This is the latest ad for Marriage Equality from GetUp Australia. Like so many Americans I have scratch my head in wonderment at how simple and yet powerfully effective this Ad is. All the while lamenting the fact that back in the US, the HRC and their assorted ilk have yet to come out with anything even half as good as this...
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Now that Thanksgiving is Over...
The Christmas-mania can begin... So what better way to kick things off, than with the best version of this song, EVER...
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
GOP 2012 - Why There is Nothing Left to Say....
Blogging tends to be something of a self-indulgent pastime. You pour your thoughts, ideas, opinions, pet peeves, hopes and dreams out onto a keyboard and post them on the internet with the hope that they are read and understood. Yet with some topics there comes a point where there is nothing more you can say.
With the 2012 Republican Presidential primary process, we have reached such a point.
For the most part I have not posted much about the 2012 Republican Presidential candidates. Mostly because I kept expecting the somewhat crowded, and nonsensical herd of lunatics to eventually thin out, leaving two or at the most three, semi-rational contenders for the GOP nomination.
The result of all this may well be the death of political blogging until after the 2012 GOP National Convention. Why? Simple, there is nothing left to say. There are only so many ways to express gob-smacked incredulity. Eventually the English language exhausts itself trying to express shock and dismay at people so completely detached from reality, devoid of sanity, and ignorant of basic American principles.
People who truly believe that those who ran our economy into the ground for the benefit of a select view, are to be admired, and people who created prosperity and opportunity for all are "socialists out to destroy America".
The level of delusion on the American Right Wing, is beyond belief. It is no longer Political, it is pathological.
With the 2012 Republican Presidential primary process, we have reached such a point.
Yet less than three months out from the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary, the most amazing thing so far about the 2012 GOP race has been the complete lack of sanity, rationality or even reality. There have now been 11 GOP "Presidential Debates" each one less rational than the one before it. Culminating with last night's "Family Values Debate" in Iowa. Hosted by the American Family Association. A group that the Southern Poverty Law Center has officially classified as a Hate Group.
I have posted in the past about AFA and what bunch of hate-filled nutters they are. It boils down to this; They are the American Taliban. They want to take their extremist religious beliefs and codify them into Civil Law. All the while shrieking hysterically about the (non-existent) threat of Islamic Sharia law taking over America. I won't waste time or blog space re-hashing the limitless examples of how insane these people are. If you are really that curious you can see for yourself, by clicking here.
The "debate" was not carried on any of the American television networks. This event was so, ugly, so far removed from reality that even FOX News didn't broadcast it. So when your "Presidential Candidates Debate" is too nutty for even FOX, congratulations; - the Shark has officially been jumped. So much so, that the two Republican hopefuls who most need to win the approval of "social conservatives", didn't even bother to show up. Former front runner Mitt Romney, and current "is he still running?" candidate John Huntsman, both Mormons, knew that their own religious beliefs would be as big a target as abortion and Gay Rights.
Knowing that there was no way they would get out of there with their political lives, they wisely opted out. Which then prompted this twitter hissy-fit response from the AFA's spokes-bigot. (hat tip to joemygod)
So last night, six of the eight GOP hopefuls strove to show the AFA and its assorted minions just how uber-socially conservative each of the them was. Struggling at times to show just how much more they hated Gays and Women's rights to control their own bodies, and loved Jesus, than their opponents.
The "debate" was not carried on any of the American television networks. This event was so, ugly, so far removed from reality that even FOX News didn't broadcast it. So when your "Presidential Candidates Debate" is too nutty for even FOX, congratulations; - the Shark has officially been jumped. So much so, that the two Republican hopefuls who most need to win the approval of "social conservatives", didn't even bother to show up. Former front runner Mitt Romney, and current "is he still running?" candidate John Huntsman, both Mormons, knew that their own religious beliefs would be as big a target as abortion and Gay Rights.
So last night, six of the eight GOP hopefuls strove to show the AFA and its assorted minions just how uber-socially conservative each of the them was. Struggling at times to show just how much more they hated Gays and Women's rights to control their own bodies, and loved Jesus, than their opponents.
The best moment, came when a question was asked, about a possible U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the Defense of Marriage Act. (DOMA), the Federal Law that bans recognition for Same Sex Marriage. Former Godfather's Pizza CEO and alleged serial sexual harasser Herman Cain just couldn't resist showing his complete ignorance of the U.S. Constitution.
Did you get that? According to Herman Cain, and Newt (thrice married serial adulterer) Gingrich, the President of the United States can just "overturn" Supreme Court rulings he doesn't like. Well, that's nifty.
The result of all this may well be the death of political blogging until after the 2012 GOP National Convention. Why? Simple, there is nothing left to say. There are only so many ways to express gob-smacked incredulity. Eventually the English language exhausts itself trying to express shock and dismay at people so completely detached from reality, devoid of sanity, and ignorant of basic American principles.
People who truly believe that those who ran our economy into the ground for the benefit of a select view, are to be admired, and people who created prosperity and opportunity for all are "socialists out to destroy America". The level of delusion on the American Right Wing, is beyond belief. It is no longer Political, it is pathological.
To anyone who would even be considering voting for any of these people. I have only one question. Why do you hate America?
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Real homophobes don't Google
Brilliant column by San Francisco writer Mark Morford.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
CBS, Google, Levi's, Starbucks, New Balance, and Xerox are among the 70 companies and cities that have signed an amicus brief stating that DOMA, the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, hurts business. --NCRM.com
Woe to you, oh modern card-carrying homophobe. For it can't be easy to be you right now, what with all the terrifying changes taking place, all the dramatic sexual upheavals and flagrant displays of "unnatural" love being hurled like exotic sushi in your plain hamburger face these days. Oh, you poor dear.
