I was asked recently when I was going to give the Palin thing a rest - the answer was "You don't want me to give her a rest, you want me to give YOU a free pass for having once decided that this insipid cow was worthy of the office of VP, which she isn't, wasn't, and never would have been - you want me to hold you to a different standard and I'm not going to - fuck that and fuck YOU."

I'm not going to 'let it go' or 'give it a rest', not until every one of these fuckers who extolled the virtues of how perfect she was to be Vice President eats their big heaping helping of crow.

Like they're saying "Isn't it enough that you won?" No, bitches - you didn't GIVE us that win, we took it - we beat you down, took the money off the dresser, and smacked your daughter's ass before strutting out the door - and she asked for our number - because that's how we fucking roll.

This wasn't you having a bad day, you didn't do us any favors, you lost because you left Grandpa asleep at the wheel and wound up in a ditch. The only thing you've made a success out of in the past 8 years is FAIL. The sooner you get right with that and put your house in order, you'll see some change happening.

You don't get to have it both ways. If I wouldn't have gotten the free pass option from you, then you certainly don't deserve it from me. The difference is in the fact that I'd never have asked you for the free pass to start with.

For the sake of argument later, if it is clear that I'm not singling you out or talking to you directly, don't take it personally.

Who's the bane of YOUR existence? Surely there's someone who pisses you off in such a huge way that it merits flogging, at least. 'Round here, we call that person a RAT BASTARD. Who is the person you most want to rip a new asshole for whatever reason? Go ahead - now's your chance to put them on blast. Start commenting, and have fun gettin' your hate on - and out. IP logging is off and anonymous commenters WERE welcome, but I've had to disable it since I've gotten six tons of bullshit spam comments lately. Sorry about that.

Go on - vent your spleen...

Also, check out/participate in the Friday Confessional and the subsequent Sunday Stoning, brought to you by the fantastic city_of_dis.

As to be expected, the media frenzy has descended on the bones of Michael Jackson almost faster than the vampires who were feeding on his lifeblood for years and years - in fact, the majority of the man's sad, lonely life. And it all makes me incredibly sickened and sad. Sad not because I knew him or because he was a personal friend of mine, but sad for a number of reasons that I think get passed over by many people now caught up in the rush of jokes and cynicism.

He reportedly weighed 112 lbs. at the time of his death, had a mostly bald head with occasional patches of peach fuzz, and was riddled with needle marks all over his emaciated body - there are other reports contradicting this. He allegedly had needle marks on his back and shoulders. He looked freakish and waxen on a good day, behaved oddly and was in many ways completely naive, but imagine what he must have looked like on that cold steel table if the above assessment is true - this man who was a magician, an innovator, a true artist, and the source of joy for hundreds of millions of people the world over. All that he accomplished in this life, and he ended up on the slab as a skeletal 112 lb., pock marked punchline of a thousand jokes all at his expense and with a father that was on CNN hocking his new business venture excitedly before what scarcely remained of his son and primary cash cow was even in the ground. If you ever needed a reason to believe that man was abusive and heartless, there's that one for you - it's pretty epic.

I did not love Michael Jackson and neither did you. I didn't know him and that is why. What we loved, at least for a time, was the infectious music he crafted so carefully - the videos he made that were on par with the best cinematic short films, and the way he could shake, strut, spin, and glide. I find it hard to imagine anyone who ever saw his performance on stage at Motown 25 when he first laid the moonwalk on us who didn't secretly wish they could do that, or any number of the wonderful, amazing things he could do that were exclusive to him.

What some of us loved was that he was always his idea of what he should be, however odd or outrageous, he made no apology for it, and he was that person in the face of those who hated him for it.

Then there were those extensions of his father who saw something they wanted from him and decided that just because they wanted it that they should have it - and they lied, schemed, and sold their own children into shame to get it from him, no matter the cost. People with -0- credibility who were more than willing to use his celebrity freak status and naivete to rip him to shreds in the court of law and the court of public opinion - for cash, not justice. I don't believe those people were ever telling the truth for the same reason I believe OJ Simpson is guilty of double murder - because if it were me and I knew I wasn't guilty, I'd be screaming morning, night, and noon that you can say whatever you want about me, somebody is out there getting away with murder and it ain't me.

