How "Pride" Has Let Us Down

Disclosure: To the friends I have made over the course of my life who have stuck with me through thick and thin, please know I would never include you in this group that I'm about to discuss. While we all have similar or wildly different beliefs, you are my community of lovable misfits and I love you all for accepting me. Now, down to business...

So, this is something that Is not going to be popular and will likely ruffle some feathers. Personally I won't be celebrating pride this year or any year in the foreseeable future. What is supposed to be a time to come together, accept and be accepted and to highlight the diversity and walks of life of a supposedly welcoming community, the overall LGBTQ construct has failed to make certain that ALL it's brothers and sisters feel welcome year after year. It's as if you don't fit the mold of the "average gay American" who loves to party, throw shade, celebrate what the media pronounces as beautiful and just generally perpetuate basic-ness/mediocrity, then you don't exist. 

When you're too weird, or not light enough, not skinny enough, not tall enough, or not promiscuous enough etc., then you don't deserve to be part of the group and celebrated. Maybe that's just my experience, but I have NEVER felt welcomed or loved by this "community" at large. 

There is still so much division, discrimination and downright ugliness that I have seen over the years, that I haven't felt the desire to spend my time or money amongst people who hate me. The worst part is that they don't even know me to hate me. I've never fit the plastic mold of what I was supposed to be. I don't fit the stereotypes that are perpetuated about most black men. I certainly don't fit the mold of what it means to be a gay man who's defined only by his sexuality. I'm just me and more times than not, I'm shunned because of my individuality. 

I have tried friend's advice to change my attitude towards people, not be so critical of those who have abandoned me and to not let the rampant discrimination get to me from this supposed all inclusive group, but I have to tell shine a light on a very real truth. Just like a bigoted hetero male who is afraid that some gay guy is looking at him funny, the same is true of gay men with "background privilege" when they are presented with someone that wasn't struck from their same mold. That someone may admire them for their beauty or their personality, means nothing to them; and maybe it never did because they weren't taught the golden rule or to just be decent humans. They have been taught by their parents, upbringing and finally this "community" that you stick with your own. Too many times has the sentiment of "you can't sit with us" has been pushed and accepted as doctrine. Too many times young men and women have taken their lives due to bullying, feeling isolated and not feeling loved by their brethren. It's really a sad thing to think about when we should all be coming together in this new and socially freer millennium. 

So, while everyone is celebrating and having a good time being happy about their privileged gay pride in themselves, I'll be continuing my solitary, big tent community-less life. It takes way too much time and energy to make someone change their mind and see how special us misfits are in our own unique and special ways.

Ethnicity: Is it ok that the Jew is only ethnicity that is "off limits"?

So I'm reading this article What's Up With The Jews? by opinion writer Stanley Fish via the New York Times and I find myself questioning, like many, the validity that the Jew is the only culture/entity/race/ethnicity that is completely off limits. I'm looking at this from a different perspective though.

Forget making fun of or going with usual thought that the the Jews are responsible for bankrupting everyone else and in control of everything we see and hold dear, let's talk about what Mr. Fish touched on briefly in regards to the Jewish nation, Israel.

I've always been a believer of nation states being self sufficient and prosperous as we'd like to continue having for ourselves in the US. Sure everyone needs aid from time to time and that's totally ok. My problem lies with all nations not taking responsibility for their actions perceived and or real. In this case we're talking about Israel.

When Mr. Netanyahu addressed the US Congress today with the overarching theme that the US is a "friend" and ally, I said ok. When he congratulated President Obama and the US for getting bin Laden, I said ok. When he started talking about not being able to go back to the 1967 borders to create a Palestinian State because they are "indefensible", but continues to condone the settlement of areas that are in to this day in conflict, I said whoa. I wanted to ask why they aren't defensible number 1, and number 2 did you forget how you came by these lands that are in question?

Granted, the US is at fault for supporting and sponsoring their side of this mess throuh the years but that doesn't mean that we should all be indoctrinated into beleiving it was all for the greater good or that the Israeli's shit doesn't stink and are only thinking of our and their security in the region and that they are our forver friend because of our "support". This is kind of hard to stomach considering that the Prime Minister still perpetuates a policy that, on it's face, means the eviction of a people from their ancestral lands. The reason for this is long and involved as most things are for the Middle Eastern region, but suffice it to say an Jewish state needed to be created. Historically the two peoples shared this land. they sahre it now. what's at stake here is politics and face-saving in my opinion.

