Happy Halloween

I bought myself a toy.

Halloween Jesus

Dear God

And so it goes.

God I miss that place

San Francisco, a place where thinking is actually encouraged. I so miss that. Here in Kansas if you dare to think you...well...it's so rare that they don't really have a response to it yet, but after the Koch brothers get through buying the state and taking over it's government there'll be a quick and decisive response...think Pinochet. Of course if you're a good Kansan you're Republican and you think what you're told. Because, well, why would you have to actually have any ideas of your own when you can just have them fed to you. Most republicans like that. That way they can spend their time thinking about their favorite subject...themselves. So, yes I left my heart in San Francisco. I'd go back there in a minute if there was a job, or any hope...and half those people went elsewhere...see, you can never go home again. On a personal note, getting cold feet about buying a house. they shouldn't have taken 8 weeks to make up their minds and I'd be in it already. But no, they had to give me time to THINK about it, which one should never do. What I really want to do is leave all this behind. The college is a miserable existence right now, and the notion of moving to a place that's close to there makes my skin crawl. So I've spent some time on realtor.com, a place I shouldn't spend so much time, and there are options for cash buyers out there. This bunch had better hurry up. And they better hope the inspections go well. But back to protesting. I will say in defense of law enforcement that Kansas City Missouri cops are being smart and learning from the mistakes of others. They're leaving our Occupy KC people alone. They are after all assembled peacefully in protest as is their constitutional right. Republicans do remember the constitution I think. At least when it's forced on them. So my hats off yet again to all Occupy protestors...thank you for making the sacrifices, and thank you for proving the point I've been making here for years. That when things got bad enough people would revolt.

Bearing it.

Hang in there with me. I'm soo busy I rarely have time to post these days, but I'll be back later this week.

What hath george wrought

It appears that the economic terror wrought by George Bush and Co has finally  inspired people the world over to say "basta!"

With good cause, we're all starving, we're all likely not to ever be able reach the goal of retirement, and as for getting decent health care as we age, well, forget it.

Of course, good  Republicans who've effectively buried their heads in the sand and refuse to acknowledge the existence of logic say I, and others of like mind are crazy.

I'd much rather be labeled as crazy than delusional.

We all know about the OWS crowd, and personally I'm rooting for them.  Alas, the city and certainly Congress think otherwise.  I'm wondering exactly how they intend to curtail the first amendment rights of the OWS protestors.

Money, dear GOP friends, does not equate to free speech.  And let's not forget...bullshit walks.

One can't help but notice that this photo from Madrid is indicative of the rise of the populace.

I have to wonder how long the legislative branch can ignore them.

And so it goes.

HGF is back baby!

I shouldn't be incredulous

How can anyone support a party that is willing to not only allow their constituents to remain jobless and often hungry, but to encourage the very behavior that brought this condition about is amazing. The GOP members of the senate killed President Obama's recent jobs bill. How can such an unconscionable act take place in times like these? How is it possible that the people can allow this? What will we don come next November? Will we participate in a futile exercise to continue this behavior? Let's hope not. The op-ed folks at the NYT said it far better than I: Editorial No Jobs Bill, and No Ideas Published: October 12, 2011 It was all predicted, but the unanimous decision by Senate Republicans on Tuesday to filibuster and thus kill President Obama’s jobs bill was still a breathtaking act of economic vandalism. There are 14 million people out of work, wages are falling, poverty is rising, and a second recession may be blowing in, but not a single Republican would even allow debate on a sound plan to cut middle-class taxes and increase public-works spending. Readers’ Comments The bill the Republicans shot down is not a panacea, but independent economists say it would have a significant and swift effect on the current stagnation. Macroeconomic Advisers, whose forecasts are often used by the Federal Reserve, said it could raise economic growth by 1.25 percentage points and create 1.3 million jobs in 2012. Moody’s Analytics estimated new growth at 2 percentage points and 1.9 million jobs. Those economists say that Republican ideas for increasing growth would have no measurable effects in the next year. The Republicans offer no actual economic plans, only tired slogans about cutting regulations and spending, and ending health care reform. The party seems content to run out the clock on Mr. Obama’s term while doing very little. On Tuesday, Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, Jim Messina, accused Republicans of trying to “suffocate the economy” in hopes that the pain would work to their political advantage. They are doing little to refute that charge. Their lack of serious ideas was on full display in both the Senate and the presidential debate on Tuesday night in New Hampshire. The debate was ostensibly about the economy, but when the freshest and most-talked-about idea is Herman Cain’s ridiculous “9-9-9” tax plan, it is clear that the economy they were debating is not the one Americans are forced to live in. Mr. Cain — whose rise in the polls says everything you need to know about the amateur-hour decline of his party — wants to replace all federal taxes with a 9 percent levy on corporate income, personal income and sales. As Bruce Bartlett, an economist who has worked in Republican administrations, recently wrote in The Times, it is a formula designed to cut taxes for the rich and increase them for the poor, raising the deficit and doing nothing for growth. The other candidates were no less vacuous. Mitt Romney offered an ash heap of used ideas, saying he would push a balanced-budget amendment, cut back on regulations, and go chest to chest with China on trade. Rick Perry, when he could be stirred to speak, vowed to somehow put 1.2 million people to work in the energy industry, as if the whole country were Texas and drills could pop up on every block. Republican candidates fear the Tea Party too much to acknowledge that economists are solidly behind government intervention to awaken growth. The jobs bill rejected by Republican leaders will now be reintroduced piece by piece, and Republicans are not likely to go along with much more than an extension of the payroll tax cut (which is opposed by Mr. Romney). But at least the record is increasingly clear who is advocating real ideas and who is selling an empty vessel. The revolution is coming. And so it goes.

