To my remaining (Sane) Republican Friends

Dear Republicans,

I get it, I really do...These past years have been tough for you

For the last eight years you have been stoking your Base with cries of how you want to “take our country back”. Your base heard that as; Back to the days when people who don't look, think, or believe like they do, knew their place. Yet clearly that hasn't worked out, and your now VERY scared, very angry and numerically smaller base went looking for someone who would rescue them from the horror of  being forced to share America with  people they really don’t like.

Well I'll give you this, they certainly took you in a new direction.

2016 rolls around and clearly you all thought you really needed to “think outside the establishment box”. So you have gone and picked a guy who actually says out loud in PUBLIC the stuff you usually only say to your base in private. You found a guy who isn’t afraid to blame all those dirty brown people for making your base feel angry that America doesn’t belong just to then anymore. You found a candidate who, like your base, is someone for whom "facts" just don't matter

.

Now you have finally found a guy who isn’t bothered with all those pesky liberally-biased “facts”. A guy who knows that details are for losers! It’s the promised RESULTS that count, right? Your Presidential nominee, is a guy who thinks “Trust Me, it will be Greeaaaaat!!!” , is a perfectly valid answer to any policy question.

So here we now are. Your 2016 Presidential nominee is Donald J. Trump.

But let’s be honest. You panicked. Like in the dim light of a singles bar at closing time, you made a really bad decision, and went home with a mistake. A guy who spent half the night telling you  how rich he is, but had you pay for most of his drinks and the cab ride back to your place.

Now it’s the next morning,  and this tangerine nightmare is walking around your house in his monogrammed, made-in-China  boxer shorts,  saying how you should be grateful you ended up with him instead of any of the other “losers”.  Also, how you need to tell all your friends who questioned your judgement,  that they are stupid, biased “haters” for not seeing how totally awesome he is.

Now this primary night stand wants to move into your place. A guy who has been bankrupt multiple times, is demanding control of your credit cards and bank account because he is "way smarter at managing money than you" so… you just need to trust him. If any of your friends and family even mildly, question the wisdom of this, they all are stupid haters and sleazy, and not “treating him fairly”.

Dear Republicans, congratulations this is your life now.

But it doesn’t have to be. There is something you can do. You can take your Party back.

It’s time to kick the god awful Primary night-stand out of your house, clean yourself up, and remember who you used to be. Yes,  that means you are going to lose this election.  I know that you have been conditioned to think that is the worst thing that could possibly ever happen to you . So much so that you went home the guy who bellowed the loudest that he could win.  (He also said his hands were big… but we won’t go into how that worked out for you..)

But trust me,  it’s  really not the end of the world.  It’s the beginning of getting back to who you used to be. Remember?

Abraham Lincoln believed in freeing the oppressed, uniting the nation, and punishing War Profiteers. Dwight Eisenhower viewed war is always a last desperate resort, and an unchecked military industrial complex is a threat to democracy

Richard Nixon understood that we live in a world of interconnected global relationships. Constructive engagement and detente' are always more successful than direct conflict.  Gerald Ford truly believed in duty, and that the interests of the nation are more important than polls or elections. He was a living example on how accepting responsibility for the actions you take in office, is a president's first obligation.

Ronald Reagan sought PEACE through strength, knowing America's allies were the key to America's security. He knew that Big Government is never a substitute for American Ingenuity, and he understood that Faith is a private matter not a prop, or a tool for political posturing. Moreover, he understood that immigrants are the basecloth of the fabric of our nation, opening doors for thousands to come out of the shadows and seek the American Dream

Now you are about to move in with a guy who wants to build a wall around our country, and ridicules those who fought and sacrificed for our nation. A guy who is likely to start a war to avenge his bruised ego, which for him would be more important than either America’s national security or global stability. . A guy with a bizarre fetish for strongman dictators, and insults our closest allies if they don’t join the chorus of “how great” he is.

Your choice is a guy who talks a big game, huge even. Yet when asked to provide proof of what he says, throws a tantrum and asks why are you being so mean to him? Someone who thinks God is is a marketing tool,  and treats. America's allies as disposable.  Who says big Government is the greatest evil there is, EXCEPT when it bails him out of failed business ventures.

George HW Bush said it best in his inaugural address; " In crucial things, unity, in important things diversity, and in all things generosity... When America says something, America means it. Whether a treaty an agreement or a vow made on marble steps." He used Personal diplomacy to build a grand coalition of nations the likes of which had not been seen since World War II.

But now, you have nominated a guy who thinks that the Geneva Convention is a Swiss beauty pageant , and ", "public" meetings should only be open to hand picked supporters If anyone dares voice dissent, they should get beaten up.

Here is the truth you don’t want to hear;  Your guy doesn't care about you . For Trump, ,the Grand Old Party, the party that has shaped so much of American history is at best a vehicle for his own ego, and at worst something he will toss aside as soon as he feels your focus isn't all about him.

It's not too late, tell him it isn’t you , it’s him. Kick this scrub to the curb and take back your Party. I know it’s too late to go back the bar and find someone else, but it is not too late to take back your own dignity, so four years from now, its not about who’s left standing at the closing , but who is worthy of you at the opening.

But to do that you are going to have to do something you have convinced your base was worse than death, You need to vote for Hillary Clinton.   I know you dont think you can, you would rather not vote at all.  Yet the fact is, you have to.

This is no longer an election, it needs to be an intervention.

You have spent decades teaching your base not to do what you now must. You have to think for yourself, and put the good of your Party and the Nation, ahead of short term poltitics.

