The Alternative Invocation

I only just received this and it's a great idea.
Don't approve of Rick Warren offering the Invocation at President Obama's Inauguration? Here's a great option - The Alternative Invocation:

On January 20, 2009, President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn in as our next president. Many of us look forward to this day as a moment of new hope, new direction, and positive change.

Unfortunately, many of us also view this day with mixed feelings. Many Americans are upset with Barack Obama’s decision to have controversial conservative minister Rick Warren deliver the invocation for the inaugural ceremony.

Over the years, Mr. Warren has supported the idea of criminalizing reproductive choice, he has advocated for the assassination of foreign leaders who oppose the policy positions of the American government, and most recently, he gave support to California’s controversial Proposition 8, which outlawed marriage equality for gay and lesbian citizens of that state. He has, in the past, compared gay marriage to incest, child abuse, polygamy, and rape (video here).

As an act of protest against the appearance of Rick Warren at the inauguration, we ask our fellow progressive bloggers that on January 20, 2009, you post your own alternative invocation.

We ask that you post a message of compassion, empathy, tolerance, diversity, and true Christian (or other) love to America. Post a message that stands in opposition to the messages that Rick Warren and those of his particular political persuasion use to divide our country.

If you’re posting, let us know! Send an email or leave a comment, and we’ll add you to the list which will be on our blogroll.

Thanks for your support.

Namaste. - QuakerDave

And here's the very cool video:

And BB writes: "I don't want protests, in any usual sense, when the invocation is given at Obama's inauguration. What I would love to see is millions of lighted candles held high on behalf of all those who have suffered in the struggle and in hope for a brighter tomorrow."

And so it goes.
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2009 List of Words That Should Be Banned

May it be so. Fun stuff from The Guardian:

Lake Superior State University in Michigan has unveiled its 34th annual list of words that should be banished from our vocabularies this year, a selection of which we set out below.

Green (and all its derivatives) Whether list compilers are sick of worrying about the planet's destruction or merely of the shorthand used to describe it and the means to avert disaster remains unclear, but this term tops the list, closely followed by "carbon footprint" and "carbon offsetting". Truly, we are all doomed.

First Dude "Skateboard English is not the appropriate way to refer to the spouse of a high ranking public official," says one commentator on the university's website.

Maverick The word has been left so battered and bruised by the assaults perpetrated on it by John McCain and Sarah Palin that it might be a kindness to leave it in peace to recover for a while.

Bailout Because it only ever seems to apply to impossibly rich people and institutions who have screwed up, and never to the much poorer people they have screwed over.

Icon/iconic The Guardian has fielded a number of complaints about the mis- and overuse of this word. We promise to use "legendary", "famous for" or "seen once or twice before" as appropriate.

Staycation Banishment of this seems harsh. Staycation is a succinct, witty way of labelling the new trend for staying in your home country at holiday time, but it is suffering for enshrining both green and economic concerns, which as we have seen above, is a sure way to tick people off.

<3 A new text icon (we use the word in its technical sense), resembling a heart and meaning "love". As a contributor to the list explains, "Just say the word, instead of making me turn my head sideways and wonder what 'less than three' means."

The Guardian features desk collectively wishes to call for "going forward" to be stricken for ever from the record. Personally, I intend to pistol-whip anyone using "FYI" in conversation (instead of confining it to the realms of brief email instructions). Please do add your own suggestions/vent your own furies by emailing g2@guardian.co.uk, with the subject line "banned words", and have a maverick-free new year.

I can think of quite a few, how about you - where ever you live?

And so it goes.

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The Northern Lights Seen from Space

This is breathtaking. The Aurora Borealis.

Sort of puts things into perspective, doesn't it? Click on the image to biggen.

