You Can Bank On It

There seems something wrong when there is a bank on 3 out of 4 corners at a major intersection.  It occurs a lot on major intersections here in S. Florida.  Another thing that is bothering me about the banks is that that shortly after the "too big to fail" crisis, we suddenly started seeing a LOT of small banks with names - or just letters - that were not familiar.  The marketing behind this must be that we now like "little" banks and feel safer putting our money there.  However, I suspect that all these little banks are all owned by just 2 or 3 large bank corporations.  So many are fooled by marketing - it's sad.  I'll stick to my Credit Union where I don't necessarily feel my money is any safer - but where I don't pay any fees.  Your marketing magic has no effect on me.  

Marriage Equality

Marriage equality is now in the hands of the US Supreme Court.  Equality is easy and if the court rules on the US Constitution and not on any religious document then these cases should be easy as well. Let's hope they do the right thing.

The Slippery Slope

Over the last election and the coverage of the deciding issues, one thing stands out to me when it comes to the GOP - they fear the "slippery slope".   To them one thing will certainly lead to another and soon we all end up in Hell.  Allow gay marriage?  What's next - marrying your dog?  Legalize pot?  What's next - cocaine? Meth??  You get the picture.

I'd like to put their fears to rest.  There is no slope - slippery or not.  In fact it is more like a staircase - and the best news is that the stairs usually go up - not down.  You deal with one issue at a time and then you move on. Go ahead and have that discussion about gay marriage - and when it is settled hopefully we have taken a step up.  Everyone is still standing - it's OK.  You can even rest on that step for a while - relax, it's safe.  Now you say you still want to marry your dog?  Ok - let's discuss that.  When the discussion is over we can either take a step down, a step up, or even stay right where we are.  It's not slippery - it's very stable.

The important thing to remember is that equality means we are all standing on the same step.  When progress is made we all step up together.  If failure occurs we all take a step down.  The only time we slip is when we have inequality. 

If you live in the world of the slippery slope - you cannot advance forward because you will always slip back.  The stairs, however, make progress quite easy.

WHEN it happens again.......

Harry Reid removed the assault weapon ban from the gun legislation being proposed because he didn't think he could possibly get the votes to pass it.  Perhaps not - but when (not if) the next unfortunate mass shooting occurs, we COULD have said we tried.

I believe in the right to bear arms.  I am from a family of hunters and also believe in self defense.  We can have rights and limits at the same time - they can co-exist.  When the gun lobby is more powerful than the government - we have a problem.  America slips further into the darkness when Senators value their jobs over the lives of their fellow citizens.  This is wrong.  Terribly wrong.

Words that Ire

I find some words or phrases irritating - and sometimes I don't even know why.  In the recent past it was the phrase "reach out" - as in "reach out to Accounting and see if they have processed the payment".  Why use more words than necessary?  Isn't it more direct to say "Call Accounting....."?  I cringed every time someone said "reach out...."  Then came the word "chipolte"  I don't like it.  It doesn't sound right to me.  Is it a real word?  I believe some marketing "genius" just made it up one day and now it's everywhere.  It seems to be trending.

And that brings me to my current irritating word - "trending".  The irritation factor is magnified by the fact that the word itself is trending and the cause of the word - social media - is also trending.   It is all a big stupid fad.

Bangs are trending, Air Jordons are trending (or was that last decade?), skinny jeans are trending (last week?), the Kardashians are trending- fads fads fads.  I've never been impressed with keeping up with the Jones' - or the Kardashian's.   Fads come and go all the time - you might be cool now with those Michelle Obama bangs but next week you are gonna need a beehive or you are so uncool.  Spare me (a trending phrase from not long ago).

Sure - I like to be "in style" as much as possible on my very tight budget - but I'd rather buy something based on it's usefulness, it's quality or it's cost / feature ratio.  I don't buy what is trending.  But the word trending does mean something to marketers.  In fact they rely on what is currently trending to make the big sales. Trending equals dollars.

So now I've said the stupid word a lot in perfectly reasonable context.  Does it bother you?  It still bothers me.  Why?  Because it is the same as another perfectly good word that didn't need to be replaced.  That word is "popular".  Go back and read the last 2 paragraphs using the word popular instead of trending.  Same difference.  Apparently "popular" is no longer trending. 