This isn't just about defeating Trump, it's about saving the Republian Party,  but the first step has to be all yours.    The true test of anyone stuck in the bottom of a hole, is when they realize the first step towards getting out, is to stop digging.

Burt Kwouk, Pink Panther star, dies aged 85

(from BBC News)

Burt Kwouk, who was best known for playing Inspector Clouseau's manservant Cato in the Pink Panther films, has died aged 85.

He appeared in seven Pink Panther films opposite Peter Sellers as Clouseau's servant who regularly attacked his employer to keep him alert.   He also starred in BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine from 2002 to 2010.

The actor, who was born in Warrington but raised in Shanghai, was awarded an OBE in the 2011 New Year Honours List. A statement issued by his agent said: "Beloved actor Burt Kwouk has sadly passed peacefully away. The family will be having a private funeral but there will be a memorial at a later date."

On the big screen Kwouk also appeared in three James Bond films including Goldfinger and YouOnly Live Twice. 

 Kwouk had a long TV career, appearing in numerous TV shows including The Avengers and Doctor Who. He also played Major Yamauchi in the 1980s wartime television drama Tenko. He joined long-running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine as electrician Entwistle - a part that was written with him in mind.

The actor appeared in Harry Hill's comedy series in the 1990s and also gained a cult following when he presented Channel 4's interactive gambling show Banzai from 2001-2004. Many fans have been paying tribute on social media and sharing their favourite clips of Kwouk as Cato.

Film director Duncan Jones tweeted: "Just heard the wonderful Burt Kwouk has passed away. Lovely man. Was willing to work with film students like myself."

Al Murray also tweeted how he "was very lucky to have worked with Burt Kwouk on the Harry Hill show way back when".

'Allo 'Allo! actress Vicky Michelle tweeted a picture of herself with Burt Kwouk and said she knew him well through their charity work with the Heritage Foundation.

"Fab actor, lovely fun and gentle man," she said.

Kwouk started acting when he returned to England in 1954 after his family's wealth was wiped out in the 1949 revolution. His big break came 10 years later when director Blake Edwards offered him the part of Cato Fong, opposite Peter Sellers's Inspector Clouseau.

His double act with Sellers was hugely popular with fans and he continued in the role of Cato after Sellers died in 1980, appearing opposite Roger Moore and Roberto Benigni when they took on the role of the bumbling French detective.

Kwouk said he never expected the part to continue for such a long time, starring in his first Pink Panther film in 1974 and the last in 1992.

"They were always a lot of fun because after a while I got to know Cato quite well and I liked Cato because he never argued with me and he never borrowed money from me. I liked playing Cato quite a lot," he told the BBC in 2011.

Talking about his career after being awarded an OBE for services to drama, the actor said working on the James Bond movies was a special experience.

"Bond movies are always great fun because everything about them is big, expansive, huge - the sets are big, the amounts of money that is spent is huge as well, and the whole thing has a big atmosphere about it. And actors like doing that kind of thing."

But if he had to pick a favourite role, the star said it would be the first time he "had a featured role in a good movie".

"You always remember your first of anything - your first house, your first car, your first child, your first woman - you always remember those things and this was a picture made in 1958.

"It was The Inn of the Sixth Happiness which starred a great lady called Ingrid Bergman, I remember that very fondly."

He is survived by his wife Caroline Tebbs, who he married in 1961 and a son.

Samantha Bee's EPIC take down of the American Taliban

As much as I like Trevor Noah,  I see this and wonder if not giving Samatha Bee  the host chair of "The Daily Show"  wasn't a big mistake...

Randy Rainbow Wraps Up the GOP Race...

Take it away Randy!....

And last... and certainly least....

Randy Rainbow Strikes Again!

Brilliant...

Stephen Colbert's. Brilliant take on the life of the RNC Chairman

Randy Rainbow has the best commentary on the GOP race EVER!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Randy Rainbow is a blogger and Internet celebrity based in New York, NY, United States. Rainbow is most notable for a series of humorous YouTube viral videos  Rainbow’s videos have appeared on a number of major blogs. Popular LGBT blogs Towleroad and Queerty have reposted many of his videos 

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So without further commentary.., I give you the best thing on the internet!  Randy's  GOP Dropouts!

Paul Ryan Clearly Wants to be President...

In a recent speech to Congressional Interns  in Washington DC,  Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan (R-WI) sounded about as unlike a member of the Republican Party of  2016 as he possibly could have, short of showing up wearing an Obama t-shirt.

In  his speech Ryan spoke longingly of bi-partisanship, decried the "echo chamber" where politicians  only hear opinions that they already agree with, (Fox News); Even declaring "I was wrong" when in the past,  he characterized recipients of Government assistance programs as "takers".   It was an speech that Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Bob Dole or George HW Bush could have given. It was speech that clearly declared that Paul Ryan wants to be seen as the grown up a Republican Party filled with out of control political adolescents.

Yet this is the same Paul Ryan who in his budget proposals wanted to gut medicare entirely and force America's Seniors on to a voucher based system completely at the mercy of the for profit health insurance market.

For those who have forgotten;   New York Magazine broke down the Ryan Proposals:

Ryan emphasizes that his proposal still gives seniors the choice of remaining in regular Medicare. But what he doesn’t mention is that his plan makes Medicare so expensive that millions of seniors will likely be forced to switch into the private plans. While Ryan employs a different type of bidding system for private health plans under his 2015 blueprint that softens his plan’s topline effect on beneficiaries’ costs, an earlier Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis of Medicare premium support systems found that plans such as Ryan’s would increase traditional Medicare premiums by a staggering 50 percent.

