Instant Change. Just Add Obama.

In an instant things can change. Right after the swearing in of President Obama, the official White House website had this to say about the LGBT community. Read it all here

Support for the LGBT Community

"While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect."
-- Barack Obama, June 1, 2007
Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. President Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability. As a state senator, President Obama passed tough legislation that made hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law.

Fight Workplace Discrimination: President Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees' domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace occurs with no federal legal remedy. The President also sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights.

Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.

Repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell: President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.

Expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.

Promote AIDS Prevention: In the first year of his presidency, President Obama will develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies. The strategy will be designed to reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities. The President will support common sense approaches including age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception, combating infection within our prison population through education and contraception, and distributing contraceptives through our public health system. The President also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. President Obama has also been willing to confront the stigma -- too often tied to homophobia -- that continues to surround HIV/AIDS.

Empower Women to Prevent HIV/AIDS: In the United States, the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS has quadrupled over the last 20 years. Today, women account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses. President Obama introduced the Microbicide Development Act, which will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS. Microbicides are a class of products currently under development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV and other infections.

It's A New Day

It's a beautiful day.

And here is some of President Obama's--how nice it is to say that and mean it--inaugural speech; the parts that affected me, the parts I remember. For a full transcript go to abcnews.go.com:
_________________________________________

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
.....

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many.
They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
....

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
....

Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn. Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
.....

We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
.....

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.
.....

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy.
.....

We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
.....

To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
.....

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
.....

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
_______________________________________

I loved his speech. Loved it. For the first time in years I felt that the President was speaking to me, not at me; he was offering hope for a change, not fear to keep me in line; he was talking of a struggle to rebuild America, not to go around the world nation-building; he made me believe that we can those storm clouds and, now, see clearly what needs to be done for America; and he once again assured me that we have a leader who can fulfill that promise

For me, after 9/11, I backed the President. I didn't vote for Bush either time he ran, but after the attacks, I supported him fully. But then our views shifted, our focus, shifted, from bin Laden to elsewhere. And Bush began to lead based on fear; how many times did I hear him talk about Threat Levels....orange and red....and how many times did he use fear as a method to explain what he thought needed to be done. Now we have a president who will use hope to inspire us into following him, not fear to scare us into it.

Say it loud, President Obama. An end to the George W. Bush method of leading this country. It ends now!

Still, we must look to the past and recognize how America came to be in this place, and use those memories to rebuild this country both at home and around the world. Only in recognizing what was done right, and what was done wrong, can we move forward into a new dawn, a new time, a better America in a better world.
It's all about hope. It's all about will.
We will.

Yes we will. We will make a change; we will make things better, for all, not just the select few. We will do what's right for ourselves and for the world; we will set an example; we will provide the leadership.
We can do all of those things and become the America that I learned about in school. I miss that America, but now, for the first time, really, I feel the tide changing, I feel America coming home.

Sing Out Louise

So, before I get myself all situated to watch President Obama take over, and not a moment too soon, I thought I'd do a bit of ranting, raving, storytelling; just a few things to get off my chest and out my mouth. Here we go..........................

We're sitting in the kitchen this morning, watching the snow fall, and it's so pretty, so peaceful. I'm reminded of when I lived in California and I would drive into the Sierras to visit my parents, and it would snow at their house--we have a little more than an inch, they would get a lot more than that....like ten to twelve feet or more. It's so quiet and serene, and we have these Cardinals that flock to a couple of birdfeeders that we put up; their brilliant red feathers against the snow fall is just breathtaking; I'm feeling all relaxed and then he says it,
Look at the water freeze up on the edge of the table. It's making popsicles.
What?
On the edge. Popsicles.
You mean icicles.
Whatever.
Luuuuuuuuuuuuuucy!
____________________________________
Carlos likes to consider himself Mr. Gadget, although he calls all his electronic toys by a more scientific name: jiggy-mah-giggy. As in: Have you seen my jiggy-mah-giggy? Then I have to decipher exactly what toy he needs.
Now, I am not a cell phone person; I don't like them; I don't need one. I'm, as I've said before, old school. You wanna talk? Call my house. If I don't answer, hmmmmm, what to do what to do. Call back! Sheesh!
But when we first came to Smallville, Carlos decided to get a new phone for him and one for me--in case, he says, you're out driving around country-town--his word for Smallville--and get lost or something. So I took a cell phone and put it in my car and have used it only a few times. It is good for emergencies; and I do use it when I travel so I can call home without those pesky long distance charges. But I am not a cell phone person; it isn't attached to my head 24/7.
Anyway. Carlos loves the jiggy-mah-giggy, and he realized his phone has 'Voice Recognition' so he decided to set it up so he can talk to it, and tell it who to call. This morning he's trying to call his boss and see if they are working or not, since the blizzard hit last night and dumped almost an inch of snow. He's holding the phone up and saying his boss's name. No response. He says it louder. Warlow. Warlow.
I say, Maybe you should try saying his real name. Wardlaw. Maybe that will work.
Wardlow. Wardlow.
Law. Not low.
Wardlaw. Still no response. I ask to try it, and he hands me the phone. I hit a button, scroll down, find Wardlaw, hit a button and hand him the phone.
Done. It's called Finger Recognition.
______________________________
Oprah and her husband Gayle King--I stole that from La Griffin--are trying my last nerve.
First up: Oprah. The other day I'm watching her show, I don't know why, I'm a glutton for punishment. She's doing some sort of round table with her husband Gayle, some blond chick who's sort of funny, and my boyfriend Mark Consuelos, who, oddly enough, is married to my girlfriend Kelly Ripa. Awkward!
Anyway, they're talking about Barack. Barack this Barack that. It sounded like a herd, or a covey, or a pride, or something of parrots. And then Oprah tells us that it shows how much we identify with Obama because we feel so comfortable calling him by his first name and we don't usually do that.
Hello Oprah? This is reality calling. Remember Bill, as in Clinton, Ronnie, as in Reagan, Jimmy as in Carter, Gerry as in Ford, Tricky Dick as in Nixon? Honest Abe? We've called a lot of presidents by their first name, honey. Except the last one......George Dumbass Bush.
_______________________________

Now for Gayle Something-or-other: Oprah's husband Gayle has been doing some talking for Oprah, because we all know Oprah hates to talk about herself.........faint.......I'm up! I'm okay. Where was I? Oh yeah, Gayle Winfrey, or whatever her name is, because she'd be Who? without Oprah.

Gayle is talking about Oprah and Holocaust survivor Herman Rosenblat who wrote a book about finding his true love in a concentration Camp and now it's revealed to be a James Frey--which is another way of saying big fat book of lies.

So Gayle Winfrey......Who?.... says, "I was very disappointed because when the story first broke, the big headline was `Oprah Duped Again." I called Oprah and I said, `I'm so tired of you being the whipping boy for this hoax because he didn't just dupe you — he duped a lot of people.'"

No, Gayle, honey, the Oprah show duped us, because they didn't bother to check him out after being James Freyed--see, that's how it works. If the O people had checked then we wouldn't have been duped. Get it? The O's should do their job! Gawd!

Quit trying to protect Oprah. Seriously. Haven't you got better things to do, whomever you are?
_______________________________

A show called True Beauty. it's like a Top Model-ly kind of show, but they also look to see who's beautiful--and they all think they're beautiful--and who's beautiful on the inside. Every week there are all kinds model-ly tests and inner beauty kinds of tests. And the two who fail at the tests are taken to a place called the Hall Of Beauty, which looks like an airport somewhere, only it's lined with big pictures of the so-called beautiful people. There, the two lowest beauties are asked why they should stay and it becomes almost Miss America like.....I should stay because I know I'm beautiful, more beautiful than anyone else,and I have a lot to prove blah blah blah....where's my gun so I can go all Elvis on the TV?

They pick the ugliest person to kick off, and send the pretty one back to the house. Then they tell the ugly one about 'The Secret.' That they are also looking for inner beauty and they show them video of Ugly acting ugly. You know, they don't pick up litter; they didn't donate to someone collecting money on the street; they're just bitches. You know, ugly stuff.

Then the Ugly One has to leave and do their Exit Interview, where, like W, they try to tell us that they're nice, that they do have Inner Beauty, that they did respond in a timely manner to Hurricane Katrina.

The kicker? The last shot of the show they have a cleaning crew come by and take down the latest Ugly castoff portrait, and throw it in the trash!

True.
Beauty.

Check your local listings under Trainwreck!!
_________________________________

In South Korea, to promote his latest movie, where he's basically playing himself, except in this one he has an eye-patch--Quick! Someone call the academy, this is brilliant acting. He's. Wearing. An. Eye. Patch--Tom Cruise said: "I've always wanted to kill Hitler. As a child, I used to wonder why someone didn't stand up and kill him."
As a child I wondered where babies come from, and how does the Tooth Fairy slip a quarter under my pillow and take my tooth without waking me up, and what will I be when I grow up, a fireman, a doctor, a homosexual, or an actor who wears an eye patch.
Tom Cruise wondered about killing someone.
Precious.

Greetings from Smallville

Well, the weatherman said it would happen, but I tend to think most weather 'people' are idiots, so I'm eating my words this morning.
Snow came to Smallville during the night, and it's still snowing now. Makes the house look so wintry and pretty. We haven't had snow stick to the ground for longer than a minute since we moved here so this is lovely. Of course, being Smallville, and under a quarter inch of snow EVERYTHING IS CLOSED!
Ah well, snuggle in next to a fire and watch the inauguration and the beginning of a great new era for America.
Yes We Can.
Yes We Did.
Yes We Are.

MLK: I Have A Dream

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Left Out

from JoeMyGod:
After days of controversy and outrage from the religious right, openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson opened Barack Obama's inauguration concert on the National Mall today with a request that the nation pray for "understanding that our president is a human being and not a messiah."
But only the people AT the concert heard that, because HBO did not televise Robinson's message. Who engineered this blackout of Robinson? I suspect we'll hear lots about this in days to come.
UPDATE: It turns out that a lot the people at the concert did NOT hear Robinson either. There were sound "difficulties" and most of the estimated 500,000 in the audience could not hear his invocation. Only those very close to the stage could hear.
.....
AfterElton.com has spoken to HBO, who says the decision to cut Robinson was made by the Obama transition team. Contacted Sunday night by AfterElton.com concerning the exclusion of Robinson's prayer, HBO said via email: "The producer of the concert has said that the Presidential Inaugural Committee made the decision to keep the invocation as part of the pre-show."
Uncertain as to whether or not that meant that HBO was contractually prevented from airing the pre-show, we followed up, but none of the spokespeople available Sunday night could answer that question with absolute certainty. However, it does seem that the network's position is that they had nothing to do with the decision.
__________________________
In the meantime, for those of us who missed hearing Robinson, and what he said was quite beautiful, here it is:
A Prayer for the Nation and Our Next President, Barack Obama
By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire
Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.


O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…

Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.

Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.

AMEN.

The Last of W

Wassail

After what will forever be called The Leaf Incident, Carlos returned from the recycling center. I asked why he didn't wait for me and he says, 'I thought you were mad when you went back in the house.'
'I wasn't mad,' I said, 'I was wearing flannel pants and slippers. I went in to change!'
'Oh.'
Oh my.
Case closed. Move on. Build a bridge and get over it.
We decided to make our weekly trek to Kroger's for some groceries. It's about a fifty-mile round-trip, but all we have here in Smallville is a PigglyWiggly--and it has a funny smell--a Food Lion--looks like they display the food in a lion cage--and a Bi-Lo--which I think is only for Bisexuals on the DownLow, but I could be wrong. So, with no other option we drive to Kroger's.
It wasn't going to be a big basket of food this week. For some reason or other we didn't need a lot of things. I'm in charge of making the list, checking it twice blah blah blah and it didn't seem like a lot.
Carlos stands in a corner and says anything to annoy me, like, 'Don't forget milk.'
I could really use that woodchipper I talked about earlier.
We bundle up because it's about 25-degrees when we head out, and drive to Kroger's, after stopping at the veterinarian to get HeartGard for Ozzo. The receptionist knows me from around town and says, 'Hi Bob.' And I feel Carlos looking at me.
Back in the car, 'Who's that?'
'I forget her name.'
'Uh huh.'
'What uh huh?'
'Never mind.'
Woodchipper. Woodchipper, where are you?
We hit Kroger's, finally, and Carlos says he wants to make Wassail. We had bought a package of a dried Wassail mix from the Biltmore Estate last year and loved it in winter; it's like a warm citrus punch. Carlos searched the web and found a Wassail recipe, and brought it with him to get the ingredients.
Our usual Kroger's routine is he goes to the deli to get some sliced cheese and turkey, and I get everything else. Carlos, for some unknown reason, has a special affinity for the Deli Women--I don't know if it's the hairnets or the big shoes. And yet he gives me grief about a receptionist at an animal hospital, when he's having some kind of deli catered affair with BigShoes?
Anyway. I'm finishing up as he comes back with his deli supplies and his Wassail fixin's--I'm becoming more Southern with each passing day--and we proceed to the checkout. The cashier is ringing us up and I'm watching the screen as the prices go up up up like it's a stock ticker in a bull market, or a bear market, whichever one is the good one. And suddenly I see "Garlic................$43.75"
Now, I loves me some garlic, but I have never spent almost fifty bucks on the stuff. It's not like I'm an addict, hanging around the farmer's markets or loitering in the produce aisle, looking for a fix. So, he sees me looking at the screen, and he says, 'That's not right.'
Ya think?
He changes it and keeps ringing. And the prices still go up up up. To $182.23! W.T.F?
When Carlos sees the total he shrieks like a schoolgirl who just got a text from a cute boy. 'What did you buy?'
What did I buy? 'Um, groceries.'
'Why so much.'
I mutter something about laundry soap, dried cranberries, paper towels. But on the way to the car, I think to myself that we didn't need that much. Why was it so high? What was unusual about this trip. Then it hits me! At home I sit down with the receipt. The Wassail recipe at hand.
Oranges, lemons, cheesecloth. Check. Apple juice, apple cider. Uh huh. Mace, which is apparently a spice as well as a medieval weapon, who knew? All-Spice berries. Cinnamon sticks. Add it up...carry the one, and.....What?
Thirty dollars for Wassail.
For wassail?
Better be damned good Wassail is all I'm sayin'.

Leaves

So, we made it through the coldest night of the year, the coldest night, apparently, in twenty-three years! It dipped down to seven degrees.

Don't go pfffft at me, you Northeast bloggers, you Chicago bloggers, you, up there in Maine, Charlie. Seven-degrees is c-c-c-c-cold for us; just least week it was seventy-degrees, and now this. I know it isn't 11-below, or 15-below, but it was cold, for us, here, in Smallville.

This morning, after breakfast, Carlos decides to do the recycling, so he loads up the car with cans and bottles and plastic and cardboard etc. And off he goes. When he returns, he tells me he wants to take the bags of leaves that he filled a week or so ago.

Now, I must say that the people who owned this house before us were apparently allergic to yardwork or raking leaves because we've hauled hundreds of bags of leaves, and that is not an exaggeration, from the yard in the year-and-a-half we've lived here and still aren't finished. There were so many dead, decaying leaves in the backyard after we moved in that, once we cleared them away, a whole meadow of wildflowers sprung up and all the neighbors complimented us on our beautiful garden.

The former owners also never met a horrid color they didn't want to slather on the walls. The dining room was flesh colored, so I felt like Hannibal Lechter sitting down to some Fava beans and a nice Chianti eating in there. The kitchen was navy blue sponge paint. Yes. Sponge. Paint. There were other colors, like dandruff, and spoiled milk, urine yellow, and in the master bedroom, a lovely wallpaper border of pineapples and fruit baskets--I know!--that I decided to take down the day we moved it.

It was stapled to the wall. I literally stood in one corner, grabbed one end and pulled it down....rip...rip..rip....from each and every staple

Anyway, back to the leaves.

I remember telling Carlos, the day he was to bag the leaves, not to do it. It had rained for a couple of days and the leaves were wet, so the bags would get very heavy when it came time to shove them in the back of the Saturn and take them away. But did he listen.

Uh, no.

He filled several fifty-gallon bags with leaves, and this morning, he decides to take those away. Only he can't lift them because he filled them to the brim with wet leaves, and now they weigh a ton. So I go out to help him hoist bag after bag into the car, and I say, 'How are you going to get these outta the car and into the dumpster?'

'You're coming with me.'

Uh-huh. Okay.

I head into the house to get my jeans on, a ball cap, and my shoes.I come back down the hall and look through the living room window and he's driving up the driveway and away from the house. I wondered if 'You're coming with me' was Spanish for 'I can do it myself.'

I'll have to get out my Spanish-to-English dictionary.

I'll also have to look for a woodchipper, so the next time Carlos does this I can 'Fargo' him.

Brilliant Woman

Mary Frances Berry is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania and the former chairwoman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. She is also the former board chair of Pacifica Radio. She is a past president of the Organization of American Historians, the primary professional organization for historians of the United States.

Mary Frances Berry, the chairwoman of the Commission on Civil Rights from 1993 to 2004, is the author of “And Justice for All: The United States Commission on Civil Rights and the Continuing Struggle for Freedom in America.”

Look here: Mary Frances Berry

This is an OpEd piece she wrote for the New York Times:

Gay but Equal?
By Mary Frances Berry

AS the country prepares to enter the Obama era, anxiety over the legal status and rights of gays and lesbians is growing. Barack Obama’s invitation to the Rev. Rick Warren, an evangelical pastor who opposes same-sex marriage, to give the invocation at his inauguration comes just as the hit movie “Milk” reminds us of the gay rights activism of the 1970s. Supporters of gay rights wonder if the California Supreme Court might soon confirm the legitimacy of Proposition 8, passed by state voters in November, which declares same-sex marriage illegal — leaving them no alternative but to take to the streets.

To help resolve the issue of gay rights, President-elect Obama should abolish the now moribund Commission on Civil Rights and replace it with a new commission that would address the rights of many groups, including gays.

The fault lines beneath the debate over gay rights are jagged and deep. Federal Social Security and tax benefits from marriage that straight people take for granted are denied to most gays in committed relationships. And because Congress has failed to enact a federal employment nondiscrimination act, bias against gays in the workplace remains a constant threat.

Gays are at risk under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. And people who are only assumed to be homosexual have been subject to hate crimes. José and Romel Sucuzhañay, two brothers, were attacked in New York City last month by men yelling anti-gay and anti-Latino epithets. José Sucuzhañay died from being beaten with a bottle and a baseball bat. Yet the effort in Congress to enact a law that would increase the punishment for hate crimes against gays and lesbians is going nowhere.

Only two states, Massachusetts and Connecticut, permit gay marriage. New York acknowledges marriages from those states and from other countries, despite the federal Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, which was meant to allow other states not to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere. Vermont, New Jersey and New Hampshire permit civil unions, which provide gay partners the rights, protections and responsibilities of marriage. On the other hand, a referendum that just passed in Arkansas goes beyond banning gay marriage to prohibit the adoption of children by unmarried couples. Mississippi, Florida and Utah have similar bans. And many Americans believe their religion forbids gay marriage or even civil unions.

In the 1950s, race relations in America generated escalating tension and strife. As Secretary of State John Foster Dulles told President Dwight Eisenhower, other nations vilified us for our treatment of “negroes” as less-than-first-class citizens. It was in this context that Congress, in 1957, granted Eisenhower’s request for an independent civil rights commission to “put the facts on top of the table.”

The commission conducted interviews and public hearings, prepared detailed reports and recommended new protections that would ultimately be passed in the form of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These laws embodied the goals of the protestors who marched, went to jail and died to end racial discrimination.

The commission became what the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, who was the chairman from 1969 to 1972, called the “conscience of the government” on civil rights issues.

There is no need to analogize the battle for the rights of gay and lesbian people to the struggle of African Americans to overcome slavery, Jim Crow and continued discrimination. But as Coretta Scott King said to me as she tried to imagine what position the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would take on “don’t ask, don’t tell”: “What’s the yardstick by which we should decide that gay rights are less important than other human rights we care about?”

The Commission on Civil Rights has been crippled since the Reagan years by the appointments of commissioners who see themselves as agents of the presidential administration rather than as independent watchdogs. The creation of a new, independent human and civil rights commission could help us determine our next steps in the pursuit of freedom and justice in our society. A number of explosive issues like immigration reform await such a commission, but recommendations for resolving the controversies over the rights of gays, lesbians and transgendered people should be its first order of business.

That's What I'm Talkin' 'Bout

"The truth is this (show) takes place in Utah, the truth is these people are some bizarre offshoot of the Mormon Church, and the truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen. There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American and I am one of them. I do not like to see any discrimination codified on any piece of paper, any of the 50 states in America, but here's what happens now. A little bit of light can be shed and people can see who's responsible and that can motivate the next go around of our self correcting constitution and hopefully we can move forward instead of backwards. So lets have faith in not only the American, but Californian constitutional process."
Tom Hanks, exec producer of HBO's Big Love
__________________________
Now, I know it's Tom Hanks, and he's a big old movie star actor guy, but this is what I mean by speaking up about issues.
Some people bought into the fear spread by the Mormon Church during the Prop H8 campaign; they bought into churches being sued if they don't perform gay marriages; homosexuality being taught in schools--NEWSFLASH: You can't 'teach' it, you either are, or you aren't, and you can't catch it either; that marriage has gone unchanged for 5,000 years.
All those old chestnuts that are, in fact, not fact.
It helps to talk about these things, to educate those who think the way the Mormon Church, not to mention the Catholic Church, among others. I remember having the discussion about gay marriage with my parents. They fell into the "Can't you call it something else?" trap.
But, as I explained to them, calling it something else makes it something else; something less than.

Here's how this works:
Are you married?
No, we're Civil Unioned.
Oh.

Another scenario:
My parents have been married ten years.
My parents were Civil Unioned ten years ago, too.
Oh.
See?
Less than.
Different.
Un-American.

Thanks Tom!

My Obama Pets

Go here: Obamiconme

It's Sad, Cuz It's True

Goodbye Already

And, if it isn't obvious by now, that's me in the RED:

Bush Defends His White House Tenure
By DEB REICHMANN, APWASHINGTON (Jan. 15) - Unpopular but unbowed, President George W. Bush defended his tumultuous two terms in a farewell address to the nation Thursday night, claiming a series of successes at home and abroad.

Reaching back to the Sept. 11 attacks, when the public rallied behind him, Bush declared the United States will "never tire, never falter and never fail."

A series of successes. Really, W. A series. Sounds like, um, see.....one....um....Yeah. One.

I was behind you in those days after 9/11. I wanted to get the bad guys. I wanted our country safe. I was with you when you went looking for bin Laden, but then you lost me when you sharp-turned into Iraq looking for the mysterious, never found WMD. You lost me when you u-turned from the WMD hunt to the Iraq-trains-terrorists chant, and then you changed lanes into 'Saddam Hussein's a bad guy.' You couldn't make up your mind where we were going or who we were fighting.

We were fighting for oil, W. Do the math. Oil man becomes President to fight war in oil-producing nation and takes over control of oil wells. A + B + C = You're an idiot.

Leaving office with the highest disapproval rating since Richard Nixon, Bush said, "You may not agree with some tough decisions I have made, but I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions."

Tough, as in stupid. Your presidency will be remembered as The One About The War; the war that was fought for reasons that changed daily; that was declared Mission: Accomplished even though we're still in it SIX YEARS LATER. Tough decisions indeed.

A bookend to eight years indelibly marked by terrorism, two wars and recessions, the brief speech offered Bush one last chance before he leaves office Tuesday to defend his presidency and craft a first draft of his legacy for historians. He spoke from the East Room of the White House with just 112 hours left in office.
It was his final public appearance until he greets President-elect Barack Obama on Inauguration Day at the White House's North Portico.

His final public appearance should have been back in 2000 when he conceded the election to Al Gore since the majority of Americans voted for Gore. That should have the end of W.

Bush called the inauguration of Obama, the first black president, a "moment of hope and pride" for America. "Standing on the steps of the Capitol will be a man whose story reflects the enduring promise of our land," he said.

A promise to fix all the wrongs you and your hellhounds (thanks to Marker at Echo Chamber for giving me 'hellhound') have done to this country. We have hope now, W, something you stopped giving us when you went on your nation-building mission. Hope.

I hope the door doesn't kick you in the ass on your way out.

Bush's presidency began with the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil and ends with the worst economic collapse in three generations.
"Facing the prospect of a financial collapse, we took decisive measures to safeguard our economy," he said. "These are very tough times for hardworking families, but the toll would be far worse if we had not acted. All Americans are in this together. And together, with determination and hard work, we will restore our economy to the path of growth. We will show the world once again the resilience of America's free enterprise system."

........

"Like all who have held this office before me, I have experienced setbacks," said Bush. "There are things I would do differently if given the chance. Yet I have always acted with the best interests of our country in mind. I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right."

Setbacks. Grievous errors in judgement. Po-tay-to. Po-tah-to. At least, now, you admit to mistakes. A few years back you said you'd made no mistakes. Looks like even you, W, are seeing the truth to your horrid presidency.

Bush also prodded the nation to lead the cause of freedom and maintain its "moral clarity" in what he described as a choice between good and evil. "I have often spoken to you about good and evil," he added. "This has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two there can be no compromise."

Yes, W, good and evil are present in this worst, and because of your disastrous eight year run, the view of America, and Americans, has swung away from the good side, and now dangles somewhere in the middle. The world used to think of US as the Good Guy; you changed all that.

....

On national security, he highlighted his administration's efforts to equip the nation with new tools to monitor terrorists, freeze their finances and foil their plots. But he also acknowledged some of his controversial policies, including the terrorist surveillance program and harsh interrogation of suspected terrorists.
"There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions, but there can be little debate about the results," said Bush, who also reiterated his belief that spreading human liberty and freedom offers an alternative to extremism. "America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil."

And before 9/11 we'd gone eight years without a terrorist attack. What's your point? You, W, did not keep us safe. The attack on 9/11 came during your watch, when you had spent much of your first eight months on the job ON VACATION. Maybe if you'd been doing your job, watching the world, being present, being President, we might have been spared 9/11. We might have been spared the reputation as the torturers, of holding people prisoner without adequate representation, of doing the honorable thing in difficult time. But you, W, chose to go a different route. And that's your legacy.

Critics claim that while there has not been another attack on U.S. soil, the number of terrorist acts around the world has increased, Iran has gained influence in the Mideast, North Korea still hasn't verifiably declared its nuclear work, anti-Americanism abroad has emboldened extremists' recruitment efforts and a safe haven for terrorists remains along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Reflecting on Sept. 11, Bush warned Americans not to become complacent about the threat from terrorists. "As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11, but I never did," Bush said. "Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our nation. And I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe."

I returned to normal life but you never did? That's your JOB, you moron. It's your job. Shall we all offer a collective sob to make you feel better because every day you had to be briefed? You don't get points for doing your job, W; and you didn't do that anyway.

Trumpeting his domestic record, Bush said he has presided over higher standards in public schools, a new Medicare prescription drug benefit, lower income taxes, more help for people suffering from drug addiction and the appointment of two justices to the Supreme Court.
"We have faced danger and trial, and there is more ahead," Bush said as he passed off a huge set of challenges to Obama. "But with the courage of our people and confidence in our ideals, this great nation will never tire, never falter, and never fail."

I believe we won't tire, falter or fail, now that you're gone. I am tired of eight years of faltering and failing. I am tired of eight years of lies; eight years of rich get richer, poor get left behind; tired of seeing New Orleans still trying to come back after your disastrous handling of Katrina; tired of your smug face as you tried to prop up your presidency.

You failed, W.

You faltered, W.

And we're tired of hearing you speak.

Things I Hate

The list really is endless, but I'll boil it down some. Although, as I sit here, I remember my grandmother, when I said I hated something, telling me that I shouldn't use that word. So, I began to say 'I loathe intensely......'

That being said, apologies to Grandma, let's go:

I hate Amy Winehouse for screwing up her life with addiction. When I first heard her, I thought, 'Wow, a little Billie Holiday-esque,' and believe me, I loves me some Billie Holiday. But Amy is following Billie down the addiction highway, although she seems to be traveling at a much higher rate of speed. I hate to see talent wasted.

I hate Bernie Madoff. I hate stories of the rich cheating people to get richer. Did Madoff really need $50 billion so much that he had to destroy the lives of countless others. I hate greed.

I hate Hate. Why is it, that in this day and age, people are still so hateful. When Obama was running for president someone actually said to me: "I hope he doesn't win, 'cuz you know them people are gonna march. They love to march." I replied that I,too, love to march, and would probably join the parade.

When Boy George was on trial for handcuffing an escort to a radiator, I heard someone say, "Typical fag." I replied, "If I had a nickel for every time I've chained a male escort to a radiator, I couldn't buy a piece of penny candy. and I'm a pretty typical fag."

I hate what Bush/Cheney have done to this country. I hate that the American people let it be done. I hate that we didn't demand his removal from office, and that he and Cheney be tried for war crimes. To use a phrase I am stealing from Echo Chamber, 'Begone hellhounds!'

I hate people who use religion to spread fear. If you believe in God, it's quite simple: God Is Love. Words to live by. If you don't believe in God, it's equally simple: Life is love. Just be nice to one another. I mean, really, how hard is that? Be nice.

I hate what a celebrity driven society we've become; how everybody seems to want their fifteen minutes of fame, no matter what they have to do to get it. Sell your soul for a shot at TV; degrade yourself in front of millions. How sad.

I hate this youth obsessed society. I mean, did you see Demi Moore on the Golden Globes the other night? She looks like a young Demi Moore! She looks younger than her own daughter who was standing near her on the stage. How much is too much? Jocelyn Wildenstein too much. We're slowly becoming an expressionless world. I won't do it. I want you to look at my face and see that I'm mad, confused, sad, upset, happy; laugh lines are good. You laughed!

I hate cancer. I hate cigarettes that cause cancer. I hate that I lost my mother to cancer. I hate that cancer has shown it's hideous face to my family yet again.

How True

From Al Sharpton....finally he makes some sense....
"It amazes me when I looked at California and saw churches that had nothing to say about police brutality, nothing to say when a young black boy was shot while he was wearing police handcuffs, nothing to say when the they overturned affirmative action, nothing to say when people were being delegated into poverty, yet they were organizing and mobilizing to stop consenting adults from choosing their life partners. There is something immoral and sick about using all of that power to not end brutality and poverty, but to break into people’s bedrooms and claim that God sent you.
"I am tired of seeing ministers who will preach homophobia by day, and then after they’re preaching, when the lights are off they go cruising for trade...We know you’re not preaching the Bible, because if you were preaching the Bible we would have heard from you. We would have heard from you when people were starving in California, when they deregulated the economy and crashed Wall Street you had nothing to say. When [alleged Ponzi schemer Bernie] Madoff made off with the money, you had nothing to say. When Bush took us to war chasing weapons of mass destruction that weren’t there you had nothing to say. … But all of a sudden when Proposition 8 came out you had so much to say, but since you stepped in the rain, we gonna step in the rain with you."

I'm So Tired Of It

Lot's of things going on these days, that have me thinking and rethinking, and maybe thinking too much. I keep hearing how we're on the verge of change....Yes We Can...and then I turn the page and see the same old stories.

What is going on in the world today? What is wrong with us? Why aren't people standing up and saying 'Enough!'? Because I've had enough. Or, as my Mom used to say, I've had it up to here....hand held high above her head.

I've had it up to there, too.

In Indiana, now, they trying to tell me that I am 'less than.'

In Kalamazoo, they are already calling me that. Just like California, Arizona, Florida, Nebraska, and a lot of other places.

So why aren't more people standing up and saying 'Enough!'?

And I don't mean the gay folks; lord knows we've been standing awhile now, most of us. But what about the others? Those straight people over there. When are they going to say it's enough? When are they going to stand with us and say treat us all equal. We're all equal.

All equal.

Because, you see, not many of them are standing with us, and I don't know why. I hear them say that we should all be treated equally, but I don't hear them shouting. I don't hear them saying, 'Enough!'

Are they afraid of what might happen if they take a stand? Are they afraid that their friends and neighbors might suddenly dislike them because they've spoken out about equality? Are they afraid of being ostracized?

Welcome to what it feels like to be me, straight people.

Every day. Every. Day. Someone says I'm 'less than;' someone votes, they actually vote, on how I can be discriminated against because of who I am. They cast ballots, fear-based ballots, telling me I have no right to marry the man I love; that I have no right to adopt a child if I choose. And worse yet, every day, they're trying to kill me.

They're beating me up in Wyoming and leaving me to die on a split-rail fence. Matthew Shepard.

They stalking me outside a club in South Carolina and beating me so badly that all I can do is die. Sean William Kennedy.

I am beaten to death in New York because someone thought my brother and I were a gay couple. Jose Sucuzhanay

In Ohio they're attacking my partner and me as we walk down the road, sending us to the hospital; and then when we get out, they set fire to our car. John and Larry Charlton.

In Maine they're beating me up and throwing me off a bridge to my death. Charles Howard.

In New York I am beaten and dismembered and left in a plastic tub. Steen Keith Fenrich.

In Tennessee they shot me because I was transgendered. Duana Johnson.

A gang of four is beating me outside a bar in Flagstaff on Pride in the Pines weekend. Michel Brown.

In San Francisco I am gang-raped because I'm a lesbian.

In Oxnard I'm fifteen years old when I'm shot in the head because I said I was gay. Lawrence King.

It's enough.

When are we all going to stand together to decide and declare that you cannot deny us our rights because we're gay. That you can't fire us for being gay. You can't deny us housing for being gay. You can't stop us from raising a child because we're gay. You can't stop us from loving one another because we're gay. You can't stop us from marrying because we're gay.

And you can't kill us either.

Seriously.

It's enough.

Video Killed His Mom

Okay, so I don't play video games. Let's say that right up front. I don't get it. I could think of many other things, many, that I'd rather be doing than sitting in front of a TV twiddling my thumbs to play a pretend game.
Like maybe playing a real game.
Reading is fun.
Go outside!
And of all the video games, I have never understood the violent ones; where you get points for stealing, and beating people up, and robbing people.
Killing people.
Last time I checked, those pastimes weren't a game. I think they're illegal.
Yup.
Illegal. So this frightened me.

Ohio Teen Killed Mom Over Video Game
By M.R. KROPKO, AP
ELYRIA, Ohio (Jan. 13) - Although a teenager's obsession with a violent video game may have warped his sense of reality, the boy is guilty of murdering his mother and wounding his father after they took "Halo 3" away from him, a judge ruled Monday.
"I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents they would be dead forever," Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge said.
Nonetheless, Burge rejected the defense attorneys' argument that Petric, 17, was not guilty by reason of insanity.
The defense didn't contest that Petric shot his parents in October 2007 after they took the game away from him, but insisted that the teen's youth and addiction made him less responsible.
Petric may have been addicted, but the evidence also showed he planned the crime for weeks, said Burge, who found the teenager guilty of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and other charges.
Tried as an adult, Petric faces a maximum possible penalty of life in prison without parole. The judge didn't set a sentencing date.
The teen's mother, Susan Petric, 43, died of a gunshot wound to the head. Her husband, Mark Petric, a minister at New Life Assembly of God in Wellington, also was shot in the head but survived.
After the verdict was announced, Petric turned to look at his father seated behind him in the courtroom. Mark Petric, who previously said he has forgiven his son, gave an encouraging nod.
Mark Petric and other relatives left the court without comment.
Prosecutors said Petric planned to kill his parents because he was angry that his father would not allow him to play the video game, in which players shoot alien monsters that have taken over the Earth.
On the night of the shooting, Petric used his father's key to open a lockbox and remove a 9 mm handgun and the game.
Mark Petric testified that his son came into the room and asked: "Would you guys close your eyes? I have a surprise for you." He testified that he expected a pleasant surprise. Then his head went numb from the gunshot.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Anthony Cillo argued during the trial that the teenager had planned to make it appear to be a murder-suicide by putting the gun in his father's hand.
Defense Attorney James Kersey said that when the teenager fled the grisly scene, he only took one item with him: the "Halo 3" game.
Bungie LLC, once part of Microsoft, developed the Xbox 360-exclusive Halo 3, and Microsoft owns the game's intellectual property. Microsoft declined to comment beyond a statement: "We are aware of the situation and it is a tragic case."
____________________________

Several things are jarring.
A seventeen-year-old video game playing murderer didn't think his parents would be "gone forever" if he killed them. Is that because in his games he plays, although he can shoot and kill people, they all live to play another day? Or is it because he's a murderer looking for his own "Dan White Twinkie Defense?"
I mean, "I have a surprise for you?"

Bang.
You're dead.
Let's play again.

So I don't know if playing these kinds of violent games warped this boy's thinking, because, let's face it, he's warped. He's almost an adult, but he's warped. But if the game made him do it, then why the planning of the crime? He didn't snap and tear through the house looking for the gun. He calmly unlocked a box, got the gun and went into his parent's room.
Surprise.

But, I don't think this game made this boy kill his parents, although it sounds violent. And before anyone raises the old 'you played cops'n'robbers' as a kid, yes, I did. But it wasn't graphic; no blood spurted from the chest of the kid next door; it was all imagination; all of it. Video games take away the imagination and put it all right in your face. Guns. Blood. Death.
Cha-ching. Play again.

So, no, I don't think the game made him crazy so that he killed his Mom and Dad. I think they are other things going on here, and everywhere.
I mean, where were his parents when he was playing the game all those months? I wonder about parents who aren't regulating what their kids do. Why are they buying him a game like that? And if they didn't buy it, why did they let him bring it in their house?
Pay attention.

I was reading today, over at Charlie's, BerryBlog, about parents and their kids at school. How the parents pull their kids from school for long weekends, but really can't be bothered to take an interest in the child's education.
If you have children, be a parent. I know it's hard. But try. Watch what they're reading, if they even read these days. See what games they play on the computer; what games they like; find out about your kids....who are their friends....what do they do. Pay attention to what they say and do and watch on TV and how they act.
And if they're playing some kind of game where it's okay to kill people, graphically, where you get 'points' for slaughtering aliens or prostitutes or whomever, where death is an illusion, because the dead come back the next time the game is played, then take a moment to think about how that affects them.
You could be saving their lives.
Or yours.

Remember the Maine

Hey Kalamazoo, listen up!

While your city council was deciding that it's okay to treat the LGBT community like crap, by denying us jobs, or firing us from our jobs, simply because we're gay...by denying us housing because we're gay...by denying us public accommodation simply because we're gay, the good folks up in Maine are open to discussion about gay marriage.

That's right Kalamazoo, and you too Indiana, gay marriage.

__________________________________

From the Bangor Daily News (http://www.bangornews.com/detail/97060.html):

Gay rights groups unveil marriage bill

by Judy Harrison BDN StaffAUGUSTA, Maine — A state senator from Hancock County is sponsoring a bill to allow gay couples to marry in Maine.
Sen. Dennis S. Damon, D-Trenton, announced at a press conference this afternoon that he is submitting legislation that would redefine marriage.
He was supported by members of the Maine Freedom to Marry Coalition made up of the Equality Maine, the Maine Civil Liberties Union, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders and the Maine Women’s Lobby.
Damon also was flanked by same-sex couples that want to marry and obtain the same legal protections afforded men and women who tie the knot in Maine.
Additional Maine couples who want to get married are profiled in a video.
The senator said that his bill would:
- codify civil marriage as the legally recognized union of two people.
- eliminate discrimination to allow any two eligible people, regardless of sex, to be issued an application for a marriage license.
- affirm religious freedom so that religious institutions continue to have control over their own religious doctrine and teachings regarding who may marry within each faith as set forth in the Maine and U.S. Constitutions.
- recognize lawful marriages from other states, removing a barrier akin to those enacted to prohibit mixed-race marriages a generation ago.
The Maine Marriage Alliance, a group that supports traditional marriage said it will submit a bill that would call for an amendment to the Maine Constitution that would define marriage as between a man and woman and ban same-sex marriage.

_____________________________________

See there, Kalamazoo, Indiana, Florida, California, Ariz-----oh the whole lot of you.

They want to recognize marriage as a union between two people. That isn't so hard, is it?

They want to make sure churches that don't believe in gay marriage aren't forced to perform gay marriage. Works for me, considering no one, NO ONE ANYWHERE, i s married until a state issued marriage certificate is filed. So, you see, people, we don't need a church to marry; we need state law to marry; separation of church and state working.

Maine wants to recognize marriages performed in other states. Sounds lovely, really, quite simple.

Of course there is a group trying to protect "traditional" marriage which we all know does not exist and has not existed for 5,000 years. Marriage has been in a constant state of flux since time began and people don't like change.

Change is coming though; and Maine is moving to the head of the line.

PS Ya'll: That picture up there, at the top of this post, yeah, that one. That's Victoria Eleftheriou (left) and Carla Hopkins (right) with their son Eli, 3 1/2 listening to Maine Sen. Dennis Damon during a press conference at the State House after Damon introduced legislation to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.

They look scary don't they.

Ooooooh. How bad would it be if "they" got married.

Sigh. How great it would be. How great.

The Gays Go All the Way in Daytime

I could add my own two-cents, but I like Seltzer's cents.....sense....better.

from TheDailyBeast.com

As the World Turns took an unexpected turn this week and went where no soap opera—and few primetime shows—has dared: showing two post-coital men.

On June 1, 2007, the character of Noah Mayer made his first appearance on As the World Turns, the daytime drama that has aired daily since 1956. He was a military brat turned heartthrob, who quickly hooked up with a fellow intern at the local television station. She fell for him—and so did her openly gay best friend, Luke Snyder.

It took a while for Noah (played by Jake Silberman) to admit his own attraction to Luke (Van Hansis), who had come out the previous summer. On August 17, 2007, Noah and Luke shared a groundbreaking kiss—the first gay male kiss in the history of American daytime dramas. Overnight, the clip went viral and still stands as one of the most-viewed videos on YouTube. This Christmas, Noah presented Luke with a watch that was engraved, "Worth the wait."

Since that fateful exchange of spit, the characters have naturally faced countless obstacles. At first, their mutual friend was caught in the crossfire of Noah's sexual identity crisis. Noah had to come out to his homophobic father, who (after killing his wife) soon conned Luke and Noah on a fishing trip where he shot Luke, paralyzing him from the waist down. But since this is daytime, where characters are known to have seven lives, it wasn't a surprise when Luke walked again thanks to the devotion and optimism of Noah's steadfast support. Even more twisted: Noah briefly married an Iraqi refugee to keep her in the country after she claimed his father saved her family. Luke and Noah stole kisses but fear of being discovered by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency drove their otherwise openly gay rapport back into the 1950s.

As the months wore on, the sexual tension between Luke and Noah (affectionately dubbed Nuke and Loah) grew. They kissed increasingly frequently and with decreasingly little fanfare from blogs, but they never went all the way. They did talk about sex—and what their first time would be like—but it never came anywhere near their horizon. Like everything in their relationship, intimacy was shown through incredibly compelling dialogue.

The inseparable pair talked about everything. Their feelings were always expressed (thanks in large part to head writer Jean Passanante, who happens to be responsible for the only two other gay characters in soap history) if not physically acted on.

Luke and Noah's dynamic escalated on New Year's Eve, when the night finally seemed right. Except for one elephant in the room: Luke's step-grandfather, who had kissed him during Thanksgiving. To make a convoluted story short, Luke got drunk (not a good thing when you've had a kidney transplant, too) after seeing Noah console his ex-girlfriend, and then he kissed his step-grandfather. Of course, Noah was a witness and threw a punch to protect "his love." When Luke confessed to initiating the kiss, Noah walked out, leaving Luke alone to read a note written from Noah, which was meant to be read the next morning, when they would have been together in bed.

For fans, it appeared, as usual, as if Luke and Noah had gone a few steps forward and many more steps back. Sure, they would recover over time. Like most soap "supercouples," they were meant to be. I was prepared for the long haul of relationship rebuilding.

It's difficult to explain to non-viewers how earnest and well-drawn Luke and Noah's relationship is. It was a task I felt ready to tackle after mildly (okay, very) obsessively watching the program (and getting hooked on the other plot lines in the process) for nearly two years now.

This weekend, I intended this article to be called "Why Daytime's Main Gays Should Abstain." It was going to be an attempt to explain how this couple is revolutionizing the portrayal of gays on television. They have had their share of media attention—beginning with their first kiss, a conservative outcry, and including a brief write-up in the New York Times—but nothing seemed to get at the heart of the matter.

For me at least, what makes Luke and Noah unique in television—and especially daytime—is that by not jumping in bed together, they're defying a classic gay stereotype. Indeed, many critics and gay bloggers accused As the World Turns (and Proctor and Gamble's production company) of having a double standard, since straight characters are routinely promiscuous. In my view, the writers were holding the characters to a higher standard that should be applauded.

Who needs to see them shirtless between the sheets and read between the lines? As the World Turns is not The L Word or Queer as Folk. And for all its cliché, it's not as stereotypical as Will & Grace or Sex and the City when it comes to gay characters. Nor is it Brokeback Mountain.

As the World Turns seemed removed from that pressure—and in on the joke. This Christmas, for instance, Noah presented Luke with a watch that was engraved, "Worth the wait."

When I ran into stars of the show around New York City, I'd congratulate them for subtly making a difference. It seems as though more than gay-targeted programs, daytime shows have a special accessibility that allows them to win over hearts and minds. And they were (mostly) doing it via hearts and minds, not exposed nipples and wet chests.

Their epic relationship has lasted over a year. If that's forever in daytime (especially considering their collegiate age), it's an eternity in gay years—and, let's face it, that's a really long time to wait.

There is something to be said about a couple that shows its true colors (yes, Cyndi Lauper had a guest-spot during Pride Week) by their commitment, tenderness, sincerity, and loyalty in the face of so many odds, not because they wanted to get it on.

The more I watched As the World Turns, the less I actually wanted them to have sex.

So it came as a quite a shock, when on Monday's episode they rekindled their broken union by... having sex.

Without any warning or hysterics, the show took that unexpected turn and went where no daytime drama—and few primetime shows—has dared: Luke and Noah were shown post-coital, sheets ruffled.

And you know the best part? The person responsible for getting them back together after the fallout from Luke kissing his step-grandfather was his grandmother, the show's matriarch (played by Elizabeth Hubbard for the past 25 years), who was also the most understanding when Luke first came out.

So not only is this not your grandmother's soap, leave it to the grandmother-who-unwittingly-played-a-beard to get the boys back together.

She even delights in sharing their post-sex ice cream sundae.

Henry Seltzer is a homepage editor for The Daily Beast.