No one is perfect

Still trying to recover f rom this cold I've had for two weeks, so I'm not feeling very eloquent.

Afraid the best I can do is share something I found over at Joemygod.

Rick Perry's BFF and Dallas megachurch Pastor Robert Jeffress says that gays are using Chinese brainwashing techniques to zombify America into accepting their evil agenda. Jeffress made the networks last week for telling the nation that Mormonism is a cult. He also says the Catholic Church is run by Satan. (well he might be on to something with the Catholics)







And so it goes.

For Frank.

Remembering Frank Kameny

We owe an enormous debt to Frank Kameny.  He was a trailblazer, a visionary, and he gave us all hope when there was no reason for any.

Mr. Kameny was one of the founding members of the Mattachine Society of Washington D.C.

His conscious decision to live his life openly, and to lead through his activism should be a beacon with which we continue to strive to achieve the goal of rights for all people.  For a life of humanity to be granted not to a few, but to every one of us.  No matter our color, our religion, nor who we love.

Mr. Kameny lived in a time that our kind was to be shunned.  Ours was truly the love that dare not peak its name in his youth.  Anyone willing to take such a courageous stand should be well honored, nay revered by those of us who have so richly benefited by his life.  

 The time in which he lived held incredible advances, and crushing defeats.   But through it all he held to his beliefs and his convictions and inspired new generations to stand and demand their human rights.  He risked imprisonment simply because of who he loved and that he was willing to take a stand against the inherent oppression in our society.

If it's possible we should all stand, our hands over our hearts, and observe a moment of silence during his funeral.  He helped us all.

Frank Kameny was a man. He was also a hero. He died on National Coming Out Day.

Longtime gay activist Frank Kameny dies

October 11, 2011 | 

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Frank Kameny (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Franklin E. Kameny, one of the nation’s most prominent gay rights leaders, died in his home today apparently from natural causes. He was 86.
The death came less than a month before the planned celebration of the 50th anniversary of Kameny’s founding of the Mattachine Society of Washington, the first gay rights organization in the nation’s capital.
LGBT rights advocates Charles Francis and Bob Witeck, who were longtime friends of Kameny’s and established the project to preserve Kameny’s papers over a 50-year period, said they would be announcing soon plans for a memorial service to honor the gay rights leader’s life.
Timothy Clark, Kameny’s tenant, said he found Kameny unconscious and unresponsive in his bed shortly after 5 p.m. on Tuesday. Clark called 911 police emergency and rescue workers determined that Kameny had passed away earlier, most likely in his sleep. Clark said he had spoken with Kameny shortly before midnight on the previous day and Kameny didn’t seem to be in distress.
Kameny is credited with being one of the leading strategists for the early gay rights movement — beginning shortly before the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York’s Greenwich Village and continuing afterward.
Born and raised in New York City, Kameny served in combat as an Army soldier in World War II in Europe. After the war, Kameny obtained a doctorate degree in astronomy from Harvard University.
He went on to work as an astronomer for the U.S. Army map service in the 1950s and was fired after authorities discovered he was gay. He contested the firing and appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the first known gay person to file a gay-related case before the high court. The Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling against Kameny and declined to hear the case, but Kameny’s decision to appeal the case through the court system motivated him to become a lifelong advocate on behalf on LGBT equality.
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said Kameny “led an extraordinary life marked by heroic activism that set a path for the modern LGBT civil rights movement.”

