Richard Of Ravenhurst

Error - Danger Will Robinson Danger

2010-08-19T19:59:00.000-07:00

On a lark as I had insomnia and a bad headache, I checked this old blog.late tonight.

Much to my surprise and amazement, someone had hacked and made two posts that had absolutely nothing to do with this blog, my writing, or my thoughts. Maybe just a computer foul up - who knows.

I deleted the two offending posts. Seems they were posted recently - my guardian angel must have sent me this headache and insomnia so I could catch them quick

Sorry for any shock or inconvenience.

2010-08-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

California's Republican response to Don't Ask Don't Tell

2010-05-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

Worth a watch. A Republican from San Diego in California's State Assembly speaks on DADT. The resolution passed.

Hate in Brooklyn NYC

2010-05-07T08:30:00.001-07:00

Remembering My Own Advice

2010-04-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

I am not happy today. I have come to believe that life is not about being happy. I think we USA folks are wrong to tell folks ... "Well, whatever makes you happy is fine with me." I think the better advice would be "Whatever helps you love and be loved is fine by me." For most of my possessions from yesteryear are history. My career is history. My pleasures are history.

But the loves of my life remain. In my heart and in my life. I need to remember my own advice.

It is also very true truism in the gay world that if you want a loving partner, do NOT look for one. Make yourself a life that is fulfilling and joyous in love and laughter - without a partner/husband. Learn to love your life alone ... single. Then and only then will a husband/partner/lover appear.

I believe this to be true ... even though I have forgotten it recently. I have become focused on falling in love and being happy again. NOT working, NOT going to work, NOT a good idea.

So it is back to basics for me ... learning to love my life as it is, learning to love myself as I am. Even alone. Even with migraines each day.

I CAN do it. I know I can ... been there and done that before. Time to do it again. Learn something new, spend time with friends, create. Yes, it is way past time.

Wish me luck.

La Cage Aux Folles

2010-04-29T09:04:00.001-07:00

Kelsey Grammer (Frazier fame) stars in a new production of La Cage Aux Folles in NYC. Here is montage of the show ... oh how I wish I could experience it.

I'm Joining!

2010-04-23T08:00:00.001-07:00

The Bear Party - Don't be grouchy, do good. I like it!

Separate Is NOT Equal

2010-04-19T07:35:00.001-07:00

California has the BEST lgbt laws in the USA - more protections than Massachusetts or Iowa or New England. All we lack is marriage equality. And Separate Registered Domestic Partnerships is NOT Equal. Watch this - learn what happened in Sonoma County, CALIFORNIA!

Why President Obama did what he did

2010-04-16T09:12:00.001-07:00

This is why President Obama directed DHSS to change the "relatives only" rule at America's hospitals. Very moving.

Bullies

2010-04-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

I am extremely honored to have been invited by a group of students at California State University in Chico to speak at their Day of Silence Rally. 3:30 PM Butte Building for you local readers.

Whatever will I say?

I have been thinking a lot about bullies this week in preparation.

Like the economic bullies who have created a system where white, gay males earn 14% less than white, straight males. Lesbians do better compared to other women - but only because ALL women earn less than men ... in jobs with exactly equal requirements of education and experience. America's bosses value male over female, white over color, and straight over gay. THAT is a form of bullying that is VERY difficult to overcome. ENDA will help but not cure.

And why is poverty and unemployment still a consequence for a transgender person deciding to transition? It is simply wrong.

Then there are the bullies who choose what is taught, what we know of our history. Think back to high school and college. What were you taught about America? About the world? If you are anything like me, you learned about the acts and thoughts of mostly white, straight males. but were not people of color Americans from the get go? Where are the stories of women in our history classes? The history of gays and lesbians? It is as though no person of color, no woman, no gay person ever existed. And the choice to ONLY teach the history of white straight males is a horrible way of bullying ALL students.

Then there is sex education of our youth. I had NO sex education in any school - a bit about genetics, but that was it. Even in 2010, the government still funds abstinence only education ... even though study after study - even Congressional studies - demonstrate without a doubt that abstinence only sex education results in unplanned pregnancies. THAT is the result of this educational model - unplanned pregnancies. Yet still we fund it and refuse to fund valid, accurate information about sex for our kids. Abstinence only education is bullying. Do not doubt it.

In many schools, the maxim "boys will be boys" still applies. Authority figures turn a blind eye to the most horrid abuse imaginable. "That's so gay" continues to mean one does not like something. "Faggot" "Queer" "Homo" "Dyke" "Lezzie" - these names continue to be thrown at children daily in thousands of school across this nation. And authorities walk away - boys will be boys.

Of course there is the tragedy of boys and men taking the name calling to new levels - physical gay bashing. It still happens ... and these obvious hate crimes are still minimized and oveer looked in the USA. Sean Kennedy of South Carolina was beaten to death by a young man. But since he is a good boy otherwise from a good family let's be merciful. The murderer served mere months in jail. Months ... because the victim was faggot and we don't too kindly about those people.

Institutional bullying has risen to new heights in recent months. The Roman Catholic Church has a problem. Now I define their problem as having priests who molest children and the Church responding inappropriately to these crimes. But that is NOT how the Vatican defines the problem. Oh no. In the true nature of bullies, the church defines itself as the victim - not the perpetrator. These christianists attempt to define the problem as the exposition of its horror - not the horror itself.

An Italian bishop this week explained that the problem was actually the Jews ... it is the Jews who are stirring up this problem for the Church - after all, they are "christ killers." And the number 2 guy in the Vatican, the Secretary of State - a combination of Hilary Clinton, Joe Biden, and the Secretary of Defense - defined the problem as "homosexuals." He lied and said studies link homosexuality with child molesting. NO reputable study has ever made that link. He lied. but it is much easier to scapegoat the gays than to face the sin of cover up's and child abuse.

How come we have not heard anyone from the Church ask "why do child molesters become priests?" THAT question is never asked. No one dares to confront the bully that is the christianists of the Church. After all, these straight, white males OUGHT to get their way and be left alone. THEY know best.

Even when they seek to denigrate and ostracize our families. In California, the christianists mobilzed their treasure, their employees, and their flocks to lie - to manipulate - and to defeat Proposition H8. Even this month, presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee equated the loving family of a same sex couple with polygamy and incest. How dare this bully throw around his lies in order to subjagate our gay families!

For that is what bullies do - with words, with taunts, with lies, with violence - they seek to stay on top and to keep all others under their thumb. Gay families just are not as good as straight families. BS

And then there is the Butte County Sheriff's Department. Our local institutional bully. Yes, that is a harsh indictment. But here are the facts.

I will tell the story of Steve.

So what do we do? We have to stand up to the bullies and live our honest lives.

We come out!
We engage!
We protest!

Yes, I think I will speak about these things today. I am SO honored to have been asked to be their only speaker. So honored.

Gleeks Unite! Seattle Flash Mob

2010-04-15T11:38:00.001-07:00

A Gay PR Firm in Seattle WA produced this most excellent Flash Mob. Enjoy!

Jane Lynch - I Adore You!

2010-04-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester of Glee performing Madonna's "Vogue." Way too cool!

Quote Worth Pondering

2010-04-13T10:20:00.001-07:00

From CNN 4-12-10:

As a country, we have become accustomed to using fear and hate in the service of hyper-partisanship. We need to wake up to the fact that demonizing people we disagree with, and indulging in attempts to delegitimize a duly elected president from Day One, hurts us all as a nation. We can do better -- and we deserve better, especially from people who want to lead the nation themselves.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John P. Avlon.

Catholics Defending Their Church - Huh?

2010-04-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

I have been reading some of the message boards online about the child molestation by priests of the Roamn Catholic Church. It bothers me that so many people of faith are defending their Church with the following arguments:

1. Insurance companies that insure protestant churches pay out about 260 claims for child sexual abuse each year. It is not a Catholic problem ... the protestants are worse.

2. More child abuse occurs in families than in churches. It is not the Church that is at fault here - if that were the case, families would be at fault too ... and we can't go there.

3. (the favorite) We do NOT have problem of priests sexually abusing kids ... we have a problem of homosexuals raping boys. It is a homosexual problem, not a child abuse problem.

These defenses annoy me and concern me.

"The protestants and dad's and uncle's do it too" defense is so childish. "But Mom, everyone was doing it!" Mom - "If everyone were to jump off a cliff, would you do that too?" The fact that many people in authority abuse their position to assault children is no excuse for any other person to do so. Many people commit murder - does that make it okay to kill? Such a childish argument ... and Mom is always right!

"It's not child molestation, it is homosexual rape!" What a crock. Every USA Roman Catholic with eyes and a brain knows a gay priest. The first gay party I ever saw was in the priests rectory. My first gay love was a priest. But these men do NOT assualt kids. Only child molesters assault kids. And it is NOT about the sex, it is about power ... the priest has all the power and uses his power to assualt one who is without power - a child or teenager.

But those speaking in defense of the Church actually believe that if they can turn this global outrage into homophobic attacks on gay men, then all will be well. Wrong! Clean up your own garbage, Catholics. Child molesters should be revealed to the civil authorities. And prosecuted.

It is outrageous but true when Dan Savage (of Seattle's 'Savage Love' fame) can say truthfully that parents who love their kids ought to let them hang out n gay bars instead of churches ... the kids would actually be safer in a gay bar than in church. So sad, so true ... though I do not want a bunch of kids in any gay bar I may visit (smile). But gay men in a gay bar are interested in other gay MEN - not children.

The defenses of the Catholic Church are becoming as outrageous as the child molestations.

Watch This

2010-04-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

This CNN report on public health and HIV infection is worth watching. Most educational:

CNN TED Report

Teach The Children Well

2010-04-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

The parents in Mississippi are workiong hard to teach their children well. And the lesson is HATE!

Constance McMillen, an 18 year old lesbian, wanted to take her girlfriend to the prom. So the school board cancelled the prom and asked the parents to organize a private event. And the parents took the hint.

They organized TWO proms. One at the local country club was for the "undesireable" kids .... the learning disabled - special needs kids - and the lesbians. They welcomed these kids to their prom - al SEVEN of them.

ALL the rest of the kids went to the real, secret prom. And had a grand time - a hate filled, grand time.

Constance sued to be allowed to go her prom. The judge did not order the school district to hold a prom, but is allowing the case to go forward because the school district violated her constitutional rights. there will be hearing and the truth of the hate will come out AND the school district (tax payers) will have to pay damages to Constance.

Frankly I hope the Court bankrupts the school district. I hope the parents have to sell their homes to pay the new taxes.

This is an outrage! NOT the kids - but the parents. What kind of people go to this length to teach their own kids to hate. Un-effing-believable and flat out wrong.

TOO COOL! Owl box

2010-04-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a live cam on an owl box with chick and parents. This is WAY cool!

You DO want to see this amazing look at nature in action. I love sitting on my porch and listening to the owls at night.,

What Kind of Planet Are We On?

2010-04-03T11:06:00.001-07:00

I want everyone to watch this YouTube video. It moves me. It is also about my life.

Darn Kids Of Today! LOL

2010-04-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

A friend sent me this - made me grin.

**********

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways… yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hades I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a dang Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the darn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our backside! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car.. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a "quick" call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOD !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were out in space when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your duff and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

My Favorite Show - with Kelsey Grammer

2010-04-02T08:24:00.001-07:00

A GREAT reason to visit New York City! La Cages Aux Folles opens April 16th.

Bay Area Kids Are Among This Nation's Finest

2010-04-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

It's not about tolerance ... it's about acceptance. When Fred Phelps and his hate mongers came to Gunn High School in the Bay Area of California, the kids did not take it lying down. Heart warming video.

Bill O'Reilly Does Something Good?!?!?!

2010-04-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

A federal appellate court ordered the father of the dead marine who sued the Westboro Baptist Church to pay all the Church's Court costs. This is an outrage of the highest order. This man sued this Church for picketing his son's funeral and causing the family even greater distress than they already suffered at the death of their beloved son. the case is now with the Supreme Court ... the family's freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of religion - the freedom to have a religious funeral without disruption - versus the Westboro Baptist Church's freedom of speech. Great case. We shall see how this Supreme Court rules.

But in the meantime the appellate court added insult to injury by ordering this grieving father to pay for the whacko's Court costs. Outrageous.

Bill O'Reilly has stepped up and agreed to pay the court costs of the grieving family. It is an act that absolutely good. well done, Mr. O'Reilly. You have surprised me and I honor you.

I LOVE New York City

2010-04-01T12:18:00.001-07:00

No underwear subway ride by Improv Everywhere. I love this group!

California's Whacko In Chief Seeks Federal Lawsuit

2010-04-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

The Census Bureau is counting American same-sex couples who consider themselves married. This is driving some wingnuts wild. In 2000, Steve and I said we were married on our census form ... and you know what? The world did NOT end.

Rachel Maddow on Gun Toting Anti-Americans

2010-04-01T12:09:00.000-07:00

Watch this clip. On the anniversary of the Oklahoma Bombing - a true terrorist attack and a violent attack on the USA, TWO groups of gun toting, anti-American activists are "marching" on Washington. I long ago predicted that we were headed to a time of violence in the USA. that time is very, very close now.

Our Good Allies in Saudi Arabia

2010-04-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

The KINGDOM of Saudi Arabia, close allies with the USA and personal friends of the Bush family, are BEHEADING a Lebanese TV star for sorcery on Friday. He was arrested while making his religious pilgrimage to Mecca. Here's what CNN says:

**********
Sibat is the former host of a popular call-in show that aired on Beirut-based satellite TV channel "Sheherazade." According to his lawyer, Sibat would predict the future on his show and give out advice to his audience.

El Khansa told CNN her client was arrested by Saudi Arabia's religious police (known as the Mutawa'een) and charged with sorcery while visiting the country in May 2008. Sibat was in Saudi Arabia to perform the Islamic religious pilgrimage known as Umra.

According to El Khansa, Sibat appealed the verdict. The case was taken up by the Court of Appeal in the Saudi city of Mecca on the grounds that the initial verdict was "premature."

El Khansa tells CNN that the Mecca appeals court then sent the case back to the original court for reconsideration, stipulating that all charges made against Sibat needed to be verified and that he should be given a chance to repent.

On March 10, judges in Medina upheld their initial verdict, meaning Sibat is once again sentenced to be executed.

"The Medina court refused the sentence of the appeals court," said El Khansa, adding her client will appeal the verdict once more.

**********

Don't you just love the human rights abuses of our CLOSE allies? Makes you want to buy even more of their blasted oil!

Tired Old Queen At The Movies

2010-04-01T07:04:00.000-07:00

Steve Hayes and his friend Johnnie are simply terrific as Steve reviews old movies. He tells fascinating tales about the actors and directors, give great commentary on the film without giving away the surprise endings, and presents a lot of information in a short time - in a very entertaining manner. Subscribe to his YouTube channel and enjoy! Here's a sample.

Gay Holocaust Memorial Debate

2010-03-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

I happen to agree with those who say to leave the Memorial as only depicting gay men. I love my lesbian sisters - but lesbians simply were not persecuted by the Nazis in the same manner as Gay men. Here's the story from PinkNews of the UK:

Holocaust scholars are arguing over whether a memorial in Berlin should include lesbians.

The memorial consists of a concrete slab with a window where viewers can see a continuous film of two men kissing.

Between 5,000 and 15,000 gay men were estimated to have been interred in concentration camps during the Nazi rule of Germany. They were targeted alongside Jews, gipsies, Jehovah's Witnesses and political dissidents.

When the memorial was opened in 2008, it was agreed that the video would be switched every two years to represent both lesbians and gay men, after lobbying from lesbian groups.

The video is due to be changed to show two women kissing in May.

However, Holocaust scholars argue that lesbians were not targeted during the atrocities and that including them in the memorial would "distort history".

Alexander Zinn, a board member of the foundation that maintains the former Nazi concentration camps near Berlin, told AFP: "It's a distortion of history as there were no known Holocaust victims targeted for being lesbian and historical truth must remain focused."

He and other experts have written a letter of protest to culture minister Michael Neumann and Berlin's openly gay mayor, Klaus Wowereit.

Mr Neumann defended the decision to switch the film to lesbians kissing.

He said in a statement: "The option of using a lesbian film motif in the memorial is in no way meant to put on the same level the persecution of homosexual men and women under the Nazi regime.

"Research shows that the persecution of lesbian women by the Nazi regime was not comparable to that of homosexual men. This is also clearly explained in a plaque on the memorial."

The Nazis believed that gay men were weak and could not help defend Germany or increase its birthrate. Therefore, they were seen as threat to Nazi racial policies.

Some were experimented on to find a "cure" for homosexuality, suffering mutilation and death.

Although lesbians bars were closed and some lesbians were arrested for being prostitutes, they were not subjected to systematic persecution in the same way.

Gay Catholics Do NOT Deserve The Respect Of A Funeral

2010-03-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

The PinkPaper reports:

The bishop of the city of Tursi has declared homosexuals should not receive communion or be given funerals.

In an interview published last Friday on pontifex.roma.it, a website created to ‘prove and defend Christianity’, Bishop Francesco Nolè declared that ‘irregulars’ such as criminals and homosexuals should not be given communions or funerals. This, he said, is not to be seen as discrimination, but rather as ‘healthy medicine’ for those close to the person: “Our behaviour, which could be perceived as mean or cruel, in the long-run often heals and evangelises.”

