partner Visa for me. This visa would allow us to register as Civil Partners. This would be the first step in a two step process. Step 1: Register as Civil Partners and Step 2: Eric sponsors me as his spouse to settle in the UK.

The first visa, (the CP Visa) took about nine months to apply for . The documentation required, was very daunting. You basically had to prove everything about your life, your job history, financial history and prove that your relationship was legitimate. On top of that,  this process is certainly,  not cheap. Trying to do this on your own is a lot like trying to perform surgery on yourself.  It's possible you could do it, but all it takes  is one error to effectively make a huge mess of the whole thing.

So like many couples we used an agency to represent us. Which of course is really expensive. But the end result was, we got the Civil Partnership Visa in October 2010, nearly two years to the week, that we got engaged.

The next step was to actually get registered as Civil Partners. Which you think, would be the easy part. Guess again.  Because I am not currently living in the UK, the process is almost comically complicated. The UK like many other European countries has sensibly drawn a wall of serparation between "Civil Marriage" and the religious sacrament of marriage.  To get married or  registered as Civil Partners in the UK, you must first  "give notice" in your particular locale at the local  registry office.  To do that, you must first have been in the UK for  at least 7 days and 7 nights.

THEN after giving your notice, your names go up in a board.  Literally on a notice board.  Where  it must stay for  15 days and 15 nights.  The traditional  term for this  is  "positing the band" and is to give the good people who live your town,  a chance to voice their objections to your marriage or partnership.  If nobody objects,  then,   and only then can you go ahead and register or get married.

Since I was not in a position to  sit in the UK For 22 days while this whole waiting process ticked by,  it meant  making  two trips to the UK within  a one month period, One trip over the  Holidays to give our notice, and a second trip 16 days later to actually register as Civil Partners.   The end result being,  I would then be Eric's spouse and we could apply for  a Spousal Settlement Visa that  would allow me  to live and work in the UK.

On Monday January 17th, 2011, in the  Lewisham Registry Office,   Eric and I  became legal spouses in the United Kingdom .  It was an amazing  day, with friends and family from as nearby as just down the street, and as far away as  New York City, Dallas Texas, and  Omaha, Nebraska.

As we celebrated, we also  were busy putting together all the documents and material we would need for the last step in this long, long process.  Our application for  my Spousal Visa to settle permanently in the UK.

As we poured over all the required documents, we both had nightmarish visions of  forgetting something, and going through this  whole process, only to have to start all over again.   It was a stressful  two weeks after our ceremony,  as we  tried to go over everything via skype and webcam to make sure we had not forgotten  anything.

On February 8th, we sent all our supporting documents, including my passport, and the completed final visa application to the UK General Consulate in Los Angeles. Along with the $1,200.00 application fee. The final document weighed more than seven pounds.

The confirmation email from the British Consulate said that processing times for Settlement Visas is at least 50 days from the date they receive the application. So we were resigned to waiting at least until March 30th before we heard anything back from the UK Home Office on if or when my visa would be approved.

So when my blackberry buzzed last Friday to alert me I had just received an email from the  British Consulate in Los Angeles,   my first thought  was not a happy one.  As only two weeks had gone by, I figured the email must be to inform us that  our application had been rejected.  We had forgotten to include some document, some piece of paper that  now would doom us to  go back to square one,  and start this long agonizing,  and ridiculously expensive process  all over again.

It was with a sense of dread I opened the email.  I had to read the email through three times before  it finally registered in my brain what  it actually said:

From: LOANGVisaInfo@fco.gov.uk
To: My Office
Subject: Your Visa Application @ Los Angeles  (Ref: 369884)
Sent: Feb 18, 2011 10:06 AM
Your application has been approved and the visa has been issued.
Please check your visa immediately on receipt to ensure that we have completed your visa correctly. Please send details of any errors or omissions to complaintslavisa@fco.gov.uk ASAP.

The rest of the day last Friday is actually a bit of a blur. I immediately called Eric in London, He was startled when he saw my cell number on his caller ID, I rarely called him in the middle of the workday, and he also assumed it must be to deliver bad news. Both of us spent the rest of the day in a slight state of shock, that this long journey we have been on to finally be together , was about to be completed.

Today, Monday, February 21st, 2011 at 10:28am Pacific Standard Time, a brown UPS truck pulled up outside my building here in San Francisco. A rather harried overworked looking UPS Driver handed me a large box and asked for my signature. Inside it was the seven plus pounds of documents minus the visa application paperwork, and on top of the pile was my US Passport. On page 14, I found this... --->

Three years, thousands of dollars in legal fees, government application fees,  and more than 20 Trips across the Atlantic and two trips across the Pacific Ocean later; We finally have the legal authorization to live together, work and build our life together in the UK.  In two weeks I have a final interview for an amazing job opportunity in London, should that all go well, very soon, I will leave my job here in San Francisco, pack up my apartment and go home. To our new home in London.

