What Will The Gay D-Day Bring?

Out of clutter, find simplicity.
From discord, find harmony.
In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.

- Albert Einstein

Backlash can create backlash can create backlash can create backlash until someone steps in to stop the cycle... or everyone is dead. Cyclical backlash is a very close relative to revenge killings in the Middle East. When a member of one family or tribe kills someone from a different family or tribe, the different one has an obligation to kill someone from the first tribe. Then the first tribe has an obligation to... and on and on and on. Unless there is some sort of formal truce, the vengeance killing can go on for centuries.

We're looking at two different sides of a cultural and cyclical backlash: same-sex marriage was proclaimed legal by the city of San Francisco. Politicized religious groups began to object by making some states ban the practice. Gay rights groups made marriage equality their marching banner.

Then came the Christian Right's backlash: California's Proposition 8.

The campaign saw both sides shouting about "freedoms" and "rights". The Christian Right kept saying that they had God on their side. In fact, they blamed God ("God WANTS us to do this!"). The humanists (yes, including Christian homosexuals) said that their marriage rights were basic human rights.

On Nov. 4, the campaign for Proposition 8 was won after one of the most vicious, misleading and unbelievably criminal campaigns ever experienced. It involved extortion, out-of-state money and manpower from churches, outright lies, and, most of all - mongering of hate and fear.

So now a counter backlash has been set in motion: Saturday, Nov. 15th will see a NATIONAL protest against California's Proposition 8. A protest of epic, if not historic proportions.

(From the blog by gay journalist and activist Rex Wockner)

Maybe Stonewall was Activism 1.0, ACT UP was Activism 2.0, the failed corporate activism of HRC and No On Prop 8 was Activism 3.0, and now we are witnessing Activism 4.0 being born....

And on this Saturday, in California alone, it is set to happen in Bakersfield, Chico, Colton, Costa Mesa, Delano, Escondido, Eureka, Fairfield, Fresno, Irvine, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Moreno Valley, Napa, Oakland, Palm Springs, Pasadena, Pomona, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Stockton and Ventura. And that's just as of today. With the speed of "viral" organizing, the list could be twice as long by Saturday.

Question: how will people view this kind of "activism"? Will some see it as a kind of anarchy? Will it cause another, more virulent backlash? How many Christofascists will be counter-protesting? Will this new activism cost lives?

It might.

Just a thought.

The Stonewall Inn - Activism 101

Stonewall Inn
Originally uploaded by GhstLght74

Where it all started! June 28, 1969.

This is one national landmark some people would like to see burned to the ground! Like the Statue of Liberty, The Stonewall Inn stands for freedom and justice to the LGBT communities of the world.

Obama In, Lobbyists Out! B**h Out, Transparency In!

(from The Washington Independent)

John Podesta, co-chair of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, announced today that Obama would extend the restrictions on lobbyists during his presidential campaign to his transition to the White House. The transition team outlined the changes in a press release:

· Federal Lobbyists cannot contribute financially to the transition.

· Federal lobbyists are prohibited from any lobbying during their work with the transition.

· If someone has lobbied in the last 12 months, they are prohibited from working in the fields of policy on which they lobbied.

· If someone becomes a lobbyist after working on the Transition, they are prohibited from lobbying the Administration for 12 months on matters on which they worked.

· A gift ban that is aggressive in reducing the influence of special interests.

During a 45-minute briefing with reporters in Washington, Podesta also suggested that those who go to work for the Obama administration would be prohibited from lobbying the administration for two years after leaving.

Will there be more restrictions? Let's hope so. If Congress wants to maintain its integrity (as if it ever had any), it will put regulations and restrictions across the board for all lobbyists. Yes, I know that associations like the ACLU pay lobbyists big money to represent them, but that money shouldn't be used for gifts or extravagant "meetings." At Thanksgiving, congressmen and senators should be carving their own turkeys and not ones stuffed with Rolexes.

What do you think?

Just a thought.

A Very White Saxby Chambliss Laments: Damn Those Early Voting Obamacons!

Citing ‘High Percentage Of Minority Vote’ In GA, Chambliss Laments
Not Getting ‘Our Folks’ Out To Vote!

With a name like Saxby Chambliss, I would have thought.... oh, well. Proof positive that the state of Georgia still hasn't gotten over that War Between the States thing. Of course it was on FOX News. I'm sure some of FOX's viewers didn't get the implication:

Watch:

Dobson's Civil War Part II: Laura Ingraham Wants California To "Secede Already!"

Radio talk show hostess (she'd prefer it that way) Laura Ingraham really REALLY hates California Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger. Two days ago on CNN, he told the Republican party not to get "stuck in ideology," but instead concentrate on more important issues like cleaner air, healthcare and the budget deficit.