He added: “We must have the courage and tact, perhaps first informing the individual, or the families if he has passed, that it’s not possible to administer a communion or funeral. We would perhaps pray for his soul, which must be done.”

His statements were made just days after two members of the Vatican were exposed as being part of a male prostitution ring.

Also speaking out in disdain of homosexuality, Master of the Sistine Chapel choir Clergyman Domenico Bartolucci has blamed the recent scandal on the church’s lack of discipline. Speaking to the editor of pontifex.rome.it Bartolucci said the people in charge should have been more careful “before accepting such a subject into a choir.”

He went on to say: “The church, with its eternal obsession with compassion, is or has already succumbed. Homosexual couples or those who are divorced and re-married are being called ‘irregulars’ instead of ‘public sinners’, and so the concept of sin itself goes down the drain.

“Nothing surprises me anymore. Homosexuality, which is a disease, has become something normal. They sprout like poisonous mushrooms, and instead of feeling shame they celebrate this plague and the church itself minimalises these sins. Homosexuality itself is not a sin, you can’t punish a sufferer. But it becomes one when the abomination is practised. It’s disgraceful.”

Math Teaching Dad Kicks Gay Son Out Of His Home

2010-03-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

Here is a high school student who just wants to date his boyfriend to his prom. No big deal, right? Wrong.

First, his parents kick him out of his home - his is couch surfing with friends. And get this, his Dad is a teacher at the same highschool Derrick attends.

Second, other students are now protesting his being allowed to attend the prom!

When will this madness end!

Life In A Theocracy

2010-03-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

Tarleton State University of Texas cancelled a student production of Terrance McNalley's Corpus Christi - fearing physical harm to students involved in the production and in the audience.

The cancellation comes after massive protests by christianists who feared the play degraded their idea of The Christ by portraying Jesus of Nazareth as a gay man. Of course we all know that being gay is horrible, don't we. And we just can't allow theater to explore ideas we do not like.

This play was to be acted out at 8:00 AM on a Saturday morning with an invited audience - it is a student production.

christianist censorship = 1
Good Sense = 0

Color me angry.

New Poll - Republicans Believe Obama Is The Anti-Christ

2010-03-23T14:17:00.000-07:00

This is scary stuff and un-effing believable. But it's true.

"On the heels of health care, a new Harris poll reveals Republican attitudes about Obama: Two-thirds think he's a socialist, 57 percent a Muslim—and 24 percent say "he may be the Antichrist."

To anyone who thinks the end of the health-care vote means a return to civility, wake up.

Obama Derangement Syndrome—pathological hatred of the president posing as patriotism—has infected the Republican Party. Here's new data to prove it:

67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall) believe that Obama is a socialist.

The belief that Obama is a “domestic enemy” is widely held—a sign of trouble yet to come.

57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe that Obama is a Muslim

45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree with the Birthers in their belief that Obama was "not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president"

38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that Obama is "doing many of the things that Hitler did"

Scariest of all, 24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall) say that Obama "may be the Antichrist."

These numbers all come from a brand-new Louis Harris poll, inspired in part by my new book Wingnuts. It demonstrates the cost of the campaign of fear and hate that has been pumped up in the service of hyper-partisanship over the past 15 months. We are playing with dynamite by demonizing our president and dividing the United States in the process. What might be good for ratings is bad for the country.

The poll, which surveyed 2,230 people right at the height of the health-care reform debate, also clearly shows that education is a barrier to extremism. Respondents without a college education are vastly more likely to believe such claims, while Americans with college degrees or better are less easily duped. It's a reminder of what the 19th-century educator Horace Mann once too-loftily said: "Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge."

The full results of the poll, which will be released in greater detail tomorrow, are even more frightening: including news that high percentages of Republicans—and Americans overall—believe that President Obama is "racist," "anti-American" "wants the terrorists to win" and "wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one-world government." The "Hatriot" belief that Obama is a "domestic enemy" as set forth in the Constitution is also widely held—a sign of trouble yet to come."

News Story About Poll

Religious Map - THIS Explains a Great Deal

2010-03-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

This map shows where one religion dominates ... green is Baptist, Red is Methodist (who knew) and Light Blue is Roman Catholic. I LOVE California!!

Another Clarifying Moment

2010-03-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

Here, in an excellent opinion piece, Rachel Maddow says that the Health Care Reform Act is a clarifying moment ... Ought Government DO and ACT to solve major problems OR ought government DO NOTHING. She runs fascinating footage of Dr. Martin Luther King's "How Long, Not Long" speech and shows the violence attending the 1st and second attempt to march to Montgomery Alabama ... where the young John Lewis was beaten almost to death.

Rachel reminds us of the horrible rhetoric used against Civil Rights and Medicare in my lifetime. The same is true over the horrible fight for Social Security.

Do YOU think Social Security, Medicare, and Civil Rights - all ideas and legislation of the Democrats - are GOOD for the USA? Or do you assume the Republican ideal that each of these programs was bad politically and bad for the USA? President Reagan thought Medicare was a horrible idea ... but I love it ... for me and for my Mom ... and all you disabled and elderly people. And God Bless Social Security! But that is my opinion ... what do you think?

In this clip, Keith Olbermann adds to Rachel's opinion piecve and footage with images from the Vietnam War and Kent State. He points out that the "isolated incidents" continue weekly ... that makes it a pattern. This is worth the time to watch.

The Stupak Stunt and Bullying By TeaBaggers

2010-03-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

In this clip, Rachel Maddow interviews the Chair of the House Pro-Choice Caucus on the Stupak stunt regarding abortion and Barney Frank on the insults he and his partner received from TeaBaggers.

Barney does not respect those protesters so does not care about being insulted. However, he is concerned that Jr High and High School students witnessed adults, instigated and encouraged by Members of Congress, bullying other Members of Congress. He points out that bullying is a huge problem for students - and this example is reprehensible.

Good interview by Rachel Maddow - informative and concise. Give it a watch.

George Washington and USA Protests

2010-03-23T06:49:00.000-07:00

I have been re-thinking my view of the current USA recently - last 24 hours.

Last night we continued watching the most excellent Tom Hank production for HBO - John Adams. In this episode, Washington is President and John Adams is Vice President. Supreme Court Chief Justice Jay goes to London as Ambassador and comes home with a treaty.

The British and the French are at war - it is during the French Revolution. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson resigns his office because he is such a Francophone and lover of Revolution that the President quits listening to him. That leaves the Pro-British Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, as the lone powerful Cabinet voice.

But the French Ambassador travels the USA and inflames the people anew against the British - not too hard a task considering that very recently the USA fought a very bloody Revolution against the British.

Americans gather to protest British treaty and urge the USA to enter the European War on the side of the French. President Washington and Adams want neutrality - they do not want to involve the USA in a European conflict that does not involve the USA.

Mobs protest the potential treaty outside the President's very window as he considers signing it. It passed the Senate on a 15 to 15 vote when Vice President Adams broke the tie in favor of ratification. President Washington indeed signs the treaty AGAINST the wishes of all those citizens protesting so vehemently.

This brought to mind the actions of my youth. I came of age in time to march against the Vietnam War and also to enter the Pro-Life ; Pro-Reproductive Freedom for Women marches and protests. I clearly remember the evening news showing other protests of my generation - the Detroit and Watts Riots for Civil Rights, the sit-in's, teach-in's, and huge protests against the War in Vietnam, Kent State violence when US Troops fired upon US college students, Governor Wallace's grand standing against Black Americans, the assassinations and attempted assassinations of Wallace, Kennedy, Kennedy, and King ... I remember it all very clearly.

I firmly believe the USA is headed for a time of great protests and great violence. There are many in this country who honestly believe that another American Revolution is timely - and they have the guns and ammo to effect it - or so they think. Obama, Reid, and Pelosi are hated - their assassinations are dreamed of by some.

You add to this mix the great Civil Rights struggle of today - equal rights for gays and lesbians and transgender Americans - and you have a powerful mix of religion and politics brewing.

Just like the 60's when the War in Vietnam and the Civil Rights struggles of blacks brewed together. From politicians lips and preachers' pulpits, hatred reigned supreme against integration, full equality for blacks, and the "evil" politicians in Washington who were inflicting federal ideas on innocent states.

The USA survived the French Ambassador rabble rousing against George Washington,
The USA survived the New York riots against President Lincoln's Civil War.
The USA survived the 60's violence and protests.

My beloved country will survive this current trial - but we will again face a baptism of blood.

The real difference this time is the all volunteer armed forces of the USA. The lack of a draft means that the vast majority of service people vote and vote for conservative candidates. If push comes to shove, I pray the military will stay loyal to the civilian leaders.

Breaking Up A Nation - The USA

2010-03-22T06:54:00.000-07:00

The Teabagger protest in Washington DC this weekend past is more evidence of hard times for the USA. Here we had over 20,000 people gathered in DC. People who:

Call the President of the United States a non-citizen
Call the President of the United States a Marxist - Socialist - Communist (they do not understand the difference, it appears)
Call the Speaker of the House and the President Pro-Tem of the Senate horrendous names, I refure to type.
Call The President and the Democratic leaders liars.
Call John Lewis, a GREAT American hero in the civil rights movement, a niggar.
Call Barney Frank, another GREAT American hero, a faggot.
Spit on members of congress
Listened to Republican members of Congress who AGREE with the above.
Call for violent and armed revolt against the United States Government.

I believe with all my heart in the right to protest, the right to gather and seek redress of honest grievances from the government. I used to do it a lot. Let the teabagger and the Republicans have at it. We need a LOYAL opposition.

But the current opposition to government is neither civil nor loyal. It has been coming for some time and will keep coming and getting worse.

I just remember that it is treason and sedition to call for, to seek, and to take action to obtain the violent overthrow of government.

Mark my words. When the rhetoric is ratcheted up as it was this weekend AND Members of Congress support this rhetoric ... gun fire and bombs are not far behind.

This is not an idle observation. Whenever a community is riled up with homophobic rhetoric, a gay man or transgendered person will be bashed - beaten and often killed. Words DO have power. Words DO motivate.

And the current Republican and Teabagger rhetoric WILL lead to violent consequences. We are a violent people. It WILL happen and likely this year.

Mark my words.

Can the USA Survive

2010-03-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

I mean to consider - NOT to be an elitist. It will be important to remember that as you read this.

Juneau is the capitol city of Alaska. It takes an hour airtime to fly from Fairbanks to Anchorage and another hour an a half + to fly from Anchorage to Juneau. There is NO way to drive to Juneau. You could take a ferry overnight with your car fromWhittier outside Anchorage ... but it means more than 24 hour travel time. Juneau is isolated.

This meant that only a few Alaskans were fortunate enough to go there ... on the three sunny days each year, Juneau is the most beautiful place on earth - besides being the seat of government.

But who regularly went to Juneau and met with their legislatures?

Professional Lobbyists - usually people with advanced education or great experience in their field. Educated, knowledgable people.
Institutional Representatives - presidents of the major branches of UAF, heads of arts organizations seeking grants, political appointees in State government throughout Alaska, etc. All people who graduated college and had enough life experience to rise up in their organizations.
Union Officials and Members - people with the knowledge and experience, if not the education, to get elected by the members of their organizations. Most in Alaska have degrees and/or great life experience making them good representatives of their organizations.

The same is true of Washington DC. The federal capital is a continent away from me in California - the largest state. That is over 35 million Californians without access to the seat of government. Only those with silver tongues, good educations, and significant life experiences are paid to fly there and meet with governmental officials. I am fortunate to have been among these few through my life in the organized labor movement.

But the Internet has changed all that.

With blogs, Free Republic, World Net Daily, YouTube, etc. online - everyone has an equal and cheap and easy voice. It takes moments and from $20 to $80 a month to have your say, organize actions, and fill up the elected representatives email boxes with whatever one wants to say. Regardless of education and life experiences.

Today it is easy and cheap to lie or to tell the truth.

Today it is easy and cheap to lobby or to harass.

Today it is easy and cheap to vent your spleen on any member of Congress with the push of a button.

NO education required. A spell check and a grammar check are easy to use.

NO significant life experience required. You do not need to know anything to go off on the Net.

ALL you need are time (and the Union movement gave us the weekend) and an Internet connection (available for free at most public libraries.)

I do not believe this situation is good for government. BUT it is what it is and we must deal within the current market of ideas. Why evidence have I that the Net makes for bad governernment?

For every blog and site educating me about lgbt issues or my other many interests, there are ten sites - with good following - covering:

The Birther Movement - trying to de-seat a President with a valid birth certificate from Hawaii
Homophobic Attacks - christianist sites solely dedicated to homophobic ranting
Racists Sites - I have come to believe that a lot of the "TeaBagger Movement" is sheer racism.

And most importantly ...

Fear Mongering Sites - Websites and news sites that fan the flames of racism, poverty, homophobia, classism, and sexism for their own benefit. For example, in the days of three national news casts - ABC, NBC, CBS - that I grew up with, I sincerely doubt if Walter Cronkite would have given much airtime to the crazy arguments about "death panels" in the Health Care Reform debate. Do you?

But in this brave new world, all people have equal access to the public forum - no matter how bonkers, how hate filled, or how brilliant. It is going to take some time to adjust to this reality.

I just hope the USA survives long enough to adjust.

Back in Business

2010-03-22T06:11:00.000-07:00

Three month vacation is quite enough. I have a few things to say and a blog is the best way to go. Enjoy!

Hibernation

2009-12-15T21:00:00.000-08:00

Frankly, I have been too busy recently to keep up with this blog. So I am taking a nice long blog-cation.

Sorry about that.

LGBT News From UK's Pink News

2009-11-27T12:04:00.000-08:00

Pink News is the United Kingdom's premiere source for items of interest to lgbt folks and their friends and families. They do a terrific job!

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has said he is determined to tackle the problem of homophobic hate crime in the city. In an exclusive interview with PinkNews.co.uk, Johnson said there was a "nasty undercurrent" of hate crimes against gay people and detailed police plans to help stamp it out. ...

On homophobic hate crime, he emphasised that London was generally becoming safer for everyone, including gay people, but added that there was a "nasty" upsurge in low level incidents. He said: "London is becoming safer but there is no question there is a particular issue around homophobic hate crime and I'm determined to tackle it. I raised it with a couple of months ago at the MPA, after the tragic death of Ian Baynham in Trafalgar Square.

"And my feeling, my instinct, is that two things are going on. The police say to me there's a increase in reporting because people feel more secure about reporting it. That's obviously a good thing and I think Stonewall and others have also said that. I'm also keen to encourage more reporting. But I think, and the police think, there's something else going on. There is something very nasty. There is an upsurge of low level hate crime. But it's very important to stress that, with the exception of the tragic death of Ian Baynham, the figures I have show that high level crime has not increased." ...

He said: "I think we're living in an age that is increasingly generous and tolerant, but there will always be people who feel insecure about themselves for one reason or another. People who have trouble in their own lives, people who don't feel quite happy in their own lives for some reason or another. "And they will take it out on people they think are different. And there is something very horrible about that. But I'm afraid that's been part of human nature since the dawn of time." ...

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A Liverpool-born man has become the first gay spouse of an Israeli ambassador. Yitzhak Yanouka, known as Izzy, will soon be moving to Angola to become the next Israeli ambassador in Luanda and will be taking his partner Mikie Goldstein, 44, with him. ... Four current Israeli ambassadors are gay, but Yanouka is the first to be officially accompanied by his partner. ...

**********

A man who was accused of shouting homophobic abuse at gay Glasgow city council leader Stephen Purcell has had the charges dropped. Peter Burne allegedly shouted the remarks at Purcell after his child's primary school was earmarked for closure, the Scotsman reports. He kept in the cells overnight and subsequently charged with a hate crime. The case was due to be heard next month but has now been dropped by prosecutors.

**********

Gay rights activists are calling for the mayor of Vallejo, California, to be censured after he called gay people "sinful". Mayor Osby Davis was quoted by the New York Times as saying: “They’re [gay people] committing sin and that sin will keep them out of heaven. But you don’t hate the person. You hate the sin that they commit.” Davis is a a devout Assemblies of God follower.

On Tuesday, he released a statement apologising for the comments. He said: “I have worked hard to unite Vallejo and I will continue to do so. To those I have offended by my comments, I apologise. My words were taken out of context. "I care for the entire community and my desire is to build consensus on our diversity. Let me be clear, I have and will stand against hatred, discrimination and divisiveness wherever they exist.” ...

Gay rights activists were not placated by the apology and have organised a rally outside the mayor's offices on December 1st.

**********

Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle, both 25 and of Holloway, London, were turned away from Islington's registry office on Tuesday. They are fighting for a civil partnership on the grounds that barring straight couples from accessing them is discriminatory. They argue that all institutions, including marriage, should be open to everyone regardless of sexual orientation. ...

**********

(Uganda is considering a draconian new law regarding homosexuality)

It was tabled by Ndorwa West MP David Bahati and means that those convicted of having gay sex with disabled people and those under the 18 would face the death penalty. The bill also imposes life imprisonment on those who have homosexual sex. Although this is already the case in Uganda, the new law widens the definition of the offence. Other offences include promoting homosexuality, aiding and abetting homosexuality and keeping a house "for purposes of homosexuality". Bahati has argued his bill will protect children, youths and the "traditional family". It will come before parliament in January 2010.

