monsters among us

The father of Bowe Bergdahl, the Idaho soldier released from captivity in a controversial prisoner swap with the Taliban, has received emailed death threats that authorities are investigating, an Idaho police chief said on Saturday. (Reuters)

In Mary Shelley’s novel ‘Frankenstein’ there is a fevered crowd, with pitchforks carrying torches of fire creating a mob scene to rid the township of a monster feared and loathed. Ms Shelley clearly creates a scene in which reason has been replaced with irrationality, purpose substituted for madness and insight blinded by the sheer force of belligerence.  The monster is bad, the monster must be stopped and if in fact we act as we have perceived that monster to have acted so be it; because our monster is a good monster.

Flip-flopping T-Publican politicians/irresponsible fame seeking pundents/phony journalists/individuals with lack of compassion, insight or purpose have perpetuated a vigil in which killing a monster is the only priority available. With pure malice, political gamesmanship, lack of value and awesome hate those who revel in turning the stupid into lemming like creatures have provoked the most nasty of American society to act out and act upon their most heinous desires. No longer in America (where divide has become the optimum choice,) do we care about the facts but perseverate over fiction and falsehoods. There is no longer anymore patience to find the truth when in fact the lies are so easy to finesse.

A soldier was captured, we know nothing more as fact except he enlisted to fight a war and was captured. An American was held prisoner, his parents mourn his captivity and yearn for his return. One of our own is coming home and suddenly he is a monster, we are the bearers of pitchforks and torches. Suddenly, we care less about the facts or truth but salivate at the opportunity to tar and feather this man making him the enemy. The same people who praise Jesus as their Lord and Savior, who profess the sanctity of our military, who carry paperback editions of the Constitution next to their assault weapons, who swear their blood runs red, white and blue have created a monster and act as worse and more dangerous monster themselves. This fevered filled virus if not stopped will run amuck and it will ravage any piece of democracy left. We have all got to be scared at the insanity around us, I know I am!

Pride

June is Gay Pride month. No big deal, a very big deal depending with whom you speak. For some men and women who among the many attributes in their life happen to be Gay, Pride is just one more aspect of acceptance. For other men and women for whom being Gay seems to define them as different for their families and communities in which they live, Pride is a cause to celebrate because each and everyday is a struggle and feeling proud is a most difficult task. Pride is a word we all use, how we define it is of course subjective and can imply a myriad of meanings; Gay Pride follows the same rule. Many homosexual men and women scoff at the festivals and parades which accompany Pride celebrations insisting that just living your life, earning a living, raising a family, becoming a valuable member of society is enough of a commemoration. Many heterosexual men and women support Pride events because they have a son, daughter, brother sister or friend whom they love and want to see them shine. Some Gay and Lesbians anticipate with baited breath the opportunity to showcase, show off, show up for a weekend event in which they are the stars. Many heterosexual men and women wonder why the Gays need their own Pride events insisting that the straights don’t do that. There will be Gay Pride months until being Gay is no longer stigmatized, until being a minority in this country is no longer chastised, until self loathing and fear of others is diminished.

There will be Gay Pride until people like Peter LaBarbera of the Americans for Truth About Homosexuality(AFTAH) stop saying some eyebrow-raising claims about masculinity within the gay community, "Masculine men do not have sex with other men.” Or men like Tony Perkins: stop ranting, Christians forced to bake cakes for gays like forcing Jews into Nazi ovens. (Tony Perkins president of the Family Research Council, spoke Thursday with the attorney of a baker who lost his court battle to refuse service to LGBT customers who ordered cakes to celebrate their legal same-sex marriages. Or women like Pam Bondi stop being hypocritical "Florida's marriage laws, then, have a close, direct, and rational relationship to society's legitimate interest in increasing the likelihood that children will be born to and raised by the mothers and fathers who produced them in stable and enduring family units," Bondi's office said in court documents. Pam Bondi, Florida’s twice divorced Attorney General. Or political parties stop acting like douche bags, A draft of the Texas Republican Party's new platform embraces gay conversion therapy, arguing that it is a viable option for "patients who are seeking escape from the homosexual lifestyle.”