President Obama Makes History Again

I finally had the opportunity to watch the Presidents inaugural speech for his 2nd term and it was wonderful!  I couldn't let this historic week pass without mentioning in my blog how proud I am to be a gay American in this time and how proud I am to have a sitting President recognize our struggle for equality.  The Stonewall riots were indeed the beginning of the gay civil rights movement and we have come a long way - but we can't be equal until we share the same rights as every other American.  President Obama has taken a gigantic step in that direction and with the support of others like him I'm certain that one day soon we will find equality for all - including gays, women, and minorities of every type - to be the undisputed American way.

Thank you President Obama!

World Peace - NRA Style

The National  Rifle Association (NRA) has stated - quite vehemently  - that the answer to gun violence is to put more guns in the streets, classrooms, theaters, churches etc.  The theory is that the good guys would then be able to shoot the bad guys before they inflicted as much damage. 

Let's see how that logic applies on a global level with regard to weapons of mass destruction (WMD's).  Using NRA logic the answer to the threat of rouge nations with WMDs is to ensure that every country is fully armed with equal WMDs.  Then, when a terrorist decides to launch an attack on an innocent country, all the other countries could use their WMDs in a counter attack.  So lets start shipping some WMDs to Libya, Pakistan, N. Korea (as well as Canada and Switzerland of course) and then we can all feel very safe - right?

I wouldn't feel safe at all in that scenario.  

There is a big problem with this type of logic - it is not logical.  The first flaw is that a tragic incident would still have to occur in order to trigger a counter attack.  So either way - armed or not - the incident would still occur first.  The other argument the NRA uses is that weapons don't kill - people with weapons kill.  It is a fun catch phrase and it is actually true but the flaw in that logic is that a powerful weapon must be present in order for a tragic incident to occur.  If no powerful weapon existed then mass causalities would not be likely.

WMDs do exist and therefore must be somehow controlled.  America's current strategy is to keep the police state (America) armed and the rouge states unarmed.  That seems to have worked out fairly well so far - except for those countries America has had a feud with.  We spend massive amounts of borrowed money to ensure that America remains the single most powerful country in the world.  The same people who support the "guns for everyone" theory also support keeping WMDs away from rouge nations.  Contradictory principles are typical to this type of thinker.  A rational logical thinker is not so easily contradicted. 

Rational logical thinkers can apply their principles on both small scales and large scales.  The answer to gun violence in America should be the same answer to WMD's in the world.  Real logical thinkers  realize that all people (and all countries) have the right to protect themselves but that WMDs need to be controlled on both a world scale and in America. 

Real logic tells us that bad people will always eventually get what they need to accomplish their terrorist goals.  Real logic also tells us that an abundance of weapons makes that goal very easy where a lack of such weapons makes that goal more difficult.  The terrorist may have to settle for a less powerful weapon if their weapon of choice is not available.  That's where logic tells us that we are safer with fewer and less powerful weapons in open circulation. 

I believe in the the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.  I choose not to be armed myself but most of my family are avid recreational hunters.  However, if you need a semi-automatic weapon to hunt you are not a very good sportsman.  In fact I've never heard of a hunter using this type of semi-automatic weapon for recreational hunting.  There is simply no need for typical Americans to own this type of weapon.  Fear and paranoia drive this type of backward logic.  Excessive fear and paranoia are also symptoms of mental instability.  Mentally unstable thinkers should not be making rules and laws for the rest of us.  The NRA is very wrong on this topic and they are losing credibility.  Americans should - and do -  have the constitutional right to bear arms - they do not however, have the right to be terrorists with WMDs. 

Hush the Harley

I've waited over 3 years to write this article because I figured it was a lost cause - but then I decided every cause is lost if it is never addressed - so here goes.

I rode a bicycle all the way across the United States of America in the summer of 2009 - and I didn't make much noise doing so.  But there were lots of other bikes on the road that were not so quiet - in fact they were extremely noisy - and they were everywhere quiet was expected.  I camped for most of the 3 months it took me to ride across the USA and I lost a lot of sleep due to these horrible loud machines.  They came roaring into the campground at all hours of the night and worse, they roared out early in the morning.  A bicyclist who has ridden 80 - 90 miles in a day sleeps pretty soundly and it takes some noise to wake them but a Harley motorcycle with modified pipes can do it from over 100 feet away.    Boo-hoo I didn't get to sleep much - big deal right? 