(Until this week neither the Anglica, the Roman Catholic, nor any chruches spoke out against this horror. But this week one church rose with good sense.)

The United Reform Church has become the first major Christian denomination in the UK to criticise Uganda's proposed anti-homosexuality bill. A statement released yesterday by the church said it was "appalled" at the "draconian measures" in the bill, which include life imprisonment for consenting adults who have gay sex. The statement added: “This draft legislation represents a clear infringement of human rights and is morally repugnant. . . We add our voice to the many calling for the immediate withdrawal of this discriminatory bill.”

Liberal church group Ekklesia has been calling for church leaders in the UK to speak out about the proposed legislation. It has asked Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, who grew up in Uganda, to condemn it. As yet, neither have responded. ...

Adam Lambert From the Far Reich and Religious Reich

2009-11-26T10:25:00.000-08:00

Adam's AMA man to man kiss just will not die down. A Reuters story in the New York Times just had to receive comments - lots of comments - especially about these two quotes:

"I admit I did get carried away, but I don't see anything wrong with it. I do see how people got offended, and that was not my intention," he said.

"If it had been a female pop performer doing the moves that were on the stage, I don't think there'd be nearly as much of an outrage at all," Lambert added. "I think it's because I'm a gay male."

Here's what our fellow Americans had to say over at Free Republic:

“”If it had been a female pop performer doing the moves that were on the stage, I don’t think there’d be nearly as much of an outrage at all,” Lambert added. “I think it’s because I’m a gay male.” “ well he has that one correct!! We are barfed out by the filthy disease ridden queers!

That’s because “Gay” is ALL they are, it’s the primary, and usually only means they use to identify themselves. I firmly believe that a primary reason of the mental aberration known as “homosexuality” is rooted in an unfulfilled hyper sexuality where the only “acceptable” outlet is in the homosexual community. This is the reason that “sex” is used as a primary means of self identification, and why “sex” is a component of their every action.

There isn’t a flush large enough for this piece of scum.

I miss Liberace.

"Pop culture makes my head hurt." Makes my stomach turn ... especially when I saw this stunt on the news this morning. Keep it in the bedroom queers -- 'sharing' your sickness does not interest me in the least.

“people got offended” They were surprised that a raunchy rump-wrangler behaved like a flaming fart-knocker? Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas!

“...but I don’t see anything wrong with it.” THAT is the problem! He and others like him don’t see the problems associated with their perverted behavior. If the gays truly wanted to be left alone, they wouldn’t be trying to shove their lifestyle in our faces.

The thing about homosexuals is that they just can’t control themselves.

The wheat shall be separated from the chaff. There sure is a lot of chaff everywhere. And there’s plenty of room in Hell.

Really, you mean the Homo-Leninists are complaining like little girly men and the whining bitches that they are…imagine that, I am just shocked, just shocked I tell you.

Yet another trashy faggot.

Just another simpering faggot “celebrity”. Nothing to see here, FRiend. Move along.

The happiness of homosexuals is clearly frenetic desperation. Those who are truly happy in this world have no need to spend their lives insisting everyone else believe that they are happy. A truly happy person is obvious. Gays, no matter how they posture and pose and strut never look happy. Even when they stretch those smiles, their eyes are dead. Sorry gay parade masters - you can parade to you’re blue in the face, and you can make a sordid spectacle of yourself on national televsion but no one believes any of you are tickled to be spending most of your life energy committing sodomy, etc and breaking cardinal sins against God and his blueprint for humankind.

Isn't the tolerance for different Americans just amazing on the Right Reich? Sheesh! I was glad to see them admit that it was OK for women to kiss but not for men. Homophobic misogyny ... what a great combo - not.

For Dave - My Beloved Son-Out-Law

2009-11-26T08:55:00.000-08:00

The above ad campaign from the American Humanist Association kicks off on DC's transit system this week and expands to bus and subway systems in New York, LA, SF, and Chicago next week. This is the first ever nationwide campaign promoting atheism in America.

Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association, explained, "We're hoping this campaign will build awareness about the humanist movement and our ethical life philosophy--particularly among the 'nones:' the rapidly growing percentage of people who claim no religion." Since 2005, humanist advertising has become increasingly visible, in particular with highway billboards erected in major cities across the United States. And last year, the American Humanist Association sparked national controversy by advertising the slogan "Why Believe in a God? Just be Good for Goodness' Sake," which appeared on Washington, D.C. Metro buses.

This year's holiday campaign aims to promote the idea of being good without God. For example, on D.C. ads that appear on the interior of Metro cars and buses the slogan is accompanied by the explanation, "Be Good for Goodness' Sake. Humanism is the idea that you can be good without a belief in God." "Humanists have always understood that striving to make the world a better place is one of humanity's most important responsibilities," said Speckhardt. "Religion does not have a monopoly on morality--millions of people are good without believing in God."

Courtesy of Joe.My.God

Great NYT Editorial

2009-11-26T08:48:00.000-08:00

I appreciate the reason of this New York Times editorial from November 22, 2009. In part:

Gay people will eventually win full civil rights — including the right to marry — throughout the United States. Between now and then, there will be many more disputes like the one unfolding between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and the District of Columbia City Council over a bill recognizing same-sex marriages that could be voted on as soon as next week. ...

The pending bill appropriately exempts religious institutions from having to marry same-sex couples, promote same-sex marriage or rent church property to them for receptions or other affairs. But this bill rightly requires that employers providing spousal benefits to employees extend those same benefits to same-sex partners who marry. ...

In an article in The Washington Post on Sunday, the archbishop of Washington said the diocese “has long made it clear that all people have equal dignity, regardless of sexual orientation.” But he said the new definition of marriage laid out in the bill could end the decades-old partnership between the church and the city in the mission of caring for the needy. ...

As has been noted by some members of the City Council, Georgetown University, a Catholic university, has written eligibility for its staff and faculty benefits program broadly, so that employees can extend benefits to other eligible adults with whom they may or may not be romantically involved. Lawmakers point to a similar arrangement in San Francisco, where church officials reached an agreement with the city in the late 1990s under which church-related employers allowed employees to designate a member of the household as a “spousal equivalent.” ...

The Washington City Council was on the mark when it said in its committee report that the same-sex marriage bill was “in keeping with fundamental fairness and recognition of basic civil rights for all District residents.” Lawmakers should keep that basic requirement in mind as they negotiate over any changes in this bill.

The full editorial is worth a read.

If You Are Gay, the Army Wants You In The Middle East

2009-11-25T18:15:00.000-08:00

It strikes me as utterly outrageous that Bethany came out to her commanding officer as a lesbian and was instructed she would be discharged ONLY AFTER SHE SERVED IN A WAR ZONE! Does that not strike you as the height of hypocrisy? I have read ad nauseum that gays and lesbians will hurt unit cohesion in combat. BUT the US Armed Forces will NOT discharge a gay or lesbian over seas or if they are headed over seas.

After the soldier returns, if the soldier returns, only then will they be discharged without veteran benefits. What a total and absolute crock!

BDSM With A Real Turkey

2009-11-25T18:07:00.000-08:00

This You Tube struck my twisted sense of humor greatly. I do hope it does not offend anyone ... but it really is LOL funny to me.

Why Do The Roman Catholic Bishops Lie?

2009-11-23T21:16:00.000-08:00

In the Washington DC area this Sunday past, church bulletins included this statement: (click to embiggen)

Why does the Catholic leadership lie? They will NOT "become ineligible" for city contracts and grants. Rather the church leaders would prefer to discriminate against gays and lesbians instead of following non-discrimination laws ... and they would have to follow the law if they accepted public tax funds.

No ineligibility. Not at all. they take themselves out of consideration in order to discriminate against gays and lesbians. I certainly would have more respect for these christian leaders if they clearly and forthrightly told the truth. Instead, they attempt themselves as the victim ... just because they can't discriminate AND accept public funds. What a crock!

I Love America's Best Christian, Betty Bowers

2009-11-23T20:38:00.000-08:00

Here, Betty gives us the lowdown on voting away the civil rights of minorities we don't like! You have to love her!

In Your Face?!?!?

2009-11-23T20:37:00.000-08:00

Last night Adam Lambert had the audacity to kiss a man on national television during his performance at the AMA award ceremony. What an outrage? Well, to read the comments on CNN and at Free Republic one would think he performed a live sex show during his just before 11:00 PM EST performance.

The comments run in predictable patterns:

A. "Think of the children! Why should they try to cram their agenda down the throats of teens and children!"

Well, first off, any child awake at 11:00 PM on a school night is probably old enough to watch two men kiss. Second, it really cannot have been a big deal to teenagers ... it would not have been a big deal when my daughter was in high school in the 1990's ... I imagine kids today are actually more than willing to ho-hum a gay kiss. Third, if you are the parent and do not want your children to watch sexually suggestive performances, you ought to have changed the channel long before Adam performed.

B. "First they wanted us out of their bedrooms ... now they shove their bedroom in our faces every chance they get."

Give me a break. Two guys kissed. Please, do me a favor. Watch network television for one hour ... any show and commercials. Count the number of times men and women express affection for one another in a flirt, a kiss, or a statement. Count the number of times a male-female is shown as normal as apple pie ... in a family, a dating couple, a flirting couple .... any sign of heterosexuality. Just count the number of instances you see heterosexual coupling during one hour of network TV ... even "The Simpson's."

Now compare this to one man-man kiss late on Sunday night. And you are only counting one hour of television. I intend to perform this experiment and will let you know my results. I have no fear but heterosexuality will beat the single gay kiss 1,000,000 to 1.

It is simply outrageous to me that ANY display of same sex affection - but especially gay male affection - is "shoving it down your throat." We gay folk have every right to be out and proud. No one can shove us back into the closets of depression and self-hatred. Get over it!

My final point is this ... Adam is correct. Harsh criticism of him IS discrimination based on sex / gender. Britney Spears and Madonna kissed during a performance - straight men everywhere applauded. Why even Roseanne kissed Margo Hemingway decades ago - without the condemnation Adam is receiving. Women can hold hands and kiss and hug ... but God forbid any man try it. What BS discrimination!

Civil War ?

2009-11-23T06:27:00.000-08:00

The Far Reich and the Religious Reich have upped their rhetoric again. Most recent example is this billboard in Missouri:

Arthur blogs about this call to treason quite well - worth a read.

I read Free Republic often to see what the "other side" is up to. This bastion of Free Speech kicked me off as a participant because my views were not conservative enough for their taste. Free Republic is a greenhouse of the most conservative thoughts in the country.

Increasingly, the conservative movement, including the Religious Reich, is calling for violence - refusing to pay taxes up to violent revolution.

In the last 18 months we have witnessed the assassination of Dr. George Tiller - and many of the Religious Reich wrote on the Net that his murder was justified. We have seen the Mormon Church pour millions of dollars - directly, with money laundering, and through their NOM organization - into denying citizens marriage equality. We have seen preachers such as Steve Anderson call for the death of President Obama and seen a slogan develop praying for his death, that Michelle be a widow, and their children orphans driven form town. Last week over 150 religious leaders publicly proclaimed their intention to disobey the law if the law required them to allow gays and lesbians to work without discrimination. And the teabagger movement - a semi-creation of the Fox network - is all over the board - anti-everything.

In the last 18 months we have witnessed members of Congress, religious leaders, and other conservatives resort to lies - public lies - for personal or political gain. From Palin's "death panels" to "rationing healthcare" to "they will fire Christians right and left with ENDA" to .... the list is near endless.

Now, open TREASON and SEDITION are spread on billboards - and the Religious Reich and the Far Reich rejoice.

I believe most Americans find the idea of violent revolution to be anathema, unthinkable, unattainable. I believe the US Military would in the end support the constitution and the President ... but many would side with the revolutionaries, I fear, if revolution does indeed break out.

The real danger are the crazies who will revolt on their own behalf. Waco Texas, the militias, the Unabomber - crazy revolutionaries are as American as apple pie. The fear today is that it will be mainly gay men who are the targets of the hatred. It will be doctors who support women's reproductive rights who are targeted. And the President of the United States.

I do not understand why the Republican Party is not coming out and denouncing calls for violence, calls for treason. What is the advantage for the Republicans to support sedition? I just don't get it. These folks are not dummies - they know this rhetoric incites violence. Is violence in the GOP gameplan? One has to wonder.

As I have said before in this blog, this rhetoric grows more violent with each passing month. Perilous times. Keep your passport handy!

Religious Exemptions To Non-Discrimination Laws

2009-11-23T05:29:00.000-08:00

"The European Commission is putting pressure on the British government to drop the exemptions from equality legislation by religious organisations who currently have the right to refuse to employ LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) staff. The opt out allows churches and other organisations to refuse to employ gay people in order "to avoid conflicting with the strongly held religious convictions of a significant number of the religion's followers". Although there have been successful cases at employment tribunals questioning the implementation and interpretation of the opt-out. The Observer reports that the Commission wrote to the British government to warn that it has not fully implemented EU directives that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexuality."

Should a clerk for the county registrar be allowed to hand off an application for a marriage license between two women to another clerk - because he/she does not "believe in" gay marriage equality? How about a Roman Catholic clerk who does not believe in remarriage after divorce? Should a Christian church social services agency - for adoption or the homeless - be allowed to fire a secretary because he is gay? Should the Pagan owner of a small business be allowed to fire anyone they discover to be Christian? Should an American Black Muslim organization be allowed to refuse to hire any whites?

Religious exemptions are a slippery slope.

The question arises as Congress considers ENDA - the Employment Non-Discrimination Act - that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity at the workplace.

The Family Research Council is currently raising TAX EXEMPT funds to fight ENDA. They want to preserve their right to discriminate against gays and lesbians - in small business, religious social service agencies, and in general. In their fund raising appeal, they write:

"This law would punish anyone in the workplace who dares oppose homosexual behavior, cross-dressing and other unhealthy behaviors. The liberals intentionally want to define "discrimination" very vaguely so that their allies in the courts and federal and state agencies will have broad latitude to silence traditional moral viewpoints about sexuality."

So they want the right to tell gay and lesbian co-workers that such are immoral and going to hell - at work. I wonder if the Family Research Council also wants to preserve the KKK's religious freedom to use the n-word at work?

Work is work. No one has the right to harass any other employee on non-work related subjects. No one the right to tell a Christian they are foolish. No one has the right to tell a homosexual they are hell-bound. Such behavior simply does not belong at work.

We should all be free to discuss our families at work - to a polite degree. We should all be allowed to have photographs of loved ones on our desks. But discussions of morality and religious belief have no place at the workplace.

Religious exemptions are a slippery slope - Congress should not go there.

This Week's Gay News

2009-11-23T05:13:00.000-08:00

"Jason Mattison Jr., 15, an openly gay high schooler, was found dead last week in his aunt’s home; the suspect charged, Dante Parrish, 35, was a family friend. Mattison was raped, gagged with a pillowcase, stabbed repeatedly in the head and throat and shoved in a closet." The murderer was a convicted killer who had been released from prison because of flaws in his case.

"Murder charges were filed Wednesday in the slaying of a gay teenager whose decapitated, partially burned body was found last week, while U.S. authorities said they were still considering whether to make it a hate crime case. Gayactivists expressed disappointment that the suspect wasn’t immediately charged with a hate crime, saying authorities in Puerto Rico have never invoked a law covering crimes based on sexual orientation. The dismembered body of 19-year-old college student Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado was discovered along a road in the interior town of Cayey. Lopez was widely known as a volunteer for organizations advocating HIV prevention and gay rights, and activists are planning remembrance vigils for him in cities including San Juan, New York and Chicago. The suspect, 26-year-old Juan Martinez Matos, was arrested earlier this week and allegedly confessed to killing Lopez and mutilating his body. He was charged with first-degree murder and weapons violations and jailed on $4 million bond."

A gay 19-year-old student was beaten by eight boys last week in Liverpool's city centre for being "flamboyantly dressed". The attack follows the gang beating of trainee policeman James Parkes, who was hospitalised with a fractured skull when he was set on by teenagers last month in the city's gay village. The 19-year-old man told the Liverpool Echo how he was set upon in Lord Street last Wednesday by eight boys aged between 12 and 14, who shouted homophobic abuse at him while they attacked him. He suffered a broken nose and was left covered in blood. He is due to undergo surgery next week.

"Rutland Vermont Family Court Judge William Cohen ruled Friday that he is awarding sole custody of 7-year-old Isabella Miller to her non-biological lesbian mother, Janet Jenkins. For six years, the case has been jumping between courts in Vermont, where Jenkins lives, and Virginia, where her former lesbian spouse, Lisa Miller, now lives. The couple split up in 2003 after entering a civil union in Vermont, have since then been battling in the courts over custody and visitation rights to their daughter Isabelle, who was born to Miller." Miller maintained she became Christian and was no longer lesbian. She often refused Jenkins visitation with their child.

Ryan Fields writes an excellent blog post about AIDS and disability. A long term disability company cancelled benefits to his AIDS disabled friend. Now Ryan has to appeal. It is an often repeated and sad story of the horrors of claiming justified disability benefits - something persons with migraines, HIV, and AIDS face daily in the USA.