So why am am I telling you this whole long, drawn out story? That's a real good question. And the answer is not an easy one. We had no choice, but to go through all this stress and expense for the simple reason that, the Government of the United States of America, MY government, is determined still, to treat me and my Spouse as 2nd class citizens

The Right Wing of American politics, has a vested deep-seeded interest in the preservation of homophobia and discrimination against Gay and Lesbian Americans. The GOP in the USA has realized the only way it can win elections is by making people afraid, In 2004 it was Muslims and Gays. In 2010 it was "Socialists". 2012 is shaping up to once again, to be the year the GOP screams hysterically of the "Gay Attack" on families and marriage.

When I hear clueless ignorant wingnuts, in their opposition to marriage equality say; "Same sex couples can daft contracts that give them the same rights as everybody else. We don't need to pass same sex marriage laws.", it's hard not to throw things at the t.v. The truth is same sex couples in the U.S. are anything BUT equal.

So after waiting for President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party to keep all those wonderful promises about equality they made back in 2008, It became clear the United States Government is not going to treat its citizens equally under the law anytime soon. And the Republican Party, along with the Tea Party lunatics they spawned, are just fine with that.

In 1776 it was Great Britain that treated the original "tea party patriots" as second class citizens. How ironic that in 2011, it is the new "tea party" that will fight with all it has, to keep the United States LESS free than Great Britain, whose citizens are treated far more equally under their laws, than Americans are treated here under ours.

So as we celebrate the ending of one journey and the beginning of another, our life together. Eric and I do hope that someday The United States will grow up. But in the meantime, to our friends, and our family, we look forward to you visiting us at home, in London.

Dave and  Eric

Today in Madison

Wow..

 

Interesting Things Going on Back Home...

In my home state and town of  Madison, WI

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Maybe there is Hope for Iowa After All...

An update of my previous posting about  the Same Sex Marriage debate currently going on in Iowa.   With  folks like Grandma Jean standing up for their children and grandchildren,  there just may be hope for civil rights in Iowa after all..

You know what Conservatives? I Really Don't Care...

Ok...   When I sat down to write this blog post,  I was  all set  to give example after example of how the modern day GOP/TeaParty/Social/Fiscal/Fill-in-the blank/ Conservative moment,  has completely lost its mind and gone  totally insane.   What prompted  that original intention?  Well  everyone's favorite bouncing adam's apple of  bigotry,  Ann Coulter. Seen here, on Sean Insanity's  show  with   her traditional post-CPAC rant,  of how anyone who doesn't agree with her, is out to "destroy the family".    If you have a strong stomach,  feel free to watch the video.  For me, after a couple of seconds,   I find I've reached my quota of crazy...

I was all set to cite example upon example of how it is  lunatics like Coulter  who have been "attacking the Family" non-stop since the Reagan Era. I had  scores of sound bytes, video clips, and quote after quote showing as clear as clear can be, just how hateful, stupid,  anti family, anti American and just plain mentally deranged,  people like Ann Coulter really are.

But.. you know what? I don't care. For over five years now I have blogged about the lies, the hypocrisy the bigotry and greed on the American Right. Frankly, I'm tired.

I'm tired of the same people who are on their third and fourth marriages, serial adulterers who have no problem cheating on their spouses, who pray the loudest on Sundays after hiring sex workers on Saturday night, who sexually harass their subordinates, and feel they have the right to use the power of their elected offices to hide all of it; Telling me that I'm the sinner, and therefore discrimination against me is a civil imperative to "protect marriage, and the family".

I am tired of being told by draft dodgers, that war profiteers are somehow more patriotic and "support the troops" more than people who actually served our nation in war. I'm tired of being told that the American President who tripled our national debt, more than doubled the size of the Government and had a family life so dysfunctional,   you could have roped them off, and charged admission to view it;  somehow is now the model for fiscal conservatism, smaller government and "family values".

So this is what America has come to; Republicans who only serve the wealthiest of the wealthy, TeaBaggers who wave the Constitution like a banner, but understand none of it.  American Talibangelicals, who scream hysterically about the threat of "Sharia Law", but want to impose their own fundamentalist extremist beliefs on the rest of us. Cartoonish TV nutjobs ranting about birth certificates and some mysterious coming Muslim Caliphate.



Add to this sad cast of mentally misfit toys, a failed half-term Governor who can't express a coherent thought, unless excessively coached, and when caught out for that, hams up her accent and blames the "lame stream gotcha media". THIS is what passes for public discourse in the United States in 2011.