And so it goes.
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George Bush: "Smaller than Life"

A great Op-Ed piece by Frank Rich in the NYT today. Here’s a sample:

WE like our failed presidents to be Shakespearean, or at least large enough to inspire Oscar-worthy performances from magnificent tragedians like Frank Langella. So here, too, George W. Bush has let us down. Even the banality of evil is too grandiose a concept for 43. He is not a memorable villain so much as a sometimes affable second banana whom Josh Brolin and Will Ferrell can nail without breaking a sweat. He’s the reckless Yalie Tom Buchanan, not Gatsby. He is smaller than life.

{snip}

Another, far more elaborate example of legacy spin can be downloaded from the White House Web site… a booklet recounting “highlights” of the administration’s “accomplishments and results.” With big type, much white space, children’s-book-like trivia boxes titled “Did You Know?” and lots of color photos of the Bushes posing with blacks and troops, its 52 pages require a reading level closer to “My Pet Goat” than “The Stranger.”

This document is the literary correlative to “Mission Accomplished.” Bush kept America safe (provided his presidency began Sept. 12, 2001). He gave America record economic growth (provided his presidency ended December 2007). He vanquished all the leading Qaeda terrorists (if you don’t count the leaders bin Laden and al-Zawahri). He gave Afghanistan a thriving “market economy” (if you count its skyrocketing opium trade) and a “democratically elected president” (presiding over one of the world’s most corrupt governments). He supported elections in Pakistan (after propping up Pervez Musharraf past the point of no return). He “led the world in providing food aid and natural disaster relief” (if you leave out Brownie and Katrina).

If this is the best case that even Bush and his handlers can make for his achievements, you wonder why they bothered. Desperate for padding, they devote four risible pages to portraying our dear leader as a zealous environmentalist.

But the brazenness of Bush’s alternative-reality history is itself revelatory. The audacity of its hype helps clear up the mystery of how someone so slight could inflict so much damage. So do his many print and television exit interviews.

The man who emerges is a narcissist with no self-awareness whatsoever. It’s that arrogance that allowed him to tune out even the most calamitous of realities, freeing him to compound them without missing a step. The president who famously couldn’t name a single mistake of his presidency at a press conference in 2004 still can’t.

I love me some Frank Rich on a cold, wintery Sunday while enjoying a steaming cup of coffee.

I continue to be mystified that 21% of Americans believe he was a great president. Read it all.

More later.

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An Unfamiliar Experience

On New Year’s Day, after work, I answered an ad for a job that appeared in last Tuesday’s paper. It was one of those “apply in person” ads.

Upon arrival I was told they weren’t seeing applicants and to return “another time” which I found a rather odd phrase, especially since this is a new and very upscale Hotel.

Well, over the top, IMHO, for a beach resort hotel that’s located almost 4 blocks from the Atlantic, and not beach front on the Riviera, if you get my drift.

Anyway, I was back on the scene Friday morning facing the same queen as the day before. However, this time I was told that the position was already filled and they would be interviewing again in March.

Puzzled, I asked why he didn't tell me that yesterday. He shrugged, half-smiled and I was dismissed as he disappeared beneath the front desk and shuffled papers. I said (rather loudly) "Thanks, anyway" and left.

I don’t know what that was all about, but as I drove back to the apartment I noticed that the whole episode happened without the nervousness and tension usually experienced when anticipating an interview. I wasn’t even pissed that I was so rudely dissed out of hand. If fact, after I sent an email to the friend who gave me the heads-up on the ad, I didn’t give it a thought as I prepared dinner then watched a DVD before turning in.

Oddly enough I feel very much at peace again today. I slept in later than usual and had a quiet breakfast before realizing that my whole being was uncharacteristically calm. There were no ‘must do’ items on my gay agenda today, so this was a perfect day for a bit of introspection, addressing nothing in particular; allowing everything to wash over me.

With the sun out and the wind calmed, a vigorous walk on the boardwalk was the proper ending to the afternoon.

I wonder if this is part of a new me for the New Year, or if this emotional calm is simply paying a holiday visit only to leave Monday morning before breakfast. I’ve never liked one-weekend stands.

Note: the poster was received from a friend in NOLA and I had no idea what else to do with it. Thanks DT, I think.

And so it goes.

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GOP Flees DC for Inauguration

To paraphrase Phil Gramm, "Republicans are a party of whiners."

While millions descend on Washington for the historic Inauguration of Barack Obama on Jan. 20, some Republicans see it as an occasion to get out of town.

Out of power on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue and mostly out of favor on K Street, many emasculated elephants in the GOP herd will begin the Age of Obama with what amounts to an extended holiday vacation. Instead of fighting the quadrennial cold and what are expected to be record-setting crowds, they're heading out to greener pastures, with better temperatures, less hassle and more agreeable company.

“What better way to mark the Obama Inauguration (and his millions of adoring fans that will be in D.C.) than to get out of town to fabulous Las Vegas!” Charlie Spies, a Republican lawyer and former CFO to Mitt Romney’s campaign wrote in a blast e-mail to GOP friends. “We hope you can join us for dinner and a fun evening on Monday, Jan. 19, to celebrate the last few hours of our Republican president in the White House.”

Spies and his wife Lisa, a Republican fundraiser, have gotten about 15 takers so far for this last supper or, as they billed it in the e-mail, their own “Inaugural in Exile.”

They’re far from alone. Others will usher in the new era from the slopes, the islands, the NFL playoffs and even on a serendipitously timed honeymoon. Full Democratic control of Washington may be a bitter pill, but it’s easier to get down from a lodge, beach, 50-yard-line or, especially, honeymoon suite.

One Bush administration official who is heading to the Italian Alps explained the logic with precision in an e-mail: “1. I am out of a job on Jan 20 at noon, no better time to take a vacation. 2. I like skiing, and have not seen my whole family in almost a year, no better time to get home and ski for a week. 3. Why bunker up and be in this town for that week, when we all know that [the crowds] will be worse than [the] Cherry Blossom [Festival] or Memorial Day?”

Good capitalists that they are, some of these Republicans are among the Washingtonians looking to rent out their homes to well-heeled Democrats who will pony up for a place to stay.

One GOP aide to a well-known conservative despised by Democrats is hoping to head up to New York City and make a few bucks in the process — but is taking a page from Reagan’s “trust but verify” mantra.

“I want to rent my place out but don’t put my name next to that in case I do — don’t want people knowing they are staying in a [REDACTED] staffer’s place and trash[ing] the joint.”

Hmmm! You think they're paranoid or that that many people really hate them?

Read the rest HERE.

And so it goes.

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Post New Year Caturday

Death by fruitcake? Been there, done that. Got all the tee-shirts.

More later.
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Justice for a Gay War Widower

I've followed this story for more than a few years - whenever related items appeared in the British or Australian press (which have been few and far between) - and now this vindication. Makes it all worthwhile to me. From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Edward Young has finally proved he is entitled to a war pension, writes Jonathan Dart.

Every so often, Edward Young sits on the couch in his apartment and closes his eyes. "And then I just pretend I'm not here any more," he says.

It has been 10 years since his partner, Larry Cains, died. They met in London in 1960 - he, a model, was introduced to Mr Cains, a photographer who had served with the Australian Army in Borneo during World War II.

"He was desperately handsome," Mr Young said. "We spent two weeks together and I told him I wanted to spend my life with him."

Now, after a decade of fighting to have the law recognise his and Mr Cains's love as equal, the Sydneysider will soon become the country's first recognised gay war widower.

Laws passed in November mean that partners in gay relationships with serving and retired soldiers will, for the first time, be allowed to claim pensions - opening the door for the so-called "forgotten people" of our military heritage and allowing for more people to make claims that must be paid out.

The decision will end a long-winded battle for Mr Young that began in a small inner-city law office, when he applied for a pension only to find the Veterans' Entitlements Act limited the definition of "couple". Under the old law, his 38 years with Mr Cains were invalid because he could not prove he was "living with a member of the opposite sex".

Having lived through a time when discrimination against gay men was rife, Mr Young said the wording still jolted him. "I didn't really need the pension," he said. "I didn't even really want it. What I wanted was to take on the little man, [the former prime minister John] Howard, and fight."

Read the rest HERE, it is a heart warming victory to be savored and cheered. A very nice beginning to the new year, indeed.

And so it goes.
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The Best of 2008.

Getting to know - in person and otherwise - other bloggers I admire was a personal high for me, but this is my best moment of 2008, and it's the entire speech.

Comments moderation was enabled because some comments left on several posts were angry and downright mean, telling me that I am not a great writer, there were plenty of blogs like mine, but better, and I should just go away. I never thought myself a Steinbeck or Baldwin; I write what I feel. However, I do know the difference between 'there' and 'their' - 'would of' and 'would've' - 'were' and 'we're' or 'where' - which cannot be said of several of those commenters.

I received this from a friend today:

There comes a point in your life when you realize
who matters,
who never did,
who won't anymore...
and who always will.
So, don't worry about people from your past,
there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future.
Be kinder than necessary, because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

I am grateful for those supportive (sometimes humorous) comments as well insightful posts on their own sites; they make me think, give me pause, have spurred me on through some difficult times, and life looks a hell of a lot better on this side of the Year.
And so it goes.
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Welcome New Year 2009

Our Australian friends are about to wake up and head to the beach, our European friends are close to the witching hour, and our American friends are doing whatever they need to do in their time zones to get through this year and into the new one. That said;

If you are going out this evening, have fun and be careful.
If you are working tonight, have fun and be patient.
If you're staying in and going to bed early, sleep well.

I'll be working on New Year's Day, so I will be one of those in the latter category and hope I sleep well.

No matter what you do - or not do - tonight, remember there are only 20 days until the Bush/Cheney reign of error ends, so be at peace.

Blessings to you all.

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The 2008 Misinformers of the Year Awards

This is a bit long but, you know what I say, "well worth the read" by the BlackTsunami. Here's just a taste:

As 2008 draws to a close and we anticipate the possible joys and pains of 2009, let us not forget those who have tried to make life hell for lgbts.

This year, they were in rare form. Sometimes, they drove us a little north of where we were supposed to be.

But at other times, it was pleasureable to watch them leap through all sorts of ethical hoops in their ongoing struggle against the evil of the so-called Godless homosexuality, which everyone knows is the best kind of homosexuality.

So with that in mind, I present . . .

(drumroll please)

The Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters Misinformers of the Year Awards

“Who are you gonna believe? Me or your own eyes” Award Part 1

Peter LaBarbera - You just know that our friend Peter was going to snag at least one award. Of all of Porno Petey's exploits in 2008, one stands out.

Earlier this year, there was a small break out of staph infections amongst a group of gay men in San Francisco. Rather than waiting for the entire story to come out, members of the religious right (especially LaBarbera) claimed that this infection (MRSA) proved that homosexuality is a so-called “dangerous lifestyle.” LaBarbera in general tried to link MRSA to the early days of the AIDS crisis.

The Centers for Disease Control quickly said that based on the information, the MRSA infection had nothing to do with the lgbt orientation. In an attempt to backtrack from earlier statements, LaBarbera claimed that “gay activists” were falsely accusing him of calling MRSA a “new gay plague.”

But no one accused him of this. LaBarbera was playing a game of semantics to cover up his jumping the gun. However, judge for yourself after reading LaBarbera’s original claim:

Is this not an eerie reminder of the initial stories 25 years ago about AIDS -- then called GRID (Gay-Related Immunodeficiency Disease)? It is unfathomable that after that plague, disease specialists and the media are now surprised at the correlation of new infections with homosexual behavior;Wake up, medical and political establishment: homosexual behavior is unhealthy -- no matter how many secular sermons you preach against "homophobia." Due to liberal political correctness, which treats aberrant -- even deadly -- behaviors as a "civil right," we as a society don't seem to have learned much from the AIDS pandemic.

Who are you going to believe? Me or your own eyes " Award Part 2

Rick Warren - Warren is a classic example of giving some people enough rope to hang themselves. In the furor caused by President-Elect Obama’s selection of him to give the inaugural invocation, Warren tried to blame lgbts for the controversy. In a video message on his church’s webpage, Warren said he never equated same sex relationships to incest or pedophilia. Unfortunately for him, an online interview with Beliefnet.com proved otherwise.

So the question remains were we the ones who gave Warren the rope or was it Obama?

“Now that I’ve got it on my shoe, how do I get it off” Award

The Mormon church - Come on guys, while it is true that you were well within your First Amendment rights, there are consequences for every action done and every word said. In your victory regarding the Proposition 8 vote in California, you did the following:

Jumped into a situation that had absolutely nothing to do with the survival of the Mormon church.

Put up a wad of cash to fund lies about gays forcing children to be “indoctrinated” about homosexuality.

Aligned yourselves with people and groups who think that you are a cult and basically despise you.

Beat up on a group of people who, to my knowledge, have never done you any harm.

And all in the name of God.

The "Height of Hypocrisy" Award

The American Family Association, various religious right groups - After weeks of railing against lgbts for our Proposition 8 protests, after espousing the beliefs about a free nation and people's right to make choices unafraid, after wrapping themselves up in the flag of democracy, the AFA and various religious right groups made a 360 degree turn and called for a boycott against Campbell Soup for ads placed in the Advocate magazine. And the main bone of contention - the ads dared to show a same-sex couple and their child enjoying a bowl of soup.

Now see, I thought we were going to do the soup indoctrination thing after the inauguration.

"If Edward R. Murrow was alive, he would beat the hell out of you" Award

American Family Association's One News Now - This phony news services makes any of the yellow journalism committed by William Randolph Hearst look like Pulitzer Prize-winning material.

From writing articles telling only one side of the story, to its citing of Paul Cameron and legitimate studies taken out of context, to the hilarious comments section (where the so-called Christian readers of the site repeatedly reveal their abject ignorance and bigotry), if One News Now tells the true "Christian" side of today's cultural issues, then I think Jesus needs to sit some of his followers down for a looooong talk on truth.

Posted with permission. Please go over to Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters to read the whole thing. I'd bookmark him, if I were you.

And so it goes.
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Bush Never Recovered From Katrina

Like we didn't know this three years ago while the very people in this piece were spinning and lying through their teeth - like Bush. Just in time for the new year and appropriate for Epiphany. From HuffPo:

WASHINGTON — Hurricane Katrina not only pulverized the Gulf Coast in 2005, it knocked the bully pulpit out from under President George W. Bush, according to two former advisers who spoke candidly about the political impact of the government's poor handling of the natural disaster.

"Katrina to me was the tipping point," said Matthew Dowd, Bush's pollster and chief strategist for the 2004 presidential campaign. "The president broke his bond with the public. Once that bond was broken, he no longer had the capacity to talk to the American public. State of the Union addresses? It didn't matter. Legislative initiatives? It didn't matter. P.R.? It didn't matter. Travel? It didn't matter."

Dan Bartlett, former White House communications director and later counselor to the president, said: "Politically, it was the final nail in the coffin."

Their comments are a part of an oral history of the Bush White House that Vanity Fair magazine compiled for its February issue, which hits newsstands in New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday, and nationally on Jan. 6.

The truth finally wins out. This is little satisfaction to my friends and family members who lost everything, were called lazy, stupid to live in such a place, and/or virtually ignored for the past three years.

Read the whole thing HERE.

More later.
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