The millions of seniors who are forced over to private plans would also find themselves with different doctors and narrower coverage networks under Ryancare — ironic considering Republicans’ unabashed outrage over news that the Affordable Care Act had canceled about three or four million skimpy insurance policies. But unlike Obamacare, Ryan doesn’t require his replacement private plans to have a more robust base level of consumer protections and benefits than beneficiaries’ previous coverage.

But the real   problem with yesterday's stirring speech is,   the state of American Politics  that  Ryan so eloquently decries,   is one he is equally responsible for.  He has presided over a Republican controlled legislative branch, that put hatred of the President  before duty, patriotism and even basic  human decency.    While standing before a wall of American flags  tut-tutting  the lack of civility in politics,  He has led a party that has actively sought to inflict damage on the country in hopes of politically damaging the President.

This was nothing short of a Presidential Nomination acceptance speech,    Paul Ryan clearly  thinks a brokered  GOP convention may turn to him to save their party from the looming disaster of   Donald Trump or political train wreck of  Ted Cruz.

Paul Ryan's words yesterday were wonderful,  but  the reality of Paul Ryan's  actions as a congressman, a Vice Presidential candidate, and as Speaker of the House  tell a very different story.

Why the American Presidential election matters... Tremendously.

Today  has been a terrible day here in Europe...

Since that  report  aired  the  so-called  "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria"  (ISIS) has issued a statement claiming responsibility for both the attack on the Brussels Airport and Subway system.

The tag line  "the world's last remaining Superpower"  has been bandied about for years
as part of America's domestic political conversation. Architects of the disastrous war in Iraq used the title as justification for the "Bush Doctrine" of preemptive use of military force , saying if not the US then who? More progressive voices cited the concept as reason for America to act more judiciously in our use of military force. Saying we must lead by example.

So are we the only remaining Superpower?  The fact is, if  the criteria  for being a superpower was only military, then North Korea and India would have to get seats at the SP table as well.  Russia, and China certainly both meet the basic criteria from a point of size and military capability.    Yet being a superpower  must, especially in light of days such as today,  mean much more than just how many bombs and bullets you have. Being a Superpower means you have the ability  shape the global narrative.  Rally the will  and when needed,  the wallets, and weapons   of  the community of Nations in response to global challenges.  Be they man made, or  not.  

A Superpower must lead.  not  bully.  That it why the world doesn't really consider Russia to be in the same league.  Putin doesn't  lead,  he demands,  he threatens he schemes and plots.   Russia's idea of global leadership is  whatever is best for Vladimir Putin and his circle of criminal suck-ups and cronies.  Russian international intervention in Syria  for example,  was less about fighting Islamic state, and far more about rescuing Putin's crony Assad.

China,  while certainly not as brutish and aggressive as Russia, ( at least not openly so...)  is still far too inwardly focused  on it's own growth and   the growing pains  that have come with that.   China's ambitions remain largely in their own part of the world,  (much to the chagrin of Korea, the Philippines and  Japan  who find them building new islands in their back yard).   Yet  for the most part  China has enough on it's own plate these days, so  global domination be it  political, economic   or military,  will have to wait.

What about  Europe?    Oh  Europe tries,   but the fact is  the grand European experiment is not so much one of unity but rather one of polite tolerance of each other.   Someone once asked me if I thought the French still harbored resentment towards Germany over the Second World War.   I replied the French haven't gotten around to  that  yet,  they are still holding a grudge against England for the defeat of Napoleon.  (For the record the Eurostar was much better  when came in and out of Waterloo Station.  Moving it to St Pancras was  seriously dumb...but I digress.)    Getting the entire EU to agree on anything is a lot like trying herd  drunk cats.

So who's left?  Like it or not folks,  it's us.  Or more accurately it's the US.   It is worth noting  that you would think the biggest political news story here on this side of the Atlantic would be  the looming  referendum  in the UK on whether or not  Britain will stay in , or leave the EU.  Yet  when you turn on the evening news here,  it's the current cirque d'insanity  of the  US Presidential race that leads the world news sections on BBC, ITV and Sky News.  

That is because  the American Presidency  matters,  and  it matters to pretty much the entire world.  Even those nations and groups that wish us ill, are watching the race unfold with intense interest. It matters  who leads the United States of America because  Putin isn't going to but the needs of the global community  ahead of his own ego and pocket book.   Chinese President Hu Jintao has enough to do trying to keep the air in his country from being too toxic to breathe,    Sadly, Britain's  David Cameron, Germany's  Angela Merkel and France's  Francois Hollande all tend to drop their global focus when domestic political pressures dictate.

So  it is with a growing sense of dismay  that many around the world have been watching the Republican Party,  the party of  Eisenhower,  Ford, even of   Reagan, and  GHW Bush,,  turn into a warped combination of ignorance and arrogance.  Where  "Don't worry,  it will be great..."   passes for an actual answer  to  serious policy questions.  Where the front runner and, presumptive Presidential nominee , Donald Trump,  is more interested in assuring voters he has a big penis, than demonstrating  even a basic understanding of America's role on the global stage.