So I say go ahead, shut down the government. Refuse to raise the debt ceiling. Let the good faith and credit of the United States collapse. Destroy what is left of the middle class. To hell with the long-term unemployed. Eliminate Social Security and Medicare. Drag the United States of America into a new gilded age of the super rich, and the super poor and nothing else. Make us into a country doesn't build, doesn't invent, doesn't achieve. Turn the United States into a country that says sacrifice is for suckers, and greed is God.

The rest of the World may, for a little while,  lament our demise.  But soon,  they will  move on,  quite content without us. China, Russia, India, and many others will smile and applaud,  as the GOP completely destroys what is left of the American Manufacturing sector.  Mexico, Japan and South Korea must have quietly cheered this past week,  when the talking heads on FOX News frothed at the mouth with outrage over Chrysler giving hourly workers a bonus this year. While at the same time, insisting that multi million dollar bonuses (at taxpayer expense) for AIG executives were necessary to "keep America moving forward".

In 2012,   I say elect Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin . Create a new congressional committee to investigate anyone in government who isn't a white, (supposedly ) heterosexual, evangelical Christian. Hand over the National Parks to Oil Companies, Timber Companies and Mining Corporations. Eliminate science from public schools. Teach American kids, that the Earth is only 6,000 years old,  and the human race began with two fully formed people, who rode around a garden on dinosaurs, chatting it up with talking snakes.

In short, turn the United States of America into Teabagistan. Then when Mexico and Canada put troops on their borders to stop the influx of illegal immigrants from the U.S., you can beat your chest proudly and talk of "American Exceptional-ism'.  All while waiting in the breadline at your local soup kitchen, trying not to wonder out loud  why the rapture hasn't beamed you up yet.

There is no point in trying to reason with the American Right . Reason involves facts and reality. Two things the American Right Wing has learned to be quite comfortable living without. So I say to my Conservative and Libertarian friends,  good luck. The rest of the world thanks you,  for all you have done to eliminate their competition.

Well done indeed...     I'm sure the mythical Ronald Reagan you worship were he ever to have existed, would have been very proud.

WingNut Cat Fight!!

Ah..  CPAC !   The annual  "Conservative Political Action Conference".   The  Cirque du Silly  of  American politics,   kicked off today in Washington D.C.  But not before  the  "eating their own"  purge-fest, that is the modern "conservative movement" managed to bang its own head  into the wall a few times.

First, as always,   it was  the Gays.   A gay GOP group called  "GoProud"   is one of the groups sponsoring  CPAC this year.  For  everyone's  favorite  American Taliban spokesbigot  Tony Perkins,  that  was a bridge too far...



Then there was Sarah Palin.  Or, more accurately there WASN'T  Sarah Palin.   She was invited to deliver the coveted end of conference  keynote address, but declined  citing scheduling conflicts.   Which prompted this little teabagger tantrum  from  WingNut Presidential Wanna-be   Rick Santorum:



Not one to take any criticism  lying down. "Caribou Barbie"  was  quick to  pop up on  Sean Insanity's  show  to respond to  defend  "Palin, Inc."  in true "mama grizzly" fashion:



I have often said that nobody  excels  at  turning victory into defeat  quite like liberals,  but  when it comes to  in-house cat fights, and attacking your own,  you gotta love  the  Conservatives,  they  are  masters  at  self-annihilation.

Earlier today,  Santorum was uh... 'frothing"  it up at the podium  espousing  his beliefs that  all Americans are  in fact not equal in the eyes of the law but only  (his)  God  can say who is equal.

Then in true  American Taliban style, Santorum  went on to say he wants Government (the judiciary) to get out of our lives  by  ..(wait for it...)  having the Government  (the executive and legislative) totally control our lives!  In Santorum's America,   the Federal Government has no business regulating  Banks,  but  every right to control what a woman can go to the doctor for.

Because after all, America  actually belongs to (his) God.



If this year's  CPAC is  any indication of the  state of the  modern "conservative movement",  the  Obama's  really  don't  need to worry about  moving  out of the  White House  come  January, 2013.

Thank You Ed...

MSNBC;s  Ed Shultz, has had enough of  the Republican Party's criminal neglect of  the long term unemployed in the United States.

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What Republicans SAY and What Republicans MEAN...

Like most Democratic and Progressive voters, I was deeply disappointed by the results of the 2010 midterm elections. It was like the American people, having just spent the last two years fixing a car that their irresponsible teenager and his friends had totaled. Decided to turn around and hand the keys back to the kid and say; "Here! Have another go!"

