State Of The Union

My father was a hardcore union man his entire adult working life. He believed in the union and what it represented for the working man and of the middle class families it helped to create, in particular the middle class African-American families. He knew of the days when workers had horrible working conditions, got paid extremely low wages and were told to be grateful that at least they had a job. Because of this, he favored the advantages afforded in having union representation in negotiations with business owners. Most people don’t realize the majority of rights and benefits workers are offered today are because of the hard work unions put in decades ago. Because of organized labor my father and mother were able to earn a decent living wage and provide medical and dental benefits for our entire family as well as pension plans for their senior years through their respective unions. There was nothing radical about my father’s ideas, because of his union he expected to be treated with respect and dignity, in fact it’s where I got my “I don’t have to take shit from you” attitude about employers. I watched both of my parents get up and go to work each and every day and quite simply they both felt that hard honest work should be rewarded and they passed this work ethic on to me and my sisters.

Recently Republican lawmakers in Michigan quietly passed legislation through a lame-duck session and Michigan became a “right to work state”, or as President Obama called it “right to work for less”. The legislation states that workers are no longer required to join a union and pay dues and fees to it in order to get or keep a job. Michigan legislators say their intent is to give workers more choice and support economic growth, but the real intent is to weaken organized labor by encouraging workers to freeload by withholding money unions need to bargain effectively. These freeloaders pay no dues but still reap the benefits of collective bargaining. It’s amazing how effective Republicans are in brainwashing the middle class. Equally amazing is how middle class workers are unable to see right through these liars and continually vote against their best interest. Theses conservative politicians convince the public that all the economic problems in Michigan are the union's fault, as if all the crappy products the auto industry was producing were decisions of the union management, all the while knowing their main goal is to take away workers’ rights. Bankrupting unions prevents union influence during elections but big business and political PACs like those funded by the billionaire Koch Brothers can spend all they want all of which helps the GOP at election time.

The fact is that without unions, workers are subject to the whims and decisions of bad managers. Wages have dropped, benefits are disappearing, and workers are being exploited and abused…just take a look at Wal-Mart. This union busting is about businesses making bigger profits by paying workers less. Their profits go up while workers’ paychecks go down. Sure there will be more jobs because like Wal-Mart they cut hours, pay minimum wage and are able to get two workers for the price of one. The Republicans call workers making $20 an hour greedy yet they call billionaires who want more profits on the backs of their workers and less taxes successful. Unions have fought long and hard for things such as fair wages and safe working conditions yet Republicans say union workers are wrong because they want these things. What should happen is that when a union bargains and achieves higher wages and increased benefits it should only go to union members. Those who want to save a few measly bucks a month in union dues should be left to bargain on their own.

Worker issues have changed over the years, but workers still need an organization to stand up for their rights, wages and working conditions. It is very easy to forget that unions protect the labor force at large by forcing employers to follow work place rules and regulations and play a critical role in maintaining a middle class in this country. The absence of unions will allow corporations to again take advantage of workers and we'll revert back to the pre-union days. It's happening in countries like China by American corporations, so why wouldn’t it happen here as well?

Endangered Species

I remember being at the movies with friends, in particular being at the movies to see Dreamgirls. There were a group of African-American teenagers seated behind us and they were chattering consistently throughout the film and complaining about the number of songs…yes this was Dreamgirls...the musical. Just as Jennifer Hudson was about to belt out her rendition of “And I’m Telling You, I’m Not Going" one of them yelled out, “Oh God, I know she’s not going to sing another song” at which point I turned around told her to shut the hell up. The audience applauded as we had all had enough. Now I suppose if I was in the state of Florida I could have simply turned around and shot her and claimed self-defense utilizing the Stand Your Ground Law as she was invading my space and I felt threatened. It may sound ludicrous but this is exactly what’s happening in Florida where African-American teens are in danger of extinction.

Ok these are the facts of the case at hand. Imagine you’re out of town for a wedding and you pull into a gas station. Next to you is a group of loud obnoxious teenagers blasting their music. As you sit waiting for your girlfriend to return from the convenience store attached to the gas station you ask them to turn down their music and being typical teenagers they tell you to kiss their ass and turn it up louder. So you get into a heated argument with them reach into your glove compartment, get a gun and fire 8 to 9 shots into their vehicle killing one teenager. You don’t wait for the police you instead flee the scene, drive yourself and your girlfriend to a nearby hotel and go to sleep…after all it’s been a long day and murder does take its toll. The next day you see on the news that one of the teens did in fact die yet neither you nor your girlfriend attempt to file a police report and instead drive 160 miles home as if nothing has happened. The police track your license plates to your home and you’re arrested for murder and attempted murder. Two days after your arrest your attorney states she plans to use the Stand Your Ground Law as a defense as you now claim you saw a shotgun in the teenager’s vehicle, feared for your life and shot in self-defense. However, this claim is not included in the arresting police report, no firearms were found in the victim’s vehicle, no other shots were reported fired and no casings were found other than those of your gun.

Folks, bad manners and loud music are never an excuse for murder. Teenagers are rude by nature but their rude behavior should not be a sentence to death. If the teenagers I told to be quiet in the movie theater had chosen to get in an argument with me instead of being quiet I would have simply got an usher and had them removed. Instead of being the mature adult and either intelligently walking away or calling the police this John Wayne wannabe chose to shoot up the vehicle and its inhabitants like he was in Gunsmoke or The Wild, Wild West. So why is it ok to shoot up a group of African-American teenagers? What is it about him feeling threatened that would justify his acts? Did he fall back on stereotypes and assume that because they were young, Black and listening to hip-hop they were violent criminals carrying weapons? Or is it that for some people the mere existence of Black people can seem life threatening. And please don’t tell me race is not at issue. Would he have acted differently if he had pulled in and there were a group of loud white bikers blasting their music? You do not get to invoke the right of scared white guy to gun down Black people when you feel threatened. His actions and then retreating to the Stand Your Ground Law are merely a new form of legal lynching and some drastic action needs to be taken before it happens again. We should not have to be fearful for our children to be out alone at night, walking in the rain or pumping gas afraid that some pent up drunken racist nut may be out stalking Black kids.

Mr. Grumpy Pants Goes To Washington

Why is John McCain still on my TV? Didn’t he lose like four years ago? Why is his short round Alfred Hitchcock looking ass still here and what can I do to make him go away? In an attempt to manufacture relevance and remain in the spotlight, this man has been on every Sunday morning talk show, evening news broadcasts and internet news website for the past month. As they struggle to politicize the Benghazi Embassy incident and create controversy where none exist, he and his Republican cohorts have been blasting United States U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice attempting to portray her as the villain responsible for the attack. According to the Three Musketeers, senators McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayote, Ambassador Rice, “purposely mislead the American public regarding the Benghazi attack and the forces behind it”. What she actually did was report the facts as she knew them at the time stating, “This is the best assessment we have today”. As U.N. Ambassador, Ms. Rice has absolutely no control over or involvement in foreign embassies the only reason she spoke on the situation was because Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was unavailable. The efforts by these three to link her to the incident reek of desperation. In an attempt to belittle and vilify the ambassador they’ve called her everything from “incompetent” to “not very bright”. McCain went so far as to say that he would do everything within his power to block any attempts by President Obama to appoint her as the next Secretary of State to which the President replied," I wish a muthafucka would”…well he didn’t actually say it but you know he was thinking it. What he actually said was that if Mr. McCain had a problem with the Benghazi Embassy attack he should take it up with him and not Ambassador Rice…translated, meet me on the playground at 3 PM and we’ll handle this.

So what’s really behind the senator’s obsession with Susan Rice? I mean former President George W. Bush had eleven U.S. Embassies attacked and I don't remember McCain and the gang creating crazy conspiracy cover-up theories about any of them. This is the same threesome who ferociously insisted Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction and got us into an unprovoked war in Iraq…still waiting for that apology. In an effort to calm the three scheming nut balls and quell their inquiries, Susan Rice agreed to meet with them Tuesday to answer their questions. Of course they used the occasion to advance their agenda and to make sure the media knew they left the meeting “more disturbed” than before. Oh did I forget to mention that Susan Rice is African-American? You know like Eric Holder, Van Jones and Shirley Sherrod the other members of President Obama’s administration who have been attacked by republican lawmakers and right wing pundits. And let's not forget Senator McCain is the same man who viciously fought and voted against the observance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday in the state of Arizona. Because of him Arizona was one of the last states to recognize the holiday almost ten years after it became a federal holiday. The truth is McCain has had a bug up his ass ever since the poison pen letter he sent in 2006 to then freshman Illinois Senator Barack Obama where he called him a liar and accused him of obstructing bipartisan lobbying reform and talked down to him as if he were a child. On top of that he has been a bitter, frustrated, vindictive, Obama-hating trouble maker since his humiliating presidential defeat in 2008. Apparently, in his mind the man is still running for president. It’s like he forgot he lost.

Because of term limits the senator is set to lose his status and prestige as the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, which will leave him with nothing to do….except complain. He’s remained in the senate game made crazy ridiculous statements and claims for far too long and has now become the Terrell Owens of the senate, nobody wants him on their team. The man has outlived his senate usefulness. What he needs to do is not seek another senate term sit his disturbed ass down and retire. I would suggest that he retire with dignity but all dignity and respect were lost on him when he thrust the she beast Sarah Palin onto the world in 2008, an irreparable cruelty for which he is never to be forgiven. Mr. Grumpy Pants needs to discreetly pack his bags get the hell out of dodge and retreat to one of his many ranches, condos or beachfront properties spread across the country where he can complain and abuse the staff…and accuse them of silly baseless conspiracies.

