following orders

During the Nuremberg Trials, after the Second World War, to try and find justice for all of the injustice perpetrated by the Nazi’s to the citizens of Europe, many Nazi soldiers and their sympathizers were placed on trial and asked to account for their barbaric and horrendous actions. In a court room whose guidelines of fair and equal were based on democracy, not propaganda, dictatorial rule nor paranoid delusional ranting of interlopers, those accused of crimes against humanity had an opportunity to tell us why they did what they did.

The response from most of too many criminals, (the only excuse for behavior inhuman, inhumane, not human like), the responses sounded the same with the same quote, “…I was just following orders…”

With the utterance of that sentence, many of the accused assumed little to no responsibility for their actions and thus identified themselves as victims also who were manipulated and managed. With the utterance of that sentence the accused who had little conscience to begin with, who had more ignorance than intelligence, which had bile and bigotry blasting though their souls felt at ease to write off any and all consequences they caused. They were pawns supposedly easily now they could feign guilt because of the orders they followed. Don’t blame them for hate others insisted upon.

In 2010, we are confronted with new monsters. We are now bombarded with individuals who feed contempt, bias, fact less notions, and self serving tirades to become wealthier, more of a celebrity, and God like in their own minds. And we have a cadre of soldiers, all of whom have privately shared the evil spewed by these masters of manipulation who now through the beckon call of bastards are marching to orders of hate.

On Sunday, July 18, unhinged ex-convict Byron Williams loaded his truck with guns and headed up a California highway with the intention of starting a revolution. If he hadn't been stopped by brave officers -- two of whom were wounded in the confrontation -- he could have carried out a plan to kill staff at progressive organizations, including the Tides Foundation.

What is the Tides Foundation? It's the nonprofit that Glenn Beck brags about "turning the light of day" on by constantly attacking it as part of a socialist conspiracy to destroy our government. The Tides Foundation isn't the shadowy political influence of Beck's fantasies -- it's a transparent organization known in the philanthropic community for doing good public service. Make no mistake: Beck's intention was to paint the Tides Foundation as a dangerous, increasingly powerful threat to freedom that must be stopped. And Williams set out to stop them. (Ari Rabin-Havt, Media Matters for America).

Like Adolph Hitler and his henchmen from Hell, Glenn Beck stands in front of an already fearful brigade of soldiers who fantasize about villains, need reason to cause mayhem, act out on orders to act up and want someone to help them point fingers away from their miserable life and find cause in chaos of their lives from the behaviors of others. And like Adolph Hitler, Glenn Beck’s ego is so big, he has little time to contemplate on his fabricated truths, but spends hours and hours on the newly formed kingdom in which he lives. They are pitiful pawns and Glenn Beck the chess mater.

In Indianapolis, one of the stops in a 19 state tour sponsored by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) an organization who says they are committed to one man one woman in marriage and say traditional marriage is a civil right ( no civil unions, no common law) a member of NOM was carrying a sign with pictures of two ropes in a noose and a selected quote from Leviticus (always select the quote which fits your hate, poison or bigotry) which reads “…If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both they have committed an abomination: they should be put to death…” Leviticus 20: 13. Of course no one from NOM bothered to ask the gentleman to remove the sign and no one bothered to consider the violence suggested by both that chapter and that picture.

The bearer of the sign is a member of the Cross Bearer Ministry and was following orders his minister and fellow parishioners all gathered about and conspired. Mr. Adams response to the pictures of the noose was very plain and simple, “… an easy way to stop gay marriage is to hang gay people…” “…the solution to gay marriage will be solved…” How does he know this, how do Southern Baptists know this... how do born again Evangelical know this... how do Ultra Orthodox Jews know this…their self anointed liaisons to God tell them so. Someone who seems to be so close to God tells them that just reading selected passages of Leviticus will make the wrong rights. Follow me OR God will be angry with you. Ask no questions. Just follow orders. No blood on your hands you are doing my duty, errrrr, God’s job.

We were following order. I did none of this on my own resolve. It is the right thing because someone pretending to be God, know God, acting like God told me so. H hates just like me. It is right based on nothing more than fable, foible or fantasy.

When do the sane citizens of this world call to account the religious preachers who once again act as if they know God’s desires but in fact work hard to save their own institutions of religion? When do the sane citizens of this world demand facts, demand honest, demand communication instead of dumbing down to drown out reason? When do sane citizens of this world see through the empty souls of men like Glenn Beck? We wait much longer and we won’t be lucky enough to see justice put in place like the Trials at Nuremberg because there will be court, just nooses hanging from trees.

onward...soldiers

Onward Christian Soldiers…

The Riverside County of the California chapter of We the People---Citizens in Action Tea Party, have planned a demonstration of a proposed new mosque in Temecula California by holding a rally outside the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley during Friday prayers. Included as a part of the demonstration during the holy Friday prayers, the Tea Party protesters are encouraged to bring their dogs---considered an insult to Muslims.

On the website this We the People---Citizens in Action, (but a rose with thorns called by any other name is still a rose with thorns, Tea Party chapter), states that the Islamic faith is “a radically intolerant belief system that is incompatible with the freedoms granted by the U.S. Constitution.”

The Tea Bag Brigade all spokespeople for the foibles and fractured fiction of the New Testament, confusing its fables for law in a country supposedly with a division of church and state, are apparently the last word on which religion fits into the freedoms of the Constitution and which are just radical and intolerant. I suppose the best judge for intolerance is someone who takes home first prize regarding intolerance.

Onward Mormon Soldiers…

The original Latter –Day Saint, Joseph Smith acquired at least twenty-eight and perhaps sixty wives, some of them in their early teens, before he was lynched. Brigham Young, Smith’s immediate successor, was a bridegroom twenty times over as was much of male Mormon elite who kept up the mass marrying until the 1930’s when as inclusion to the admission to the Union, polygamy had to end. Not because God said so.

The Church of Later-Day Saints, the Mormons contributed at least $20 million dollars in helping assure the passage of Prop 8 in California, an amendment for the first time which would revoke existing rights for gays and lesbians.