We have gotten into more conflicts over the years because we were looking out for Israel and our "national security interests" in the region. I call bullshit. Oil and influence to control the flow of oil from the region is not good enough to enter into conflicts that do not concern our national security. We like everyone else need to learn that imperialistic causes and missions aren't gaining us any friends and will not secure our homeland in the long run. What it will do is agitate and bring trouble to our shores. We need to become energy independent and fiscally responsible by all means necessary to set an example and balance out the relations between the global states.

I'll cut this short and open it up for discussion with these questions:

1. Why is it that we always turn a blind eye to what certain allies do for their "security"?

2. Persecuted in the past or not, WHY do we not hold accountable and prosecute the "friends" we call allies for their wrongs if we're supposed to be the leading paragon of morality?

3. When is the last time that we can point to that is high or even low profile that Israel has directly intervened on our behalf?

4. Why do we elect representatives who lead us like sheep to the slaughter?

We as a people should be smarter that this and if we're not (right now we aren't) we need to wake up and smell the shitstorm that's at our doorstep.

American Ingnorance Does NOT Lead to American Exceptionalism

A lot has been going on in the world lately most of which goes on unnoticed by the general public and it's crazy maddening. Admittedly I've been distracted by things going on in my personal life but even that's no excuse not to stay informed and spread the knowledge that I gain on a day to day basis with my followers and whomever I come into contact with. I've ranted about people not taking ownership of their own ideas and ideals and I still find myself wondering why people subscribe to fake news organizations, a-la Fox News and the like. It's such an insult to the human intelligence.


I'm also wondering why, with a president as intelligent and reasonable as we have, batshitcrazy right-wingers are dictating our social agenda? Any thoughts on this other than it's better to work with our enemies (Republicans/tea-baggers) than fight them? I'm sure that's a valid argument and all, but it was their fault for getting them into the mess for the last 8-10 years wasn't it? For that reason, I propose a witch hunt!

Some wouldn't agree, but it's my belief that these a-holes should be exposed for the silver-tongued, two-timing shysters that they are by all means necessary. Remember that saying "throw the bums out"? Looks to me like we need to become a country of our word again.

Furthermore, ignorance isn't bliss. That's why we are where we are as a nation now. For too long we've allowed people that do not have our (the laity) best interests in mind. They only care about their bottom line and what they believe are the values that should be promoted. Our policies socially and politically should be based in reality and on rational, tried and true solutions that make sense and are not based on an individual or minority inclinations. Everything now is all just a little to subjective in my opinion and not nearly based in fact but mostly fiction and trial and error.

As it stands, this isn't a democratic society.

Do you really feel that your representatives are fighting for your rights? If you think they do, and that they're just like you, I direct you to look at their bank accounts/assets and where the funding's coming from. I guarantee that lobbyists are in these public servants pockets and hearts. Take a look at their views on DADT, marriage equality, wall street/financial reform, war, foreign policy, domestic policy & best of all religion in politics. If after looking at their voting records and personal views on each you still feel these "elite" politicians have your best interests in mind, then I submit that you're more delusional that I gave the American public credit for.
People I encounter, whether it's at the office, the gym or the grocery store want to tout that we're the best country in the world and that we can do now wrong. To those people, I just shake my head and wonder if they've ever read a history book that wasn't immediately slanted from the presses in our favor from the good ole boy publishers based in Texas; you know, that consummate fountain of intelligence and knowledge that consistently threatens to secede from the union.

I'll finish with this for now: American Exceptionalism can't be gained through complacency. If you want change, pull your head out of the sand; you're not and ostrich and you're capable of intelligent thought. Remember, evolution separated us from the rest of the animal kingdom by granting us the ability to rationalize and problem solve. Let's start solving for X.

Sad Day

I can't even write about this one today. Just go here to my friend John's blog.

Wake up, grow up and teach your children not to hate America.

More Space Junk?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39381001/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Instead of launching more crap into orbit to "check" on all the junk we've left up there, why dont we find a way to collect the crap and stop polluting beyond our means? Spending almost a billion dollars on a space junk hall monitor, I mean really.

Just saying.

Twamps = Teen Vampires

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/09/23/5166992-love-bites-teens-stop-sucking-each-others-blood-or-youre-grounded

After reading this, first, let me say this is some BS!

Ok I have a healthy interest in all things supernatural, even the vampire and werewolf myths, but this whole "I'm gonna bite you thing to feel closer to you" is insane and in my opinion another example of our society going to the crapper due to the marketing and sensationalism of this recent movie, TV and fictional book trend.