I cannot say I believe that Michael Jackson was a pedophile. Incredibly naive, absolutely. Inappropriate, yes to that too. But that's a far cry from being a pedophile, which is about the worst thing I can think of being. Being a victim of child sexual abuse from a pedophile myself, I'm very reluctant to slap that label on someone unless I'm absolutely certain it fits, and we will never know the truth about what happened or did not happen between him and his accusers - what we do know is that he was twice acquitted in a court of law that absolutely eviscerated him and contributed more to his downfall than anything else. If he was ever inappropriate with those kids, I have to wonder if he knew that it was inappropriate. Be him for a day, live the insane life he lived, with little to no social skills, few people who you can trust and constantly surrounded by people pressuring you to be something just for them, rich beyond imagination, and more miserable than an entire stadium of miserable people. I know I would be to have that pathetic man for a father whoring me out before I ever even lost my first tooth, imagine if that were your barometer for how to live - they love you when you throw money at them - you're good enough as long as you're exactly what they want you to be.

I'm sad because three children who have barely ever had any opportunity for a normal life are now effectively orphaned by choice and circumstance after the demise of the only parent they've ever known. That diminishes me as a human being just as much as I'm diminished by all the pain this man endured over a lifetime until he couldn't take any more and simply gave out.

So I'm going to finish listening to Off The Wall and Thriller, just as I have since each of those magnificent albums were released, and mourn the loss of something great by celebrating something that is equally great and can never die - because that was his greatest gift to us all and we're lucky to have them - at least I know I am.

Thank you, Michael, for all of the love you've left us with. I only hope you were given enough love unselfishly to have known what it felt like, even for a little while. Based on the evidence I see now daily, I doubt it.

And that's the tragedy and the travesty.

A plea from Iranian friends: If anyone is on twitter, set your location to Tehran and your time zone to GMT +3.30. Iranian security forces are hunting for bloggers using location/timezone searches. The more people at this location, the more of a logjam it creates for forces trying to shut Iranians' access to the internet down. Cut & paste & pass it on.

Almost sweltering dead air pushed by fan blades whirring overhead
Hazy, languid clouds of steam
Milky gray and stirring
Enrobed in the sweat of cast off grounds

One hundred year old hardwood moans
Complaining underfoot endlessly
Enduring the weight of those queued for a morning fix
In the breadth of these walls singing

I brighten with sugar
Cream plays against the currents
A watery flamenco dancer turning my cup tan
Moves like stretched silk over my tongue

If there is one person or more on your friends list who makes your world a better place just because they exist and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

Having now had a few days to look over some of the information that has come in and been pored over by personal friends of mine who are lawyers and ivy league professors, I have come to accept that my reaction (as the case has been with many) was very knee-jerk in my previous post. I was angry and upset, and as a result I posted my rage without really scrutinizing what actually took place. I have since deleted that post as it serves no purpose. I know now what I didn't then and until or unless you take the time to read and process what others have simplified so generously, own that your righteous anger may be rooted in the wrong things. I'll own my ignorance and the fact that I'm neither proud of it nor happy with myself for giving in to it so quickly. I've accepted it and I'm moving on as I hope we all will, with a renewed sense of purpose and a plan to act - because there is work to be done and we all have a fair share.

If you're interested to know what has happened in regard to the Obama DOJ's brief that has effectively turned us all into hysterics (I'm just as guilty and I admit it) then I recommend reading two things. The first is a post written by my friend Joe at his blog: Everyone Calm Down On Obama DOJ’s DOMA Brief!, which offers a breakdown compare/contrast of John Aravoisis' post that whipped the masses up into an unecessary lather. In retrospect the AmericaBlog post seems way out of context when you assess the situation reasonably and with logic, scrutiny, and without personal bias.

The blogosphere is on fire because of the recent brief submitted by Obama’s DOJ in response to a lawsuit, Smelt v. United States, seeking to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act that states marriage to be only between a man and a woman. The fires are being stoked by Americablog, which in my opinion twists what’s going on in the brief out of context for people who are not well-versed in the legal arguments being made. I’m not happy that Obama is defending DoMA, but let’s have a rational discussion about what’s really going on.