The Elders, an all male fraternity, the ones who will admonish their own children if they stray even a foot from the man made doctrine of the Mormon Church, wanted to rewrite, redefine, rework the Constitution of this nation and recreate it in their own selfish male image. And with the drones of dollars and lemmings who ask nothing but do whatever their self appointed leadership proclaim managed to deny equal rights to a segment of the American population; all under the cozy guise of religion helped deny marriage made from love. I suppose with the history of the Mormon church never using the term love in its original form, excluding it now makes sense.

Onward Moron Soldiers…

Sister Sarah Palin maven and grand pooh bah of less is more, useless is useful and from an Ivory Tower I can pontificate, tweeted recently, “…peace-seeking Muslims, pls understand, Ground Zero Mosque is UNNECESSARY provocation; it stabs hearts. Pls reject it in interest of healing…” “…Peaceful New Yorkers pls refute (yes her word, and when challenged as to its legitimacy as a word, Sister Sarah compared herself to Shakespeare saying he invented words for special meanings and so can she),the Ground Zero mosque plan if you believe catastrophic pain caused @ Twin Tower site is too raw…” “Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims pls refudiate…” (again a bit of Shakespeare)

According to the Constitutional scholar, world renowned Bard and wordsmith, Sister Sarah, there are two kinds of Muslims peaceful and terrorists. There are also peaceful New Yorkers and New York terrorists. The horrible, horrendous calamity which happened in New York, according to Sister Sarah, hurt the hearts of the citizens of the heartland, not necessarily the callous empty souls of New Yorkers. She has the power to divide and conquer project right from wrong and classify the demographics of this great nation into good and evil.

In her self righteous zeal to reestablish the priority of which religion is the one of peace, the one of value the one true American religion, Sister Sarah and her minion of “if it ain’t lookin’ like me, smellin’ like me, soundin’ like me’ it ain’t right” are judge and jury of who has the ownership of peace, history and heart. She never leads by example but is the first one to point a crooked finger at those who just don’t understand the Sarah way of thinkin'!

Onward soldiers…

It seems that this country has done an about face in reaching for better and more. Since the election of a black man to the office of President, the uncovering of the greed and gluttony from the Bush/Cheney dictatorship, the need to place regulations, rules on the wealthiest individuals and corporations, the sense that the common man can and should have equal access, the soldiers dressed in uniforms of religious dogma, racial hatred, gender ignorance have amassed their troops fighting any opportunity for change and chance. Their war play book is based on assertions, innuendo, bias and bigotry. They each recite passages from a Bible that only exists for those who want God to be in their image and never in his/her liking.

Seems the soldiers are gaining ground. We hear about the victories they claim each and every day. They win, I believe because there is little offense by those they attack. There is futile defense by those they blame, and there is no push back by the majority of Americans who know better.

The mid term elections are looming large on the horizon, do we really want the storm troopers, the Brown Shirts, the lynching mob to win? Do we? Onward soldiers, rape the land and those living in it.

scheme and scam

Bob Dudley, an American from Mississippi, is set to take over the reigns of CEO for BP. He will replace the warm, charismatic, caring, current CEO, Tony Hayward within the next few weeks. One of the quotes Mr. (I am an American so now this is not just a British problem but an American solution), said was "...BP will change as a result of this recent, (not horrendous, not life ending, not Gulf killing), accident. He also spent the rest of his time explaining how the finances of BP were affected and how his corporation will tend to the timeliness of the budget, and oh by the way make some changes in safety. Mr. Dudley also added "...we learned a lot from this accident..."

One could add comments like: "...as God is my witness...", "...we will change for good this time...", "...if our actions have hurt you in anyway then I apologize..." "...if we knew now what we forgot then..." "had we realized our tendency to care more about profits then perhaps safety, would cost us dollars from our bottom line...", and "...you hadn't been paying attention before, why all of the sudden are you paying attention now..." AND you might be able to quote almost every CEO who suddenly had a mia culpa. You might be able to make a list of any major corporation who lies, cuts safety costs, was more worried about the share holders than the worker, cared more about their perks and less about pissing off the average American, or who thought paying off the Congress would enable them to continue to scheme and scam.

Detroit, for years told us they built reliable cars, that each product line was unique, solid, and filled with the red white and blue of the American auto worker. They lectured us about the foreign imports and instead of trying to emulate the positives, decided that the bonuses, the ballooned retirement parachutes, the Big Business attitude would thrive. The Bankers and Financial Institutions assured us they had the brightest business minds working for OUR good. Any product they created was selflessly created so the consumer could seize the riches of investment. Nothing they did was for them, NO, they labored on phony schemes, and scams so their pockets were full and we as the investor were foolish.

Why is it that when a corporation is caught only then do they create a facsimile to an apology? Why is it when politicians are nabbed do they repent? Why is it that wrong doing feels so right until the perpetrators are found guilty by others, not their own conscience? And why do we as Americans seem to forget just how evil, just how cunning, just how irresponsible those who extend an unemotional apology, those who have devastated our lives, those who never look inward for fault but blame others for their actions really, really are?

So, now BP can clear its conscience and speak with a southern drawl, tell us the past is behind us, preach to us just how they have learned their lesson, rewrite history and move on as if the oil spill in the Gulf was just like a bit of tea falling on the carpet of your grandmothers home.

The scheme and scam will continue I am afraid until the American public starts building a backbone, one with clear conscience, less indignity and more direction and hope that one voice, OUR voice matters.

open doors

On July 26, 1990 President George H. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), granting civil rights to a group of citizens who prior to the signing of this law could not access public transportation, public accommodations, were denied employment, were mostly institutionalized, and thought of as so far from the norm no one needed take heed or hear from them. On July 20, 2010 we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The ADA started the cycle of inclusion for a population that throughout the American landscape had been considered burdensome, beggars, and bit players in the land of opportunity.

The critics at the time, were appalled that THIS segment of the population required anyone to care or display concern. They were cripples, dummies, retarded and specs on the community chart of self sufficient. Businesses were angry that they might have to spend some money in building ramps, widening doors, making buses and street cars, accessible. Small businesses were sure any modification they had to make would eat at the bottom line, corporations found experts who swore on some unprofessional stack of phony PH D's that this population could never become a positive force in their work force. It was better to hide this sub group, deny this segment, ignore the basic human and civil rights of these Americans.

And much like women's suffrage, the civil rights acts for black Americans, protest based on changing the status quo, emanated from the most selfish, greedy goons, who feared difference and preferred division rather than common ground.

