well, you're fat

My mother and her sister my Aunt Meercy were the best of sisters and friends. As they both became widowed and found themselves in their 70’s their friendship grew and grew. My aunt never had children and my mothers four kids became my aunts extended family. It was great to have two moms and all of my siblings felt the same way. My mother lived in Pittsburgh and my aunt lived in North Miami Beach. My mother would fly south in the winter and my aunt made sure she was in Pittsburgh for the Jewish holidays. Both ladies however were great travel companions and traveled together to visit me in the variety of cities I had called home. The two loved each other but perhaps sisters are sisters no matter what and somehow the sister rivalries of youth manage to hang on in an older age

My two moms were visiting me in Northern California. Because of course I was my mothers son through birth whenever the two ladies traveled in my car my mother sat up front and my aunt in the back. Both women somewhere in their early 70’s shared a loss of hearing. So having one in the front and one in the back was far from conducive to a normal conversation. Often times my mother would talk over my aunt or more often times I would have to translate in my BIG voice what one had said because both ladies would look at me and ask what did she say. I loved both of them and with all the wherewithal I could muster I would diligently act as the interpreter.  My mother was married twice in her life. The first time to a man who was the father of my two older sisters. He had passed before my birth and it seemed anyone who ever knew him had kind words for him. The second man was my dad, who by the time I moved to NoCal had also passed. He too was well liked. My aunt was also a widow, and living in NoCal had been a widow for 5 years. He too was a good soul.  My mother had sworn that once my dad died she was forgoing the company of men let alone another husband. My aunt never took that oath and in the fourth and fifth year of her widowhood began dating.

My aunt was a popular woman in her condo complex, a fact that made my mother smile but also seemed to churn in a part of her stomach attached to the jealous organ. So here we are in the car driving to some shopping mall when my aunt says to my mother, “Rena I had two men ask me out on a date for the same night. “What, my mother said, you’re dating two men, shame on you.” “No mom, I said, acting as the go-be-tween, two men asked her out on the same night.” Same thing she said shame on you for leading them on.” “Why are you angry with me, my aunt said, “ask her, Gerry if she is jealous of me.” “Are you jealous of her, I sheepishly said” “NEVER, said my mother. Jumping in on the word NEVER my aunt said, you are jealous because I want men in my life and you don’t!” My mother hearing this turned her head to toward the backseat and said, “ well   you’re fat!”

CNN's Don Lemon recently called Rush Limbaugh a "stunt king" for saying that LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling was in so much trouble because he hadn't donated enough money to President Obama. In response, Limbaugh randomly brought up the fact that Lemon is gay. Rush then added, Well, over at CNN, they interpreted [my comments about Sterling] to mean that I was defending Sterling!" "How did they get there? I don't know how they get there. Erin Burnett played the sound bite and then went to Mr. Black Hole himself, Don Lemon—who sleeps with men, proudly!

My mother and aunt were two grown adults, but somehow the inevitable found its way to make any conversation meaningless. At that stage of her life my aunt was fat, something my mother had experienced between her many diets also. Don Lemmon is gay Rush, came out of the closet, its a fact Rush. How silly you have become in your commentary, and how juvenile. Oh by the way Rush, as a matter of fact, well you’re fat!

Drowning in religion

It is Tuesday, and as I either read the Huffington Post, graze on the insane from FOX Noise, or hear tired tidbits from the T-Republicans I wonder aloud…I have noticed when  countrymen and women begin to praise the Fundamentalism of their religion more bigotry/racism/ homophobia crop up. It is as if the zeal for pure religion takes the form of manure dripping on the souls of the stupid. Suddenly demigods are elevated to the position of grand Pu-Bah and granules of gross human inadequacies flair up like sun spots and burn any fact from the fickle. Men like Mike Huckabee a Pastor and Presidential wannabe state without missing a beat that he and only he knows what Jesus meant when he was placed on the cross. Mr Huckabee insists that even if he wasn’t in the workroom when the Bible was created he above all others received the first memo and knows the exact meaning of that message. Huckabee, holding the US Constitution in one hand lets a bit of his disrespectful spit shimmy down its paragraphs and amendments and swears that this bit of Americana will NEVER be as lawful as the Bible that he crushes next to his heart. And as this happens Fox Noise gets a hard on, Evangelical’s grab their Second Amendment solutions and the voters in T-publican primaries are at the ready to elect this man to the highest office in the land. 