Canada refuses to deport lesbian who ranaway from the US Military based on American apartheid against gays and lesbians. " A lesbian who deserted the U.S. military and fled to Canada must be given another chance to plead her case for refugee status, Canada’s Federal Court ruled Friday. Judge Yves de Montigny said the board erred last February when it rejected Bethany Smith’s bid for refugee status. Smith says she fled the army because she was harassed and threatened by fellow soldiers over her sexual orientation. She told of hundreds of threatening notes pinned to her barracks door. The U.S. military has a policy of discharging openly gay members but Smith said the army shrugged off her confession, saying the paperwork to discharge her would not be ready until after her next rotation to Afghanistan."

Save Your Money

2009-11-21T14:47:00.000-08:00

Levi Johnston's PlayGirl photo shoot has been leaked to the Internet. Take a look if you just have to. I think you save your moeny and your time - move along, nothing to see here.

2009-11-20T15:37:00.000-08:00

The full text of the hate filled Manhatten Declaration can be found at the blog: As Good As It Gets.

My favorite excerpt is this:

It is ironic that those who today assert a right to kill the unborn, aged and disabled and also a right to engage in immoral sexual practices, and even a right to have relationships integrated around these practices be recognized and blessed by law—such persons claiming these “rights” are very often in the vanguard of those who would trample upon the freedom of others to express their religious and moral commitments to the sanctity of life and to the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife.

We see this, for example, in the effort to weaken or eliminate conscience clauses, and therefore to compel pro-life institutions (including religiously affiliated hospitals and clinics), and pro-life physicians, surgeons, nurses, and other health care professionals, to refer for abortions and, in certain cases, even to perform or participate in abortions. We see it in the use of anti-discrimination statutes to force religious institutions, businesses, and service providers of various sorts to comply with activities they judge to be deeply immoral or go out of business. After the judicial imposition of “same-sex marriage” in Massachusetts, for example, Catholic Charities chose with great reluctance to end its century-long work of helping to place orphaned children in good homes rather than comply with a legal mandate that it place children in same-sex households in violation of Catholic moral teaching. In New Jersey, after the establishment of a quasi-marital “civil unions” scheme, a Methodist institution was stripped of its tax exempt status when it declined, as a matter of religious conscience, to permit a facility it owned and operated to be used for ceremonies blessing homosexual unions.

This Christian "leaders" lie, clearly and unequivically LIE, in this excerpt. In Massachusetts, the Catholic adoption agency was required to follow the non-discrimination laws because they received public money. It is blatantly unfair to expect folks to pay, through their taxes, for discrimination against themselves. Yet in the interest of "religious freedom," these Christian "leaders" for the Religious Reich want to take tax funds AND practice thier hate filled creeds. I note the Mormons of Massachusetts continue their discriminatory adoption agency - without ANY public funds.

Same in New Jersey with the Methodist gazebo on the ocean's edge. The Methodist gleefully accepted a tax exemption AND public funds to renovate their property with the understanding that the facilities would be open to all citizens. Now, the Methodists want their tax exemption, want public money for renovation of their private property, AND wish to discriminate as they choose. Not going to happen. It is blatantly unfair.

I strongly support the right of Catholics, Orthodox, Evangelical and all members of the Religious Reich to build churches, schools, agencies, and to discriminate in hiring and the provision of services all they want ... as long as they do so on their dime, not public money. But this Manhatten Declaration is clear ... their religious liberty to hate is restricted when they cannot use tax money to propagate their hate filled ways. They want their cake and to eat it too. This "religious declaration" is actually a plea for more tax dollars to support discrimination. It just isn't going to happen. It should not happen. It cannot happen.

This is not a restriction of religious freedom. Using public funds for ALL citizens is the American way. You are free to discriminate all you want - just do not ask me to pay for your hate with my tax money.

Honorable Judge Kozinki Orders Obama Administratio To Comply

2009-11-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

San Francisco Chronicle in part:

The chief federal appeals court judge in San Francisco bluntly ordered the Obama administration Thursday to stop resisting his finding that the wife of a lesbian court employee was entitled to government insurance coverage.

The federal agency that oversees benefits for government employees "shall cease at once its interference with the jurisdiction of this tribunal," Judge Alex Kozinski said in response to the Office of Personnel Management's rejection of his earlier ruling in the case.

He told the agency to let Karen Golinski, a staff attorney at the court's headquarters in San Francisco, enroll her wife, Amy Cunninghis, in the family health plan that already covers their 6-year-old son.

He also ordered court officials to reimburse Golinski for the costs of buying insurance for Cunninghis since she applied for coverage in September 2008. That coverage now costs $429 a month, Golinski's lawyer said.

It was the second order from a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge in two days rebuking the Office of Personnel Management for denying insurance coverage to the same-sex spouses of court-supervised employees. The agency, whose director was appointed by President Obama, intervened in both cases in February and invoked the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that bars federal marriage benefits to same-sex couples.

On Wednesday, Judge Stephen Reinhardt told the federal public defender's office in Los Angeles to pay a gay lawyer for the cost of insurance coverage for his husband. Kozinski went further Thursday and ordered the nationwide personnel office to allow family coverage for Golinski's wife.

It's now up to the agency to follow the law, said James McGuire, a lawyer for Golinski.

"Ours is a tradition of executive and legislative branches obeying the courts," he said. "The rule of law applies here."

Powerful Reminder

2009-11-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

Click to enlarge ... pass it on.

Thanks Charlie.

Unbelievable Hatred

2009-11-20T08:46:00.000-08:00

The New York Times reports that "... 145 evangelical, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders have signed a declaration saying they will not cooperate with laws that they say could be used to compel their institutions to participate in abortions, or to bless or in any way recognize same-sex couples."

These "leaders" go so far as to write:

They say they also want to speak to younger Christians who have become engaged in issues like climate change and global poverty, and who are more accepting of homosexuality than their elders. They say they want to remind them that abortion, homosexuality and religious freedom are still paramount issues.

“We argue that there is a hierarchy of issues,” said Charles Colson, a prominent evangelical who founded Prison Fellowship after serving time in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal. “A lot of the younger evangelicals say they’re all alike. We’re hoping to educate them that these are the three most important issues.”

Unbelievable! These "leaders" seriously argue that the Christian Gospel demands that more effort go into restricting the rights of women, bashing gay families, and halting incredible science than ought to be expended helping the widowed and the poor and in international environmental issues. Unbelievable!

These are the MEN, and mostly WHITE MEN, who control an incredible amount of wealth and power in the USA. And they seriously and apologetically argue that gay bashing is more important than helping the poor to Jesus. I truly wonder if they have bothered to read the New Testament - or even the Old!

I speak of gay apartheid in the USA - one set of laws for some people and another set for minorities - and I speak of The Religious Reich. It is actions like this manifesto that give meaning to the term "Religious Reich." Wouldn't you agree?

11th Annual Transgender Day of Remebrance

2009-11-20T08:37:00.000-08:00

Today we remember the lives of all the transgender folk who have been cruelly murdered because of hate.

Vermont and Maine are the only 2 states (where) no murder of a transgender person has occurred ... In the other 48 states, transgender hate motivated murders have occurred since records were kept.

"The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved.

Although not every person represented during the Day of Remembrance self-identified as transgender — that is, as a transsexual, crossdresser, or otherwise gender-variant — each was a victim of violence based on bias against transgender people.

We live in times more sensitive than ever to hatred based violence, especially since the events of September 11th. Yet even now, the deaths of those based on anti-transgender hatred or prejudice are largely ignored. Over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgender-based hate or prejudice, regardless of any other factors in their lives. This trend shows no sign of abating."

The Kingdom of Canada

2009-11-20T08:23:00.000-08:00

I could not sleep due to pain last night. A grumpy tooth has made the left side of my face swell horribly. Anyway ... I was hanging with my buddies at Ronda's Migraine website. In discussing whether teachers should assign essay topics or allow the students choice, I argued for the assigned topic ... such make students study areas they are unfamiliar with. As example, I noted how ignorant I am of Canada ... I did not even know it was the Kingdom of Canada. So here is some infomation on our neighbor to the North, our greatest trading partner, and a very cool country.

Howdy

Mr. Stephen Harper is the Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. I read an quick and interesting artcle in The Economist. There, I learned something! LOL

Learning more. I was not aware that for a few months, Canada had a woman Prime Minister, the Right Honorable A. Kim Campbell.

I learned tonight that Canada has had women as Governor General representing the Crown, including a visible minority - The Right Honorable Adrienne Clarkson - born in Hong Kong. Head of State (not head of Government, that's the Prime Minister) and a fascinating woman.

The first woman to be Governor General of Canada was The Right Hon. Jeanne Sauve. who also served as Speaker in the House of Commons.

I choose to read about women and minorities because of interest in their role in any political system. Remember, the USA has not had a woman as President. In November 2006 when Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton were beginning their primaries, Steve and I were solidly for Ms. Clinton. My 27 year old daughter laughed at us. She said "America will elect a BLACK MAN before we ever elect a WOMAN." We laughed at her cynicism. But she was 100% correct.

Ms. Clarkson - an amazing Canadian - could NEVER have served as Head of State in the USA ... we do not allow immigrants to run for President. I know it is an appointed position in Canada by the Queen in consultation with the Prime Minister, but still - never in the USA.

One thing I already knew about Canada was that the State of California has a larger population than all of Canada. And China has a larger population than all of North America + South America + Europe + a few more countries. Just some trivia that bounces around my head.

Plus I am fascinated that Canadian Constitution is not only what is written but also "unwritten statutes, customs, judicial decisions, and tradition." WOW! Unwritten traditions and customs have Constitutional weight! WOW!

And Canada's Upper Legislative body, The Senate is composed of 105 people appointed by the Governor General to serve until their 75th birthday! And nothing becomes law in Canada unless the Senate approves of it! Wow!

Here's a great idea. Canada has a Queen's Privy Council - persons appointed by the Governor General on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen. This is basicly an advisory group made up of past leaders and outstanding citizens. It would be cool if the USA had such a body of historical knowledge to advise the Congress and President.

I also find the role of the Queen in the Kingdom of Canada fascinating. I am learning so much tonight!

I better stop - but I am real glad I made myself learn a bit about Canada and its leaders and form of government. Very cool country!

Laugh Out Loud SNL Sketch

2009-11-20T02:08:00.001-08:00

Praying For The President

2009-11-18T17:52:00.000-08:00

OK, this NOT funny. This is NOT acceptable.

The Religious Reich has a new slogan. It appears on bumper stickers, coffee mugs, aprons, even Teddy Bears. Here's the bumper sticker:
When you pull out your Bible, this verse reads:

"Let his days be few; Let another take his office."

The following two verses are even more chilling:

“May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow, May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from ruined homes.”

It appears that the Religious Reich is now in the business of seeking out a Presidential assassin. Not funny, not cool, not American. Whoever displays this slogan ought to be called out for the murder accomplices they are.

Too Funny - Bigots Outlaw ALL Texas Marriages

2009-11-18T17:44:00.000-08:00

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Texas Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by Texas voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the trouble-making phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships.

But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively "eliminates marriage in Texas," including common-law marriages.

She calls it a "massive mistake" and blames the current attorney general, Republican Greg Abbott, for allowing the language to become part of the Texas Constitution. Radnofsky called on Abbott to acknowledge the wording as an error and consider an apology. She also said that another constitutional amendment may be necessary to reverse the problem.

"You do not have to have a fancy law degree to read this and understand what it plainly says," said Radnofsky... (from the Star-Telegram).

RGS - So, the bigots are hoisted on their own petard! I love Karma!

Washington Refuses Civil Rights Vote

2009-11-18T10:45:00.000-08:00

The District of Columbia has a very wise law on its books - the people can NOT hold a referendum on any groups civil rights. It is illegal in Washington DC for the voters to decide whether or not to take rights away from any specific group or to grant rights to any specific group.

Currently the District rejected a petition to hold a referendum on denying gay folk marriage equality. This is a just and wise decision.

There is no doubt that if "the people" could have voted on civil rights referendum, we would NOT allow:

Integrated Schools
Inter-racial marriage
Integration in water fountains and swimming pools
Racial integration in all public accommodations (restaurants, apartments, housing, etc.)
Women in the various professions

At the time the USA adopted each of the above, a clear majority of voters opposed the action. It took wise and courageous judges and legislators and governors / presidents to "impose" equality and dignity on the society. MOST Americans did not want integration, women working outside the home, or inter-racial marriage. A poll taken after the Supreme Court granted the civil right to inter-racial couples to marry demonstrated that over 60% of Americans did NOT want inter-racial marriage.

The District of Columbia is very wise NOT to put civil rights of any group up to the will of the majority. Both Franklin and Jefferson saw such votes as tyranny of the majority on a minority.

I only wish California and Maine were as wise.

The Catholic Church vs The Law

2009-11-16T08:07:00.000-08:00

Washington DC is set to enact marriage equality in the near future. The Roman Catholic Church announced that it would not follow the law in its charitable institutions in the District - the Church refused to give employment benefits based on the marriage of gay men and lesbians - spouses could not get health insurance, for example. The question raised by the Washington Post is: Should the city require the Church to follow a law it considers immoral? Absolutely the wrong question. The accurate question is: Should organizations that receive public money be required to follow the city's laws? This same situation has arisen twice before that I know of. In Massachusetts, the Roman Catholic Church closed the doors of its adoption agency rather than place needy children in gay homes. The Mormon adoption agency continues to operate and refuses to place children in gay homes. The difference? The Mormon organization does NOT accept any public money. The Catholics operate on PUBLIC funds. In New Jersey, a United Methodist organization received PUBLIC funds to renovate its property on the ocean under the agreement that all citizens would be allowed to use the facilities. When a lesbian couple wanted to use the facility for a Union ceremony, the Methodists refused. So the gay folk are supposed to pay taxes, watch those taxes go to the Methodists, and then be prohibited from use of the facility? No! The Methodists lost their tax exemption for that facility. Organizations that accept PUBLIC money have to follow all the laws. Even the laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and the laws regarding marriage. If an organization wants to exercise its right to hate and discriminate, fine - do not accept PUBLIC funds. Washington DC should hold fast and force the Catholics to choose - receive tax money and follow the law or stop receiving tax money.

Marriage Equality in Beunos Aries, Argentina

2009-11-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

Two gay men in Beunos Aries, Argentina have won the right to marriage equality in that city. The mayor has decided not to appeal a judge's ruling that prohibition of marriage based on sexual orientation is wrong.

The government of Argentina's capital will not appeal a court decision this week that legalizes same-sex marriage, Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri said Friday. The court ruled that two articles in the city's civil code that say only people of different sexes can get married are illegal. The court decision applies only to Buenos Aires. Same-sex unions in most of the rest of Argentina remain illegal. The legal challenge was initiated by a gay couple, Alejandro Freyre and Jose Maria Di Bello. Judge Gabriela Seijas ordered the city's civil registry department to honor their union. "The law should treat each person with equal respect in relation to each person's singularities without the need to understand or regulate them," the judge said in her ruling. The city code prevents people from "enjoying the rights that couples who enter into matrimony are entitled to," she said. Those rights include inheritances, pensions and the ability to make decisions for the other person when he or she is incapacitated. Macri called the ruling a "very important step," adding that "we have to live together and accept reality. ... The world is headed in that direction." His decision was not easy, Macri said. Many people wanted him to appeal. "I had an important internal debate, weighing my upbringing with my search for the best customs and best liberties for society," he said in a videotaped message on his Facebook page. "What we have to learn is to live in liberty without violating the rights of others," he said. Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay are also addressing the issue of same-sex civil unions. (CNN - story and photographs)

Ian McKellan on Religion

2009-11-15T13:17:00.000-08:00

"I increasingly see organized religion as actually my enemy. They treat me as their enemy," said the British actor, who came out 20 years ago. "Not all Christians, of course. Not all Jews, not all Muslims. But the leaders. . . . Why should I take the judgment of a declared celibate about my sexual needs? He's basing his judgment on laws that would fit life in the Bronze Age. So if I'm lost to God, organized religion is to blame." From an interview in the Los Angeles Times.

Freeper Hypocrisy

2009-11-15T12:36:00.000-08:00

Free Republic is an ultra conservative website who's owner deletes the accounts of anyone who hints at progressive thinking. The website is all about freedom of speech ONLY for the ultra right - no normal thinking people allowed. The folks on Free Republic are real good at hunting down every article or essay on the LGBT Community - for the sheer delight in talking trash about gay people ... or The President ... or the Democrats ... or any Republican who is not as bigoted as they desire. This site is home that lovely phrase: "filthy, disease ridden queers." All people on this forum are solidly AGAINST marriage equality for all Americans and solidly in favor of "traditional marriage." So I was quite interested in what they had to say about the proposed California referendum to outlaw divorce ... how would they feel when it was their families on the block in the voting booth. Here are some of their choice comments:

Why is divorce so expensive? Because it's worth it.

So anyone trying to leave an abusive spouse or a cheater will be SOL? I think this is taking the marriage debate a little far.

(Response) Yep. I have no problem with that. God’s laws are above man’s. People would think twice about getting married. And those that did would hopefully understand that they are making a commitment before God and man that they are joining themself “until death” to another human being. With true commitment comes responsibility, and risk. The risk is significant, but with great risk comes great rewards.

Marriage should not be a life sentence.

If divorce is outlawed, I predict the murder rate will go up.

As would the suicide rate. I know I'd rather be dead than still married to my X.

I am 100 percent for this law!!!!! I pray that it passes. Unfortunately Americans are so immoral that divorce has become a way of life. VERY SAD!!!!

