“Who would give a law to lovers? Love is unto itself a higher law.”- Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, A.D. 524
I was really trying to keep you all updated with everything concerning Prop 8. It turns out that everything is a hell of a lot. I just can’t keep up with it all. I think I’m just going to have to admit defeat with my “l33t” blog reading skills. But, what I can do is point you in the direction of a constant source of information. I seriously recommend Towleroad. I have decided that the writer is a cyborg, or a clone. It’s the only way he can post so much.
There is one specific thing that I wanted to share with you. It’s a great idea. Tomorrow there will be a Nationwide protest. All of the protests are starting at the same time. I’m assuming this is to show unity. You can read all about it, find locations, and any local relevant information at Join the Impact.
I hope everyone who can will participate. Sadly there isn’t one in my city and I won’t be able to make it to the closest one. So I will be lighting my candle, and sending positive thoughts.
Until next time, eventually love will be enough.
autumn
“What this world needs is a new kind of army- an army of the kind.”- Cleveland Amory
Wow, just wow. The DF community, the Buzznet community, and only the Gods know who else have donated enough money to pay back those who bailed Mark and his co-worker out of jail. I am pretty sure, they said the amount was raised in less than 10 hours.
That is just fucking amazing to me. I am so proud of everyone who donated. His estimated amount doesn’t even include those who are mailing checks and money orders. That said, you can still donate to go toward future legal fees. But if that isn’t your cup of tea, why not consider donating to the Human Rights Campaign or The American Civil Liberties Union.
The election built my hope of this country. The aftermath of negativity and the passing of anti-gay propositions tore most of the hope down. But, witnessing this… I can’t even explain. This shows me that we can do what needs to be done. All we need is determination and compassion.
Until next time, I’m offering my hand to anyone who needs it.
autumn
“It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.” ~Voltaire
“You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.” ~Malcolm X
Ya know I was actually going to avoid talking about the political conventions. There is always a ton of bullshit that surrounds them, and frankly I’m fucking over it. Especially this election year, it definitely seems worse than before.
However, I keep reading about the protests. How they were stopped, raids on protesters, police brutality, how even fucking journalists are being jailed for reporting about said protests. So naturally I am pissed off.
Then I received an email… 3 pagan protesters were arrested yesterday. They were members of the Pagan Cluster. One of whom, Jason, was tasered four times while he was not resisting arrest. You can read more about it on the wild hunt blog, and view the video of Jason’s incident at kare11.com (All links will be found at the bottom of the entry).
I am sickened and disgusted. The police force has been way out of hand in these situations. I do realize that they may be scared and that there is the possibility of rioting. And that they did have a group of people earlier in the week who needed to be legitimately arrested and some force was necessary for that group. Still… they are taking it completely overboard. 295 arrests have been made so far several have been detained for a short while only to be released and not charged (but just long enough to miss their protest time.)
But what pisses me off the most is that more attention is being paid to the Palin baby controversies than any of the above situations. So in turn I’m leaving you all with several links at the bottom of the post to read about this fucking mess.
Until next time… Fuck it I’m moving to Tenby.
autumn
So, the title is a little windy…sue me or get over it.
The United States is a nation of freedoms and democracy where the people are not only free but encouraged to govern themselves. A government of the people, by the people, for the people, isnt that what Lincoln called it in his Gettysburg address? So why then are we not allowed to make our own decisions? Why are city councils deciding we, as consenting adults, are no longer allowed to kill ourselves with our cancer sticks while we feed our alcohol addictions? Why are state Senators telling women they cannot make decisions regarding our own bodies?
This of the people, by the people thing really gets me stirred up. I realize that we cant put everything to a vote or wed never do anything in this country but hold elections. But issues that directly affect us, affect our lives, affect our freedoms; issues such as where and when we can smoke, if and how we can abort a pregnancy; should, without question, be put to a public vote. Not only be put to a public vote but the vote should be publicized and made known to everyone of legal voting age. For at least a week, if not longer, before the vote is held it should be plastered all over the local news stations, the newspapers, fliers stapled to telephone poles That way if you dont vote, you have no reason to complain about the results and no excuse for not voting.
In this country, people are made to find information on their own. Which is all fine and dandy if you know where to look…or want to take the time to look. But the problem is people either dont know where to look, dont want to look, or dont know they have to look. Governments know this and hide announcements of public issue voting on page 14D where no one bothers to look. That way, they have met the obligation to inform the public but no one ever set a standard of how the public should be informed.
What brought me to this rant? One more U.S. city has enforced a smoking ban as of 10:00am local time on January 11. Louisville, KY has joined the list of smoke free cities. Okay, I am a smoker living in a smoke free city but thats not the reason it ticks me off. Well, not the whole reason, anyway. When I was in college, the city I was living in at the time implemented a ban. Within a few short months one cocktail waitress (er server) was raped and murdered and another severely beaten on their cigarette breaks at work because they were no longer allowed to smoke inside the bars where they worked. In a city of roughly 100,000 people. Some barkeeps in the area started sending bouncers outside anytime their waitresses left to smoke. Others simply refused to adhere to the ban, stating that they were not putting the welfare of staff and patrons at risk over a ridiculous law they had nothing to do with in the first place.
Ban supporters will say that smokers can quit or smoke in their cars if they are concerned about their safety. But in some cities, smoking in their cars is not even an option. In some cities, government officials are considering (and in others, they already have) widening the jurisdiction of the ban to include public sidewalks, parking lots andyes, boys and girls, private properties such as cars.
If someone tries to tell me that I cannot sit in my car with my windows rolled up and hotbox myself into an early grave, they are going to be met with a severely unpleasant response. No one asked me if I wanted cigarettes and smoking to be outlawed and if they had they would have heard a loud and resounding, Hell no!
To bring the whole rant full circle, how can we conscientiously send military troops to foreign countries to implement democracy, a government where the citizens are free to make their own choices, when our choices and liberties are stripped from us right and left?
No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love. The only queer people are those who don’t love anybody. ~Rita Mae Brown
I could start off this entry by once again apologizing for the lack of updates. If I did I would swear that we still love you, and that it wouldnt happen again. I would also say something to the effect of it was simply because time got away from us again, and how busy we were. But, Im not going to apologize. Nope not this time, instead Im going to say that this is BeShameless 2.0, and that despite the fact that it looks the exact same its the second version, damnit. Like the phoenix, we have risen from the ashes of virtual death. We are new, improved, and fucking slamming as always. Ok, now Im going to stop my bullshitting and mixing my metaphors. No, seriously, I have several things I want to talk about in the coming weeks. I even have a book review to throw in the mix. So get use to seeing my smiling er, no thats not right. get use to seeing my scowling face on a regular basis.
Lets start off our new fabulousness by talking about Utah. Yes, fuckers, I said Utah. In January, the openly gay senator, Scott McCoy, was planning to sponsor a bill to repeal the ban against sodomy. I wish him luck, mostly because all prior attempts to remove the ban have failed. It even failed after the Supreme Court decided in a 6-3 ruling that they would not convict or punish citizens who practiced sodomy. Despite the ruling on his side, McCoy faces opposition. Senator Buttars stated that he would fight that all the way. He also states that, You can like sodomy, I don’t. I think sodomy is sickening. It seems to me that he would like sodomy I mean he already has a stick up his ass.
Poor Buttars, continued to show his myopic, closed minded ways this week. He was relishing in the fact that a bill he and Senator Tilton sponsored has passed the Senate and is on the way for Gov. Jon Hunstman Jr. to sign. This bill will allow schools to ban clubs they believe would threaten moral well-being of the children or faculty. The bill would also require parents to sign a consent form allowing children to join clubs, as well as requiring the club to outline the information they will discuss a week in advance so that the principal and parents could review it.
Now, of course we arent talking about the chess club here. Buttars has tried several times to stop Gay-Straight Alliances in local schools. He has been quoted as saying Gay-Straight Alliances are a recruiting tool for gays and are tearing down the moral pillars of society. Ugh, come on now we all know Gay-Straight Alliances are to find fag hags. Jeez. Heh, no ok, this isnt a place for jokes. Seriously Gay-Straight Alliances are very important activities that promote tolerance and understanding. So I say fuck Buttars and Utah. When this goes thru and if the schools shut down your club, take it off school property. Dont give up or become discouraged. Do it to spite them, but also do it because its needed.
“An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.”- T.S. Eliot
I was asked the question today why I was so consumed with politics and why I was so interested in the horrid news stories that are thrown at us constantly. It shocked me for a moment; until I realized that most people would rather avoid hearing about the bad. They want to hear that its all getting better. They want to believe that we all are safe and cozy inside our beds. They delude themselves into thinking that we have the best people possible running our nation and assisting our world.
Now, call me Captain Obvious if you must, but that isnt and will never be the case. We will never be safe, happy, or cozy. Even if the politicians and American leaders change drastically, we will always have bigots and extremists contradicting the things they claim to stand for; they will continue to degrade anyone who doesnt follow the same path that they do.
So, why fight, comment, learn, and grieve if it will never change? Its who I am… I cant stand to see people hurting and fighting for something that they should have without question. I have to hope that any small changes made will help those that I love. Mostly, I am trying to understand. Im trying to make sense of it all. Supposedly we are the greatest nation in the world; yet, those that should lead us and try to make us better cut us off at the knees and leave us to bleed?
For example, read some of these quotes. These men and women are our past, present, and (Goddess forbid) our future. They are harsh and disgusting.
Not all Muslims may be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.- Ann Coulter, from her syndicated column on 9-28-2001
Not only is homosexuality a sin, but anyone who supports fags is just as guilty as they are. You are both worthy of death. Fred Phelps, quoted by State Press (Arizona State University, 03-11-1998
The long-term goal of Christians in politics should be to gain exclusive control over the franchise. Those who refuse to submit publicly to the eternal sanctions of God by submitting to His Churchs public marks of the covenant– baptism and holy communion — must be denied citizenship, just as they were in ancient Isarel. Gary North, Political Polytheism: The Myth of Pluralism. 1989
I dont think that witchcraft is a religion. I wish the military would rethink this decision. George W. Bush, on the military recognizing Wicca as a valid religion, to ABC news, 06-1999
Im an old-fashioned woman. Men should take care of women, and if men were taking care of women today, we wouldnt have to vote.- Kay OConner (Kansas Senate), quoted by the Kansas City Star, 2001
“Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that he’s in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this.”- Lt Gen William Boykin, speaking of G. W. Bush, New York Times, 17 October 2003
“Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It’s no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history.”- Pat Robertson, 1993 interview with Molly Ivin
Unless we get medically lucky, in three or four years, on of the options discussed will be the extermination of homosexuals.- Paul Cameron
Oh, youre one of the sodomites. You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. Hows that? Why dont you see if you can sue me, you pig. You got nothing better than to put me down, you piece of garbage. You have got nothing to do today, go eat a sausage and choke on it. Michael Savage, comment made on national television show Savage Nation, 07-05-2003
I know that several of those quoted are wack jobs and few take them seriously. However, several people do take their words to heart. That is what saddens me the most. Needless to ask but, how can I not focus on politics, civil rights, and news stories seriously after that? How can I not try to get my word out and try to educate and communicate with people? So if that means I read a lot of news sites, and talk about it at length thats ok with me. Ill continue to be Captain Obvious.
Until next time, Ill start sewing my super suit,
autumn