Paul Ryan, boyhood saint of the T-publicans speaks to a group of wealthy good ole boys saying "We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work, a favorite mantra from Charles Murray a loud and proud Racist. When confronted with the origin of his speech and the lack of any real fact to back it up this Orthodox Catholic lad hems and haws stating the usual farcical reaction, I was misquoted, taken out of context. The man whose budget rips assistance to families who need food stamps, who believes the government is not as powerful as the Church when it comes to women’s parts, who calls the unemployed leeches (when he is not reciting Ayn Rand or Charles Murray) likes to refer to himself as an ex alter boy. He walks in the shoes of God, he professes.

Then take the T-Publican majority state legislatures, the guys and gals who wear their hoods and sheets under their suits and skirts; claiming they are the true inheritors of everything red, white and blue. Amendments fly off the handle from these folk, proclaiming the Bible as the state book for Oklahoma, shutting down any clinic in Texas that might educate a female about health issues, permitting good Christians of Georgia to carry a god damn AK 44 to church, bars and airports.In Nevada supporting a selfish goon who really is on the government dole ever avoiding the paying of his fair share of taxes. Look closely at all the Christian fundamentalists who prefer laws that deny same-sex couples marriage equality, who feel that women were and always will be chattel, who want to deny long term unemployment payments, who consider poor people not worthy of quality health coverage, let alone any health care. Look closely at how they first say Gods name, then clutch a Bible till it bleeds poison then declare this nation is a Christian nation first.

It is Tuesday another Fundamentalist jihad and I just wonder how much God must be spilled before we all drown?

Palin Painfully, AGAIN!

"Come on. Enemies, who would utterly annihilate America, they who'd obviously have information on plots, to carry out Jihad. Oh, but you can't offend them, can't make them feel uncomfortable, not even a smidgen," she said. ”Well, if I were in charge, they would know that water boarding is how we’d baptize the terrorists” ( Sarah Palin, speaking Saturday at the National Rifle Association's “Stand and Fight”)

Dear Sarah, I have missed your very un-Christian and un-American rantings and ravings. I have also missed your sentence structure, speaking as if you had no idea how the English language works. But the one thing I will never miss is the fact that you might have been Vice President of a nation and dumbed it down even more so then it currently happens to be. You are such a strong confident woman when you speak in front of crowds who have never understand the Constitution and groups of people who think Jesus carried a gun, was a slave owner, was a general in the Revolutionary War or that this nation was founded as a Christian bastion. You are at the ready to shout out some cute little moronic phrases to individuals who never seek substance but love the sap. You never take a question from the ‘lame street press’ but insist that as long as what you is derogatory to self proclaimed demographics free speech lives.

I can’t imagine how a person whose husband belonged to an Alaskan secessionist organization, who had to leave an elected office because the amount of possible court actions for inappropriate behavior would sink the states budget, who can’t even have a normal discussion with her daughter about safe sex, who sees Russia from her back yard and considers that foreign policy is still an icon of sorts? But then again your minions consist of Racists, Bigots, Misogynists, Homophobes who prefer FOX News to real facts and Rush Limbaugh to normalcy. You love to support people like Ted Nugent a draft dodger, George Zimmerman a crazed gun owner who likes to murder beat up people, Ted Cruz, who believes poor Americans should die if they can’t afford health insurance and Christine O’Donnell a witch. And yet you have the audacity to say “liberals are “attacking gun rights" in addition to the United States' "foundational values and tradition.”

You scare me Sarah, not because of your intelligence or savvy or sophistication but because it seems Americans of a certain ilk love a circus and you are one mother of a clown. You scare me Sarah because you actually take yourself seriously as if the words written for you the thoughts put in your mouth do anything but create divide and turmoil. You scare me Sarah because somehow in America of 2014, the dumb out number the smart; and you Sarah are a ringleader of the stupid.

you made me do it

You made me love you

I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to do it

You made me love you

And all the time you knew it I guess you always knew it.

You made me happy sometimes, you made me glad

But there were times, Dear, you made me feel so bad(You made me love You, Lyricist, Joseph McCarthy/James Monaco) ‘You Made Me Love You’ first published in 1913 a song written about unrequited love sung by Al Jolson and then in 1973 Judy Garland. The lyrics of the song telling the listener that the charms, the beauty, the essence of another are so strong as to create a sense of longing, like-ability and of course love. 

In 2014, the lyrics of this song were revived once again by the right wing militia of pundents and politicians as they harmonized the lyrics toward such idols as The Duck Dynasty Grandpa bible thumping Phil Robertson, musician and draft dodger Ted Nugent and currently millionaire freeloader Cliven Bundy. However as the lyrics to “You Made Me Love You’ were sung in the 2014’s they are not words expressing unrequited love rather more of a duet with both the receiver and the crooner sharing their affections. They were a sung as a ballad of affection, affinity and affirmation that if you are a racist, a homophobe, a fascist, you deserve all the love and warm fuzzes a true blooded T-Publican can muster up in their theocratic/misogynist/hateful heart.