I happen to be a white, Jewish, employed, father, husband son, brother, uncle, friend Gay man. I define my masculinity by my actions. I love men as I wish and I share love with those around as I want. I am an American and as such I believe in freedom from religion, justice and equality for all and firmly believe in a divide between church and state. I have never cried foul when religious zealots hate, segregate, or deny, but scream bloody murder when in fact they presume their God was the first President of the United States. It is Gay Pride month and I am proud to celebrate my equality! Happy Pride!

Patient 1

Just when you might think the T-Publican epidemic of stupid has reached its peak what with the IRS, Benghazi, voter fraud, along comes a more virulent strain of dumb in the form of chastising a POW just because the black President helped with his release. The same God Bless American T-Publicans who insisted on those mysterious ‘weapons of mass destruction’, the ones whose own sons or daughter did not enlist in the Bush/Cheney Wars, the politicians who refuse to pass any kind of budget to assist in correcting the horrendous conditions at the VA which started because of the Bush/Cheney wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,are all zombie like finding more heinous and horrible ways to punish a POW. Somehow with this newest strain of hating America just because, leaving a POW, a man who did enlist to serve his country, to rot sounds like the RIGHT thing to do.The words and actions of so called hero’s like John McCain and draft dodgers like Bill O’Reilly have resonated with a population hell bent on dismembering democracy.

And then, just when you thought the fever, the bleeding sores, the shakes and shivers could not get any worse, a snake rears her ugly head. Her fangs filled with poison never compassion, speeds a form a venom which is so pathetic in its nature that you have to slap yourself on the side of the head to believe it. The same seething slimy snake ascends upon a soap box propped up with stalks of hypocrisy, weighted with self righteousness and pronounces in a juvenile gibberish (written for her by haunted ghost writer) the following: 

“Sympathizers now tell the media Bergdahl can't be held to account anytime soon because he can't be interviewed ... claiming he's forgotten how to speak English. Really?” Palin asked in a Facebook post Wednesday. “Then # Call 1-800-RosettaStone.” “Does anyone remember abused POWs like John McCain, Tom Moe, James Stockdale, Tom Kirk, and other American troops forgetting the English language during their years and years of brutal, inhumane captivity?” the former Republican vice presidential candidate continued. “Seems these war heroes returned to their beloved country not speaking Vietnamese, but speaking KickAss against those who would destroy the red, white, and blue.” (Sarah Palin).

The darling of the deranged, the woman who might have become Vice President, the lady who like a rabid dog can only bite and chew opens her mouth omitting sign of common sense and committing fiction and falsehoods claims she knows what is good for America. In a culture that finds the Kardashian’s talented, reality TV real, unemployed people lazy, a President not a citizen, immigration not a piece of the history of this nation, Mike Huckabee a spokesperson for Jesus FOX News, news Sarah Palin has has become the idol for the frenetic, crazed brains dead and delirious. She has become a monster created by the townspeople who willingly and intently  wants to destroy over 200 years of decency and democracy. When I read about this woman, I worry about her living in an alternate reality, but I worry so much more about those who would prefer to live there with her. There is an epidemic of stupid, and Sarah Palin is patient 1.

ASS-ume

Bill O’Reilly speaking about Bowe Bergdahl’s father.”A. he absolutely looked like a Muslim. B. he talked in the language of the Taliban, and C. he thanked Allah," O'Reilly told fellow Fox News host Howard Kurtz. "I thought the appearance was totally inappropriate. I said it, I will stand by it.” "Okay, is he over the edge because of his boy? Maybe. And I feel bad for him if that's the case, but what he did and how he presented himself was inappropriate," O'Reilly argued.

Now Bill O’Reilly I will assume (as you so often do as you purse your face into an arrogant contortion, never really moving your lips but always raising your eyebrows) that even though you could have served in the military during the Viet Nam you were a Pacifist/Communist Sympathizer/a fearful lad or felt that US was not fighting the kind of war you liked because you never enlisted. I will assume as you so often do (based on nothing but your gut (in this case my well worn gut) that you have little respect for your children’s welfare because you seem to scoff at the sheer nonsense that Bowe Bergdahl’s dad would be placed over the edge  knowing that his son has been locked away for 5 years. I would assume Bill O, that you are a shallow individual more concerned about your audience then the lives of real Americans. And as you often times like to pontificate I will stand by that!.