The other thing to read after the Centerblue post from Joe is my friend Ian's post here: Don't Moan, Organize:

I can't help wonder if some folks expected Obama's victory to solve all our problems. The campaign to win last year was critical and wonderful -- but it was the pre-game show; now the work really begins. I'm reminded of Frederick Douglass' stirring admonition: power never concedes anything without a struggle -- it never has, and it never will.

Let us all offer our collective gratitude to Joe and Ian for taking the time and care to weigh in on these issues and sort the proverbial wheat from the chaff.

I want to explain a bit more about my initial reaction. I for one felt like a lit fuse and I take full responsibility for my own part in creating and/or fueling any anti-Obama hysteria. I was wrong to have done that and I take no pride in my actions. I will not offer excuses, but I will explain why I went from 0 to 80 so fast, because I think it is similarly felt and the point is that there is now a lot more work that has to be done and we cannot afford to be lazy - this affects us all and in order to remain vigilant and bring about change, we have to be that change. It's not coming to us, we must work and fight for it, and we must stop fooling ourselves and each other with the kind of arrogant thinking that replaces effective action.

I got the news of the DOMA brief on the very day that marked the anniversary of the Loving v. Virginia decision, which was a the civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924", unconstitutional, thereby overturning Pace v. Alabama (1883) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States. This past May was the 1 year anniversary of the death of Mildred Loving, a woman I admire deeply, and I had only a few days earlier brought the case up in a discussion with a friend of mine about marriage equality as a civil rights issue. She was weighing heavily on my mind that day in particular and when this news came floating into my inbox with all the subtlety of a flying brick I had the reaction anyone without the facts of the situation might have given the gravity of the state I was in. Add to that the multitude of conversations I've had in recent months with others about how good it feels to have hope again with someone like Barack Obama in office in the current political climate, which I haven't felt in many years now. In light of the Cairo speech, I am of the opinion that a similar opportunity could not have been pulled off as effectively with Hillary Clinton as President, and the opportunity would never have happened with John McCain. It mattered and it meant something.

As someone who has blogged about civil rights and equality for years, as someone who has studied the legislature and worked with countless organizations, I've had to accept that I'm a human being and there are times when it all just gets to be too big, too much, too fast. I crack under pressure sometimes. I felt two days ago as if the wind had been let out of my sails, but that was all self delusion on my part for following the mob mentality that was angry and wanted a pound of flesh. I get it now. I'll take care not to do that again.

My apologies to anyone who was upset, offended, or mislead by my words and actions. I'm a very passionate man about my activism, but I'm still a man with faults like anyone else. All I can do is admit when I'm wrong and use the opportunity to learn something, in this case how not to make the same mistake again.

I am sorry for anyone who has felt let down by me, and I will make amends by digging in my heels a little bit deeper and continuing to open doors for others wherever I can because that is what I do.

Who's the bane of YOUR existence? Surely there's someone who pisses you off in such a huge way that it merits flogging, at least. 'Round here, we call that person a RAT BASTARD. Who is the person you most want to rip a new asshole for whatever reason? Go ahead - now's your chance to put them on blast. Start commenting, and have fun gettin' your hate on - and out. IP logging is off and anonymous commenters WERE welcome, but I've had to disable it since I've gotten six tons of bullshit spam comments lately. Sorry about that.

Go on - vent your spleen...

Also, check out/participate in the Friday Confessional and the subsequent Sunday Stoning, brought to you by the fantastic city_of_dis.

Pass this on to EVERY Christian you know, and encourage them to share it with others.

The Defenders


The License

Who's the bane of YOUR existence? Surely there's someone who pisses you off in such a huge way that it merits flogging, at least. 'Round here, we call that person a RAT BASTARD. Who is the person you most want to rip a new asshole for whatever reason? Go ahead - now's your chance to put them on blast. Start commenting, and have fun gettin' your hate on - and out. IP logging is off and anonymous commenters WERE welcome, but I've had to disable it since I've gotten six tons of bullshit spam comments lately. Sorry about that.

Go on - vent your spleen...