I see you there, glumly sipping your Starbucks gingerbread latte while Googling Swedish fetish porn in between checking the latest news on NASCAR.com in your lightly stained Dockers and beat-up Nikes, Cartoon Network blaring in the background, tattered copy of Shooters Monthly on the bedside.
I see you there, mumbling angrily at how New York has had legal gay marriage for four whole months and so far, no hellfire, chaos, no petrified Christian children melting into goo in the streets. I see you horrified at how seven other states and 10 countries are thriving happily with gay marriage, God apparently not really giving the slightest damn about how anyone expresses their consensual, reverential, wholehearted love, so long as they just do.
To be fair, I suppose it's too soon to tell if the end of DADT means our valiant U.S. military, during our next war, will end up offering the enemy a giant cupcake disco meth party, instead of kicking ass and keeping those pinko commie terrorists from poisoning the beer supply and stealing your HBO.
Did I say HBO? What a shame you have to give that up, no? Same goes for all those other brands, shows, shoes and companies I mentioned above, given how they all openly disrespect you and everything you stand for. Or haven't you heard?
Behold, dear homophobe, the upwards of 70 major U.S. companies who have just signed an amicus brief -- basically a formal f-you complaint to the federal government and its odious Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) -- saying the damn thing is bad for business, forces discrimination and inequality in company practices, was written by/for angry encephalitic right-wing thugs who don't know their God from a hole in the seminary wall. I might be making up that last part. But only barely.
Which companies are protesting DOMA, you ask? Starbucks. Google. Microsoft. Levi's. Nike. Time Warner Cable. Aetna. New Balance. Xerox. The list is impressive indeed, especially given how it's more or less an addendum to a much longer list, one that includes all the other enormous U.S. companies who already openly support gay rights, like Apple and Disney and Pixar, like Hershey and Coca-Cola and Dell, American Express and Mattel and even big media daddies like Time Warner, Inc. and Viacom. Et al.
Are you not furious, righteous Republican homophobe? I bet you are. I bet you're dialing your angriest, most confused buds right this moment to write letters, post barely punctuated rants to the hate forums on Free Republic, call in to Rush to demand a Tea Party-wide boycott of every single one of these sicko companies.
I mean, you can't really call yourself a true American, a real Christian and still openly wear Nikes or Levi's, use Microsoft or Google, or watch Warner Brothers movies, can you? If you really walk your anti-gay talk, well, every one of these companies should be banned from your life, right?
It shouldn't be too bad. Easy enough to kick that Starbucks addiction to the curb. Damn them to hell with their Norah Jones and their mediocre espresso, anyway. Same goes for those hippie perverts over at HBO. Can grudgingly live without Air Jordans or New Balance tennies, too.
But oh, cutting out Google might be a little trickier, as that means the end of Gmail, Gmaps, Google Earth, Google Plus, YouTube (!), you name it (I'd suggest switching to Yahoo, but alas, they love those icky gays too. Maybe Bing? Oh wait, Microsoft. Uh-oh. Is Lycos still around?)
But hey, you can make do, right? Screw those depraved, godless companies. Who needs 'em? At least you have Fox News. And Exxon. And, um, Pilgrim's Pride. They make deep-fried frozen chicken blobs. So you're good for basic protein. Suck down a giant platter of breaded, hormone-injected patriotism while sipping a silver bullet and watching some NASCAR, and all is right with the world, am I right?
Oh dear. Bad news, lovebug. It seems Time Warner owns the broadcast rights to every single NASCAR race nationwide. Time Warner! Dude! They love gays! As if that weren't bad enough, they also own NASCAR.com. WTF?
Would you like to read that again? A clearly pro-gay megacorp basically owns the straightest, manliest, most pseudo-macho sport in the entire known world next to beating things with clubs and skinning buffalo with your teeth. Whatever will you do with your boycott now?
Before you answer, might want to check out what else you're going to do without. Time Warner, for one, is everywhere.
New Line Cinema movies, Loony Tunes cartoons, TT Games? Gone. Sports Illustrated, People magazine, Practical Parenting, Motorboat Monthly, Shooting Times? You know it, honeyball. What about DC Comics (Superman, Batman), CNN, Harry Potter? Sorry. Totally gay, each and every one. (Yes, I know. Harry Potter was a no-brainer. But still).
Did I forget to mention CBS? That's right. No more "CSI." No more "Survivor." Damn homos are everywhere.
It's OK, take a moment. I can hear your head imploding in abject confusion. How could this be? How could these powerhouse companies be sucked into the vile gay agenda that's destroying the land, brainwashing our kids and making it OK to order arugula salads and enjoy trance music and the BMW 3-Series?
Don't worry, homophobic American. No one really expects you to boycott all these companies, or even any of them. No one expects you to actually walk your hateful talk. It's not really possible anyway.
Besides, the backwards lug in you and the jaded cynic in me could easily argue that most of these companies couldn't care less about gay rights, per se. They only really care about the money DOMA costs them. They care about health care expenses, administrative overhead, profit and loss. They only care about, you know, capitalism. And everyone knows, capitalism doesn't discriminate. It's an equal opportunity exploiter.
But unfortunately for you, I'm not sure that really matters anymore. Be it for economic, moral, political or cultural reasons -- or more likely, some wondrous combination thereof -- gay rights and gay marriage are gaining on you. Fast. I know it, you know it, even capitalism itself knows it. Your imminent obsolescence is assured.