Maybe this would make people think instead of just going into a marriage without knowing the spouse.

People get married out of obligation and then wonder what happened when they wake up with a black eye.

Bring back dueling, says I. That'll shut the cowardly liberal foul mouth.

Wanna end divorce??? Tax all child support and alimony receipts [Fed and State]

This is absolutely ridiculous and hey bub, get out of my life!

Nonsense. It just changes it from a traditional marriage debate to a second amendment debate.

Outlawing divorce while keeping adultery legal has the effect of destroying marriage. Making sex outside of marriage illegal (one month jail term?) would have a strengthening effect. We have come to the point in society where no gender will hold sex with high value, and it is decimating the family and ultimately the nation. My guess is that our nation will probably not survive it, because families will just slowly deteriorate into masses of people with little interest in each other and a bunch of children conceived by strangers.

If we really wanted to raise up the family, we would make it harder to divorce, restrict contraception to married couples, restrict abortions to medical necessity, and harshly penalize adultery.

To aid a more chaste society, we would also have to restrict media production of sexually stimulating material, which would ban many commercials and prime time television. I don't think we have the stomach as a nation to handle such a shift.

I think your first mistake is the assumption that you have the right to impose your views on god and morality upon others. you don’t.

I’m okay with it being none of your business whether adults decide they no longer wish to be married. I’m not for rewarding or punishing anyone for something that isn’t any of your business. I guess you think the only way you can keep a spouse is to make them stay with you. You’re a very sad little person.

That people on this site continually abandon their principles when their ox is being gored is no surprise. But if the “force of government” has lead us to no fault divorces and this Great Society with illegitimacy rates in cities like DC and Detroit at nearly 90%, then how do you suggest we counter this? If not but to enact laws - LIKE WE USED TO HAVE- that support marriage and traditonal values?

Well, at least one person upthread wants to outlaw contraception outside of marriage. Not thinking that the next person will also want to outlaw it within marriage, on the basis of some interpretation of Scripture or other. Interesting. People seem to forget that until the last 50 years divorce was quite uncommon.

Not a big fan of liberty are you? Who are you to tell a non-religious couple that they aren't allowed to take vows?

At our rehearsal dinner my brother was giving his toast and said “Marriage is a fine institution. But who the heck wants to live in an institution!?”

There are a lot of so-called conservatives who would be more than content to use the force of government to make their neighbors behave in whatever moral fashion they personally subscribe to. They’re really no different than liberals. Like liberals, what they find most abhorrent is a people free to follow the dictates of their individual consciences. This country is not a theocracy.

Well I happen to believe in that philosophy.. What a stupid concept Separation of Church and state.

Since getting married 6 years ago I am now of the mind that marriage licenses should automatically expire after 10 years. Then, if both parties want they can renew their license, or go their separate ways penalty free.

Just goes to show you that (a) some people's real agenda is an American Taliban Theocracy and (b) when it's your ox that is being gored, your position changes - dramatically.

Rent

2009-11-14T09:30:00.000-08:00

Last night, my friends Otis, Jim, and Dan joined me for a birthday dinner at Kwando in Chico CA. I loved it - all the sushi, shashimi, hot and sour soup, and other goodies I could stuff in my mouth! LOL Then we headed up to Butte College for their most excellent production of Rent. It was great (but would have been better if Tom Collins could have found his pitch) The students playing Mimi, Angel, Joanne, Mark, and Maureen were outstanding. It was a wonderful way to end my birthday extravaganza! Here are some You Tube clips from the back of the theater ... we sat in 4th row center.

Gay News This Week

2009-11-14T08:45:00.000-08:00

The Mormon Church actively supported a new law in Salt Lake City that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Church's position outraged many of the Religious Reicha nd surprised the good guys. The Church said that prohibiting discrimination had no effect on marriage or the family, therefore the leadership supported an anti-discrmination law. Following the vote in Maine, some commenters on my favorite blog, Joe.My.God, wrote comments discussing the use of violence in the lgbt civil rights movement. Wingnuts Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber went bonkers and reported this "terror threat" to the FBI - or so they wrote. To make certain the feds took this threat seriously, Barber wrote an essay comparing the horro at Ft Hood to gay terrorists AND the Religious Reich began putting violent comments on Joe's page - pro gay violent posts. The truth and the Religious Reich are never too close partners. Cynthia Stewart, a 17 year old lesbian in Alabama, asked her principal's permission to bring a girl to the prom. He said "no" and she appealed to the school board. They said "no." The ACLU tried to teach law to Alabama but the Board decided to cancel the prom. Such act is against federal law. After the ACLU lecture, the school district decided to follow the law and allow the prom to go on and students to date the person of their choice. Strong young woman! "All I want is to be able to be myself and go to my prom with the person I love, just like any other student wants to do," Stewart said. Will Phillips, a 10 year boy in Arkansas, refused to pledge alliegiance to the flag because he understands there is not liberty and justice for all as long as gay apartheid exists in the USA. A Jewish settler accused of killing two Israelis and carrying out attacks on gays, left-wing Israelis and messianic Jews told a court this week that God was "proud" of him. Yaakov Teitel, an American immigrant, faces 14 charges in Jerusalem District Court. These include two charges of murder and three of attempted murder. He was arrested in Jerusalem after being found handing out leaflets praising the recent attack on a gay youth centre in Tel Aviv. Two young people died in the shooting. Pink News Three Iranian men are thought to be facing the death penalty for having homosexual relations. The men, named as Nemat Safavi, Mehdi P and Moshen G, have been on death row for three years and allegedly committed the crimes while under the age of 18. Under Iranian law, homosexuality (lavat) is "punishable by death so long as both the active and passive partners are mature, of sound mind, and have acted of free will". Pink News

Gay Panic NOT

2009-11-14T08:39:00.000-08:00

Many bashers swear they were only reacting like normal red blooded American men to a gay advance. THAT defense is now completely discredited. In this video, a straight guy touches other straight men in a purely erotic way ... with surprising results. Worth a quick look.

Defending Traditional Marriage

2009-11-13T15:19:00.000-08:00

John Marcott of California wants to really protect traditional marriage. He is gathering signatures for a new referendum, like Proposition 8. His will outlaw divorce - after all, divorce is the single greatest threat to marriage - ask any Catholic or Mormon Bishop. Rescue Marriage, the website for this effort, is rather well done. Many gay folk and their supporters are curious as to just how much the majority is interested in protecting "traditional marriage." After all, in the Proposition 8 battle, the bad guys said time and again that they weren't anti-gay - just supporters of traditional marriage. Will they be willing to support traditional marriage" when it is heterosexual rights curtailed by the ballot? I willing gladly sign the petition AND vote for this referendum. Turn about is fair play. First, outlaw divorce and then REALLY protect TRADITIONAL marriage - perhaps a referendum making women chattel - property passed form father to husband. THAT is the marriage of our great parents. Traditional enough for you?

Missing Steve

2009-11-12T16:38:00.001-08:00

Today is my birthday. Friends and family remembered and send me lots of love. Tomorrow night friends and I are out to dinner and to see "Rent." Normally a lovely birthday. But a birthday without Steve is like a rainy day with no fire in the woodstove ... dreary and depressing. He made every day wonderful for me. On my birthday, he really went out of his way to make me feel very special. I miss his card this year; his saying he loves me more than ever. It is funny, but I have been wondering lately if Steve remembers me - if he still loves me. I know we will never be together as we were. But perhaps we shall unite one day, Perhaps. In the meantime, I am VERY grateful to Carey and Dave and my Mom, to Otis and Jim and Dan and Danny, to Leslie and all my friends who have done so much for me. Still, all the love in the world, all the familial love and all the friends possible cannot replace Steve. I would give all I have or will ever own for on hour more with him. But it is too late for bargains, too late ofr regrets, too late ... I love you Steve. I fear I always will.

Been Jump Roping Lately?

2009-11-11T20:22:00.000-08:00

These young women are absolutely amazing. Who knew jump roping could be this great! It takes place at the US Naval Academy ... and the young men seem to enjoy it too!

Close To Home

2009-11-10T23:08:00.000-08:00

RI Gov. Don Carcieri today vetoed a bill that would allow domestics partners to decide the burial plans for their deceased loved one. He thinks that living togethr one year in a committed relationships with interdependent finances is not enough to trumpt the plans of the blood relatives. Yet, in Rhode Island, as in every state, a couple who has known one another for 10 minutes can get married and *poof* have all the rights to make medical and burial decisions. Just not those dirty queers - nothing will ever justify any rights for them according to the Governor of Rhode Island. When my Steve died, I had the legal right to makeall determinations - BUT the local sheriff was not aware of the law (3 years after it went into effect) and refused me my rights. It hurt. It still hurts. I must trust in Karma for this governor. He is causing unbelieveable pain and suffering.

Greatest Song Of Othe Year

2009-11-10T23:05:00.000-08:00

Dan Savage on Marriage

2009-11-10T23:03:00.000-08:00

Dan Savage, author of The Kid and The Committment, speaks real comman sense about marriage in The West.

The Price Of Bigotry

2009-11-10T22:22:00.001-08:00

I am so very glad that in 2009 it is bigots who pay for their hate instead of lgbt people who for eons have paid just to be themselves. Julia Ward was a graduate student in counseling at Eastern Michigan University - a public school. She excelled in classwork but hit a snag when it came to her practicum. She was asked to provide counseling, under supervision, for a gay man having problems in his relationship. Ms. Ward said she was willing to provide counseling but not to affirm the man's homosexuality nor his homosexual relationship. She maintained that her Christian beliefs prevented her from "affirming" the client's life. He was assigned to another counselor immediately. The Department investigated Ms. Ward and her bigoted beliefs. After thorough review, te University determined that Ms. Wad was unable to be an objective counselor to all clients. The University expelled her from the program. Of courst the Alliance Defense Fund and homophobes like Peter LaBarbera have taken up her cause. Apparently these voices of te Religious Reich desire to practice their homophobic hatred and bigotry freely - it is the lgbt community that ought to pay with their lives and livelihood - not the bigots. Why? Because their bigotry is based on a complete misunderstanding of the Bible. If they claim a religious belief in bigoted hatred, then they ought to be able to freely live their biase without consequence. Too bad. Ms. Ward and her kind are completely free to practice the religion of their choice. They are completely free to hold any bigoted and hate-filled position they desire. But do NOT expect society to give them a free ride. Misogynists, racists, and homophobes are free in the USA to believe any nonsense they desire. They are NOT free to impose their hatred on counseling clients nor to bring their hatred into the workplace. Young Peter Vadala learned this lesson the hard way at Brookstone in Massachusetts. When a co-worker casually mentioned her excitement at her upcoming marriage to the woman she loved, Peter felt compelled to tell her that homosexuality was a sin and same-sex-marriage not a marriage at all. Brookstone found that his statements constituted harassment, created a hostile work environment, and fired him. Peter is free to think all the bigoted hate-filled thoughts he wants. BUT he is not free to harass employees with his bigotry. Good for Brookstone - I may be forced to buy one of their over priced gadgets this holiday season. And good for Eastern Michegan University. Nice to see an academic community refusing to give its OK to homophobic bigotry. It's about time the homophobes paid the price for thier hatred instead of the victims of that hate.

The Universe Relates To Us All

2009-11-10T21:42:00.000-08:00

In "Jesus Christ Superstar" at the triumphant entrance into Jerusalem for Holy Week, the song goes: "Why waste your breath moaning at the crowd. Nothing can be done to stop the shouting. If every tongue were stilled, the noise would still continue, The rocks and trees themselves would start to sing ... Hay-sanna, Hosanna, Sanna Sanna Ho, Sanna Hey, Sanna Hosanna ..." To the best of my knowledge, no one criticized these lyrics ... people of faith assumed that yes indeed rocks and trees could and would sing the praises of the Christ. Many Neo-Pagans pray not only to the Goddesses and Gods but also to their Ancestors AND to the Spirits of the physical place the Pagan is in. They pray to the Spirits of the rocks and trees and flowers and waves and clouds. This belief in the local Spirits had fallen out of favor in the Christian world view ... yet no voice was raised over the idea of "rocks and trees" singing Hosanna. somehow, it made sense. Now in physics, we learn that perhaps the concept of Spirits is a poetic way of describing the reality of the Universe. Scientists have been studying the smallest dub-atomic particles yet discovered. But a fascinating reality emerges at the very foundation of Creation. When a scientist desires to see the smallest particle as Matter, the small particle holds still. BUT when the scientists desires to see the smallest particle as energy, then the particle appears as a wave of energy. And these particles can be in two places at that same time. It is as though these tiny particles that make up all the Universe KNOW what the scientist wishes AND complies with the wish. You want to see me as Matter? I will be Matter and hold still. You want to see me as Energy? I will appear as a wave of energy. And just to mess up your understanding of time and space ... I will appear in two locations at the exact same time! Einstein taught us that energy and matter are one in the same. It is similar in my mind to the identical H2O being ice, water, and steam ... exact same substance but as solid, liquid, and vapor. Even so, the foundational elements of the Universe are BOTH Energy and Matter. It depends on what the observer wishes to see. This fascinates me. the Universe at is its most level can and does relate to us. We can change reality by our desires. Want Matter? See Matter. Want Energy? See Energy. E=MC2 Energy IS Matter moving at the speed of light squared. Matter IS Energy slowed by the speed of light squared. But not only are Matter and Energy the SAME THING, but at its very foundation, Matter/Energy RELATES to our mental desires. I believe this concept is worth much more thought. It has GREAT implications for prayer and for magick. It has huge implications for the equation, God IS Love. Perhaps Buber's Ich-Du is the very meaning of life ... Humans relating to the Universe and through that relations actually changing the Universe to the Human's desires. Yes, much more thought is necessary.

The Role of Violence

2009-11-10T21:17:00.000-08:00

Peter LaBarbera of AFTAH and Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel have complained tot he FBI regarding comments made on the Joe.My.God bog after the vote in Maine. A commenter wrote that he was concerned that the majority votes for hate in state after state could drive some people to acts of violence. Another poster jokingly responded to the effect that such may not be a bad idea. Peter LaBarbera has a full time job with a non-profit corporation lobbying and arguing that gay men and lesbians ought to be denied 1. Marriage protections for their families 2. Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships that provide some protection for families 3. The ability to adopt children 4. Civil Rights protections at work and at public accommodations 5. The ability to serve the USA in the armed forces 6. ANY civil rights protections whatsoever. Working to hurt gay men and lesbians is Peter's full time job. Same with Matt Barber. He serves on the Board of Directors of AFTAH, is employed by Liberty Counsel to fight ALL gay rights legally, and has written a hate pamphlet, err, book proclaiming his justification for his intense bigotry and hate-mongering. Now, because a commenter is concerned about violence, these two pieces of work are afraid of gay terrorists. Give me a break. Like Dan Savage wrote today, if gay men and lesbians did not burn the country down when the government under Ronald Reagan ignored AIDS for years, then it is unlikely that anyone will resort to violence now. But I wonder. AND I am only wondering. Were the Black Panthers and their violence in the 1960's useful in the struggle for civil rights for Black Americans? What is the role of violence in a civil rights movement? Were civil rights "granted" due to fear of repercussions if civil rights were denied any longer? The Religious Reich is quick to declare economic violence through boycotts ... the Religious Reich's most recent target is GAP / Blue Navy for having "Happy Holiday" sales instead of "Christmas" sales. The Religious Reich cannot tolerate the notion that there are faith communities who celebrate various holidays in December other than Christmas. It is inconceivable to the Religious Reich that anyone would dare to celebrate anything other than the Nativity. So they declare economic war and do violence to various companies. Peter and Matt of course deny their own GREAT culpability for all the gay bashings and murders of gay men, lesbians, and transgendered folk that occur regularly. Another transgendered person was cruelly murdered in the United Kingdom this week. A gay man was brutally beaten in New York City in the past fortnight. But Peter and Matt deny that their constant barrage of hate has anything to do with the continuing violence on the lgbt community. But let a gay man consider the use of violence in this civil rights movement and my oh my. Call in the FBI! Write story after story on the Internet. Make the "threat" a front page story in the wingnut World News Daily. Oh my, one must never even consider the use of violence against these hate mongers. I am not in a position to act violently. I do wonder whether or not violence would help or hurt the civil rights movement for the lgbt Americans. The jury is still out on this question in my mind. Am I threatening anyone? No, but I am writing about my own thinking on this subject. It is repulsive to me that hate mongers get a free pass in the USA. It is repulsive to me that people of faith and people for fair treatment of all Americans have not risen as a mass and declared that hate mongers like LaBarbera and Barber ought to be driven from polite public discourse. Why do we allow their hate to continue unchallenged? Why are they still able to make livings out of hate. It amazes me.

Biblical Definition of Marriage

2009-11-05T15:15:00.000-08:00

A conservative at Free Republic made my day with this post:

Either marriage is defined objectively as it is in the Bible as one man and one woman, or there is no objective definition, and whatever anyone of any generation wants it to be, that is what it will be. There is no way that it will go anywhere but in the direction of any number of men, their daughters, their pets and the pets’ fleas constituting a “marriage”.