Is it human nature to insist that no matter what wrung your status finds itself within the culture, you must make sure someone is a least on step behind? Is it human nature to demand rights for yourself and to insist others have not or may never earn them? Is it human nature to insist the differences perceived by you towards others is reason enough to not grant them the same unalienable rights this American Constitution has insured on your behalf?

Or as in women's suffrage, and the civil rights amendments, is it just based on religious dogma, the fearful rantings of those in power afraid once others gain the same respect they have, their power base will diminish? Or as in marriage equality for same sex couples is it just bigotry and bias wrapped in demagoguery and deceit?

When this country actually accepts the notion that separate but equal is non American, non Democratic, unconstitutional and equality is the foundation on which this country was established THEN as a society we have matured. When we can look at what we have in common, discuss our differences without guns, and lynchings, and damnation by a God, then we as a society have become part of a greater good.

Up until July 26, 1990, when the ADA became law, and the following few years after its inception, decibels of doom and dire consequences abounded if the disabled were to be treated as equals. This was America reserved for the hard worker, not one who needed a free ride. This was America if you could not use your legs, your arms, your mind to pull yourself up from your own bootstraps, then you deserved to stay in the back, no room for you up front. But once equal rights are granted by the majority to the minority, all of the BS, the God fearing irrationality, the indefensible tirades of lies fade into thin air and the truth is loud and clear. And when all Americans have the same chance and the playing field is on level ground, we all strive to win we all strive for greatness, and we all become greater.

20 years ago today door began to open why ever close them shut? And those doors still closed need to be pried open by anyone with a conscience, intelligence and compassion.

sister sarah, WHY

If one is so sure he or she is correct in their belief, their incrimination's, their bigotries than with the same weary spineless stance they take in proclaiming their correctness they should, when called upon to defend their stance, stand tall and stand behind their callous cacophony of name calling and chastising. If you can take the stage and pinpoint the enemy, blame the scapegoat, spy the villain in front of the same cowards who like the way the you hate then by all means you should also plant your feet firmly in the sand and defy the cat calls and claims of your foes, and defend your position with the same zeal and zest as displayed with your friends.

When you find safety hiding behind your Twitter account, or sitting as an informed individual on FOX pretend news, or at your $100,000 speaking engagements speaking to the average Joe, the mama grizzly, the hockey moms, why is it that you can't take the same pomp and circumstance and courage and defend your opinions, your blasphemous, racist, homophobic, rantings in front of a main stream press who only want to ask you how come and based on what? When you mangle words or phrases, or completely change the quotes of others, or evilly edit the content of speeches or messages of your perceived enemy and are confronted in doing so, why not with the same fervent fever you define as you being you, why do you pretend you never ever misspoke, misquoted and moan and groan you were taken out of context? When you say you speak for a Christian God, the creators of the American Constitution, the average wholesome, red, white and blue American, and what you say is truth and nothing but, why must you hide behind your handlers and never debate, discuss only deceive and divide?

Sister Sarah, why, if you are so sure you are correct, why are you so afraid to allow anyone with a differing view interview you, ask you, WHY? Sister Sarah if you have the enlightenment of the lemming who find you like Mother Mary, the effervescence of the paranoid, self victimized, the every wish of the everyman/woman then WHY are you so afraid of those who question you?

Perhaps Sister Sarah the power IS in never saying you are sorry, never saying you were wrong, never saying there is more to a conclusion than only one point. Perhaps like the omniscient OZ your coming out from behind the curtain would allow those in your presence to see you as human, with frailties and failures.

Sadder than you Sister Sarah, (and on the sad scale you rate very high), are the legions of loons who defend you, agree with you, hate like you, and despise the virtues of this country just like you do. Sadder than that Sister Sarah are the legions of individuals who find you so repulsive, so ridiculous, so radical but remain silent, quiet and quite content to say nothing. The legions of smart people who think you are a whim, a whisper, a waste of time who will disappear.

Your attacks on Blacks, on Muslims, on Hispanics, on Gays, on Democracy, on Parenthood, on matters of Abstinence, attract those who want no fact, only fiction, want no baseline just baselessness, want rhetoric and no reason. Your rants grow uglier and uglier and each one contains less and less truth, and more and more lie. Your popularity rises in greater portion every time you permit slurs, name calling, and finger pointing to become fact.

You, Sister Sarah have little to no conscience and certainly feel no obligation to honest. If in fact you are the cultural face of this America in 2010, then America has traveled back in time, sophistication and intelligence. It is a sad story, and what becomes sad for me is I see right through you, and find no redeeming qualities. I just wish those as smart as me with the same compassion, with any inkling of conscience can become as verbal as your marauding morons and confront you and ask WHY. Why, Sister Sarah, WHY?

i started a joke

“I started a joke, which started the whole world crying, but I didn’t see that the joke was on me, oh no”, lyrics from the Bee Gee song I Started A Joke. Seems lots of jokes have been started by not so funny people who have left a whole lot of people crying, denying, lying, and anything but laughing. And unlike the lyrics those who have started the joke have yet to find out the joke was on them.

Since we have become a nation less concerned with truth and more occupied with 15 minutes of fame, less interested in fact and more mesmerized by fiction, quick to find a scapegoat, and slow to find consensus, jokes abound by sad sack losers who are surrounded by odor and smell claiming that the ill smelling fragrance is emanating from others and never from themselves. Point the finger away and then you never have to admit to your failings and failures.

In the 2004 Presidential race, the Swift Boat Veterans started a joke, penned by the Republican Party to smear the reputation of then Democratic candidate John Kerry. They stated without fact, but lots of conviction and a punch line or two that John Kerry exaggerated his service in Viet Nam and challenged the legitimacy of his combat medals. It was necessary to start the joke because the real joke at the time was the fact that George W. Bush had no military experience. Point the fingers away from the fact; fantasize the fiction loud enough and the joke will succeed. The punch line to this joke was 4 more years of George Bush.