This Christmas

Despite the fact that we have yet to even celebrate Thanksgiving, last week the radio station we listen to here at work began playing Christmas music and I gotta say I’m already fed up and feeling like I need to throw the damn radio through a window. All I’m saying is it’s only been two working days and already I’ve heard more carols than I care to count. The radio station is running a contest where you can win $10,000 if you hear Bing Crosby’s White Christmas two times in a row. I’d pay $10,000 just to never have to hear that damn song ever again. When I’ll be home for Christmas came on for the umpteenth time I thought to myself, “Yeah I bet your ass will be home and probably a week early too, you got enough time to walk at this point.” And don’t get me started on Mariah and All I want for Christmas, all I want for Christmas is for you to shut the hell up and never sing another Christmas song again. I will say that at least there is a variety of the type of Christmas carols we’ve been bombarded with from Elvis to Nat King Cole and Anita Baker to Whitney Houston and before you label me all bah humbug and Scroogey I will say some of them actually make me nostalgic. When I heard the song from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special you know the one, when all the kids are dancing around Schroeder on stage as he plays the piano it reminded me of how as children me and my sister Denise would attempt to imitate their dance moves and then fall on the ground laughing hysterically. And I gotta say I enjoyed hearing The Jackson Five with Michael singing, I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus… “And I’m Gonna Tell My Daddy”

In spite of the repetition I’ve learned a few things that never occurred to me before, like Rudolph was apparently one of the first kids to be bullied I mean all of the other reindeers used to laugh and call him names and then they never let him play in any reindeer games, come on. What a bunch of assholes. So he had a big red nose you would too if you spent all your time at the freezing fricking North Pole. I just hope when he made the big time and Santa called him up he gave them all the Bill Gates I used to be a nerd but now I’m rich treatment and told them all to kiss his artic ass. And can someone please explain to me exactly what Eartha Kitt was planning on doing with Santa Baby once she got the deed, the ring and the checks? Well she did say she wanted him to trim her Christmas tree. And how about that Mr. Grinch, a mean one indeed, “You really are a heel, you're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel, Mister Grinch", wow. Or how’s this, “You're a foul one, Mister Grinch, you're a nasty wasty skunk, your heart is full of unwashed socks, your soul is full of gunk", Dr. Seuss had serious issues but come on I mean dude stole all of the Christmas gifts, Roast Beast, Who-hash and decorations in Whoville. The man has no shame but what do you expect “his heart was two sizes too small”.

Now don’t get me wrong I enjoy the Christmas season as much as the next guy but I would rather celebrate in a much more timely manner…and at least enjoy my damn Thanksgiving turkey first. I don’t mind it beginning to look a lot like Christmas, it’s just that it’s looked that way since before Halloween. You know what I’m talking about, timely. Like putting up the Christmas lights and shopping for a tree a couple of weeks before the date. Stocking up on brandy and egg nog for guests…yeah for guests, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Or what has become tradition at my house, looking forward to Christmas day gumbo and opening gifts with the grandkids. And the movies, I’m still a sucker for It’s A Wonderful Life and I always catch at least one viewing of A Christmas Story watching Ralphie scheming and pleading for his Christmas gift of the Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle…if you’ve seen the movie you know what I’m talking about, if not you should check it out.

The Christmas season wasn’t meant to last two months folks. They’ve even moved Black Friday up this year to Thanksgiving night...sheesh. What has always made Christmas special is the anticipation and expectation as it builds to a quick climax and rightly before you know it, it’s over and you can’t wait for it to come again. This slow build beginning in October takes away from the suspense of a shorter season and only serves to dilute the reason for the season. A person camping out overnight in a tent just to get a deal on stuff they don’t need is not what Christmas is all about. So how do we move the start of the celebration back to where it used to be and how do we regain the meaning of Christmas to what it was in years past? Should we start an online petition? Maybe we can get those secession folks on board.

I See Black People

Okay folks I swear I didn’t make this up and I really didn’t think these crybaby Republicans could get any nuttier…until now. Apparently someone left the gate open because Black people are invading the state of Maine by the truckloads. The outgoing Maine Republican Chairman, Mr. Charlie Webster is claiming that hundreds of mysterious black voters cast votes in rural Maine towns which led to Republican Party losses. According to Charlie, "In some parts of rural Maine, there were dozens, dozens of Black people who came in and voted on Election Day, I'm not talking about 15 or 20. I'm talking hundreds." Mr. Crazy pants also added "Everybody has the right to vote, but nobody in town knows anybody that's black how did that happen? I don't know. We're going to find out" (I swear to God his racist ass actually said that) and “without a voter ID law or way to check, voting was fraught for abuse." Damn those cagey clever Blacks, what a plan. I know if I wanted to commit voter fraud I would invade lily white rural Maine with hundreds of anonymous inexplicable Black folks, have them somehow go unnoticed or raise any questions and then show up at the polls on Election Day…BRILLIANT! The man attempted to defend himself with, “anyone who suggests I have a bias toward any race or group, frankly, that's sleazy.” Yeah Charlie, sleazy like making baseless claims of voter fraud and thinly veiled racist statements like “nobody in town knows anybody that’s Black”. Really? Who is the crazy man and more importantly, who are the people who put him in charge? By the way if that many previously unseen Black people suddenly showed up in Maine as voters wouldn’t somebody have some damn pictures of at least the buses they rode in on? Just saying.

These people are becoming increasingly pathetic in their desperation to explain themselves to those who invested millions into Republican Super PACs and ended up with zilch. My first thought was this guy has absolutely no idea how the voting process works. You can’t just show up on Election Day and cast a ballot, you have to register first. But he knows that and he doesn’t even believe what he’s saying, he knows it’s not true. He doesn’t need logic because he also knows that it won’t matter to the conservative conspiracy theorist nut jobs who want to hear these kinds of things as they need someone other than themselves to blame for not only the loss of the election but also the rejection of their ideas and way of thinking. But that’s not the end of it folks this guy continues his racist rant. Charlie claims that people are moving to the state of Maine for welfare and that during the summer he heard of “young men coming to the doors of minority voters and telling them that the Republicans were going to take away their food stamps, their welfare checks, their disability and they brought them a ballot and they voted for Democrats.” I’m actually at a loss for words. So first Blacks don’t exist because he’s never encountered these elusive beings but of course when he does find them they’re sitting on their lazy no working asses waiting for “free stuff”. This sour grape eating asshole and his hateful racist rhetoric scares me. I’d feel more comfortable if he would just put on a white hooded robe and burn a few crosses.

So let’s see how long it takes for public outcry and calls demanding an investigation into voter fraud for the state of Maine and how quickly it’s linked to President Obama. It may sound like a ridiculous story now but isn’t it amazing how a story can be told over and over again until it becomes fact? You know like the facts that end up on FOX News or birther central as I prefer to call it. Next up, hundreds of mysterious rich White folks show up riding Unicorns in Compton, CA passing out rolls of hundred dollar bills to dumbfounded residents.

No Country for Whiners

Post-election reaction from the Republican’s loss has been nothing short of amazing. From the Karl Rove FOX News meltdown on election night, Donald Trump calling for a revolution to attempts by conservative pundits to demonize anyone who voted for President Obama as “people who want things.” Unbelievable. Business owners who supported Romney are reacting swiftly and viciously. There’s a business owner in Florida who says he will fire those he suspects of voting for President Obama. Others are using the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), a law that doesn’t go into effect fully until 2014 as an excuse to fire employees. Firing workers in advance of law becoming effective in its entirety is typical of Republicans who didn't get their way and are now throwing temper tantrums and punishing their work forces.

Papa John’s Pizza CEO, John Schnatter said he plans on passing the cost of health care reform to his workers by reducing their hours so that they fall under the 30 hour threshold which requires employers to provide insurance for employees. Excuse me but aren’t most of these $8 per hour workers part-time anyway, how many would he actually have to insure? It’s important to note that before the election Schnatter said that because of Obamacare he would likely have to raise the cost of pizza by 11 to 14 cents per pizza. I have no idea how this translates into reducing employee hours. This man is rather clumsily trying to make a point that because of President Obama he has to reduce hours…ridiculous. Serious business owners don't make controversial comments that insult over 50% of the voters (customers) and expect it not to hurt their business. Real world business owners have cost increases all the time and they don't just fire their employees every time vendors increase their cost, they simply increase their price and pass it on to the consumer and at 14 cents more per pizza who would even notice. Just a quick accounting lesson Mr. Schnatter, employee healthcare is a legitimate expense on your income statement and although it may reduce your net profits it doesn’t influence sales it only affects how much more you get to put in your greedy ass pockets. Unfortunately, he’s not the only one in the restaurant industry making these threats. Darden Restaurants, the parent company of Olive Garden and Red Lobster, have already reduced hours in anticipation of the legislation. Applebee's franchisee owner Zane Tankel said his company won’t hire new workers because of the law. If they all had taken that money they pumped into Republican Super PACs and instead invested it in healthcare for their employees, there would be no problem.

Of course we now have fanatical Romney supporters passing around statewide petitions to secede from the United States. Petitions have been filed in 20 states and not just southern states like Alabama where they take in $2 for every $1 they pay in federal taxes, New York, California and New Jersey have signers on the lists, which only proves that idiots reside in all parts of the country. Each nut ball who signed these petitions should immediately be put on a list by the federal government. They should be denied access to social security, Medicare, Medicaid, homeland security, FEMA and government funded education to start with. No more subsidies or tax rebates for their businesses, let’s see how long they remain in business or employed. On the other hand if they secede, businesses that remain in the U.S. can outsource to these new countries and pay their dumb asses $1 an hour like they do in China. Of course this hatred has been manufactured and stoked by over-the-top rightwing pundits who see conspiracies behind ever door. You know the same ones who complain that President Obama is trying to divide the country.

