Dearest Lizzie

"Iraq is at risk of falling to a radical Islamic terror group and Mr. Obama is talking climate change. Terrorists take control of more territory and resources than ever before in history, and he goes golfing. He seems blithely unaware, or indifferent to the fact, that a resurgent al Qaeda presents a clear and present danger to the United States of America," (Dick and Liz Cheney’s anticipate opt ed piece for the FOX owned Wall Street Journal)

Oh Liz Cheney you are one hell of an acorn falling so hard at the root of an old oak called Dick. Hutzpah, Liz usually a Yiddish term of endearment used by the Jews to describe a hell of a set of balls, but in this case Liz, my dear, it is stated as an insult cause the balls you carry are dangerous. To hear you speak as if your war criminal father had never lied, never undermined the sovereignty of a nation, never thought more of the profits for Big Oil or Haliburton might be humorous if it was not down right just one more nasty fabrication the Cheney Family has been known for. 

Your father cared little for the nation of Iraq. The man who found draft deferments the only way to fight the Viet Nam War, the man who had his henchmen out a CIA agent, the man who purposely misled a nation about the real reasons for his need to invade Iraq is nothing but a fraud, and you my dear Liz are just as guilty in pretending to be anything but a traitor to the principles of democracy. As I recall your dad insisted there was a clear and present danger lurking in the palaces of Saddam Hussain. Remember when ‘tricky Dick’ was sure Saddam had chemicals ready to launch at the US. You remember hearing Condie Rice taking your fathers lead and declaring the approach of a mushroom cloud. All during the Bush/Cheney dictatorship there was warning of a clear and present danger when in fact the one clear and present danger of the time the 9/11 terror attack took place and your dad seemed so unaware of it pending doom.

You are quite the turn coat Lizzie my dear. Nothing is safe from your family. You even learned the artful political maneuvering from your dad of taking no prisoners attacking your homosexual sister’s marriage as sinful and a sham. Your role model tricky Dick leaves an awful lot of poor parenting examples and of course poorer leadership choices. I thought your meaningless 15 minutes of fame dried up after your chaotic and rueful run for Wyoming Senate. But like the plague you lurk and wait hoping just enough sick people will fall prey and you can infect with the most virulent anti Americanism possible.

I worry about anarchists like you and your daddy, Liz, but I worry more that suckers, losers, loners and anti-American jihadists who never remember history  still think the Cheney’s are relevant. I am sure your Mom and Dad are really worried that true Americans will finally come to their senses and finally realize that Dick Cheney and his faux soldiers of fortune are enemy number one. Just go away Liz, just go!

here we go again

Here we go again. The men and women who predicted that at the most the Iraq War would last no longer then 6 months. The people who insisted the Americans would be heralded as heroes in the Middle East. The folks who warned us of mushroom clouds,ticking time bombs, weapons of mass destruction. The politicians and their pundents who, never once serving in the military assuredly saying that theTroops sent to fight the battles in Iraq would accomplish their mission with ease and little else. Here we go again and as has been the case for a population of misguided, unintelligent xenophobes, bigots and racists its time to forget any history and rewrite the past to fit into the kind of future they wish and want. 

Almost 4500 Troop deaths, 3400Troops wounded and disabled, half a million Iraqi’s dead or wounded billions of dollars spent, billion of dollars earned by Haliburton and war friendly corporations, economies almost devastated and yet almost all of the commercial news outlets permit the men and women who have gotten almost every aspect of the war in Iraq wrong to sing aloud about how this around the War in oral will be different. No one in the Bush/Cheney administration has been held accountable for their fiasco and war crimes, yet Barack Obama is suddenly the target and perpetrator  of everything wrong in Iraq.