Not sure what that means? It's OK. You can Google it.
© 2011 Hearst Communications Inc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark's column appears every Wednesday on SFGate.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
CBS, Google, Levi's, Starbucks, New Balance, and Xerox are among the 70 companies and cities that have signed an amicus brief stating that DOMA, the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, hurts business. --NCRM.com
Woe to you, oh modern card-carrying homophobe. For it can't be easy to be you right now, what with all the terrifying changes taking place, all the dramatic sexual upheavals and flagrant displays of "unnatural" love being hurled like exotic sushi in your plain hamburger face these days. Oh, you poor dear.
I see you there, glumly sipping your Starbucks gingerbread latte while Googling Swedish fetish porn in between checking the latest news on NASCAR.com in your lightly stained Dockers and beat-up Nikes, Cartoon Network blaring in the background, tattered copy of Shooters Monthly on the bedside.
To be fair, I suppose it's too soon to tell if the end of DADT means our valiant U.S. military, during our next war, will end up offering the enemy a giant cupcake disco meth party, instead of kicking ass and keeping those pinko commie terrorists from poisoning the beer supply and stealing your HBO.
Behold, dear homophobe, the upwards of 70 major U.S. companies who have just signed an amicus brief -- basically a formal f-you complaint to the federal government and its odious Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) -- saying the damn thing is bad for business, forces discrimination and inequality in company practices, was written by/for angry encephalitic right-wing thugs who don't know their God from a hole in the seminary wall. I might be making up that last part. But only barely.
Which companies are protesting DOMA, you ask? Starbucks. Google. Microsoft. Levi's. Nike. Time Warner Cable. Aetna. New Balance. Xerox. The list is impressive indeed, especially given how it's more or less an addendum to a much longer list, one that includes all the other enormous U.S. companies who already openly support gay rights, like Apple and Disney and Pixar, like Hershey and Coca-Cola and Dell, American Express and Mattel and even big media daddies like Time Warner, Inc. and Viacom. Et al.
Are you not furious, righteous Republican homophobe? I bet you are. I bet you're dialing your angriest, most confused buds right this moment to write letters, post barely punctuated rants to the hate forums on Free Republic, call in to Rush to demand a Tea Party-wide boycott of every single one of these sicko companies.
I mean, you can't really call yourself a true American, a real Christian and still openly wear Nikes or Levi's, use Microsoft or Google, or watch Warner Brothers movies, can you? If you really walk your anti-gay talk, well, every one of these companies should be banned from your life, right?
It shouldn't be too bad. Easy enough to kick that Starbucks addiction to the curb. Damn them to hell with their Norah Jones and their mediocre espresso, anyway. Same goes for those hippie perverts over at HBO. Can grudgingly live without Air Jordans or New Balance tennies, too.
But hey, you can make do, right? Screw those depraved, godless companies. Who needs 'em? At least you have Fox News. And Exxon. And, um, Pilgrim's Pride. They make deep-fried frozen chicken blobs. So you're good for basic protein. Suck down a giant platter of breaded, hormone-injected patriotism while sipping a silver bullet and watching some NASCAR, and all is right with the world, am I right?
Would you like to read that again? A clearly pro-gay megacorp basically owns the straightest, manliest, most pseudo-macho sport in the entire known world next to beating things with clubs and skinning buffalo with your teeth. Whatever will you do with your boycott now?
Before you answer, might want to check out what else you're going to do without. Time Warner, for one, is everywhere.
Did I forget to mention CBS? That's right. No more "CSI." No more "Survivor." Damn homos are everywhere.
It's OK, take a moment. I can hear your head imploding in abject confusion. How could this be? How could these powerhouse companies be sucked into the vile gay agenda that's destroying the land, brainwashing our kids and making it OK to order arugula salads and enjoy trance music and the BMW 3-Series? Don't worry, homophobic American. No one really expects you to boycott all these companies, or even any of them. No one expects you to actually walk your hateful talk. It's not really possible anyway.
Besides, the backwards lug in you and the jaded cynic in me could easily argue that most of these companies couldn't care less about gay rights, per se. They only really care about the money DOMA costs them. They care about health care expenses, administrative overhead, profit and loss. They only care about, you know, capitalism. And everyone knows, capitalism doesn't discriminate. It's an equal opportunity exploiter.
But unfortunately for you, I'm not sure that really matters anymore. Be it for economic, moral, political or cultural reasons -- or more likely, some wondrous combination thereof -- gay rights and gay marriage are gaining on you. Fast. I know it, you know it, even capitalism itself knows it. Your imminent obsolescence is assured.
Not sure what that means? It's OK. You can Google it.
© 2011 Hearst Communications Inc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark's column appears every Wednesday on SFGate.com
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Sunday, November 06, 2011
For all our fellow DOMA exiles...
huge hat tip to our brilliant friend Peter for this one!
Married In London
We're married in London
but not in New York
Spain says we're Kosher
The States say we're pork
We wed in Toronto
The judge said "Amen"
and when we got home
we were single again
but not in New York
Spain says we're Kosher
The States say we're pork
We wed in Toronto
The judge said "Amen"
and when we got home
we were single again
It's hard being married
and living in sin
Sometimes I forget
just which state I am in
Thank God I'm not Catholic
I'd be a mess
trying to figure out
what to confess
and living in sin
Sometimes I forget
just which state I am in
Thank God I'm not Catholic
I'd be a mess
trying to figure out
what to confess
My passport in Sweden
says I've got a wife
Amsterdam tells me
I'm partnered for life
but back in America,
Land of the free,
I'm a threat to
the national security
says I've got a wife
Amsterdam tells me
I'm partnered for life
but back in America,
Land of the free,
I'm a threat to
the national security
If I were a frog
here is what I would say --
It's hard being green
It's hard being gay
but love has no color
and hearts have no sex,
so love where you can,
and bugger the rest
here is what I would say --
It's hard being green
It's hard being gay
but love has no color
and hearts have no sex,
so love where you can,
and bugger the rest
© Rude Girl Pub. All rights reserved; international copyright secured.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Cardinal Spirit - circa 2011... Wow.