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“From his early days fighting institutionalized discrimination in the federal workforce, Dr. Kameny taught us all that ‘Gay is Good,’” Solmonese said. “As we say goodbye to this trailblazer on National Coming Out Day, we remember the remarkable power we all have to change the world by living our lives like Frank — openly, honestly and authentically.”
Chuck Wolfe, CEO of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, said Kameny’s death marked the “loss of a hero and a founding father of the fight to end discrimination against LGBT people.”
“Dr. Kameny stood up for this community when doing so was considered unthinkable and even shocking, and he continued to do so throughout his life,” Wolfe said. “He spoke with a clear voice and firm conviction about the humanity and dignity of people who were gay, long before it was safe for him to do so. All of us who today endeavor to complete the work he began a half century ago are indebted to Dr. Kameny and his remarkable bravery and commitment.”
Chad Griffin, board president for the American Federation for Equal Rights, the organization behind the federal lawsuit against Proposition 8, said “America has lost a hero” with the passing of Kameny.
“Out and proud, Frank Kameny was fighting for equality long before the rest of us knew we could.” Griffin added. “Because there was one Frank Kameny, trailblazing and honest enough to speak out 50 years ago, there are now millions of Americans, coming out, speaking out and fighting for their basic civil rights. His is a legacy of bravery and tremendous impact and will live on in the hearts and minds of every American who values equality and justice.”

Know fear

So really what's the difference now between Somalia and the United States? We're apparently no longer going to prosecute people for crimes...Because we can't afford it.

It really is all about money isn't it?

Those who've been charged with domestic battery aren't always guilty, just as those who commit other crimes aren't always guilty.  But the investigation needs to take place to determine that. And that's our responsibility, just as it's our responsibility to  take care of those marginalized by society.  i.e. see to it that they have adequate food and shelter.  

But the current mindset in our culture is to make them fend for themselves, therefore we have more homeless, more people waiting until they're too sick to be helped by medicine at all, and families not able to protect themselves mow apparently will have mo champion.

Kansas...as bigoted as you think!

Unless, of course, you can pay for it yourself.

 

Topeka considers decriminalizing domestic battery

Posted by Ben Palosaari on Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 1:49 PM 

In news that seems more likely to be coming out of Somalia than Kansas, Topeka's City Council is considering repealing the city ordinance regarding domestic battery. Yes, they're looking at decriminalizing domestic battery. But don't worry! They're doing it for a good reason: to save money. See, Topeka still wants abusive family members to be charged with crimes, but Topeka just doesn't want to pay for prosecuting these jerks. If domestic battery is no longer covered under city law, then arrested asses would have to be charged by the Shawnee County District Attorney's Office. Problem is, the DA says it's too broke to try wife beaters, too. Really. This is happening in America.

The whole kerfuffle over footing the bill to carry out justice for battered family members started in September when Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor announced that the county could no longer afford to pursue misdemeanor charges in Topeka, including domestic battery. This left the city to take on the cases, and with a tight budget and a city attorney's office that hasn't handled a domestic-violence case in more than a decade, it was ill-prepared to do so. In the first week after Taylor made his announcement, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that 30 domestic-battery cases were rejected, and three suspects were released and presumably returned home because no charges were brought. Really. This happened in America.
Taylor told Topeka that his office would resume handling domestic-violence cases if the city gave his office $350,000. But he can't make that kind of arrangement without the Shawnee County Commission's approval. That's the entity that slashed Taylor's budget by 10 percent to set up this disaster. So, that has left the Topeka City Council to consider the work-around of decriminalizing domestic battery, leaving Taylor to take the cases without the budget to handle them. Mayor Bill Bunten told the council: "The question is who prosecutes them, the municipal court or the district court, and who pays for it, the city or the county or a combination?" Really, we're bickering over who pays to protect battered family members. In America.

Loss

As we all know due to much of the technology he helped create, Steve Jobs has died.

