Thanks.

I was going to do a thanks list.

I was going to post a long missive about how lucky I am.

I was going to post some pictures of the Thanksgiving ride.

But in the end I decided that it's best if I just say thanks.

I am lucky, my life is pretty good,and though I could take the time to list all those things here, I'm choosing to go engage in them today, as many of the things that make me happy and thankful, as possible.

And in so doing I'll be saying thank you.

Be safe and well, and have a good Thanksgiving.

Love

Tuesday and I'm bored already

For my blogger friend Nick in Australia I thought I'd give a demonstration of what can happen when one takes a pottery class. And this is just one! There are boxes of these things everywhere.

You've been warned Nick.


You may have noticed that I don't comment much about tv here. That's because I don't watch much tv. Most of my friends are sporting wood over the new season of 24, and though I do adore Kiefer Sutherland, I doubt I'll watch. Since I've only seen like two episodes of 24 in my life I doubt it'll have much impact.

But I've noticed an increase in the number of cat video's on the internet recently and I felt compelled to jump aboard the pop culture bandwagon, at least for a little while.

Speaking of jumping aboard:

Roomba Driver @ Yahoo! Video

AND! My Hot Guy Friday post of NPH was propitious. Here he is in almost all his glory on How I Met Your Mother last night.






Bought the fixin's for Thanksgiving Dinner last night. What the fuck happened to the price of food???

I could have bought those tires I need instead and been much happier about my waist on Monday.

Update:

I'm including two links to Towleroad.com today. They've got an article on the residents of Silverton OR who ran the Westboro Baptists outta town. WooHoo!

And the second is about everybody's favorite alien, Tom Cruise. I can't think of anything funnier to add to what they said at Towleroad so here it is.

Hey! What about me?

James Franco is apparently kissing men all over the place.

Now I'm not above getting a little smooch from a youngster.



And God knows if he'd kiss David Letterman...well.

As you may have noticed I'm not feeling very serious this week. I'm free until next Monday so posts will be few and far between. I'm off to ride horses. Something I think I'll do every day, weather permitting.

I saw an installation of various pots with a similar shape that had all been glazed in shades of green. I might try something like that, sounds like fun this week.

God knows I've got nothing else to do.

Love

It's hot guy Friday!

Yes I know, it's almost cliche to like Neil Patrick Harris, but I can't help it. He seems so genuine and I'm always drawn to people who have a good time just being themselves. He seems to be one of those people we let get away with anything. He can be on Sesame Street one day, and the next talk to Howard Stern about him and husband Greg Burtka switching it up in the bedroom. Then appear as a pseudo-playa in How I Met Your Mother, the following Monday evening. Plus, as I am reminded, be Dr. Horrible, and appear in Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.

So, really how can you not like a guy who can be so comfortable in his skin. And who has such nice skin at that!

There's that rage again

I just read that the CEO's of the Big three automakers flew to D.C. in private jets to beg for money. In truth I'm not that enraged, because it's so fucking funny.

We're such dupes, and we elect the biggest boobs to represent us that it's laughable. Who, in their right mind, would agree to give money to someone who could easily afford a 20k flight to come and ask you for it?

Us.

I know the auto industry is one of the pillars of our economy. I know it needs overhauling. I know we won't do any of the things it needs doing because we just bailed out the banks and the mortgage industry and now we're going to fix the auto industry.

They can't sell us cars, so they're going to extort the funds out of us.

I drive an American car. I have driven one for 15 years. It is not by considered choice that I do so. It is rather that I drive my cars until they cannot be driven anymore and then get them as quickly as possible to the nearest dealership that will give me affordable payments.

I would have bought that Toyota I looked at if that dealer had been closer than the Dodge dealer was.

Even though my education, my home, and yes even my clothing and food were paid for as a child with American carmaker dollars, I still have no loyalty to them. They've screwed the American public time and again with their substandard shabby goods and then refused to back up their crappy work. They've screwed the American worker time and again by insisting they can't afford to pay the wages and benefits they've already agreed to thereby gaining concession after concession and all the while subjecting their workers to the minimum of safety and health requirements on the job.

In fact, I remember distinctly, a conversation my father had with my mother about a suggestion he was thinking of submitting regarding the design of the 1964 Thunderbird. He thought that since they were going to have the rectangular tail lights that it would be cool if they blinked in sequence toward the direction the car was turning.

After submitting the suggestion he received a notice from the company that though it was a thoughtful suggestion he wasn't allowed to submit design suggestions since he didn't work in design.

Now, I am the first to admit that the man is a bastard and though I will likely be denied the opportunity to see him in a box I will take some solace in the knowledge that I won't have to suffer him again.

But I'll let the car speak for itself here:



I'm certain the foreign carmakers have learned their trade from the creators of the model, and that though they may have other methods, that they're not markedly different. But ours invented the system, that now does not work, and they refuse to learn to change, and furthermore they expect us to pay for it again.

Kinda nervy, don't you think?

We'll save them just like we saved the banks, and we'll pay for it, and we won't be able to fulfill a lot of the dreams some guy put in our heads because of it. And the Republicans will have won another one.

Oh! I meant to mention something my brother said last weekend.

But first, let me qualify this mean-spirited little missive by saying I love my brother. He stood up when it counted and taught me that not only are things that have been done to me wrong, but that I do have worth and value as a human being, and he gave me back my self-confidence when I had the slightest grasp on it.

However!

Saturday I was talking to him on the phone while browsing through the headlines on MSNBC.com, and while he was talking I blurted out 53,000 LAYOFFS AT CITIGROUP! HOLY SHIT!