I can get how some of these teens today find solace in a book about love between "different" beings, because they're feeling lonely and brooding about what they can't have themselves or are misunderstood. Let's face it, we all went through it at some point and most of us still are to some degree. But guess what, we dealt with it and moved on. We didn't create or try to live the fantasies that we read because we were more realistic than these twamps living a "dream". We knew we would be committed for being crazy or even worse, not be taken seriously. I know i probably sound old and conservative by saying that but I like reality and until we find some sort of other humanoid life out there that we're compatible with, I'm calling foul.

Just because you find it hard to live in the real world and deal with things as they come does not mean you have to go off the deep end to pretend you're a vampire and even further, suck someone's blood. That's just nasty.

It really seems like parents not spending enough time with their kids forcing them to grow up by themselves unsupervised and whet do they do, they begging living an unsustainable life. They get everything they desire just to shut them up and not disturb mommy or daddy. This "upbringing" will inevitably lead to a dangerous future where reality and fantasy will not be separated in our kid's minds.

Kids, grow up. Parents...do your damned job!

Green News!

The Near Future

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39324391/ns/us_news-environment/

Finally! someone's got the stones to start trying on a mass scale. Congrats to the Brits for taking a step forward. Now lets clean up and streamline the effort between government and the private sector on the need and production so we can stop destroying the environement. Next step...Orbital Elevators!

More "Psycho Talk"

Land of the Lost

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/education/23texas.html

As Mr. Ed Schultz from MSNBC's the Ed Show would say, "more psycho talk". The saddest thing about this is not only that they're just crazy and trying to re-write history, it's that since it is one of the biggest textbook markets the publishers will likely bow to their demands which affects the rest of the civilized and free thinking people in this country. It should not be that when the Texas Board of Education whines about the Christian faith being bashed or in their view, unfairly represented, that we should all have to suffer and not learn the truth about what really happened in our past. I'm all for truthful representation, but these people are hiding their faith behind when they truly harbor very un-Christian feelings about the people of the religion they seek to discredit.

They cry about communism and socialism taking over their lives from the white house, but isn't this one of their governing bodies attempting to control what people learn and think? in my opinion the people behind this are racially motivated to make non-white (by their definition) muslims the villians in an attempt to hang on to the last vestiges of social relavance and power they once had over the thinking of a country who has become more and more dispossessed with radical and controlling religious institutions. You know, the control and influence the founders of this country were running away from in the form of the British Empire?

Pontificating Poisonous Pontiffs

So today, the pope, while visiting the UK (Scotland to be more exact) compared atheism to Nazism. Hmm...interesting.

I'll get to that in a minute.

What's more telling and interesting to me is who he surrounds himself with. A self professed peace bringer is flanked by one of his senior aides, Cardinal Walter Kasper, who spoke these demeaning and thinly veiled racist words in an interview with a German magazine:

 "England today is a secularised, pluralistic country. When you land at Heathrow Airport, you sometimes think you'd landed in a Third World country."

This reminds me of a conversation I heard about at my gym last week (I'm sad I missed, but heard about) when a guy asked where FIU (Florida International University) was located. He was answered that it was on the east coast somewhere in Miami. To which our resident "crazy" man (we really think this man needs help) responds, and I'm paraphrasing, that "that sounds right since it's more 'internantional over there'. A friend of mine reminded him that he may want to be more careful and sensitive with his choice of words telling him his statement was "borderline racist". Crazy man (aka Ree Ree) shoots back "I'm not a racist I'm just a redneck"

What does that even mean? That you can say that and are absolved of it because you don't know any better? Or better yet, that since you think only other white people are listening that you can say it because you think they're on your side.

You may be asking why I'm telling this story? It's because there's a huge group of people out there who subscribe to this thinking. I'm not saying they need to change who they are, I'm just saying they need to man up and really say what's on their mind and stop pussyfooting around how they really feel about non-white people who are increasing in numbers. I get it, you're scared because society is evolving and you're starting to feel like and endangered species. Problem is we're all increasingly not caring about color but the actual person and their own merits.

The once majority and quickly becoming the minority have a problem with this because they feel like their world is being taken from them. well guess what folks? I have news for you...it was never yours to claim. whether it's London or Miami or whether your people are indigenous to the area or not, EVERYONE, no matter what race color or creed, has a right to be there and live without fear of discrimination or persecution because they don't happen to look like you. If you happen to believe in a god you'll have to agree that "it" created the world and the people in it to co-exist, not to divide and fracture the landscape for a groups personal gain.

I'll finish by commenting the pope's discussion about atheism with some of the same advice for him.

First, leave atheists alone. Just because they haven't drank the kool-aid, bow down to invisible people in the sky and don't happen to believe what you do, doesn't make them bad people and they certainly shouldn't be judged on the previous actions of other supposed atheists. It's not your place to force any one religion or view on these people.