“Weapons of Mass Destruction” as declared by George Bush, was a good reason to invade Iraq. The President and his band of joke writers like Karl Rove decided to land a lollapalooza of a joke on the US and the world, and claim any second any minute the United States would be the target of a barrage of weapons of mass destruction. Georgie Bush plans a war, then finds a reason for the war, place a laugh track throughout the war and the joke becomes hilarious. Who dies laughing, about 4000 American soldiers and over 100,000 Iraqi’s. The Republican Party stood behind the joke never once questioning the validity of the claims and those who even hinted at the legitimacy of weapons of mass destruction were called traitors, enemies of the state.

Those who are unemployed are jobless because of the ease at which they receive unemployment benefits. Ask Orrin Hatch, Republican Senator of Utah. He has been in the Senate for over 30 years receives his socialized health insurance from the government, lobbyist money from big corporations and a pat on the back from the Church of Latter Day Saints. He has led the Republican jokesters claiming that unemployed men and women in this nation are lazy, they prefer receiving their average of $300 unemployment checks then find a job, and damn it to hell there are more jobs out there for those really willing to work. He and his cohorts had until yesterday blocked the massive group of Americans, (unemployed primarily by the bad politics of the Republican dominated politicians during their reign of power for the 8 years of the Bush/Cheney dictatorship) from receiving any measly remuneration to pay even a part of their bills. The joke was a laugh riot spun by wealthy Republicans who have no idea of conscience or civility.

And the latest joke to cause guffaws and giggles is the joke about the black lady who hates whites. Not only does she hate whites, but she works for the Federal Government which has a black President (her ultimate boss), and she spoke at the NAACP which was organized not to protect the rights of blacks in this country but to spew hatred and bigotry against whites. My belly aches from laughter as I write this!

Seems rightwing Tea Bagger compatriot Andrew Breitbart thought the joke was on the Tea Bagger Brigade when they were accused by the NAACP as being a racist group of people. Pictures of President Obama in African attire a noose around the black man’s neck, spitting at members of the Black Caucus were just some of the examples provided to make the point. So Mr. Breitbart started the joke claiming that Shirley Sherrod was indeed the bigot and that she and the NAACP were racially profiling the whites in this country. At the root of the joke Mr. Breitbart started was a video tape spliced, altered and incomplete. He had a joke to tell and if he had to show the video in its entirety with the truth it would have taken too long to get to the punch line and even then there would be nothing funny about it. Not one to require the truth, the vultures at FOX News aired the misinformation and laughed all the way to the bank. And the big ‘gotcha moment of this joke was when both the White House and the NAACP laughed so hard they fired and admonished Ms Sherrod in tandem with the other fools who found fact to be mere fiction.

There is nothing funny in any of the jokes written, orchestrated, organized or arranged by the comedy writers of the Republican Party’s Right Wing/Tea Bag/Neo Con/Fundamentalist/Anti Democracy gang of hoodlums. There is no humor when truth is absent and the fact is baseless. There is no ha-ha moment when lies abound to disguise loathing. The jokes started are harmful and the results hideous and horrifying.

Seems too many people end up crying from the jokes started by those who have little sense of humor but a great deal of evil.

a palin nation

A Palin Nation! Yep if you read the headlines close enough and look at the score sheet of all the Tea Bagger Politicians winning the Republican primary nominations, it seems that the Palin Nation is emerging as fast as the trees planted by Johnny Appleseed. A Palin Nation, a place where fact is not important, hate reigns supreme, talking out of both sides of your mouth the norm, and perceived differences are the cause de jour, and never finding common ground the goal.

I amaze that the dumb are smarter than the intelligent when it comes to politics in this country. I amaze that truth, counts less than lies, that facts can be fictionalized, that insincerity is queen and that history is best remembered when it is stepped upon and dragged through the ringer.

I do not snicker at the antics of Palin and her cast of ghost writers finding fault with anything that hints of conscience and soul. I do not guffaw and giggle at the infinitesimal errors of fact spewed and sinisterly dismissed. I do not laugh at the twisting of audio and video of Palin lying while her compatriots swear her enemies contorted and confused the event. I do not roll my eyes in disbelief as Palin pontificates from the lofty domain of her Ivory Tower never once having to answer for her antics. I instead worry and wonder is this becoming a Palin Nation?

I amaze that the lemming is lead to the cliff encouraged to jump to the bottomless pit and not once asks why. I amaze that 8 years of greed, gluttony, selfishness, insincerity provided by the ruling class Republicans, at the time, under the Bush/Cheney dictatorship are seen as blips on the horizon. I amaze that change which had a chance for a comeback has come and gone, and many people want to chance the same pack of blood sucking corporations, self serving politicians, to ruin the nation for 8 more years.

A Palin Nation, imagine if all the candidates Sister Sarah backed win their nomination to Federal office. Image if all the anti this and anti that crowd vote on laws to create separate but equal, closing the gap on Church/ State separation, no rules or regulations for the Health Insurance Cartel, the Oil Cartel, the Finance Cartel. Imagine a society where carrying a gun usurps going to the voting poll if you want change made?

A Palin Nation like a bad dream except that you are not sleeping. A Palin Nation where fair and just are replaced by just for me, a Palin Nation pale in comparison to anything great. A Palin Nation where mediocre and less than are the motivators, where riches trickle up and poverty trickles down.

Come on anyone out there who finds reason and rational real. Come on anyone out there who seeks honesty and humble. Come on anyone out there who knows this nation is much more than the consequences of a Palin Nation. Come on and become verbal, vocal, proactive, cause we have a whole lot at stake if we remain quiet.

A Palin Nation do we deserve this?

whats love got to do with it?

"Whats love got to do, got to do with it? Whats love but a second hand emotion..." Lyrics by Tina Turner, 'Whats Love Got To Do With It laments the fact that all love is, IS a second hand emotion, and sarcastically just a thorn in the side of a relationship.

I was lucky enough to have spent the past week in Provincetown with Joe, a place made from magic surrounded by promise, and covered with delight, desire and dreams. It is a mecca for Gay and Lesbians, and a sanctuary for heterosexuals who want to find a common denominator in this life rather than differences and distance.

While I was walking Commercial Street, traveling the rocky walls of the breakwater, absorbing the Provincetown dusk's and changing hues of the sky and water, there were dozens of wedding ceremonies taking place and newly wed couples embracing a newly wed bliss in one of the few states that believes in equality not separate but equal.