Let's take alook at the Biblical definition of marriage ... perhaps everyone's friend, Betty Bower does it best:

I Am A Frog Living In Apartheid America

2009-11-05T14:25:00.001-08:00

I am a frog. I was born in a pot of boiling water. When I was born, gays and lesbian were mentally ill, criminal, sinners just because of who they loved and how they expressed the basic human need for intimacy. Mentally ill, criminal, sinners. In 1973, with the stroke of a pen, the American Psychiatric Association declared that all the mentally ill homosexuals were suddenly completely sane and normal. Our mental illness tag fell by the wayside in the medical community. In this century, the United States Supreme Court ruled that all those "sex offender" gays and lesbians guilty of sodomy were no longer criminal. Millions of gay men and lesbians were suddenly law abiding citizens. In the last 40 years, Christians of good faith have taken another look at the Bible. They have tried to read theie Word of God without their cultural bias. What they found was profound ... not only do gay men and lesbian appear in the Bible, but God and Jesus bless them and their relationships - their families. Based on scholarly exegesis and prayer, the Anglicans, the Episcopals, the Church of Christ, the ECLA Lutherans, the Metropolitan Community Church, and almost a majority of United Methodists (among many others) have declared that being homosexual is not a state of sin - that gay families are as blessed as heterosexual families. But many prefer to ignore the Word of God and believe their own bias instead of the stories of the Old Testament and the example of the Christ. The Roman Catholics and the Mormons have poured millions and millions of dollars into the proposition that homosexual families are living in sin. Millions of dollars waster on the proposition that gay families are not as worthy of the protections of civil law as heterosexual families. Gay families are simply not as good as straight families. And for the FIRST time in American history, the civil rights of a minority are put to the ballot box. The majority is allowed to determine if it wants to grant equal civil rights to a minority in the USA. What utter BS. I assure you that if Americans had held a referendum on slavery, Black Americans would remain in chains. If Americans had voted on giving women the vote, our mothers, daughters, and friends would still rely on the good will of their menfolk - women would NOT have the vote. If Americans had voted on inter-racial marriage, by 60% to 40%, inter-racial marriage would remain illegal in the USA. If Americans had voted on the 1964 Civil Rights Act, it would never have passed - segregation would be alive and well. Separate but NOT equal would be the law of the land, had the people voted. Yet, Americans feel it right and proper to vote on MY civil rights. What hogwash. I do NOT have the civil right to marry because a majority of American bigots "give" me permission. I have the natural right to marry anyone I choose - including any man I choose - who loves me as I love him. This is a natural right. This is my pursuit of life and happiness. To put the validity of my family to a vote is utter nonsense. But I am a frog. Born into boiling water, I have failed to notice as Mormons and Catholics and bigots have turned up the heat. With lies and stereotypes, they have learned how to increase fear and strip gays and lesbians of their basic human rights. But no more - I have had quite enough. When a country has one set of laws for one group of citizens and another set of laws for another group of citizens - that is the definition of Apartheid. And that is the state of the United States - one law for straights and one law for gay men and lesbians. And it DOES matter. I do not have Steve's Social Security benefits but my mother has my father's. I was NOT his "next of kin" when he died, but my mother was when my father passed away. Marriage protections matter to all families. So, I am DONE with ballot measures. I am DONE with our President's "saying" he is my advocate and will use the bully pulpit in my interest ... and then go AWOL when it counts. I am done with begging for my natural human rights. The question is NOT "should the country allow gay marriage" ... the question is just who do you think "you" are to strip me and my family of the legal protections of marriage? What gives "you" the right to stomp on my natural, human rights? The answer - not one damn thing. So be aware. My natural, human rights are no longer a "political question." If you "choose to disagree" with me, I will call you out for the bigoted hate monger you are. I do not care any longer who I tick off. We are talking about MY human rights ... there is no longer any gray area. You either support your fellow human beings' natural, human rights OR you are a bigoted hate monger. Don't like being called a hate-filled bigot? Quit acting like one! End American Apartheid Now!

Back At It

2009-11-05T07:52:00.001-08:00

I have not posted in some time. Sure, things have occurred that made me mad, curious, and concerned ... but I have not blogged. My Dad's death brought back heavy feelings of grief for Steve and other loved persons in my life. Now I seem to have some form of flu or something ... very tired. So I just have not felt like blogging. But let's give it another try. I moved my blog to this new address. I changed my email to gmail and it seems easier to just move my blog than constantly deal with sign-in hassles. I know this creates a hassle for readers of my blog ... but the times they are a changing for us all.

Hate Crime Law

2009-10-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

Riding in the car today, I listened to a conservative radio show with an Alliance Defense Lawyer guest bemoaning the proposed federal hate crime law. Their basic tenets were two:

1. Crimes are already crimes and do not need federal law to make certain the states prosecute crimes. It is wrong to criminalize the motive of homophobic criminals who bash and kill because they hate queers (even the Bible teaches that God hates homosexual behavior)

2. Hate crime law MAY have a chilling effect on pastors after the first pastor is called to testify in a hate crimes trial .... NOT that the pastor who preaches homophobic hatred will be in criminal trouble ... but the very fact that a pastor MAY be called to testify will make other pastors self-censor themselves.

Therefore the hate crimes law is bad.

Of course, the ADF brought up the case of the pavilion in New Jersey and the photographer in New Mexico. Let's deal with those cases quickly.

In New Mexico, a state with an anti-discrimination law covering sexual orientation, a woman was open for business as a photographer. A lesbian emailed her and asked for a quote on photographs for her commitment ceremony. The photographer emailed that she did not photograph homosexual events.

This was clearly the case of a public business discriminating against customers based on their sexual orientation. The Human Rights Commission of NM found her discriminating and fined her $6,000+. She has appealed. How dare the government NOT allow her the Christian right to discriminate against queers? I am fairly certain she will lose on appeal. After all, Christians do not have the right to refuse to do business with Latinos or Blacks or Whites. Christian businesses do not have the right to refuse to do business with Muslims or Pagans. Businesses open to the public should NOT have the right to refuse to do business with glbt persons.

In New Jersey, a Methodist organization received PUBLIC money AND a tax exemption to fix and open a pavilion on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. The PUBLIC money and the PUBLIC tax exemption were awarded the Methodist organization on the grounds that the pavilion would be open to the PUBLIC.

A gay couple wanted to hold their commitment ceremony at the pavilion. The Methodist organization refused. Since the Methodists CHOSE to renege on their agreement that the pavilion was open to the public for public use, the government withdrew its tax exemption for the pavilion. You cannot take PUBLIC money and then refuse to offer services to the PUBLIC.

Reminds of the Catholics saying they had to close their adoption services in Massachusetts or else they would be forced to place kids in gay and lesbian households. In fact they did close ... BUT what they fail to say is that the Catholics were receiving PUBLIC money for their adoption services. It was the PUBLIC money that was at issue, not the Catholic's beliefs. You cannot discriminate IF you receive PUBLIC funds.

Mormons on the other hand run a successful adoption agency in Massachusetts that absolutely refuses to place a child with a gay person. BUT there is NO PUBLIC money involved ... the Mormons pay their own way. It remains legal in Massachusetts to discriminate as a church operation IF you pay your own way.

Back to hate crime law. The conservative host and the ADF pointed to Matthew Shepard's case where the murderers are serving life sentences. No hate crime law needed, right?

What they did NOT mention was the case of Sean Kennedy of South Carolina. A clear case of homophobic murder ... the killer even left a phone message explaining that he had killed a faggot. What happened to this young white killer in SC? He served a few MONTHS in prison and then went free. 1951? 1968? 1987? NO! This was less than 24 months ago ... 2007 in Greenville South Carolina. Tell me justice would not have better served by a federal prosecution.

What he Right refuses to recognize is the chilling effect any gay bashing has on ALL gays and lesbians. This past weekend in Queens NYC, a gay man was brutally attacked as he left a convenience store in his neighborhood at 3:00 AM. They have arrested the attackers though the victim remains in an induced coma.

This crime on the other side of the country, at a time I am normally asleep has a chilling effect on my behavior and life. NOTHING terrifies more than seeing two or more white males between the ages of 14 and 30 on the street. Young white homophobes attack and kill almost every month of the year. Every time I hear of such an attack, it makes me fearful in my own community. Hate crimes have a chilling effect on the glbt community and make us all afraid. They deserve to be federal crime so they are properly prosecuted in EVERY state ... even South Carolina.

The ADF lawyer and the conservative host bemoaned the fact that the hate crime law makes them "second class citizens" because they believe homosexuality is sinful and wrong and to be put down in society. They are absolutely correct. And it is about time. I am tired of being a second or third class citizen because of who I am. It is about time the homophobes became second class citizens based on their CHOICE to hate homosexuals.

SC and similar states need the hate crimes law to put murderers of gays and lesbians in prison. I and all gay men and lesbians need the hate crime law to protect our own sense of safety.

The religious Reich is FREE to continue to preach and broadcast their hate. I have NO problem with that, none at all. I strongly support the 1st amendment. BUT just like racists are now second class citizens in this country, it is time homophobes joined them ... along with those who consider women 2nd class to men.

BTW ... RELIGIOUS ANIMUS is covered in the hate crime bill. Anyone who desecrates a church for, let's say, giving money to Proposition 8, can be prosecuted under the federal law. BUT when was the last time you heard the relious right or the conservative right bemoan that fact? Yeah, I thought so.

Hellcat Plane Landing On the USS Langley

2009-09-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a photograph of a Hellcat plane landing on the USS Carier Langley in October 1944. This may or may not be a photograph of my Dad flying in World War II.

My Dad Met My Grandmother Today

2009-09-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

My Dad went on to meet his Mother this morning around 9 am EDT. As he left, he held the hand of the woman he loved with all his heart for more than 70 years. My family has lost its patriarch.

Dad was born on the kitchen table at an orphanage in Richmond VA. His father ran the dairy farm there. Dad had an older brother, Billy, who greeted him this morning, and an older sister, Anne. They both called my Dad, Pete.

When Dad was two years old, his mother Louise died of hemorrhage while sitting under a tree in her front yard. She felt poorly, told her husband she felt real badly, and died.

Dad's father, Melford Cary, had some civil lawsuit problem and moved to North Carolina to farm land in the name of his second wife, Ola. My grandfather left his three children, including my Dad, in the hands of his wife's relatives. He never felt truly wanted.

He spent most school months with George and Amy Guy in Richmond. Amy was a pioneer working woman making a career of Goodwill Industries. My Dad was a latch key child. For the summers, the Smith family (originally from South Hill VA) gathered and negotiated who got my Dad for the vacation months. He would eavesdrop on the stairwell - listening as others defined his fate. It was rare that anyone came forward willingly to care for Dad.

But Dad made a happy childhood for himself. He really enjoyed model airplanes - the large kind that fly with gasoline engines. When he was a mere 16 years old he went to a high school football game. There he met a 15 year old girl named Mary Lee from his school's rival. This morning Mary Lee held the hand of the man she loved for more than 70 years. Neither of them ever looked for love in anyone else after that fateful ball game. She called him Minor or Sweetie or Honey.

After World War II broke out, my parents got engaged. Like all other men, my Dad joined the Armed Services as soon as possible.   Dad memorized the eye chart for the Navy recruiter so he could sign up as a pilot in the Navy.

Prior to deployment, my Dad took my Mom to visit his father in North Carolina. Along the way, they decided to elope. Mom had a friend in Greensboro so there they drove. At the marriage license bureau, Mom had to fudge her 20 years into 21 years in order to legally marry. My parents stood before a Methodist minister, with Mom's friend as a bridesmaid, and became man and wife forever. They telegraphed Mom's parents, intending to say "Married in NC. Very happy.  Home soon." However the Western Union clerk was either slack or mischievous. My grandparents got this telegram from Mom:

"Marooned in NC. Very happy. Home soon."   Mom's folks were quite worried about the morals and safety of their only daughter until she showed up with a wedding ring.

And Dad went to war.

He trained in Florida and San Diego CA before heading to the Pacific theater of war. He flew a single prop Hellcat plane off the deck of an air carrier - the US Langley. He only shared with his family glimpses of his experience.

He spent one New Year's in Hawaii. There the guys made a punch with all the liquor anyone had and pineapple juice. Dad said, "And to this day, I can't stand the taste of pineapple juice!"

After flying very low and strafing enemy territory, Dad's Hellcat had mud covering the US insignia. When he flew back to the carrier, they refused to let him anywhere near the carrier. The Navy feared Dad was a Japanese kamikaze plan. Dad said he had to name a lot of baseball players and the winners of several World Series before they believed he really was Lt. MCS.

During the war, Mom followed Dad as long as he was in the USA. She drove across the continent with one friend to be with Dad in California. The war ended, Dad was returned to San Diego, and my older brother Mike was born in 1946.

Dad and Mom returned to Virginia where Dad enrolled in VPI under the GI Bill. With a tight budget the young couple lived in a two story home with the heating stove on the first floor. Many a morning my parents awoke to find Mike happy as a clam with his diapers frozen firmly to his butt.

Receiving a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Dad took his wife and son back to Richmond VA. He began working as an engineer for a local company. In 1951, I came along. I had a minor birth defect - but Mom and Dad moved mountains to see that I was made good as new by the respected Dr. Butterworth. Almost as soon as my last operation, my twin brothers Rob and Dave were born - 22 months younger than I. Of course, I was jealous of the attention given these invaders and immediately forgot all my toilet training. So Dad spent most of his time off changing diapers and tosses kids into the air to hear them squeal with delight.

Around 1956, Dad began working for the DuPont Corporation. He eventually retired from his career there. Dad was first assigned to Waynesboro VA through my elementary school years, then Wilmington Delaware for my junior high years, then Camden South Carolina for my high school and college, then Newark Delaware where Dad retired.

Dad invented the term "Minimum Adequate" for the company and his sons. "Minimum Adequate" means you do not necessarily purchase the most expensive item to meet your needs.   Nor do you necessarily go with the lowest bidder or price. You purchase that which minimally meets your exact needs - you get the best price possible for that which is adequate for the job. Dad saved DuPont a lot of money with this idea.

Dad was also in a large meeting one day with lots of chemists in research and lots of managers of the various artificial yarns DuPont made. My Dad was explaining that if certain workers turned off their equipment when it was not in use, the company would save thousands of dollars. The folks in the yarn industry snoozed. My Dad asked one derider of his proposal what the goal of that DuPont plant was? The guy answered: "To make nylon." My Dad looked him straight in the eye and said, "Your wrong. The goal of this DuPont plant is to make money!"  Dad won the day and equipment use was changed.

Dad not only worked - he came home as husband and father. Every year he took he took Rob and Dave and me to Little League tryouts. Every year we were cut and cut first. So Dad enrolled us in the "farm league" program for other baseball losers.  Every summer he came to game after game in support of his sons. On the first night of summer vacation, after dinner, the sons met Dad at the picnic table in the back yard. There he used electric razors to buzz our heads of hair for our summer of fun. It was a nice and practical ritual.

Through the divorces, alcoholism, drug use, coming out, flunking out of college, dropping out of college, and all the other stuff four sons put their parents through in the 60's and 70's, my Dad never for one moment stopped loving all of usand doing every thing within his power to "make it right."

I also need to say that my Dad always and everywhere loved my Mom. We boys faced a solid front. There was no playing one parent off another - they were a solid front. To us, they were Mom and Dad. To neighbors, they were Mary Lee and Minor. Theirs was a most solid marriage.

Dad treated every woman his sons married as a daughter from the day of the engagement. He never had a daughter-in-law, only more children to love. With divorce most of his grandchildren's mothers drifted away. But one, Julie, stayed close to my Dad until he died this morning. As a young bride, Julie called Dad "Father Christmas" because of his generous and loving ways. In later years she felt free to call him Minor.

Dad was a good friend to neighbors and pals. He also instilled acceptance in his sons. In Waynesboro one next door neighbor was a lovely Jewish family at a time where anti-semitism was just dying away in polite society. Mom and Dad treated them with respect and dignity and interest. We were honored to attend some Jewish religious observations and festivals in their home - as they were welcome in ours. Our other next door neighbor was a family of refuges from Cuba. Again Dad accepted them and found interest in their story and way of living. He brought us up to respect differences and to accept people as they are - until their actions prove them untrustworthy.

When Dad married my Mom, he asked only one thing of her ... he asked her to be home when the children got home from school. He made certain his childhood was not repeated - all four of us felt wanted and secure and loved all our lives. And Dad had one life goal for himself - he wanted to put all four sons through college. And he did. I will be forever grateful to Mom and Dad for that gift,

After retirement, my Dad and Mom got a 5 month old miniature poodle they named Sandy. Every day possible, Dad and Sandy would take a five mile walk. At night Sandy sometimes had trouble deciding to snuggle up with my Mom or to snooze in Dad's lap. He was definitely Dad's boy until his death a few years ago.

In retirement Dad loved to play golf and to travel. He and Mom visited their sons in Alaska and South Carolina and took a trip driving across country. He also loved playing generous host to family and friends - especially during the holidays. "Father Christmas" was a good name for Dad.

Parkinson's disease and macular degeneration blindness slowed Dad down quite a bit in his final years. But he never lost that twinkle in his eyes, his loving heart, or his great generosity.

I wrote about his final days in a post yesterday. Today I just wanted and needed to tell you a small bit about my Dad's life. Whether Pete, Minor, Dad, Minor Carey, Honey, Sweetie, or Father Christmas - my Dad lived his life as carefully and responsibly and lovingly as he could imagine. The world is a less wonderful place now that he has gone on to meet his Mother and scratch Sandy behind his ears.

