The soul has greater need of the ideal than the real for it is by the real that we exist, it is by the ideal that we live

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Fearing fall

Fall, autumn, whatever you prefer to call it may be a prophetic term this year. Fall may be exactly what the Democrats experience. I see today that the Tea Party, that newly founded bastion of conservative nuts who embrace the likes of Sarah Palin is about to begin an assault on American Politics that I think will truly embody the spirit of that ridiculous term, Shock and Awe.

With all the retirements, deaths, and those not seeking re-election for Congress everything is up for grabs. I have to wonder if the Democrats who ran out in huge numbers to vote for Obama will be there to keep the party in power. The only other option we've got right now is not viable for those of us who believe in social programs and taking care of each other. So unless we can get a new political party together and well-supported in less than a year we're talking the Democrats again. We'd better get started on rolling out the vote. Those preachers and reverends and priests who sent their faithful out to vote for Obama better warm up those pulpits for another election. Otherwise we're in for it for the remainder of Obama's one and only term. The Republican party wants power back badly, and the Tea Party wants it even more. I doubt the Democrats are prepared.

I'm joining other gay blogs today in a blogswarm to get the readership to call the HRC to demand that they demand that Obama demand the repeal of DADT this year. There is a significant lack of leadership on this issue and as we know, if we don't keep pressure on our "leaders" we'll never see any results. Obama said "Do this" and then went off to do something else, not minding what wasn't being done with his directive.

So contact the HRC, by phone email or snail mail and let them know how you feel.

HRC Front Desk: (202) 628-4160
TTY: (202) 216-1572
Toll-Free: (800) 777-4723

HRC website

I felt free to tell them that my dollars were looking for new homes since the democrats and HRC obviously couldn't deliver on their promises. Tell them what you wish.

I'm publishing this picture since there is often so much furor over desecrating the flag by burning or wearing as garments. Then there's this geezer in his flag shirt.

 
Is that candle plastic?  Was it made in China?

BBC News reporter Ray Gosling admitted last night on air that he killed a lover who was dying of AIDS.  An admission that was perhaps ill-considered.  We'll see what, if anything happens to him.
But the admission has lit up the comment boards of blogs. For my part I could have done it. If I had found myself in a position to end the suffering of a loved one I believe I would have done exactly what they wanted and ended their suffering. Should I find myself in a similar situation I hope someone has the courage and love to do the same for me.

It's  ironic that last night in a Boston Legal marathon on TVland that James Spader's character had occasion to address this very issue.  I'm paraphrasing but he said something to this effect:

"My best friend has Alzheimer's.  It hasn't begun to take him, at least not yet.  But when it does I believe that hell still have a long time to enjoy life, to fish, to smoke a cigar, to love.  The day will not come when he says to me, "This is the day I want to die." The day WILL come, he just won't know it.  It will be an unbearably painful thing for me but I know he trusts me to know when that day comes. But I will do it, because he trusts me to, and because it's my duty.  Some lives are taken too soon, others way too late." 

To love someone that much, or to be loved that much...wow.

I try not to comment on blogs since so many people out there seem to need their meds adjusted and have no other real source of entertainment except to post odd comments on blogs, but for this one I just couldn't keep quiet.   

Here's my response to the tirades calling for the imprisonment of this poor guy:

  "It is incumbent upon those of us who survived these last 25 years to educate those who came after about what it was like and that Gosling, I'm certain isn't alone in his guilt.
We neglected to do that job, therefore we get comments like "...but I have watched people I love succumb to cancer, spending their last few months in agonizing pain."
It's not the fault of those who weren't there, it's ours for not telling them about the horror. The responsibility for these comments is ours for not explaining what it's like to bury someone every week of every year for years on end.
Gosling, it's obvious, has been wracked with guilt for a long time, but his admission seems ill-considered.
There were 9 of us in my little circle of friends. I am the only one left. When that came to be I was 34. That was 18 years ago.
Live with that."


And so it goes:

 
Love cause it's all you got.