Where  the  GOP's  "establishment alternative"  Texas Senator Ted Cruz, upon hearing of the horrific  terror attacks today in the Belgian Capital reacted not, by demonstrating an understanding of how America needs to lead  the world in condemning the attacks and  putting forward a clear strategy for fighting ISIS, instead chose  to turn it into political attack on not just his GOP rival, but also  on  President Obama,  who is currently overseas on a historic state visit to Cuba the first by an American President since 1928.

So what is the world looking for in the next American President?  believe it or not,  the answer is not hard to find.    It is as clear as lyrics  to a famous American song.

O beautiful for patriot dream 
That sees beyond the years

The American President must have a sense of stewardship, not ownership of the presidency. The American  President must  strive not just to make life easier for “the base”, but ensure a better life for all our citizens, and the generations of Americans yet to come, and by extension, help to shape a better, safer world

Thine alabaster cities gleam 
Undimmed by human tears!

The American  President should never accept that any American lives in hopelessness, or lacks the opportunity to learn in safe schools, or live in safe neighborhoods. The American President should never accept that Americans should be forced to compete on an economic field that is anything but fair and level. The American President should see the environment not as a resource to be exploited, but as a legacy to be protected. The American President should never accept that any American would have to choose between health care and economic survival. 

America! America! 
God shed his grace on thee

The American President should never invoke God as a tool of division,  never using  religion as way to marginalize groups of our own citizens. The American  President should never seek to codify religion into civil law as a way to score political points, never wearing  wear faith on their  sleeve while disregarding the most basic tenets of that faith. The American President should live their  faith far more loudly than  talk about it.

And crown thy good with brotherhood 
From sea to shining sea!

The American President should understand that true homeland security is collective. Strong friendships are the best defense against strong adversaries . The American President should see our freedoms as our strength not our weakness. The American  President should see war as the very last resort to defend ours and our allies vital interests, not the first resort to advance any one constituency’s political or economic interests. 

The American  President should embody our hopes, advance our dreams and embrace our diversity , our “E Pluribus Unum”.  To lead a Superpower the American President must  listen, learn and lead.

This is why the  2016 election matters.  It matters far beyond America's borders.  What is at stake is nothing less than Leadership  of "the last remaining superpower".  Something  for which, the Republican candidates  as a whole,  have shown themselves to be manifestly unqualified. 

The Republican Party is Dead

In the wake of Donald Trump's victory in the South Carolina primary last night, and Jeb Bush's withdrawing from the Presidential race; It is clear that Republican Party as it existed from 1860 to 1992 has died. I offer this brief look back on what has now been lost forever.

I remember that January day in 1989, when the newly sworn in President of the United States chose to begin his Administration this way:

"We meet on democracy's front porch. A good place to talk as neighbors and as friends. For this is a day when our nation is made whole, when our differences, for a moment, are suspended. And my first act as President is a prayer. I ask you to bow your heads.

Heavenly Father, we bow our heads and thank You for Your love. Accept our thanks for the peace that yields this day and the shared faith that makes its continuance likely. Make us strong to do Your work, willing to heed and hear Your will, and write on our hearts these words: "Use power to help people." For we are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people. Help us remember, Lord. Amen."

It was the last time the Leader of the Republican Party understood what the Presidency really is.  It is  Servant Leadership.   It is an obligation to use the power of the American government to better lives of its citizens, and be an example to the rest of the world.    We now live in a time where the Republican party is looking for leadership from a blustering oaf who talks about how rich he is, and how big  ego is.  

Long gone are the days when the Republican Party was led by people  who believed things like this...

"My friends, we are not the sum of our possessions. They are not the measure of our lives. In our hearts we know what matters. We cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank account. We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a loyal friend; a loving parent; a citizen who leaves his home, his neighborhood, and town better than he found it. 

And what do we want the men and women who work with us to say when we're no longer there? That we were more driven to succeed than anyone around us? Or that we stopped to ask if a sick child had gotten better and stayed a moment there to trade a word of friendship?"

We live in a time where all the Republican Party wears  mindless, blind opposition to everything the current President has sought to do, as some bizarre badge of honor. 

Unlike the days when the  Republican Party was led by someone  who knew in his heart that America is only successful when we work together...

"To my friends, and, yes, I do mean friends -- in the loyal opposition and, yes, I mean loyal -- I put out my hand. I am putting out my hand to you, Mr. Speaker. I am putting out my hand to you, Mr. Majority Leader. For this is the thing: This is the age of the offered hand. And we can't turn back clocks, and I don't want to. But when our fathers were young, Mr. Speaker, our differences ended at the water's edge. And we don't wish to turn back time, but when our mothers were young, Mr. Majority Leader, the Congress and the Executive were capable of working together to produce a budget on which this nation could live. 

Let us negotiate soon and hard. But in the end, let us produce. The American people await action. They didn't send us here to bicker. They ask us to rise above the merely partisan."

We live in a time where the Republican front runners stumble over themselves to assure their base voters that they hate people who are different from them, just as much as they do.  Where campaign promises are not to expand the American Dream but rather to build walls, shred civil rights and marginalize minorities for political gain.    

Gone forever  now,  are the days when the Republican Party embraced the essence of the American experience "E Pluribus Unum" - Out of Many, One,

"A President is neither prince nor pope, and I don't seek a window on men's souls. In fact, I yearn for a greater tolerance, and easygoingness about each other's attitudes and way of life."

I had hopes that after 2012 the Republican Party would seek to turn away from the full speed rush off the cliffs of stupidity, bigotry and extremism, they have been on since 1992. Apparently that hope was in vain.

The Republican Party is dead. It is time to bury it because the stench is starting to contaminate all of American Politics.