Come on America, when does the nonsense end. When will we as a nation finally find the fortitude to tell the truth, beg for the truth, demand the truth and stop the madness of deranged to run amuck? Come on America, Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Faith, Andrew Card, Judith Miller, Paul Bremer all lied, all schemed, all promoted a fiasco which set in motion decades of doom and disaster. We now, once again are going to give any of these war criminals even one more chance? Here we go again, and again, and again!

groundhog day, again

"Are we about to be drawn back into a conflict in Iraq?" Smith asked. "The same people who 12 years ago told us this will be quick, this will be easy, this will be inexpensive, they will see us as liberators, it's the right thing to do, are now telling us, 'It's the right thing to do.' What's the endgame? Who's thought this through?” (Shepard Smith)

Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Dick Cheney all three men are insisting we go into Iraq again. History is of no concern neither are the lies woven into our Iraq War history that promoted America to stop that supposed mushroom cloud, those weapons of mass destruction. Its Ground Hog Day all over again. Little Lindsey Graham has stated that Americans are tired of war, but this time once again going into Iraq will keep us safer from the foes. It was Senator Graham’s warning of the fear of foes that helped foster an appetite to invade a sovereign nation the first time. John McCain,  believes that a handful of Troops had they been active in Iraq would have stopped a marauding group of terrorists from attacking a cowardly group of Iraqi soldiers. Dick Cheney, easily forgetting his non strategy for winning a war except making making money for Haliburton and of course gaining oil rights defines our president as inept and amateur. Its Ground Hog Day once again, the world is supposed to be as dumb this time around as we were then first time we invaded a sovereign nation.

We now witness horrendous actions on behalf of the newest enemy to sanity and justice ISIS. Worse then the most hated AlQeada or the Taliban, ISIS has taken the lead in dissecting the nation of Iraq into the good bad and ugly. The powerless yet graft riddled Iraqi government of Maliki at the ready for vengeance governing, the civil war mentality of Sunni and Shite to cut each others throats because of their belief in God, the encouragement of other governments to divide and conquer are issues never ever addressed by our nation. If ignored they are easy reasons for yet another war in Iraq. It is Ground Hog Day once again. 

Round and round, over and over, again and again, repeating without correcting, it is GroundHog Day in the US. You are bad if you don’t hate the enemy from a far. You are not a Patriot if you don’t fight wars. You must forget that we never won the war in Korea, or Viet Nam or Iraq or Afghanistan, but must remember that the mushroom cloud always looms large. Perhaps if we initiated a draft once again, where all Americans must bare the burden of fighting a war, we will have a better handle on Iraq. Perhaps if we actually saw a budget sheet on the cost of lives, the cost of materials the list of vendors and their supporters who gain from the war in Iraq we will have a better handle on a war in Iraq. Perhaps if we stop confusing incursion after incursion as the only way to find peace we will have a better handle on a war in Iraq. Perhaps if we realize that you CAN learn a lot from history  we will have a better handle on a war in Iraq. Perhaps if we just stop permitting Ground Hog Day from occurring and occurring and occurring we might have a better handle on another war in Iraq.

a day for fathers

The vivid memories are the times I raced against the other policemen’s kids at the Fraternal Order of Police picnics usually coming in first and my dad placing me on his shoulders strutting around. The times he, dressed in his police uniform, would attend the track and field events at Linden school watching me run the dashes and the 4 team baton races. The moments the JCC plays were finished and it was time for curtain calls and my name was mentioned as director/choreographer watching him stand hands above his head clapping and smiling. The father son haircuts at Jerry and Son Barber shop across from Sterrett School schmoozing about the events of our day. He as my best man walking down the aisle with me with small tears flowing from his cheek holding onto my arm tight enough to never let me go, but with just enough room to permit me to start my own family. The day we went to the Squirrel Hill Police Station down in the basement and most of the “big’ kids from Denniston Avenue got sworn in a Junior Police. Those memories are always with me easy to recall, remember. They are also used to remind me of the intangible minutes with my dad.