I came across this Video on Facebook today. It is a mass "lip dub" done by the students Sun Prairie Senior High School in Sun Prairie Wisconsin. The American High School that I graduated from in 198... something or other... Watching this video I was struck by some amazing differences and changes that have taken place there over the past quarter century.
The first and most noticeable the new School building, which makes the old hallowed halls look like something out of bad 80's after school special. But even more striking is the the diversity of the Student population. When I attended SPHS there were three students of color , that's it. SPHS today makes a Benetton ad look monochrome.
Then there is the just the fact that so many students came together to make this. I will confess, I don't think I could ever imagine my own classmates coming together to do anything even remotely similar. Well, maybe, but highly doubtful.. It seems that times do change, and change for better.
Wow... Well done SPHS!
The first and most noticeable the new School building, which makes the old hallowed halls look like something out of bad 80's after school special. But even more striking is the the diversity of the Student population. When I attended SPHS there were three students of color , that's it. SPHS today makes a Benetton ad look monochrome.
Then there is the just the fact that so many students came together to make this. I will confess, I don't think I could ever imagine my own classmates coming together to do anything even remotely similar. Well, maybe, but highly doubtful.. It seems that times do change, and change for better.
Wow... Well done SPHS!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Right To Love... An American Family
Trailer to a fantastic documentary about one American family's journey towards equality. I have such deep admiration for Jay and Bryan and the magnificent family they have in Northern California.
If you have not done so already you really should check out their amazing blog and their YouTube channel.
If you have not done so already you really should check out their amazing blog and their YouTube channel.
Friday, October 07, 2011
Remembering Matthew Shepard.
I remember walking down into “boystown” (the north Halstead area of Chicago, and the center of the city’s Gay community). There were lots of people standing around outside the bars, and restaurants along Halsted Street, talking about what had happened in Wyoming. A makeshift memorial had been set up on the corner of Halsted and Roscoe.
I walked into the 7-11 there on the corner and bought a small votive candle, lit it and placed it with the growing number of candles, handwritten notes and flowers that were being placed around a picture of Matthew that someone had printed off the internet. I stayed for a little while talking to people who were gathered there. Some people were angry, others sad, but we all knew that something in our own community had changed as a result of what had happened, hundreds of miles away in field outside Laramie.In 1998 I had just moved to Chicago after being overseas in South Korea. I was in the middle of my own “coming out” process, and was gathering up my courage to have “the talk” with my parents when I went home for Thanksgiving in a few weeks time. I will admit the news of Matthew Shepard’s brutal murder shook me up. Suddenly the decisions I was making to live openly and honestly as who I was, had potentially fatal consequences.
On an intellectual level you always knew that there were “gay bashers” out there. People who were so conflicted about their own sexuality that they felt the way to “cure” themselves was to attack others for what they feared most about themselves. Yet now those hypothetical risks, were not so hypothetical. What's more, those cosequences now had a face, and a name.
Thirteen years later, I marvel at how my own life has changed. I am married to an amazing man, we have incredible friends and loving families who remind us every day, that the world is not as bleak and dark a place as it seemed, on that October night in 1998.
Yet I am still saddened and angry that there are many people in America who honestly feel that Matthew Shepard got what “he had coming to him”. That demonizing , discriminating against, and even murdering Gays and Lesbians is somehow “doing God’s work”.
People with a vested interest in keeping LGBT people as the one group it is still safe to hate. People who seek to profit, personally, politically and even economically from fomenting deadly hatred and fear of others. Bigots whose actions and beliefs are the farthest thing from being Christian, yet claim to have a monopoly on what they claim God thinks and who they claim "God hates".
The Matthew Shepard Foundation: http://www.matthewshepard.org/
The Trevor Project: http://www.thetrevorproject.org/
The Ben Cohen Stand Up Foundation: http://www.standupfoundation.com/
The We Give a Damn Campaign: http://www.wegiveadamn.org/
Thanks,
Dave
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
More Seriously Cool Footage from the ISS
The "Southern Lights" as seen from the International Space Station
Friday, September 23, 2011
When Bigoted Hypocrisy Replaces Sanity and Patriotism ... Welcome to the GOP
Last night was one more of the seemingly endless Republican "Presidential Candidate Debates". A sad pathetic effort to make people think that the 2012 election campaign is somehow in full swing in September of 2011.
I didn't watch the latest American Taliban bitch-fest. For one, I would have had to stay up until 4 am here in London to catch it live. For another it was on FOX News, and if given the choice of undergoing a combination root canal - colostomy or watching Fox News? Pass the Novocaine.
So I missed what was the defining moment for the modern Republican Party. It was the moment where all the slogans, all the speeches, all the remaining trappings of any resemblance to a legitimate political party seeking to offer an alternative electoral choice to the American People, finally fell away. Revealing for the entire world what is left; Rancid, ugly hate filled hypocrisy.
The modern day Republican Party, which has made it's living off of claiming to "support the troops" more than anyone else, showed the world just what a warped twisted lie all that patriotic posturing really is.