Rachel Maddow on GOP Insanity....

2016 - The Republican Kamikaze Mission

The term “Kamikaze” generally refers to suicide attacks by military aviators from Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of World War II, designed to destroy warships more effectively than conventional attacks. If you search the Wikipedia about the Kamikaze pilots of World War II you will find the following passage:

“These attacks, which began in October 1944, followed several critical military defeats for the Japanese. They had long since lost aerial dominance due to outdated aircraft and the loss of experienced pilots. On a macroeconomic scale, Japan suffered from a diminishing capacity for war, and a rapidly declining industrial capacity relative to the Allies. Despite these problems, the Japanese government expressed its reluctance to surrender. In combination, these factors led to the use of kamikaze tactics as Allied forces advanced towards the Japanese home islands.”

If the last few days and weeks have demonstrated anything, it is that the Republican Party in the United States has decided to turn their 2016 campaign into a political and electoral suicide mission. In that context the above referenced Wikipedia entry could easily be rewritten as:

“This obstruction at all costs , which began in December 2008, was further fuelled by critical defeats for the GOP over health care, and the 2012 Presidential race. They had long since lost cultural dominance due to outdated ideas and the loss of experienced and principled candidates On a macro-political scale, the GOP suffered from a diminishing capacity to win Nationally , and a rapidly declining relevance relative to the shifting demographics of the American population Despite these problems, the Base of the party expressed its reluctance to accept any adaptation.   In combination, these factors led to the use of kamikaze tactics such as Government shut downs, mindless filibusters of all nominees, wildly radical candidates, and demands that THIS President not be allowed to use the powers of the office outlined in the constitution.”

I have blogged at length about how the Republican Party is no longer the party of Reagan, Ford, Nixon or even George HW Bush let alone Abraham Lincoln. On the eve of the South Carolina primary the Republican party is poised to nominate as their standard bearer, either Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio. I can only assume that the base of the GOP, so demoralized by having lost to President Obama twice; Has decided to go out in a blaze of crazy, and try to inflict as much damage as possible on their own Party and the nation in the process.

This week we see  the latest Zero to take off from the deck of the GOP. The demand that the President of the United States, with nearly a full year left in his term, not be allowed to nominate a candidate to fill the vacancy on the US Supreme Court, resulting from the tragic death of Justice Antonin Scalia over the weekend. The republicans feel that fact the United States Constitution clearly gives the President the duty to nominate justices to the high court can be completely ignored because they don’t like THIS President. 

Lets be clear, that is what this is about. The Republicans still can’t stomach the fact that they lost to Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, They don’t believe he should be President, so they have done nothing but try to destroy his Presidency from day one.

The facts are appointments to the Supreme Court HAVE been voted on in an election year.  The facts are the Affordable Care Act (as imperfect a first step as it is,) is WORKING,  The facts are as President, Barack Obama has issued FEWER executive orders, and spent LESS time on vacation than any of his Republican predecessors.  Not to mention the guy was born in Hawaii and is a Christian.  

Facts, that in the face of which,  the base of the GOP has chosen to simply pretend reality doesn't exist, as they stick their fingers in their ears and yell "LA LA LA LA LA!!! I AM NOT LISTENING!!"  as loud as they can.

Instead the GOP's most faithful have decided to strap themselves to Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and take a flaming nosedive at American Democracy.  Seeking to replace it with a right wing evangelical theocracy (Cruz), where being a Muslim is a crime (Trump) but not nearly as big a crime as being Gay or Lesbian (Rubio).  All while turning the entire American economy into a  funnel-up / Trickle-down dystopia where the top 1% have it all and everyone else battles it out for the nothing left over.

When the current crop of GOP Presidential contenders talk about "restoring America" what they mean is:  A country  where millions of Americans will once again have to choose between living in poor health or bankruptcy.  Where Civil Rights and Science are treated at an "attacks on religion" Where cities like Flint Michigan  face mass poisoning because it makes financial sense.   Where American men and women are disposable cannon fodder in an all new series of unending wars in the  Middle East  to either: 1) bring about the "end times" or 2)  get Oil back up above $100 a barrel.

Facing a world that is no longer is "all about them". Knowing that even legislative gerrymandering of Congressional Districts,( the GOP's great "firewall" to protect their Congressional majority), will inevitably fall to changing demographics. Unable to restrict voting rights for minorities outside of deep red states, the Republican Party has decided to go all in on Crazy.    

They see the choice for 2016 as literally victory or death for the GOP. They will win, or by gosh, they will destroy their own party while trying.

That my friends, is what the Republican Party in 2016 is offering to America.  A party that has lost its mind, sold its soul and has  a platform that is entirely based on insanity, hypocrisy and hyperbole. 

The Day After Donald Trump Won the NH Primary

It seemed appropriate...

2016 Expat thoughts: Going Home... the long way 'round?

There is a wonderful moment at the end of the 50th Anniversary special of the famous long running  science fiction series "Doctor Who", where  the Doctor (played by Matt Smith)  addresses  the subject of his characters seemingly endless wanderings through time and space,,,

Home... the long way 'round...

It is a sentiment that many of those who live the expatriate life can relate to all too easily. Maybe that is why I became such fan of Doctor Who. He really is the ultimate "expat". Wandering, travelling, but never homeless. Home is out there. He just hasn't found his way back there... yet.