I offer all my love and deepest sympathy to my Mom. I know how very, very lonely she will be. I know how lonely I am for Steve.

The USA of the Religious and Far Right

2009-09-24T00:07:00.000-07:00

Here is the United States the conservatives at Free Republic desire. Maybe they skipped class when the Civil War was taught ... secession is a big no-no in the UNITED States.

A Part of Life

2009-09-23T15:56:00.000-07:00

I spent Christmas 2008 with my Mom and Dad at their home in Delaware. They invited me to insure I was not alone that first Christmas after Steve died in January 2008. It was a tough holiday for me - oh, how I missed Steve. But that is how my Mom and Dad live - always looking out for me.

One sunny afternoon I wandered into the living room where my Dad spent his days. Hour after hour Dad would listen to the music of his youth and the "easy listening stations" on his treasured BOSE radio and CD player. Dad closed his eyes and danced with his hands and head - swaying back and forth in time to the music. I delighted in spying on his dancing - he looked so happy and content as he chair danced to youthful tunes of the big bands and the crooners.

That afternoon my grief was getting the better of me. Dad asked if I was all right. I replied "no" and sat on the sofa across the sun beams on the floor from my Dad. I asked him what he thought about death.

"Death," Dad said without hesitation "Death is just a part of life." He said it with such peace and certainty that I knew it was true and nothing ever to fear.

"But what do you think happens after we die?" I asked. I had been struggling with this question since the death of my beloved husband.

Dad waved an arm into the air like a magician making magic. "You go on" Dad said. It did not matter to Dad what one called "going on" be it the Summerlands or Heaven or a rest between incarnations. It just did not matter. Death is a part of life and we go on. That is the heart of the matter after all.

Dad added, "I look forward to seeing my Mother."

Dad's Mom died when he was a toddler. He has no independent memory of his Mom, Louise. But that is not all Dad told me in that single sentence of 7 words ... "I look forward to seeing my Mother."

In those 7 words Dad said he knew his own death was nearing but he saw his own death as not only inevitable but also simply a part of his greater life. He knew he was going on though he did not need to describe or understand the nature of his "going on." (I first wrote "the nature of his afterlife" But that is wrong. Dad saw death as a part of life, another step in life, a moving on and continuing of life. No "after" life but just another part of life.) Dad also was looking forward to his own death so he could meet his Mother - not his Mom - but the Mother he never knew but longed for all his life, even at the hour of his death.

And that is all my Dad said about death - but it was enough. He did not need to say "look after your Mom" or "Be good" or to discuss financial or memorial arrangements. All that had already been taken care of and prepaid. My Dad was so responsible all his life. And he always took pains to insure that his whole family was well taken care of. In this final year, he did not need to do anything but act his final scene with us.

Today my Dad is dying. He fell a few weeks ago and broke a bone in his neck. He was hospitalized and then sent to hospice. He hated the nursing home and just wanted to come home. I believe it was his utter depression at not being home that caused him to stop eating at the nursing home. Dad was sent back to the hospital for IV's and nutrition. The family gathered.

I had the honor and the privilege of staying up through the night until 4 AM with Dad at the hospital. He told me something very special that made my life worthwhile - Dad said I was a most loving son. A midnight statement that still makes me tear up to recall that moment. He soon returned to sleep.

The next day the family decided enough was enough. We had all trusted Dad for decades and years and lifetimes to know what is best. And he wanted to go home.

A hospital bed was set up in the living room and an around the clock vigil was begun. There were 11 of the family gathered ... we all sat with Dad during the day. My sister Candy and I had the 10 pm to 4 am shift of the night. Such quiet hours. Such an awesome time.

It was such a rare honor and privilege to be able to feed and clean and care for this man who has loved me all my life. How I enjoyed each minute, each moment of sitting quietly with Dad. What joy it was to feed him, to give him drink, to move him as needed, to help clean him. Such an honor, such an awesome and joyous duty.

But after a week we realized that 11 people was too many. Dad wanted quiet and a set routine. Eleven family members talking and caring were just too many to meet Dad's needs. Two of my brothers and their wives and children and I left.

Today my Dad is proceeding in his dying. He has stopped eating and moving except for a few facial expressions. He is not in pain. Today my Mom authorized the removal of his neck brace - collar. That thing holding his head still for weeks had driven Dad batty. It was very uncomfortable for him to wear and for us who love him to watch him wear. I am glad it is gone. My Mom is not certain Dad knows it is gone - but I bet he does.

The nurse from hospice tells us that hearing is the last function to shut down. Dad indicates sometimes that he can hear us, even today - or so I am told.

I want nothing more than to get on a plane and fly to my Dad's side. Mom and my brother there tell me not to come ... Dad may or may not, but probably would not know I was there. And he needs quiet and the routine of the reduced household. So I ask myself, "What would Dad do?" The answer is simple.

All my reasons for flying to the comfort of my family and to my Dad's side are selfish reasons. All the justification for going are based on my needs - not my Dad's needs. He actually is better off without me. So I listen to Dad's voice in my head and I choose to stay away from his side. I choose NOT to be there in his final days.

It is a difficult choice for me. I am alone here in California and need the support and love of my family. I need to comfort and be comforted. I know grief well and I know I am grieving the loss of my Dad. But I will bear this burden of additional grief alone, without hugs, without family near me. Until Dad goes to see his Mother. Only then will family gather once again.

Until then, I write and cry and go on with my life. Oh, but it isn't easy ... not easy at all for me to act as lovingly as my Dad always lived. I admire him more and more with each passing day.

I have come to terms somewhat with the death and loss of my beloved husband Steve. Not totally but close. I am convinced that my Steve is waiting for me - but as he waits, Steve is caring for all the cats awaiting the arrival of their people. And Steve is caring for a few select dogs. Sandy was Mom and Dad's pride and joy. What a loving poodle, Sandy was. My folks doted on him with good reason. I have never known a more loving dog.

Steve is taking care of Sandy as they both wait. Sandy is probably dancing around as he did as he waits for Dad. Steve and Sandy and Grandmother Louise and Grandmother Carol and Uncle Billy and Aunt Jean and Uncle Rod are all waiting expectantly for Dad. I expect though it will be Sandy who first brings joy to Dad when it is time.

I know my dearly departed are fine. But that knowledge does not alleviate our losses. We grieve and go on with our lives. One day we will be together again. Some days I can hardly wait. Such a blessing my family has been. How very fortunate I am to be born to my Dad and Mom when I was.

Mom and Dad - I love you.

Photograph of "My Dad's Chair" by my brother Rob.

2009-09-11T02:41:00.000-07:00

From Fox News we learn:

If you tuned in to the soap "One Life to Live" this week, you may have noticed there's been a change of character. One character in particular.

Actress Patricia Mauceri says she was fired and abruptly replaced for objecting to a gay storyline because of her religious beliefs.
Mauceri played the recurring role of Carlotta Vega on "OLTL" for the last 14 years. But when she objected to how the writers wanted her deeply religious character, a Latina mother, to handle a storyline involving homosexuality, she objected. And for that she claims she was fired.

Mauceri, 59, a devout Christian, told FOX News that character Vega's gay-friendly dialogue was not in line with the character she helped create by drawing on her own faith.

"I did not object to being in a gay storyline. I objected to speaking the truth of what that person, how that person would live and breathe and act in that storyline," she said. "And this goes against everything I am, my belief system, and what I know the character's belief system is aligned to."

Peter Labarbera, the homophobic leader of the hate group AFTAH, declares this exemplary of religious discrimination against christianists who wish to impose their bigotry on all society. He declares this as a good reason to oppose the Employment Nondiscrimination Act - i.e. he wants to discriminate against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.

But Mauceri and Labarbera wre really missing the point. An actor does not write - that is what writers do. And actor repeats the lines written by the writers, under direction of the director to create a character with their acting talent. If an actor refuses to repeat the lines provided to the actor, then the actor ought to quit ar they will be fired ... not for religious discrimination, but for refusal to do their job.

And it is silly of an actor to believe they have the right to write their own lines. Mauceri had creative differences with her employer and she refused to do her job. Thus, she was fired.

Besides, she has been part of a soap opera - adultery, lies, manipulation, and often murder and other crimes are common fare for the soaps. Did Mauceri object when the story line included divorce? Adultery? Criminal acts? No, she only objected when a mother expressed unconditional love for her son who she believed to be gay. It was a mother's unconditional love that she found so "morally reprehensible" that she felt forced to stop doing her job.

Sounds like her own personal bigotry got in her way. Too bad. We all have bosses and we all have to do work assignments we do not like. Why should christianist bigots get any special rights?

Shall We Learn From History ??

2009-09-11T02:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a website I want you to visit. This is not an ordinary request of mine - I really want you to visit this website and spend time reading it.

This website is from the Metropolitan Community Church. The MCC has placed billboards along a major highway in Texas. Discussion is hot and heavy about these billboards - why? Because they teach the drivers that God and Jesus approve of gay and lesbian people AND their committed relationships. Yep, that would definitely start people talking in Texas or most anywhere in the USA.

This website gives the Biblical justifications, in plain English, for the proper translations from the original Greek and Hebrew. The creators of this website do not gag on gnats and swallow camels - they give clear, scholarly and quite faithful studies of the Bible and its support of gays and lesbians. This website also puts forward the proposition that Christians in the USA have been wrong before now - REALLY WRONG!

Some quotes from the website on human slavery:

Some quotes on Women Suffrage - giving women the right to vote in America:

"The doom of Ham has been branded on the form and features of his African descendants. The hand of fate has united his color and destiny. Man cannot separate what God hath joined." United States Senator James Henry Hammond

."[Slavery] was established by decree of Almighty God... it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation... it has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of the highest civilization, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the arts." --Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America.

"The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example." --Rev. R. Furman, D.D., Baptist, of South Carolina

"There is not one verse in the Bible inhibiting slavery, but many regulating it. It is not then, we conclude, immoral." Rev. Alexander Campbell

"The hope of civilization itself hangs on the defeat of Negro suffrage." -- statement by a prominent 19th-century southern Presbyterian pastor, cited by Rev. Jack Rogers, moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Council of Congregationalist Ministers of Massachusetts said:

"The appropriate duties and influence of woman are stated in the New Testament.... The power of woman is in her dependence, flowing from the consciousness of the weakness which God has given her for her protection.... When she assumes the place and tone of man as a public reformer... she yields the power which God has given her... and her character becomes unnatural."

Opponents even called into question the character of those who supported equality:

"Who demand the ballot for woman? They are not the lovers of God, nor are they believers in Christ, as a class. There may be exceptions, but the majority prefer an infidel's cheer to the favor of God and the love of the Christian community. It is because of this tendency that the majority of those who contend for the ballot for woman cut loose from the legislation of Heaven, from the enjoyments of home, and drift to infidelity and ruin." -- Justin Fulton, 1869, in opposition to women's right to vote.

Those who fought against women's suffrage most often used selected verses from Paul's writings to make their case. [ 1 Corinthians 11:3, 4, 7-9, 7-12, I Corinthians 14:34-35, 2 Timothy 3:1-7, Ephesians 5:22-24, and 1 Timothy 2:11-14.]

On Interracial Marriage we learn:

Here is what the judge in the state case wrote:

"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix. " -- Statement by Virginia trial judge in 1959 case that led to 1967 U.S. Supreme Court striking down laws in 16 states that prohibited interracial marriage.

To this list of Christian mistakes, I add:

The Inquisition
The forced conversion of Native Americans (all of the Americas) by the Conquistadors
The whites of South Africa dearly held belief in apartheid
The USA hesitancy to let women in colleges and universities and workplaces + the glass ceiling
All Protestant vs Catholic religious wars from the Defeat of the Grand Armada by Elizabeth I to the recent war in Northern Ireland under Elizabeth II.
And finally, the ongoing discrimination of gays and lesbians and transgender persons around the world, including the USA and the State of California.

Please, take the time to look at this website

Amazing Letter From Ted Kennedy

2009-09-09T23:22:00.000-07:00

The following letter was delivered to President Obama from Ted Kennedy on the occasion of Senator Kennedy's death. It proves once again how amazing both these gentlemen are.

May 12, 2009

Dear Mr. President,

I wanted to write a few final words to you to express my gratitude for your repeated personal kindnesses to me – and one last time, to salute your leadership in giving our country back its future and its truth.

On a personal level, you and Michelle reached out to Vicki, to our family and me in so many different ways. You helped to make these difficult months a happy time in my life.

You also made it a time of hope for me and for our country.

When I thought of all the years, all the battles, and all the memories of my long public life, I felt confident in these closing days that while I will not be there when it happens, you will be the President who at long last signs into law the health care reform that is the great unfinished business of our society. For me, this cause stretched across decades; it has been disappointed, but never finally defeated. It was the cause of my life. And in the past year, the prospect of victory sustained me-and the work of achieving it summoned my energy and determination.

There will be struggles – there always have been – and they are already underway again. But as we moved forward in these months, I learned that you will not yield to calls to retreat – that you will stay with the cause until it is won. I saw your conviction that the time is now and witnessed your unwavering commitment and understanding that health care is a decisive issue for our future prosperity. But you have also reminded all of us that it concerns more than material things; that what we face is above all a moral issue; that at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.

And so because of your vision and resolve, I came to believe that soon, very soon, affordable health coverage will be available to all, in an America where the state of a family’s health will never again depend on the amount of a family’s wealth. And while I will not see the victory, I was able to look forward and know that we will – yes, we will – fulfill the promise of health care in America as a right and not a privilege.

In closing, let me say again how proud I was to be part of your campaign- and proud as well to play a part in the early months of a new era of high purpose and achievement. I entered public life with a young President who inspired a generation and the world. It gives me great hope that as I leave, another young President inspires another generation and once more on America’s behalf inspires the entire world.

So, I wrote this to thank you one last time as a friend- and to stand with you one last time for change and the America we can become.

At the Denver Convention where you were nominated, I said the dream lives on.

And I finished this letter with unshakable faith that the dream will be fulfilled for this generation, and preserved and enlarged for generations to come.

With deep respect and abiding affection,

[Ted]

Poor Jealous and Certifiable Nika

2009-09-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

Well, well. Nika on my migraine is at it again. Here's her most recent diatribe in relevant part:

"Since you ask ... - what happend was that Richard was caught lying here, on this forum. More then once . It was not a little mistake as he later claimed, it was a deliberate and totally unnecessary lie. ... I am not the only one who would wish to know what is real, and what is fantasy in Richard's world when he writes here, as this would make for much better relationships on this forum. ... He just cannot help himself still telling tales and stirring troubles like in the case of Richard's stament that he has never, ever met Seantor Kennedy then few hours later telling us that he has actually been questioned by him on Capitol, no less. Just as such events happen every day. Right? ...

This is what happend ... This is why many people find it difficult to believe what Richard is saying like giving up all medicines overnight recently and immediately feeling fine etc, etc like the story above and so many others. ... NikaB

XXX, ... You like Richard's lies and lying - fine. But many, many other people here do not.
If you only look at this particular example of his recent kind of obvious fantasy on this forum which cannot be true:

"After visiting my 3 docs, I bid a fond farewell to:

Nuvigil Wellbutrin
Topamax Luvox
Lovastatin Lisinopril

I feel 500% better already!! My friends and neighbors and grocery clerks have all noticed the difference. It is truly amazing what a few less drugs can do to a person!"

Well if you know anything or read about giving up any of the above medication and still believe that it is possible from one day to next not only you have no withdrawals of any kind, but instantly feel better by 500% (yes, yes!!! we are in total fantasy land) and also have everybody noticing the difference, you are obviosuly not prepared to look at any facts connected with that perosn more closely, XXX. YOU might like to read such lies, but they can be very harmful if people actually believe him, or follow such stories. This is a serious issue, you must see that.
...
NikaB"

What is interesting about this person from the UK (an immigrant from Poland) is how she believes her disbelief, her jealously, MUST mean I am lying. She cannot get it through her head that, yes indeed, I have spoken with, partied with, and strategized with many national and state politicians in my working life. My testifying before Congress was a significant deal to me - but it was one among many, many significant deals in my career. If I were to write to her about my work with killers and rapists, she would not believe that either. Or if I were to write to her or on the forum about my many protests and confrontations with authority - as part of my work and after, she would not believe it either. I worked with a group of people who went downtown during a coffee break at a staff meeting to get arrested at Wells Fargo bank for trespassing. But such a concept is beyond Nika's imagination.

Nika, real sorry your life has been boring and uneventful. But your boring life is no reason I have to live a boring life also.

If you wish to discuss the withdrawal symptoms and effects of stopping medication, Nika, please take it up with my Board Certified Internist, Neurologist, Cardiologist, and Pain Manager. Maybe you are right and all my highly educated and experienced MD's are wrong. I would not bet on it, but it might be true (LOL). So have at it, take on the USA medical establishment and explain to them why you are correct and they are wrong.

While you are at it, I will ask my neighbors and friends and store clerks who read this to contact you - so you can explain to them that they were lying when they noticed a night-and-day difference in me after I stopped the medications. Of course they all must be lying, Nika ... you do not believe them so they must ALL be liars ... right? (ROTFLMAO)

But you correct in one thing, Nika. This is a serious matter. Your constant accusations and disbelief speaks volumes about yourself - it truly appears that you may benefit from serious counseling. Your inability to recognize the fact that people have lives different from yours is fairly delusional. Seriously, Nika, counseling may do you a world of good. AND get you off my back.