In the days leading up to the GOP takeover of the House of Representatives, I was slightly encouraged by the message coming out of the House GOP leadership, who said to anyone with a microphone that their NUMBER ONE priority was "JOBS, JOBS, JOBS."

Incoming Speaker of the House John Boehner: “When are we going to address the number one issue on the minds of our fellow citizens? When are we going to focus on the economy and getting people back to work, instead of all of the job-killing policies that we're seeing move through this Congress? When are we going to begin to listen once again to the American people who sent us here to do their work?”

The GOP rode back into power waving the JOBS banner on high. It would be their FIRST priority. We could expect to see a Republican House majority that would walk the walk on jobs, not just talk the talk right?

Weeeeeeeeellll... Turns out, not really.   The truth is, when Republicans say they will work on "Jobs" they really mean they will be working on anything and everything BUT jobs.   Rachel Maddow breaks it down for us...

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You see,  the Republican Party  really isn't  interested in Jobs.  Actually that isn't true.  What I should say is,  the Republican Party really isn't interested in  American Jobs.   Republicans  are  great  supporters of  creating  jobs  overseas by  sending  American jobs to other countries.



So the  new  GOP-led Congress  will now roll  up it's  sleeves and...  work  on their  suntans, I guess.  Oh, that and  the elimination women's reproductive rights  and the continued  outsourcing of America's dwindling manufacturing infrastructure to China, Mexico and India.  Oh,  that and,  making sure in the District of Columbia, all those icky Gays and Lesbians can't get married.

It's probably a good thing  that Republicans don't have a better work ethic.

On that same note  when  Republicans say they want  "Limited Government" or  "Small Government'  or any of the countless other GOP/Tea Party variations  on a theme  that  we have heard  coming from the Conservatives in recent  years,  that ISN'T  what they really mean.  

What Conservatives really mean,  is limited regulations on business,  and small taxes on the wealthiest of the wealthy and  HUGE  intrusive controlling, Orwellian government  to regulate American  women's bodies, and all American's bedrooms.  Cue Rachel..

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The GOP knows  that  their economic "plan" is a scam.  It is  designed  solely to direct  opportunity  and wealth to  the top one tenth of one percent  of this country.   It is a "smash and grab" on a national economic level.   The holy grail  for these crooks, is Social Security.   Their ultimate dream is to finally be able to stick it to FDR and every other Democratic President since,  while at the same time  taking  America's greatest safety net, and turning it into  Wall Street's personal stack of  casino chips.

Yet even the  wingnuttiest  of the Wingnuts  over at the Heritage Foundation,  know  they aren't there yet.  The Social Security Piggy Bank is still  out of reach.  So  with their  real  number one goal  still  unattainable, you  have to do something to pass the time.

The GOP  knows they  can't do anything that might  actually HELP the rest of economy, because that would be  good  for  President Obama politically.  And the cranky, loony toon  birther/teabagger  base that  elected them,  is not going  behave itself for much  longer.   You have to throw that  rabid dog a bone.

So the Culture War is back,  in a big way.   If you have forgotten where that beloved Right Wing concept originated, let's  set the wayback machine  to  1992.  Cue everyone's favorite anti-Semite and holocaust revisionist,  Patrick J. Buchanan.

I mentioned  in the previous blog entry about  Ronald Reagan,  that I used to be  a Republican.  It was that speech in 1992 that  made me a Democrat.   It  became all too clear  then,  and  is  vividly clear now,  the Republican Party has lost its mind, and sold its soul.   It is now beholden to a rabidly angry base, that  really doesn't care about about  empty talking points of Fiscal Responsibility and Limited Government .  What the Republican Base wants, is for  the power of the Federal Government  to be used primarily,  to punish and marginalize other Americans, who they don't like.

The only  constituency left to the GOP  is  the  Tea Party monster it  spawned.  A movement created  in a  lab of violent racist, blasphemous  and homophobic rhetoric.   A mob  that talks of   "Second Amendment Remedies",  and targets opponents  on maps using  the cross hairs of a rife scope.     

To borrow a line from President Reagan.  The best thing for our Democracy would be for  the GOP and it's Tea Party  offspring,  to end up on the political ash heap of history.

, 

Ronald Reagan's 100th Birthday...

I will confess my relationship with Ronald Reagan is (as facebook might say...)  "complicated."

Like so many of my  friends who are still  Republicans,  I grew up in the Reagan Era. As both a Young Republican and as a College Republican I enthusiastically supported Ronald Reagan.  (Yes,... I was a member of both the YR's and a CR's .... We all do foolish things in our youth.  Some of you smoked pot, I supported Republicans.  Both probably  amounted to the same strange trip down a rabbit hole of  un-reality.... Moving on...)