I had my first "expat" experience when I was 15 and was a foreign exchange student in Germany. It is not an overstatement to say it fundamentally changed me, my outlook on, and future path in life. That lead to spending my gap year studying in Germany, and then spending all my Summers in college working at a Summer Camp in the Wetterstein Alps in Bavaria. Then after graduation from University, to my first expat work posting to Asia, in South Korea.

Now I live in London, not because of a work assignment , but because I fell in love with, and then married a Brit. And at the time, the Defence of Marriage Act, (DOMA) forced us, and many other same sex couples to leave the US in order to simply be with our legally married spouses. Now that DOMA has been partially overturned and those legal barriers to spousal immigration are gone, we are getting asked one question repeatedly..

"So.. When are you guys moving to the U.S?"

That is a difficult question, for a lot of reasons. Not the least of which is purely logistic. The lengthy, and complicated process of my move from the US to London over 5 years ago was physically, emotionally and financially exhausting. So the prospect of packing up our lives all over again to move half way across the world is a bit daunting. Yet the question keeps being asked, don't I want to come home?

Oscar Wilde once said the United States and Great Britain were two countries separated by a common language. While there so much about life in the UK that is similar to life back home, it is at the end of the day a foreign country, and I am, at the end of the day a foreigner here. A resident alien. So make no mistake, I miss home, as much as  I love our life here in the UK,,  having the clerk at the supermarket say; "Oooh! I just love your accent! Where are you from Luv?", is amusing the first ten times it happens. But when it happens every single time, it gets very old, very quickly.

So the  answer to the question do I want to come home  is, yes of course I do, and eventually I will be heading home,   I'm just going the long away 'round.     Yet as I watch the 2016 U.S. Presidential race take shape, its hard not to feel that going home again, wouldn't be such a wonderful thing after all.

I will be supporting Hillary Clinton in this next election, Friends of mine who support  Bernie Sanders say that he would be a stronger advocate for the LGBT community.  I know he has struck a strong populist cord with many, but his elect- ability is highly doubtful.   Also, I should I am really looking for what will get us closest to a third term for Barack Obama.  Or at least the nearest equivalent thereof.

The  GOP is not, and never could be an option for anyone who cares about civil rights. As a party  they have run  full speed off the cliffs of insanity deciding that the GOP platform would be not to give Americans something to vote for, but rather try to fear monger voters in to what and who they should vote against. (Gays, immigrants, women who want to control their own bodies, people who are not white conservative evangelicals.etc. etc.)

So when I see and hear  ALL of the current Republican candidates for President talk about the need to take away my civil rights, and how using the power of the executive branch of the federal government to forcibly dissolve my marriage  would be one their first priorities upon winning the oval office.  Along with claiming that allowing people and businesses to discriminate against me in the public sphere is "protecting religious liberty";   I can't help but feel that way home growing longer  and longer by the day.    

Living overseas sounds exciting,  friends back in the United States always say how much they envy the life I have. But they don't see the whole picture.   Yes  living as an expat is an exciting and culturally diverse adventure.   Yet at the same time  you are all too aware that should something happen to a loved one at home, like a serious illness or accident,  you are, (under the best of circumstances), at least a full day's travel away, if you are lucky.     

My parents are thankfully both in good health,  but I am all too aware of the distance  from here to there,    My husband being here in the UK,   was unable to get back to Malaysia to see either  his Father or  Mother when they each suddenly took ill and passed away.  I would be lying if I didn't admit that scenario at times wakes me up in the middle of the night. 

So  this next Presidential election will determine just how long that long way 'round actually will be. A President Hillary Clinton would certainly  give us greater options to shorten that journey.   

After all, there's no place like home...

The Sound of My Silence...

Many of you have wondered why I have been largely  silent over the past few months, and  have not been blogging  on the  2016 US Presidential race.   The reason is pretty simple.

There is only so much crazy I can tolerate.  

I have watched the  unfolding events  around the  2016 American Presidential race with a growing sense of despair.    I had hoped that after  the 2012  election the Republican Party would find  that mindless factless, and patently racist obstructionism was not a path back to the White House.

Apparently  that hope was at best a fantasy.    The Republican Party  as it had existed throughout American history beginning with the election of Abraham Lincoln, is  dead.    It had  been in a coma since 1996, but now it is long past time  to declare the GOP  officially brain dead.

When the core platform of the GOP is to once again, make pre-existing conditions a reason to deny a person health care, and to take away civil rights from thousands of Americans by forcibly divorcing them from their husbands and wives;  You have to wonder at the basic sanity ,  let alone decency of the cirque d'insanity that  calls itself the Republican Party in 2016.   Let alone  their  current clear  front runner.

Seriously...  this  is what passes for a front runner in Republican Presidential politics in 2016.  But ok... lets pretend for a moment that Donald Trump is not the face, (and Id)  of the modern day GOP, who is next in line?  

That would be this guy...

Lets pretend for just a moment that  the guy who just won the GOP race in the Iowa Caucus is not a serious contender for the  GOP presidential nomination.   So who else is there?   Ladies and Gentlemen ,  meet  the guy who is next in line...   Marco Rubio.

There is no  reason  for any sane, decent patriotic American to even consider voting for any of the current crop of  GOP Presidential candidates.   

Yeah... It's been a while. I blame the GOP.

 The blog has been quiet for a while. A number of you have emailed asking. "What gives?". Well, life gets busy ... Lame excuse I know,   but. It's all I got.