FOX News and conservative talk radio puppets, all kind of right leaning politicians anticipating a run for the White House, good ole boys hoping to become Confederate state governors or senators harmonized gleefully the virtues of men who believe this IS a Christian nation, Gays and Women are second class citizens and the Negro would be much happier a slave. All of the Grand Wizards of the T-Publican party embraced this trio of anti government anti freedom from religion anti democracy classless clowns proudly and pretty darn regularly UNTIL… people with a true definition of democracy morals and values took notice. It was the Amerikan way for the right wing T-Publicans to bestow their blessings on bigots until true Americans said differently. 

You made me love you and I DID want to do it said Sean Hannity, Rand Paul, Rick Perry until smarter people reminded these fools just how much the men they loved to love were found to be nothing more then frauds and freaks. Now, like the cowards they are, the patronizing self serving bastards they have grown to be (Hannity, Paul, Perry) and the ilk of democracy/freedom/justice hating right wing terrorists and jihadists are singing a different tune. Suddenly it goes like the original lyrics of ‘…I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t want to do it. Simply said Bull Shit!

the pooh-pooh-pooh

I will not place a wager on this, but I believe I was about 5 when I remember hearing my first pooh-pooh-pooh being said. It was my Grandma Braff sitting at the dining room table in her official yet unofficial seat to the left of my mother at the part of the table next to the kitchen (this seating arrangement I later learned was the just in case seat, just in case my mother could not make one more schlep into the kitchen),who muttered a phrase which, who knew, would have a long lasting meaning to my life. Upon the muttering of the pooh-pooh-pooh I do remember my Grandma Braff taking a salt shaker and throwing the contents of it over her left shoulder then immediately her right shoulder.The pooh-pooh-pooh was usually said when the conversation was about the death of a friend or family member and during that conversation someone sneezed. It seemed that shouting the pooh-pooh-pooh no more then a split second after the utterance of the words death or dying was a sure fire way to ward off the evil spirits who might assume because you sneezed your health and life were at jeopardy also.When I was a bout 7 Grandma Braff and my mother explained that it is always a good thing to be proactive in worry. If you knew you had something to worry about then most likely knowing that is was worrisome made the worry a little bit less. Uh huh! Breathing, eating, sleeping going to the bathroom all natural occurrences and basic human needs, in our house to worry was just as important.

When I worked at the Houston Jewish Community Center I had the opportunity of meeting Rabbi Abraham Twerski (Dr. Abraham Twerski is a psychiatrist and founder of Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Pittsburgh, one of America’s leading facilities for addiction treatment.) His work with addiction/spirituality/and self esteem had always motivated me and  was honored to have had the chance to spend some time speaking with him. I picked him up at the airport in Houston upon his visit and due to extremely slow traffic I was able to spend about 2 hours schmoozing. I knew, if anyone might have insight on the impact of the pooh-pooh-pooh on my life it would be Rabbi Twerski. I shared with him the history of my pooh-pooh-pooh and how now as an adult I was still worried about worry. I explained how that if I did not worry I thought that the worst might happen. I explained to the Rabbi the origin of the pooh-pooh-pooh being handed down from my Grandmother to my mother to me. Rabbi Twerski listened intently to my stale of the pooh-pooh-pooh and when I finished placed his hand on my shoulder. He said you should not worry about worrying but be cautious  of where your worry is leading you. Lessons from your Grandmother or Mother have a purpose in your life, but be purposeful in how you use those lessons. He then said, Gerry, the question to ask is does the worry remove the aspect of fate or is it fate itself? he noticed the contortion of my face as he spoke, and with a little jingle in his voice, Oy, don’t worry about answering that question now.

As an older adult I have become very aware of politics/social issues/ and the men and women who can and do set the direction of this nation. As an older adult I have grown to worry more and more about the direction this nation is headed for. Discrimination/bigotry/ racism/homophobia/misogyny/ have become key ingredients for electability for the T-Publican party. the division between church and state is no longer considered an American attribute but more of an American annoyance. The poor are villains/ the unemployed are leeches/the elderly deadbeats and the louder some politicians shout their negative epithets the more popular they become. As an an older adult it seems all I do is worry that this nation I love and am a proud citizen of is going through a make-over into theocratic fascist demagogy. I worry that the future will be bleak and dismal. I worry that too many of us seem to be complacent with current events and thus stuck with a future not of their own making.  Today as I read more headlines about teaching creationism in schools, politicians insisting that public schools are discriminatory to good Christians the Supreme Court permits voting rights education opportunities for minorities to end women should be seen but nit heard all I want to do is find a salt shaker throw salt over my should shout pooh-pooh-pooh because all I have heard is the death of democracy and the death of a nation. I am worried!