And he said, "Yeah, can you believe it? And they're going to blame Bush for the whole thing!"

With wisdom I didn't even know I possessed, I changed the subject.

Just for fun

Oh! How I wish I could be in that receiving line.

Prestidigitation

One of my visitors in the past 24 hours came here by conducting a search for Cooper's Corridor.

Now, I've no intention of dredging up blogosphere crackpots and their exploits. It really was a shame that Cooper didn't exist, and i prefer to think that he does, in some form, just not the great image we'd all bought from Jo the crazy.

But it made me wonder how and why someone would go to the trouble of creating a fake persona to present to the blogosphere, and the world. That can't be easy.

Sometimes, like maybe today, I find it difficult to come up with the energy, the interest, the rage, whatever it takes that day, to come up with a post. I can't imagine the amount of time it might take to find a ready-made post that could even conceivably be used as one's own. That person needs a job.

I will say that I have had my share of run ins with the internet crazies. I've had comments that were so deluded as to be nonsensical, I've had others take my emails and post them in an effort to hold me to public ridicule, they, of course knew nothing of my "family" so their attempt at ridicule fell totally flat. But there is an element of protection one must always keep in mind when talking about personal stuff on the internet. That very same person accused me of hiding behind a computer. They're obviously so crazy as not to need to fear anyone or anything.

I do tell personal stories, but I usually change names or just use initials or refer to people with pronouns etc.

I started out with my real identity on my profile, and after reading about others experience with such honesty I went back and changed some details, omitted others and left what I thought I safely could.

I re-read some of the comments left on Joe My God about Cooper's Corridor and thought to myself that it must be pretty easy to get caught up in a blogosphere existence. If one has the time.

I choose to go outside everyday and live my life. You know, like interacting with...people...and stuff.

I'm quickly coming on the season I like best, the holidays, when I get a break from virtually everything. Next week is mine, and then two weeks at Christmas. I'll lay about, read a lot, ride a lot and probably make some pots. There'll be some socializing, it IS the holidays after all, and I'm staying in town this year.

I'm feeling some guilt about not being involved in activism locally so I might...and I say might put out some feelers in that area, we'll see. If it's still the same old people, doing the same old thing, or worse yet, new ones doing the same old thing, I may just pass and let the youngsters carry on. I'd like to get involved again though, I think I still have things to contribute.

Oddly, there I feel I can drop my anonymity and be an identifiable voice. Sad that the blogosphere can't provide that.

Where are we going?

Are we headed for a race war?

Are we so blind that we'd rather divide ourselves and fall than see that it doesn't matter who voted for Prop 8 and the other three hate amendments around the country?

Are we so unfocused in our rage that we'd rather look for someone to blame than to set about using constructive ways of getting back our civil rights. And by that I DO NOT mean we should subscribe to that asshole Solomnese's methods of "being nice."

Rather I mean that we should stand up, be counted, not allow anyone to trample on our rights. Which, yes means that we will have to be outspoken and take risks in an already risky world. We may lose jobs, we may lose position, we may lose "friends."

But these are calculated risks one must take if we are EVER to be counted as equals in the eyes of the law.

This means just what I said, "in the eyes of the law," not the people. We will never be wholly accepted in the eyes of all the people, just ask any person of color.

I get the fact that our struggle is unique, that we haven't been forced to sit in the back of the bus, nor use separate facilities, etc, but we do have a struggle, and it's not really with a scourge like institutionalized racism.

It's with the scourge of Christianity.

I am constantly dumbfounded that many African Americans, who are normally sane, level-headed people would fall for a scam like organized religion. Particularly when that very scam is the primary mechanism that was used to maintain control over their enslaved ancestors! It makes no sense to me that people can rail against a system while at the same time embracing one of it's most basic and horrific tenets.

Last night I watched a co-worker wend her way in the back door for a job responsibility that she could have had if she'd just asked. But she felt compelled to play the race card, which was moot since there already is a racial mix in the job she's not getting any more money to do. Now, I get that it means something about self-respect and getting ahead. But where is the integrity if she had to force her way into it?

And where is our integrity if we have to come in the back door(no pun intended) to our equal rights?

Where do we then find the self-respect that we hold so dear, or at least should, if we hang our heads and then take whatever crumbs are offered by those who already have and enjoy their civil rights.

Europeans aren't exactly welcoming Americans with open arms when it comes to immigration, but it IS possible And I have to wonder if it's worth a try since the institutionalized discrimination created, and liberally enforced in this country by organized religion, would never be tolerated there.

The struggle for civil rights does not belong to one group of people. It doesn't belong to African-Americans, to Jews, to Muslims, to Women. It belongs to all of us!

It's not apparently our birthright though. Even though I'm a middle-aged, (ahem) white male I can be denied my civil rights just because of who I love. Because of who I love!

Does that make any sense?

Does it make any more sense than being denied my rights because of the color of my skin? Or because of who or what I worship?

I keep thinking of my personal position on cinema. That films that are violent shouldn't be as readily available as films that show graphic sex. That two sweaty people wrestling in a bed are much more appropriate viewing for ALL AGES than two sweaty people wrestling over a gun in an alley.

Christianity has everything to do with these "mores."

The imposition of the Hays Code on the motion picture industry is a perfect example.

The following are excerpts from the Wikipedia entry on Will Hays:

"Hays attempted to reduce studio costs (and improve the industry's image in general) by advising individual studios on how to produce movies to reduce the likelihood that the film would be cut. Each board kept its "standards" secret (if, indeed, they had any standardization at all), so Hays was forced to intuit what would or would not be permitted by each board. At first he applied what he called "The Formula" but it was not particularly successful. From that he developed a set of guidelines he called "The Don'ts and Be Carefuls." In general his efforts at pre-release self-censorship were unsuccessful in quieting calls for federal censorship...