Brian Kilmeade regarding Bowe Bergdahl’s father. “I mean, he says he was growing his beard because his son was in captivity. Well, your son’s out now. So if you really don’t — no longer look like a member of the Taliban, you don’t have to look like a member of the Taliban. Are you out of razors?”

Now Brian Kilmeade, I had no idea who you were until a friend who frequents FOX News told me you are like the added laugh track to an already boring situation comedy. I turned on FOX and Friends and found that description quite accurate. I am going to assume (as you so often do while entertaining your audience of witch hunters) that even though you were of the draft age to fight not only one but both of the Cheney/Bush Iraq Wars you decided not to. I might assume (as you always do) that you DID NOT fight those wars because you were either a non Patriot, a Communist or just felt that these wars were beneath you. I will also assume Brian that as a father you have a very distant relationship with your two daughters and son as you seem to think any parent, like Bowe’s dad is C-R-A-Z-Y for missing his son and trying his damnedest to be one with him. I will assume Brian Kilmeade that you hate the family unit especially the kind where a father and mother pine for their son locked away in some mountain captivity by the enemy. As your Godfather at FOX Bill O often times pontificates, I will stand by that!

I will assume Bill and Brian (as you both do so often while entertaining a brigade of bigots) that family values are meaningless to you as you chide and deride the emotions of two parents desperately missing their son. I will assume that you both hate the Troops/the Flag/Families and of course the kind of love parents have for their children because when you mention any of the above you hover with hate and shiver with sinister.I will assume Bill and Brian that neither one of you has a conscience that permits you to anything but laugh at the truth and romance the fake,phony and false. I used to wonder how people like you could look in the mirror but then I realized ghosts shine no reflection. 

guys and guns

In 1991, Warren E. Burger, the conservative chief justice of the Supreme Court, was interviewed on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour about the meaning of the Second Amendment's "right to keep and bear arms." Burger answered that the Second Amendment "has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud—I repeat the word 'fraud'—on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”

My dad was a Pittsburgh Police Sargent, which meant among the items he brought home with him at the end of his work day was of course a uniform, a billy club, his badge and a gun. We had a very tiny hall closet in our home on Denniston Avenue that usually held oversized winter jackets for the six of us living in the house, a few stray umbrellas, winter gloves and scarves and a special section as you faced the closet on the top left shelf where my dad would place his billy club, police hat in which he put his badge and then his pistol. When each of my siblings was considered of the age of understanding, my dad would hold all of these items in his hand explaining their use and purpose and telling his four kids these are not toys, these are not for show and tell, these are important for what I do on my job, and these WILL NEVER EVER be touched by anyone but me, the police officer. He would let us ask questions about each; how do they work, what are they for, do they get the bad guy? He was always ready to answer any inquiry we had and did not mind if the same question was asked for the millionth time. At the end of his lesson he would ask one question himself, who is permitted to touch any of these things?

Conservative radio host Stan Solomon recently blasted a father whose child died when a 22-year-old woman-hating shooter killed 7 people including himself self near UC Santa Barbara last month because he had not given his kid a gun. He continued: “The father of one of the girls who was killed blamed the NRA, and my response is, ‘You stupid son of a bitch, what the hell is wrong with you? If you had taught your daughter how to have and use a weapon, she might still be alive.’” (The Raw Story). Incident after gun incident those who claim to be packing heat because the government is coming after them, those who insist they are the responsible adults in the room, those who pretend that owning a gun makes you a better American or Christian rant and rave demonstrating just how irresponsible they are. The more men like Conservative radio host Stan Solomon speak out of their asses the more most Americans should become wary, worried and begin to wonder who exactly owns all of those guns in this nation. Comments like this are not random or fleeting but they are very telling.

We had a gun in our house, my dad taught us the meaning and its purpose, he explained that there might be some circumstances in which guns are necessary and at times may end someone’s life. The gun however as he stated did not make him a better dad, a better sergeant of police or a better man. He also told us many people own guns, but just because they have a gun it does not make them the good guys. He would add, make no mistake those who have little respect for the power of the gun are usually the bad guys.