an unearthly day

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) first purposed the theory that the earth was not the center of the universe in his monumental work, De Revolutionibus, Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres). Being lucky enough to die almost on the date of its publication, he did not suffer any punishment from the Catholic church, but his followers certainly did. Galileo Galilei (1546-1642) strongly supported the Copernican theory. Having the aid of telescope, Galileo managed to have visual support of the Copernican theory, in 1616 the Church condemned the Copernican theory and this almost forced Galileo into submission, the Church then put him under house arrest. (answer.com) Fox News has been known for their extensive climate change denial.A new study has found that the more time viewers spend consuming conservative media, the more skeptical they become of climate science. The paper, published in the journal "Public Understanding of Science," found that the key link between climate change denial and conservative outlets like Fox News and Rush Limbaugh was an inherent distrust of scientists. "Conservative media use decreases trust in scientists which, in turn, decreases certainty that global warming is happening," the study says. (Huff Post)

For many facts are too difficult to sort out and figure out for themselves. The why things happen are, for some, better left to those deemed the authority. If an Institution regales in their ability to speak for God and and promises fire and brimstone if you are not in agreement then perhaps it is better to let sleeping dogs lie. If an Institution pretends to be the interpreter of the Bible or the Constitution and bombards you with horror stories based on a flimsy bit of fact, then perhaps it is more American or even more Christian to go with the flow. Be it the Church of the 15th and 16th centuries or the current crop of Conservative head bangers of the 21st century it seems a large amount of the public is content to let false idols play God. We were told by the Church that God created Earth and Earth was his gift to mankind and we are lectured to by FOX and the Conservative pundents that Earth is Gods gift to mankind, yet then and now neither Institution seems to care how this gift is being treated. Fearful that Gods power might be questioned the ancient Church pretended that science was the work of the Devil. Even more fearful that the wealthy corporations and families of today may lose some earning power Fox and the Conservative Puppets refute any scientific claim claiming decline and decay of the Earth.  Facts are foolish, fiction is fabulous.

Today is Earth Day. The deniers are in full pretend mode. Science has been an enemy of the deniers. The same people who want to bring Creationism back as the study of science, the same people who prefer corporate profits over quality of life for the average person, the same people who say the Earth was created by God and bury their heads in the sand at the destruction of climate and environment are having a hissy fit today. Truth it seems in this modern day suddenly is subjective and not objective. As the Church refused to seek the facts for fear it might be considered less relevant so do the Conservative head bangers for fear that Capitalism might bring in less capital if we only stop doing business as usual. I often wonder if the Koch Brothers, Limbaugh, Hannity, the T-Publicans think that when the water dries up, the crops die, the Ice Caps melt that they somehow will survive while everyone else suffers? What have we learned from the deniers of the past, anything at all?

like rai-ai-ain

Always one step closer to God, always acting as a soldier at the ready to fight the religious wars, never one to decline a good bigoted remark, and of course the man who Jesus turns to to interpret the Good Book, the Disciple Pat Robertson, who for your personal check, credit or debit card will translate God’s wishes is once again ranting about the homosexuals. "You don't turn the light out just because you disagree with somebody," Robertson advised a listener on the "700 Club" television program… Specifying that a heterosexual Christian "can't indulge," he added, "There are some very, very creative homosexual people. They're in the fashion industry, they're in design, they're in various types of creative arts.” "You would almost need to leave the world not to associate with folks like that.”(Huff Post)

And as matter of fact, as smarmy and derogatory as is his lacking any fact just relying on homophobia tinged with some good old Christian cross burning the Disciple Pat Robertson has pigeonholed, slighted, demeaned and purposely told the fools of his flock that the Gays are only the creatives. It’s kind of like looking in the By-Laws of the KKK finding that its the Jews who are bankers and owners of television stations. Or reading the rantings of the Tea Party declaring that Mexicans have cantaloupe sized calves and only get pregnant so they can stay in the US. Its like listening to the T-publicans in the Congress insisting that the long term unemployed are lazy the seniors selfish and women the once removed rib from Adam. Its like Alanis Morissette said  rai-ai-n on your wedding day, none of it makes sense.

There is great danger when people (who know no more then their own fear and phobias) try to persuade other lemmings with (the zest to hate and bully) to find fact based on fiction. There is greater danger when God/his New or Old Testament/Koran/etc are added to the fake reasoning to cast aspersions. Many can chuckle when the Disciple Pat Robertson sounds more like a character on Loony Tunes, then a man of God, but there is nothing funny considering just how many pay for pray fundamentalists believe Robertson’s every word has been whispered to him by Jesus Christ.