So where are the Republican politicians and why aren’t they denouncing these actions? If this had happened after the 2000 or 2004 elections which put George W. in office, you better believe they’d be out in full force to righteously label these people as unpatriotic traitors and threatening them with prison based on acts of treason. So where are they, still attacking President Obama of course. They have the nerve to accuse him of voter fraud suggesting he suppressed people’s right to vote…really! These people need to get a dose of reality. I say we get a petition going to have all of these traitorous idiots deported. With fewer of these unintelligent nuts around we may become a smarter country…and be sure they take Donald Trump with them.

Moving Forward

Thank God that’s over. I’m so sick of hearing about polling margins of error, disinformation, blatant lies and distortions of facts. I’m sick of conservative tea bagging Republicans who refuse to listen to the opinions and ideas of anyone who disagrees with them. I’m sick of their attempts to turn this country into a theocracy based on their morals and values. I’m sick of those who want to “take America back”, you know back to when rich old white men ruled the world. If they are so anxious to celebrate a time when Black people were segregated and all but invisible and women were confined to kitchens I suggest they get a DVD box edition of Mad Men…shame on you if you’re a fan. But mostly, I’m sick of seeing Romney with that eternally smug look of superior white privilege on his face. It’s time to move forward.

I’ll admit it was a bit of a nail biter but thankfully Republicans were unsuccessful in their attempts to add confusion to the presidential campaign and convince voters that President Obama was a communist, terrorist, America hating illegal alien. Of course the sore loser nut bags are not satisfied. Donald Trump last night called for a revolution tweeting “Let’s fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice!” and “This election is a total sham and a travesty. Our country is now in serious and unprecedented trouble”…idiot. Republican strategist Karl Rove was especially funny on Fox News. Even though his network was the first to call the race for President Obama he sat there waiting for the fat lady to sing and steadfastly refusing to accept the fact and even pleading with the network to change their decision based on his crazy convoluted calculation for the state of Ohio. It was pathetically funny, at one point I thought he might cry. Bill O’Reilly placed blame on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and his “cozying” up to President Obama. He also said, “It's not a traditional America anymore. The white establishment is the minority. People want things." What? Here we go again with the traditional America. While I agree whites are becoming the minority (more on that later) what the hell does “People want things” even mean? Are you fearful that some minorities are going to come over and take your stuff Bill? More likely what he really means is that minorities are now in charge and they want free stuff…same white supremacist rhetoric, different day. Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh has remained surprisingly quiet. Maybe somebody finally got him that jewel encrusted muzzle.

In the final tally it’s no surprise to anyone that Romney took the former slave states in fact it was mostly expected but President Obama didn’t need them. He is the first President in history to win with fewer white votes than those of minorities. So what does this mean? It means despite attempts to suppress voters it’s obvious that minorities will wait in line into the early hours of the morning to vote. It means minorities somehow voted as a block, intentionally or not. It means white people better start repopulating real quick or resign themselves to the fact that they are slowly becoming the minority. Of course that’s what scares the hell out of them anyway. And by the way, why is Florida still counting votes? It’s the same thing every election, what the hell is wrong with that state? Well, at least they got rid of crazy pants, 90’s flat top wearing Allen West…seriously will someone please introduce him to the 21st century? Anyway I’m sure he’ll show up on Fox News as their latest Obama bashing commentator by the weekend so he won’t have to go on unemployment and risk becoming a member of the 47%.

So it’s a no go with the Republicans bid to make President Obama a one term president. The people have spoken and have voted for him to continue. At least this time he won’t be hampered with having to face reelection and hopefully his attitude will change from pleading to get things done to “I don’t give a fuck, I want it done”. Who knows? I do know that without the gloomy prospect of His Royal Highness Romney undoing what it took the President four years to do, I’m more hopeful for the future than before. I’m thankful that the culture of selfishness propagated by right wing conservative talking heads has at least been briefly delayed and for the moment silenced. All that’s left is for someone to get Aretha Franklin over to Karl Rove’s house so the poor man can stop babbling incoherently and get some sleep.

The Right Of Stupidity (Without A Clue)

Recently I had a conversation with a couple of friends in which I asked what they thought of African-American actress Stacey Dash’s support of Mitt Romney. They both said they didn’t understand the criticism as she’s entitled to free speech and can support whoever she likes and why don’t people just leave her alone. Their reaction surprised me a bit but I agreed with them…to a point. What angers me with people trotting out free speech rights is they assume those rights come without consequences. I think that most people will agree that Stacey Dash is an idiot and no one really cares what she thinks and in fact this may be some ridiculous effort to gain publicity because her career certainly isn’t going anywhere but come on, what did she think would happen? We are all free to express ideas and opinions but when someone exercises their right to free speech and calls you out on it you don’t have the right to whine like a bitch and claim your rights are being trampled. When you pose in a skimpy red bathing suit in front of the American flag and make stupid ass statements in support of candidates who are in direct opposition to your rights as not only a woman but as an African-American you come off as unintelligent and for lack of a better word Clueless and people are bound to react. The fact is everyone in America is entitled to free speech, it’s a constitutional right. Hell, you can support Bugs Bunny for president if you want but using my free speech rights, I’m also allowed to call you a dumb ass.

Using free speech as an excuse to be hateful, intolerant and discriminatory has become an all too common tool used by bigots, racists and homophobes. When Hank Williams, Jr. uses his first amendment right to make hateful racist statements regarding the President I am completely within my free speech rights to call him out as a bigot. If you as a businessman tell me you don’t like African-Americans because you believe them to be God’s mistake and you therefore support efforts to prevent them exercising their civil rights, it is completely within your rights as an American to say so. It is also within my rights as an American to make sure people are aware of your feelings and organize protests against your business. However, when tactics such as boycotting or even picketing are used or even if I’m critical of your statements suddenly I’m trouncing on your free speech rights and you portray yourself as the victim. And far too often people fall for it…Chick fil A anyone?

Stacey can't even articulate a coherent reason for her endorsement. She says “I chose Mitt not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character." Really Stacey? Character? (I’ll pause for a moment to allow Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to roll over in his grave) This character you support wants to cut aid to the poor and elderly, repeal healthcare for millions who otherwise would have no access, increase military spending for senseless wars, allow the rich to pay less in taxes than the poor and middle class and suppress your rights as a woman. Not to mention shipping his money to foreign banks avoiding income taxes and then refusing to divulge his tax returns …yeah, some character. All of this would have been obvious to her if she had spent more time researching Romney and his positions instead of tweeting her boobs out to the world. Of course her candidate with character also wants to cut funds to education which will only aid in producing more stupid people like herself.

Finally I gotta say I’m sick of people who say African-Americans vote based on color, which was an obvious inference in her statement. I’ve always found that to be so insulting as if we’re too stupid to vote intelligently. If this were true Herman Cain, Allen West and even Clarence Thomas would be a lot more popular in the black community. What’s more truthful is that White people are more likely to vote based on color…or the lack of it. How about we know to vote based on what’s best for us as a people and a community. How about we’re intelligent enough to know who the best candidate is regardless of race. How about we can’t comprehend why someone would endorse a man who lacks the aptitude to make up his mind and has demonstrated the inability to express a core principle or belief, a man who is clearly clueless about the less fortunate among us. How about that Stacey. Of course I wouldn’t want to trounce on your right to free speech by making you think so please, speak on…dumb ass.

Horses and Bayonets

Silly me, I had no idea Mitt Romney agreed with President Obama on so many of his administration’s policies but after watching last night’s third and final presidential debate it was abundantly clear. Mittens new strategy seems to be to just to repeat whatever the President says and act as though he said it first and then claim it was his own plan. He even said at one point during the debate, “I agree with the President but I would have done it earlier.” Really? That’s what ya got? President Obama came out strong. He was his usual cool self but this time he was completely in control. Several times he checked Romney on his lies and inconsistencies such as when he said to Romney, “I know you haven't been in a position to actually execute foreign policy, but every time you’ve offered an opinion you’ve been wrong.”…ZING! How do you come back from that? Well if you’re Mitt Romney you whine like a twelve year-old kid and accuse the President of attacking you. President Obama gave him a look that said “My bad ya little sissy, I thought this was a debate.”

As pointed out by the President, Romney was clearly out of his league on foreign policy. When asked about Egypt he said he agreed with the President and then brought up the U.S. economy. When President Obama responded and effectively tied the poor economy to Bush’s unpaid wars and tax breaks for the rich, Romney trotted out his deficient Five Point Plan again with those non-specific solutions. When the President said Iran would never have nuclear weapons as long as he was president, Romney responded by saying “Syria is Iran's only ally in the Arab world. It's their route to the sea”…ok, somebody has been studying the Sarah Palin book of geography. Syria and Iran are not even bordering countries and Iran is not exactly land locked. Has this man never heard of the Persian Gulf or the Gulf of Oman? Both are territorial waters of Iran buddy and lead directly to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. And by the way if you’re pretty much promising you’re going to attack a country, you might want to know where they’re located…just saying.

Throughout President Obama was quick witted in his responses which appeared to throw Romney off what little game he had. Take this exchange.

• Romney: ”Our naval fleet is the smallest it’s been since 1916”
• President Obama: “We also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.”
• Romney: “Waaa, why are you attacking me, waaa.”

Or how about this one from the President, “The 1980’s called and they want their foreign policy back.”…Hilarious!