From The Hill
Some members of the GOP debate audience booed a gay soldier who asked via video whether the Republican candidates would reinstitute the recently repealed "Don't ask, don't tell" policy of banning openly gay soldiers.
After Stephen Hill, who is serving in the Army in Iraq, asked his question, a handful of members of the audience booed loudly. None of the Republican candidates responded to the audience's reaction. Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) answered that "Any type of sexual activity has no place in the military" and that he would return to the policy of requiring gays and lesbians to stay silent on their sexuality or get thrown out of the military. His response garnered loud applause.
Here it is...
I have said it before. The Republican Party of 2011 has nothing that they can ask the American People to vote FOR. Their policies are designed to direct all resources and opportunity to only the top one tenth of one percent of Americans. Anyone who doesn't fall into that category of the uber-wealthy is in the mind of the GOP, insignificant and disposable.
In 2011, the Republican faithful will jeer and boo at an American soldier, serving his country and risking his life in a war zone because it fits the narrative of who their party has told them they should fear and hate.
This is not about "Don't Ask Don't Tell", or even about what the assorted Republican candidates think about LGBT rights. It is about living up to words they spout so freely, professing their admiration and support for those brave men and women who risk their lives serving our nation in the military.
We now know what all those bold "we support the troops more than you...", words were... A lie.
I didn't watch the latest American Taliban bitch-fest. For one, I would have had to stay up until 4 am here in London to catch it live. For another it was on FOX News, and if given the choice of undergoing a combination root canal - colostomy or watching Fox News? Pass the Novocaine.
So I missed what was the defining moment for the modern Republican Party. It was the moment where all the slogans, all the speeches, all the remaining trappings of any resemblance to a legitimate political party seeking to offer an alternative electoral choice to the American People, finally fell away. Revealing for the entire world what is left; Rancid, ugly hate filled hypocrisy.
The modern day Republican Party, which has made it's living off of claiming to "support the troops" more than anyone else, showed the world just what a warped twisted lie all that patriotic posturing really is.
From The Hill
Some members of the GOP debate audience booed a gay soldier who asked via video whether the Republican candidates would reinstitute the recently repealed "Don't ask, don't tell" policy of banning openly gay soldiers.
After Stephen Hill, who is serving in the Army in Iraq, asked his question, a handful of members of the audience booed loudly. None of the Republican candidates responded to the audience's reaction. Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) answered that "Any type of sexual activity has no place in the military" and that he would return to the policy of requiring gays and lesbians to stay silent on their sexuality or get thrown out of the military. His response garnered loud applause.
Here it is...
I have said it before. The Republican Party of 2011 has nothing that they can ask the American People to vote FOR. Their policies are designed to direct all resources and opportunity to only the top one tenth of one percent of Americans. Anyone who doesn't fall into that category of the uber-wealthy is in the mind of the GOP, insignificant and disposable.
Dying as result of poverty is to the GOP, a natural cause. Anything government does to help anyone outside that one tenth of one percent, is "Socialism!!", and President Obama is some Indonesian-Kenyan-Marxist-Leninist-Islamic Manchurian Candidate, planted in Hawaii decades ago as part of some long term plot to destroy America.
All that doesn't really play well on a bumper sticker. So the GOP knows their only hope is to give America something to vote AGAINST. To do that you need voters to be two things, angry and afraid. So the plan for 2012 is simple, get Americans angry at the scary Black man in the White House, and get them afraid of....?
Well, let's see. The GOP can't campaign against Women, Blacks and Jews anymore, (at least not openly, Pat Buchanan apparently didn't get that memo.) Telling Americans they need to hate Hispanics has turned out to be a losing electoral strategy thanks to America's shifting demographics, and the "Islamo-facist" boogie man lost it's punch when it became clear most of the post 9-11 terror alerts were based far more on George W. Bush's poll numbers, than any actual intelligence. So who's left?
Oh yeah... The Gays. When the GOP is too crazy for life long Republicans like Senator Alan Simpson, you know the Republican Party has jumped the shark.
Well, let's see. The GOP can't campaign against Women, Blacks and Jews anymore, (at least not openly, Pat Buchanan apparently didn't get that memo.) Telling Americans they need to hate Hispanics has turned out to be a losing electoral strategy thanks to America's shifting demographics, and the "Islamo-facist" boogie man lost it's punch when it became clear most of the post 9-11 terror alerts were based far more on George W. Bush's poll numbers, than any actual intelligence. So who's left?
Oh yeah... The Gays. When the GOP is too crazy for life long Republicans like Senator Alan Simpson, you know the Republican Party has jumped the shark.
In 2011, the Republican faithful will jeer and boo at an American soldier, serving his country and risking his life in a war zone because it fits the narrative of who their party has told them they should fear and hate.
This is not about "Don't Ask Don't Tell", or even about what the assorted Republican candidates think about LGBT rights. It is about living up to words they spout so freely, professing their admiration and support for those brave men and women who risk their lives serving our nation in the military.
We now know what all those bold "we support the troops more than you...", words were... A lie.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Another Teen in America is bullied to death...
Jamey Rodemeyer needed help. At 14, he was grappling with adolescent demons that could torment grown men. And when he was online, he wrote about it.
"I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens," he wrote Sept. 9. "What do I have to do so people will listen to me?"
Just over one week later, Jamey was found dead outside his home of an apparent suicide.In the months prior, he routinely blogged about school bullying and thoughts of suicide in between upbeat posts about his pop star idol Lady Gaga and the ordinary types of teen rants typical for kids his age. On Sept. 8, he wrote: "No one in my school cares about preventing suicide, while you're the ones calling me [gay slur] and tearing me down."