My dad was able to dissect the ridiculous from the real. He could take the traumas and dramas of my every day life and help me to find solutions. He was able to sort through the silly, dig deep for the simple and present options I had no idea existed. Of course there were more brash memories of him sitting between my sister and I at a Vincent Price movies fest at the Liberty Theater, taking us out to the sand bridges in Lake Erie holding us up when the sand collapsed but even moments like those were a nonverbal lessons that HE would always be the great protector. Upon the birth of my first, Adam, my dad was there to embrace my son and proudly tell me I am now in charge of the world. he passed before my daughter Dani was born but somewhere in my list of things to do and be with my second child were the wonders of my father.

It is Father’s Day, and thankfully I can understand the meaning of this day having had a man of honor as a dad and two children who have helped remind me of the lessons learned as I grew up. I know that being a father takes more then DNA, it is encompasses courage, wisdom, sincerity, honesty, and of course unconditional love. For all of us who have been loved by a man we called dad, who was or is a best friend, a comrade, a role model, a confidant, this is a day to celebrate loud and proud. Happy Father’s Day

no more pretending

Lets pretend that this nation still functions as our Founding Fathers intended, you know a country proud of religious freedom and prouder of freedom from religion. Lets pretend that the Evangelical Baptist Bible thumping, hell and damnation preachers and pastors work only on Sunday’s stand only in front of their congregants gathered in their own private house of worship. Lets pretend that only the religious Jihadists come from the Middle East. Lets pretend that we being the numero uno country in the world able to nuke the other countries five times over if we desire, certainly understand the validity of our Constitution which insisted there shall be no official government sanctioned religion. Lets pretend that the Tea Party was actually a movement of articulate men who studied the US Constitution trying to refine and refresh the qualities of democracy instead of ban its words. Lets pretend that the Tea Party was actually a movement of women who just wanted to clear the air on the rights and freedoms of this nation instead of the purification of religious dogma. 

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Tuesday grilled a pastor who supports the separation of church and state, asking him why he did not share the “good news” that non-Christians were going to Hell. “Do you believe in sharing the good news that will keep people from going to Hell, consistent with Christian beliefs?” the Texas Republican wondered. A Republican state legislator miffed about an Arkansas judge's ruling that struck down the state's same-sex marriage ban suggested on a conservative radio show that politicians should emulate Saudi Arabia by basing laws off Christian doctrine, as Saudi Arabia does with Islam. David Brat: Hitler Could 'Happen Again' If We Don't Embrace Christian Capitalism.

Its time for the lets pretend to end. We are faced in this nation with an insurgency dangerous, dire and destructive. The Crusades are coming to America. The Spanish Inquisition has found its footing on our shores. The tar and feathering of decency and difference are almost daily rituals in our halls of government. Religious liberties have some how usurped any and all other kinds of freedoms. The Tea Party movement is nothing but a jihadist arrangement in which Jesus becomes the Lord, Savior, President and Supreme Court Justice of all Americans. Listen closely to the foul smelling words of the men and women of the Tea Party and stop pretending that those mad hatters will drink too much tea and just nod off to sleep. Our freedoms, liberties, equality are at risk more and more. No more pretending just how dangerous of a nation it has become in the United States.

so sick

Texas Republicans have adopted a party platform that includes support for voluntary psychological "therapy" targeted at converting homosexuals to heterosexuals. The Texas Republicans' measure states that "We recognize the legitimacy and efficacy of counseling, which offers reparative therapy and treatment for those patients seeking healing and wholeness from their homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy.” (CNN.US)

Growing up in the 50’s whenever a bad guy was needed to move the plot along, he would be a thin man, very flashy in his dress, a sinister smile, slicked back hair and ooze with impropriety and of course misperceived values. He was a homosexual, the kind of guy you knew would steal your money, run you over, and of course lust after you and your son. In the 60’s the bad guy was seen walking the streets, perhaps hustling most likely shiftless always a con, he was a faggot. In the 70’s the drug abuser, the hapless, hopeless narcissist was always the character of choice to demonstrate good from bad, all American from just plain evil, he was the queer. With the onset of HIV-AIDS, the bogey man, the antagonist who represented all the selfish, self serving anti Christ angst in this nation was of course Gay. He was the one who was self destructive and had no redeeming core or morals. Growing up in this nation in the past 60 years, it was very difficult to identify with any individual who among his many qualities happened to be Gay who was not deemed to be anything but bad.