Like a lot of people, I found Reagan's  unwaivering faith in  the  greatness of America  very  appealing.  His hard line stance against the (portrayed) threat of  Soviet aggression was comforting.   And his carefully crafted messages of "Morning In America"  were both inspiring and reassuring.



I  actually met  President Reagan, twice.   Both times were during his second term.  Both times were amazing  experiences.   I also saw him speak in person on at least 5 different occasions.  Including his now famous speech at the Berlin Wall.  I was a teenager  at the time,  and remember  being filled with pride.   My President was standing up to the  Soviets and demanding they take down the wall they had erected  through the middle of a city, and by extension, the Iron Curtain they had built through half of Europe.

Now as an adult, I find the rose color has largely come off the lenses through which I view our 40th President.  This past week has seen conservative  media  proclaiming the greatness of the "Reagan Legacy" at full volume, and agressively attacking anyone who dares  disagree.  Even going so far as to attack Ronald Reagan Jr., who last month voiced his belief that  his Father's Alzheimer's  disease  did not develop after he left office,  but   instead, was something that affected President Reagan while still in office.    The right wing blogosphere literally exploded with vitriol  against  the Son of the man they idolize.

 Now as someone older, who  works in Health Care,  I sadly have met far too many people who have a family member struggling with Alzheimer's.  Looking back,  Many other close observers of President Reagan during those years have concurred.  It is now sadly clear that Alzheimer's was an issue  then, and was not something that developed AFTER he left the White House, as Fox News loves to claim.

The thing that struck me most, on  those two occasions where I briefly spoke with President Reagan;  was how he really wasn't "there".   Now looking back it is clear why.   It was as if, he saw an American that nobody else did.  He was in his own world,   one that he truly  thought was real.    Alzheimer's caregivers will often tell you how patients exist in a world that is a mix,  of their own hopes and memories.  The warm fuzzy Norman Rockwell image of America where horrors like AIDS, Homelessness and Poverty didn't exist, was the "World" in which Reagan mentally lived.

The deliberate inaction by the Reagan Administration in the early days of the AIDS epidemic was nothing less than criminal.  The Reagan White House  was content to sit idly by as many in the Administration and the larger GOP/Conservative Right, actively lobbied  to; " let the faggots die.".



The first time White House Press Secretary  Larry Speakes  was asked about AIDS, his glib,  joking response, is horrific and sickening when read now,  in the aftermath of the death of  Millions of people world wide.

The anger towards President Reagan in the HIV/AIDS community is real, and completely justified.  Yet  looking back now,  hindsight  is always  20/20 isn't it?   So no,  I do not feel  that Ronald Reagan should be on Mount Rushmore. Nor do feel he should be burned in effigy either.   The emotional impact Ronald Reagan had on a post-Watergate, post-Vietnam America,   was real.    Yet at the same time,  any monument to his legacy must  also include the facts that more officials  from his administration  have been indicted than any other in modern history,  even more than the  Nixon Administration.

The fact is Ronald Reagan was not mentally fit to be president.  I dont say this to excuse or affix blame  for the damage his Presidency did, but simply  to give some context to the debate now going on over the Reagan legacy.

Yet  I can't help feeling,  that the greater crimes against America were committed by the larger GOP.  Those around President Reagan  in his Administration.  Men and women,  who were all too happy to use the Neurological disability of an old man to justify their greed, bigotry, arrogance and willful ignorance.

gōng xǐ fā cái !

Happy Year of the Rabbit Everyone!

The Right Wing in the US Has Officially Gone Completely Nutty...

The current civil unrest in Egypt has finally pushed  the  American Conservative  WingNuttocracy  over the edge. The current situation in Egypt is the result of  everything from Barack Obama's secret pact with the Muslim Brotherhood,  to  a Chinese plot to take over New Zealand.   


Seriously,  the folks over on FOX News  have finally decided that  sanity was just too limiting I guess.  The other night, Chris Matthews, over  on MSNBC  took Glenn Beck to task for this, on his program  "Hardball"...



Rachel Maddow  then took a look at the  collective opportunistic freak out happing on the American WingNut Right...

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Iowa Legislature Votes to Add Bigotry to its Constitution

Being from Wisconsin,   I often have made my share of  ""Iowa Jokes".   But  have always felt a quiet grudging affection for  my fellow Midwesterners on the other side of the Mississippi  River.   Their characteristics  brilliantly cataloged  in one of the opening numbers from Meridith Wilson's  "The Music Man"...



Sadly now I find myself thinking  that  it is the crude jokes  about Iowa that may have been closer to the truth;

From oneiowa

DES MOINES – The Iowa House today, by a vote of 62-37, passed an amendment (House Joint Resolution 6) that would deny any form of legal recognition for gay couples. The amendment seeks to prohibit not only the freedom to marry for gay couples, but also civil unions or domestic partnerships.

