Wrinkles Cost Money. What The Nation's Elderly Need Now: Facial Spackle And Fake IDs

"Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?"

In a couple of weeks, I'll be celebrating my 64th birthday. Oh, I'll be celebrating it, but my heart won't be in it: considering that I've been HIV+ for over 33 years,  I guess I should be celebrating the fact that I'm here at all, but while I should celebrate all the wonderful things and people I've experienced in my life, I don't feel like celebrating my future one bit. Why not?

I'm getting wrinkles and I can't afford them. You see, thanks to America's slash-everything conservatives, wrinkles cost money. Sure, face-lifts cost a lot, but the fierce Republican Congress, by threatening to eradicate Social Security and Medicare, have made wrinkles just as expensive. It won't be long until wrinkles will become a status symbol because anyone lasting long enough to have them will obviously be rich enough to afford them. 

And the nation's politicians have made it clear that Town Halls are filled with elderly demanding to know why their elected officials have come to consider them so ... expendable. They've met with some blunt and, frankly, cold-hearted answers.

Former Rep_ Tom Davis (R-VA) tells an elderly woman with diabetes "good luck" finding insurance*

Of course, the kinder ones have told the elderly that they should depend upon their families for support. The problem with that advice is that the "family values" people forget how some of them acted during the country's AIDS crisis.* *

Anyway, the poor elderly have no right to exist, even God says so:

According to Pastor Matt Trewhella:

3. Social Security violates God’s work ethic. The Bible has much to say against laziness. Sluggards and sloths are mentioned 15 times in the book of Proverbs alone. Proverbs 26:14 states, "As the door turns upon its hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed." The Bible extols the virtues of hard work, yet says nothing about retirement. God requires us to be honest and industrious and to help our neighbor in their need. Retirement is what Americans look forward to in order to pursue their own self-interests such as golf and fishing. Rarely is retirement used as an opportunity for further service to God.

And God-fearing Dominionists know that programs like Medicare are not God's economics.

Am I missing something here? Is the Right Wing (esp. the Christian Right Wing) conducting some kind of poor senior genocide? OK, I won't go into any stupid conspiracy theory,*** but open disdain for the poor and elderly has become alarming. 

Guilty To Die Too Soon

I'm a caregiver for my ex partner who is only 48 and has terminal liver cancer. The irony about his situation is that he feels guilty about dying too soon: he doesn't want to leave me or any one of our friends in the quagmire that will be the fate of  what he sees as a vicious, greedy and righteously arrogant society. And while I'm angry at becoming one amongst the ranks of expendables, I'm angrier that it worries him even more than it worries me. His concern makes me feel like going into a "senior closet": if the people in power want us to disappear, then I may have to get a fake ID, some facial spackle, a skate board and join Rick Warren's Saddleback Church (it has a skateboard park).

I may have to cancel my birthday party as well. Pity. I was going to have the DJ at the local bar play an upbeat tune:

"When I'm 64." 

*I would have provided the YouTube link, but the corresponding video has been pulled. I wonder why?
**Most of the people with AIDS who were evicted from their homes were God-fearing Southern Baptists. I know. Ask me about it.
*** Since I've succumbed to the Conspiracy Theory craze, I actually do have one, but you'll have to read about it later. 

To The New Puritans: Religious Freedom's Tough, Isn't It?

At Least, for the "Christian Only" Crowd! 

Did the landing of the Mayflower signal the first country to have true religious freedom? Were the Pilgrims establishing a society based on the freedom to worship (or not to worship) as one sees fit?

Of course not. Puritans were simply fleeing Anglican rule. If there would have been a Puritan-tolerant country that was more civilized while offering free land, you can bet your last dollar that they would have settled in it instead of North America. The Puritan arrival was simply the result of intolerance fleeing intolerance. How long did they put up with Native American religions? Long enough to survive through the first winters on the benevolence of the Indians. It's a wonder the Indians were compassionate at all - the smell of hypocrisy can be quite a strong deterrent, even to people as empathetic as the Massachusett tribe). But eventually, the Puritan Ethic reared its head and the heathens were sorry that the Mayflower ever made it across the pond:

The first Native American translation [of the Bible], completed in 1663, was made into the language of the Massachusett tribe, which the Puritan colonists then promptly wiped out.

                                                          - Ken Davis, Don't Know Much About The Bible.

Back across the Atlantic, after Puritans gained prominence the most prominent Puritan, Oliver Cromwell, had this motto emblazoned on his heraldry:

Pax Quaeritur Bello
Peace is sought by War

Anyway, let's fast forward and concentrate on today's New Puritans.