Also, check out/participate in the Friday Confessional and the subsequent Sunday Stoning, brought to you by the fantastic city_of_dis.

Who's the bane of YOUR existence? Surely there's someone who pisses you off in such a huge way that it merits flogging, at least. 'Round here, we call that person a RAT BASTARD. Who is the person you most want to rip a new asshole for whatever reason? Go ahead - now's your chance to put them on blast. Start commenting, and have fun gettin' your hate on - and out. IP logging is off and anonymous commenters WERE welcome, but I've had to disable it since I've gotten six tons of bullshit spam comments lately. Sorry about that.

Go on - vent your spleen...

Also, check out/participate in the Friday Confessional and the subsequent Sunday Stoning, brought to you by the fantastic city_of_dis.

This post is for my friend Lance, keep moving along everyone else - nothing to see here... ( Read more... )

I realize I've not been posting much or keeping up with LJ in recent weeks/months. That is because I've been all over the place, really. I spend a lot of online time on Facebook (where you are more than welcome to add me if you like) as well as with other projects/people/things/stuff.

For those of you on Dreamwidth, I'm brad.

I'm still around and am not going anywhere!

Michelle Malkin, LGF, NRO: The Corner, NRO: Jim Geraghty, Red State, Ann Althouse, The Freepers, Glenn Reynolds, Powerline, & Townhall - all pitching their respective hissy fits. No word yet from screechers Melanie Morgan, Pamela Gellar, or Ann Coulter (who is still mourning the recent death of her mother) but you just KNOW that check is in the mail.

Specter is not becoming less conservative or more liberal - he's playing politics the way it is supposed to be played, and for the most part has always been a moderate. You can't serve in your position if there is no position. He just gave a presser where he explained that the GOP has imploded and he's (rightly so) jumping ship so that he can still do what he intends to do. He knows that there is no way he'll get to stay on the party ticket for 2010. Let's just hope that this is a clearer message within the ranks that the party is toast, and that's not going to change until THEY change. Case in point, the most recent election and the mass exodus of conservative votes. IT HAPPENED. Obama and the Dems that were elected were elected largely by CONSERVATIVE voters who were already on board with the same reality that Specter is on now. Does that make them liberals? No. Does that make them hip to the fact that the meat and potatoes they were getting served were rotten? Yes.

I love this day.

Who's the bane of YOUR existence? Surely there's someone who pisses you off in such a huge way that it merits flogging, at least. 'Round here, we call that person a RAT BASTARD. Who is the person you most want to rip a new asshole for whatever reason? Go ahead - now's your chance to put them on blast. Start commenting, and have fun gettin' your hate on - and out. IP logging is off and anonymous commenters WERE welcome, but I've had to disable it since I've gotten six tons of bullshit spam comments lately. Sorry about that.

Go on - vent your spleen...

Also, check out/participate in the Friday Confessional and the subsequent Sunday Stoning, brought to you by the fantastic city_of_dis.

7 years ago today I met Damien for the first time. Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!

Who's the bane of YOUR existence? Surely there's someone who pisses you off in such a huge way that it merits flogging, at least. 'Round here, we call that person a RAT BASTARD. Who is the person you most want to rip a new asshole for whatever reason? Go ahead - now's your chance to put them on blast. Start commenting, and have fun gettin' your hate on - and out. IP logging is off and anonymous commenters WERE welcome, but I've had to disable it since I've gotten six tons of bullshit spam comments lately. Sorry about that.

Go on - vent your spleen...

Also, check out/participate in the Friday Confessional and the subsequent Sunday Stoning, brought to you by the fantastic city_of_dis.

"These are not tea-parties. They are tea-tantrums. And the adolescent, unserious hysteria is a function not of a movement regrouping and refinding itself. It's a function of a movement's intellectual collapse and a party's fast-accelerating nervous breakdown."

- Andrew Sullivan, whom I normally dislike on a good day.

I said before that I really think the vast majority of teabaggers today were sore losers from the Presidential election taking a big faux-outraged opportunity to show their ginormous butthurt. That said, I want to have my own final say on what transpired today. Seriously.