Ironically, Catholic bishops and lay people tended to be leery of federal censorship and favored the Hays approach of self-censorship; these included the outspoken Catholic layman Martin Quigley, publisher of Exhibitors Herald-World (a trade magazine for independent exhibitors). For several months in 1929, Martin Quigley, Joseph Breen, Father Daniel A. Lord S.J., Father FitzGeorge Dinneen S.J., and Father Wilfred Parsons (editor of Catholic publication America) discussed the desirability of a new and more stringent code of behavior for the movies. With the blessing of Cardinal George W. Mundelein of Chicago, Father Lord authored the code, which later became known as "The Production Code", "The Code", and "The Hays Code". It was presented to Will Hays in 1930 who said, "My eyes nearly popped out when I read it. This was the very thing I had been looking for."

Now just exactly who was it that wrote the Hays Code? Why it was those hypocrites from the Catholic Church of course. I recall a copy of this being posted prominently in the library of my elementary school in the early 60's. I also remember thinking then that it made no sense to me.

So let's not let religion, race, nationality, immigration status, nor any other thing divide us. Let's stand up and say that civil rights are for ALL PEOPLE, regardless, and put no further qualification on it. Let's put religion back where it belongs, in the hearts and minds of people who want to learn to love and include all of their human brothers and sisters in their lives. Who want to embrace all beliefs, and all forms of feeling and love. Not to use hate and fear to rule by intimidation. That's nothing more than fascism. Let's return to upholding the "values" this country was founded on. That all men are created equal.

Then we'll truly be a democratic society.

Where ya been?

Slow start today. I fell off my horse yesterday and though I'm fine I thought it a good excuse to take a day off. Like I need an excuse.

Hmmm. Where to begin.

Well I guess I should just start.

Friday I went to friends for cocktails. That was my first mistake.

I've mentioned the dreaded ex here previously, and mentioned how incestuous that whole relationship is.

I think it bears repeating that at 51 I should and do know my limits. Some do not.

I had two martinis and then we ordered dinner. After which I intended to have a hot tub and then go home. It turned out to be only me and my friend as the other two weren't capable of joining us.

I'm hesitant to go into any sordid detail because the ex embarrassed himself enough without my help.

BUT!

Suffice it to say that someone is completely out of control and headed for a huge crash.

Now if I were stupid, and history has not proven that I'm not...

If I were stupid, I could step up and get right back into that situation if I chose.

Of course whatever is about to fall on him would then likely miss him and hit me, that's how it usually works in my experience.

The smart money is to have a few coherent thoughts on the issue:(which were in short supply Friday)

1.) If you love me so much where the fuck have you been for five years?

2.) I find it interesting that when you were employed, had a new condo, a new car, and money in your pocket, my phone never once rang. Now that you're unemployed my stock is suddenly rising.

3.) I also find it noteworthy that you have to get falling down drunk to say kind things to and about me.

The words, GET LOST! keep coming to mind. I don't know why.

What's the word I'm looking for?

oh yes...

Anyway!

My upstairs neighbor has turned out to be a squirrel who has not one, but two entrances into my attic. Eviction notice to be served shortly.

Very happy with all of you who "protested" Prop 8 etc this weekend. But I'm not quite sure you get the idea of civil disobedience. It's not a coffee klatch.

I suggest you look up the word disobedient and then try again. But good show.

Love

Not learning

I'm seeing the term witch hunt all over this morning. And that must stop! I've seen what witch hunts do, and it's not pretty.

We cannot win a victory we can celebrate in this civil rights struggle if we're driving people from our midst just because they disagree with us. The lady who owns El Coyote Restaurant? Boycott her, don't burn her.

The director of Sacramento's Musical Theatre? Boycott him, don't burn him.

The director of Find's LA Film Festival, should NOT be terminated over his political beliefs.

Where does this retribution end if we don't stop it in it's tracks right now?

The hate cannot be perpetuated. These protests and searches for who donated to what need to stop if we can't then use that information in a constructive way to open a dialogue with our detractors to attempt to get them to understand that hate is NOT the way to make this right.

We need to learn from their mistakes and not use the massive availabiity of information to in turn discriminate against those who would do exactly that to us.

I suppose we need to be Christian about it. Rather we need to be what Christians purport to be about it.

Are there battles to be fought and won? You damn betcha.

Are witch hunts the way to accomplish that goal?

Never!

It is incumbent on us to have and utilize a better moral compass than those who blindly chose to deny us our rights.

You have to ask yourself if this is good for the struggle when you think to react as they did. If the answer is no, and in the case of witch hunts it always is, then DON'T DO IT!

Non-Violent yes!

Vindictive?

No.

The Catholic Church who also had a hand in this debacle is comprised of the most vengeful, vitriolic, vicious, venomous bunch of hypocritical bastards the world has ever seen, well, except for the Bush administration, and we cannot be like them if we expect to win a victory that will allow us to hold our heads high.

If you're going to march down the street in protest, if you're going to fight in a board room for your beliefs, if you're going to use your financial power to effect change, do so with your head held high, and know that if there is a judgement to be placed on the heads of those who hate it isn't yours to make. Let them answer to their own God for what they've done. Make them answer to you for their duplicity.

Those darn Catholics

What will they think of next. Apparently some Catholic Priest in South Carolina, (ahem)has so much time on his hands that he's sat around until he's come up with yet another bizarre Catholic idea. Deny Parishoners communion because of how they voted.