The bill now moves on to the Iowa Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal has vowed to fight attempts to pass the amendment. If passed through both legislative bodies in two consecutive General Assemblies, the issue could be on the ballot as soon as 2013.

“The proposed amendment devalues families and divides Iowans,” said One Iowa Executive Director Carolyn Jenison. “The Constitution is meant to protect the freedoms and liberties of all Iowans. It is inappropriate to use the political process to single out and deny a group of Iowans of their constitutional protections.”

“This goes beyond politics,” said Iowa City resident Katie Imborek. “This is about our family and the ability for Paula and me to care for one another and our two children. At a time when so many Iowans are struggling just to make ends meet, I don’t understand why legislators would choose to take up this issue.”

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The vote came after 19 year old Zach Wahls  spoke against  the measure,  do yourself a favor and watch what this remarkable young man had to say...

"Obviously a major malfunction...."

25 Years ago today,  I was home from school with cold and  turned on CNN to watch the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger.  

Along with the rest of the world I watched as America's first civilian to fly into space, Teacher Christa Mcauliffe, along with the six other members of the the Challenger crew perished as the shuttle orbiter exploded shortly after launch.

Then,  in what may have been his finest moment as President, Ronald Reagan led the nation in mourning their loss and honoring their courage and sacrifice.

NASA has set aside today as an official "Day of Remembrance" , not just for the  Challenger Seven, but for all those we have lost in our quest to explore space.

White House Statement on the Murder of David Kato

"LGBT rights are not special rights; they are human rights."                                     -  President Barack Obama

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

January 27, 2011

Statement by the President on the Killing of David Kato

I am deeply saddened to learn of the murder of David Kato.  In Uganda, David showed tremendous courage in speaking out against hate.  He was a powerful advocate for fairness and freedom.  The United States mourns his murder, and we recommit ourselves to David’s work.

At home and around the world, LGBT persons continue to be subjected to unconscionable bullying, discrimination, and hate.  In the weeks preceding David Kato’s murder in Uganda, five members of the LGBT community in Honduras were also murdered.  It is essential that the Governments of Uganda and Honduras investigate these killings and hold the perpetrators accountable.

LGBT rights are not special rights; they are human rights.  My Administration will continue to strongly support human rights and assistance work on behalf of LGBT persons abroad.  We do this because we recognize the threat faced by leaders like David Kato, and we share their commitment to advancing freedom, fairness, and equality for all.

Wow...The American Taliban Finally Admits it...

(hat tip to Wonkette for finding this amazing video.)

I have often blogged about how the Conservative Religious Right in the United States has the same overall aims as the Taliban in Afghanistan. While their methods are NOT the same. (though the family of  Dr. George Tiller might disagree...) Their overall aims are very similar. They seek to take their religious beliefs and turn those beliefs into civil law.

One of the great ironies of the Conservative movement is how many of their key leaders love to scream hysterically about some completely non-existent "threat" of  Islamic or "Sharia" law.  While at the same time seeking to impose a nearly identical form of religious law on the United States.

For all their rants about the threat of "Big Government" , these people have NO problem with idea that government should have total control over a women's reproductive health.

They have NO problem with Government saying what can and cannot happen in your bedroom, and they clearly believe the First Amendment applies ONLY to them. Their religious beliefs are the only ones that are "real" and therefore are the only ones that merit Government support and protection.

This fact, while always understood within the religious right, has never really been advocated publicly out in the open. That is until now. Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV  recently explained why the United States needs a Christian dictator. One of his main reasons is that pro-gay, pro-abortion "parasitic" liberals get to vote. You may want to sit down before you watch this lunatic...

I have always said that people like Tony Perkins at the "Family Research Council", Pat Robertson, and James Dobson over at "Focus on the Family" , hate our democracy. They know that when faced with putting their true beliefs before the electorate they lose. Normally I would not waste time or blog space on these people, because they make it far too easy to ridicule them. They are so filled with hate against Americans and anyone else for that matter who is not made in their image. 

That Video is the very definition of irrational religous-based hatred. And for once I find myself in agreement with George W. Bush.    When asked to explain why there are groups and people who hate America, his patented response was always; "the extremists hate our freedoms." And he was absolutely right.


The American Evangelical Right, like their Islamic fundamentalist cousins, cannot abide a pluralistic society. 

These Fundamentalist Christian Jihadists clearly hate the United States Constitution. The right to control one's own life, body, mind and spirit is a threat to them, and frankly scares them silly. They hate our freedoms. Yet the wonderful irony is that our system of pluralism, and the freedoms it provides is what gives the people like Michael Voris the right to spew his craziness all over the internet.