Of course my friends in Northern California have made many other recommendations that may help you ... especially help you "get a life of your own." They have recommended certain adult physical acts that may relieve some of the tension that screams out from your tirades. Most have simply recommend that you try and try hard to develop a life of your own so that my life experiences do not threaten you so.

But Nika, know this. I am rigorously honest is all I write. Your maniacal disbelief does not change reality at all. Your accusations are comical at this point. I hate to say it, but the laughter is AT you, not with you. For your own good, leave me alone with your false and malicious accusations. Believe the truth or not - it is immaterial to me. But do recognize that your disbelief will not change reality. And I am rigorously honest in all my affairs whether you say so or not.

In other words, get off my back!

Call The Governor About Harvey Milk Day

2009-09-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

The Religious Reich is up in arms again. This time they want to convince the Governor of California to veto for the second time a bill creating "Harvey Milk Day" in California.

Harvey was recently inducted to the California Hall of Fame by the Governor and his wife Maria Shrivley. President Obama gave Harvey Milk the Medal of Freedom this summer. It is getting more and more difficult for the Governor to consider Harvey Milk simply as an honored San Franciscan. Harvey Milk was a great American who led the gays and lesbians of his time in a true Civil Rights Movement. As Harvey always said, his candidacy for any office was a candidacy of the LGBT Movement - not just himself.

As proof this, during one of his elections, the Teamsters approached him to get Coors Beer out of the gay bars - to help the Teamsters in their strike against Coors Beer. Harvey agreed with a quid pro quo.

Any other candidate in all of American politics would have asked for money for his campaign or volunteers for hi campaign, or at the very least, an endorsement by the Teamsters. But not Harvey.

All he wanted in return for getting Coors Beer out of the gay bars was this - The Teamsters would hire gay and lesbian drivers and let them into the Teamsters Union. The Teamsters agreed, the beer was boycotted by all gays and lesbians, the strike was won ... and gay folk got work with the Teamsters.

That is what he meant by his candidacy was a candidacy of The Movement For Civil Rights.

But the Religious Reich has a different, historically false, and hate filled view of "Harvey Milk Day." Remember the holiday will NOT be a day off for State employees ... merely a day for Harvey to be remembered and taught in public school and universities. Here's some of their comments at Free Republic - the nation's primary forum for conservative views:

Placing a pervert on a pedestal and declaring a holiday is yet another nail in California's coffin.

Here’s how you celebrate Harvey Milk day - you rat out one of your best friend’s most dire secrets and get him to commit suicide out of despair. If you don’t get what I mean by that, read up on Mr. Milk and you’ll realize he deserved every bullet. (historically false)

The constant reiteration that Milk was “assasinated” is nothing but a lie. Milk was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He caught a bullet merely because he was there, not because of some targeted rage or anti-homosexual sentiment. (historically false)

I bet Hostess is behind this for the Twinkie sales alone.

Speaking of suicide, how about Harvey’s hand in the People’s Temple? (twisted history - so twisted as to be totally false)

Harvey Milk acolytes - Providing employment in AIDS medical research for more than 30 years.

Shot Milk? ( allusion to "Got Milk" commercial)

I seem to remember that Dan White’s real targets were Moscone and Willie Brown. He felt betrayed by Harvey for a variety of reasons, but was not the focus of White’s rage. (absolutely historical false)

Will all the bath houses be open for the kids? Will there be instructions on how to perform a three way or orgy? What about cocaine, pot and crank for the kiddies?

When my school starts a Harvey Semen day I shall take Ipecac and then sit in the office lobby with my mouth pointed towards the principal’s desk.

Milk was a snarling, arrogant, condescending pos who sneered at the wrong guy.

Why don’t they just have “Jim Jones Day” while they’re at it. Milk was a huge supporter of “The People’s Temple.” (historically twisted to the point of falsehood)

Harvey Milk was a a**hole. He finally chose the wrong person to be an a**hole to and got popped. End of story. Unless they want to remind kids that being a a**hole can get you killed what would the motive be for having a day to remember Harvey Milk?

I thought we were always supposed to teach children that they should never cry over spilt milk.

Obama, too, wants them studying this stuff hard in school so that they can grow up to be just like him. These legislators are not trail blazers; they’re cowards. California parents, speak up now. This is absurd. If this passes, insist in groups and as individuals that the kids be taken out of the Harvey Milk lessons. Insist on knowing what will be taught apropos of Harvey Milk (”Got Milk?”) and keep them home on this day and our of the classroom for all homosexual indoctrination. Spend that time and other time teaching them your values on love, sex and marriage and abotu who your heroes are and what constitutes a hero. If parents would keep their kids home on the pseudo public education days, the schools would sit practically empty and get the message that the parents don’t buy it. I think the public schools get money from the state on a per capita basis for every student who sits in class every day.

I beg you, wherever you are but particularly Californians, to grab your phone and call 1-916-445-2841. The phone tree for English speakers is 1-2-1.

ELCA's Righteous Pastoral Letter

2009-09-06T01:40:00.000-07:00

In August, an American synod of the Lutheran Church - ECLA - voted to respect non-celibate ministers. Now married or partnered gays and lesbians can openly follow the call of their spirit and their God to minister in ELCA Lutheran Churches. (Not the larger Missouri synod of Lutherans in the USA)

Many (most) of the Religious Reich in the USA have lambasted this act ... as evidenced by comments made on Free Republic and AFTAH. Horrible things have been said about this Christian Community - calling them non-Christians is the kindest blow. Regarding this specific Pastoral Letter, our conservative citizens write on Free Republic:

“It’s hard now to remember, but ordination of women was just as controversial 40 years ago” No, that is exactly why the GLTB (did I miss anyone?) issue will not go away. The “church” bent the rules to allow ordination of women, then why can’t the church bend the rules for everyone else? “He accepted women as worthy of respect in a time when they were considered chattels. Indeed, in John’s gospel a woman, Mary Magdalene, was the first person to see the risen Lord on Easter Sunday.” BUT, he selected 12 MALE disciples."

"It’s a woman. That tell you anything?"

" ... This letter is an infuriating twisted blasbemy of the word of God. ...
Pastor Pat is justifying by twisting the meaning of what Christ is saying here to suit his means!"

Here is the pastoral letter from one Lutheran minister who was NOT at the conference that made this historic vote.

FROM PASTOR PAT’S DESK

Dear Friends,

You have read two eloquent pastoral letters in this issue, one from Mark Hanson, the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, and one from B. Penrose Hoover, our own bishop of the Lower Susquehanna Synod. As your pastor, I feel that I also ought to share my thoughts with you about what was decided at the churchwide assembly regarding ordination of gay and lesbian persons in long-term committed same sex relationships.

In his “Prefaces to the Old Testament, “ Martin Luther said, “Here [in the Scriptures] you will find the swaddling cloths and manger in which Christ lies.” In “Preface to the Epistles of St. James and St. Jude, he said, “Whatever does not teach Christ is not yet apostolic, even though St. Peter or St. Paul does the teaching.”

No matter which side of the debate one might take, As Lutherans we see the Bible first and foremost for what it teaches us about Jesus. And I believe that what Jesus taught, preached and lived is very instructive to us in this situation.

First, Jesus never said one word about homosexuality. He did, however say a great deal about self-righteousness. In Matthew 7 we read, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” .

Second, Jesus could, and did challenge long accepted and deeply held religious beliefs and practices. He healed on the Sabbath; in the gospel lesson for August 30 he challenges the practices of ritual washing and declared that there were no forbidden foods. In the next few verses he healed the daughter of a gentile, a foreigner.

Third, Jesus chose as his followers, tax collectors and other sinners. He accepted women as worthy of respect in a time when they were considered chattels. Indeed, in John’s gospel a woman, Mary Magdalene, was the first person to see the risen Lord on Easter Sunday.

From this we learn that Jesus was not afraid to challenge accepted practices. He was not afraid to make waves. He was not afraid to befriend those who were considered to be outcasts by the religious people of the day.

Yet, Jesus preached a high, even impossible standard of morality. He taught that all of us are liars, adulterers, and murderers, if we’ve every even thought about those things. He spoke very plainly against divorce and remarriage. He taught that we must love our enemies and forgive endlessly.

For me, what we learn first from Jesus in regard to the decisions of the churchwide assembly, is that we are all sinners, and that we are all desperately in need of God’s grace. No matter where we stand on these issues, none of us is good enough to judge those who are on the other side. Second, we are already doing things that are contrary to the literal interpretation of Scripture. It’s hard now to remember, but ordination of women was just as controversial 40 years ago as are the issues we are facing today. We also accept divorced and remarried people as members of the clergy because we believe in God’s forgiveness and grace. We can do these things because we believe that as times change, the Holy Spirit can and does speak to us in new ways.

Third, as a very practical matter, these new rulings do not change the process by which a congregation calls a pastor. Authority to call a pastor rests with the congregation. No congregation will be forced to call a pastor that they do not feel is right for them, for any reason.

You will hear many things said about these issues in the coming weeks and months. However each of us may feel about these issues, let us remember the life and teachings of or Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and struggle to act in love to God through love to neighbor, as he would have us do.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Pat

Pastor Pat rally makes sense to me. I hope you enjoyed reading her letter also.

3rd christianist Prays for Presidents Death

2009-09-04T11:52:00.000-07:00

Bruse Wilson does an excellent job of exposing the christianists who are relious terrorists in the USA.

He does a GREAT job of explaining why these guys are so dangerous these days. His short pieceis definitely worth a read. HERE

This is an exerpt - read his entire short article!

"Over the course of the summer, a string of murders - from NeoNazi Richard Poplowski's murder of three Pittsburgh cops to a murderous rampage at the National Holocaust Museum and the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller, New World Order conspiracy beliefs appear to have had played significant role in the world views of the men who have committed or been charged with these crimes.

In early August, a New Jersey woman was arrested while scoping out an Air National Guard base. Authorities found an XM-15 assault rifle, a shotgun and 500 rounds of ammunition in her cart. Nancy Genovese claimed, as part of her inspiration, Glenn Beck's Fox show - especially his discussion of FEMA camps.

While much of the rising tide of right wing violence driven in part by New World Order conspiracy theory is associated with the racist right, militant right wing anti-government populism is far from a wholly racist phenomenon. Consider the parishioner of pastor Steven Anderson's church, Chris Broughton, who recently helped put Anderson in the national media spotlght:

He could have stepped right out of the pages of history, from one of Martin Luther King’s civil rights marches: a handsome young African American man, perhaps a march organizer, carrying a bullhorn. Articulate, impeccably attired in spotless white shirt and black formal slacks, hair close cut, clean shaven."

Strange But Fascinating Site

2009-09-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

My migraine firends led me to ths strange website of awkward photographs such as this one. You can waste mucho time here!

Cur For Migraines

2009-09-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

Thank you Leslie, for leading me to this sure cure for migraines. It takes only a minute to watch and all migraines are cured for good!

Another christianist For Death of President

2009-09-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

Like Steven Anderson of Arizona, Pastor Wiley Drake of California is also praying for the death of President Obama. Rev. Drake is not a looney but was Second Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2006 to 2007. These christianists who hide behind the shield of religious freedom to shield them from the legal consequences of their hate and bigotry disgust me. But they are also frightening - how many people are listening and believing these guys?

Islamic Scholars Say Homosexuals Are Created By God and Natural

2009-09-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta reported on August 28, 2009:

Homosexuals and homosexuality are natural and created by God, thus permissible within Islam, a discussion concluded here Thursday.

Moderate Muslim scholars said there were no reasons to reject homosexuals under Islam, and that the condemnation of homosexuals and homosexuality by mainstream ulema and many other Muslims was based on narrow-minded interpretations of Islamic teachings.

Siti Musdah Mulia of the Indonesia Conference of Religions and Peace cited the Koran's al-Hujurat (49:3) that one of the blessings for human beings was that all men and women are equal, regardless of ethnicity, wealth, social positions or even sexual orientation.

"There is no difference between lesbians and nonlesbians. In the eyes of God, people are valued based on their piety," she told the discussion organized by nongovernmental organization Arus Pelangi.

"And talking about piety is God's prerogative to judge," she added.

"The essence of the religion (Islam) is to humanize humans, respect and dignify them."

Musdah said homosexuality was from God and should be considered natural, adding it was not pushed only by passion.

WOW! This is really good news to me after all I have reading about Sharia Law and the Muslim treatment of gay men and lesbians in the Middle East. RGS

Rev Steven Anderson - Dangerous christianist

2009-09-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

Michelangelo Signorile has a daily radio show on Sirius Radio. Yesterday he interviewed Paster Steven Anderson. Here's what he has to say about the interview.

Steven L. Anderson is one of two evangelical Christian pastors who have received a lot of attention lately for their vocal calls -- prayers and hopes -- for President Obama to die. Anderson also believes that "homosexuals," among others, should be executed.

I had Anderson on the show (below is a video of selected parts of the interview, ...) because I believe we can't afford to ignore these violence-inciting individuals, not in this time in which Republicans are whipping them into a frenzy.

One of the men who brought an assault weapon to President Obama's speech in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago attends Anderson's church. Better to expose them and let the world hear them.

Anderson actually told me that, though he wouldn't encourage it, he would not condemn any person who killed President Obama or call that person a murderer. He does not believe that the man who allegedly killed Dr. George Tiller, the Kansas doctor who performed late-term abortions, a murderer. And he said he would not call someone who shot a group of gays and lesbians with a machine gun a murderer:

MS: You want all gay people to be executed, correct?

SA: That is correct. It is what the Bible teaches.

MS: If somebody were to go out with a machine gun and spray down a crowd of gay and lesbian people, would you think that was okay?

SA: , I would not think it's okay because I believe in due process.

MS: Would that person be a murderer?

SA: No, I would not judge them as a murderer, no.

Toward the end of the interview, as he went on a rant calling all gays child molesters, I let him know I was gay, something I can't believe he didn't already know:

MS: You know, I'm gay..I'm gay, and I don't molest any children. What do you think of that?

SA: Well, I'd say you're lying.

MS: You think I must be molesting children, right?

SA: Exactly, right.

MS: Do you pray that I'll die tonight?

SA: If you're a homosexual, I hope you get brain cancer like Ted Kennedy.

Click. He hung up (though I didn't realize it until a minute later, and offered my final thoughts.)

Steven Anderson is what I call a christianist. He is no more Christian than the Dalai Lama. Anderson uses the Gospel as a shield to legally protect him while he incites himself and others to bigotry, hatred, and violence. He calls for the assasination of President Obama and the extinction of all gays and lesbians. He has every right to do so.

And I likewise have every right to call him what he is. No better than a KKK Grand Dragon talking in front of a burning cross before the lynching. He is a hate filled bigot and a very dangerous man. I pray he sees the error of his ways and learns to live and let live in love and kindness. RGS

Christianist Crimes

2009-08-31T15:33:00.000-07:00

I have nothing but respect for the good folks who exercise their freedom of religion without hurting anyone. I have nothing but respect for folks who base their votes on their religious and moral values.

I do have a real problem with christianists. These are the folks - usually men - who use their "faith" as a cover for their own bigotry and prejudice. These are the folks who use their "faith" to hurt others and to cause others to hurt others - physical hurt, emotional hurt, spiritual hurt, political hurt. Christianists using the loving message of the Christ to justify their own hatred and bigotry and acts of causing pain really get my goat.

Christianists are the people who regularly take a singular example of a criminal who happens to be gay to justify their hatred of all gay people. Well Joe at Joe.My.God decided to even the scales a bit. Weekly he runs this post of crimes perpetrated by christianists - people of "faith" who act to hurt others.

I am copying it here because today I am angry with christianists. Not Christians, only christianists.

This Week In Holy Crimes .... Over the last seven days...

New York: Pastor Victor Figueroa sued for $30M for sexually assaulting congregant.
Alabama: Pastor John Picard convicted of 42 counts of sexual battery of six women.
Ontario: Father Bernard Prince defrocked by the Vatican for his conviction for molesting 13 boys.
Virginia: Pastor Gregory Biehl pleads guilty to possession of kiddie porn. Biehl was formerly convicted of climbing a tree to videotape a woman undressing.
North Carolina: Pastor Keith Devon Pettis charged with molesting 12 year-old girl.
Alabama: Pastor David Webb sued by underage victim he transported across state lines for the purposes of sex. Webb was sentenced to five years in prison in May.
Louisiana: Pastor Martin Denesse accused of defrauding 175 people out of the money they paid him to secure a FEMA trailer home after Hurricane Katrina.
Oklahoma: Pastor Joshua Spires charged with ten counts of child molestation.
Virginia: Pastor Steven Bruce Joplin charged with five counts of felony child molestation of pre-teen girls.
Peru: Father Antonio Jose Calle arrested for molesting 9 year-old girl with Down's Syndrome.
New York: Rabbi Yaskov Weiss charged with molesting two 13 year-old boys.

This Week's Winner-Florida: Pastor Wiklan Moran-Mora didn't want his wife to catch him cheating, so he concocted his own kidnapping, sending his wife multiple text messages saying he was negotiating his release from his captors, all so he could spend more time with his mistress. Moran-Mora's wife called the police and more than a dozen Hillsborough County deputies closed in on his cell phone signal, finding him with his paramour.