To be honest, I have also been waiting. Waiting for the Republican Party to sort out the bat-sh*t crazy cirque d'insanity that has been their Presidential candidate field to date. Every time I have sat down at the keyboard to comment on the GOP primary field, it just seemed a waste of time. None of the front runners were even remotely sane, let alone actual viable candidates for President of the United States.

The Republican Party has tried to cull the herd. Employing a process for deciding who gets to be in their Presidential Candidate Debates, so convoluted that is has become a bigger story than the debates themselves. Cue Rachel with a report on the chaos...

 That was LAST week. Things went downhill from there. By the time this week's Fox Business channel sponsored debate came around, not only was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie demoted down to the. "kids table" undercard debate for polling number underachievers; But South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, arguably the GOP field's most experienced candidate running, was bumped out of all debates.  

We are now at a point where people are tuning in to GOP Presidential debates not to learn about the candidates, but purely for the comedy value.

 

 

The GOP has their  two "front runners",  Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson.  Trump... Sigh... Okay, I'll get to "the Donald" in a moment,  but for now  lets just say  the fact that we having a conversation about  the next Republican Presidential Nominee, and that conversation includes the words "Donald Trump",  pretty much sums up the state of  the Republican Party in 2015.     As far as Carson goes...  Where even to begin?   We have a man running for president with a backstory, that he seems to have simply made up because, hey!  It sounded cool!   

Carson's claims range from having been offered admission to West Point over lunch with US Army General William Westmoreland, to having tried to hit his own Mother with a hammer, and stab a "close relative". A violent streak that prompted him to lock himself in a bathroom for three hours, where he apparently found Jesus, and instantly and became a god fearing man of peace and justice.

The problem is none of those claims from Carson's personal biography have stood up to even mild fact checking by Journalists. Prompting Carson to shriek hysterically how NO OTHER CANDIDATE has EVER been subjected to the kind of background checking and vetting he is being forced to undergo... Because you know... Nobody has EVER done any investigating into anything about Hillary Clinton. Yes..... he actually made that claim with a straight face.

 

Lesson one in national campaign politics. If you attack the press for trying to verify claims you make. The press is going to take that as a big fat flashing neon sign that says. "KEEP DIGGING!" because clearly you are pants-on-fire lying. Annnnnddddd.... Cue the VERY predictable result:

 



Then there is Jeb Bush. At some level you gotta feel for poor Jeb, after all, he locked up the big GOP establishment donors right out of the gate. He is the closest thing the Republican party has to a Dauphin -style heir apparent. Not to mention the fact, that had he not lost to Lawton Chiles in the Florida Governors race back in 1994 it is likely that he, not his brother George W, would have been the GOP nominee in 2000. Oh how fortunes change...

 

The son of the 41rst, and brother of the 43rd President of the United States, a two term Governor of one of the most pivotal electoral battle ground states,  the heir to a political dynasty on par with the Kennedy;   Is running a campaign that makes the 1988 Michael Dukakis campaign look  good by comparison.

 

 

Over on the Democratic side, its all been pretty standard. Mild even. The Democratic debates have been far less entertaining, but have had their moments. Yes Bernie Sanders is a serious candidate, and he is slowly pushing Hillary Clinton out of her centrist comfort zone and to more progressive left-of-centre position. While former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley along with Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb; (who you really don't need to know about, because they're both gone already), just wished people would remember their names.

 





If nothing else, the 2016 campaign will make sure late night television comedy is epic.   

Back to Donald Trump... ugh! It's like we are living in some bizarre Back To The Future alternate time line where Donald Trump is considered a serious voice in America's national debate. A voice that says sh*t like this...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the clear front runner for the Republican Presidential nomination, Donald J. Trump. What is becoming more clear every day, is that GOP primary voters have basically become the American Idol audience that kept voting for Sanjaya (Trump), just so they could get to see the veins in the Judge's (Republican National Committee's) foreheads, throb in pain.

American Idol voters finally did vote Sanjaya off the show. It remains to be seen if GOP primary voters are willing to be equally as pragmatic, or if they will destroy the Republican Party's hopes of ever winning another national election, simply because they can.

Grab the popcorn kids! It's gonna be fun to watch... 

Looking back from the other side of the Closet Door...

The following is a updated repost of  one of the first blog entries I ever wrote, back in  October, 2006.   

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I was bouncing around the web a couple of weeks back and stumbled on zabasearch.com. It is a site than helps you locate addresses of people. So out of curiosity I typed in the name of my best friend from High School. Sure enough a result for his name came up. Not sure if it was the right person rather than call, I sent a note with my business card attached saying, if this was who I thought it was, to please write back.

A couple of weeks went by... and I forgot about it. I honestly didn't expect to hear anything back. Then the other day I got an email and it was indeed from him. It is an interesting experience in a way. I really have not heard from him since I attended his wedding. At the time I really envied him. He was marrying a wonderful gal and starting to build a life. They now have a five year old son with a daughter on the way due in December. He said it was amazing to hear from me couldn't wait to hear all about what I have been doing over the past few years.

I will confess, I have mixed feelings about that.

For the most part, I have not kept in touch with anyone from my High School days. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed High School, had great friends and good memories. Yet it really was a whole different life. Like many LGBT kids in the mid to late 80's I was closeted and terrified of coming out. On some level every day had some undercurrent of fear of my "secret" being discovered. The ultimate put-down was to say something was "gay" or to be called a "fag". You saw the kids who were even slightly effeminate or "different" getting tormented on a daily basis.

So you kept your mouth shut and your eyes closed. When you watched those 80's brat-pack movies, while your friends oggled Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy, you didnt admit to anyone, not even to yourself that you thought Rob Lowe and Emilo Estavez were really hot.