For those of you who don't know, communion is a pretty big deal, it's name is just what it suggests, it's to signify communion with their God, and they NEED it. Like a vampire needs his blood. So for him to imply that he'd rather they abstain from receiving it is in no way a small rebuke.

"A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil..."

I put in a link in case you want to go check out the source. I didn't go to some obscure secular devil-worshiping site to find this story. Well,that may be over stating it a little. It's off the front page of msnbc.com.

This is the extent to which people are being ruled by their irresponsible clergy. I'm trying to think of a way to get people to start thinking for themselves and stop relying on their priests and ministers to tell them how to vote.

A woman in Los Angeles who apparently runs a restaurant frequented by a gay clientele (El Coyote) donated a lousy $100 to her RLDS church's request for funds to pass Prop 8, and she complied. This 100 bucks is about to cost her most of her livelihood since they found about it and are none too happy she took their money and used it to screw them. How did she express her remorse for her duplicity?

"I have to do what my church tells me."

Moron

Now I know there are responsible clergy. For example,, Father Geoffrey Farrow,late of a Catholic parish in Fresno, who came out to his parishioners in the midst of a witch hunt in his organization, which cost him his job and likely his position. I haven't heard anymore about him, figures. He's destitute and exiled, no longer newsworthy. However, his destitution and exile are exactly what makes him newsworthy in this puritanical era. People need to see what happens to the subjects of their scorn AFTER they're done metaphorically burning them at the stake. Maybe then they'd think twice before becoming the new John Proctor.

In fact I personally know a member of the clergy, and though we're not in as close contact as we have been in the past, I know him well enough to be sure that if he's counseling his flock on their vote at all he's advising them to vote their conscience, making them think for themselves. A welcome rarity in this pyre-building culture we've cobbled together out of the unknowing and lazy.

In researching Father Farrow I stumbled across his blog. You gotta go there, I didn't get to read much but it sounds like he's dishing some great Catholic dirt. I know what I'll be doing until martini time.

Have a great weekend, enjoy Hot Guy Friday, be good(it's really all you got), and be safe.

Love

Hot Guy Friday!

The weekend is here and I can't wait for that martini tonight.

In the meantime I'll just gawk at these nascar hotties.

Sorry about the template, I got comments back, but man is it ugly.

This is the result of editing something someone else wrote and not doing it very well, I blew up the last template and had to choose this monstrosity for a short-term replacement. You'd think I could just reload the old template and things would be fine...weeelll.

It'll get better soon.

More thoughts

I was just reading about James Hood and George Wallace.

Hood had this to say about Wallace's actions in 1963 during his 1998 address at the University of Alabama.

"When Hood came to speak at the University in February, he mentioned his reconciliation with Wallace. Wallace said his actions were to please the people in 1963. He told Hood he was now a Christian and recognized the equality of all people.

"All people were equal in 1963, too," Hood said during his speech."

And today as well.

And on a completely personal and unrelated note I'm including this picture that I found on towleroad yesterday which could have been taken from the bedroom of my apt in San Francisco, minus the pink letters of course.



I just found this on another blog, very funny:

1. It's important to have a man, who helps at home who cooks from time to time, cleans up and has a job.

2. It's important to have a man who can make you laugh.

3. It's important to have a man who you can trust and who doesn't lie to you.

4. It's important to have a man who is good in bed and who likes to be with you .

5. It's very, very, very important that these four men do not know each other.

Can I get an Amen!

Gay Conservatives...huh?

I stumbled this morning across a website, which I will not name cause I won't endorse that kind of thing, populated by conservative gay people. And though I get it, and sometimes understand their point, I cannot agree with it.

The contributors in the comment section ranged from sedate sounding lawyer types giving sage advice as though they know how this will all turn out. To obsequious assimilationists who would swallow cyanide capsules if it meant they could get married immediately after.

I found it interesting that none endorsed protests in the streets as a means of effecting change. Though clearly ALL have benefited from those of us who have risked our lives by doing exactly that. And yes we did risk our lives, on more than one occasion.

If I sound a little bitter, well, sorry. I just don't see how anyone can deny that those of us who took/take to the streets when injustice is foisted upon us can be dismissed as easily as we obviously are.

My current objection to the protests is that they're not and never have been pro-active. No one is out there saying, "Hey! We are citizens of this country and WE DO HAVE THESE RIGHTS ALREADY, and you're not going to deny them to us. We'll get out in the streets and stay there until you recognize that fact."

But that's not what happened, is it? Nope, most gay people, even those of us who've worked at the grass-roots level for many years were urging pro-active protest, who were encouraging gay people everywhere to get their cause out there, were ignored, and dismissed as reactive drama queens.

And, just how do you think we got as far as we have? Do you have any idea the history and impact of Stonewall? Do you even know the name ACT/UP? Have you even given any thought to queer history and how any change has been effected?

I doubt it.

I have very mixed emotions about what's going on, but I DO NOT have mixed emotions about the fact that our civil rights are being violated EVERY FUCKING DAY, and everyone seems perfectly ok with that.

For that reason and that reason alone we have to stand up, we're obligated to take to the streets and make this world better. If not for ourselves, for future generations of gay men and women. And we know there will be future generations, we don't recruit people, we don't have to. We are to the manor born and no one who has lived through the process of self-discovery and coming out can realistically deny that.

Live up to your responsibility as a member of a culture that has continued to contribute to a society, nay, to a world that would rather we weren't in it. A world in which we've tolerated the shabby way we've been treated and sometimes even swallowed our pride and said thank you for that treatment, cause it was better than the alternative. Do we really have to insist on our rights after all this time? In this "enlightened" culture? In a world that would use us, and yet deny us our basic human rights?