Secondly, we all know about your involvement in questionable activities and the racket you've got going on with your palatial living, fear mongering and divisive messages. Give it a rest. You can't blame anyone but yourself and the empire the catholic church has built on the backs of faithful believers. It was destined to fall and get back to its roots. Mother Theresa live a frugal and service filled life, why can't you and the rest of your cronies?

Last bit of advice, admit your guilt now and ask for forgiveness if you ever want to have a chance at salvation here on earth or in whatever heaven you believe you'll be granted access to.

Jesus wasn't a Facebook friend collector, so what are you trying to be? Answer: You and the other power brokers of religion want the power to control the masses if only to squelch the alternative views of the minority but more likely to hide your misdeeds and severe un-christian-like behavior.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11332515

Tricksy Subsidies?

Drain-O anyone?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11312819

Of all the whining I've been hearing about the government having to much to do with the common person's life, not often do you hear about where your tax dollars are really going. This story is a case that if looked at close enough should merit further investigation as to where and how our money is actually being spent. Are all of those billions of dolllars that we've spent over the years in the name of defense actually going to R&D of Pentagon ready receivables? Or, in actuality, are we playing the shell game and subsidizing a private company's civilian division? Seems a little shifty and opaque to me. i want to see the checkbook register on this one.

This is what happens when industry gets too big to fail. Who's getting richer and benefiting? Yeah, not you or me. You know, the little guys.

Mr. Adams was right!

Words more true now than ever...

“America goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benign' sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force. She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.”

—John Quincy Adams, US House, 7/4/1821

Last I checked, the United States was still on the North American continent

Maybe Tea Partiers
do have something in
common with tea bags
They're both used up
and used to getting soaked!

The Tea Party has made headlines around the country for months, with pundits fascinated by the spectacle of mostly older, mostly white, mostly angry conservative activists demanding that President Barack Obama "give their country back". - BBC News

My question is where do you think it went (without your knowledge) and who took it? You can’t be serious that you “think”, and I use that term loosely with this band of numbnuts, that the president did this.

Hey, cranky old white people! Yeah I’m talking to you. Take a look at those other young and cranky old white people, and the puppets they string along in office that YOU put in the congress. They’re the ones who are screwing you over royally with their self interested votes.

Again…WAKE UP!

Earthlings are in a bad way...

We all wonder why the world is in the state it is. Well, it's because we're all less charitable and appreciative of the human spirit than we used to be (myself included). I'm not going to preach, but we ALL really need to be better to eachother. Charity breeds peace and prosperity, selfishness brings war and poverty.

Think about it :-/

Who knew? I sure didn't. Fascinating.

This is kinda interesting and cool to learn about, but scary at the very same time. Another issue we need to concentrate on getting under control for global health to the extent we can. Get some knowledge..
Deep Underground, Miles of Hidden Wildfires Rage - TIME http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2006195,00.html?artId=2006195?contType=article?chn=sciHealth

Pleasantly perplexing.

A Seemingly caucasian baby born to parents of african descent. Mother nature, you tricky lady you!
Black Parents Shocked to Give Birth to White Baby Girl - TIME NewsFeed http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/07/20/black-parents-shocked-to-give-birth-to-white-baby-girl/?hpt=C2?artId=?contType=?chn

Some people just ain't right!

Mom jailed over sex with 14-year-old son

A woman who pleaded guilty to having sex with the biological son she gave up for adoption and later tracked down on the Internet has been sentenced nine years to 30 years in prison.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38217476/from/toolbar

'Touchdown Jesus'

Probably shouldn't laugh about this, but screw it...HAHAHAHAHA!

Looks like a sign from above guys ;-)

Take a look at the USA Today article:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-06-15-touchdown-jesus-fire_N.htm?POE=click-refer

DISGUSTING!

Not Really A Shocker, But Still Interesting

Laura Bush is pro-choice and supports gay rarriage, but then again most sane women are. Take a look at the article I just read from the Frisky. 

http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-todays-lady-news-051210/

Christian is to be Christ-like right?

Ok, given that's the truth, why is it that a Catholic Archbishop can spew such hate speech and get away with it. Better yet, why is this guy being projected and allowed to even be within an organization that's supposedly devoted to spreading the teachings of a sympathetic and compassionate man?

Seems to me that the Catholic Church truly is about power grabbing, money and division of the human race.

One more reason I'm happy i realized at a young age that organized religion is largely hypocritical and corrupt.

Check out the article the Huffington Post published today:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/05/brazilian-archbishop-says_n_565440.html