Now let's talk about our national treasures - the parks.  I rode through some amazingly beautiful State and National parks including the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota and Yellowstone.  The scenery was amazing but the sounds of nature were even more incredible from the seat of a bicycle.  I could hear birds, waterfalls, crickets distant thunder and even just the wind blowing through the trees and fields of corn.  It was amazing and just as I was entranced by all this natural wonder BRRRROOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!  The sound of that one motorcycle was louder than any fully loaded 18 wheeler climbing a mountain - and I mean that seriously.  After it had passed - the sound trailing for several minutes in the distance - all I could hear was a ringing in my ears and the silence of the startled animals.  In the larger parks like Yellowstone, the noise never ends.  I could be in the middle of vast wilderness and yet the drone of Harleys was ever present in the distance.  One after another VROOM! VROOM! VROOM!

I kept joking to myself that if we only had some sort of technology to somehow muffle these machines we could ALL enjoy nature in a much more natural way.  But of course we do have such technology - it was invented shortly after the invention of the internal combustion engine a few years back.  So why can't we force these bikes to use this technology?  Well we can - and we do - or at least we try.  In researching for this article I learned that all motorcycles are manufactured under strict EPA noise regulations and that no Harley in the USA is built with those loud pipes.  Furthermore, we have laws in many states that forbid noise over a certain level.  This outrageous noise is actually a choice that people I will now call FOOLS illegally pay extra for because they think it's cool.  It's not cool - not even to other experienced bikers - which is another fact I learned while doing my research.  Isn't that interesting?!   Even other experienced bikers think these people are fools.  Yet they continue to get away with this violation because they have an intense political lobby (money) and the noise ordinances are difficult to enforce.

The only argument these FOOLS have for wanting to be this noisy is that it is a safety issue - as if they can only be seen by other drivers if they are heard first.  To that I would like to quote a line from the beginning of this article "I rode a bicycle all the way across the United States of America in the summer of 2009 - and I didn't make much noise doing so".  That's right folks - 4800 miles on a bicycle and I made it there alive.  I'm not the only one either - lots of people ride bicycles on the very same roads the Hogs ride every day - safely.  How is that possible without being heard???  Their argument is just stupid. 

I want to make a difference on this issue - more than just griping about it in my blog.  I think it's time for me to get involved politically and I found there are some good groups that are already working with current laws and EPA standards to hush the Harleys - one called Noise Off and another called Noise Free America.  Fools who think they are entitled to make extreme noise under the guise of the Constitution are a tough group to battle and it will take an army of people  I will now call "Real Patriots" to make them stop the foolishness.  I hope any reader who is annoyed by these fools will also became a Real Patriot and join a group to help fight for quiet.  

If we could be successful it would would make a huge difference and I'll tell another brief story from my bicycle trip as proof.  One day riding through the mountains in Washington State I was stopped early in the day due to a thunderstorm.  A local resident pointed out the county fairgrounds as a good place to camp for the night but mentioned there was a motorcycle club staying there that night.  Just wonderful I thought - no sleep for me again.  With little choice I set up my tent, crawled inside and read a book for a while until the storm which actually wasn't too intense finally let up.  I emerged from my tent only to realize that dozens of motorcyclists had arrived while I was reading and they were all setting up their tents and enjoying the day.  How did I not hear that many motorcycles arrive?  It turns out this was a BMW motorcycle club and they were all properly - legally - muffled machines.  I enjoyed hanging out with that group and we all chatting at a normal voice levels without yelling over the noise of illegal pipes.  I slept like a baby that night and in the morning I once again emerged from my tent to realize that many of the bikers had already left and I didn't even hear them leave.  That is a true story. Isn't that the way it should be?  It is called common courtesy - which isn't so common among the Harley riders.   Let's make a change.

If You Can Read This - I Didn't Write It

My handwriting is terrible.  My signature is even worse!  I used to have fairly neat handwriting both cursive and regular and my signature was easily readable.  I may have spelled things incorrectly on occasion but the writing was beautiful.  I blame computers.  I simply do not write anything by hand anymore.  When I do I really have to think about it and concentrate to get it readable.  I'm a whiz at typing and the computer will even correct my spelling.  But it has made my handwriting lazy.

I wonder how the kids of today will be affected by this?  Most learn to type on a computer before they even learn to write by hand.  I'm certain they still teach writing in schools and probably even still teach cursive, but if the students never have a call to actually write things manually I wonder if it will even stick in their brains.  In my day (I can't believe I just wrote typed that!) we were asked in class to type reports - on a typewriter - just to ensure that we could actually use the typewriter.  If I were a teacher today I would insist that my students submit all reports in handwriting - just to be sure they could do it.  That's quite a reversal. 

Maybe I should hand write my blog.  Wait - that would never work.  But seriously, it might be time to do some manual letter writing just to get back in practice.  It probably would be wise for everyone to do some form of regular manual letter writing before we all forget how.  Imagine if a giant solar flare knocked out power on earth.  Only us old folks would know how to write!

By the way - I can't do math anymore either due to the computer.  I guess I should turn the computer off and do some fractions as well. 

Un-American Politics

It's been decided that corporations are people and that money equals free speech. But did they decide that those corporations are only American? In a system where unlimited donations can be made by anonymous sources to influence our elections, you must ask yourself who exactly is trying to control this country - and from where?

Awesome Election!

The election is over (almost - Floriduh!) and it was a nail biter for sure!  I've been watching this past election very closely with both anticipation and entertainment for at least the last 2 years.  It was the best reality show on TV and the good news is that it had a happy ending.

Shortly after the election in 2010 I wrote about the Political Tsunami I felt was building behind the Tea Party quake of that year. I just read through that article and I was pretty much right on track.  The political tsunami indeed did happen - but it was not totally what I had imagined.  I expected a landslide win for Obama and it was - but much closer than I thought.  The big surprise for me was the other historical liberal "firsts" that happened this year including:

• Gay marriage approved in 2 states by popular vote
• Marijuana legalized in 2 states by popular vote - and not just for medicinal purposes
• The first openly gay person voted into the Senate
• And many more as reported by this Washington Post article

These are all seismic changes in the political spectrum and they can't be ignored.  It is also clear in this election that the minority vote - especially when combined with gay and women's issues are a force against conservatism in this country.

Needless to say I am thrilled with the results of 2012 - but it will likely be short lived.  It is a fact that there are far more registered Democratic voters than Republican voters and we should be able to win most elections.  But the sad truth is that many Democrats do not vote in mid-term elections like the one in 2010 and the GOP takes full advantage if that complacency.  Hopefully we can keep the momentum of this year going into 2014 and get more Democrats out to vote.  We didn't take control of the House this year - and in a way I'm glad because at this point I believe we need that balance.  We are already seeing - the House sticking by their same old "no compromise" attitude.  That should also help in possibly getting the House control back in 2014.  A new prediction?  Perhaps.  :) 

God Is An Engineer - Not a Magician

I grew up Catholic and I believed all the stories. Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, the Earth created in 6 days, God needing rest on the 7th day, immaculate conception, Jesus born in a manger, 7 wise men and even Sodom and Gomorrah.  As I got older, educated and started thinking independently , I realized the stores I've been told were not very logical.  Yet I still believe in God and even in the power of prayer.  The Earth and the Universe are just too perfect to be an accident in my opinion.  But I just can't put much faith in the bible stories anymore.

I do believe the Earth and the cosmos are perfect and amazing but not unexplainable.  In fact there are clues to our existence everywhere.  Science has revealed many clues and even a few answers.  Every answer seems to bring up a new question which in turn - through research brings more answers.  It seems a never ending cycle but that is just because there is so much to learn.  The universe is larger than we can even imagine - and it might not even be the only one.  Wow!

If God were merely a magician who can bring things out of nothing and end it just as quickly, I think a lot of it wouldn't make sense - the clues wouldn't match and the logic wouldn't work.  Yet we have discovered how stars work, how planets and moons form, and perhaps even how life may have evolved out of the chaos.  We've also discovered how tiny things work - like how viruses spread disease and what makes up objects on a molecular scale.  If studied logically - it all makes sense.  We have so much more to learn but there are not many magical surprises once we open our minds to learn.

Therefore, while we still can't completely explain how or why we are here, I've concluded that God is (at least for me) an engineer - a scientist - a logical force.  Those that don't have logically thinking minds may disagree.  An artist's concept of God may be less logical and more mystical.  They may believe the bible's stories of creation more than the science- and may have even written them.  I certainly believe that God is an artist - what beautiful wonders we have to behold!  But an artist isn't a magician either.

Of course it is not up to me to determine who is correct - the artist or the scientist.  I suspect in God's realm they both are.  But in my mind, God is an engineer and things make sense that way. 

Wait For It................

The Presidential Election is only weeks away and most polls (except those on Fox News of course) are showing President Obama strengthening his lead.  But it is still a bit too early as things change quickly in the political world.  Add to that the extremely short attention span of most Americans and the race is still totally up in the air. 

I have a feeling that somewhere about 2 weeks from the actual election date, we will see some big damaging "thing" launched against President Obama by the GOP.  I would have no idea what that might be but I suspect they have something up their sleeve.  It is, if you recall, their number one goal and since they haven't done anything regarding the number 2 goal (the economy) they must be too busy working on #1.

I guess we will wait and see.

Tired

I had a hard time getting through today.  I felt like I never really woke up totally - even now at 11:30pm.  In fact I put off a painting side job this morning and went home and slept for an hour.  It didn't really help much. 

Animals sleep way more than people do.  So do infants and children who don't have a pressing schedule.  I think it is entirely possible that people believe we need way less sleep than we actually do.  It could also be a reason for many health issues - including ADD.  I wonder if coffee shops would be doing such great business if we were all totally rested.  Perhaps we would even use more of our brain power as sleeping seems to enhance our thought process. Forgive me for rambling - I'm tired.

Someone somewhere somehow decided we need 8 hours of sleep.  I think they may have underestimated. 

War On Religion

Some claim there is a war on religion happening right now - and they might be right. But what they might not understand is that it is not a war between those who believe against those who do not believe. The war on religion is being fought between the believers themselves. That's because faith and religion - two different things - are both very personal and different for everyone. Faith alone is very benign and belongs only to one's self. A lack of faith is much the same in that it is personal and belongs only to one's self. Those with faith (but not religion) and those with no spiritual beliefs do not feel the need force their beliefs or disbelief on others. However both of these groups may fight for constitutional rights based on the constitution alone and not on their faith or lack of faith.

Religion is quite different. Faith becomes religion when it is felt you must share your beliefs with others so that they may believe as you do. Most religions also feel that if you do not believe as they do, then you are surely going to Hell and therefore you must be "saved". While many different religions exist around the world, all believe that their particular religion is the correct version blessed by God and that all other religions are false. Further, they believe their particular religion - being the correct one - should be the basis of morality our country is governed by. Unfortunately, even though our nation's constitution was based on one of these religions, the constitution itself does not hold up well to many religious beliefs - especially those of other religions. The Founding Fathers knew this and fashioned our constitution with a separation from religion. That was brilliant forethought in my opinion. The religions however do not agree.

Armed with the "knowledge" that their religion is in fact the will of God, these religions cling to their belief that all morality should be based on whatever article of faith they believe is the actual word of God. Problem is there isn't just one article of faith or one "word of God". Some cling to the Bible - some to only certain parts of the Bible, some to the book of Mormon, some to the Koran, some to the teaching of Budah etc. etc. Not even their particular Holy Days occur on the same day causing friction and disagreements between the various religions. In this age of technology these arguments and disagreements are more evident than ever. A Facebook post or a Tweet can cause an instant firestorm of controversy. The war has begun.

Those without faith and those with faith but no religion appear as if they are involved in the war because they are forced to defend their constitutional rights against those who wish to deny them equality based on their particular religion. But the truth is that the non-religions faithful and those without faith are not fighting religion - they are fighting only for their constitutional rights. This is a very important distinction because the constitution is necessarily separated from religion. So how can those who are fighting for constitutional equality be waging a war on religion? The simple answer is they are not. The war on religion has been started by and is being fought exclusively by the various religions. In the past, slaves fought for freedom based on the constitution even though some religions condoned it. Likewise women fought for the right to vote even though some religions state that women are not equal to men. In the end the constitution of our country eventually solved these disputes and continues to do so today.

There is only one way to end this war and that is for all the religions to co-exist. Further, the various religions must remove themselves from politics. The constitution of the United States can be defended and supported based solely on itself. It was written with that intention and has endured the test of time - with a few modifications - because that is the only way our magnificent country can be strong and united. I am not here to tell you religion is bad or that a person should have faith or not. I am perfectly comfortable with you enjoying your beliefs or lack of beliefs and sharing that with like minded individuals. All I ask is that you do the same. Live your life and let others live theirs. It is the only way we can truly be the United States of America.

Twisted Truths and Outright Lies

Only months from the election and the presidential candidates are neck in neck with Romney pulling slightly ahead of Obama - in the lie department. Source PolitiFact.com as of today 8-23-12

Mashed Friends

I totally love summertime - except for one thing. All my favorite shows are in reruns. I've written about this before - one summer I spent watching "How do they do it?" type shows and great science exploration shows like "Through the Wormhole" - canceled. Last year I had just purchased my new 3D TV and enjoyed a variety of 3D programming on DirecTV - which they have since stopped updating. So this year I'm watching a couple of old shows along with a couple of new somewhat entertaining original sitcoms on TV Land. My favorite 2 older shows I'm watching right now are M.A.S.H. and Friends. M.A.S.H. is just as relevant today as it was way back then and Friends is just as irrelevant now as when it first aired - but still entertaining. I want to briefly focus on M.A.S.H.

I find myself going to bed each night thinking about how destructive war is with very few if any real benefits. M.A.S.H. is set in the Korean war - one of many we should never have been involved in. The writing for the show is brilliant - somehow making light of a terrible situation. It makes you chuckle and yet leaves you thinking about the sad reality of war and the people who are killed and wounded - along with the families and loved ones they leave behind. The show eloquently points out how we as foreigners or even invaders of another country act as superiors with disregard of the local customs and the needs of the poor who never get a say in what happens to their country. Wars are never fought for the poor but almost always by the poor. Bombs don't discriminate between army camps or orphanages - they just blow up everything.

The TV show M.A.S.H ended in 1983 - the same year I graduated high school - but the wars didn't stop then. In fact America has been involved in our longest wars ever in Afghanistan and the recently ended war in Iraq. Over 10 years we have been wrecking peoples lives "over there" and what has it gotten us over here? Nothing. Not cheaper gas prices and not more freedoms - in fact we now have fewer of them. A few people profited handsomely from these wars - but not most Americans.

Nobody said it better than Bruce Springsteen (The Boss) "War - what is it good for - absolutely nothing"

UPDATE: I just wanted to add one thing here. Lots of comparisons have been made between President Obama and President Bush. I think the more important comparison is between President Obama and Senator McCain who would have been President instead. President Obama has ended one war and is hopefully winding down the war in Afghanistan (faster please!). Meanwhile Senator McCain has been on CNN at least once a week saying we should be involved in this war or that one. Thank GOD McCain did not get elected or we would be in many more unfunded and tragic conflicts. We need to keep our noses out of everyone else's business. We have our own problems right here in the USA.

UPDATE #2: As I watched an episode of Friends last night, something very relevant to this article kept popping up - the Twin Towers in the New York City skyline. Is that a good enough excuse for war?? Does it justify over 10 years of conflicts and more lives lost than were lost that day? Did those wars solve anything? The answer for me is no - but I'm sure anyone who lost a loved one that day would feel differently.

If You "Like" That - You Don't Like Me

Since I'm on a bit of a sabbatical this busy political season, I'd like to post a guest commentary from a friend, former co-worker, and blog buddy on this site. I won't mention his name and I will slightly edit the names mentioned in his letter as a matter of privacy - but please know this is a real letter sent to his family with regard to the Chick-fill-a controversy unfolding this week. He may claim ownership of it in the comment section if he chooses to. He writes:

I'll preface this by saying, I normally refrain from forwarding religious or political material because i realize that not everyone shares my spiritual or social beliefs. I'd never deny you the ability to practice whatever faith works for you, nor would I have the audacity to assume my faith is any more valid than yours. I also, for the most part, keep my identity as a gay man to myself; mainly 'cause I know it makes people (Aunt A, Uncle D, Aunt R, Uncle G...etc) uncomfortable, even though they don't think twice about condemning gays, gay marriage or HIV right in front of me. Mom tolerates it, but I know it's a struggle. I can empathize. It's taken most of my life to get past the shame and guilt; the stigma and fear. It's draining to live amongst people that think I'm going to hell, am an abomination, and am somehow less of a person because I don't subscribe to their religion or politics. Please, keep this in mind as you read on...

This whole Chic-fil-A issue isn't news to me. I've known about their ties to "Family" organizations - The Marriage and Family Foundation, The Family Research Council and Exodus International - for over a year now. Like I said, I usually keep my thoughts on these issues to myself. Then I saw you "liked" a post on facebook linking Chic-fil-A with President Obama and the tagline, "LIKE if you're fed up with liberal attacks on Chick-fil-A". Honestly, it hurt me. Then I thought, maybe you don't know the whole story. This isn't about First Amendment rights; The CEO's statements on marriage and "God's judgment" are covered under the same amendment that allows protesting, so nobody's freedoms are at stake...or are they?