Should we really just say please and thank you and take whatever crumbs they're wiling to offer because we too perceive ourselves as second-class?

I think not.

A small voice

Though the upheaval in the gay community is very real, and there is infighting and protest and concern about how all this Prop 8 stuff will turn out, it's nice to see that there are voices of reason.

Like this one I found on towleroad.com:

Reverend Irene Monroe in the Huffington Post: "The present-day contentious debate between black and queer communities concerning what constitutes a legitimate civil rights issue and which group owns the right to use the term is both fueled and ignored by systemic efforts by our government that deliberately pits both groups against each other rather than upholding the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution that affords each of these marginal groups their inalienable rights. While it is true that the white LGBTQ community needs to work on its racism, white privilege, and single-issue platform that thwart all efforts for coalition building with both straight and queer communities of color, the African-American community needs to work on its homophobia."

And this one:

A similar thing is happening in L.A. after it was revealed that the family manager of the popular El Coyote mexican restaurant had donated $100 to 'Yes on 8'. Word spread quickly over the internet and the manager Marjorie Chrisoffersen came forward and issued this statement: "I have been sick at heart that anyone has been offended by me. I have family, friends, employees from the gay community who are treasured people in my life. I have been a member of the Mormon church all my life. I responded to their request with my personal donation. For years the El Coyote has financially and generously supported the gay community and its charities. Please be my guest for an early lunch Wed., Nov. 12th, @ 11:00 am and allow me to personally speak with you. Please call and make a reservation as seating is limited.

There are of course dumbasses like this one:

Gay and lesbian artists called Monday for an artistic and audience boycott of California Musical Theatre after learning that its artistic director donated $1,000 to a campaign that backed banning gay marriage in California.

Scott Eckern was not available for comment Monday as the revelation has gained stunning momentum on the blogosphere. The California Musical Theatre produces the Music Circus, presents Broadway Sacramento, and recently opened "Forever Plaid" at the capital's newest performing venue, the Cosmopolitan Cabaret.

Richard Lewis, the organization's executive producer, said the board of directors will conduct an emergency meeting on the matter this afternoon. He said it was too early to tell how this would affect Eckern's 25-year employment with California Musical Theatre.

In a statement released Monday, Lewis said: "Any political action or the opinion of Scott Eckern is not shared by California Musical Theatre. We have a long history of appreciation for the LGBT community and are truly grateful for their longstanding support."

Links to Eckern's official donation information began appearing Thursday on sites such as the gay political activism site www.goodasyou.org and the more informal conversational forum www.datalounge. The measure was Proposition 8 on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Local openly gay composer Gregg Coffin, who has written nationally produced musicals "Convenience" and "Five Course Love," found it initially difficult to express his feelings about the situation.

"I feel so sad that someone from within my field and someone from within my community, who actually knows me, would contribute to an initiative that reduces me to second-class citizenship," Coffin said.

"I feel so sorry that he chose to support divisiveness and hatred rather than equality and inclusion; especially a man of the theater who works with gay actors, dancers, directors, designers and staff at CMT. The duplicity of it makes me so incredibly sad."...Sacramento Bee.

And unfortunately rappers like trick trick(why can't these guys use their own names), who say assy things like this:

"I’m a go on the record right now with this. Homosexuals are probably not gonna like this album. Fa**ots hate me and I don’t give a f**k. I don’t want your fa**ot money any goddam way. I don’t like it. Carry that shit somewhere else.… It’s just that every time that you turn on the the TV, that sissy s**t is on. And they act like it’s f***ing okay. The world is changing for the worst when s**t like that happen. And I address that issue. I address it hard as hell…"

But my favorite is the duplicitous reader comment in the Sacramento Bee. I'd hate to have this person as a straight friend, cause that shit would be OVER BABY!

Reader Comment
"Absolutely disgusting discriminating garbage. I'm referring to the trash being slung in the direction of Scott Eckern. I'm sorry, Marc Shaiman, who's discriminating? Every blog of these self-professed "former" friends of Mr. Eckern indicates that they would have never known by the way he treated them that he would support Prop 8 (actually they use militant hateful language). Really? You mean a person cannot disagree with your lifestyle and still treat you with love and respect? Apparently Mr. Eckern had no problem working with gay and lesbian actors for 25 years. And he did a darn good job. Now, because he exercises his right as an American to contribute to a campaign - he's a bad person? How can you assume he "hates" YOU just because he agrees with traditional marriage. Isn't that a bit self-centered? I don't hate my Gay and Lesbian friends, but they already have every emotional, social, economic, and financial right available to them under the domestic partnership laws in California. If I recall another line from the so-called "lovely book" that Marc Shaiman refers to - God made Adam and Eve... not Adam and Steve. BUT - He says to hate the sin and love the sinner. I, like Mr. Eckern, support Prop 8 and still love my gay and lesbian friends. If Mr. Eckern loses his job and HIS rights are violated, I will personally boycott every business entity that has a member on the board of CMT ... and I'll start by closing my accounts at River City Bank (checking, savings, investments... all of it.) Shame on you for publishing such garbage. Just because someone works in the theatre doesn't mean they are gay (boy if that isn't a HUGE stereotype and yet it's being flung by every G/L blog as IF they aren't invoking a stereotype because THEY said it!) SURPRISE ... there are non-gay people working in and paying for the theatre! And yet, no one asked us for a G/L ID card before we walked in. Why is it that the G/L community is suddenly making it look like Californian's knew what they were doing? Hmmm... maybe they were right... you really were after our children."