Add to that, the media was full of stories of this new "gay disease" called AIDS, and the Reagan and first Bush Administrations were not interested in getting any information about it out to the public. So like a lot of gay kids I didn't know what to think. Could I get AIDS by coming out? By even holding hands or kissing a guy? Was it really God's way of getting rid of homosexuals? The fear you felt was this huge cloud that hung over you every day. You really did wonder if you were destined to be miserable and alone for your entire life.

And of course at time I thought I was the ONLY gay kid on earth. Now I know that there were in fact more than a few. Even at my own school. But at the time, the sense of isolation was overwhelming. But then, time moved on. I left and in many ways never looked back.

I moved to Europe, studied there, came back to WI and went to college, after graduation worked, traveled back to Europe, then even moved to Asia. Eventually, I came back to the US and settled in Chicago, and then I came out.

Like many people, for me coming out was a frightening and painful process of self-discovery and acceptance. I think back on the fear I felt in those days and it seems like I am watching a movie of someone else's life. A life that I would not ever want to revisit. Yet in truth it was MY issue, not my friends. They had no way of knowing what I felt. The whole traditional High School experience of the first date, first dance , first kiss, first umm... "whatever", while a given for everyone else, was just not possible for a lesbian or Gay kid in South Central Wisconsin in the 1980's. Or at least not for me.

Many Gays and Lesbians who should be my age never lived to see today. The statistics on suicide for LGBT youth in the 1980's and 90's will give you nightmares. I am so amazingly fortunate to have the family that I do. My parents are the two most incredible, supportive and amazing people in the whole world. Coming out to them while scary as hell, was truly the end of an old life and the beginning of a new much brighter and happier one.

( Just in case I haven't told you - Thanks Mom & Dad.)

I marvel at many of today's LGBT kids with "Gay Straight Alliances" and alternative proms. When I read about kids taking their same sex partner to a high school dance, I can only smile and be amazed at how, at least in some places how far we have come. Though certainly for thousands of LGBT youth in America the reality has not changed from the one I knew .

Over the years I didn't stay in touch with people back from "back home". One wedding, an occasional Christmas Card was pretty much the limit of my contact , and even that soon stopped. Someone recently asked me why I didn't keep in touch with people from those days, and honestly I didn't really have a good answer. Hence my card to my friend.

I know what you are wondering. Will I tell my old friend (s) that I am gay? Will I open up my life now to those people from my life "then"? Does it even matter?

Honestly? I don't know. I'll keep you posted...

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FLASH FORWARD  Nine years...  October 11, 2015

It is worth noting,  the friend I wrote about  in  2006 , like so many other  amazing friends from my life  have shown me  in words and deeds  what I have always suspected,  my friends are in general, a lot wiser than I am.   As  I mark today's  National Coming Out Day there are straight allies in my life who  I still cannot thank enough,  

From the friend who answered that  letter in 2006,  and reminded me  why were friends in the first place, and  still today  reminds me to laugh at life  more than  30 years on.  To the Lawyer in Dallas who challenged my own  stereotypes of how I thought friends  would react to my coming out,  and instead ended up teaching me invaluable lessons about  acceptance and true friendship, traveling half way around the world to surprise me at my wedding.

There is the couple in Georgia whose friendship has literally spanned oceans and decades, who always knew, didn't care, and have always loved me for who I am.  The Career Air Force officer and his wife in Germany, who I had the honour of being a Groomsmen at their wedding, and years later are still sharing their adventures with me. To the School Teacher from Boston, who lived a remarkable  life of  always seeking the best in people, taught me to do the same  and  whose passing has left me  missing him every day.   All these amazing people, along with so many others I am blessed to call my friends.

And as always, my incredible family who just by being themselves  encouraged me,  and gave me strength  to just .... be myself.

And yes,  to those who,  for reasons political,  social,  and religious  felt they could not  continue our friendship,  I thank you as well.  Not because  I don't miss you,  for believe, me,  I  do miss you , every day. Yet  I owe you my thanks for  showing me that the choice to live authentically does not come without cost, and therefore must not, ever be taken for granted.  

Lastly,  to my amazing husband  Eric.   Who without even trying,  provides me with  living proof every day  that taking those steps to come out of the closet were by far, the best ones I have ever made.
 

 

17 Years Ago... Remembering Matthew Shepard

Wednesday October 7th, 1998 was a fairly ordinary day in Chicago. I was working for a small consulting firm in the near West suburb of Oak Park, and had spent the day in a series of fairly productive meetings. So I felt pretty good when I got home from work. I was puttering around my apartment making dinner when I picked up the remote control for the TV and turned on CNN.

The lead story was a brutal attack of a young man in Laramie Wyoming named Matthew Shepard. Shepard, age 21, had been beaten into a coma and left tied to fence along a rural highway outside the city. The news report noted that the victim was a young gay man and was not expected to survive.

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.

As I walked home, my thoughts turned to Matthew Shepard’s parents. What must they be thinking and feeling? Had they known Matt was gay? Did it really matter? Years later I would have the great honor of meeting Judy Shepard,  and hear her tell her own powerful story .

Now 17 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".

I really don’t have a point to make here, other than to say it’s important to remember Matthew and so many others like him who have died as a result of hatred and bigotry. If you want to get involved, here are a few great places to start...

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/

The "It Gets Better" Project:  http://www.itgetsbetter.org/

Thanks,

Dave