I have to hand it to the conservatives who flocked en masse to their respective teabagging destinations, it ran like a well lubed, rock hard piston just slamming... slamming, I say, into so many anonymous meeting places nationwide. I know it got hairy at times, what with everyone getting so worked up, sweaty, hot, and bothered in the fray and fervor of patriotism. I know it was really cold in some places in the north, I hope no one came early, because that would suck really, REALLY hard. I know what else would, and that's getting a little prick from the pins used to hold those tea bags in place! Those teabaggers sure licked the opposition for all it was worth, with such a principled, firm grip on the issues, I'll tell you that right now. I myself watched some of the media coverage and was so inspired by my fellow countrymen that I fell into a stupor on my couch, my head tilted backward and my mouth hanging open with my tongue sticking out - just waiting for something to happen - and in a nutshell, something did.

I felt an uprising deep within me, and the spirit that just came all over me was not unlike that of great patriot Dick Armey. I personally think we could all use an 'ARMY OF REAL DICKS' like him, instead of these fake boobs and plastic nimrods that dwell in Washington - just imagine how much would get done, and how drained to the last drop of pork our government might find itself. We wouldn't stand for all those unwanted lobbyist-types just banging away at our back doors anymore, would we fellow compatriots?! HELL no, reach around and jerk them off of their high horses!

It got me to thinking about how I could strap on my thinking cap and stop putting all of my balls in one basket. I don't believe my thinking is so linear now, mine has always had a kind of a bend in it, it tends to curve to the left. Depending on my position, I can really hit things just right with it when I'm working hard and driving away at something long enough. At times, I've worked so hard at that I've gotten leg cramps! I hope I'm not premature about these things, but this being such a historic day I felt it necessary to lay my feelings bare - back in my youth I didn't care as much. Not that I expect you to give me a hand - jobs like this are important, I just don't want to go off earlier than I want to. But shoot, who does?

I look at the stimulus situation as if I'm driving down the highway with a handful of tightly bound cash sitting on my lap. Imagine it, the windows are open, I'm listening to my favorite Lee Greenwood album, and then BAM! Out of nowhere comes a gust of wind threatening to blow my wad right out the window, and I didn't even feel it before it came upon me so quickly! What a mess when that happens, you really have to be careful with these sticky situations and play safely.

All in all, I've come to realize that a few people can get together and make out like bandits orgasmically counting their booty. That's what I've learned today!

Penis.

Bridge - Lenny

Today it appears is a crying day. Hearing Elissa sing makes me happy. My hope is it will make you all happy as well.

NOTE BEFORE READING:

This is a really difficult post to write on a good day. I think what I'm writing about needs to be talked about and picked apart by as many people as possible, so when you're finished reading this, please - by all means - farm the link to it out, email it, share it with as many people as possible please.

---

One week ago, on a Monday much like any other Monday, Sirdeaner L. Walker, a breast cancer survivor, found her son hanging by an extension cord on the second floor of their Springfield , MA home. He had endured another day of taunting at New Leadership Charter School, where he was a sixth-grader, she said, and just couldn't take it anymore.

She phoned the school repeatedly since Carl began attending in September but the bullying continued, she said.

Other students made him a target, daily calling him gay, making fun of how he dressed and threatening him, she said.

Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover was 11 years old.

I'll repeat that, so that it might sink in a little bit better - Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover was 11 years old. He is only one of many, many others. Sadly, this isn't the first time I've written about this, and it will not be the last. That is his picture to the left - he could be your child or a child you know. How would you feel if I were writing this story about YOUR child, what then? Look at him, burn that sweet face into your memory. We owe him at least that.

Some of you may recall last Fall when my then 15 year old nephew, Jake, had been bullied by a kid at his school for almost 2 years, leading up to that kid bringing guns to my nephew's school one day. Guns that he had stolen from someone else's house, no less. Many people reading this are personal friends of mine, many of whom have school aged children, and this is a reality happening everywhere - one I hope none of you ever have to go through - but it is happening and we cannot afford to ignore it anymore when 11 year old children are driven by torment to kill themselves. We dodged a major tragedy that day, but I can barely even think about it in retrospect without being in tears and conversely being caught up in anger I cannot put into perspective. In a way, that is why I'm writing this.

According to the National Youth Violence Prevention Center, nearly one in three youth nationwide reported either being bullied, having bullied someone, or have done both .

According to the center, one recent study of grades 6-10, showed as many as 13 percent reported bullying others, and 11 percent said they were victims of bullies.

Victims of bullies become anxious, insecure and cautious, suffer low self-esteem and rarely defend themselves or retaliate. Often they feel isolated and withdrawn.

The most common reason cited by youth for why someone is targeted for bullying is because the person does not fit in.

The Center also notes there can be long-term effects for both the victim and perpetrator of bullying.

Victims as adults suffer from depression and poor self-esteem, while 60 percent of bullies in grades 6-9 had at least one criminal conviction by age 24.

The National School Safety Center defines bullying as physical confrontations and direct threats of violence, but also indirect forms such as rejection and exclusion, humiliation and name calling, manipulating friends, and more recently, hurtful messages sent by e-mail or posted on web sites.

Carl was taunted by other children for the way he dressed and because they suspected he was gay. My guess is that his tormenters come from homes where their morals, values, and ethics are such that any discussion of homosexuality, any mention of it winds up being painted with the broad brush of disapproval and in some cases abject disgust. Still worse, some of them may come from "good God-fearing, traditional values parents" who see news reports about same sex marriages and equal rights and make cavalier statements in the presence of their children about how wrong such things are, about how evil and wrong homosexuals are. Some will posit that this is just a means of communicating a belief, and that it is harmless as it isn't tantamount to inciting hatred or violence against any particular group. I say that they couldn't be more wrong - because that is where this begins. Homophobia, much like racism, is learned behavior - and parents infect their children with it all the time. When they make disparaging statements about others, it gives their children license to put people in their crosshairs as some sort of enemy opposition to their own way of life. The crowd that seeks to 'protect marriage' is in fact recruiting their own children, the same ones they make egregious claims about protecting, into thinking that the gay people whom they'll likely never know or ever meet are intent on destroying their families. That's all it takes for them to legitimize bullying another child in a lot of cases, and then there's peer pressure. That's another huge factor.

Bullying among our youth is a significant problem--and it is steadily increasing. Many experts fear bullying has become so widespread and common, adults are blinded to its extensive harm. Here are some facts:

• It is estimated that 160,000 children miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students. (Source: National Education Association)
  
• A survey conducted by the American Association of University Women reported that 85% of girls and 76% of boys have been sexually harassed in some form and only 18% of those incidents were perpetrated by an adults. Young bullies carry a one-in-four chance of having a criminal record by age 30. (Study by Leonard Eron and Rowell Huesman)
  
• American schools harbor approximately 2.1 million bullies and 2.7 million of their victims. (Dan Olweus, National School Safety Center)
  
• One in seven students is either a bully or victim.
  
• 56% of students have personally witnessed some type of bullying at school.
  
• 15% of all school absenteeism is directly related to fears of being bullied at school.
  
• 71% of students report incidents of bullying as a problem at their school.
  
• One out of 20 students has seen a student with a gun at school.
  
• Mean behavior among kids is a universal problem. In a poll of 232 kids in kindergarten through 8th grade at a Connecticut elementary school, every child claimed to have been the victim of at least one schoolmate’s or sibling’s meanness in the previous month.

Someone, somewhere in the world attempts to take their own life every 3 seconds. One person successfully takes their own life every 40 seconds. In the time it took me to write this (right at 2 hours), approximately 180 people killed themselves and another 2400 tried to kill themselves. Maybe one of those people is someone you love.

Again, please share this with as many people as you can and begin talking about it. Thank you for reading.

Who's the bane of YOUR existence? Surely there's someone who pisses you off in such a huge way that it merits flogging, at least. 'Round here, we call that person a RAT BASTARD. Who is the person you most want to rip a new asshole for whatever reason? Go ahead - now's your chance to put them on blast. Start commenting, and have fun gettin' your hate on - and out. IP logging is off and anonymous commenters WERE welcome, but I've had to disable it since I've gotten six tons of bullshit spam comments lately. Sorry about that.

Go on - vent your spleen...

Also, check out/participate in the Friday Confessional and the subsequent Sunday Stoning, brought to you by the fantastic city_of_dis.