I don't even know where to begin to address all the things that are wrong in that letter. But! I will point out one sentence that gives me pause,"Why is it that the G/L community is suddenly making it look like Californian's knew what they were doing?" To which I am compelled to say "??????"

Just a few months ago some simple-minded cracker said to me, "It's not straights against gays."

Oh Yeah?

I thought a few examples of some of the finer and more noble things said about past rights issues was in order.

Here's where that asshole Mark Twain started out on suffrage:(I never liked him much)

"I think I could write a pretty strong argument in favor of female suffrage, but I do not want to do it. I never want to see the women voting, and gabbling about politics, and electioneering. There is something revolting in the thought. It would shock me inexpressibly for an angel to come down from above and ask me to take a drink with him (though I should doubtless consent); but it would shock me still more to see one of our blessed earthly angels peddling election tickets among a mob of shabby scoundrels she never saw before."
- Letter to St. Louis Missouri Democrat, March, 1867

Here's where he ended up 34 years later:

"I know that since the women started out on their crusade they have scored in every project they undertook against unjust laws. I would like to see them help make the laws and those who are to enforce them. I would like to see the whiplash in women's hands."
- quoted in The New York Times, January 21, 1901

And a wonderful example of the duplicity people can delude themselves with while engaging in such horrors as slavery is our very own Thomas Jefferson who said things like this:

"There must doubtless be an unhappy influence on the manners of our people produced by the existence of slavery among us. The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other."

And then went home to all the slaves he owned.

And on the subject if civil rights for African Americans Dick Gregory said:

"Civil Rights: What black folks are given in the U.S. on the installment plan, as in civil-rights bills. Not to be confused with human rights, which are the dignity, stature, humanity, respect, and freedom belonging to all people by right of their birth."

And in the fall of 1957 Arkansas governor Orval Faubus said:

"Blood will run in the streets" if the Little Rock nine tried to attend an all white school.

I find it most interesting that many of those who voted for Prop 8 in California and a goodly number of those who voted for Arkansas' adoption laws are people who have been able to sit at my table and eat my food and then go to the voting booth and think to themselves that I'll understand they think I'm a piece of garbage who needs to have his rights taken away.

I assure you I know plenty of current Californians/Arkansans who fit that bill perfectly.

I feel that I have to say here, yet again, that I really don't care about marriage. It's not likely that I'll ever find anyone to put up with me long enough to even contemplate such a thing, and I really don't care. But to specifically deny me rights that I am already guaranteed by the constitution is the worst insult I can imagine, and as a gay man I've endured some pretty insulting situations. And in their defense I will say I am also certain that I know many current Californians who didn't vote for Prop 8, but they were obviously outnumbered, and I'm willing to bet that to a person they didn't bring it up and try to talk to their pro Prop 8 friends.

People are saying and doing things that their anscestors did over civil rights for African Americans, for Women, for slaves...and yet they still say they love me, their gay friend.

To borrow a phrase-

Bitch, please.

Just when I think people can't get any more stupid...

Have you ever stumbled across an item in the newspaper that you wished you hadn't? I know Truman Capote did.

But today, I accidentally ran across a story about a young boy who has apparently succumbed to cancer at the age of 12.

Now, I can only imagine how difficult this must be for parents to go through. The loss of a child means so many things to a parent, and I'm sure it's a pain they can never put away. But in this case it appears that religion (my favorite thing) has reared it's ugly little head and inserted itself in the natural process of this child's death.

The child has technically died. His brain has not only ceased to function it has actually begun to decay in his cranium.

But, the poor misguided parents think that as long as medical science can keep his lungs and heart pumping he's spiritually alive.

According to their religion, if his heart and lungs stop working, he is then in fact dead. What they don't seem to take into account is that his heart and lungs only work when artificially infused with drugs.

The hospital has informed them that not only is the child dead, but they've provided irrefutable evidence supporting this. The family's response was to go to court and get an order prohibiting the hospital from performing any more tests to prove the child is dead. Huh?

The hospital responded in kind by asking for a court order so they can turn the ventilator off.

So, I have to wonder, having witnessed this kind of stupidity many times in the past, what the fuck can they be thinking?

You want to know what a natural death for your child looks like? Take him off all the artificial means you've obviously forced the hospital to impose on this child's body and then let him go. If he were to be able to breathe on his own when not supported and was able to keep his heart going then I say care for him as long as that condition lasts.

But this! This is tantamount to holding him hostage to a life he's already departed!

I get the religious thing. I GET IT! But there comes a point that human intervention has negated it.

If this child cannot sustain a heartbeat nor respirations on his own HE'S DEAD!

I have to wonder if these people are willing to answer to their God for their selfishness in this matter?

I can only hope that whoever the poor hapless fool is that has to attend my demise is not selfish and heartless.

A Few Things

I was planning some travel this holiday season, but that all has to be canceled now.

I won't spend money in California, Arkansas, Florida, nor Arizona. Unfortunately I had travel planned to three of the four in the next 60 days, so I'm re-thinking my plans.

When canceling my reservations I made sure that the person I talked to understood why I was canceling. It was of course, Prop 8, Amendment 102,the anti-gay adoption law, and whatever they called hate this time in Florida.

I love California, I loved living there and I'd go back given the opportunity, but not while Prop 8 exists.

I had planned to visit a friend in Arkansas this month and I'll be letting her know this week that I am not coming back to that place as long as they won't let gay people be adoptive parents.

I was also planning my annual trip to Florida for the New Year. Not this year folks.

I find that the people of this country will only really listen to you when you start flashing money around, and particularly if you then tell them they can't have any of yours if they're mean to you. Well they were damn mean and I'm spending my money elsewhere. Preferably in Blue States.