It took me 47 years to come to terms with part of my own Gay identity. I always wanted to run from the BAD words like Homo, Fag, Queer and Gay. I believed from all of the marketing on the silver screen small screen, politics and organized religious institutions that even the mere mutter of anything homosexual would destroy my life and of course the lives of those I called family and friends. I fought hard to not be Gay, I fought harder to deny a piece of my life that was just as important as being Dad, a Brother, a Son, a Communal Worker, and American. But finally sanity persevered and the realization that I am who I am is natural and correct won the battle. I am Gay and it is a natural way of life for me.

And now a bunch of bigoted blow hards more afraid of their own lack of heterosexuality, fearful of their own perceived masculinity are trying once again to tell the world if you are Gay you are not natural and you are certainly sick.A bunch of con artists at the ready to use Jesus, fiction, falsehood and baloney to sell their dark and dirty trade have inspired a bunch of religious jihadists and idiots to pass laws calling me and all of my Gay brothers and sisters sick. I have had enough of separate not equal. I have had enough of bogus religion.I have had enough of insecure men and women so repressed in their own dismal lives trying to put me down. I have had enough of politicians who have no understanding of democracy. Perhaps if these jokers are so concerned about reparative therapy they might check themselves into a mental health clinic and wonder why they are so afraid of their own heterosexuality! 

love is love

Sunday, June 8 in sunny West Hollywood a married couple a son a daughter all mingling and enjoying the cloudless day at a festival. A special bonus, the daughter and her best friend are part of the showcase of entertainers; so the married couple and the son get to ‘kvell’ watching the duo perform. An American dream comes true this particular Sunday, and no one can deny this day in America was full of promise and purpose.

Sunday, June 8 in sunny West Hollywood the married couple are two men, two husbands to be exact. The son and daughter are the children of one of the men, and the proud step children of the other fellow. The festival is the LA Gay Pride event. Teammate is the name of the group created by the daughter and her best friend and they are proudly entertaining an audience of heterosexual/homosexual Americans who decided to spend this Sunday ‘kvelling’ about freedom and equality.

Sunday, June 8 in sunny West Hollywood while the married couple the son and the daughter share quality time together, somewhere in the darker recesses of bigotry and bull shit madmen and women are hell bent angry that in a place like America equality for all may be finding a home. Religious zealots pretending to act as God are damning the so called lifestyles of same-sex couple and families. Polarizing politicians with self serving ambitions are demanding injustice be served to anyone they deem different. Well paid pundents luxuriate in hate and lies creating false stories about supposed agendas, treason and socialism. Men and women who lack self esteem, who have been taught that the foul smell of racism/homophobia is the only kind of oxygen to inhale, who feel their life can become better if they destroy the lives of others; are ringing their fingers, clutching their abridged Bibles, ignoring the true US Constitution and demanding that end times will soon be upon America because the Gays are celebrating Pride.

On Sunday, June 8 in sunny West Hollywood, I along with my husband Joe my son Adam, my daughter Dani and our best friend Scott celebrated Pride. Although this was Gay Pride, my family was able to include in that celebration the creative accomplishments of one another, the insight and sensitivity of inclusion and the knowledge that our family can communicate, learn and grow form one another. On Sunday, June 8 in sunny West Hollywood my family lived the American dream and not the nightmare so many on the Christian right try to promote, create and envision. As my daughter’s group Teammate sing about, ‘Love is Love’!