Where's The Love?

In times of crisis, America has always put political biases behind and focused on helping rescue, rebuild and repair. During 9/11, I seem to recall that people put aside their political differences and backed George Bush and his efforts to quell the anxiety of the country. It was only until later that suspicions arose concerning the disaster's origins. And even through "Heck-of-a-job, Brownie," we stood by and supported the administration in its weak endeavors.

We felt we had no choice. This is America. We don't bicker while people are hurting. We wait a decent time until the worst is over to take sides, to criticize, to blame.

That moment of constraint evaporated during Hurricane Sandy's onslaught. Actually, it wasn't even there to begin with. There was no "let's stand behind the President at this moment in crisis." There was no feeling of unity. Perhaps it was the timing of the disaster, coming as it did at such a critical juncture of American politics, but the lack of full support for the Obama administration's efforts was telling: the Right still screeched its old tune, the tune that it vowed to keep up since Jan.20, 2009:

"Always be on the attack, no matter what Obama does. Attack the good as well as the bad. Never give up. Never!"

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was roundly mocked and criticized for praising President Obama's efforts to rescue and relieve the people of his state.

Rush Limbaugh: 

"Christie's the only Republican not just praising Obama, it's a -- let's just put it this way. Is it wrong for one man to love another man?But that man love out there is isolated in the state of New Jersey."

Pulling together regardless of political ideologies has always been the American way. Is now the time to determine just who is American...and who is not?

The Irony Of Being Demonspawn

Today was the most gorgeous day in San Francisco: the air was crisp and clear - glowing from the SF Giants' sweep of the World Series. It was a day to remember, a day to cherish. I stopped by that gay mecca, the Castro, where some people strolled shirtless, men hand-in-hand, delighting in God's gift of the marvelous day.

As I gazed upon The City from the upper reaches of its infamous gay mecca, I though back to "prophet" Lou Engle's descriptive words of its local demizens: "...those people who embrace the darkness." I hoped Engle was somewhere - anywhere - on the East Coast.

For it was not a beautiful day anywhere along the East Coast, not in New York, Washington, Atlantic City, Baltimore, or even Virginia Beach. That's right, not even Pat Robertson's Virginia Beach escaped the wrath of Frankenstorm's  God. The almighty Pat Robertson who once boasted that he had prayed away a hurricane was powerless against Frankenstorm. Perhaps his encroaching senility had something to do with it. 

San Francisco has always been an anomaly to the Christian Right: the bastion of sin with the best of taste, sophistication and ...compassion. It is unconquerable in its fight for human dignity and rights. Many have tried to scale its walls of liberalism and failed, simply because the only kind of people it cannot tolerate is the intolerant. And while it will give succor to the lowest of the low, it will not harbor the highest purveyors of righteous arrogance.

It fairly glows amidst contempt by the radical Christian Right. 

Home to the only "Emperor of The United States", to washer-women-turned-society matrons, to drag queens, to political prostitutes, to architectural oddities and to porn shops, San Francisco is certainly a candidate for the ultimate disdainful sobriquet "demonspawn." It is a town of the devil and one which the Christian Right prays daily for two or three more shake-ups along the San Andreas (preferably more than 8.0 to be thorough). 

Maybe God Has Changed His Mind

If anyone is tired of the incessant carping by the Christian Right about San Francisco's sinful status, it might just be ... God. After all, after Colorado Springs (the Vatican of the West in Christian Right Circles), Virginia Beach is the cornerstone of morality, with Pat Robertson and his CBN empire at its center. Why, Pat Robertson is on a one-on-one basis with God every day, it seems. But God may be tired of having His name used in vain: against people instead of for them, as a weapon against enemies as opposed to a support for friends and neighbors. He might be tired of the incessant invocation of His name to do harm to people (ala imprecatory prayer). He might look at wickedness in a completely different light these days and might consider a prosperity pulpit pimp not quite the worthy proponent of the kind of righteousness He envisioned.

Mark Twain once said "God made Man because He was disappointed in the monkey." 

Maybe Frankenstorm is a demonstration of God's contempt for Pat Robertson and His admiration for those "people who embrace the darkness."

Just a thought.