Unfortunately I don't have a blue state close by, so I'll be spending Thanksgiving money here. I think I'll just stay home and ride horses all week.

Christmas is something of a puzzle. I may go back to New Mexico like last year, but NOT Santa Fe...too foofy(sp? I need the screenplay to Parting Glances). Perhaps Taos, if the ski season isn't too oppressive. But since there's already snow on the ground I fear they'll be in full swing by then.

And New Years. Well, I can't decide what to do about that one yet. Not too many people, and not too far are my requirements.

I'm fighting thoughts of segregation. I'm so fed up with straight people who tell me how much they love me and then fuck me when it's time for me to be counted as someone who matters in the eyes of the law. This was brought on when I read a post over at Proceed at your own risk in which Richard Rothstein mentioned an old friend who had joined a militant gay group in the 70's which required he end all contact with straights. What a nice concept. No more bullshit from them. But a bit too limiting for me. Besides the poor things need to be taught what's right and their churches and families certainly aren't doing that. So there must be a voice of reason, of humanity, of equality, which even though it may be barely perceptible, or may even be silent, cause sometimes people only learn by example, it still has to be out there.

And I think I'd be denying myself a whole laundry list of experiences by ridding myself of the scourge of straight people. It might be nice to live in that world where only gay people exist and the occasional bitch fight is the only strife in the world. Alas, straight people get a whole lot of shit free that I can make use of and certainly examples of that it makes it too difficult to drop them all.

If they can be as easily swayed as they've been these past eight years, they shouldn't take too much convincing to make them see how wrong it all was.

And yes,I forgot to take my anti-delusional meds today, sorry. But I'll stay out here on the plain, at least for now, and keep fighting the good fight. Someone has to teach them. Who better than a jaded, bitter, cynic who refuses to admit defeat? In the end, tenacity may be the thing that wins out.

I have to mention before I go that I had a blast this weekend with horses. Saturday was a bit nipply with the awful wind, and I only managed to get the girls to go out for an hour, particularly after one of them took a spill before we'd left the driveway. Her horse was a green-broke two year old who objected to the notion of crossing the street and deposited her rider on the ground without much adieu. So understandably, they were reluctant to stay out too long, AND they were cold. Sunday though was heavenly.

We took out four good horses for a fun ride and were out almost three hours. Very shortly after we returned, and just as I was contemplating the nap I planned to take when I got home, a car pulled in and four people got out. They had that corn-fed tight-assed look of first time riders everywhere and I just knew they'd been forgotten. So after greeting them and ascertaining the fact that yes, indeed they were there for a ride, I made the call to the stable owners who were, shall we say, suddenly harried. Especially since I'd woken them from a nap with this news.

So I sent the other two crash-test dummies out to get two of our easiest horses, since these people had either never ridden or not ridden in over ten years, and then I caught up two myself from the other pasture. When the owners arrived we had three of them already saddled and they helped us finish it all off with the remaining three. Apologies were profusely proffered to the riders and off we went for another hour. No nap for me.

But it was great fun. I took a horse who is no challenge at all to ride, she knows exactly what to do and is a willing partner, so I had a good time and was able to keep an eye on the riders. I did however forget my gloves...shit. Thankfully we stayed low and out of the worst of the wind.

There won't be too many weekends like that one left this year so it was great.


Love

It's that day

And you wonder why I love cowboys.

Happy Hot Guy Friday.

Love

Update:

I thought I was done for the day, but I guess I'm not. I was just reading about the marches in West Hollywood the last couple of days. Seriously. Do you have to lose it BEFORE you take to the streets? And this stripping the Mormon church of its tax exempt status, what the fuck is that? It sounds like a bitch fight. Fight about what the damn fight is about! I can't imagine my reaction to this is because I'm getting old. It just makes no sense to me not to take this fight to those who made the problem and force them to deal with it. You gotta have a target and you gotta go after it relentlessly. Then and only then will you make a difference. Blaming the poorly organized no on Prop 8 campaign now is a waste of time. You wanna know who fucked this up go look in a mirror because it was your inaction BEFORE the vote that allowed it to pass. Do you have to live with it? Yes! At least for a while. Should you do everything you can to reverse it? Absolutely. Should you focus your efforts and bring about effective change? Well, Duh!

I support you WEHO, I just wish you'd look around before it's too late. There are a lot of us out here, and we can make a difference, and we can help. Make use of that power.

Today Fall, Tomorrow Winter

It finally happened. The weather it has change-ed. I'm sorry to see the warm weather go and this weekend at the stables will likely be a bitch, but it was time. I can't imagine Thanksgiving when it's warm. Maybe that's a clue for me to remember when thinking about places to live.

Anyway, I sat down at the computer this morning and looked at Towleroad.com and followed a link to this amusing little story of passive-agression.

"Today was street-sweeping day, and as often happens, some of our neighbors forget to move their cars to the other side the night before, so on our morning walk, we always ring their doorbells to get them up so that they won’t get a ticket.
Well, when we got to a new neighbor’s house at the far end of our street, Bill was struggling to get through their locked gate when I noticed a “Yes on 8″ sign in their window and pointed it out to him. He immediately stopped struggling with the lock, and we walked on home.
Later, when Bill heard the street-sweeper, he looked out the front door and was pleased to see the homophobe getting a ticket. I know that is no consolation to you, but I thought I’d pass it along just to let you know how upset we are about that poisonous Prop. 8."

