This story gets crazier by the day. This “up and coming” Nazi (there’s nothing “neo” about them) in southern California gave his child his own gun. Within 24 hours that son had killed his father with it. I cannot imagine someone filled with so much hate or vitriol being a good father to anyone, but this is where the story gets really outrageous. While I don’t know the condition of the mother of this boy, or how many of the five children in the house were from Nazi Jeff Hall’s first wife, at one point in time some judge, presumably in the family court system, awarded custody to this openly racist, race-baiting trash of a father!! I’m all for father’s getting fair treatment when it comes to determining the best interest of the child, as I was fortunate enough to have primary custody of my daughter throughout her rearing, but I can’t help but be reminded of the case in Florida where the woman lost custody of her daughter for being lesbian to her ex-husband, who was convicted of murder and child molestation!
Category Archives: Politics
More DADT Drama!
Now that the military’s sad DADT policy has been stricken, they decided just now that they will not allow gay weddings on military bases. This is a ruse. The Repubs are looking for anything incendiary that they can talk about on CSPAN and Fox “News” sound bites. Shouldn’t the more important question be: “Why are ANY marriages allowed on base?” As a purportedly liberal taxpayer, why should the facilities of the military be used to celebrate “holy” unions between opposite sex couples OR same sex couples?!
Nuke the Whales! Tsunami and Earthquake Aftermath…
“Nuke the Whales” is an attention-grabbing bumper sticker that my dad had at home (he wouldn’t dare put it on his car) because he found it to be so ironic. He loved pumper stickers. I’ve been meaning to chime in about the devastation caused by Mother Nature in Japan. I’ve shed many tears watching so much of the footage. I know more people died in the Indian Ocean calamity a few years ago, but I don’t think there was nearly as much footage or visible understanding of the death toll (the numbers were mind boggling) and the shoreline damage.
It’s amazing to me how the politics in Japan have sought to blame the privately-owned power company that owned the nuclear plants and the executives and their families in particular who cared more about profit (which is what private companies do by definition) than safety and contingencies such as this. I don’t think death threats are warranted, but there have been many because of the sheer frustration and lack of accountability. I don’t think there should be any protest by the entities to the power utilities becoming government-run going forward, so that the safety of Japan’s people is put before everyone. It still remains to be seen just how much death and illness will result from the radioactive fallout, but my heart goes out to the people and entire families that were simply washed away to their deaths.
It’s unimaginable, but I’m very happy to see many countries come to Japan’s aid, just as we came to Haiti’s aid. Last night I spoke to my friend who works for the Red Cross about the challenges to helping these countries in the crisis periods and he said that they have people on the ground, but at times like this while the best thing they can do is channel money to the areas. I know Japan is probably the most high-tech country in the world, but with their electricity output seriously compromised, there is still a “need” for other countries to gather resources and concentrate on the immediate crises at hand.
Chaos in Libya
I’m in uncontrollable tears after watching some of the news about Libya today. I just watched on the news children in bandages in smaller cities of Libya with shrapnel in their heads and limbs! Who knows how many were killed instantly? What do these kids know about what’s going on? Most of them didn’t even look ten years old, and here they are wanting to play and smile for the camera, through their injuries! To add insult to injury, medical supplies can barely get to them (thank you to Italy and Germany for going through the ship blockades). And what about the thousands of non-Libyan refugees who are surviving on nothing near the ports waiting to get the hell out o there? These people in these towns that are vacillating between rebel and Quadafy forces are the worst victims.
Too bad if it seems “imperial” that we are interested in doing more than helping with the no fly zone to save lives of our fellow humans, especially the innocents. Apparently it’s not enough to stop the bloodshed and I don’t give a fuck about the deficit! If NATO cannot remedy the situation, then more American involvement is perfectly okay with me! The money and power in Libya is still on the side of an insane, decrepit dictator and his blond bombshell prostitute body guards from Eastern Europe.
I can’t believe that there are people (extreme left and extreme right) who are drawing comparisons to our involvement in Libya with Iraq and Afghanistan. Perhaps some are people more liberal than me (it could happen!) who are hippies who don’t believe in “war” under any circumstances but this is a rescue mission! Conservative pundits who are looking for ways to criticize Obama, without any regard for the suffering he is trying to avoid by helping the rebels.
Have these American critics on both side of the aisle forgotten their recent history? Afghanistan’s extreme sharia former government was sanctioning Al Queda training camps so we had a legitimate interest in stopping that from happening after our country was attacked. I witnessed the demolition of two outstanding towers in downtown Manhattan. That wasn’t even a war against the Afghani people themselves, the majority of which I doubt had any knowledge of what had transpired.
Iraq was completely bogus and an attempt at Bush Jr. to save his father’s purportedly good name.
The true comparison is like the former Yugoslavia and President Clinton having us go in there, NOT for economic interests, but to avoid genocide!
RIP Geraldine Ferraro
My mother and I have a good memory of her speaking at my college graduation on Staten Island, New York in 1993.
She was an interesting character with lots of inspirational words for the large graduating class. Her choice for the commencement speaker was a surprise to me since Staten Island is pretty conservative for being inside of New York City.
I don’t understand the details of the controversies over Palin and Obama with her, I’ll let her rest in peace and keep the fond memories I had of her.
Dispelling the Suspected Right Wing Spies Among Us
A friend of mine was saying that a mutual acquaintance of ours who is very active in the gay community made some “decisions” that sometimes amazed him. Based on this acquaintance’s profile, he concluded that, like my friend’s step-mother, our acquaintance was a Sarah Palin supporter. Perplexed, I went to the acquaintance’s profile and clicked on the “Sarah Palin” link to discover that 37 of MY friends are supposedly “fans”. I looked carefully to make sure that it wasn’t a spoof page. After all, the woman is a caricature of herself, but it was indeed her official page. It was incredulous to me that some of these very outspoken, far left individuals, who make me look moderate, were supporters. Then I realized that without independently confirming the reason for their linking to this political page, it was not fair to assume that they were truly fans. Indeed, as a polisci major, I often watch FOX “News” to see what my enemies are formulating, even if it is very difficult to take seriously and stomach.
Looking through the 37 people I know (and I doubt I even know that many gay Republicans) and other friends of theirs who were linked to the page, I saw men with shirtless pictures and others with slutty, made-up sexual names, so I really doubt that these activist, extreme liberal individuals had anything but disdain for the woman, and probably just wanted to engage in watching the slow train wreck that is her life. One of them even publishes a smut magazine.
I agree in general that there are some unfortunate surprises when one discusses ideology even among gay men, but San Francisco resident, homosexually married, poly slores are generally not among them, to my relief.
Freaky Laura Schlessinger still has a show?
What kind of morons would want her advice? Doesn’t anybody remember the outrageous and ridiculously out of date opinions this woman has? She’s worse than Rush Limbaugh in many respects because she’s actually formally educated (he is not) and she uses religion to tout her hatred. This scandal has gotten her name back in the news, so she got her way again.
Reportedly, after discussing and using the word “nigger” numerous times with a black woman who called her show distraught over racism in her own home, Laura told the woman that she should not be married to a white man inter-racially if she “didn’t have a sense of humor about race”! As a white man who was married to a black woman who I was with for 11 years, I don’t think flippantly using highly offensive words as jokes makes it easier. Would it be okay if Laura’s gentile friends and loved ones go around saying “kike this” or “Heeb that” to her or used “jew” as a verb? Words like “nigger” were not acceptable during the course of my relationship or at any time in my life, thankfully. I never even considered using it in any context. I don’t accept anyone else in my family using it, even if they are black or mixed-race like my daughter.
The only laughter that I ever had about race that I can recall was when I would ask my ex-wife to do something for me and she would look at me and say, “Do I look like a slave?” or when I was dating a black guy and I went to a 50’s diner with my daughter and him and joked that we shouldn’t be sitting in the same area (as per the MadTV skit).
Looks like a second generation of Quayles is ripe for mockery
Like a sad potatoe, Ben Quayle was raised “right” and thinks he’s speaking for the majority when he says that “Barack Obama is the worst president in history.” Did he not witness what happen with his father’s running mate’s son (not that his father’s running mate was anything to write home about)?
So Ben is going to Washington to kick some ass (my word, but he used the word “hell”). Is Arizona the new bastion of right wing nuttery that used to be Florida until all the liberals moved down there? This guy is a joke who had to distinguish himself among the many people vying for the same seat, and already scandal in the form of some kind of link to a hetero porn site, is biting as his heels. Nevertheless, Fox “News” (“news” being said with a grain of salt since they underwrite some of these lame, poorly-attended tea party events, rather than even attempting to be impartial) is “right” there promoting him, already.
Arizona Govern-ess in bed with Private Prison industry
So Arizona’s appointed governor is flanked very closely by people who are currently married to or formerly themselves lobbying for the private prison industry in that state, which would benefit greatly from the incarceration of people who cross the border from Mexico. Coincidence!?!? Now we know the impetus for the racist immigration law!
Bear with me a minute here. I’m getting flashbacks of Cheney and Haliburton.
These same private prisons in Arizona routinely and recently have had escapees, at least one of whom is still at large as of this writing!
I understand that the people who proposed this bill would say it applies to all foreigners, but what does a Canadian border crosser look like? How many Irishmen jump the border into Arizona? Do they really maintain that there is a perfect balance of ethnicities among the illegal immigrants in a border states? It’s racist and violates the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, as a federal judge recently found.I have never heard of a Canadian coming to this country illegally (let alone to a southwestern state bordering Mexico) to subject himself to pay for the medical care he would get for free in his own country, and which is actually higher quality in many instances than our own (lower child mortality rate to start with). The racial profile issue was controversial because Latino people would be targeted and more suspect, even if they were tenth generation Arizonan and even if their families were there before we stole the southwest from Mexico.
The governess specifically speaks about the border with another country and the supposed crime that it facilitates, when there has been nothing but a steady decrease in crime over the past several years in AZ and a decrease in border crossings because the demand has dissipated due to the crappy economy that the party of this governor has burdened us with. She is trying to claim that the feds are doing a worse job at their responsibility with border patrolling. There is no logical association between the urgency that she has to scare white people with this supposed invasion except to make her private prison-representing friends who detain (not repatriate) borders crossers richer. Just the fact that the ran from the reporter when confronted about this blatant conflict of interest that she failed to disclose speaks volumes.
Ding Dong, Prop 8 is Dead!
Which old witch? The bigot’s wish! Sorry Judy, but the Mormon church and every other bigot (especially those adorning their hatred on front lawns and bumper stickers) can suck my Lolipop Guild. Oh happy day! The haters out of state and around the world have been put in their place by glorious jurisprudence.
I don’t even believe in hetero marriage, as I’ve said pretty much all along, but I’ll be damned if some people should be able to suffer while others cannot, and there truly are innumerable legal advantages to what marriage can bring (immigration alone). My daughter’s classmate keeps pointing out that gay people have the right to marry (people of the opposite sex) but I can’t believe that rhetoric would even be taken seriously by those who spent money and time trying to limit the rights of a vibrant part of the population.
So congratulations to my home state, my father’s home state and the home of my grandparents and great-grandparents (to which I returned to live for the fifth time in 2007), for agreeing with almost half the voters (not that decisions of this magnitude should be made by propositions in the first place). California realizes that we cannot remain in Draconian times by making endemic minorities systematically inferior. I’m already embarrassed enough by our European neighbors who don’t have to think twice about these things.
My hope is that the case is indeed appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, which generally does not put its fingers on domestic relations cases of any kind (although one could argue this is a civil rights case). Most cases that are brought to the US Supreme Court are not heard, and so the ruling of the federal Judges, such as this one, remain as law in good standing. There is only a need to hear it if the Court feels like there was an error in interpreting the law, which in the federal arena, includes most importantly, the US Constitution. On that basis, this decision is sound, and agreeing to hear the case could easily create a mandate that all states allow gay marriage, which is why the supporters of Proposition 8 had better be damn careful they don’t open up that Pandora’s box. Still, I think it’s ridiculous to have a hodge-podge of gay marriage rights in one country. Canada had that for a little while and it was seen as ridiculous, so they made gay marriage completely legal in every province. Let’s have some common sense like they did. Our grandchildren will be wondering what all the damn fuss was about.
I am also confident that no legislature in California would ever get the support it needed to overturn such a ruling and because of the Supremecy Clause of the US Constitution, it would be moot. The haters should look at the bright side — the financial windfall that legalizing gay marriage necessarily brings to a jurisdiction should be welcome, especially by the party that touts fiscal responsbility and libertarian ideals of keeping the government out of our lives and by extension bedrooms. Besides, California’s budget can use all the help it can these days, which is why even Republican Schwarzenegger wouldn’t have thwarted the gay marriage rights if it had crossed his desk and he had little to say in opposition to it. Indeed, if it wasn’t for gay men, he may never have achieved the status that he had in his Hollywood career, which we all know was based almost exclusively on his physique and not his “talent” for acting.
The important line of the decision today was that there was “no rational basis” why one group would need to subject the other group to a position of inferiority. Brace yourself for the backlash, my friends. Gay Judge or not, the fight for righteous equality is not over.