Americanism

During the middle and last years of the Viet Nam War, the men who returned as Veterans from that war received a less than welcomed homecoming. The hero’s who enlisted or were drafted to fight the war (that if lost would create a Communist domino effect so pervasive as to infect the west coast of America) were considered bad guys even Un-American. They were our Troops but somehow seemed to have chosen the wrong war to fight.There was a definition of Americanism in the 60’s that somehow precluded the energies and efforts of a whole generation of Troops who had the audacity to fight a war that supposedly would have made America a pawn of the Red Chinese if lost. We looked upon our Viet Nam Vets as if they were zombies providing them with disapproval and disavow. It took a few later generations of Americans to grasp a fresher understanding of what these men and women had experienced; as well as a whole lot of soul searching to believe that what they did was actually true Americanism.

Bowe Bergdahl has been released after 5 years of captivity by the Taliban and the response from the Right is as if Satan somehow was set free to roam the shores of America. Without the mere attempt to hear his true story, a minutes chance to embrace the return of a soldier from the dreaded enemies of Afghanistan, the opportunity to say all of our Troops are no longer in the custody of Bush’s Axis of Evil, the Right Wing in their usual self proclaimed definers of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and of course everything Christian American have ravaged, mangled and misaligned a moment in history. Once again a group of citizens with nothing more than conglomeration of confused facts have demonized a man held prisoner. No one has to honor Bowe Bergdahl, no one has to respect him, no one has to salute his return; but we as Americans should be able to be grateful that he was an American who originally enlisted to fight a war for the honor of the US; a war that even at its origins had confusion, complications and absolutely no exit strategy!  All of sudden, once again FOX News (and how many of those pundents have ever enlisted to fight an All-American War), T-Publicans (who love to hum the tune of God Bless America, never ever understanding the words), and their play of pay politicians are trying to redefine what Americanism means. Americans have decided to rewrite the definition of Americanism.

This nation loves to establish the definitions of right from wrong, and what it means to be American, until both of those definitions become awkward to support or harder to communicate. We love to decide who is a good guy and with the same whim make him bad. We love to be judge and jury even before the trial materializes. We love to invoke the red, white and blue then suddenly pull the rug out from under our flag when we confuse those colors with bias, bigotry, ignorance and arrogance. No deals with the devil we say. How dare this turn coat not suffer his consequences. He does not pledge allegiance like I do so he must not be the real kind of American as I am. I heard he was bad, so before I find out the truth I want to punish him. All Viet Nam Vets signed up to fight a war that never should have been launched so they must be bad Americans. This man who enlisted then had the audacity to change his mind about the cause, so he is not American enough. I know what being an American is, even if I have never ever demonstrated its definitions in my own life. I know what Americanism, but you had better ask me now because I may change my mind tomorrow.

Well regulated militia's?

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.(Second Amendment of the US Constitution.) What worries me is who will help out the average citizen when in fact you have men and women in a militias who are more dangerous and self important then the government is at its worst? Look closely at the Open Carry self proclaimed Patriots of Texas as they gather in the streets or congregate at restaurants. Who says these people even know the first thing about the rest of the US Constitution and even understand the history that provides this nation with the Second Amendment? There is plenty to worry about when these militias have decided that the Black man, even though elected by a democratic process) is not the valid Commander and Chief. To carry a gun should come with some responsibility let alone some sanity and it seems watching this band of thugs one has to question the sanity part.

When Rush, Sarah, Sean, Glenn, Huckabee, Cruz are the the folks defining American values it is very important to to wonder just what values are being extolled? Bigotry, Racism, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Misogyny are not reasons to permit people to carry guns let alone use them. It is more Un-American to fight the democratic principles, then to just carry a gun because Jesus and George Washington told you to. If the government becomes too overreaching, too extreme take your  AK 47, missile destroyers, 400 rounds of ammo and fight back, but just because its a democrat in the White House and he happens to be black and he insists on rights, freedoms and liberties for all is no reasons or readiness for a militia. A bunch of blow hard Jihadists unhappy with the democratic electoral process, sore losers who see America in bigoted and biased eyesight suddenly find a portion of the US Constitution to their liking forgoing any of the other Amendments and their place in this society. 

You have a gun at the ready to fight the government and want to form a militia so then why do you think when you are food shopping, gift buying, restaurant eating, church going that men in black limo’s and helicopters are gunning four you and your family? Where is your responsibility to the foundation of this nation based on the democratic process? I am worried who will protect us from the not so well regulated or mentally well balanced militias that are forming and are anything but well or regulated?