Laura (not THE "Dr" Laura, but just plain 'ole Laura) got riled about his comments and said that she had “never, never, ever gotten the whole Schwarzenegger thing,” finally declaring California should “secede” from the United States:

INGRAHAM: Arnold Schwarzenegger is embarrassing on so many levels. … Every time we look to moderate to liberal Republicans for answers, we’re disappointed. Not only are we disappointed, we end up getting shafted. […]

I read this and my blood boils. Left coast? I mean, just secede already, at this point. Okay. Secede already. I can’t take it anymore from California.

O.K., Ing'ham, we'll secede...and succeed. Why? Because we'll be taking with us all our money and resources. We'll declare ourselves the Republic of California - with the sixth largest economy in the world. We'll take some of the best scientific minds, some of the best computer and software companies, some of the most efficient (and abundant) agricultural producers, and some of the best dim sum and burritos, not to mention, Thai, Vietnamese, French, Salvadorean, Italian and Indian dishes to die for. We'll be taking with us all the things Washington wishes it would have. But can't. They're all in California.

Also in California: a governor who believes in the real issues, not the ones presented by the pope of Colorado Springs!

Whew! That rant took a lot out of me and made me hungry: I'll take a short ride to Mitchell's Ice Cream (also rated this state's - country's - best).

Just a thought.

To The List of Problems Ahead For Obama: Dobson's Civil War !

"War! War! War! This war talk's spoiling all the fun at every party this spring!

I get so bored I could scream!"

Some people are pushing the Culture War to extremes, using military terms and war metaphors to make any Scarlett scream with boredom:

(from: Crooks and Liars, Nov. 7)

This evening James Dobson's Focus on the Family Action sent out a fundraising email to members that likened the victories of Barack Obama and congressional Democrats in Tuesday's election to the Nazi bombing of England during World War II. The author of this vile letter is Tom Minnery, Senior Vice President of Focus on the Family Action.

So, here's what Barack Obama is facing:

• War in Iraq
• War in Afghanistan
• Severe Economic Crisis
• Increasing Unemployment
• Global Warming
• Breaking Points With Israel and Iran
• Worldwide Diplomacy Meltdown With The U.S.
  

...and Dobson's Civil War.

Only the Christian Right calls it a "Culture War". What the hell. It's war. And it is part of James Dobson's horrendously toxic ideology. Dobson and the hardcore of the Christian Right - the Christofascists - are now bandying about military terms and comparing people on both sides to military leaders (see above).

In these last six months, Christofascist leaders (under Dobson's banner), teamed up with radical Republicans to incite latent hatred, racism, homophobia and xenophobia among millions of Americans. It seemed that you weren't patriotic enough or Christian enough if you didn't hate someone enough. Sarah Palin's rallies looked more like the "angry villagers" scene from Frankenstein.

They ARE the "bitter people clinging to their guns and their religion..."

Now Dobson and his cohorts publicly "lament" the election of Barack Obama.

By Art Moore, WorldNetDaily:

What would America look like after four years of a Barack Obama administration? "Hardship," "persecution" and "suffering" are among the prospects in a hypothetical letter from a "Christian from 2012" released today by evangelical leader James Dobson's political activist group Focus on the Family Action.

The "persecution," of course, is suffered by the "Christians". Dobson mixes metaphors much like intoxicatingly lethal cocktails: Obama is a combination of Hitler and Nero, reading by lamps with Christian-skin lampshades and entertaining the atheist masses with hungry lions in amphitheaters.

The strange part about Dobson's Civil War is his choice of weaponry: for himself and his generals, he uses the Bible, the idealized American Family (not the real one, of course - it's too defective) and self-righteousness. The soldiers in the field live on rations of falsehoods (in order to keep up levels of stupidity and gullibility), crackpot ideologies and any "outcasts" "heathens" "sinners" or "pagans" they can forage for. Their weapons are AK-47s, courtesy of the NRA and the Second Amendment.

Dobson's Civil War actually started more than ten years ago (the death of Matthew Shepard was the sign of things to come), but lately it has picked up enough steam to become politicized. The election was, of course, only a battle that Dobson expected to lose. His soldiers aren't as yet prepared for national battles.

Then again, maybe he's waiting for a kind of Joan of Arc to help him. We know that Sarah Palin has already heard voices.

These next few years will be hell for President Barack Obama.

Just as James Dobson intends them to be.

Just a thought.

What Is A Republican...These Days?

Even though this was made in 2006, it's just as relevant today showing that the Republican Party is one big disfunctional family: