In the 1940s the second most beautiful pair of legs in the country belonged to Clare Boothe Luce according to a national newspaper poll.
Luce was a Congresswoman and, at the time, one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s most vocal critics. When asked if this title was beneath the dignity of congress Luce replied, “Don’t you realize that you are just falling for some subtle New Deal propaganda designed to distract attention from the end of me that is really functioning?”
This is the problem with sexism when it comes to politically powerful women. It’s a diabolic device that serves as nothing but a distraction. Too many in the media see women in politics as unnecessary, like some sort of potted plant in the corner of the room. In many cases this could not be further from the truth.
The House of Representatives and Senate is made up of only 17 percent women. Hillary Clinton brought them close to claiming the White House—some 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling close. Sarah Palin brought them close to the Vice Presidency—dangerously close.
We are learning just how dangerous a Sarah Palin Vice Presidency would have been with each passing day and now with the release of her memoir.
The McCain/ Palin ticket fell short and sexism in the media has been the reason why for Palin and most of her supporters since the campaign ended. Certainly Palin was discriminated against by the media and certainly sexism is blind to party affiliation. Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, two women on opposite sides of the political spectrum, can both claim sexism as a culprit.
So could Clare Boothe Luce and like Luce, Sarah Palin’s legs were also a topic of conversation recently when Newsweek featured Palin on the cover of their magazine in running shorts, holding a Blackberry and flanked by the American flag.
The difference in Luce and Palin is that Luce realized sexism was a distraction to keep people from recognizing her great political mind; “the end of her that was functioning” as she put it. Palin does not seem to view it that way. She likes playing the victim card at every corner. In fact, I remain unconvinced that Sarah Palin is functioning at that end at all.
A brief look at history shows that Clare Boothe Luce was a tireless advocate for conservative causes. She was a respected ambassador to Italy and Republican Congresswoman. She was a full-fledged “Goldwater Girl.” If she were alive today I would not agree with her conservative views, but I would respect her for the very thing Sarah Palin seems to lack—intellectual fortitude.
Make no mistake that upon her being chosen as John McCain’s running mate I admired Palin as the proverbial all-American woman; a woman who juggled kids, husband, and the governorship. I still admire her story. I question her substance, and substance is necessary to be a power-player on America’s political stage.
As if her national drubbing as a Vice Presidential candidate wasn’t enough, Palin is back on the stage and in the national media on a whirlwind book tour promoting her latest memoir Going Rogue. Much like it author, the book is light on ides and heavy on fluff, but its release is sending the far right neo-conservatives into a frenzy.
In a sort of shame on you tone Palin punches down at the people in the McCain campaign who she says handled her too delicately, gave her bad advice or did not allow her to be herself for media interviews.
Her accusations are interesting considering she froze like an Alaskan winter when CBS Nightly News anchor Katie Couric asked what newspapers or periodicals she read. “All of them,” she replied. Perhaps the grind of reading all of the newspapers is why she quit as Governor of Alaska.
The point is that Palin’s book is unfounded and while sexism may have certainly plagued her campaign it is not the reason she will never be a viable national candidate. The reason is simple: as voters, most people want someone they feel is as smart as or smarter than them in office. I’ve never gotten the sense that Sarah Palin was anymore knowledgeable than I am on foreign affairs; even if she really can see Russia from her front porch.
She writes in sweeping generalities about what she would do if she was in office. Generalities are hardly enough to prove that she belongs there.
The interview with Katie Couric is a telling one. For Palin to treat her sit-down talk with Couric as a chatty session between the girls is an embarrassment to journalism and working moms alike. Going before the national press and answering tough question about the issues of the day is something that politicians, both men and women, must do on a daily basis.
The staggering truth about Sarah Palin is that she is bold and has an uncanny knack to rally the conservative base, but has also made an uncanny number of errors. Her claim to celebrity is greater than her claim to authority, especially after deciding to resign as Governor after only half of her term in office was complete.
The Republican Party needs more women; it is a demographic they can ill afford to disenfranchise. They can improve their standing with women by putting smart, knowledgeable ones on the ticket. Political powerhouses like Hillary Clinton, Olympia Snowe and Condoleezza Rice did not achieve their success with celebrity; they did so with hard work and a true grasp of the important issues that affects our nation.
I admire Palin’s pluck and determination. I admire her as a working mother and she does have legitimate arguments over the way she was treated after being thrust onto the national stage. She needs to articulate a coherent vision for America (or even a sentence, for that matter) and let the voters know that the end of her we need to function really is functioning.
If that vision cannot be articulated then perhaps the most obvious evidence of sexism is that someone as incoherent, under qualified and severely unprepared as Sarah Palin was picked to run as Vice President ahead of far too many other women who could have successfully done the job.
Somewhere Clare Boothe Luce must be spinning in her grave.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Dirty Little Secrets of the American Military
I’d like for you to do me a favor. Tomorrow, when you go to your job or to your classes, don’t tell anyone you see or work with what gender you are. If you sense that they may know what your race is, deny it, and if your ethnicity starts to show through hide it quickly; someone might see.
It sounds like a ridiculous task, but it is happening in our own Armed Forces. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was hatched by the Clinton administration as a compromise with republicans to keep from banning gays in the American military all together.
The idea—gays could serve in the military but only if they kept their homosexuality under wraps.
The premise is no less ridiculous than the scenario posed at the beginning of this editorial. The compromise made was equally as ridiculous. By cementing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell into law congress made a bad situation worse.
The law is out of step with the times and now polls show, it is out of step with the public opinion as well. A recent ABC News poll showed that 75 percent of Americans are in favor of gays serving openly in the military. It would appear that our country has moved ahead of our leaders in Washington and the military brass.
Those who wish to serve our country in the military should be allowed to do so without qualification, and should also be allowed to do so openly.
One’s sexual preference is no more a choice than race, gender or ethnicity. Just as it would be absurd to expect someone to hide these things on the job, so too is it equally as absurd to expect someone to hide their sexuality in the Armed Forces, and be discharged should they slip up.
More than 13,500 brave Americans have been discharged under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell since President Clinton signed it into law in 1993; over 600 in the last year, the majority of them being women. Of those thousands no doubt many were specialists in their field and offered priceless assets to our military. Yet, because of a bogus law, we are without their contribution.
In a time of two wars overseas where translators and cultural specialists are crucial, we cannot afford to be firing them over matters such as this.
This is a law that must be repealed; there is no time like the present to do so. President Obama campaigned last year on the promise that he would unequivocally end the law.
“I will end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Obama vowed once again in an Oct. 10 speech to a gay civil rights advocacy group. All of those promises, both on the campaign trail and behind podiums at civil rights dinners have been empty ones at best.
Speaking on the eve of a massive gay rights demonstration in Washington, D.C., the president said, "We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the county. We should be celebrating their willingness to step forward and show such courage, especially when we are fighting two wars.”
The president is nothing short of correct, but so far his bite hasn’t matched his bark at all when it comes to the issue of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; or any other gay rights issue for that matter.
The startling truth is that we are two wars right now so it is questionable why or how the military leaders have the gumption to ask for more troops while they are systematically discharging highly qualified troops for their sexual preferences.
Many other western nations including our allies in NATO, Britain and France have abolished similar laws. None of the countries that have done away with them have reported dissent or a decline in morale among their troops. It wouldn’t happen here in America either. Our leaders just need to open their eyes.
Addressing this issue has been put off long enough and it cannot be allowed to get lost in the debates over larger issues such as health care reform.
LBQT blogger Jeff Sheng has started a project of photographing homosexuals in the military while obscuring their faces, as some of them are in the closet. He wants to expose the military’s dirty little secret. The project is just in its beginning stages but helps put a picture with a cause and will hopefully add more pressure to the Obama administration to deliver on their promises.
The LBGT community is often some of the most socially liberal in our country and no doubt played a big part in electing Barack Obama. Issues as cut and dry as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell are ones that I frankly thought wouldn’t be a fight if Obama were elected. No doubt many others in the community felt the same way.
It seems though that it is a fight, and certainly one worth fighting for. Barack Obama must be held accountable by the people who helped elect him. He must be pressured and in turn must pressure congress to repeal this law.
Every day that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is allowed to remain military policy is another day that injustice rules over social equality.
It sounds like a ridiculous task, but it is happening in our own Armed Forces. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was hatched by the Clinton administration as a compromise with republicans to keep from banning gays in the American military all together.
The idea—gays could serve in the military but only if they kept their homosexuality under wraps.
The premise is no less ridiculous than the scenario posed at the beginning of this editorial. The compromise made was equally as ridiculous. By cementing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell into law congress made a bad situation worse.
The law is out of step with the times and now polls show, it is out of step with the public opinion as well. A recent ABC News poll showed that 75 percent of Americans are in favor of gays serving openly in the military. It would appear that our country has moved ahead of our leaders in Washington and the military brass.
Those who wish to serve our country in the military should be allowed to do so without qualification, and should also be allowed to do so openly.
One’s sexual preference is no more a choice than race, gender or ethnicity. Just as it would be absurd to expect someone to hide these things on the job, so too is it equally as absurd to expect someone to hide their sexuality in the Armed Forces, and be discharged should they slip up.
More than 13,500 brave Americans have been discharged under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell since President Clinton signed it into law in 1993; over 600 in the last year, the majority of them being women. Of those thousands no doubt many were specialists in their field and offered priceless assets to our military. Yet, because of a bogus law, we are without their contribution.
In a time of two wars overseas where translators and cultural specialists are crucial, we cannot afford to be firing them over matters such as this.
This is a law that must be repealed; there is no time like the present to do so. President Obama campaigned last year on the promise that he would unequivocally end the law.
“I will end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Obama vowed once again in an Oct. 10 speech to a gay civil rights advocacy group. All of those promises, both on the campaign trail and behind podiums at civil rights dinners have been empty ones at best.
Speaking on the eve of a massive gay rights demonstration in Washington, D.C., the president said, "We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the county. We should be celebrating their willingness to step forward and show such courage, especially when we are fighting two wars.”
The president is nothing short of correct, but so far his bite hasn’t matched his bark at all when it comes to the issue of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; or any other gay rights issue for that matter.
The startling truth is that we are two wars right now so it is questionable why or how the military leaders have the gumption to ask for more troops while they are systematically discharging highly qualified troops for their sexual preferences.
Many other western nations including our allies in NATO, Britain and France have abolished similar laws. None of the countries that have done away with them have reported dissent or a decline in morale among their troops. It wouldn’t happen here in America either. Our leaders just need to open their eyes.
Addressing this issue has been put off long enough and it cannot be allowed to get lost in the debates over larger issues such as health care reform.
LBQT blogger Jeff Sheng has started a project of photographing homosexuals in the military while obscuring their faces, as some of them are in the closet. He wants to expose the military’s dirty little secret. The project is just in its beginning stages but helps put a picture with a cause and will hopefully add more pressure to the Obama administration to deliver on their promises.
The LBGT community is often some of the most socially liberal in our country and no doubt played a big part in electing Barack Obama. Issues as cut and dry as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell are ones that I frankly thought wouldn’t be a fight if Obama were elected. No doubt many others in the community felt the same way.
It seems though that it is a fight, and certainly one worth fighting for. Barack Obama must be held accountable by the people who helped elect him. He must be pressured and in turn must pressure congress to repeal this law.
Every day that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is allowed to remain military policy is another day that injustice rules over social equality.
Monday, November 9, 2009
The Flight: A conversation with God
The following is one of my short stories that was selected for publication in 'The Lyre' Greensboro College's annual literary magazine:
I was crammed into a middle seat on a cross-country flight from Houston, Texas. As we took off and rose above the clouds I leaned forward, placed my hands under the seat and pulled out my laptop computer. The computer's fan roared as it powered up and I began pecking away at the keys; turning letters into words and words into paragraphs. As my typing reached a fevered pace, God glanced over.
"What are you typing," he asked.
Always the studious journalist, I never traveled without my laptop and editorial ideas close at hand. "A column," I answered. "For the student newspaper, on campus. It actually has something to do with you."
God looked interested so I took it to mean he wanted to know more about what I was writing. "You know," I continued, "there is thins group in Washington D.C. putting billboards up across the country that say: 'Why believe in God?'"
He still had a curious look on his face so I turned my laptop around to show God a picture of the sign that I had saved from a previous Google search.
"Oh, that's got nothing to do with me," he said as he stared down at the screen. "That's about the first amendment and freedom of speech. I don't revel in those issues."
Startled at his reaction, I asked, "that doesn't bother you in the least."
Just as that question left my lips and reached God's ear, the plane shook violently from a crosswind. The guy who had the aisle seat next to me spilled his Bloddy Mary. "Goddamn," he shouted loudly, but God paid no attention. Instead he remained infatuated with the column I was writing.
"Just answer the question," he quipped as he continued to stare at my computer and then into my eyes.
I stared back into his eyes blankly as he continued,"you know, you can talk about things like Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas, why we celebrate them and what people really are thankful for when they sit down at their table to say grace.
Dissatisfied with God's answer, I looked up from my laptop and began to speak. "I don't know what to do. Proving your existence is a deep and heavily philosophical question. Its theological. I suppose the pocket watch analogy would work: that just as something as complex as a pocket watch couldn't have been made without a clock maker, neither could plants, animals and humans exist without a creator."
God didn't seem to care at all about my talking in asides about proving he existed. He just sat there popping peanuts. "I don't need your writing to prove I exist," he said. "That's not the premise of the group of the group or the billboard you are writing about. It asks, 'Why Believe?' Quite honestly, thats a valid question. What have my people done to help answer it lately?"
"Well," I started stunned at God's answer. "I believe in you because I see you and have seen you, in person now and always in the world around me"
The plane rocked and swayed back and forth now more violently than it had the whole flight. I hated flying for this very reason. It terrified me. My ears popped for what seemed like the hundredth time making the noise of the screaming baby behind me even more audible. God looked over at the man who had spilled his Bloody Mary, then back out the window. He gave a sly smile as the sun sank below the clouds.
"It's not all poetry out there in the sky, you know. Where you see poetry, some people see cotton white clouds and a fiery ball of gas. Where you see eternity, others see an infinite ocean. Where you see my words, others see blank pages. When you hear my voice, others here silence."
At first, I wasn't following God's argument, but I allowed him to continue. He is God after all. I was now more focused on my heart as it raced with the pitching and swaying of the plane as he continued to speak.
"What do you hear then," he asked, "when no one else sees; when you find yourself in a place where no one knows your name; when you've reached the end of your rope and you are ready to curse the brokenness in your life? Where do you turn when famine and disaster strike, when the Doctor tells you its cancer or that your Grandmother won't make it through the night. Where do you turn when you find out your parent's marriage is ending in divorce. DO you hear me, see me or feel me then?"
I looked down at my laptop. "Sometimes," I uttered, "but it isn't like I don't want to all the time."
"Why," God asked.
"Because nothing else and no one else makes sense to me," I answer.
Suddenly the violent turbulence we had been experiencing for what seemed like an eternity subsided. The calming voice of the captain came over the intercom. we were about to land.
The man on the aisle across from me wiped up the last bit of his Bloody Mary and returned his tray to the upright position. The baby in the seat behind me stopped screaming. I felt the landing gear engage and minutes later, felt it touch the ground. I grasped my laptop in my arms and rested my head against the seat.
"What a rough flight," I thought to myself how much I hated those. I was happy to have landed safely.
"Thank God," I sighed. Just as I had said that God leaned over closer to my ear.
"You're welcome," he whispered.
I was crammed into a middle seat on a cross-country flight from Houston, Texas. As we took off and rose above the clouds I leaned forward, placed my hands under the seat and pulled out my laptop computer. The computer's fan roared as it powered up and I began pecking away at the keys; turning letters into words and words into paragraphs. As my typing reached a fevered pace, God glanced over.
"What are you typing," he asked.
Always the studious journalist, I never traveled without my laptop and editorial ideas close at hand. "A column," I answered. "For the student newspaper, on campus. It actually has something to do with you."
God looked interested so I took it to mean he wanted to know more about what I was writing. "You know," I continued, "there is thins group in Washington D.C. putting billboards up across the country that say: 'Why believe in God?'"
He still had a curious look on his face so I turned my laptop around to show God a picture of the sign that I had saved from a previous Google search.
"Oh, that's got nothing to do with me," he said as he stared down at the screen. "That's about the first amendment and freedom of speech. I don't revel in those issues."
Startled at his reaction, I asked, "that doesn't bother you in the least."
Just as that question left my lips and reached God's ear, the plane shook violently from a crosswind. The guy who had the aisle seat next to me spilled his Bloddy Mary. "Goddamn," he shouted loudly, but God paid no attention. Instead he remained infatuated with the column I was writing.
"Just answer the question," he quipped as he continued to stare at my computer and then into my eyes.
I stared back into his eyes blankly as he continued,"you know, you can talk about things like Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas, why we celebrate them and what people really are thankful for when they sit down at their table to say grace.
Dissatisfied with God's answer, I looked up from my laptop and began to speak. "I don't know what to do. Proving your existence is a deep and heavily philosophical question. Its theological. I suppose the pocket watch analogy would work: that just as something as complex as a pocket watch couldn't have been made without a clock maker, neither could plants, animals and humans exist without a creator."
God didn't seem to care at all about my talking in asides about proving he existed. He just sat there popping peanuts. "I don't need your writing to prove I exist," he said. "That's not the premise of the group of the group or the billboard you are writing about. It asks, 'Why Believe?' Quite honestly, thats a valid question. What have my people done to help answer it lately?"
"Well," I started stunned at God's answer. "I believe in you because I see you and have seen you, in person now and always in the world around me"
The plane rocked and swayed back and forth now more violently than it had the whole flight. I hated flying for this very reason. It terrified me. My ears popped for what seemed like the hundredth time making the noise of the screaming baby behind me even more audible. God looked over at the man who had spilled his Bloody Mary, then back out the window. He gave a sly smile as the sun sank below the clouds.
"It's not all poetry out there in the sky, you know. Where you see poetry, some people see cotton white clouds and a fiery ball of gas. Where you see eternity, others see an infinite ocean. Where you see my words, others see blank pages. When you hear my voice, others here silence."
At first, I wasn't following God's argument, but I allowed him to continue. He is God after all. I was now more focused on my heart as it raced with the pitching and swaying of the plane as he continued to speak.
"What do you hear then," he asked, "when no one else sees; when you find yourself in a place where no one knows your name; when you've reached the end of your rope and you are ready to curse the brokenness in your life? Where do you turn when famine and disaster strike, when the Doctor tells you its cancer or that your Grandmother won't make it through the night. Where do you turn when you find out your parent's marriage is ending in divorce. DO you hear me, see me or feel me then?"
I looked down at my laptop. "Sometimes," I uttered, "but it isn't like I don't want to all the time."
"Why," God asked.
"Because nothing else and no one else makes sense to me," I answer.
Suddenly the violent turbulence we had been experiencing for what seemed like an eternity subsided. The calming voice of the captain came over the intercom. we were about to land.
The man on the aisle across from me wiped up the last bit of his Bloody Mary and returned his tray to the upright position. The baby in the seat behind me stopped screaming. I felt the landing gear engage and minutes later, felt it touch the ground. I grasped my laptop in my arms and rested my head against the seat.
"What a rough flight," I thought to myself how much I hated those. I was happy to have landed safely.
"Thank God," I sighed. Just as I had said that God leaned over closer to my ear.
"You're welcome," he whispered.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
The Masquerade of Party Politics
If you find yourself not being able to recognize your political party these days, you certainly are not alone. In the spirit of the Halloween season it seems that both democrats and republicans have put on masks that even their most hard line constituents don’t recognize.
President Barack Obama campaigned like a liberal ready to institute sweeping reforms in government but has ruled like a pragmatic dealmaker; something that has his liberal base in a proverbial tizzy as issues like health care reform and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell are not being changed the way some had hoped.
One would think that with majorities by large margins in the House and Senate as well as control of the White House that democrats would be happy, but the disenchantment from people who wholeheartedly supported Obama seems to be growing. The change they all hoped for hasn’t quite yet materialized and they aren’t in the mood for broad initiatives that are going to cost a lot of money.
In the case of Obama- yes, he can. He just hasn’t quite yet.
The problems though seem to be even bigger on the other side of the aisle. Only 20% of voters recently polled identify themselves as republicans. When your numbers dip below that dreaded to 20% mark the party may be reduced to the wife and children of Dick Cheney.
The G.O.P. seems to be headed for some massive sort of breakdown. A microcosm of that breakdown, a divide if you will, seems to be playing itself out in New York’s 23rd District where the Congressional race on the republican side has pitted Dede Scozzafava and Doug Hoffman against one another.
Scozzafava was thought to be the official G.O.P. nominee. A close examination of her voting record in the New York legislature shows her as right down the middle compared to other legislators around the country. That would make her a moderate.
Welcome to the new Republican Party, the one headed for breakdown where moderate just isn’t right enough.
Scozzafava, who supports gay rights and abortion rights pulled out of the race last week because of constant pressure and a barrage of insults on talk radio.
A candidate should be chosen by their district, because he or she meets the needs of that district. Ms. Scozzafava certainly should not have been railroaded out of running because of the wishes of a couple talking heads behind a microphone or right-wing cable news commentators.
Hoffman and the far right pulled out all of the big star luminaries for the occasion too. The former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and current Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty endorsed him.
It was clear that a moderate didn’t stand a chance. Even if she could have won New York’s 23rd Congressional district, she couldn’t overcome the idea that the Republican Party needs to go farther to the right and alienate even more voters.
If the republican’s have any hope of the comeback that party Chairman Michael Steele so often opines about, I would submit that they would do a great service by campaigning for moderate champions like Ms. Scozzafava and Senator Olympia Snow. These are people the party needs to be listening to.
They are listening to talk radio hosts and television commentators who are placing their unhealthy obsession with publicity and spotlight before a service to this country.
With more and more people being disenfranchised the independent sector of voters is growing, and those interested in partisan banter from people like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are in the minority.
More and more people no longer recognize their political party. Both parties seem to be totally ignoring the public’s mood on big issues.
The democrats have failed to use their bully pulpit to push through health care reform that, if presented properly, most Americans are in favor of. Now we are at a standstill, with each side becoming increasingly more stubborn and ignorant; while the U.S.A remains the only industrialized nation without a government healthcare option.
The republicans have also failed to feel the pulse of the nation as they continue to promote senseless conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ordinary Americans are fed up and we can no longer stomach the meaningless casualties being seen overseas everyday.
Each party is baffling, the republicans seem to have a death wish while the democrats seems far too content not to use their majority for any of the sweeping reforms they promised on the campaign trail.
This is not the politics we go to the polls and vote for and it certainly isn’t what we expect in politicians. We need politicians who will roll up their sleeves and get to work on the promises they made us, because that’s why we vote for them.
It is time we stopped letting a few on the fringe dictate the direction of social policy in this country. Our politicians should pull their masks of and be who we elcted them to be.
It isn’t Halloween anymore.
President Barack Obama campaigned like a liberal ready to institute sweeping reforms in government but has ruled like a pragmatic dealmaker; something that has his liberal base in a proverbial tizzy as issues like health care reform and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell are not being changed the way some had hoped.
One would think that with majorities by large margins in the House and Senate as well as control of the White House that democrats would be happy, but the disenchantment from people who wholeheartedly supported Obama seems to be growing. The change they all hoped for hasn’t quite yet materialized and they aren’t in the mood for broad initiatives that are going to cost a lot of money.
In the case of Obama- yes, he can. He just hasn’t quite yet.
The problems though seem to be even bigger on the other side of the aisle. Only 20% of voters recently polled identify themselves as republicans. When your numbers dip below that dreaded to 20% mark the party may be reduced to the wife and children of Dick Cheney.
The G.O.P. seems to be headed for some massive sort of breakdown. A microcosm of that breakdown, a divide if you will, seems to be playing itself out in New York’s 23rd District where the Congressional race on the republican side has pitted Dede Scozzafava and Doug Hoffman against one another.
Scozzafava was thought to be the official G.O.P. nominee. A close examination of her voting record in the New York legislature shows her as right down the middle compared to other legislators around the country. That would make her a moderate.
Welcome to the new Republican Party, the one headed for breakdown where moderate just isn’t right enough.
Scozzafava, who supports gay rights and abortion rights pulled out of the race last week because of constant pressure and a barrage of insults on talk radio.
A candidate should be chosen by their district, because he or she meets the needs of that district. Ms. Scozzafava certainly should not have been railroaded out of running because of the wishes of a couple talking heads behind a microphone or right-wing cable news commentators.
Hoffman and the far right pulled out all of the big star luminaries for the occasion too. The former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and current Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty endorsed him.
It was clear that a moderate didn’t stand a chance. Even if she could have won New York’s 23rd Congressional district, she couldn’t overcome the idea that the Republican Party needs to go farther to the right and alienate even more voters.
If the republican’s have any hope of the comeback that party Chairman Michael Steele so often opines about, I would submit that they would do a great service by campaigning for moderate champions like Ms. Scozzafava and Senator Olympia Snow. These are people the party needs to be listening to.
They are listening to talk radio hosts and television commentators who are placing their unhealthy obsession with publicity and spotlight before a service to this country.
With more and more people being disenfranchised the independent sector of voters is growing, and those interested in partisan banter from people like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are in the minority.
More and more people no longer recognize their political party. Both parties seem to be totally ignoring the public’s mood on big issues.
The democrats have failed to use their bully pulpit to push through health care reform that, if presented properly, most Americans are in favor of. Now we are at a standstill, with each side becoming increasingly more stubborn and ignorant; while the U.S.A remains the only industrialized nation without a government healthcare option.
The republicans have also failed to feel the pulse of the nation as they continue to promote senseless conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ordinary Americans are fed up and we can no longer stomach the meaningless casualties being seen overseas everyday.
Each party is baffling, the republicans seem to have a death wish while the democrats seems far too content not to use their majority for any of the sweeping reforms they promised on the campaign trail.
This is not the politics we go to the polls and vote for and it certainly isn’t what we expect in politicians. We need politicians who will roll up their sleeves and get to work on the promises they made us, because that’s why we vote for them.
It is time we stopped letting a few on the fringe dictate the direction of social policy in this country. Our politicians should pull their masks of and be who we elcted them to be.
It isn’t Halloween anymore.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Forgiveness forgotten...
“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”
--Mark Twain
I've been plaugued recently with the prospect of forgivness, forgetting and the difference between the two. We all know what forgivness is in the definition sense, but it seems that too many people are confused by what forgivness is not. Clearly forgiveness is not forgetting.
Forgiveness means we are not going to allow the experiences of the past dominate our future.
Forgiveness is not avoidance. It is not making light of something we find hurtful. Being the imperfect people we are, there are constantly things that happen between us and others that are minor irritations. We can ignore these. However, when the hurt is real, it is not helpful to say "It doesn't matter", or to make light of something that is basically wrong. That is being dishonest. Where a relationship is spoiled, something more is necessary. Forgiveness is the vital action of love, seeking to restore the harmony that has been shattered. Chosing to live in that "shattered" state only hurts those who fail to forgive.
Forgiveness is not excusing. It is not denying that the one who has caused the hurt is responsible for their actions. There is a place for making allowances for people's behaviour. However, there is a tendency today to err too much in that direction. It is true that some people are more "sinned against" than sinning, but to deny responsibility for the choices we make is to lessen our dignity as human beings. We are beings who are to be taken to account for our moral choices. Invariably we mess things up, but if we are to grow we must accept responsibility for our own part in that process. One of my favorite quotes on the subject comes from my favorite author, C.S. Lewis who said, "If one was really not to blame, then there is nothing to forgive. In that sense forgiveness and excusing are almost opposite."
It is important to know what forgiveness does not do. It may not take away the hurt. It does not deny the past injury. It does not ignore the possibility and need for repentance and a change in the relationship. It means being willing to take the initiative in dealing with any barriers that I may be raising towards a restored relationship.
More people are harmed by nursing grudges and harbouring grievences that by any other emotional means. We only get one life, one trip around the sun. Its senseless to spend it living in the past and allowing ourselves to continue to be hurt by things that, while we wish they had never hurt us in the first place, should have only been allowed to reign over us once.
I don't want to look back and regret the way I handled this, or wish I would have done something differently. Forgiveness offers an out from that lifestyle. It allows us all to live in the present and enjoy the future.
It's not forgetting. It's forgiveness. It's smart and it's mindful; something we should all be so inclined to give a chance.
--Mark Twain
I've been plaugued recently with the prospect of forgivness, forgetting and the difference between the two. We all know what forgivness is in the definition sense, but it seems that too many people are confused by what forgivness is not. Clearly forgiveness is not forgetting.
Forgiveness means we are not going to allow the experiences of the past dominate our future.
Forgiveness is not avoidance. It is not making light of something we find hurtful. Being the imperfect people we are, there are constantly things that happen between us and others that are minor irritations. We can ignore these. However, when the hurt is real, it is not helpful to say "It doesn't matter", or to make light of something that is basically wrong. That is being dishonest. Where a relationship is spoiled, something more is necessary. Forgiveness is the vital action of love, seeking to restore the harmony that has been shattered. Chosing to live in that "shattered" state only hurts those who fail to forgive.
Forgiveness is not excusing. It is not denying that the one who has caused the hurt is responsible for their actions. There is a place for making allowances for people's behaviour. However, there is a tendency today to err too much in that direction. It is true that some people are more "sinned against" than sinning, but to deny responsibility for the choices we make is to lessen our dignity as human beings. We are beings who are to be taken to account for our moral choices. Invariably we mess things up, but if we are to grow we must accept responsibility for our own part in that process. One of my favorite quotes on the subject comes from my favorite author, C.S. Lewis who said, "If one was really not to blame, then there is nothing to forgive. In that sense forgiveness and excusing are almost opposite."
It is important to know what forgiveness does not do. It may not take away the hurt. It does not deny the past injury. It does not ignore the possibility and need for repentance and a change in the relationship. It means being willing to take the initiative in dealing with any barriers that I may be raising towards a restored relationship.
More people are harmed by nursing grudges and harbouring grievences that by any other emotional means. We only get one life, one trip around the sun. Its senseless to spend it living in the past and allowing ourselves to continue to be hurt by things that, while we wish they had never hurt us in the first place, should have only been allowed to reign over us once.
I don't want to look back and regret the way I handled this, or wish I would have done something differently. Forgiveness offers an out from that lifestyle. It allows us all to live in the present and enjoy the future.
It's not forgetting. It's forgiveness. It's smart and it's mindful; something we should all be so inclined to give a chance.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Misdirected Magic
Yesterday was National Coming out day. I'm gay, I believe in God. I'm not ashamed of either...
It didn't take me long, however, to become ashamed of the church I grew up attending shortly after turning the radio on last night to tune into their Sunday night service. Its something I do from time to time to listen, observe and soak in what I hear. Upon leaving there for another church when I turned 18 I have joked to everyone who asks that I am a "recovering Baptist." Last night, all jokes aside, after hearing what I did I was shocked and appalled.
Recovery Complete.
I knew it was coming. Sort of like that summer storm cloud when you can see the darkness and smell the rain long before the storm arrives. Somehow I knew, given the news of the weekend, the march on Washington D.C. and the president's speech to the HRC, that the sermon would turn to Homosexuality. "I want to talk for a minute about these people they call gays," the pastor said.
A minute turned into ten and ten into twenty as the argument was laid out as for why he loved homosexuals, but hated homosexuality. In fact he loves them more than the "people they run around with" because he's trying to get them out of their sin. "I your house were on fire," he argued, "you'd listen to the person trying to get you out of danger." All of the classic arguments were given: The story of Lot, Sodom and Gomorrah, the book of Leviticus and Romans mentioned too. They always are. Debunking those arguments is something I have spent the last 5 years studying.
I wanted to scream at the radio, then I wanted to cry. Then I wanted to sit the pastor down and let him know that I am one of these people he calls gays. I sat under his preaching for some 18 years. I went to his school, walked across the stage, shook his hand as I received my diploma. For all 18 of those years, though he would never believe it, I was gay, because I was born that way. Not because I'm mired in a sinful lifestyle. Choosing to be a vegetarian is lifestyle, people don't choose to be gay any more than he chose to be straight. That's scientific fact, but science and religion have sadly always been strangers.
What has not always been strangers is this sort of misdirected magic that takes place in churches everywhere. The cleverest magicians are only good because they are
flawless in the art of misdirection.They distract the eyes of the audience to something attention-grabbing but irrelevant so that no one notices what the magician is really doing. Look over at that fuchsia scarf, up this sleeve, at anything besides the actual trick. The trick here is that churches, and the religious right is behind a campaign to smear homosexuality, label it as a boogeyman that steals the mind. They've labeled it as a dangerous sin that threatens the "sanctity of marriage." I'm still wondering how my being attracted to the same-sex threatens the sanctity of marriage when it would seem that the divorce, and infidelity that runs rampant in churches and abroad would be more of a threat.
The sermon I heard last night was supposedly about "truth", but for the almost twenty minutes the pastor went on about homosexuality I heard very little truth at all. Sodom and Gomorrah wasn't destroyed because of homosexuality. A quick study in history would have easily shown him that the townspeople's desire to "know" the men was customary degradation in that time. If you really wanted to defeat your enemy, you raped them. Plain and simple. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah weren't destroyed because they were flamers. They were destroyed because of their lack of hospitality to strangers. Something that sadly, some churches are even guilty of today. Lot is too often praised as a hero, and only righteous man in Sodom when in reality he offered his daughters to be gang-raped by the mob and later had an incestuous relationship with one of his own daughters. He was hardly righteous. Its shameful for someone who is the leader of a church congregation to sugget that he was.
That's the sad reality though. The Bible is constantly touted as infallible and its twisted to fit whatever argument is being made at the time. The religious right has become expert cherry-pickers. Men sleeping men is an abomination. According to that same passage though, so it cutting ones hair, trimming their beard, even eating shell fish. Jesus came to do away with Levitical law. I don't ever remember him saying that if it helps you demonize the gays, you can blow the dust off of it.
Put down that shrimp, pastor or you're no better than I am.
The argument, you see, is ridiculous. They are just expert magicians. The Jesus I have come to know since leaving the Baptist church never once in his 33 years on earth and 3 years of active teaching mentioned homosexuality. I think its safe to assume that if he didn't mention it, it probably wasn't worth mentioning. what he did mention were things like, loving your neighbor, being kind to the poor and downtrodden, showing mercy. The greatest of these, he said, is love. Somewhere along the way churches and the pastors who lead them have lost the love.
Christianity isn't some masterpiece in a museum that is to be left untouched. Its the Velvet Elvis in our basement. Its there for us to re-work, re-think and to sometimes paint over. Just like the artist no doubt erases, fixes errors and re-paints so too do Times change, faith changes. Life isn't as it was in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. I think Jesus realized that.
I wish more people would trade in their Mona Lisa for a Velvet Elvis.
The religious right has demonized something undeserving and have done so just like a good magician, by diverting the attention of the public away from the real issue, love and equality.My hope and vision for the people of this country is that their blindness to love in this instance is turned to blindness toward whom others love. Right now, the opposition seems only blinded by bias and bigotry. If they really were interested in the "sanctity of marriage" as they often claim
to be, perhaps they would focus their time on repealing the divorce laws in every state.
If the focus in this country and our churches must be on the rights of gays and lesbians I think it much more productive to focus on the rights being denied to them.There is clearly no legitimate reason, consistent with the spirit of the Constitution why two people who have spent the majority of their lives together are denied health insurance, tax deductions, inheritance benefits and most importantly recognition of their union by the state. I guess the burning questions is, why? Why are we repeating our history of closed-mindedness and bigotry? Why is it that we continue to ignore history? States are now issuing apologies for slavery. Just this year, I voted for a woman in the Presidential primaries. The signs of how far we’ve come as a nation are all around us. Yet,with the passage of laws such as Proposition 8 it becomes even more apparent that we haven’t come far enough.
I thought and still do believe that I live in a country where "all are created equal." At least that’s the line I memorized in middle school. Same-sex marriage is just as much about equality and the dignity of the individual as were the movements for desegregation and women's rights. I will not rest until equality is recognized and ceases to be challenged – I just hope that homosexuals are not alone in this battle and have allies who are willing to stand next to us and work for what is right, and that those willing to believe scare tactics and magic tricks are in the minority.
It didn't take me long, however, to become ashamed of the church I grew up attending shortly after turning the radio on last night to tune into their Sunday night service. Its something I do from time to time to listen, observe and soak in what I hear. Upon leaving there for another church when I turned 18 I have joked to everyone who asks that I am a "recovering Baptist." Last night, all jokes aside, after hearing what I did I was shocked and appalled.
Recovery Complete.
I knew it was coming. Sort of like that summer storm cloud when you can see the darkness and smell the rain long before the storm arrives. Somehow I knew, given the news of the weekend, the march on Washington D.C. and the president's speech to the HRC, that the sermon would turn to Homosexuality. "I want to talk for a minute about these people they call gays," the pastor said.
A minute turned into ten and ten into twenty as the argument was laid out as for why he loved homosexuals, but hated homosexuality. In fact he loves them more than the "people they run around with" because he's trying to get them out of their sin. "I your house were on fire," he argued, "you'd listen to the person trying to get you out of danger." All of the classic arguments were given: The story of Lot, Sodom and Gomorrah, the book of Leviticus and Romans mentioned too. They always are. Debunking those arguments is something I have spent the last 5 years studying.
I wanted to scream at the radio, then I wanted to cry. Then I wanted to sit the pastor down and let him know that I am one of these people he calls gays. I sat under his preaching for some 18 years. I went to his school, walked across the stage, shook his hand as I received my diploma. For all 18 of those years, though he would never believe it, I was gay, because I was born that way. Not because I'm mired in a sinful lifestyle. Choosing to be a vegetarian is lifestyle, people don't choose to be gay any more than he chose to be straight. That's scientific fact, but science and religion have sadly always been strangers.
What has not always been strangers is this sort of misdirected magic that takes place in churches everywhere. The cleverest magicians are only good because they are
flawless in the art of misdirection.They distract the eyes of the audience to something attention-grabbing but irrelevant so that no one notices what the magician is really doing. Look over at that fuchsia scarf, up this sleeve, at anything besides the actual trick. The trick here is that churches, and the religious right is behind a campaign to smear homosexuality, label it as a boogeyman that steals the mind. They've labeled it as a dangerous sin that threatens the "sanctity of marriage." I'm still wondering how my being attracted to the same-sex threatens the sanctity of marriage when it would seem that the divorce, and infidelity that runs rampant in churches and abroad would be more of a threat.
The sermon I heard last night was supposedly about "truth", but for the almost twenty minutes the pastor went on about homosexuality I heard very little truth at all. Sodom and Gomorrah wasn't destroyed because of homosexuality. A quick study in history would have easily shown him that the townspeople's desire to "know" the men was customary degradation in that time. If you really wanted to defeat your enemy, you raped them. Plain and simple. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah weren't destroyed because they were flamers. They were destroyed because of their lack of hospitality to strangers. Something that sadly, some churches are even guilty of today. Lot is too often praised as a hero, and only righteous man in Sodom when in reality he offered his daughters to be gang-raped by the mob and later had an incestuous relationship with one of his own daughters. He was hardly righteous. Its shameful for someone who is the leader of a church congregation to sugget that he was.
That's the sad reality though. The Bible is constantly touted as infallible and its twisted to fit whatever argument is being made at the time. The religious right has become expert cherry-pickers. Men sleeping men is an abomination. According to that same passage though, so it cutting ones hair, trimming their beard, even eating shell fish. Jesus came to do away with Levitical law. I don't ever remember him saying that if it helps you demonize the gays, you can blow the dust off of it.
Put down that shrimp, pastor or you're no better than I am.
The argument, you see, is ridiculous. They are just expert magicians. The Jesus I have come to know since leaving the Baptist church never once in his 33 years on earth and 3 years of active teaching mentioned homosexuality. I think its safe to assume that if he didn't mention it, it probably wasn't worth mentioning. what he did mention were things like, loving your neighbor, being kind to the poor and downtrodden, showing mercy. The greatest of these, he said, is love. Somewhere along the way churches and the pastors who lead them have lost the love.
Christianity isn't some masterpiece in a museum that is to be left untouched. Its the Velvet Elvis in our basement. Its there for us to re-work, re-think and to sometimes paint over. Just like the artist no doubt erases, fixes errors and re-paints so too do Times change, faith changes. Life isn't as it was in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. I think Jesus realized that.
I wish more people would trade in their Mona Lisa for a Velvet Elvis.
The religious right has demonized something undeserving and have done so just like a good magician, by diverting the attention of the public away from the real issue, love and equality.My hope and vision for the people of this country is that their blindness to love in this instance is turned to blindness toward whom others love. Right now, the opposition seems only blinded by bias and bigotry. If they really were interested in the "sanctity of marriage" as they often claim
to be, perhaps they would focus their time on repealing the divorce laws in every state.
If the focus in this country and our churches must be on the rights of gays and lesbians I think it much more productive to focus on the rights being denied to them.There is clearly no legitimate reason, consistent with the spirit of the Constitution why two people who have spent the majority of their lives together are denied health insurance, tax deductions, inheritance benefits and most importantly recognition of their union by the state. I guess the burning questions is, why? Why are we repeating our history of closed-mindedness and bigotry? Why is it that we continue to ignore history? States are now issuing apologies for slavery. Just this year, I voted for a woman in the Presidential primaries. The signs of how far we’ve come as a nation are all around us. Yet,with the passage of laws such as Proposition 8 it becomes even more apparent that we haven’t come far enough.
I thought and still do believe that I live in a country where "all are created equal." At least that’s the line I memorized in middle school. Same-sex marriage is just as much about equality and the dignity of the individual as were the movements for desegregation and women's rights. I will not rest until equality is recognized and ceases to be challenged – I just hope that homosexuals are not alone in this battle and have allies who are willing to stand next to us and work for what is right, and that those willing to believe scare tactics and magic tricks are in the minority.
Friday, October 9, 2009
The first twenty-three with a little help from my friends...
Looking back now its been one hell of a ride...
I can only imagine what the next 23 will be like. Twenty-three years ago today, I was born. It doesn't seem like all that long ago I was in elementary school and now here I am. A lot has changed since then. I can't just hold up fingers for "how many I am" and I'm certainly not counting the years in halves either...oh to be four and a half again.
I posted on my facebook status this morning that most of the last twenty-three years, I wouldn't trade for the world. What I would trade, I said, you can probably find at the Dollar Tree. That was a breezy statement though and I admit I probably said it for its humor rather than its truth. While there are certainly those moments in life we'd all rather forget an wish we had to do over again, the truth is that it simply is not possible. Those moments in our lives that we wish we could sell to the Dollar Tree bargain bin can be used for good. They can be used as productive learning experiences. Ones that we move on from and become better people because of. Heaven knows I have had my share of those...
Hopefully in twenty-three more I can look back and thank God I went through them.
Its about 6am I'm at wok and as I type this and already I've gotten three presents and one card. As a side note, I love my job and the people here...The first card I got offers priceless advice. "Its your birthday" the outside reads. The inside says, "accommodate no one." If there is one thing the last few years, and weeks have taught me its that everyone in the world seems concerned with their own happiness, who shouldn't I?
No more accommodations.
I will admit its hard to heed that advice. Its hard to move on from things that have been institutions in your adult life in the name of happiness. I'm working on that though with a couple of things in mind:
The first is that you can't 'fake' happiness. There are no temporary solutions. Happiness is a gift we're given. You can't buy it, sell it, put it on or take it off. You won't find it in the material, silver, gold, money or titles. I was immature enough in the past to think that if I actively pursued it I could force happiness to come to me.
I was wrong. Anyone else who believes that is just as wrong as I am.
The second thing I've kept in mind is the simple phrase my Grandma sill says, "this too shall pass." I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the last year has been one of the toughest emotional roller coasters I have ever experienced. Part of me at times has wanted to throw my hands in the air and just give up. At times its seemed easier. Then I hear those words. Pain in this life, though it doesn't make it any less bearable, is temporary. I've found it hard to convince myself of that lately, but I'm working on it.
One day I'll probably look back on the last year as just another drop in this enormous bucket of life; a year that taught me more than I could have ever imagined. A year that helped me grow more than I could have ever imagined and a year that will eventually be responsible for my happiness. Not fake happiness, not me trying to convince myself I am happy to avoid pain. Just happiness, in its true form.
Come down to the river
Come and let yourself in
Make good on a promise
To never hurt again
If you're lost and lonely
You're Broken down
Bring all of your troubles come lay 'em down
I can only imagine what the next 23 will be like. Twenty-three years ago today, I was born. It doesn't seem like all that long ago I was in elementary school and now here I am. A lot has changed since then. I can't just hold up fingers for "how many I am" and I'm certainly not counting the years in halves either...oh to be four and a half again.
I posted on my facebook status this morning that most of the last twenty-three years, I wouldn't trade for the world. What I would trade, I said, you can probably find at the Dollar Tree. That was a breezy statement though and I admit I probably said it for its humor rather than its truth. While there are certainly those moments in life we'd all rather forget an wish we had to do over again, the truth is that it simply is not possible. Those moments in our lives that we wish we could sell to the Dollar Tree bargain bin can be used for good. They can be used as productive learning experiences. Ones that we move on from and become better people because of. Heaven knows I have had my share of those...
Hopefully in twenty-three more I can look back and thank God I went through them.
Its about 6am I'm at wok and as I type this and already I've gotten three presents and one card. As a side note, I love my job and the people here...The first card I got offers priceless advice. "Its your birthday" the outside reads. The inside says, "accommodate no one." If there is one thing the last few years, and weeks have taught me its that everyone in the world seems concerned with their own happiness, who shouldn't I?
No more accommodations.
I will admit its hard to heed that advice. Its hard to move on from things that have been institutions in your adult life in the name of happiness. I'm working on that though with a couple of things in mind:
The first is that you can't 'fake' happiness. There are no temporary solutions. Happiness is a gift we're given. You can't buy it, sell it, put it on or take it off. You won't find it in the material, silver, gold, money or titles. I was immature enough in the past to think that if I actively pursued it I could force happiness to come to me.
I was wrong. Anyone else who believes that is just as wrong as I am.
The second thing I've kept in mind is the simple phrase my Grandma sill says, "this too shall pass." I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the last year has been one of the toughest emotional roller coasters I have ever experienced. Part of me at times has wanted to throw my hands in the air and just give up. At times its seemed easier. Then I hear those words. Pain in this life, though it doesn't make it any less bearable, is temporary. I've found it hard to convince myself of that lately, but I'm working on it.
One day I'll probably look back on the last year as just another drop in this enormous bucket of life; a year that taught me more than I could have ever imagined. A year that helped me grow more than I could have ever imagined and a year that will eventually be responsible for my happiness. Not fake happiness, not me trying to convince myself I am happy to avoid pain. Just happiness, in its true form.
Come down to the river
Come and let yourself in
Make good on a promise
To never hurt again
If you're lost and lonely
You're Broken down
Bring all of your troubles come lay 'em down
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Letterman, Edwards and the sanctity of honesty and marriage
The following is my latest OP-Ed which will appear in the Tuesday edition of The Collegian:
It appears that David Letterman has a top ten list like no other. Its the top ten notches in his bedpost.
Those notches were made public last week as Letterman revealed himself part of an extortion attempt. In turn he also revealed himself as a creepy old late-night talk show host who sleeps with his staff members. The scene is the classic boss sleeps with employees scenario. Only this time someone found out, and threatened to release the information on Letterman’s infidelities if he didn’t pay up.
Letterman didn’t have to pay up but he did have to fess up. His extortionist will be locked up.
Beneath the awkwardness and bawdy humor though, there are a couple of lessons to be learned from Letterman’s antics and his subsequent confession, which he chose to do on air, behind the desk that he inherited from Johnny Carson.
In a world where the Ensigns, Spitzers and Edwards’ can preach family values to their constituents and do something completely different behind closed doors, Letterman’s airing of his own dirty laundry is quite refreshing. Not because what he did is remotely right but because I never heard David Letterman preach family values and as far as I can see he never made himself out to be something he wasn’t to his audience.
David Letterman does his job night in and night out. He makes us laugh. When he made a mistake, though it took possible extortion to convince him to do so, he came clean. He didn’t play the victim and he certainly didn’t deny the charges. If Mark Sanford had been as straightforward about his South American rendezvous as Letterman was about his affairs it might have all turned out better for the South Carolina governor.
The truth is that every embattled politician should take a page out of Letterman’s book here. They should do their job, be our leaders, legislate, veto and when you make a mistake—be honest about it.
The unfortunate reality here is that politicians don’t know what honesty is when it comes to their bedfellows. It seems like almost a daily news event that another politician’s affair is rolled out, initially denied, and then finally admitted to. This isn’t why we elect our politicians, but it has become so common place that its almost swept under the rug.
It appears that North Carolina’s very own John Edwards, after vehemently denying the allegations, really is the father of Rielle Hunter’s baby. It was also released this week that he may have promised her a rooftop wedding upon his wife’s death. All of this is speculation at the time but could have been completely avoided had he displayed the honesty and openness that Letterman did last week.
Maybe Letterman should run for office and Edwards should be the clown behind the Late Show desk.
There is another lesson to be learned from the barrage of extra-marital affairs that clog our airwaves and newscasts. Right on the heels of John Edwards’ infidelity and David Letterman’s bombshell is a love, marriage, horse and carriage of a totally different color.
Here in our own backyard a billboard featuring the faces of same-sex couples and how long they have been committed to one another has become the topic of heated debate. “Haven’t we waited long enough?” the billboard states, referring to the wait for equal rights and marriage laws for same-sex couples.
Triad Equality Alliance is responsible for the billboard.
The debate over the billboard is obviously going to be a tumultuous one here in what is no doubt the buckle of the Bible-belt. The obvious answer to the question is “yes.” Same sex couples have had to wait long enough. The better question is how many more of our elected officials do homosexuals have to watch defile an institution they are not even allowed to be a part of?
How many more Senators will deny affairs before the couple on the billboard together for 21 years can finally exchange their vows? How many more late night talk show hosts will come clean about their infidelity before two people, who have never known the benefits of marriage much less its “sanctity”, can receive the same benefits as heterosexual couples.
The sanctity of marriage argument is nothing short of a straw man and one need simply to look at David Letterman and John Edwards to prove that point. These are two married men; both with children, who forsook their own “sanctified” institution to have an affair. It is so common place that we greet their stories on the news now with a wink and a nod, yet when same-sex couples tastefully are tastefully portrayed on a billboard asking for the rights of every other married couple, a dark cloud of judgment moves over our city.
The extra-marital affairs that run rampant in American politics and pop culture have done far more to hurt the proverbial sanctity of marriage than equal rights for homosexual couples would.
So while our politicians would do well to learn from David Letterman’s handling of his affairs we would all do better as a people to stand up, tell our entertainers to shut-up and sing, our politicians to shut-up and be honest and worry less about the rights deserved by two loving committed individuals.
I dare say marriage would mean the most to those who have had it denied them the longest. Its time we were all on equal ground; that everyone share the right and ability to be married and enjoy the benefits of it.
Ellen Gerber, one of the faces which appear with her partner on the billboard in Greensboro said, “I would really like to stand before our community and family and get married.” Maybe if Gerber and her partner are given the chance they could be a little better at marriage than John Edwards and David Letterman.
It appears that David Letterman has a top ten list like no other. Its the top ten notches in his bedpost.
Those notches were made public last week as Letterman revealed himself part of an extortion attempt. In turn he also revealed himself as a creepy old late-night talk show host who sleeps with his staff members. The scene is the classic boss sleeps with employees scenario. Only this time someone found out, and threatened to release the information on Letterman’s infidelities if he didn’t pay up.
Letterman didn’t have to pay up but he did have to fess up. His extortionist will be locked up.
Beneath the awkwardness and bawdy humor though, there are a couple of lessons to be learned from Letterman’s antics and his subsequent confession, which he chose to do on air, behind the desk that he inherited from Johnny Carson.
In a world where the Ensigns, Spitzers and Edwards’ can preach family values to their constituents and do something completely different behind closed doors, Letterman’s airing of his own dirty laundry is quite refreshing. Not because what he did is remotely right but because I never heard David Letterman preach family values and as far as I can see he never made himself out to be something he wasn’t to his audience.
David Letterman does his job night in and night out. He makes us laugh. When he made a mistake, though it took possible extortion to convince him to do so, he came clean. He didn’t play the victim and he certainly didn’t deny the charges. If Mark Sanford had been as straightforward about his South American rendezvous as Letterman was about his affairs it might have all turned out better for the South Carolina governor.
The truth is that every embattled politician should take a page out of Letterman’s book here. They should do their job, be our leaders, legislate, veto and when you make a mistake—be honest about it.
The unfortunate reality here is that politicians don’t know what honesty is when it comes to their bedfellows. It seems like almost a daily news event that another politician’s affair is rolled out, initially denied, and then finally admitted to. This isn’t why we elect our politicians, but it has become so common place that its almost swept under the rug.
It appears that North Carolina’s very own John Edwards, after vehemently denying the allegations, really is the father of Rielle Hunter’s baby. It was also released this week that he may have promised her a rooftop wedding upon his wife’s death. All of this is speculation at the time but could have been completely avoided had he displayed the honesty and openness that Letterman did last week.
Maybe Letterman should run for office and Edwards should be the clown behind the Late Show desk.
There is another lesson to be learned from the barrage of extra-marital affairs that clog our airwaves and newscasts. Right on the heels of John Edwards’ infidelity and David Letterman’s bombshell is a love, marriage, horse and carriage of a totally different color.
Here in our own backyard a billboard featuring the faces of same-sex couples and how long they have been committed to one another has become the topic of heated debate. “Haven’t we waited long enough?” the billboard states, referring to the wait for equal rights and marriage laws for same-sex couples.
Triad Equality Alliance is responsible for the billboard.
The debate over the billboard is obviously going to be a tumultuous one here in what is no doubt the buckle of the Bible-belt. The obvious answer to the question is “yes.” Same sex couples have had to wait long enough. The better question is how many more of our elected officials do homosexuals have to watch defile an institution they are not even allowed to be a part of?
How many more Senators will deny affairs before the couple on the billboard together for 21 years can finally exchange their vows? How many more late night talk show hosts will come clean about their infidelity before two people, who have never known the benefits of marriage much less its “sanctity”, can receive the same benefits as heterosexual couples.
The sanctity of marriage argument is nothing short of a straw man and one need simply to look at David Letterman and John Edwards to prove that point. These are two married men; both with children, who forsook their own “sanctified” institution to have an affair. It is so common place that we greet their stories on the news now with a wink and a nod, yet when same-sex couples tastefully are tastefully portrayed on a billboard asking for the rights of every other married couple, a dark cloud of judgment moves over our city.
The extra-marital affairs that run rampant in American politics and pop culture have done far more to hurt the proverbial sanctity of marriage than equal rights for homosexual couples would.
So while our politicians would do well to learn from David Letterman’s handling of his affairs we would all do better as a people to stand up, tell our entertainers to shut-up and sing, our politicians to shut-up and be honest and worry less about the rights deserved by two loving committed individuals.
I dare say marriage would mean the most to those who have had it denied them the longest. Its time we were all on equal ground; that everyone share the right and ability to be married and enjoy the benefits of it.
Ellen Gerber, one of the faces which appear with her partner on the billboard in Greensboro said, “I would really like to stand before our community and family and get married.” Maybe if Gerber and her partner are given the chance they could be a little better at marriage than John Edwards and David Letterman.
Friday, October 2, 2009
These walls will fall down
Its a sad picture, The final blow hit you
Someone else gets what you wanted, again.
To save space I'll start by saying that this past weekend a large part of my world was turned on its ear and fell apart...
Now I'm faced with the daunting task of some rebuilding of myself as a person and some demolition as I tear down whatever walls that kept me from doing things right the first time. That is what life is all about, isn't it? Isn't it all a learning experience where we try things and they either work out and we're happy or they don't work and we are forced to learn, rebuild, demolish and try to get things right next time.
Five days removed from the scene of the crime and I am just taking things one day, one hour, one minute, sometimes one breath at a time. Its a frightening experience to say the least and one that, unfortunately, I cannot convey in words or actions just how painful it all is. There's light at the end of every tunnel though, a rainbow at the end of every storm. There will be consolation here too.
I looked in the mirror yesterday morning...I was faced with a choice. I could walk away and say I don't need this.
But, there was something in my eyes that told me I could beat this....
Someone else gets what you wanted, again.
To save space I'll start by saying that this past weekend a large part of my world was turned on its ear and fell apart...
Now I'm faced with the daunting task of some rebuilding of myself as a person and some demolition as I tear down whatever walls that kept me from doing things right the first time. That is what life is all about, isn't it? Isn't it all a learning experience where we try things and they either work out and we're happy or they don't work and we are forced to learn, rebuild, demolish and try to get things right next time.
Five days removed from the scene of the crime and I am just taking things one day, one hour, one minute, sometimes one breath at a time. Its a frightening experience to say the least and one that, unfortunately, I cannot convey in words or actions just how painful it all is. There's light at the end of every tunnel though, a rainbow at the end of every storm. There will be consolation here too.
I looked in the mirror yesterday morning...I was faced with a choice. I could walk away and say I don't need this.
But, there was something in my eyes that told me I could beat this....
Monday, September 21, 2009
The Inception
I've always believed in the therapeutic aspect of writing. There's just something about spilling thought and feelings on to paper, or in this case screen, that is second to none for me. Writing has gotten me through some tough times. It's forced me to look back at a place in time and learn from mistakes I've made. It's also allowed to remember good times and cling to them when the going gets a little rough.
Life is a gift, each day a present we otherwise probably don't deserve. So I'll choose to share a bit of my life with my readers through this blog. It's always been important to me to try and see the world through the eyes of others. I look at the world around me and see far too much bigotry and hatred. we're not even making an attempt to see the world with an open mind and walk a mile in our brother's shoes.
The title and subtitle to this blog are inspired by one of my favorite songs Politik, by my favorite band Coldplay. They are powerful and certainly have meaning in the world we live in. No topic is off limits here and no stone, I hope, will be left unturned. I've started these things before and they are left in cyberspace unfinished. This one will live though, we'll see where it goes...
Look at the earth from outer space
Everyone must find a place
Give me time and give me space
Give me real don't give me fake
Give me strength, reserve control
Give me heart and give me soul
Give me time, give us a kiss
Tell me your own politik
Give me one 'cause one is best
In confusion, confidence
Give me peace of mind and trust
Don't forget the rest us
Give me strength, reserve control
Give me heart and give me soul
Wounds that heal and cracks that fix
Tell me your own politik
Give me love over, love over this...
Life is a gift, each day a present we otherwise probably don't deserve. So I'll choose to share a bit of my life with my readers through this blog. It's always been important to me to try and see the world through the eyes of others. I look at the world around me and see far too much bigotry and hatred. we're not even making an attempt to see the world with an open mind and walk a mile in our brother's shoes.
The title and subtitle to this blog are inspired by one of my favorite songs Politik, by my favorite band Coldplay. They are powerful and certainly have meaning in the world we live in. No topic is off limits here and no stone, I hope, will be left unturned. I've started these things before and they are left in cyberspace unfinished. This one will live though, we'll see where it goes...
Look at the earth from outer space
Everyone must find a place
Give me time and give me space
Give me real don't give me fake
Give me strength, reserve control
Give me heart and give me soul
Give me time, give us a kiss
Tell me your own politik
Give me one 'cause one is best
In confusion, confidence
Give me peace of mind and trust
Don't forget the rest us
Give me strength, reserve control
Give me heart and give me soul
Wounds that heal and cracks that fix
Tell me your own politik
Give me love over, love over this...
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