Romney was sweating like a racehorse and came off as desperate and nonsensical. When responding to the fact that the president took out Osama Bin Laden he said “We can't kill our way out of this mess." And yet, not five minutes later he made a comment about killing our enemies Whenever he was clueless on a foreign policy question, he trotted out his memorized Republican talking points which again offer no specific solutions on how to fix problems and instead advance spiteful and bigoted ideas regarding the President such as his supposed World Tour apologizing for America, which never happened. President Obama was clearly in command of the truth and facts while Romney poked and twisted and lied as he's done all along. The man has never said anything of substance and will bend whichever way the wind blows. One minute he wants to partner with China the next minute they’re the enemy. Seriously, who was that man who showed up last night? He’s so far in the middle now he makes Bill Clinton look conservative. He's run his whole campaign with secrecy, dishonesty and vagueness and when the President finally called him out on it he claims he’s being attacked…not very presidential. Although President Obama did stare him down with a look that said “Tell one more lie asshole and I’m a fuck you up.”…made me nervous.

So anyway, looks like I was right. President Obama utilized Ali’s Rope a Dope strategy to full effect because last night was undoubtedly a knockout. Romney’s foreign policy knowledge, as well as his knowledge of geography are sadly lacking and would be disastrous for this country. President Obama has done an excellent job in exposing this man and hopefully American voters will see him for what he is. A man who has been all over the political map in his career and will say anything to get a vote then deny that he said it. How can anyone trust this man when you don't know what he actually stands for? Why is this even a race?

Rope a Dope

I’m sure everyone remembers the first time Muhammad Ali revealed his Rope a Dope technique if not let me just say it was really painful to watch. He lay back as George Foreman beat him like a runaway slave. After Foreman had tired himself out, Ali came off the ropes, went on the attack took charge of the fight and beat that ass. I can only hope that’s what President Obama had in mind at last night’s presidential debate because Mitt Romney was all over him. The President was his usual cool self although you could see he was visibly irritated with Romney and at one point I thought he might bitch slap him, maybe he should have, but he remained unprovoked.

Now to be clear Romney still hasn’t said anything of substance he just managed to say nothing louder. No details just “I’ve got a plan”, well what the hell is it? Why not share it, is it locked away in the Cayman Islands along with all the money you don’t pay taxes on? I kept hoping President Obama would employ more sarcasm like when he said, "At some point, you have to ask, is he keeping all these plans to replace programs secret because they're too good, "Families are going benefit too much from them?" Classic. And the lies, the fact checker sites almost crashed, they couldn’t handle the pressure. Apparently that’s Romney’s latest strategy, rather than flip flop as he usually does just deny, deny, deny. The man walked back so far on some of his core positions he had to hail a cab back to the debate. He denied his own tax plan, denied plans to cut Medicare, denied he was against government regulations, I was expecting him to deny he was at the debate next. So now suddenly he agrees with the President on just about everything…so why is he even running?

Say what you will about President Obama’s performance last night but he stayed on point and he remains likeable. Romney hogged the time and the spotlight avoiding questions, cutting off the moderator and several times flat out refusing to stop talking when asked, even insisting on the first question that he should get the last word before he even answered the question. The man obviously has no idea how arrogant, self-absorbed and obnoxious he really is. He always has that superior look on his face that says, “Now you know I’m smarter than you because I’m white, right?”…come on, we’ve all seen that look. And this man will throw anyone under the bus to win. At one point during the debate he even referred to his kids as liars to make a point…disgusting.

The funniest thing to me is how he insists that President Obama has been a partisan President refusing to work with Republicans. Huh??? This seems to be the latest talking point for conservatives, you know how the President is so difficult and hard to work with. Romney said that if elected he would sit down with Democrats the next day to work out a plan going forward and suggested President Obama should have done the same. Ok, but that would have been a little difficult considering the night he got elected Republicans were already behind closed doors into the wee hours of the morning plotting to ensure he would be a one term president…but he’s the one who’s partisan. I’m pretty sure they would have been all blurry eyed, grouchy and uncooperative from a lack of sleep…and would have blamed him.

So today all over the internet are claims that Romney won. Maybe, but what did he win really, loudest, rudest most self-important liar? Ok I’ll give him that but I don’t think that bought him any new votes. Sure he fired up his party but he had nothing of substance to say and I don’t think his blatant lies and distortions changed any minds. And now that he has so clearly changed his positions with those lies, he’s going to have to stick with them and if he doesn’t it will give President Obama more ammunition the next time out. At any rate this momentum will only last to the next debate and you never know what’s gonna come out of Vice-President Joe Biden’s mouth. He may call out Romney as the liar he is or he may tell Paul Ryan to kiss his ass…one can only hope. He may even stop the debate and ask for a moderator with some balls…something that definitely would have helped last night. To be honest by the last debate no one will even remember this one and by that time our President will be off the ropes.

The First Lady Speaks

Looking stunning and every bit the confident First Lady, Michelle Obama last night delivered a genuinely inspiring and electrifying speech at the open of the Democratic National Convention. A speech, which threatened to bring down twitter driving 28,000 tweets-per-minute at its peak. In less than 30 minutes she managed to cover a woman's right to choose, labor protections, equal pay, gay rights, family values and health care for the poor. You know all the things Republicans fervently oppose and unlike the First Lady wannabe from last week’s convention, in her speech she never mentioned her husband’s presidential opponent by name. She instead attacked him by implication.

In response to Clint Eastwood’s attack of the President’s use of Air Force One to travel around to speak with college undergraduates about student loans, which Clint and his audience for some reason found laughable, she told of her and President Obama fresh out of college and struggling to make student loan payments and of how they “were so young, so in love, and so in debt”. She told the story of how even though they had student loans and grants her father insisted on contributing to her and her brother’s college education even taking out loans himself when he couldn’t make payments on time because he was so proud to be sending his kids to college. Unlike last week’s testimonial from “I won’t apologize for being wealthy” Queen Ann Romney on the same subject of her and Mitt’s so-called college struggle (in spite of having a multimillion dollar safety net) the First Lady’s account came across as relatable, sincere and honest.

Michelle didn’t have to speak to Romney’s plan to cut programs for the poor, reduce taxes for his wealthy backers and to take healthcare away from 30 million Americans instead she spoke of the letters President Obama has received from real Americans struggling with credit card debt, underwater mortgages, those without healthcare and those simply stressed with how to make ends meet and of him telling her “You won't believe what these folks are going through, Michelle. It's not right.” He also told her, “Success isn’t about how much money you make, it’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.” Those statements alone accomplish so much more in portraying the President as infinitely more humanistic and authentic than anything ever said by his privileged, self-entitled Republican opponent.

The First Lady spoke of dignity and decency, honesty and integrity and said “success doesn’t matter unless you earn it fair and square.” An example both she and President Obama learned from their parents as they struggled raising their respective families. In the end she said our President is the same man we elected four years ago. A man who has not forgotten where he came from and in spite of what his opponents want us to believe a man who wants to unite not divide, a man who has not forgotten promises made and she reminded us that “we can trust Barack to do what he says he is going to do, even when it’s hard, especially when it’s hard.” Folks change is never easy, it takes time.

The Dark Ages

It seems that there is a secret contest between Republican celebrities to see who can make the most stupid comment or perform the most bizarre act. This week it’s Chuck Norris, you remember him…well maybe not but he’s back and nutty as a fruit cake. Chuck and his wife have a video out where they offer helpful gems like, “Our great country and freedom are under attack" and “If President Obama is reelected, we will take the first step into 1,000 years of darkness."…the GOP sure has changed a lot since the "1,000 Points of Lights" days, they don’t seem to know if they want the lights on or off. In the infomercial video Chuck manages to squeeze in a couple of ads for his workout videos and a promotion for his new movie…nothing like offering up stupid ass statements to be used as marketing & promotional tools. Even dismissing the obvious coded darkness reference to our first African-American president, I can’t take this man seriously. He’s the same idiot who vigorously endorsed crazy pants Newt Gingrich up until he pulled out of the race after it became clear that even the zaniest right wing whacko wouldn't vote for him.

Anyway, I’m certain that we’re more likely to find 1,000 years of darkness under that ridiculous toupee Chuck sports in the video. Seriously, that thing is worse than Donald Trump’s comb over, was a hairstylist not included in the video budget? Wow, 1,000 years? No king or ruler in the history of man can be said to have brought about a thousand years of darkness but somehow President Obama will. That's one powerful black man. Not to be outdone, Chuck's latest wife (because you know he’s all heterosexual and shit and can marry as many wives as he damn well pleases) says she wants 30 million Evangelical Christians to go out and vote for Mitt Romney. So let me get this straight. She wants Christians to go out and vote for the guy who's religion doesn't accept Christ as their savior, doesn't believe in heaven or the Holy Trinity... oh wait he's white, my bad.

Vying for the crazy ass celebrity seeking attention award of the week is trailer park trash Hank Williams, Jr. Over the weekend Junior said, "We’ve got a Muslim for a President who hates cowboys, hates cowgirls, hates fishing, hates farming, loves gays, and we hate him." That’s a lot of presumptive hate Hank and that last line “and we hate him,” sounds like a 3 year-old throwing a temper tantrum. What in the world makes him think President Obama is so hateful and more importantly how does old Hank know the President hates fishing. Is it because he’s never seen him fish? Well Hank I’ve never seen you go to the restroom either so should I assume you’re anti-restroom and holding it in? I mean that would explain why you seem to be so full of shit. Remember when President Obama was being criticized for having connections to Jeremiah Wright, retired senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, for his anti-American sermons. So the right wing wants to condemn President Obama for his Christian church connections, but also because he is a Muslim. I don’t know, I guess it depends on the time of day or something, I can’t keep up.

So the GOP offers up dumb and dumber who want us to believe there is a radical communist Christian Muslim terrorist in the White House and he’s intent on driving the country into darkness. You know with all his crazy socialist ideas like providing access to healthcare for all citizens, lowering taxes for low wage earners, stimulating the economy with jobs and offering help to the poor because as we all know, there’s absolutely nothing Christian like about that. The truth is these people are simply afraid of the inevitable. They see the country’s power structure changing and becoming more diverse and perceive it as a threat to their age old hold on supremacy...and they should.

Nothing To See Here, Keep It Moving

So according to the Republican National Convention their aim for this presidential election is to target what they call disillusioned Obama supporters. Who are these people? Other than the previously discussed turncoat Artur Davis, I’m not so sure these people even exist. This sounds like a ploy to get voters into the mindset that President Obama hasn’t followed through on promises made. What‘s conveniently left out is all the push back the President has received from Republicans whenever he attempts to enact legislation. They act as though this is a regular presidency and President Obama hasn’t faced added pressure from being the first African-American president. When was the last time a president had to literally fight tooth and nail for almost four years just to get one piece of legislation enacted…the Affordable Healthcare Program. There were over 100 filibusters in the first year of his presidency alone over twice the number than ever before in the history of our government. How, exactly, is a president supposed to succeed in his promises when one party is blocking the way?

Last night at the convention, Clint Eastwood who has never identified himself as being from one party or the other but has more often than not exhibited republican leanings, sauntered out and spoke of how disappointed he was in the president and of broken promises made…as if he was ever an Obama supporter. But to be honest the old man looked confused and spent the entire time talking to an empty chair as if President Obama was sitting there so I’m not sure if the old coot even knew where he was. If the goal of the republicans was to use Eastwood as a distraction, I say mission accomplished. Not only was he distracting, he gave a bizarre incoherent all over the map speech and continually spoke to that empty chair, even implying that the chair (President Obama) told him to go f***k himself which was exactly what I was thinking. In the end he was just another rambling, less government libertarian conservative nut job who arrived at the convention on federally and state built roads, from federally run flight corridors and funded airports, to broadcast a ridiculous speech on the public airwaves…but I’m sure he did it all on his own.

Just a quick note, Wednesday night Mitt Romney’s VP running mate Paul Ryan came out and told so many lies and distortions regarding President Obama that several fact checking websites crashed and even FOX News called him out on it. So I have no comment on him other than to say I guess its desperation time for the Republicans.

Finally, last night we got to see ole Mittens himself for some personal Obama bashing. He came in all presidential like down the middle of the aisle instead of from behind the podium like all the other speakers and stood a full five minutes smiling and beaming looking every inch the arrogant entitled rich white man waiting to be crowned…I swear every time he smiles I just want to slap it off his stupid face. He kept throwing up his hands like he was trying to get the party started or something. The man managed to spend forty minutes talking and revealed absolutely nothing, the man avoids substance like the plague. He simply repeated the same old republican lies, misrepresentations and distortions about President Obama’s record emphasizing Medicare and welfare reforms. According to the republicans the number one issue in America is the economy. So where was his plan for improvement and what would he do differently than President Obama? If he in fact does have a plan, he’s kept it very well hidden being all secretive like he held the recipe to the Colonel’s 11 different herbs and spices or something. In an effort to appear more personable he told some boring story about his lifeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzz…sorry I just dozed off thinking about it. Honestly who would trust this lying, arrogant, impractical, vulture capitalist crook? Really, when it comes to likability the man scores a negative 1,000. We all know what he wants to do. Cut taxes for the rich, cut aid to the poor and continue the republican’s campaign of class warfare pitting the rich against the poor and whites against all other minorities…and still no mention of his tax returns.

So what did we learn from the Republican National Convention. Well nothing new, that’s for sure. Republicans continue to blame President Obama for an economic meltdown that occurred seven years into the Bush administration and if elected they would continue and even double down the same failed Bush policies. They refuse to acknowledge the ongoing GOP obstructionism and have the audacity to blame the President for a war started by Bush and previously encouraged by so-called patriotic conservatives. They plan to give tax breaks to those who don’t need them and squander more money on the military. In other words business as usual.

Three Blind Mice

This week at the RNC in an effort to show their diversity and in support of their theory that African-Americans need to get over it and act as though racism does not and has never existed and also to prove the NAACP got it wrong with Mitt Romney, the Republican Party trotted out the 2012 Model of self-loathing African-Americans to demonstrate their point. However, prior to that there was a required event taking place in the main hall where conventioneers were invited to throw peanuts at Black camera women working for CNN and call them animals. So who did they choose to represent them in their effort to attract African-American voters? Artur Davis, you know him former Obama supporter turned Republican ass licking token, Condoleezza Rice accompanied by her dated press and curl and Herman Coon (ok the man’s name is Cain but isn’t it more fun to call him what he is?) Anyway, this is what the Republican Party chose as their trifling representatives a backstabber, a war criminal and a nut job. Notably absent was Allen West of Florida. You know the modern day Harriet Tubman…his words not mine. Why wasn't he invited has he gotten too loony even for the Republican Party? Or maybe he’s just last year’s model. At any rate someone should check the basement of the convention hall.

Artur Davis spoke first, apparently growing up his parents couldn’t afford an “h” for his name. Seriously someone get this man an “h” for his birthday, come on folks everyone deserves a full first name. Anyway, fresh from getting his ass kicked in his democratic bid for the governor of Alabama…ok wait a minute, this Black man ran for governor in the land of George Wallace and his Dixiecrat contemporaries and he’s surprised he didn’t even get the nomination? Idiot! So he’s switched parties and now this man who was solidly behind President Obama in 2008 is now all my bad, Obama is the devil and he’s seen the light…hallelujah! One day he may realize the light is from thinly veiled KKK torch bearers. So this newly christened Republican, sore losing hater intent on bringing our President down showed up to subliminally remind his new party that during slavery the unemployment rate for African-Americans was zero. Apparently he was so busy dodging the devils pitchfork he missed the fact that his new party blatantly seeks to disenfranchise, diminish and dismiss black voters, consistently uses them as political bogeymen, calling African-Americans lazy, shiftless, unwilling to work and welfare cheats as these realities did nothing to dissuade him from his mission to kiss Republican ass. So how did his speech go? I’m not sure, as soon as he began speaking I became focused on that 90’s era Fresh Prince of Bel-Air flat top and I zoned out…but I’m guessing they didn’t throw peanuts at him.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke on her belief in the American dream but apparently her dreams are what make up my nightmares. She and her fellow republicans want to take America back to what they call simpler times. Ah the good ole days, when Jim Crow ruled and Black people stayed in their place. She spoke of her personal upbringing you know all boot strap pulling up and making it in spite of obstacles, blah, blah, blah. Fine except that she and her fellow Republicans act as though racism is no longer an obstacle to overcome and the fight for equality has been won, which is easy to do when you’ve made it. She also seems to forget what it took for her to make it and the sacrifices of those who made it possible. More importantly she attacked President Obama’s foreign policy calling it weak. She made no mention of the two wars begun under her former boss’ tenure and conveniently left out the fact the President Obama successfully ended the one in Iraq and is working on the other in Afghanistan and what about Osama Bin Laden being taken out. Or how about the fact that our President has restored worldwide respect for the United States which had been shamelessly lost by George Bush’s war mongering. I wouldn't call any of that weak and by the way lady no planes have flown into buildings on President Obama’s watch.

In an effort to play it safe or perhaps subscribing to the theory that you never know what the hell crazy rhetoric is gonna come out of Herman Cain’s mouth, only Davis and Rice were invited to speak. However, he was allowed to lead the pledge of allegiance (I’m guessing they figured even he couldn’t screw that up) and provided many loony interviews including one with Sean Hannity where he said “some Black people can think for themselves.” Apparently Herman’s not one of them. The fact that he a Black man and onetime leading GOP presidential candidate was not invited to speak at the convention was completely lost on him…idiot!

Originally I wanted to title this post the Three Stooges but I felt that might be an insult to the Stooges.

Able To Leap Tall Buildings in a Single Bound

You know President Obama truly is a real live super hero. I mean really, think about it. As a newborn he was able to slip out of a Kenyan hospital, fly to the other side of the world, plant his birth announcement in two separate Hawaiian newspapers for future use and then slip back into the maternity ward all unnoticed. Later he was able to master the teachings of communism, socialism and Nazism all while attending Ivy League schools that he wasn’t smart enough to get into. Finally he was able to outsmart every intelligence agency in the United States as well as millions of citizens and launch his Islamic terrorist agenda to bring down the American government. The man accomplished all of this and managed a pretty cool rendition of Let’s Stay Together as well. Of course none of this ever happened, well except the Let’s Stay Together interpretation (the man can sing) but this is what the Tea Party and conservative nut jobs would have you believe.

Last week Mitt Romney appeared at a rally in Michigan along with his wife old what’s her name…seriously for some reason her name doesn’t stick with me, the woman’s way too vanilla. Romney said, “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place where both of us were born and raised.” Translated, “no one ever asked to see my birth certificate because I am white, male and rich.” He was literally saying that he is more American than the President of the United States because he is white and his first name is Mitt and not Barack. Romney called it a joke (wink, wink) but could he make it any clearer to his supporters that it’s all about race? Of course Rush Limbaugh weighed in immediately with “Right On, Right On, Right On”… what the hell, did Rush suddenly become a brother? If so, the man needs to pick up some millennium vernacular and leave the sixties speech with the hippies where he found it.

So President Obama's birth certificate is fair game. Ok. Let's examine the past racist beliefs of the Mormon Church. Prior to the mid 70's African-Americans could not become priests in the Mormon Church. In the early 70's, the IRS published regulations denying tax exempt status to organizations which discriminated based upon race. Based upon these regulations, the IRS began proceeding against Bob Jones University because they prohibited inter-racial marriage. Fearing they might be next, the Morman Church changed their policy in 1978. The Mormons claim the policy change was based upon a "divine" revelation…funny how divine revelation can be timed to be revealed just when you need it most.

Seriously, this is nothing more than an obvious attempt to polarize America and Romney is gonna rake in a ton of money from that one race baiting comment. The Republican propaganda machine has been successful in their anti-Obama campaign, the cheers that followed Romney’s statement are proof of that. In fact they have convinced these under-educated, partially successful and even unemployed idiots to vote against their own best interests and they will eagerly give up their weekly lotto and bingo tickets just to send him money. They have instilled fear that under President Obama, it’s payback time and people of color are coming to take what's yours. With the help of Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other bigots they have incited racism and hatred by portraying President Obama as someone who is not one of us. They’ve succeeded in making people feel afraid of minorities, as if minorities are not real Americans.

Stone Castin'

Just one more thing about the chicken restaurant that shall not be named and I swear I’m done with it. Wednesday hundreds of people poured into these restaurants to show their support and I hope they’re proud of themselves. In the guise of free speech and religiosity these so called Christians showed up and celebrated hatred and bigotry. This had nothing to do with the home of the brave, or free speech, or any of the other absurdities people like this told themselves as they gave money to a million dollar plus company. This was about supporting a company who hates people based on their sexual preference and more importantly funds groups that promote hatred and intolerance of a specific group. Free speech according to these people is supporting the oppression of other people's "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness." These people claim they showed up for Jesus but guess what, Jesus Christ is on the side of tolerance and understanding, acceptance and peace. Jesus Christ never encouraged the stone casting of hatred towards your fellow man and in fact did the exact opposite. Jesus had nothing to say about homosexuality. He was too busy teaching more important things.

So I hope you’re proud of yourself Big-Boi from Outkast who tweeted “they eating chicken for the lord” and “freedom of speech motherfukka”…wow. I hope you’re proud to stand with Pat Boone, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and the other right wing nut balls who showed up. I hope you’re proud anonymous Black woman who when asked by a reporter why she was there stated “cause the Bible say it ain’t right”. I hope you and your fellow hatred enthusiasts and false Christians are proud of the affect this promotion had on the thousands of young gay people who witnessed Wednesday’s parade of narrow-minded fanatics and are now filled with self-hate, guilt and shame. Fanatics that include their friends, family, neighbors, pastors, teachers, and so many other people they look up to. I hope you’re proud of those who will be driven to self-destructive behavior, withdrawal, isolation and perhaps suicide. I hope you’re proud of the countless bullies who now feel encouraged, validated and empowered by what they saw to continue their verbal and physical attacks on gay youth and make their lives a living hell. I hope you all enjoyed your “motherfukkin” chicken.

Do Fries Go With That Hate?

I’m not sure if you’ve ever had Chick-fil-A fried chicken but it’s actually pretty good however, I want to be clear why they will no longer be receiving my money. In case you haven’t heard, the owner of the fried chicken chain recently made comments about not supporting gay marriage. Specifically he said, "We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit, and that doesn’t include Adam & Steve. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives, thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles." Fine, I have no problem with that in fact I commend him and his family members for their marriage longevity but apparently in Mr. Cathy’s world, gay people don’t have families, Christians don’t get divorces and in fact the whole world is Christian. He went on to say he would probably fire an employee or terminate an operator who “has been sinful,” well disregarding the legality of such terminations the man could end up with no employees to run his restaurants…or maybe he just meant those who commit selective sins.

So is this the new business model? You alienate a segment of the population thereby limiting your clientele and income. A better question is would you support a business that admittedly contributed to hate groups? Let me be more specific, would you support a business that contributed to the KKK? I don’t want to get into a debate on the issue of gay rights vs. civil rights, I previously addressed that issue but I will say hate is hate and bigotry is bigotry no matter how it’s concealed or to whom it’s directed. Between 2003 & 2010 Chick-fil-A donated more than $5,000,000 to anti-gay hate groups, $2,000,000 in 2010 alone. Groups like the Family Research Council and Exodus International. In an effort to promote their hatred and fan the flames of homophobia, these groups foster and advocate inaccuracies’ regarding gay people. Exodus International promotes the idea that gays can change their sexual orientation an idea completely discredited by the legitimate scientific community. However, legitimate scientific research doesn’t prevent them from charging insecure gay people thousands of dollars for this phony reparative therapy which includes shock treatment and drugs to decrease sex drive. In order to support the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) the Family Research Council distorted research to compare gay men to pedophiles. Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council has stated that pedophilia is a “homosexual problem.” In a 2009 attack on gay seniors the Family Research Council falsely promoted the idea that gay people don’t live long enough to become seniors. Your guess is as good as mine why they would promote such a ridiculous and idiotic notion. They also endorsed a fraudulent study that stated parenting by gay couples would be harmful to children and that it would be better if a child was raised parentless or in group homes as opposed to being raised by loving committed same-sex couples.

The bottom line is Chick-fil-A obviously doesn’t value my patronage. A company that so blatantly insults and offends its customers and supports hate speech and bigoted groups doesn’t deserve my money. I have no respect for a regressive organization that claims to be built on following and emulating a loving and accepting God and then does the exact opposite and instead only treats a select portion of their clientele with dignity and respect. Still, it’s a free country, first amendment rights, blah, blah, blah. The man is free to promote his stone-casting values cloaked in the bible as much as he wants but free speech sometimes includes repercussions. I also have the freedom to speak out against him and more importantly take my business elsewhere. By the way Chick-fil-A might want to take a note from history. In the 60’s there was a restaurant that refused to change with the times. They were blatant with their racist imagery and their attitudes regarding the civil rights movement. If Chick-fil-A isn’t careful they may just disappear. When was the last time you saw a Sambos Restaurant?

Dirty Laundry

I like to think that Janet Jackson has more class than what’s being touted by the gossip rags this week. I mean she certainly doesn’t need the money. Of all the Jacksons she was the only one not relying on Michael as a means of support. But the truth is the Jacksons are just like any other Black family after a loved one departs…we lose it. If you haven’t seen the scene from the movie Kingdom Come where Jada Pinkett’s character throws herself on the casket of her late father-in-law and sobs “Aw lawd, take me…take me”, you should. Not only because it’s a really funny and highly underrated movie but because it clearly demonstrates what happens to Black folks when somebody dies. Besides the attention seeking, look at me I’m grieving loud enough to wake the dead, actors and actresses who attempt to make the funeral all about them, if there’s money involved people tend to lose their minds…and it doesn’t have to be millions. Somebody could leave behind a $1,000 savings bond and a fight could break out with relatives taking sides like a scene from the Beat It video. And don’t get me started on those who come by to “clean” the house of the dearly departed and abscond with old moth eaten furs, that leftover couch from 1972, dime store jewelry and even food from the freezer…but nobody else was gonna eat that leftover Gumbo from last January anyway, so she can have it.

So imagine then if you were set to possibly inherit the close to a billion dollars the Michael Jackson estate has accumulated since his death. You too might kidnap your mother and her mother as well and pack their asses off to Arizona to “rest”. Especially if it meant you would no longer have to roll out of bed every morning put on your glad face and trot off to that job where you start counting the hours to quitting time five minutes before you arrive…seriously how can it only be 8:05 AM, I could swear I’ve been here 12 hours already. Of course you would go back for that last check (you earned it) and give them your “y’all can kiss my ass!” speech… really, I’m not kidding I have my “I just won the lotto and y’all can all go to hell...immediately” speech written out and ready to go. Or just imagine you had gotten used to Michael’s millions taking care of you all those years, living the life of Riley, not a care in the world unable to spend it fast enough and then suddenly it was gone. I’m pretty sure I’d rather never have had it, than to have it taken away.

Who knows maybe the Jackson’s claims that Michael’s will is fake are actually true. Like I said before, Janet certainly doesn’t need the money and just how far fetched would it be for some non-related businessmen or trustee to steal billions from the estate. Or maybe the others are just pissed that Michael had gotten sick of taking care of them while he was alive and didn’t feel pressed to do it in death. Hmm, maybe Janet is sick of forking out cash herself to these leeches so she figures she can help them get it from Michael. Or maybe he just wanted them to go out get a job and take care of their damn selves. At any rate, Michael certainly had the right to leave his money to whomever he chose, although anyone who needed an IV full of drugs stuck in his arm to make him sleep clearly wasn’t in their right mind.

On the other hand, Paris Jackson, Michael’s daughter (I’ll save that for another post) needs a good old-fashioned butt whooping and from the looks of the video shot by TMZ, Randy had to stop Janet from doing just that. In this age of electronic messaging and social networking she should know that anything she tweets about her family is going to be picked up by all the news sites, which have never been exactly sympathetic to her family. Little girl needs to sit her ass down somewhere and quit tweeting family business out for the world to view. Part of the problem between Janet and Paris began when Paris tweeted about becoming an actress and Janet told her she should concentrate on being a teenager first which coming from a former child actress is pretty good advice. Paris didn’t appreciate the advice so Janet offered to kick her ass instead…well not really but I’m sure she thought it and they did exchange words. And why are people listening to her anyway? She’s 14! As far as Tito’s (it’s even funnier when you type it) son getting involved, well what are his motivations and what does he stand to gain. Somebody needs to check his ass out as well.

So as the drama continues, according to Michael’s will Diana Ross is next in line for custody of the kids. Now say what you will about Miss Ross, anyone who knows me would know I’m not exactly impartial (ok, I love the woman, is it a crime?) but you never hear anything about her children airing dirty laundry.

No Regrets

George Zimmerman showed up on the Sean Hannity Show on Fox News last night to:

a) Shamelessly solicit more funds for his defense.
b) Set the record straight…as he reimagines it.
c) Generally make a fool of himself.

Correct answer, all of the above.

The Zimm Man appeared on the “Fair and Balanced Network” with his attorney who stated, he hopes the interview will result in donations to his client’s defense fund, which leads me to ask, “what the hell is wrong with people”. I mean who would donate money to this man. Well, considering Zimmerman’s choice of Fox News to plead his case, I guess I have my answer. But seriously, of all the charities people could donate money to, they give it to this nut? Why, because "the left" doesn't like unarmed Skittles toting teenagers being shot dead? Do these right-wing bigots, who are the same ones that claim to cherish life, really find this a cause worth celebrating? All these people heard was young Black male being “menacing”' not where he was “supposed to be” and stand your ground laws and they chose to side with Zimmerman. How is this even a controversial & political issue and not simply common sense? This is the same man who had coded conversations on the phone with his wife while in jail and told her to pay their bills with donations they had previously collected. Then the wife lied to the judge about the money. Now he's on Fox News begging for more money! In case you have not had time to listen to the interview, allow me to provide a few highlights.

Zimmerman stated, contrary to what he reported to police on the night in question, that he was not pursuing Trayvon Martin and that Trayvon was not running but instead was “skipping, going away quickly, he wasn’t running out of fear”, an obvious attempt to refute that he was stalking Trayvon who was running for his life. In fact on the 911 call Zimmerman is clearly out of breath as if he was chasing him and tells the dispatcher “he’s getting away!” Hannity asked if Zimmerman regretted getting out of his car, following Martin or carrying a gun that night. Zimmerman replied, “No,” adding that he would not have done anything differently. Wow. So you take an innocent human life and you have no regrets. I think that says it all, this man is completely deranged. Any decent human being having just taken a life would have some regret but especially upon reflection. How about this for something different you could have done, how about you don’t hunt down an innocent teenage boy like an animal kill him and then claim he attacked you. Zimmerman also said that he noticed that Trayvon “was very leisurely for the weather”. I’m not sure where he was going with this, I mean it was raining and Trayvon as we all know had on a hoodie so what the hell does that mean. By leisurely was he implying that Trayvon was strolling along like he didn’t have a care in the world while talking to his girlfriend on the phone? You know like an innocent kid. Of course we’ll never know because softball Hannity never asked a follow up question…a theme repeated throughout the interview.

The most ridiculous and insulting statement from Zimmerman was when Hannity asked, "Do you regret that you had a gun that night?" and Zimmerman replied "No sir", “I feel it was all God’s plan.” WHAT? WHAT GOD DOES THIS MAN WORSHIP?? God’s plan was for him to pursue, shoot and kill an unarmed kid based on his preconceived bigoted notions about teenaged African-American boys. Great. Points for deflecting responsibility Georgie and to the Almighty no less. Predictably Trayvon Martin’s parents were insulted and released the following statement. "George Zimmerman said that he does not regret getting out of his vehicle, he does not regret following Trayvon, in fact he does not regret anything he did that night. He wouldn't do anything different and he concluded it was God's plan," Trayvon’s mother added, “We must worship a different God because there is no way that MY God would have wanted George Zimmerman to kill my teenage son." Couldn’t have said it better myself. Of course if Fox News was truly "fair and balanced" they would invite Trayvon Martin on to tell his side of the story...oh, wait...Zimmerman already took care of that…with no regrets.

Free Stuff

The NAACP held its annual convention this week in Houston and Mitt Romney showed up to speak talk down to them…and was promptly booed like an off key singer at the Apollo Theater attempting a Whitney Houston song. In spite of this I think his little publicity stunt worked as he had planned. Romney walked into a crowd of obvious President Obama supporters and swiftly began attacking the president’s policies, generally putting him down and referencing his health care plan as the derogatory Obamacare. Anyone who did this would expect to get booed…right? You don’t go to an event sponsored by the nation’s oldest civil rights organization and toss out Tea Party inspired slang against the first African-American President. I don’t know maybe with this crowd he should have actually referenced the real name of the health care legislation. He said, “If you want a president who will make things better in the African American community, you are looking at him.”…feel free to insert your own comment here. When the crowd reacted negatively as expected and booed he said, “You take a look”.. I have no idea what he meant by that so I don't have a snarky comment. But what was most telling of his ultimate intention was when he spoke later in the day to a crowd of his mostly white supporters in Montana and told them if those in the NAACP audience like "free stuff," from the government they should vote for Obama…wait, what now? Health care, a decent living wage, benefits and a pension are considered free stuff?

The truth is Romney was being deliberately provocative and he got exactly the reaction he wanted, so now he can boast of his ability to speak truth to those people. This was to show conservative voters "Oh well, I tried" and make him look like he is reaching out to the black community. Julian Bond said after Romney's speech, "He was speaking to that slice of white America that hasn't made up its mind about him, and he's saying, I can say things to them that they don't like, so I'm not afraid to stand up to them.” His statements only serve to further entrench himself with people who think Black people want and get benefits without "earning" them. Free Stuff, was this statement meant to infer that the NAACP audience was full of welfare and food stamp recipients? Well guess what, of the 46 million people living in poverty in America, in 2010 the U.S. census revealed that 31 million were white, ten million were black. Of the 49 million people without health insurance coverage, 37 million were white; 8 million were African-American. Latinos and Asian-Americans represented the remaining largest ethnic groups. White Americans, poor and middle-class alike, receive the vast majority of tax-funded government assistance programs, from monthly assistance to Social Security to food stamps. But truth is not this man’s or his party’s objective. He is committed to race baiting and pandering to the bigoted minds of his supporters. Speaking of which, Rush Limbaugh weighed in immediately saying the Republican candidate was booed “simply because Romney’s white”. Yeah Rush it couldn't possibly have been his rhetoric. 

The only way that Republicans can continue to win elections in this country is to demonize and vilify the poor, minorities, gays, women and those that acknowledge the existence of science. They have managed to convince middle class and poor whites to vote against their own best interests by plugging in to their irrational “fear of a Black planet”. In addition, the Republicans insistence of denying voting rights for hundreds of thousands of Americans, if it continues, will allow them to "win" more elections. Just ask any minority voter in Florida or Texas whose registrations have been purged from the records.

A Ride Or Die Chick

Just one question, is George Zimmerman the stupidest criminal ever? Really, he should be on that TV show The Worlds Dumbest Criminals. What kind of an idiot has incriminating conversations on a jailhouse phone with their spouse? I don’t know if you’ve heard but there are taped conversations of this boob and his wife implicating themselves as perjurers. You don’t need a degree in Prisonology to know that the man is always listening Georgie. Yet there they were all plan hatching, gangsterish and sneaky acting, like they were the only ones in the room. Come on man have you never seen The Untouchables? Just in case you haven’t had time to catch up on their conversations, let me quickly summarize.

Using brilliant unbreakable code obviously inspired by Daffy Duck’s Escape from Alcatraz, Tricky McShifty Pants tells his wife how to transfer money from the pay pal account set up on line for his defense fund into her personal account. Of course no one would be able to break their methodical code and ascertain that $100 was actually code for $100,000 or that $8 was $8,000…brilliant I tell ya BRILLIANT! She tells him all their personal bills have been paid from the funds including Sam’s Club & Wal-Mart (classy) and they are debt free…woo hoo! She says she was even able to pay off her school debts. Zimmerman instructs her to buy bullet proof vests for them for his release…wait that’s actually a good idea considering all those he’s pissed off. P-Zimmy and his ride or die chick then discuss whether they should rent one or two window tinted  SUV’s once he’s released from jail, cause they got all this money and are like you know, ballin’. He laughs that it really doesn’t matter as he has his hoodie as camouflage, and I have to stop for a minute because that is really so offensive. This man has obviously read all the news reports and knows of the protests and the symbolic value of the hoodie Trayvon Martin wore the night of his death, yet he makes tasteless jokes about it. Even in what they perceived as a private conversation, that’s just disgusting. Anyway, she next brags to him of how their website is raising so much money the site keeps crashing.

So what’s wrong with any of this you say and where does the perjury come into play? What’s the big deal, who cares if she wants to play Lil’ Kim to his Biggie Smalls, a dime store gangster moll to his Al Capone. Well a couple of days later Shady Lady Zimmerman stood in front of a judge for her husband’s bail hearing and told him that they had no money, destitute, penniless, living on borrowed time, broke ass broke. She said she had no idea how much money had been raised in his defense fund and was fearful they would not be able to pay their bills. She boo-hooed and blubbered about how they had limited funds because she was in school full time and Zimmerman wasn’t working, which actually explains why he had so much time for neighborhood stalking and murdering. When the judge recently learned of the balance of the defense fund and heard the tapes of the conversations, faster than you can say liar, liar pants on fire, he revoked Zimmerman’s get out of jail free card (because really a $150,000 bond for murder is kind of free) and sent both their asses to the pokey…I assume they allowed time to extinguish her pants. You should see her what the f*** just happened mug shot, the woman looks like an ugly crier to me. You know the kind of person who cries and their face becomes distorted like they just got hit with an ugly stick. Seriously, neither of these two people is attractive. They look like they were spawned from the same alien egg. I’m not so sure they should be procreating.