I am a news junkie, believing the more I know the better prepared I am to defend what I find to be true and fair, but decided that on this vacation less is better and less angst is best. So I distanced myself from most forms of manufactured noise from FOX, wishy washy less factual but pontificated self promotion of CNN, and editorials from MSNBC. No New York Times, Huffington Post, NPR, Newsweek or Time I managed to ween myself from the dangly tentacles of journalists and entertainers who many times misrepresent the news and try to recreate the news in their image.

But somehow, like the oil leak in the Gulf, no matter what attempts are made to cap the flow, news leaked out and I being so aware of issues and events listened and let the residue seep into my head and heart.

Lots of news flying around about the Defense of Marriage Act, the prospects of over turning Prop 8 in California, the attempt of the save our marriage folk to take away freedoms of marriage in those states that have come to terms with equality. Lots of arguments as to the merits of same sex marriage and the evils of same sex marriage.

And in most of the arguments from those who want to save the Institution of Marriage from the clutches of the LGBT community never once spoken is the fact that marriage is about love. The religious zealots will shout its about procreation, the fearful heterosexuals will just scream its not natural, the bigoted self loathing lemmings will cry its for the children, but no one admits that marriage should be about love. Whats love got to do with it?"

For anyone fortunate enough to walk hand in hand with their partner, their soul mate, their lover, their spouse, down the busy boulevard of Commercial Street in Provincetown, the answer to the question of whats love got to do with it, would easily be answered.

Love has a lot to do with it, it being marriage. Love IS the powerful variable that makes a marriage real, legit, and for those who believe in God, a blessing God has bestowed on his creation. It is all about love, and if anyone needs clarification about who should or should not be permitted to marry they should base it on one man loving one man, one woman loving one woman, one man loving one woman, one woman loving one man.

How wonderful if the pro and con rhetoric about who can or should marry one another removed all of the bias, bigotry, vitriolic and venom and faced the facts fresh on and forced the question of what does love have to do with it?

I am back in LA and still see the couples, (in Provincetown) heterosexual and homosexual walking arm in arm, hand in hand, heart to heart, loving each other. And damn if that is not what marriage is all about then what?

"Whats love got to, got do with it..." for those who truly know love and have experienced it a whole damn lot.

show me the money, again

Show me the money...yeah, yeah, yeah famous quote from the movie Jerry Maguire, nothing in return till the money is in hand. Talk, talk, talk about the injustices of this country, but talk is cheap until the money shows up then some kind of action is sure to follow. Tell the bigoted brigades of Tea Baggers that you are one of them, and you feel their pain, but you will only feel their pain if they hand over a few hundred thousands of Benjamin Franklin's; so says Sister Sarah Palin as she demands at least $100,000 to ward off the evil spirits from the less fortunate. Tell the fearful Fox followers that Communism and socialism are running rampant in this country and to find the cure for this communist conspiracy pay me the money, only $79.95, and I will give you the anti venom to fight the boggy man so shouts from any soapbox available Glenn Beck.

We'll show you the money, say the oil cartel CEO's, to the Republican politicians, as long as you misinform the public about the lack of rules and regulations of off shore drilling. We'll show you the money as long as you make us the priority and not the environment, or the welfare of people of the Gulf. We'll show you the money if you can lie, fabricate the truth and convince the dumbest of the dumb that anything right for their lives is an anti American plot.

We'll show you the money if you are Lebron James, Alex Rodriguez, Eli Manning, Harrison Ford, Larry Ellison. Playing basketball, baseball, football, acting or being a CEO is much more a priority than being a teacher or a social worker. We will cut teachers and increase classroom size, cut back any social services, and certainly stop unemployment payments because after all they just don't market well nor sell tickets. Its all for the children but saying it is much more affordable then living it. And after all the children can spend their money at a sporting event, movie theater or consuming something or other. School is such a drag.

Funny how money speaks in the nation. It speaks from the pulpits of mega churches as the ministers open their hands for more money for their edifices while closing their hands to the poor. Funny how money speaks as the Catholic Church closes parishes or claims innocence in pedophilia cases so as not to spend any of their own money to help uphold justice. Funny how the museums of the Vatican are never depleted or used to assist those in poverty or need. Funny how the Church of Latter Day Saints tithes their followers and uses the money to fight marriage equality. Funny how money speaks for religion but is usually a one way conversation with all the money going to the Church and not the people.

Show me the money and you buy your one way ticket to a cruise with the devil. And so many people are so willing to fork up, give away, hand over the money. And all they get is a deed to the Brooklyn Bridge or maybe some trinkets for the Island of Manhattan.

Show me the money, and one by one the lemmings line up to do so. God Bless America!

vote 'dem bums out

So you wanna vote 'dem bums out and vote in who now?????

Today on NPR, the radio journalist had an interview with both a Republican and Democratic Congressman from California. The purpose of the interview was to have each member of the House discuss issues relevant to the listeners of California and perhaps some of the constituents of each Representative.

The radio hostess said she would throw out the first question regarding unemployment. She asked if it was a form of grandstanding on behalf of the Republican elected officials in Washington, not pass a bill continuing unemployment benefits. She mentioned this at least the second time that the Republicans have not been extended these benefits. And while this was taking place what was happening was an increase in those unemployed.

The Republican Congressman, was first to speak, and in a matter of minutes made it very clear as to why there is delay in extending unemployment benefits now and perhaps ever. He said that unemployment benefits are negative motivators for those who receive these checks from the government to find work. He recited some made up survey saying that once you receive unemployment checks you find less and less reason to begin the process of seeking employment. In California the average check for unemployment is about $375. So according to this Congressman from California, defending the Republican political leaderships decision to fight extending benefits for the unemployed, the reason lies in lazy people lounging around with a $375 check.

When the radio hostess asked about the origins of this current unemployment she asked if any of the current problems (of unemployment) arose from some budgeting goals (tax cuts for the wealthy, less regulations in the Finance markets) of the Bush/Cheney 8 year administration and the control of both houses by the Republicans. The Republican Congressman dismissed that as Democratic excuses for Obama's/majority of Dems in Congress failures in leadership , and that harping on the past will get us no where fast.

When asked how to get jobs for the current unemployed, so they will not lazily linger in their living rooms with their $375 unemployment checks, the answer given was the no answer which was elect us and you will see the difference.