He put up a separate post that day letting everyone know it was National Suicide Prevention Week. On Saturday night, he posted a lyric from Lady Gaga's song "The Queen" on his Facebook page: "Don't forget me when I come crying to heaven's door."
Then around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Jamey posted two final messages to his main public Tumblr blog. One said he really wanted to see his great-grandmother, who had recently died, and one offered thanks to Lady Gaga.
That was his last entry.
Jamey did have bad days. Issues of bullying and even suicide talk were not new to many of Jamey's family or friends. They were common topics for him and seemed to ramp up to an extreme level when other students started making taunts with gay references to Jamey about 12 months ago on his Formspring account, which permits anonymous posts.
"JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND UGLY. HE MUST DIE!" read one post.
Another read: "I wouldn't care if you died. No one would. So just do it :) It would make everyone WAY more happier!"
------------------------------------------------
Earlier this year Jamie had created and posted a video for Dan Savage's "It Gets Better Project"
It's hard to know exactly what to say when something this horrible this preventable happens. What is clear is Jamey's school and teachers failed him. Failed him with fatal consequences. I could write for pages and pages about how so many self-proclaimed "Family Values Conservatives" have Jamey's blood on their hands today.
I could go on and on about how the dehumanizing rhetoric of hate groups like "Focus on the Family" and the "American Family Association" directly contributed to this young man's tragic death. I could write for days on end about how the quest by hate mongers and bigots like Michelle Bachmann and Rick Santorum to prevent anti bullying programs in our schools is killing our kids....
But no amount of words on a screen or a page will bring this remarkable young man back, it won't bring back any of the lives that have been lost to hate . So I will simply say, those who hounded this young man and others like him to their deaths, are the farthest thing from Christian. They are evil itself, and I have no doubt that they will rot and burn in hell. With all their hate which they are so sure will buy their way into heaven, they will instead, find themselves standing before God, who will look away and say: "I do not know you ..."
The streets of heaven are too crowded with Angels tonight. I am sorry Jamey. America failed you . Rest in peace.
Left Behind - from "Spring Awakening"
You fold his hands and smooth his tie, you gently lift his chin.
Were you really so blind, and unkind to him?
Can't help the itch to touch, to kiss, to hold him once again.
Now to close his eyes--never open them....
A shadow passed, a shadow passed, yearning, yearning
For the fool it called a home.
All things he never did are left behind.
All the things his mama wished he'd bear in mind,
And all his dad had hoped he'd know.
The talks you never had, the saturdays you never spent.
All the 'grown-up' places you never went.
And all of the crying you wouldn't understand.
You just let him cry, 'make a man out of him.'
A shadow passed, a shadow passed, yearning, yearning
For a fool it called a home.
All things he ever wished are left behind.
All the things his mama did to make him mind,
And how his dad had hoped he'd grow.
All things he ever lived are left behind.
All the fears that ever flickered through his mind.
All the sadness that he'd come to own.
A shadow passed, a shadow passed, yearning, yearning
For the fool it called a home.
And it whistles through the ghosts still left behind.
It whistles through the ghosts still left behind.
Whistles through the ghosts still left behind.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Seriously Cool....
A time-lapse of images taken from the International Space Station gives us a space-eye view of what it is like to fly around the Earth
This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and the Amazon. Also visible is the earths ionosphere (thin yellow line) and the stars of our galaxy. Raw data was downloaded from;
The Gateway To Astronaut Photography of Earth
"http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/mrf.htm ".
Virtualdub was used to create the final movie.
This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and the Amazon. Also visible is the earths ionosphere (thin yellow line) and the stars of our galaxy. Raw data was downloaded from;
The Gateway To Astronaut Photography of Earth
"http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/mrf.htm ".
Virtualdub was used to create the final movie.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Remembering a September Morning...
The media, and the blogposphere has been full of all sorts of remembrances and commentary around today's ten year anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001.
To be honest I was trying to avoid the topic. Not out of any sense of personal pain, but more out of respect, for those people I know who were far closer to the events of that day than I was.
My experience that day was a surreal one. I had gotten up very early and caught a flight from Chicago Midway to Houston. I was heading there for work. It was about 20 minutes into the flight, the seat belt sign had just turned off, and people where shifting about, getting comfortable. I had just pulled out my laptop to work on the presentation I was going to be giving later that day. Suddenly the seat belt sign came back on, and the crew announced that everyone was to return to their seats and prepare for landing, the flight would be returning to Chicago.
The Pilot then came on the speaker system to say that there was nothing wrong with the plane, and we were returning to Chicago because the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) had ordered the flight to return to "clear air traffic". He said that was all the information they had, and he apologized for the inconvenience.
Everyone on the plane thought the same thing. (Not terrorism.) Chicago Midway had upgraded to a new Air Traffic Control System earlier in the Summer and a few weeks prior, there had been a series of glitches that had delayed several flights. Everyone groaned, made comments about "Government Efficiency" assuming it was yet another problem with Midway's system that was going to mess up our day.
A assumption that was bolstered by the fact that we were not returning to Midway but rather we were diverted to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
The woman sitting next to me was happy about this thinking at least it might be easier to get on the next flight out to Houston. I nodded, and said "I hope so", thinking of how I might salvage the rest of my schedule that day and make my afternoon meetings on time.