Then I returned to find some pictures of people at a no on Prop 8 rally on Sunset Blvd. My problem with this is that the people on SUNSET BLVD DO NOT NEED TO BE CONVINCED Prop 8 is BAD!!! I swear, when will people figure out going outdoors in their own neighborhood is NOT the way to change people's minds. It's the gay equivalent of rioting and burning down your own neighborhood. Makes no sense to me.

But the T-shirt was cute:

And yet, there is still work to do

Hate won out again.

Who was it who said not long ago that it's not straights vs. gays.

Well, I am here to assure you that it is, always.

Prop 8 was passed in California, as was Amendment 102 in Arizona, and Arkansas hurt every child in need of a family with their bigotry. Florida, of course, banned gay marriage.

I can only hope that there are others out there who feel as I do, that we now need to stop with the namby-pamby little gestures of conciliation to those who would oppress us, and remind us daily that we are second class citizens. Those who profess those good christian values, yet hate me just because I exist.

I often wonder, when those good Christians are angry with me, how long it takes them before they think, and I'm certain say out loud, "that fucking faggot." They say it I guarantee it. Then they smile in my face.

Then they go to church.

We need to take to the streets, we need to take to the courts and demand our rights.

Stand up!

WooHoo!!!!

In my time I have seen pestilence, plague, poverty and pain. But not right now. Right now I am an American, and just typing that word gave me a chill.

Last night I was probably as proud as I've ever been to be a citizen of this country.

Not only did we stand up and say NO MORE! to a regime that has been bent on tearing us apart, tearing us down, and shredding our global image at the expense of everyone of us.

We stood up and said that YES, all things are still possible here. That we will unite, time and again to show that we are the America we want to be, that we need to be, that the world needs us to be. So we can lead all nations through the challenges that face us, and are yet to come. So we can continue to keep hope alive in hearts the world over, so that people pray to come to America and know what it is to be as proud as we should all be tonight.

If you pray, do so for President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama.

Do so for us all.

Love

Try practicing this!

"'America First,'" said Woodrow Wilson in 1916, "means nothing unless you translate it into what you do. So I believe most profoundly in the duty of every American to exalt the national consciousness by purifying his own motives and exhibiting his own devotion. I believe, in the second place, that America, the country that we put first in our thoughts, should be ready in every point of policy and of action to vindicate at whatever cost the principles of liberty, of justice, and of humanity to which we have been devoted from the first. You cheer the sentiment, but do you realize what it means? It means that you have not only got to be just to your fellowman but that as a nation you have got to be just to other nations."

Your assignment is...

To get off the damn computer and go vote!

I'll try to check in a few times today but you really need to vote. No matter what you've got to do, and it may take some time, depending on your polling place, because there may be lines, you MUST vote today.

It's so important.

Yes, vote like I want you to, but even if you don't go out and do it anyway.

Did I mention that I wasn't going to vote because Obama was my third choice and I wasn't that crazy about him? Then I heard that that bastard my adoptive father was going to switch parties and vote republican for the first time in his life because he's such a bigot he wouldn't vote for a black man.

Naturally, that made up my mind and if for no other reason I had to cast my ballot.

Of course, he's in the hospital trying to die today, which will never happen, so he may or may not have had the chance to vote. No matter, he motivated me to exercise my right to vote, and you should to, the reason can be bullshit like mine,(it actually happened, but it's still bullshit) but you need to do it.

We Have Arrived

"I'm afraid, based on my own experience, that Fascism will come to America in the name of national security." Jim Garrison

"That which the Fascists hate above all else, is intelligence." Miguel de Unamuno

“When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” Sinclair Lewis

Can anyone argue that we have arrived at the place at which the time for these ideas has come?

The Bush Administration is scurrying about trying to put in place regulations, or more appropriately deregulations that will harm us all, and benefit corporate America. De-regulations that apparently won't be easy for the next President to undo, should he be so inclined, and if the next President is John McCain he wont even think about them.

So prepare for drilling ON the beach, Coal mines replacing mountaintops, and more and more species of animal on the list of extinctions as we denigrate, manipulate, and desecrate their habitat. We'll do it, it's what we're good at.

Organized religion has helped. They've led the willing ignorami down the primrose path to ruin, and they've followed willingly, taking the rest of us along on their death march.

So, though we may not see it, and our children may not see it. Our ancestors will surely see it. The decay has begun in earnest and this mighty and once rightfully proud culture has begun to fall.

It's a shame really. We still have much to do, many wrongs to right, many examples to set, many hearts to inspire. But it's been seen to that our light has been extinguished, and our ability to be the America some of us were taught existed is gone. We're a cheap imitation of ourselves now, the Naugahyde of societies.

So much has been heaped on the candidacy of Barack Obama that I fear, no I know he can't measure up. Should he actually get elected tomorrow I believe he'll find that he's been so hamstrung by the outgoing bastards that he'll spend several years cleaning up that mess long before he's able to actually govern and address the massive issues he'll be handed, along with an enormous tab.

It'd be nice if he could be a 2-term President, but I also think the fascists will re-group, that they'll recruit more of the fearful, and thereby bring about their own demise quicker than any of us think possible today.

So, get out there and vote. Vote for justice, vote for what we thought America was, for what we were taught it should be, for the hope we actually, criminally, scarily still secretly hold in our hearts. I know it's there, that I'm not the only one with it. That we can actually make it happen. That the example we set can actually return us to the place our forefathers struggled so mightily to bestow upon us, and to burden us with.

Please vote, please participate if in only this way, in our democracy. Please swallow the fear they've ruled you with for 8 years and take that shiny hope out of the secret place you've kept it for almost a decade, and hold it up for the whole world to aspire to.

You can do it.

You have to.