The unemployment problem is not the Republicans fault, nope years of tax cuts, less regulations, corporate greed, happened just like sh*t happens. Get off of your sofa's and FIND a job. Re-elect us and if you liked what we did to you for 8 years, we certainly will delight you with more.

Sharon Angle, the Tea Bag/Republican/Christian candidate for senator in Nevada held one of her, for the conservatives only interviews. She was asked by a call- in listener about how this government has bullied BP, and created a slush fund for all the democrats to spend more money, some on the clean up but most for special projects. The radio host asked Sharon Angle how she felt about the slush fund. In a matter of seconds Sharon Angle agreed that the slush fund was unfair to BP, that corporations are people too, that the President was playing petty politics with BP and that the slush fund was unfair to BP. Then Sharon Angle Tea Party delight and favorite of two timing Sarah Palin was asked about abortion. A caller has wondered on Sharon's opinion of the justification of an abortion in the case of incest or being raped by an intruder a criminal entering your bedroom. Ms, I speak for the Christian Jesus, said, being a Christian good has his plans for all of us, and God is always wanting us to make lemon aide out of lemons. And in God's plan no matter what the reason for a woman becoming pregnant she should keep the baby. A woman's rights no matter how unjust or unfair or inhumane the reason are restricted when she becomes pregnant, whether it be by her father, her brother, a rapist, a murderer.

Of course we still live in a real world (where not only those whose holy Bible is FOX News or Evangelical Christian Right wing radio) where others get a whiff of quotes and commentary of those running for office, and news of Sharon Angel's love affair with BP and men of incest was reported.

In true Republican nature, learned from the likes of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Mark Sanford, Michael Steele, Sharon Angle's handlers vehemently protested that Ms Angles words were taken out of context and misconstrued. Her exact words on tape were no longer fact They became here say when repeated by those other than crazy conservatives, and of course were taken out of context. Her handlers rewrote the definitions of her interview, and hoping as they always do, most of the lemmings would not believe the lies of the liberals.

Perhaps in the world of the Tea Bagger/Republican, real and factual mean little, and what is recorded can be interpreted as distorted even if what is recorded is both on audio and video. When speaking to the hard core, I care less for others and only want what is good for me Tea Bag Brigadiers, true bigoted and biased policy is shared and like manure is dug deep into the foundations of those who like to hate.

So all of you out there disappointed in the Democrats, all of you Independents who are tired of the perceived quagmire and quicksand, do you really want to vote in those who for 8 years dug our grave? Do you want to vote into office the same men and women so they can now throw the dirt on the graves they once dug?

You like Big Business, Corporations, a Christian nation, greed, gluttony, tax breaks for the upper class, the disbanding of unions, no fair wages, no abortions no matter the reason, wars declared because of oil, less regulations on the environment? Vote 'dem bum out and who the hell are you voting in?

try them again!!!!!!

"Try us again for the first time", a commercial for Kellogg's Corn Flakes, extolling the wonders of a childhood memory once had and when had again will seem like something new. "Don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain", a quote from the movie the Wizard of Oz as the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy and the Tin Man discover strange activity as the great Wizard is lying about their future. "when the truth is found to be lies, an all the joy within you dies..." lyrics from the Jefferson Airplanes song "Somebody to Love" sung for hopeless people looking for one more chance.

All of the above, sadly the new wave of lies, deception, mis-truths, instilling of amnesia by the Republican/Tea Bag/ Aryan Nation/ Neo Con/Federalist political propaganda party.

Seems with the rewriting of history by the likes of Glenn Beck, Sister Sarah Palin, John McCain, Michael Steele, Orrin Hatch, Rush Limbaugh and the entire unprofessional jokers and jerks on FOX News, the past 8 years of the Bush/Cheney Dictatorship, the no regulations or rules for corporations of the Republican majority in Congress, the feed the rich caviar and champagne and let the poor eat cake, Family Values are for families like us, white rich and Christian the GOP is asking America to try them again for the first time.

Seems the Bush tax cuts for the rich which never trickled down but trickled up to the bank accounts of the rich, the declaration of war in Iraq even though the real enemies of 9/11 came from Afghanistan, the quiet yet special energy plan Cheney had CEO's of the oil cartel carve out, the outing of Valerie Plame, the late and useless assistance to the black folks in New Orleans during Katrina; seems all of that is to be fodder swept into the ground. Trying the Republicans once again, would make things taste better after all these past two years have grown sour, what with this democratic President trying to fix insurmountable situations left in his lap. Seems those who remember the short history of this country and dwell on that are just delusional dummies, and those who empty their brain of any and all atrocities brought upon this nation by selfish self serving hypocrites are the ones who count.

Don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain, has the Republican spin machine touting old stars of hate like Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, Karl Rove, Tom DeLay coming out of the crevices and wormwood of the woodwork to resell their bigoted and biased bull shit, based on fabrications of history, falsehoods of fact, and fear and loathing of some perceived enemy that does not look the color of YOUR skin, does not pray to the God YOU pray to and does not make love the way YOU do. Promises abound from the man behind the curtain, but don't ask him questions like how and why, and why didn't you do that when you had the chance.

When the truth is found to be lies, an all the joy within you dies... a perfect lullaby for those who self victimize, feeling jilted because of other peoples behaviors...an anthem of loathing at other peoples advancements at the cost of their own created failures... a chorus of venom sung as the we scapegoat anyone who is intelligent, compassionate, fair and just. It's a lyric that the Republican liars shout so loud inside the empty brains of those lemming like losers, that no truth will ever be found and the only joy resonating will be the joy of repeating history at the cost of those who know no better.

Sure we all want to vote those bums out. Sure both political party candidates are more full of self than service, BUT really, go back to the previous 8 years of Republican rule???!!! (Tea Baggers by any other name are Republicans).

Who are those people out there who think that the past never happened? Who are those Independent voters who forgot about the two wars, the recession, the cavalier corporate charades, the chipping away of the Constitution?

Try them again for the first time... YOU HAVE GOT BE KIDDING!.....NEVER AGAIN America...NEVER

another bigoted cop out

Once again, the human rights, the civil rights, the American rights of the LGBT community are being politicized and bandied about by elected officials as really nothing more than a sub culture of individuals wanting more than they deserve.