It took us about 30 minutes of circling over O'Hare before we could land. Sitting in a window seat I watched as the line of planes waiting to land stretched to the far horizon and oddly enough, no planes were taking off. I commented on this to the woman next to me, and she said "wow Midway's systems must be really screwed up!" I laughed and said that what we get for Ronald Reagan having fired all the good Air Traffic Controllers. She laughed and said she had forgotten about that.
We landed and had to wait an additional 20 minutes to get a gate. but finally pulled up to a jetway , and we all lumbered off the plane into the gate area I was getting annoyed because people were not clearing the area in front of the door but were all standing around the televisions that were tuned to CNN Airport. I was about to say a loud "excuse me!" when I happened to look up at the TV and saw CNN replay footage from ABC of the second plane hitting the World Trade Center.
CNN then cut to live shot of a column of smoke and ash where the World Trade Center Towers were supposed to be, but weren't. I called my office and my boss told me not to come in, The area in downtown Chicago around the Sears Tower was being evacuated. I called my parents and let them know I was not in Houston, got on the CTA Blue Line and went home.
The rest of that day I did what most Americans did, watched the news, and when the images became overwhelming, I put on my roller blades and went blading along the Lake Michigan shoreline.
It was brilliant sunny day. One of those late Summer, early Fall days that you get in Chicago that make you appreciate what a beautiful city it is. As I stopped at Oak Street Beach and admired the downtown Chicago skyline, I didn't think that somehow the "world had changed". But rather I found myself thinking how the United States now had finally, sadly, had joined the rest of the world.
Before that that morning, Terrorism was something that happened in other places, Israel, Lebanon London, Belfast , places far away. Even the first World Trade Center bombing for many people, didn't seem like international terrorism. After all, the people responsible were caught when they tried to get the deposit back on the rental van they had used. (How sinister could people that dumb be?)
That is what changed I think, it was the moment America lost the illusion that somehow our two oceans would keep us safe from global terrorism.
For friends of mine who lived in New York on that day, I understand that this week is a much different experience for them. A good friend of mine is a New York City Police Officer who lost an arm in the attack that day. Another friend of mine worked for an investment bank housed in the North Tower, she had a doctors appointment so she didn't go into work that morning. For her, today is a reminder of the 15 friends and co-workers who she lost that day.
For the numerous friends of mine who have served, and currently serve in both Afghanistan and Iraq with the American and British Armed Forces, they deal with the effects September 11, 2001 on a far different level than most people ever will.
So this evening, I will attend the 9-11 memorial service here in London, at Westminster Abbey. Where people will remember the events of that day, pray for those who were lost, and show solidarity and support for friends for whom this anniversary is far more personal than political.
God Bless America, God bless us all.
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Monday, September 05, 2011
The Sound of Silence....
Hey there folks...
Yes I am still alive and kicking. I know, I have not posted in a while. Sorry about that. I don't really have a good excuse other than "well, I've been busy...ya' know?" Which really isn't all that good of a reason. Truth be told, after watching the start of the U.S. 2012 Presidential election campaign kick off last month, with the Iowa straw poll. I wanted to blog about it, but every time I would try to write something, I'd just get annoyed and develop a headache.
Why? Because, as the 2012 campaign begins, it looks like United States is once again poised to prove our stupidity to the rest of the world.
The current crop of Republican GOP candidates are at best, mindless dolts who honestly think destroying the middle class, and turning America into a third world nation of a few have-it-all's and a mass of have-not's is a good idea. Or, they are at worst, Anti-American right wing theocratic wingnuts, who truly hate our freedoms as much as any Islamic extremist ever did. At this point, it is honestly hard to tell which is the case.
The most recent Republican to throw his ten gallon hat into the ring is current Texas Governor, Rick Perry. Who, among other things, thinks creationism should replace teaching evolution in schools, and thinks that God is telling him to run for President.
People over here on this side of the Atlantic ask me if the Republican Party could be even remotely serious about nominating "another one". Meaning another Texas Governor with a frail grasp on reality and a penchant for confusing the voices in his head with divine instruction. I'd like to assure them that America is not THAT stupid, but the most recent CNN Republican presidential poll, suggests that at least, on the Republican side, America may be just that stupid...
According to a CNN poll released this week, Perry has a commanding lead among Republican voters nationally.
The rest of the crop of GOP candidates is just as much fun. You have former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, and Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachman. Both of whom think the greatest crisis facing America, is all those Gay couples getting married. According to both Santorum and Bachman, recent moves towards marriage equality in the U.S. are responsible for; (among other things...) Unemployment, the recent earthquake that rattled the American East Coast, Hurricane Irene, and bad weather in general.
Not to be left out, Perry, along with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney; ( who up until Rick Perry joined the field, was himself the GOP front runner). Quickly signed on to a "pledge" by the right wing hate group "The National Organization for Marriage", basically promising to ban all civil rights for LGBT Americans, and make fighting for those rights a crime.
If that isn't enough fun and frolic for you , according to the entire GOP field, ALL forms of government regulation are bad.. very very bad. Especially anything that regulates what corporations can do to their employees, their customers or the environment. Oh, and anything that protects workers, consumers or the environment is now referred to as "job killing" in all GOP/Fox News talking points.
The reason being , the uber-wealthy are all magical "job creators". And paying taxes might hurt their feelings, and then they wouldn't create all those wonderful jobs that they did during the Bush years thanks to those magical tax cuts... Oh, wait, I guess that didn't actually happen.
Not ones to be held back by facts, the GOP candidates are once again preaching the gospel of "trickle down economics". If we just give more money to those who already have lots of money, then it will all somehow trickle down to everyone else. (Remember that one from the Reagan years? )
But according to the GOP, we can't require the "job creators" to use all that money to create jobs, because that would be unfair. So when the top one-tenth of one percent takes all that money and just pockets it, creating no jobs whatsoever, folks like Perry and Ron Paul will insist it's not really their fault, it's (wait for it... ) according to GOP hopefuls, all that Government Regulation that has gotten in the way.