The loss will be felt only to a few of his closest friends, his family, and those who worked with him during his incredible career.

But we will be poorer for it.  There are few men or women today who demonstrate the foresight, the tenacity, and sometimes the balls to do the things Jobs did in his life. 

The  simplicity of most of his devices made us aware of their elegance, hence the dedicated development process behind them.

We thank you for your contributions to our world Mr. Jobs, may you rest in peace.

Occupation

Those that are making the sacrifice to spend their time occupying Wall Street and make our voices heard have my utmost respect.

This is not an easy task, it's not made easier by the inappropriate actions of the police, the government and the laissez-faireattitude of the very people who are the target of these demonstartions.

It's not an easy task to sit in a sidewalk in New York while New Yorkers are trying to get to work.  They're taking huge risks with their safety, their own finances, and their future should the coty or the federal government decide to clean up Wall Street of those damn protestors. 

So if an opportunity comes to support them show it.  If you get a chance to participate in a local demonstration do so.  If you can get out your voice and be heard no matter how small the step you make, you WILL make  a difference.  And if you don't it's a good reminder by those bent on turning this country into what it was 100 years ago that we do live in a free republic and they cannot silence our voices forever. 

New York (CNN) -- Several unions endorsed the two-week-old Occupy Wall Street movement and plan to join the protesters' street theater in New York on Wednesday, labor leaders said.
"It's really simple. These young people on Wall Street are giving voice to many of the problems that working people in America have been confronting over the last several years," Larry Hanley, international president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which has 20,000 member in the New York area, told CNN.
"These young people are speaking for the vast majority of Americans who are frustrated by the bankers and brokers who have profited on the backs of hard-working people," Hanley added in a statement. "While we battle it out day after day, month after month, the millionaires and billionaires on Wall Street sit by -- untouched -- and lecture us on the level of our sacrifice."


Transport Workers Union Local 100 spokesman Jim Gannon said the Occupy Wall Street movement, which denounces social inequities in the financial system and draws inspiration from the Arab Spring revolutions in Africa and the Middle East, has advanced issues that unions typically support.
"Their goals are our goals," Gannon said. "They brought a spotlight on issues that we've believed in for quite some time now.... Wall Street caused the implosion in the first place and is getting away Scot-free while workers, transit workers, everybody, is forced to pay for their excesses.
"These young folks have brought a pretty bright spotlight," Gannon added. "It's kind of a natural alliance."


President Michael Mulgrew of the United Federation of Teachers, the sole bargaining agent for most non-supervisory New York City public teachers with 200,000 members, said he was "proud" to support the Occupy demonstrators, who have been camping out in New York and elsewhere across the nation.

'Occupy Wall Street' protests spread

"The way our society is now headed it does not work for 99% of people, so when Occupy Wall Street started ... they kept to it and they've been able to create a national conversation that we think should have been going on for years," Mulgrew said.
The labor officials couldn't provide a projection on how many of their members will take the day off from work Wednesday and join the protests.
The demonstrators have bivouacked in the park in New York's Financial District, calling for 20,000 people to flood the area for a "few months."
The protest campaign -- which uses the hashtag #occupywallstreet on the microblogging site Twitter -- began in July with the launch of a simple campaign website calling for a march and a sit-in at the New York Stock Exchange.
Over the past two weeks, demonstrations have addressed various issues, including police brutality, union busting and the economy, the group said.
Occupy Wall Street is a leaderless movement made largely of twentysomethings upset with the state of the economy, the state of the war in Afghanistan, the state of the environment, and the state of America and the world in general.

In less than three weeks, the movement has become a magnet for countless disaffected Americans at a time when an overwhelming majority of U.S. adults say the country's on the wrong track.
Occupy protests have been held in Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Boston.
Occupy Wall Street and its offshoots have clear strains of liberal economic populism -- a powerful force in U.S. history during various times characterized by growing economic stress. That said, it could be a mistake to label or tie the movement to a specific agenda, said Susan Olzak, a Stanford University sociology professor.
"It's difficult to classify a social protest movement early on in its history," Olzak told CNN. "Clearer goals could eventually emerge, but there's no guarantee."
"Many movements fizzle out. Others become more organized," she said. But "I think we run a risk (by) taking a snapshot at any one point in time, and trying to categorize the movement in any one way based on that snapshot. The only way to study these protest movements is to follow them over time."

And so it goes: