November 2, 2010: A Rant about Bullshit, Chicken Shits, Bat Shit and Dumb Shits

Ok....so let me first start with acknowledging that it has been a while since I have blogged....I am aware of this and would apologize if it weren't because...life is good...and I don't have as much desire to blog as I used to.  There is also the fact that I am very frustrated with the current political situation and most of my blogs would be basically outrage and venting...and I am TRYING to avoid doing too much of that.  Having said that, I will start with a warning that this blog is a little off the cuff.  This blog is a little bit of a rant mixed with a lot of disillusion.  This blog is a dirge for what is coming and an ode to what might have been.  It is a disparaging look at the two primary parties in the upcoming election mixed with a barely disguised look of disgust at the poor alternative that we are being offered...namely the Tea Party.  This blog is equally a kick at the Democrats as the Republicans.  It is a kick in the ass and the elephant in the room....and a sincere hope that they all choke on their tea concoction.

I want to emphasize that this is a little bit of a rant.  Take it for what it is worth...which isn't much.  I will start with a prophecy of doom.  We, as a nation, are headed for disaster.  Things are bad but they are about to get worse.  The Republicans have their sights set on the White House for 2012 and they do not have much to offer, so the only way they can be competitive is to drag down the current administration...and it is about to get dirty.  Mark my words, our government is headed for a two year shutdown, the economy will only worsen, the recession we are just pulling out of will come back and it will be worse than it has been.  Disagree all you like.  Call me a nay sayer.  Accuse me of being partisan all you like.  just mark my words, write them down...and remember I told you so.

As a country we have all played a part in this mess that we are in.  Politicians are more concerned in keeping their jobs instead of actually doing their jobs.  I am ranting against four groups in particular....

1. Bullshit...The Elephant in the room.

Now I make no bones about it.  I was raised Republican.  I was raised a devout Christian.  I was raised as right wing as you can possibly get.  I lived this way for most of my young adult life.  In my late twenties I began thinking for myself, re examining my beliefs.  I am now an atheist.  I am a liberal politically and align more with Democrats than I do Republicans.  By saying that I am acknowledging that this post, and almost every post I write leans left and towards the Democrats.  So you may freely disregard everything I am about to say...simply because you are as partisan to the right and the Republicans as I am to the left.

The GOP has raised the bar on the well developed art of bullshit.  They have run a campaign on lies, fears, hate, homophobia and xenophobia.  And they have done so successfully.  Some might argue that the ends justify the means and for the GOP (for any politician, regardless of affiliation, for that matter) winning is all that matters.  Let us look at the facts.  The economy, believe it or not, is actually on the rise.  True it is slowly but in actuality the numbers are improving.  Americans, this last year, paid the lowest taxes that they have paid in over a decade, despite the fact that Democrats, historically known for raising taxes, were in power.  Illegal immigration is at its lowest mark in over a decade...a decade in which Republicans were in power for the largest part of.

However, to hear the GOP, the economy is not recovering at all (as I heard on the radio a few weeks ago it is the Democrat's fault.)  Americans are paying more taxes than ever and the Obama Administration is not being tough on immigration and as a result the illegal immigration is at a high point and crimes committed by these "fererners" is also at a high point.

In short, republicans are winning the election and they are doing so running on out right lies and gross exaggeration.  The GOP has found a way to tap into the prejudices, the fears, the hate, the homophobia and xenophobia and the darkest, ugliest emotions of the human nature and as a result they are winning.   They have presented us with all the problems...and don't get me wrong, we have a ton of problems...yet they present no real solutions.  After two years of chomping at the bits, they are eager to take the reins again and just salivating at getting back to the same old policies that put us here in the first place.  I look at the GOP and its bastard child, the Tea Party, and I am afraid.  I am afraid because there is no voice of reason.  All I hear or the Boehners, Gingrich's, Palins, O'Donnells, Pauls, and a myriad of other fools and all I see are radicals.  All I see are right wing nut jobs that have no voice of reason, no sense of responsibility.  They only care about winning.  Don't worry...I will be getting to the DNC soon enough...

The Republican Party has allowed people like Bachmann be the face and voice of their party.  If these are the people that will be leading the country...then we have reason to be afraid.  Bachmann has made it clear that the top of their agenda is a series of Congressional Inquiries.  They will bog down the legislative branch for the next two years in a clear and intentional attempt at keeping the President so tied up that he will not be able to get one single thing done, thus opening the way for Republicans in 2012.  I know...I am just being Mr. Negativity.  I know, I need to have more faith in the system.  Well...bullshit.

2. Chicken Shit...The DNC...and ass without balls....

In the movie "Pure Country" the old guy looks at Dusty, played by George Strait (who notoriously will only wear a white cowboy hat), and says, "The funny thing about that little white speck on the top of chicken shit. That little white speck is chicken shit too. "  The Democrats may try to play innocent in this whole mess but frankly they are a large part of the reason they will lose control of Congress on November 2nd.  In my opinion, the biggest fault of the DNC is being chicken shit.  The Democrats have sat on the sidelines for two years and let the Republicans and their FOX News control the entire conversation.  Their cowardice has been almost criminal.  When the Republicans throw out their blatant lies and exaggeration the Democrats have failed to speak up.  They held a confidence in the American peoples ability to see change for themselves that was grossly unwarranted.  When change is slow you have to make it clear where the change is happening.  While the Republicans have played their homophobia and xenophobia cards the Democrats sat on their asses stuttering and stammering their useless, senseless and non committing replies.


When the controversy of the Islamic Cultural Center in NYC blew up nationwide the spineless chicken shits stared wide eyed into the cameras like bloated road kill and yammered the same bullshit rhetoric right along with the radical, fascist GOP.  What they SHOULD have said is, "It's the Constitution stupid! There are no ifs ands or buts about it.  There are no maybes.  There is no "no fly zone" for our Constitutional rights."  There is no excuse for the blatant fear mongering the GOP actively used in there campaign of Islamaphobia; just like there is no excuse for the piss yellow Democrats not standing up and saying firmly that there is a right and there is a wrong and singling out a group of people based on their religious affiliation and attempting to restrain and restrict their rights is wrong.


The Democrats, as I have already mentioned, have been slow, timid and just plain chicken shit when it came to calling republicans out on their bullshit and proving them wrong with the numbers.  I will agree, change has been slow.  You cannot correct eight years of bad policy and reckless spending by a war mongering administration in two years.  Hell, you can't change a toilet in two years in DC.  The change has been slow, but it is the difference of a landscaper doing a work of change and a tornado carving a path of destruction.  Change takes time.  But in a day and time when people get married, have kids and live happily ever after in two hours we don't get that and we are angry that the President has not fixed this country in two years even thought the Party of NO has fought every step of change at every turn.


So the economy HAS been slow in recovering, but the greater point is simply this...it actually IS recovering.   new jobless claims are bouncing up and down as opposed to the consistent downward spiral we have been experiencing for a couple of years.  Reform has come to the reckless, out of control banks on Wall Street.  For those of us with liberal leanings we have seen some progress on the health care reform.  I know...you immediately bristle because I said for those of us of a liberal leaning...well shove it up your ass...this is our country too.  the debt is a real issue, one that began with the former administration and certainly has not been helped by this administration.  But the very people that want the deficit cut want other people's benefits cut, not their own.  In a recent poll people were very concerned with the deficit and wanted it cut...as long as they didn't lose their Medicaid, their SSI, their Social Security.  


Another area that highlights the DNC chicken shit, yellow livered, spineless tendency is the "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy.  Because the radical religious right has managed to lay siege to this country, the politicians want to appease both sides.  But much like the Civil Rights movement, much like the woman's suffrage movement this is an area where there is no middle ground.  Somebody is  going to go home unhappy.  And if we are going to remain a free people that protects the rights of free people then without a doubt, the people that HAVE to go home unhappy are the biased, hate mongering, homophobic radicals that see it as their patriotic and god given duty to oppress a group of Americans and restrict their rights.  Our President claims to oppose the policy yet appeals the ruling of the court that states it is unconstitutional.  After the ruling he changed his underpants stained with the chicken shit he spewed out at the thought of the Dobsons, Limbaughs and Robertsons that were going to come for him in the middle of the night and like a true coward immediately filed an appeal.  Don't give me the bullshit that he HAD to.  He did not.  He could have let it stand.  But he chose not to.  Why? Because he wanted to appease the right wing nut jobs that hate him any way, irregardless of what he does.   When will this administration realize that these people hate him and will continue lying about him?  When will he realize that a great number of them would thank their God the very next Sunday morning if he were to meet an untimely demise?  When will he realize that there is nothing he can do to appease them, appeal to them, convince them that he is even an American, much less the duly elected President of the United States?  What will it take for him to realize this, take the gloves off and finally be the President some of us know he can be?


After the beating the DNC has taken during this election the President FINALLY came out swinging.  But it was too little too late and by then the candidates he was campaigning for were to chicken shit to even acknowledge it.  Instead many of them have distanced themselves from him and his message; a message that simply says, yes, change has been slow, yes we have made some mistakes.  But we are fighting for you and look what we have managed to accomplish in just two years despite all the partisan conflict and childish behavior and if you fire us now, in the midst of change then look at how little will be accomplished if you send these big business whores back to Washington.


3.  Bat shit...and as proof that fear trumps common sense...enter stage right...the Tea Party.


The Republicans created a monster.  Their bastard child has come back to bite them in the ass which would be amusing if it were not for the probability that we will all have to deal with these bat shit crazies.  The tea party claims to be a true grass roots movement, despite the big money that has been traced to big business, with no leaders.  This movement is long on bitching and short on solutions.  They are quite adept at pointing out the problems, and trust me, I am well aware we do have a lot of problems, but they are incredibly incompetent at offering real, sensible and tangible solutions.


And when they DO come up with solutions we come to realize how really bat shit crazy these people are.  Tea Party candidates' solutions have ranged from eliminating Social Security (as long as we don't take away their SSI or their own parent's Social Security as in the case of Sharon Angle in Nevada) to repealing Equal Opportunity (as in Rand Paul in Kentucky) to an outright armed uprising (as in the case of the again truly batty Sharon Angle.)


These people have no official leader and no official message.  The fact that they have no leader means they are not accountable to anybody.  Allow me to explain.  When the Democrats make a mistake you will find that immediately it is President Obama, Pelosi and Reid that are called to the carpet.  When the Republicans make a mistake it is their leaders that are called to the floor, usually their favorite scape goat Michael Steele.  In the case of the Tea party, Sarah Palin, Jim DeMint and others can gain rock star popularity without suffering the repercussions of the idiots running under their name.  Nobody is held accountable for their actions.  This party runs from reporters out of incompetence.  They demonize the only means that the nation has of knowing what they are running on.  These cracked tea pots want to blame the questions without taking responsibility for their answers.  These candidates want the people to vote for them without even telling them why they should vote for them.  they fail to realize that harassing, demonizing and even arresting (as in the case of Joe miller in Alaska) just makes us all feel they have something to hide...in most cases their idiocy.


This movement is nothing more than an outlet for the angry white man.  It is a movement born in true frustration with a system that is truly not working for anybody except the actual politicians.  I will give them that much.  But rather than helping, they have become a part of the problem by becoming little more than a leaderless mob.


4. Dumbshits...the American voter of today is, in general, a product of an impatient, selfish and proudly ignorant fast food, soap opera morons.  They are, in short, a merging of Stewey and Bart Simpson.


Now allow me to clarify.  While that statement may seem to be a blanket diatribe, a stereotypical accusation of all voters, that is not my intention.  I am well aware of the fact that there are a lot of smart, savvy and intelligent voters.  People that vote after much study, research and thoughtful analysis.  I am privileged to be in a situation where I am surrounded by people that are smart, intelligent and much more restrained than me and my hot headed tendencies.  But let us face it...for every voter that truly prepares out there there are a dozen that vote (or don't vote for that matter) for Palin or Clinton just because they are women.  Likewise there weree an unbeliveable amount of voters that voted for or against Obama just because he was black.  American voters are lazy and ignorant.  These dumbshits will go to the polls November 2nd armed only with the quasi intelligence bestowed on them by Ed, Hannity, Olberman, Limbaugh, Maddow, O'Reilly or Matthews.  They did no research on their own, they did not spend one iota of effort or time.  They will go into that booth feeling proud of themselves as they enter and vote for who FOX News, MSNBC, CBS or CNN told them to vote for, information imparted to them as they listened in passing while stuck in traffic, cooking or eating dinner, yelling at their kids, screwing their wife or a half a million other things that were more important to them than the destiny and well being of this great country we call home.


When I speak of dumbshit voters I am referring to the idiots that think it is possible to correct in two years what took nearly a decade to screw up.  They fail to realize that the bullshitters that want to return to power were the ones in charge when all hell broke loose in the first place.  Not only did they steer us here in the first place but fought like crazy every step of the way in the progress that has been made the last two years. 


This country deserves what is coming.  The GOP will take control along with their bat shit crazy cousins in the Tea Party.  They will shut down government.  They will send bills to the President's desk that they know damn well he would never sign.  The Democrats will prove over the next two years that they are just as capable of childish behavior as the Republicans are by dragging the filibuster along painfully on every issue.  And when it is all said and done, like Rome of antiquity, it will be the politicians that we voted into office that damn us to our own self destruction.

Most Republicans, Weekly Churchgoers Anti-Gay Marriage

Link: Most Republicans, Weekly Churchgoers Anti-Gay Marriage

In my previous blog I had argued that the more dedicated a person is to their church the more likely they would be intolerant, particularly on the subject of gay marriage.  I also argued that age, region of the country and political affiliation would affect this spirit of homophobia.  I mentioned that I wished a poll would be made to prove this by the numbers.  Well... Gallup heard my plea for help and the above link reinforces that thought.  I know that it is at this point where I will hear the argument that you can make any numbers mean anything you want to...but I for one at least feel somewhat vindicated in my argument.

Opposed or In Favor (Nationally)?

Opposed 57% / In Favor 40%

By Party:

Republicans:  

Opposed 80% / In Favor 20%

Democrats: 

Opposed 42% / In Favor 55%

Independents:  

Opposed 52% / In Favor 45%

By Age: 

18-29:

In Favor: 59% / Opposed 37%

30-49:

In Favor 40% / Opposed 57%

50-64:

In Favor 37% / opposed 61%

65+

In Favor 25% / Opposed 71%

By Region:

East Coast

Opposed 50% / In Favor 47%

West Coast :

Opposed 50% / In Favor 46%

Mid-West:

Opposed 56% / In Favor 41%

South

Opposed 68% / In Favor 31%

By Church Attendance:

Weekly:

Opposed 78% / 19%

Nearly Weekly

Opposed 57% / 39%

Seldom / Never

Opposed 40% / 59%

The point is simply this...by its very nature church and religion are homophobic and bigoted...especially when it comes to issues like gay marriage.  Here is another significant poll done by Gallup when it comes people's views on gay marriages.  At least one promising poll indicates some hope that our homophobic society will learn some level of tolerance and come to the realization that discrimination of any kind should not be allowed or tolerated.

With LIBERTY and JUSTICE for ALL....

Remember that Pledge of Allegiance we all said as kids...

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of

The United States of America

And to the Republic for which it stands

One Nation

(under God)

Indivisible

With Liberty and Justice for ALL

(obviously...the parenthesis was added on my part since I no longer accept its validity and the emphasis on All is added for reason of this post.)

Now I have argued for a couple of years that the Pledge of Allegiance does NOT promote equality since it specifically alienates a large portion of this country that chooses to NOT be "under God", but THAT is not the point of this blog.

The last line...with liberty and justice for all...is significant and is what I want to zero in on today.  A study of the word "justice" implies a definite sense of equality.  Equality is something a lot of people do not like to discuss.  It is important, however, to understand that equality is an integral part of justice.  Justice is NOT justice if it only applies to and defends a small portion of people.

As a highlight to this fact let us consider the ruling of the Judge that ruled that the ban on same sex marriages in California, otherwise known as Prop 8, was and is unconstitutional.  While this came as a surprise to some, all I kept wondering is how can this even be a question.  What I found interesting is that the ruling is the exact same argument I have used in arguing in defense of the rights for the LGTB community to marry and even to adopt children. Simply put....there is NO argument physical, economic, political, emotional, biological, sociological that does NOT have its basis in archaic religious views and ideals.  Because of this, something that should fall under civil rights (since marriage is a CIVIL matter) has become a RELIGIOUS matter.  Now this is something I have argued a bit with some people that are very close to me whom I have grown to love and respect.  I have not approached it directly...at least not in a long time.  But I am going to attempt to do so in this blog.

Whenever I make the argument of religion being an intolerant group of homophobic, male chauvinistic bigots I immediately get the response that that is just MY experience with religion and that I grew up in the "fringe" but that "mainstream" religion is much more tolerant.   Immediately I am presented with the example of the Lutheran Church welcoming the gays to their role as ministers, the Episcopalians doing the same and the Methodists are tolerant.  These examples, on the surface, are hard to argue with.  It does appear, on the surface, that religion is becoming more and more tolerant.

But here is the real question...has God, the Bible and Christianity changed?  Now this becomes a question to me that is very relevant.  I am, as I have made no secret, an atheist.  I do not believe in God, I do not accept the Bible as truth and reject all forms of religion (including Christianity) as meaningless superstition designed to provide the needed structure, control and comfort that we as humans require in a social environment.  Therefore, if religion is a tool of social structure then it would make sense that "religion" would accommodate with times and the changes that naturally occur over time.  But that then would mean that there is no basis of TRUTH and FACTS to it because while "religion" would change...TRUTH does not.  That is the whole point of absolutes...they don't change.  So if the Christian "religion" truly has its foundation in faith in God and the Bible then those are absolutes that do NOT change and veering away from them means that those religions are more social clubs than anything.

Now I know this is where the whole discussion about Black & White vs. Gray comes in.  I grew up in a Black & White world.  The Independent Fundamental Baptist movement is NOT know for its gray areas (or gray matter as the case may be!)  I grew up in a world of absolutes, which is one reason I detest absolutes.  But if there is one thing I learned from being a theology student is that the Bible is a book of absolutes.  Because of this I make the very clear statement that the BIBLE is a homophobic, male chauvinistic, bigoted and violent book.  There is just no way around it.  People in modern "mainline" religion may choose to flat out IGNORE parts of the Bible that does not suit their personal ideology but they cannot change its intent, purpose and interpretation.  

Based on this argument I would suggest that it is impossible to be a LGTB AND also be a Christian by the Bible standards.  Now this on the surface seems to be a harsh statement that a LOT of people would disagree with but the Bible itself presents its own argument.  There is of course the Old Testament passages that have often been mocked and decimated by the simple logic of reciting the other laws and the simple logic that if you are going to give credence to one law then you must give credence to the others as well.  But the homophobic tendencies of the Bible are not merely Old Testament antiquated ideals.  The New Testament also clearly condemns homosexual practices.  For instance, consider Romans 1:24-28:

²⁴Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
 ²⁶Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
 ²⁸Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.


Now that is the New International Version...one of those new versions that are supposed to make it clearer than the Old Fashion King James 1611.  The Revised Standard Version says:



 ²⁴Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
 ²⁶For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
 ²⁸And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

Hell...that makes it even "clearer" and "harsher" than the trusty ol' King James Version that the Independent Fundamentals are so fond of:


²⁴Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
 ²⁵Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
 ²⁶For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
 ²⁷And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
 ²⁸And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

The point is...no amount of creative interpretation can make the Bible's homophobic ideology go away. The truth is that by its very nature it does not allow for both.  Acceptance is NOT part of a book that speaks of divinely sanctioned genocide (Face it, what the children of Israel did in Caanan in the book of Joshua is no different than what Sadaam Hussein did in Iraq with mustard gas...except...God authorized it...no...commanded it and they killed more than Sadaam Hussein ever dreamed of in his most evil fantasies of genocide) and promotes discrimination based on faith, gender and race.

The religious right has been allowed to make the political landscape of our great nation one that is centered on religious fights and a culture war that is founded on their religious values their moral rules.  Values and ideals that they want to legislate on everybody around them.  It is for this reason that Murray County (in North West GA) JUST voted in the right of privately owned businesses to be allowed to sell alcohol in a glass;  the vast majority of couties in the south do not allow the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sunday (because church people can't bear the thought of the heathens daring to drink their booze and enjoy a football game while they are at church) and it is for this reason that Prop 8 was even allowed to be voted in.  It is for this reason that a Mosque in NYC is such an issue to people that do not even live in NYC.  Because religion by its very nature is divisive, racist, discriminatory, homophobic and sexist.

I would love to see the following questionnaire answered by 30,000 people...10,000 in the South East, 10,000 in the North East and 10,000 in the West...(and yes...I put it together and I am sure it would be modified after more thought)

Demographic Baseline

1.       How old are you?    

          18-25,    26-32,    32-45,    45-65, 65+

2.       What Gender?     

             

          M, F, Unspecified

3.       What geographical area of the country do you live in?  

          SW, W, NE, MW

4.       Income Level?

5.       Level of Education?

Religious Baseline

1.       What Religious Affiliation do you hold? (Denomination)

2.       How often do you go to church in a week?  

            occasionally, 1x week, 2x week, 3x+ week

3.       Have you ever read the Bible completely through? more than once?

4.       How dedicated would you consider yourself to your church and faith?

Current Issues

1.       Do you believe that America is a “Christian” nation?

2.       Do you agree that same sex marriages should be recognized by the state?

  

           Explain the reason for your answer.

3.       Should same sex marriages be allowed to adopt children? 

          Explain the reason for your answer.

4.       Do same sex marriages affect the endurance of the “traditional” family?  

           

          If so, in what way?

5.       Is abortion a matter of women’s rights?

6.       What reason would be acceptable for an abortion to be considered morally permissible?

7.       At what point does “life” exist? 

         Based on what?

8.       Should a Mosque be allowed to be built near ground zero?  

         Why?

      If this were put out as a poll and you could get 30,000 people to respond there are a couple of things I predict you would find...

      1. The more dedicated a person is to their faith, their church and their Bible the more intolerant, bigoted and homophobic they would be.

      2. Education, income and geography would VASTLY affect the opinion of each person on the current issues.  Higher educated people and wealthier people would be more tolerant while people that are poorer, less educated and live in the south would be the most intolerant.

    

      Oh...and ironically...the area of the country that is considered the "Bible Belt" also happens to be the area of the lowest education scores and they have the highest single parenthood percentages in the country. So much for the LGTB community destroying the sanctity of marriage.  As a matter of fact a study done by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2007 showed that with the exception of Washington D.C (that had the HIGHEST percentage of single parents in the country at 54.3%) all of the top States were southern states: Alabama (30.9%), Arkansas (27.3%), Florida (27.2%), Georgia (27.4%), Kentucky (25.5%), Louisiana (31.8%), Mississippi (33.4%), North Carolina (27.1%), South Carolina (30.2%) and Tennessee (28.4%).  Now mind you, there were some northern and mid-western states such as Delaware (28.9%), Maryland (25.9%), Michigan (26.2%), Missouri (25.3%), New York (27.0%) and Ohio (26.7%) that were above the national average but all the top states were in the south...in the Bible Belt...because they do such a good job protecting the sanctity of marriage. (for the chart with these numbers go to the U.S. Census Bureau site and search for the chart file by name detailed_tables_ACS.)

      (for more on the sanctity of marriage in our country see the U.S. Census Bureau) 

      I know this blog has been somewhat scattered, but the point comes down to this: homophobia, bigotry and male chauvinism are hallmarks of religion; it is based and founded on it.  It is part of the control.  Some things simply are not compatible.  Since it is generally accepted by everybody that is NOT hyped up on religion that homosexuality is not a choice but rather genetic or natural and religion is a product of indoctrination and brainwashing...essentially a trained aspect of the human psyche...if it comes down to a choice between the two I guess the superstitions of religion would lose.  

      Furthermore, I want to emphasize that I am not in any way saying that gay people should stop being gay...as if they could...I am saying that there is not really a home for them in a faith founded on a book that is old fashioned, superstitious, homophobic and bigoted.  That is just my opinion of course... But regardless, the judge in California made the right call...there is no non religious reason for promoting or supporting the bigoted and hateful discrimination against the LGTB community.  Lets just hope Kagan is on the bench by the time this goes to the Supreme Court so that there would some balance on the conservative right leaning activist court when this case hits the bench...as I am sure that that is where it is headed.

      P.S.  This is strictly MY opinion...and by no means do I expect ANYBODY to agree with me.

Tea Party Crackpots Strike again...

Shall we start talking about "Radical Leaders prey on the fearful & naive"? I am too angry to even begin on this one...

"W" ring a bell? You don't even WANT me to get started on King George. Now THERE was a radical leader that was a MASTER at preying on the fears and naiveté of the American people.

How about the leaders, from BOTH parties, that sold our rights down the drain (Patriot Act ring a bell?) for the illusion of security?

How about the Republicans feeding the xenophobia, racism and white supremacy as they do their best to set this country back 50 years in civil rights race baiting and setting Americans against Americans, feeding on their fears and naiveté? Or how they took the balanced budget of the Clinton years and turned it into an unbelievable debt that they are trying to pass off on Obama while their brain child, the Teabaggers, turns on them and bites the hand that created them.

Do we REALLY want to talk about radical leaders preying on the fear and naiveté of the people they want to rule?

To compare Obama to Hitler, a man that murdered millions of Jews or Lenin that instituted one of the cruelest regimes of modern history while ignoring and defending Jan Brewer and the State of Arizona that wants to turn it into the "Show me your papers" state which just happened to be step number one of the Holocaust is grossly irresponsible and hypocritical. But then irresponsibility and hypocrisy are the calling cards of the Tea Party anyway...along with hate, racism and ignorance.

I don't even know how to end this so I am going to just stop here and continue muttering the rest of the day....

Somebody throw South Carolina (and the GOP) a climbing rig...

So today is the runoff in South Carolina and it is one I have been watching with some interest. Partly because South Carolina politics will be my politics in a couple of months and partly because South Carolina politics, in many ways, represents EVERYTHING I hate about the Republican Party, everywhere, but particularly in the south.

I have argued before that the GOP is the party of faith and racism. If you are a Republican, I am sorry for the generalization. I am aware that not ALL Republicans are religious bigots and racists. However, enough of them are to elect some real idiots in to a variety of offices across the nation and in particular in the south and in the Midwest. Nor am I implying that ALL Republican elected officials are religious and racist bigots...just enough that the national Republican agenda has become one of defending big business, harassing minorities and making it un-American and wrong to be of any religious persuasion other than Christian. Once again, South Carolina is a perfect example of this...and hell...it is among their own candidates (since a Democrat in South Carolina is like...an albino squirrel...not quite extinct but definitely a rarity.)

In this case in particular we have Nikki Haley against most of the GOP Establishment in South Carolina. Now she is leading in the polls and will win the GOP nomination for Governor, which in South Carolina means she will more than likely win the election. Her winning is hopefully a sign that enough of the population of the Palmetto State is tired of the "good 'ol boys" and their strangle hold on the state. I was reading an article (please read it here)and it defines the "Southern Test" Mrs. Nikki Haley has been forced to take over and over...

(1) Faith

Let's get this straight, Article VI of the Constitution of the United States makes a statement that is both plain and definitive:

but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Simply put no elected official in this Country can legally be put through a religious test. No elected official can or should be elected based on what religious faith they have. In short, for those idiots that can't quite get it...IT IS NEITHER LEGAL OR ETHICAL TO DEMAND THAT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIAL BE OF A SPECIFIC FAITH OR RELIGION! In other words, my religious beliefs or the religious beliefs and affiliation of any candidate should not even be questioned.

Yet...that is all you hear in South Carolina when it comes to Candidate Mrs. Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley. The South Carolina GOP bigotry club has dissected her conversion, chronologically cataloging her rise in politics with her conversion to Christianity from Sikh. Because, clearly, the only thing that is important to these ignorant buffoons is that she be of the right faith. Because, we ALL know that good Christian men like Mark Sanford, are sooo much better, are more in tune with the needs of the Christian Southerner, and more apt to promote and protect true Christian family values and the American way. All though...I am not sure if that was BEFORE or AFTER the affair...details, details, details. The point is that while I am in no way a supporter of the Sarah Palin Pageant Queen Winner of the Election Cycle in South Carolina the way she has been put through the ringer and forced to defend her level of commitment to her faith is absolutely wrong, un American and unconstitutional.

(Note: And before I get the snide remarks about how sexist the Sarah Palin Pageant Queen Winner sounds, it was not intended as a snide remark at Haley's being a woman but more of a snide remark at Sarah Palin who has traipsed through this country's elections treating her endorsements like it is some stupid pageant. And the reference to Palin and her pageant attitude has less to do with her being a woman and more with her trying to play on her being a woman and acting like a Barbie doll girl in a Barbie doll world.)

(2) Race

So the media and the establishment that opposes Haley have started using Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley in reference to the candidate. Sound familiar? As in Barrack Hussein Obama? She is lucky she is just running for governor! If she were running for President she would have to produce a birth certificate and even then some idiots would be claiming it was falsified and invalid. The fact that her race has even come up is an embarrassment to this country. But hey, this is the south and some things never change.

(3) Gender

This has not been as big of an issue and is really a non issue in the news. But the fact remains that if she wins the Governorship she will be the first woman to sit in the Governor's office. And while it is not a big deal in the news, the consensus of most of the people I know say that it is generally considered to be the public secret, the good 'ol boy establishment is not thrilled at having a woman at the top spot.

(4) The Civil War

This one irritates me. Seriously? The Civil War? The good people of South Carolina do not want to elect somebody that will not swallow hook line and sinker the southern myths about the Civil War. Look. For years I repeated the same horse shit, the Civil War was about state rights and not about slavery, well hell, slavery wasn't even that big of an issue and most of the people that fought in the Civil War didn't even have slaves. This all sounds good but is full of half truths...so let me just say this:

(a) The Civil War was not about slavery, it was about state rights.

Yeah...just like the Civil Rights movement was not about segregation but about the right of people to be ignorant hate mongering rude Neanderthal morons to minorities. The very same people that were in favor of slavery were in favor of segregation, their children were in favor of keeping the black man in his place. And his place was one of servitude to the white man. So spare me the bullshit! The Civil War was about whether or not this country should allow its states to legalize the traffic in human lives. THAT was the right the states of the south were defending. There are some things that are just morally and ethically wrong and should not be tolerated under any condition and should not be delegated to the states to decide. The truth of history is that the Southern States wanted the right to choose whether or not they could have slaves, and the American People elsewhere felt that it was a moral sore that needed to be removed...and it was...on the backs and blood of hundreds of thousands of American men and women.

(b) Most of the people that fought and died in the Civil war did not have slaves.

This is absolutely true. Most of the people that fought and died in the Civil War did not have slaves...only the rich plantation owners could even afford slaves. So as usual, the middle class and the poor of our country pay the price of blood, sweat and life while the rich reap the benefits and play the victim. Sound familiar? Like BP? It is the hard working people of Gulf States that are struggling while BP owners go to yacht events and Republican law makers defend BP's actions, defend the off shore drilling that irresponsibly led to it and apologize to BP for the President doing something about making BP pay up to those very hard working people. And while the GOP have their plates full defending and protecting poor BP, they are attacking the President for "not doing anything".

Now many would disagree with this statement but I will say it anyway. BP did the GOP a favor. With this mess in the Gulf it makes it difficult for lawmakers and the President to even do their job. And as long as the Republicans can keep the President and Congressional Democrats and the nation focused on a problem their own policies caused, the more they can use it and use the lack of other business getting done to win in November. And you know what? Once the Rethugs take over in November...it is over. Then they can get back to the business of handing the country back over to big business, big banks and big oil. Oh...and guess who will be Chairman of the Committee that regulates the oil business? Why that would be Barton, the guy that apologized to BP...fascinating huh?

For now...today I will be watching the run off in South Carolina...and hoping I get the pleasure of watching the "good 'ole boys" wring their hands in anguish. And as for the Mrs. Brabham said, "She grew up here. . . . Come on! I thought we had climbed this mountain." Apparently not...

"Gotcha" ya idiot...

So there is a fad going around with the new crack pots of the tea party patriots. The candidates the media love to promote and love to interview because the gems of idiocy these people give up as offerings to the media are really just too good to be true! Of course it is NOT the fault of the candidate being interviewed...it is the fault of the one doing the interview. So let us for a moment look at a few things about this....

1). Their Terminology

I find the way they refer to the media humorous. They have several terms when referring to any media that is not radio talk show hosts and Faux Noise (FOX News)that are quite funny...and curious. For instance the reference to the Media as "Big Media" (as opposed to big business and big oil?) the Elite Media (as opposed to crude, rude and fear mongering right wing nut jobs like Rush Limbaugh and Hannity) "Gotcha Journalism" (as opposed to their patsy on the radio waves that actually agree with their radical ideas and cover for them.) These cracked tea pots cater to the hate and the fear mongering of the racist, neo nazi, theocratic extreme right wing that seem to fail to understand that freedom of speech is also accompanied by freedom of the press...which means if you say something stupid on Sunday...you can bet the whole country will hear of it by Monday.

2). Their Ideology

Here's what gets me. Where does personal responsibility come in? Think about it for a minute; the media is SUPPOSED to ask tough questions. How do you think Watergate came out? How do you think the right got all of their ammunition for Monicagate? How do you think these things happen? The media is SUPPOSED to ask tough questions. It is their job. And the conservatives were not talking about "gotcha journalism" when THAT was all going down. The media asks their questions and the politician answers them. So who, in fact, is responsible for the answers? I agree that taking statements out of context is wrong...like when the radical right was going around saying that President Obama was saying that "America is not a Christian nation" (which is of course the truth but that is another blog post) when in reality what he said is that America is no longer a Christian nation-only...it is also a Muslim, Jewish, and a nation of non believers. But the wording made it convenient to cut off the only and everything that followed. THAT is "gotcha journalism". But asking a question, even a tough question, that elicits a stupid, radical and unpopular answer from an obtuse moron is not the fault of the person asking the question but rather of the person giving the answer.

The point is that for a group of people that want to talk about personal responsibility and accountability, they have a very hard time being personally responsible and accountable for their answers and their idiocy. They solve this dilemma by avoiding the media, shutting them out, only allowing their right wing nut job buddies in, people that won't ask them the questions that show they are out of touch with the majority of Americans and will reveal their looney policy ideas. They answer the criticisms with pouting, whining and accusations. It boils down to this...like it or not...regardless of WHAT the political leanings of the reporter...if you can't answer the question of an insignificant peon from CNN or the Washington Times...then what makes you think you can answer the questions of the President of France, the President of Russia or the leaders of Iran, Iraq and a dozen of other nations that hate us and are always trying to trap us in some moral dilemma that will put us in trouble with the rest of the world. What will they do when they walk down the steps of the Capitol and the media is waiting for them? Or when they are in the Rose Garden?

3). The Cracked Tea Pots

SO just a couple of comments on the poster children of the crack tea pots.

Sarah Palin...Seriously...the queen of idiocy...the half term governor that would be queen. She seems to still be under the delusion that she can win the presidency. The woman who made even Bill O'Reilly roll his eyes at her stupidity and empty headed dribble manages to keep herself in the news...all the while bashing the Elite Media. FOX News, the fair and balanced idiots and pawns of the movement they created, just sucks on the crotch of this woman's panties! I mean excuse the vulgarity, but seriously...Fox makes no attempt at fair and balanced when it comes to Palin and her crackpot ideas. They just nod their heads all intellectual looking like, like she really makes sense, and why can't ALL of America see the absolute brilliance of this nut job that can't even finish a full term as governor of a half empty state but thinks she can be the leader of the free world.

Sarah Palin's run ins with the media are well documented. Ever since that fateful interview with Katie Couric, in which the Elite Media were out to get her by asking her questions...gosh durn it...how dare they ask her questions!!!!! Since then she has waged a war with the media...and the funny thing is she really thinks she can win. Sure there is a level of distrust from the American people when it come to the media, but can you imagine what George W. Bush would have been able to do if the media was not watching him like a hawk? Hell...look at what he DID get away with!




Michelle Bachmann....this woman has the intelligence of Palin with the charisma of Perot. She really is a scary sight to see. This woman is the personification of Forest Gump's motto...Stupid is Stupid does. This is the woman that accused "libruls" and President Obama of "celebrating" 9/11 because he referred to the "anniversary" of that infamous day. If she thinks that the word "anniversary" necessarily means a celebration...then she must have never been married! This woman has appeared beside Palin so many times that even Hannity, bless his limited intelligence, referred to a Palin-Bachmann team...of course...the only question is who gets to be on top!















Rand Paul...The boy who would be king. This guy has managed to give us the picture of the future of America under the rule of the Tea Party. An America where the White Supremacists rule, the Civil Rights Act is removed, handicapped people are back to being a bother to society and not treated with decency and respect. A world where God is ruler, the Bible is the law book and bigoted Christians determine who can be married, who can be leaders and who has any right to control their bodies. An America where our elderly can be treated with indecency and lack of respect, back at the mercy of family that don't want to pay or are incapable of paying for proper care and medication and the government takes the money that they have given and invest it in war and bloodshed. A world where big business and big oil run everything under some pretense of free market. A world like the one we already live in...only worse.






Sharron Angle...Harry Reid's opponent in Nevada is another perfect example of the idiocy and the totally out of touch lunacy that seems to be such a huge part of the tea party. A woman that advocates doing away with Social Security, advocates the USA walking away from the UN and also said that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to arm the citizens so they could throw down out of control government and then added the words, "if Congress keeps going the way it is going..." as though it would justify an insurrection in our country.







The funny thing is...The Republican Party and FOX News, created a monster they can't control. The media is biased be it for the right or for the left. They purposely ask questions to corner the opposing candidate. It is what happens in politics. It dates back through our entire history. It is only "gotcha" journalism when you they "getcha" or get your your opponent. In the mean time, if you do not want to be in the fish bowl, do not want to be asked the hard questions and do want to trouble yourself with facts, logic and reality...then stay the hell home.

A Progressive's Coming Nightmare (In the middle of living the dream)

So this year has already been a year of big changes, and there are many more to come. I began my year with the following resolution: Live, Laugh, Love and Learn. I feel like this year has already been a better year than last year. I met a wonderful lady that I have grown crazy in love with. (I always hated the phrase, Fall in love, is like you tripped on your shoe laces or something!) Mandy and I have decided that our families are perfect together. Bethanie loves her to death and she loves Bethanie. Abby and Molly love me and Zach I think tolerates me, but I am growing on him. And I love them deeply and am looking forward to being a part of the family and helping raise these kids together.

So the goal is for us (that would be Bethanie and Myself) to move down there sometime this year, more than likely at the end of the summer. This is a dream come true. She really is all I ever wanted in a woman. She and I relate on so many levels. We have the same dreams, plans and goals in life. I really could not ask for anymore...plus..hell...she is a redhead! I mean seriously guys...it doesn't get any better than this! lol

In the middle of this dream come true, there is a single shadow of a nightmare...kind of a Dream within a Dream (or nightmare as the case may be). As I have made it clear in my blog I am a Progressive. For you sanctimonious conservative bitches that means I am a "librul". Yeah...exactly...one of those 'Merica Hating, Nazi, Communistatic, gay loving, baby killing, terrorist thingamagie type of people. So living in Georgia is one of those things where I usually feel like a sore thumb. In my little town of Chatsworth, GA I think I am the ONLY person that admits to voting for President Obama...and really? I may be the only one that actually did! I am pretty much in the same situation as vjack over at Athiest Revolution and Red State Progressive. A progressive in a conservative state.

So, having said all that, I am now finding myself in the position of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. GA politics, while conservative...are not quite as nutty as SC. In SC the conservative Republicans are so in control that they even control who runs as a Democrat (i.e. Alvin Green). It is a heavy Tea Party state that is infatuated with *wink wink* Palin. So just to kind of take a view of SC Politics....lookie lookie at the Circus:

1. Jake Knotts.

Now here is a real idiot. As the primaries heated up for the South Carolina Governor's seat, Republicans, who have no need to attack the basically non existent presence of Democrats, were busy in fighting. And since they are all competing to be the most conservative, it left little to attack except on a personal level. So Nikki Haley, candidate for Governor, was attacked for her ethnicity...her parents are of Indian decent and Sikh. She was Sikh until just seven years ago. And the implied argument goes that she became Christian for political reasons and has become more and more "Christian" the more opportunities she had in politics. Obviously, as is the case with the right wings nut jobs, ONLY radical Christians are even QUALIFIED to govern. So Jake Knotts had the brilliant idea of going on a show and saying that we have already one raghead in the White House and we don't need another raghead in the Governor's Mansion. Nice. Seriously...I really could add so much to this but hell...that is another blog.



2. Nikki Haley (and the Tea Party)

OK. I will start off saying that if I had to choose a Republican in SC, Nikki Haley would be that Republican. Thankfully I do not have to pick a Republican because even she nauseates me. She is pure Tea Party. And I don't even have to go there. The fact that Sarah Palin endorses her is enough to make me say no to the Crack Pots! Sad thing is...since a Democrat doesn't have a prayer she more than likely will be the next Governor...of course...from what I can tell she is the lesser of 3? 4? evils.







3. Arizona Wannabes.


Talk in South Carolina is all the rage about the illegal immigration and the need to duplicate Arizona's infamous Immigration Law. I have already dealt with this subject so I won't go into it again here. Suffice it to say that it just adds another facet to the madhouse that is South Carolina politics. And they don't really care about boycotts since technically they have been under a boycott for years for flying the confederate flag on government property.





4. Alvin Green

Have you seen this guy? For those that are not familiar with him, this is the completely unelectable Democrat candidate for senator that will be running against wildly popular tea party Senator DeMint. This guy is facing criminal charges for showing pornographic pictures to a college student who he then allegedly attempted to seduce. He did not spend enough on his campaign to even have to register as a candidate...yet somehow he won an astounding 58% of the democratic primary. How? Well to hear him tell about it he did it with good old fashion hard work...but oddly enough nobody knows him. The Democratic Party in South Carolina has begged him to step down rather than sully their name and drag them to further depths then they have already sunk in South Carolina politics, but as expected, he refuses. As high up as the Democratic establishment in DC is saying that this guy is plant by Republicans, which when you look at the facts...makes perfectly good sense. The question is...why? I mean let's face it, DeMint is so wildly popular in this nutbag state that he would have trounced anybody that had run against him...so why? In a state where people can cross party lines to vote in the primaries, it is pretty obvious that the cruel streak is not a "leadership" issue...but rather the rank and file Rethugs.

So...here I am...a Progressive, Puerto Rican, Democrat atheist...jumping out of the frying pan into the fire...if my vote meant nothing in Georgia...it will mean less than nothing in South Carolina...but knowing me I will still get a kick out of watching people's faces turn 20 different shades of purple as they sputter how un American I am. I have a feeling we have an interesting life ahead of us Mandy, my Love, in so many ways and I look forward to every minute of it...all I have to say is if we ever move...we move to some place more...Progressive...like California...just think..beaches, Hollywood...*echo echo echo*

Oh...one more thing...since this all about SC and GA and all...Let me just say...

GO DAWGS!!!
(heheheh...Love you Mandy!)

Personal Responsibility and Accountability in the Gulf

Much ado is being made about the damage to wildlife in the Gulf due to the oil spill. The pictures of animals covered in oil, suffering and dying populate the web used by the liberals to attempt to defend their Muslim, America-hating President and use to their advantage in their constant battle to put us further under the thumb of Christian hating nations that want to destroy America. These crazy liberals communist, Nazi fascists that they are have jumped on the Deepwater Horizon bandwagon, a bandwagon they themselves constructed and orchestrated while attacking and condemning REAL Americans and REAL American heroes like Sarah Palin.

And the vehicle these traitors are using are the pelicans covered in oil, the dolphins dying of toxic waste and the turtles rotten in their shells. Even the plankton are so called victims of the industrial heroes that make our nation what it is and are trying to help free us from the tyranny of god hating, hate mongering, suicidal irrational theocrats in Muslim countries.

Let's face it. The Bush Administration's dogged defense of Big Oil, a business that both he and his VP were big shakers and movers in, had nothing to do with those pelicans being covered in oil. BP with its back room deals, corrupt dealings with politicians, money poured into lobbying against regulations instead of pouring it into better equipment and safer procedures is not to blame for the dolphins that are drowning in oil slicked waters. It is not rock star-style politicians and personalities like Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and Glen Beck that have deluded the American people into believing that BP, Exxon, Shell and the others all hold the answer to the energy problem and that the hippy tree hugging liberals are idiots for pushing for cleaner energy...it is not their fault that even the plankton that feeds the wildlife in the Gulf is being killed off while they line their pockets flush with cash. No...it is not these people's fault at all that these animals are dying off do to this unfortunate event since it probably would have happened anyway as an act of nature.

No. Let us consider for a moment personal responsibility and for once let us hold the ones accountable who are truly responsible for these animals dying in this horrible condition. The animals themselves. I mean seriously. Who told this pelican to land into the oil slicked waters of the gulf. The oil slick is, after all, visible for miles from air, the stupid bird can see for itself that it isn't safe to land there! It chose, of its own free will, to land there and it is suffering the consequences of that decision. The turtles and dolphins and even the plankton choose to remain in this area affected by progress and if they die, then it is their choice to deal with the consequences of that decision. It is a big ocean and they are welcome to relocate and if they decide not to then they must deal with the consequences.








The point is that, as the Grand Ol' Party has always upheld, the government cannot be expected to support dead beats that are unable to make right choices. The government cannot be responsible for handouts to those with the poor judgement to make bad choices. Simply put, you make your bed you sleep in it. These creatures must learn to stay out of the way of progress, and the sooner they learn this the better. The Gulf is just the start. The elks in Alaska better look closely at these pictures and learn a lesson...the government will not be held responsible any longer for the foolishness of those that refuse to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and take responsibility for their own decision making and choices.

This is not communist Russia or Nazi Germany! We do not give handouts to idiots. We do not subsidize failure. We believe in progress...progress at any cost. We do not believe in stifling those that truly want to see America progress. Hold those accountable that should be held accountable! Drill, Baby Drill!

(Insert sarcasm here...for any idiot that missed it. If you truly believe this pile of crap...then vote for the Republican of your choice.)

GOP prime candidate for Supreme Court Justice

Well the President has chosen his Supreme Court justice nominee. Immediately the conservatives that have hijacked the GOP had to scream their absolute insane dribble. I have made myself a promise to attempt to cut down on my profanity so just (insert the profanity of your choice here)!!! Rumors about her sexual orientation, opinion of gay rights and abortion...all the usual verbal regurgitation of GOP and conservative sexual repressed emotions. Just like the divorced Governor of South Carolina meeting with his Argentinian girlfriend is big news to the prudes that kneel and accept communion from the blood stained hands of pedophiles. Once again...it always comes back to sex for these guys.

Anyway. It appears that a woman cannot be justice because she would be too conscious of the rights of women. A minority cannot be a justice because a minority would be too conscious of the rights of minorities. A gay person cannot be a justice because they would be too conscious of the rights of the gay and lesbian community. At this rate only a white male can be completely qualified for the position of Supreme Court Justice.

I kept researching, trying to find somebody the GOP would readily confirm without a fight so as to pass this information on to the President...you know...trying to help him out and all...after much research I finally found him! Well...in all actuality BOTH qualify...a White Male that is large and in charge...or a bombshell blonde that knows her place...



And of course, must be willing to pass it on to their children.