The Republican Party discovered early on, the sad and very inconvenient truth that President Obama, is a good man, an intelligent man, who is very weak. President Obama is not a Leader, he is a negotiator, and not a very good one. On issue after issue, from Health Care Reform, to Wall Street Reform, Congressional Republicans, found that President Obama, would accept a really bad agreement, if they simply threatened to leave him with no agreement at all.
As a result, the GOP learned very quickly , that it was all too easy to back the President into a corner, where his natural urge to "find common ground", meant he would abandon his stated principles and simply give in. All the while making very eloquent statements about the value of bi-partisanship.
So now we have the beginning of the 2012 election campaign where President Obama's one major accomplishment, health insurance reform, is in fact a motivating issue for Republicans, who are now campaigning on the "I promise to repeal Obama-care" bandwagon.
Obama-Biden 2012, will be a tough sell to many Americans, who vote based on one question and one question only; "Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?" The answer for far too many Americans is sadly, no.
It doesn't bode well, when the only real answer the Obama Administration has come up with so far to that stark reality, is to say; "But...think how much WORSE it COULD have been if we hadn't been here!"
It's like telling someone who is unemployed, "Hey! At least you don't have malaria!" Factually true, but unhelpful.
My fear is President Obama will simply campaign like he did in 2008, and the American electorate will do exactly what he told them to do back then... Vote for change.
Yes I am still alive and kicking. I know, I have not posted in a while. Sorry about that. I don't really have a good excuse other than "well, I've been busy...ya' know?" Which really isn't all that good of a reason. Truth be told, after watching the start of the U.S. 2012 Presidential election campaign kick off last month, with the Iowa straw poll. I wanted to blog about it, but every time I would try to write something, I'd just get annoyed and develop a headache.
The current crop of Republican GOP candidates are at best, mindless dolts who honestly think destroying the middle class, and turning America into a third world nation of a few have-it-all's and a mass of have-not's is a good idea. Or, they are at worst, Anti-American right wing theocratic wingnuts, who truly hate our freedoms as much as any Islamic extremist ever did. At this point, it is honestly hard to tell which is the case.
People over here on this side of the Atlantic ask me if the Republican Party could be even remotely serious about nominating "another one". Meaning another Texas Governor with a frail grasp on reality and a penchant for confusing the voices in his head with divine instruction. I'd like to assure them that America is not THAT stupid, but the most recent CNN Republican presidential poll, suggests that at least, on the Republican side, America may be just that stupid...
According to a CNN poll released this week, Perry has a commanding lead among Republican voters nationally.
Not to be left out, Perry, along with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney; ( who up until Rick Perry joined the field, was himself the GOP front runner). Quickly signed on to a "pledge" by the right wing hate group "The National Organization for Marriage", basically promising to ban all civil rights for LGBT Americans, and make fighting for those rights a crime.
Along those same lines. Anyone who is in the top one-tenth of one percent in terms of income in the United States, according to the GOP should not have to pay taxes.
The reason being , the uber-wealthy are all magical "job creators". And paying taxes might hurt their feelings, and then they wouldn't create all those wonderful jobs that they did during the Bush years thanks to those magical tax cuts... Oh, wait, I guess that didn't actually happen. Not ones to be held back by facts, the GOP candidates are once again preaching the gospel of "trickle down economics". If we just give more money to those who already have lots of money, then it will all somehow trickle down to everyone else. (Remember that one from the Reagan years? )But according to the GOP, we can't require the "job creators" to use all that money to create jobs, because that would be unfair. So when the top one-tenth of one percent takes all that money and just pockets it, creating no jobs whatsoever, folks like Perry and Ron Paul will insist it's not really their fault, it's (wait for it... ) according to GOP hopefuls, all that Government Regulation that has gotten in the way.
These people are seriously insane. So if the current 2012 GOP field is so utterly wacktacular, why am I worried? Simple, I am worried because the American electorate has a ridiculously short attention span and a track record voting against their own best interests.
Add to that, the painful truth that President Obama's first term has been one long experiment in poltical weakness.
Add to that, the painful truth that President Obama's first term has been one long experiment in poltical weakness.
The Republican Party discovered early on, the sad and very inconvenient truth that President Obama, is a good man, an intelligent man, who is very weak. President Obama is not a Leader, he is a negotiator, and not a very good one. On issue after issue, from Health Care Reform, to Wall Street Reform, Congressional Republicans, found that President Obama, would accept a really bad agreement, if they simply threatened to leave him with no agreement at all.
As a result, the GOP learned very quickly , that it was all too easy to back the President into a corner, where his natural urge to "find common ground", meant he would abandon his stated principles and simply give in. All the while making very eloquent statements about the value of bi-partisanship.
So now we have the beginning of the 2012 election campaign where President Obama's one major accomplishment, health insurance reform, is in fact a motivating issue for Republicans, who are now campaigning on the "I promise to repeal Obama-care" bandwagon.
It doesn't bode well, when the only real answer the Obama Administration has come up with so far to that stark reality, is to say; "But...think how much WORSE it COULD have been if we hadn't been here!"
It's like telling someone who is unemployed, "Hey! At least you don't have malaria!" Factually true, but unhelpful.
My fear is President Obama will simply campaign like he did in 2008, and the American electorate will do exactly what he told them to do back then... Vote for change.
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