Make no mistake, or as President Obama might say; "let me be clear...", if people like Voris, Dobson, and Perkins had their way, only those people who march in lockstep with them, would have the right to vote.

Wow...

Reaction to the State of the Union Address Last Night...

What came through the loudest in the SOTU last night was confirmation of everything we have seen over the past two years. Barack Obama is not a liberal or a progressive, he is a pro-business centrist.

I think part of the reason GOP obstruction has so baffled him, is because in truth the President feels that he and the GOP want essentially the same things, only in slightly different packaging.

The President's passing reference to "Don't Ask Don't Tell" was about as significant as GOP Respondent Paul Ryan's attempt to placate the Tea Part by invoking "the Founders". The Progressive base of the Democratic Party knows that when President Obama talks about progressive social issues, it means he would be willing to smile and take credit as he signs a bill, AFTER Congressional Democrats carry ALL the water to get it passed.

What was most significant about the speech tonight was what was NOT said.

For anyone hoping for movement on Marriage or Workplace equality, the restoration of sanity to our gun control laws, or  a clear non-negotiable commitment to protect Social Security, the President's  message was clear....

The Obama Administration will gladly sacrifice a progressive social agenda to cut deals on a centrist economic one.

Memo to the National Organization for Marriage...

Dear Maggie Gallagher,

Well, It's been a whole week.  And after scanning all the major news outlets all over the country for  the past seven days, I discovered something really odd...   

I was shocked to learn that in the United States, this past week, apparently none of the following things have happened.

• A mad rush of people marrying their pets...
• Pandemic Polygamy 
• All across America Kindergarten students taught classes on Gay sex...
• Scores of Clergy rounded up and put in prison for preaching...
• Marriage as a civil institution collapsing  and millions of Heterosexual couples getting divorced...
• America as a Nation overrun by godless hordes bent on enslaving our people and destroying our very way of life.
• Opposite Sex couples in America completely stopping having Children...

Which is quite odd when you think about it. Because exactly one week ago, I got married. (That in and of itself is not the odd part.)  But rather it is the lack of anything odd happing as a result of it,  that is strange.

After all,  I can't even count the number of times I have heard You,  and  your cadre of  self-proclaimed "Family Values" proponents spew dire warnings of doom, gloom, apocalypse and general hubbub and brouhaha should Eric and I ever get married.

Well, guess what?  We are now married, and have been for an entire week.

So.... Where are all the promised apocalyptic consequences? Where are the mass divorces of all the marriages Eric and I supposedly "attacked" one week ago,  by tying the knot ourselves?  Where is all the promised damage to millions of children who are now, (according to you), so confused as to what a marriage is?

Where are the plagues of frogs, locusts and boils? Where is the collapse of Western civilization as we know it, due to its very foundation being rent asunder by the HORROR of Eric and I getting married one week ago today?

Nothing? .... Anyone? ... Anybody? ... Really?
How terribly disappointing,   And after you went to all that trouble to pay those actors to look so scared.

For years now , whenever  the subject of marriage equality comes up as  part of our national discourse, You claim it is an "attack" on marriage and the family. So I decided to look up the word `attack' in the dictionary. The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines it as:

Attack
Pronunciation: &-'tak
Function: verb
1 : to set upon or work against forcefully
2 : to assail with unfriendly or bitter words
3 : to begin to affect or to act on injuriously
4 : to set to work on
5 : to threaten (a piece in chess) with immediate capture

Hmmm… to set upon or work against forcefully huh? Ok, so if we take your argument seriously, for Eric and I to have the same rights as any other couple, not more rights, not any new rights that other couples do not currently have, but only the exact same rights, would injure, damage and potentially even destroy heterosexual marriages and families.

Uh.. ok.. How exactly?

Does the fact of my marriage now mean that you have lost the 1,100 federal benefits and protections that you had eight days ago?   Does the fact that I am now married mean you and your spouse can no longer file a joint tax return, have, adopt or raise children, pass on social security survivor benefits, or make medical decisions for each other? 

Does my being married now mean that people will no longer want to even get married. and if they are married, will now want to get divorced? Has your marriage or family changed in any way as result of what happened to me and my spouse a week ago today?

The answer of course,  is no. None of your talking points on same sex marriage stand up to even basic common sense. But it's pretty clear that common sense isn't something you deal in very much.

You say that gay marriage cheapens or lessens the value of the institution of marriage in the eyes of society. But since none of the rights or benefits that you enjoy have changed in any way as result of my marriage; What you are really saying is that for YOU, Eric and I getting married has cheapened your own marriage in your own eyes.