Waiting till the last day, to veto a bill that would allow the LGBT citizens in Hawaii to gain the status of civil unions and the same status as married couples have in that state, Republican Governor Linda Lingle, said the issue of stopping separate but equal is so BIG that the voters of the state of Hawaii should take it upon themselves in the voting booths to decide its merits.

The Governor expressed concern for the heterosexuals in her state saying this right is too BIG for just one person or one legislature to decide. Her voice fake with empathy and lacking any sympathy quivered she did not say why she waited till the last minute in denying equal rights to a minority of citizens in her state.

Hmmm dear (this is an issue for the majority to decide) Governor Linda Lingle if the Congress did not pass the Women's Suffrage Amendment, Amendment 19, wonder what the fate of womens rights in this country would look like? If your uncommon sense of the voters need to decide was decided by the male voters of this nation way back in 1919, all of whom were preached to by their religious leaders that the sooner women gain any rights the value and concept of family would never be the same), the then male dominated society, the majority of the voting population were sure it would be better to keep the women as chattel, pregnant and home bound. Where might you be?

Wonder if we let the voters decide on a national religion instead of the government in 1776. You are a Jewish woman wonder if the Evangelicals, the Baptists, the Protestants would vote that Jewish is the religion of America? Your family might be hiding in the back of a building praying to a God considered pagan.

Wonder what this nation would look like Governor Linda Lingle if the Civil Rights act did not become law? Would we still allow the lowly African blacks in our society the same rights as the superior European whites? Or based on the belief that slavery was the right of the majority of white voters in this country a two class society was right as rain. God's rain that is!

Wonder how many couples whose marriage is interracial would not be together had the Government not intervened in the guise of the Supreme Court in Loving V. Virginia when they declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute voted on by the white majority to be unconstitutional? When they (the Supreme Court decided the voters in Virginia who voted for the racial Integrity Act were selfishly denying a group of Americans justice.

Women's Suffrage, Civil Rights, Interracial Marriage, Division of Church and state were all laws put in place to protect a minority from the bigotry, ignorance, religious dogma of the majority. None of those laws would have passed all of the states and perhaps any of the states had the Government not taken a stand against intolerance, racism, sexism.

Is it politics Governor Linda Lingle? Are you playing by the Karl Rove Republican handbook of divide and conquer, we versus they, call upon the bias of religion to demonize the devil? Or are you just a homophobe afraid of a minority population based on nothing but your lack of education, lack of true morals and lack of ethics?

If you can sleep well, look at yourself in the mirror, then dear Governor Linda Lingle your parents raised you with no conscience, and as heterosexual parents they failed you miserably.

one man one woman

There seems to be a moral outrage, led by the self described evangelical, (take the Bible literally when it proves one of their misled bigoted lies) religious right that states a marriage is defined as one man and one woman. The Church of Latter Day Saints has quietly partitioned its membership (seems if they so vehemently hate same sex marriage they should not sneak about denying it) to add to the Institution of Marriage that the purpose of one man one woman is to make sure the human race procreates and lives on and on and on, OR until they die and find a celestial planet to call their own. The Catholic Church, when not ignoring priests who molest boys and girls or priests who steal from the coffers of the poor to support their lavish life style, add that the moral fiber of family would be the ethics and morals presented by one man and one woman. The ultra Orthodox Jews would rather exile their offspring who say they love someone of the same sex and want to marry them, and the hard core Muslims will just stone anyone of the same sex who wants to hold hands let alone marry.

Those who so soundly say they speak for God or state they are the inheritors of the correct translation and meaning of their particular Holy Books, seem to honor a God with quite the many negative human traits. Where as we are told we are created in God’s image by the Rabbi’s, Priests, Ministers, Imam’s, Church Elders, it seems that those ( who tell us from their Ivory Tower) they are following God’s laws seem to have juxtaposed the calculation and almost want us to believe God now appears in their image, speaking in their tongues.

And along with saving the Institution of Marriage for he and she, no matter he may be a criminal, she may have no parenting skills, or they may make babies but do make a home for the babies, those who speak from both sides of their mouth disguising homophobia for religious zeal, always add whatever they are doing, they are doing it for the children.

But somehow the act of saying it is for the children, to avoid saying we hate Gays, is usually done from the protection of soap boxes, pulpits, mosques, synagogues, churches and political rallies. The words reach a crescendo, those in attendance don’t have to call their bigotry hate and life of separate but equal can flourish in America. Those who spew hate in God’s name, who recite no fact but fancy foibles and fables pat themselves on the back and once the applause dies down, the children whom we are suppodedly doing it all for are once again done in by mere words and no actions.

Marriage between one man and one woman, uh huh… they marry, the father or mother is abusive… the parents commit adultery…they marry not out of love but out of duty towards their church and the expectations of their family…one man and one woman!

Kids are orphaned wanting to find a second chance in a new home made of loving parents. The churches scream keep the kids in foster homes rather than place them in the den of the Gay or Lesbian devil. Let them stay in a foster home which many times has little love but receives money to board the kids. Let them suffer because the loving adults may be two men or two women who want to care for and take care of the kids.

Marriage between one man and one woman, uh huh…has anyone looked at the home life of kids who grow up to be in gangs? Many come from the homes of one man one woman, and because of the lack of morals or values, poverty, un-involvement in their kids life, the kids of one man and one woman grow up to kill, sell drugs, prostitute their bodies. In the city of Los Angeles alone, gangs have wrecked havoc killing innocent kids, terrorizing communities. No one from the religious pompous self righteous really wants to delve into saving those kids.

And it’s for the kids, uh huh…the first budgets to be cut anytime good years and years of recession is the education budget. Public schools seem to be the target of the conservatives who seem to look the away from large classrooms, less nutrition programs, no extra curricular activities, less pay for teachers. The older the one man one woman couple gets, the less involved they want their taxes to fund the children of younger one man one woman couples.

Marriage between one man and one woman, uh huh…no hue and cry or public protest when divorce happens, no hue and cry when politicians are caught cheating while married, no pounding on the Bibles when politicians demonstrate infidelity as long as they also demonstrate their bias and bigotries for the LGBT community. Somehow the children of the adulterer, the people who practice infidelity, who never demonstrate love at home are okay because they are heterosexuals.