By the way, who are today's New Puritans? Well, they're the ones who scream "Anti-Christian!" the loudest while softly whispering "Christian Only." The New Puritans are the ones who want tolerance for themselves, but insist on intolerance for other religions. The New Puritans are seeking their fortunes in the New World of Africa while being kept busy keeping their fortunes (and what dignity they have left) intact in America. And throughout all of their attempts at defense and expansion, a transcendent theme is becoming more evident: Christian Supremacy. Rick Warren slyly presented snippets of Christian Supremacy to Muslim-Americans last July 4th. Men like Rod Parsley and Pat Robertson have openly declared the preeminence of Christianity over every other religion, declaring them to be evil. And with his warped sense of history, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council shows just how much of a Supremacist he really is:

"While it is true that the United States of America was founded on the sacred principle of religious freedom for all, that liberty was never intended to exalt other religions to the level that Christianity holds in our country's heritage. Our Founders expected that Christianity--and no other religion--would receive support from the government as long as that support did not violate peoples' consciences and their right to worship. They would have found utterly incredible the idea that all religions, including paganism, be treated with equal deference."

Yeah. And some animals are more equal than others.

Christian Supremacy has been simmering for many years under the guise of "freedom of religion," simply because there were no formidable religions other than Christianity. Protestants could be content with bashing Catholicism, Catholics could revel in labeling Mormonism a cult and the most adverse enemy of all, Judaism, was never really a threat. What Christian Supremacists didn't expect was that the notion of religious freedom would somehow work against their notion that eventually everyone would become Christian. Blinded by the arrogance involved with the "One True Religion," they've been broadsided by America's determination not to show deference to any one religion. 

 

In other words, the New Puritans have at last noticed the Indians: True Religious Freedom.

 

Pray For Carrie Prejean!!

I mean it! Pray for the girl!

Whether Carrie Prejean made a sex tape or not should not be public anti-Christian fodder. She did what she did, presented herself as a more virtuous woman, scored some publicity and even scored a book deal based on one slip of righteous arrogance.

BFD.

The problem with the Prejean story is that she was immediately lassoed by a bunch of stalwart Christofascists and made into a cause celebre that should never have been let loose in the first place. Once she was corralled, groomed and prepped for publicity, she was too dazzled by the attention to come clean about her past. Her book, Still Standing, is a monument to martyrdom which never mentions the video tape. It was obviously cobbled together post haste (who amongst us could write an autobiography while juggling appearances at conventions, and "summits," while giving radio, TV and print interviews?) and it's doubtful that she even read the final galleys for approval.

From the inside flap:

Here at last is Carrie’s own story—the full story—about what actually happened. In Still Standing, you’ll learn:

• The behind-the-scenes truth of how and why Carrie’s own pageant directors joined forces with the vicious smear campaign against her
• The intimidation that kept many of Carrie’s supporters quiet
• How Donald Trump defended her—only to back down under pressure from the pageant directors
• Why liberals target conservative women for special persecution
• How political correctness is becoming a clear and present danger to free speech

Carrie Prejean endured the hellish nightmare that the liberal media can inflict on anyone who disagrees with their agenda, but her faith, courage, and conviction have made her a role model for how we can stare down the bullies of political correctness and reclaim our God-given rights to freedom of speech, thought, and conscience.

And the book most often requested with the advance purchase of Still Standing? You guessed it: Sarah Palin's Going Rogue. And since Carrie's book is (technically) not out until four days from today, well, let's just say that Amazon better start discounting it - and FAST! Wonder what Sarah Palin's response will be to the whole thing?

It was the AOL celebrity website TMZ that supplied the scandalous tape. It had been in possession of it for months, but...

From TMZ:

The video the lawyer showed Carrie is extremely graphic and has never been released publicly. We know that, because TMZ obtained the video months ago but decided not to post it because it was so racy. Let's just say, Carrie has a promising solo career.

We're told it took about 15 seconds for Carrie to jettison her demand and essentially walk away with nothing. As we first reported, the Pageant is paying around $100,000 to her lawyers and publicist -- a fraction of her bills. She pockets nothing in the settlement.

The Pageant originally asked for all book royalties as well, but they wouldn't have gotten much from a book that went immediately into the bargain book bin. So in the end of this pitiful saga, everybody loses: the Miss USA Pageant, Prejean and her publisher, the right wing Regnery Publishing. But the Christofascist wingnuts will come out unscathed (at least in their own minds) while Prejean's defenders (whoever is left) will rasp a weak cry of "vicious liberal media attacking a poor, vulnerable young woman who just wanted to be popular."

Some articles in the following weeks may tell us the impression of the public, but they may not point out the true villain of the piece: the Christian Right who coddled and prepped her, wooed and trained her. Prejean's saintly posturing was a fraud created by them. One wonders how she managed to say what she said to the Take Back America crowd with a straight face: "I knew that although I lost the crown, God had a bigger crown for me in heaven."

Somehow, Prejean's plight reminded me of the scheming but clueless Lena Lamont character portrayed so brilliantly by Jean Hagen in the movie, Singing In The Rain: think of Carrie Prejean as Lena Lamont and her diction coach as Phyllis Schlafly.

Sorry, Carrie, but you may not be Still Standing after this is all over. In fact, all that will be left: the laughter.

I'll pray for you.