My getting married means I now have something that, (again, according to you,) only heterosexuals are supposed to have . And that makes you mad.  It's not just that you wanted to prevent Eric and I from having equal rights, you want make sure that we don't have any rights at all..

You see equal rights for us, as an attack on you.    That's interesting...

Let's be honest Maggie,  this isn't about "protecting marriage".  It's about people you don't like, having the same rights as you .  Even though your life clearly has not changed in ANY way, you firmly believe that your marriage now has less value, lower status,  and the institution itself, could come to an end.  All because Eric and I were able to get married last Monday.

It suddenly occurs to me there is a word for someone who is irrationally fixated on the preservation of inequality,  that they feel is in their favor.  It turns out, Merriam-Webster's dictionary has the same word for it.

Bigot
Pronunciation: 'bi-g&t
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French, hypocrite, bigot
1: a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own
opinions and prejudices

Meet the America's most idiotic and Embarrassing Bigot..

Ladies and Gentlemen... Say Goodbye to Rush Limbaugh.



Let's hear it one last time for "El Rushbo"!

Wow apparently Eric and I were REALLY busy this week...

MAJOR hat tip to JoeMyGod for this one...

We're Getting Married in the Morning...

At the SF Airport, waiting to board my fight to London...

I am sitting here in the  International Terminal  at  the San Francisco Airport (SFO), my flight to London  will start boarding in about an hour or so.  I only was back here in the states for  11 days.  The reason for the  quick turn-around however is  very very cool...

I'm getting married  next Monday.

That's right,  after  countless trips back and forth across the Atlantic, endless hours  talking to each other  over web cams and  instant messenger,  and SMS texts,  Eric and I are  finally  getting married.  Hence the need  for the  multiple  trips  back and forth .

The end of this  long long LONG march  down the aisle  finally came into view on  December 29th, when we went to our local county clerks office  (Council Registry Office) in Lewisham, in South London.  Where after much waiting  and  seperate "interviews"  our names  when up on a board in the hallway.  Announcing  to the good people of  Lewisham our intention to tie the knot.  Then we had to wait  fifteen days and nights (which is really 16 days,  they are not fooling anyone...)   for anyone who had cause to object to formally  do so.   Shockingly enough, nobody did. which brings us to this next week.

On Monday, January 17th  at  Eleven O'Clock  in the the morning  Eric and I will  walk back into the  Lewisham Registry Office and do what  many American Evangelical Conservatives have constant nightmares about.   We will enter into a state sanctioned legally binding monogamous relationship between two consenting adults of no  direct family relation...and the same gender.  (gasp!)  

The world is sure to come to to a cataclysmic end.  So you better get out  your  "rapture jammies" now.  So  I  can assume that  all my conservative friends,  who don't believe Eric and I have the same rights as they do  to the "Pursuit of Happiness",  will all be getting divorced  next week.   After all, according to their leaders,   I am "attacking" their marriages.

James Dobson and his assorted ilk all have talked about their "fears" about  what  same sex marriage will do to America. Well boys,   here's hoping  we are  the cause of your nightmares for years to come.



Dave & Eric

The President of United States, speaks to and for the nation..

I have not blogged about the tragic events  last weekend in Arizona.   This is one issue,  I have no problem letting  President Obama speak of me, and all Americans...

The Obama Administration Created More Jobs in One Year than George W. Bush did in Eight...

hat tip to  thinkprogress  for this ...

For Those of You in London Next Week...

Tonight's "Special Comment" on MSNBC

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

AZ Congresswoman Shot today was targeted in Sarah Palin's "Crosshairs" Ad.

(FROM CNN) -- A federal judge was killed and a congresswoman gravely wounded Saturday in a shooting outside of a Tucson, Arizona, grocery store, according to police and government officials.

In all, six people died and 12 were wounded in the shooting, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, according to Rick Kastigar, bureau chief for the Pima County Sheriff's Department.

President Barack Obama later said Chief Judge John Roll of the U.S. District Court for Arizona was among the dead.

A 9-year-old girl also died in the attack, according to authorities. The child, whose identity had not been released, was pronounced dead at a hospital.

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Last year Representative Giffords was  one of a number of  Democratic members of  Congress  who were  targeted  with rifle scope crosshairs graphics in an ad  from  Sarah Palin's  political action committee.

Palin and her  Teabagger Nutjob followers  have used  violent rhetoric  non-stop for the past two years.  Talking  of "second amendment solutions" to political questions.   Now the seeds that  Palin and her ilk have planted  are sprouting.

Make no mistake  the GOP and and  the Tebagging lunatics it has spawned  have BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS TODAY.

HAPPY NEW YEAR from LONDON!

Happy 2011 Everybody!