If only those who hate could be honest about why they hate and who they hate. If only those who think (because their voice is louder than most) they are closer to God and can interpret his/her words into human failings would have the guts to say they speak for no one but themselves. If only the hype of hate would be found out to be the hypocrisy it is… then perhaps we all could find a common denominator and try to solve the problem we as humans have created.

Isn’t it about time we begin to heal the sores that tear us apart? One man one woman uh huh!

soon the 4th

The US Constitution was ratified in 1788. The first 10 amendments to the Constitution were called the Bill of Rights. The Constitution was written for "...We The People.." All facts, all archived by historians all a part of the origins of the American experience.

The founding fathers wanted to create a nation based on Christian -Judeo ethics, but a nation which had no allegiance to any formalized governmental religion. And the bearers of our Constitution wanted freedom for those who were religious and freedom for those who were not followers of any religion at all. They wanted to create a nation which embraced God, but which also knew that some saw the Divine in nature, as natural and as nothing at all.

At the time of the creation of the United States of America, the founding fathers had no fondness for the rights of women. In fact women were chattel, property of men, and were necessary for bearing children, maintaining the home, while the man was fighting a war, fending off wild beasts, or farming the fields.

Slavery was a necessary cog in the economy of this new country and the Constitution had no favor for the Black man nor any fervor to abolish the owning of another human who just happened not to be white. It seemed natural to the founding fathers that slavery was not inhuman because after all it was only beast like people from a continent far away who were enslaved and indentured.

The need for a militia, the right to bare arms was, a matter of common sense to the early pioneers of this nation. There was always an enemy lurking in the brush, like the British, a wild beast, the Indian, and anyone brazen enough to try and take the homestead from the home owner. Skirmishes were abundant throughout the infancy of the building of America, and next to a Bible, the cedar chest, the logs for the cabin was a rifle. God created life and God created the rifle so any man could take a life not thought of as legit as one's own.

And marriage, well it was not identified as one between one man and one woman, nope it was a condition that morphed into the necessity of the day. For some it was the union of a 14 year old female and a 30 year old man. Move west and it was between one man and as many females as he needed to sooth his ego and strike his fancy. It was to attain dowry, material goods to build a dynasty.

Since the creation of the Bill of Rights and its 10 amendments, this nation has seen an addition of 17 more bringing the total of amendments to the US Constitution to 27. Since the creation of the Bill of Rights this nation has struggled with and realized that women were not the property of men; that the dignity of females was inherent in the democracy of this nation. Since the creation of the Bill of Rights, this nation finally came to its human senses and understood no matter the color of one's skin or the origin of ones birth place all men and women are and should be created equal. It took too much time but even minded, smart people realized that slavery was not a human right nor a civil right. Since the creation of the Bill of Rights, many people have realized that militias in a democracy are not necessary. Gun ownership comes with responsibility and respect and many of those Americans owning guns have little respect for the rights of others. Since the creation of the Bill of Rights, marriage has changed its definition and dowries and ownership of the wife are not relevant nor reasonable. And marriage is not a holy matrimony that lasts a life time and that one man and one woman do not remain one man and one woman wed for a life time.

But as this 4th of July approaches in the year 2010, there is a new revival of those who disguise their hate, their bigotry, their lack of education as patriotism and they insist that we have abandoned the 'real Constitution'. They insist on a revisionist view of history based not on facts, but on foibles and fables encouraged and enforced by a group of leaders who only love when the lemming follows and asks little question.

The Tea Baggers, the Federalists, the John Birchers, the Arayan Nationalists, the Neo-Cons all lavish and linger in an America that never existed in history but one that hysterically denies rights to those deemed unAmerican. These groups who seem to parade in red white and blue, who demand English only, white only, nothing for the poor, no big government, no taxes, no regulations or rules, no difference between church and state remember an America that never was but that should exist because they are fearful of truth and fairness, fearful of equality for all. For these groups America has strict definitions, and to create the America they want they will redefine the Constitution any way they can.

We will be celebrating the 4th of July in two days. For the time being we are still a democracy. Given the amnesia, the animosity, the egregious arrogance of those who call themselves Republican politicians who demand little truth and a whole lot of lies, will this be the last 4th we celebrate as "We The People..."? I wonder.

i want to know...

I want to know…

Where are the ever ready to eradicate evil, Evangelicals, or the Bible thumping blasphemous bashing Baptists, or the crusading Cardinals of the Catholic Church, or the mind someone else’s marriage Mormons when it comes to the rape of the ocean by BP? Where are the holier than thou crowd who speak in tongues saying they can interpret God’s plan for humans, while the birds, fish, dolphins, turtles and whales are inhaling gobs of goo and gunk gasping for breath, as the oil is spilling mercilessly in the Gulf?

Where is the Family values brigade while volumes of families in the Gulf go unemployed, become disillusioned, tread through the mire and mix of dead fish on the shores, dead income to pay the bills, dead desires drowning in front of their faces? Where is the hue and cry, ‘its for the children’ when the land and water the children know grow black with tar, grow poisoned by sludge, grow dead from too much self indulgence and gluttony of a society that seems to forget the children while they make profits?

Where is the quoting of scripture, so widely used to cast aspersions to Gays, Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, by self proclaimed good Christians, in calling the abuse, the disrespect, the RAPE of God’s creation, the land and the sea a sin, sinful and shameful? Where is chapter and verse from the New and Old Testament so widely used and abused to prove some human point based on some vengeful misunderstood God’s plan for the Earth, while the Gulf is tossing and turning in torment? Where is the OUTRAGE by the collection of Christian soldiers ready to interfere in loves, lives, births, deaths, morals and ethics of everyone deemed a devils disciple, while the real devil is doing his best to make the ocean die?

I want to know why those who seem to think they have God’s tongue are silent while this crisis in the Gulf continues. I want to know why those who seem to think they can speak for God and translate his will, will not shout, scream and say ENOUGH of this decimation in the Gulf. I want to know why those who are certain God hates Gays, or Muslims, or Blacks, or Agnostics, or Democrats, or Immigrants or Poor, or Unemployed don’t protest, place their Bibles to the heavens, rant and rave against unchecked pollution, unchecked energy policies, unchecked rules and regulations for corporations and say this is not God’s plan!

I just want to know!