So what’s the moral of our story folks? Zimmerman is now a proven liar and a thief and what little if any credibility he had has now been compromised. He took the money his supporters donated spent it and he and his wife lied about it. But I'm sure he would never lie about what happened on the night in question just to make it look like he was defending his life, now would he. Anybody want to contribute to his wife’s defense fund?

Wait A Minute, This Ain’t The Ritz

Conrad Murray, you remember him Michael Jackson's killer, anyway he claims life in jail is not the bowl of cherries he was promised. He’s pleading to be released from Los Angeles County jail claiming he is only getting fresh air once a month and a new change of underwear once a week to which I say, who the hell gave him underwear. He says he’s only seen the sunshine once in the last four weeks which, is still double that of Michael Jackson and that he finds the food disagreeable. Seriously, where did he think he was going for four years, an all-inclusive 5-Star Club Med resort? The arrogance of this man, he’s doing time for murder yet feels he’s entitled to maid and laundry service. I’m surprised he didn’t request a manicure and a facial. Los Angeles county jail officials say his activities are restricted because "We're afraid somebody's going to pop him"…no shit. He’s asked to be transferred from county lock-up to a state prison facility. This man obviously does not reside in the same world as the rest of us. I guess on his planet state prison affords a safer environment and is more welcoming to his needs and desires than a county facility? Idiot.

Mr. Murray also says his time behind bars is taking a physical toll on his body. Sounds like the perfect time to develop a workout plan and tone up that prison physique to me. Lift some weights buddy, do some damn sit-ups, jog in place, how about some jumping jacks. Did he not go through the President’s Physical Fitness Plan in elementary school like the rest of us? The man had the nerve to tell his attorney "I may not make it out of here alive. This is a very dangerous place. I'm in here dying. The system is intent on killing me."…I can’t even think of anything funnier to add to that one, it stands on its own. Ironically he says he’s having trouble sleeping and has developed headaches which he fears may be sign of a brain tumor. How about we get him something strong in the form of anesthesia to help him sleep. Something like, oh I don’t know maybe propofol? And I’m not so sure he should be self-diagnosing, didn’t work out so well for his last patient. But I’m not surprised, he gave himself the title of Anesthesiologist to treat Michael Jackson, why not make himself a Neurologist as well. Really, my head hurts, I need new undies, I got a hangnail, oh boo hoo you’re in jail fool quit whining, you’re lucky your ass don’t hurt.

Seriously though, Murray refused to call 911 when Michael Jackson lay dying in his bed until it was too late and instead performed fake ass CPR on him. He was responsible for the death of this man and as of this date has shown absolutely no remorse. This narcissist is desperate to stay in the spotlight and hold on to his 15 minutes of fame and California law does not allow you to profit from your crimes so he can’t write that bestseller. So what does he do instead? He’s complaining that he’s not getting proper medical treatment and if he doesn’t get help quickly he could die as a result. Really Mr. Murray? Sounds kind of familiar…Karma’s a bitch ain’t it.

An Appreciation of Summer

Donna Summer died this morning at 63 years old due to complications from cancer. I’ve always been a fan of pretty much all types of music. Jazz, R&B, Rock & Roll, Pop you name it I can find something I like about it. Most people who know me are aware that I was a big fan of Disco Music. In fact when Greg, Brandol and I were roommates they famously hid my copy of the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever because they couldn’t bear to hear one more note from the Bee Gees…ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive. Brass Construction, BT Express, Chic and Barry White, I loved all of it. I took a lot of heat for it but Disco paved the way for House Music which to me is one of the most underrated genres of music. Still I wasn’t initially a big fan of Donna Summer and contrary to popular belief it was Greg and not me who bought that first album of hers and introduced us all to the 17 minute opus Love to Love You Baby and it was Tanya who was in love with Last Dance. Up until this point I had always found her music a bit monotonous and repetitive, however around the time of Hot Stuff and Bad Girls my opinion began to change.

Not coincidently this was around the time I first began examining my sexual identity and going out to dance clubs. I can remember on Saturday nights at this club in Long Beach there was a competition to see whether they would play Hot Stuff or Diana Ross’ The Boss as the last song. (Anyone who knows me is sure how I voted.) Still there was something about her music that drew me to her. It was a difficult time for me, I was alone and didn’t know anyone in these clubs and for someone grappling with freshly realized emotions the freedom she expressed in her songs was refreshing. I’ve always been as equally fascinated with the lyrics as much as the music of a song, “looking for a lover who needs another, don't want another night on my own” and “someone found a letter you wrote me on the radio” or “dim all the lights sweet darling, ’cause tonight it's all the way, turn up the old Victrola, gonna dance the night away"…classics. By the time she recorded “No More Tears” with Barbra Streisand, I was hooked.

In the mid-eighties I attended one of her concerts at the Hollywood Bowl with a group of friends. I was amazed at how much more powerful her voice was in person. In fact some may be surprised to learn of Donna Summer’s connection to gospel music as she never really gained a large African-American following. We partied hard but at the time it was more of a nostalgic event because in spite of her hit “She Works Hard for the Money” her heyday had long since passed and Disco had died years earlier. But the memories it brought back were fulfilling and uplifting, not unlike the emotions I felt this morning upon hearing of her passing.

So we’ve lost yet another fantastic talent and icon and although it makes me feel older, I can’t help but embrace the moment as it takes me back to a lively and energetic period in my life. Thanks Ms. Summer, thanks for all the songs and thanks for the memories.

Evolution

I sat down to write today and because this subject is so close to my heart, twice I was so overcome with emotion that I had to get up and walk away. I want to first say that unless you are a gay person you will never ever know what it feels like to be gay. I don’t care how many gay friends, siblings, cousins or even parents you have. I don’t care if you consider yourself accepting of gay people, sympathize with gay people or even fight for gay rights. YOU WILL NEVER EVER KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE GAY.

Yesterday President Obama announced that his evolution is complete and he now believes that gay couples should be allowed to marry and should be afforded the same rights as straight couples. Ignoring the fact that I believe the President always felt this way but because of political concerns he could not state it, this was a welcome announcement. If nothing else it should spark a debate among African-Americans regarding the inclusion of gays in civil rights issues. And don’t tell me gay rights are not the same as civil rights. Anytime one person gets treated better than another person, it's an issue of civil rights. Bigotry is still bigotry, whether it's racial or sexual preference, it’s just that simple. More importantly the President’s statement brings the issue of gay marriage front & center in our community. Last summer I was included when the pastor of my church met with 10 gay men to discuss the inclusion and acknowledgment of gays in our church. It was an informative and inspiring meeting and I was able to see my pastor in a different light. I was encouraged by his rhetoric and his non-judgmental and accepting attitude. But the thing that struck me most was his statement regarding gay marriage. He said “When gay marriage becomes legal in California, parishioners may begin to realize that just because you’re gay doesn’t mean you’re not spiritual as well.” Wow! “When gay marriage becomes legal” not if…so encouraging.

Unfortunately not all church clergy are as forward thinking as my pastor and I’m sure there will be a backlash for the President which must be addressed and this is where it gets personal for me. The fact is religion has absolutely no place in the discussion on same sex marriage. (Let that simmer for a minute) You are legally married ONLY when you possess a valid marriage license from the government. You can have a dozen weddings in a dozen churches and you still won't be legally married until the GOVERNMENT says you are. The government is in the marriage business, religion is only in the wedding business in fact you can get married without ever stepping into a house of worship. Only the government can grant, enforce or dissolve marriages. When a couple is wed in a house of worship the officiate may be performing a religious rite but as far as the law is concerned, that officiate has been authorized to perform a civil function, plain and simple. And even were same-sex marriage to be legalized by the state, no one would be holding a gun to the heads of the clergy to require them to perform a ceremony that their faith or personal creed does not condone. Just as some rabbis would not perform marriage to a man or woman who wasn’t Jewish, clergy can decline performing same-sex marriages. Gay couples can either find clergy willing to officiate or can be wed in a civil setting.

The idea that conservative and religious leaders are continuing to shape state and federal law based on religious beliefs is just wrong. I don’t care what your personal beliefs are regarding gay people, the institution of marriage should be available to all. The concept of having a life-long partner and not be able to make decisions for them in a hospital, not share in insurance benefits, not automatically have parental rights unless you are the birth parent and not be allowed to claim them as a dependent for tax purposes or partake in the more than 1,049 federal rights, benefits and privileges provided for married couples is just flat-out wrong. I’m sick of it and I’m sick of the one sided discussion in our Black churches and how homosexuality is singled out as a sin from the bible. If we followed the letter of the bible as a whole we would still have slaves and slave owners would be able to procreate with their slaves as Abraham, a polygamist, did in Genesis. The idea of focusing on the letter of the text rather than the spirit intended has got to stop. Wouldn’t it be great if instead we focused on the major themes of love, justice, freedom, equality and inclusion that run throughout the Bible? Unfortunately, until the practice of worshiping the Bible rather than worshiping God is abandoned we will not move forward.

It is my hope that the African-American community will become as evolved as our President and again I am encouraged by the attitude of my pastor and hopefully he will be able to influence his fellow clergymen but the discussion needs to begin now. People have got to get away from thinking of homosexuality in terms of the sexual act. Straight people generally seem to think that if a person is gay, sex is the only thing on his or her mind an idea influenced and reinforced by negative stereotypes in entertainment and the media. I truly believe the day will come when people will look back at these times in amazement at how ridiculously and petty we lived our lives and the silly things we found objectionable.