Here's a statement from Peter Sprigg, the VP of The Family Research Council, one of the organizations Chic-fil-A helps fund... "I think that the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which overturned the sodomy laws in this country, was wrongly decided. I think there would be a place for criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior."

and another one...

“I would much prefer to export homosexual from the United States than to import them into the United States, because we believe that homosexuality is destructive to society.”


So, if it were up to The Family Research Council, they would either have me exported out of the US or have me put me in jail. Really. These quotes are on video and not taken out of context. Both this group and The Marriage and Family Foundation have also done “missionary” work abroad that served to strengthen and promote criminalization of same-sex relations. Consider the fact that 29 states in the US can fire me, just because i'm gay. No questions asked. There are 75 countries in the world where it's illegal to be gay. In 9 countries, being gay is punishable by death. Death.

Think about this for a second. Think about all the pain and self-loathing I've been through. Think about how tough it's been to grow up in this family and realize I'm gay. Mom's support came in the form of a telephone number to some group that said they could "cure" me. Dad's support came in the form of "You're not gay!" Now, Do you think I've done anything to be thrown in jail for? Am I not fit to live in the US? Am I destructive to society? Chic-fil-A does considering they've donated $5 million to this organization and others like it. Think about this the next time you hear a debate on gay rights, sign a petition that wants to exclude me or give money to any cause that would keep me from having as fulfilling a life as you have.

Is it wrong to stand up to organizations that would want to put me in jail, remove me from society, fire me for being gay, prevent me from having the same benefits with my spouse that you have? This isn't a liberal or conservative stance as far as I'm concerned. I'm not a liberal if I choose to boycott an organization that would put me in jail if they had their way. I'm not a conservative because I think everyone has the right to be happy in a consensual, loving relationship. I'm not an independent because I'm able to accept our differences and allow you all the freedoms I have.

I love you and I know you love me. I just wanted to shed some light on this issue and provide some context.

"Feels Like" Time

It's been really hot across most of the USA this week and the weather reporters are having a lot of fun telling us what the "feels like" temperature is. That's the way the air feels on our skin when we factor in the humidity - so if the air temperature is 87 degrees - they might say it feels like 92.

They ought to come up with some sort of a similar calculation for "Feels Like" time. Logically time ticks by at a very steady consistent pace - but it sure doesn't feel like it. I'm a pretty busy dude and usually live my life about 3 days into the future. That means I wake up with a list of things to accomplish today so that I can get to tomorrow's list which will take me into day 3. Theoretically by day 3 I should be all caught up - but somehow on day 2 I'm still living 3 days into the future - the list just keeps expanding. Plus, time feels like it is going by faster and faster every day. I'm told by some elderly friends that this just keeps getting worse as you age. It's really kind of weird.

Then - on a rare occasion as it did yesterday - time feels like it is running at normal speed. I look at the clock and think it must be 1:00pm - but it's really only noon. On the rare days when this happens - it seems to occur throughout the entire day. I still have lots of stuff to do - but I just seem to get it done - with time to spare. I like those days.

I think I've mentioned it before - I believe this "time moving fast" thing is actually a real and measurable phenomenon (da-due-da-do-do) but we just haven't determined how to measure it yet. If we somehow could then I guess we could calculate a "feels like" time and they could talk about it on the evening news. Time - after all - is a human invention. All Earth's creatures live their days by the rising and setting of the Sun (or in some cases the Moon) - but humans are the only creatures who try to "manage" time. We have to keep adjusting our time - sometimes by an hour, sometimes by a day and sometimes by only milliseconds just to make sure we are still on track. On track with what? We think we are pretty smart by tracking the movement of the Sun and Earth - but who is to say time is associated with our solar system? I think there is something larger guiding our time and that's why it does not seem consistent.

One thing is for sure, if they ever can calculate a "feels like" time, you can bet I will be on the beach on the days when the time feels slower and at work when time feels faster. It would be a very helpful index!

Crickets

You may have noticed I haven't been posting much lately. It certainly isn't because I haven't got anything to say - I have plenty! But, there is so much bla, bla, bla coverage of the election and politics it seems like I wouldn't be able to come up with anything original. But I'm not being totally silent - there is too much at stake in this coming election. So for the moment I've decided to take my virtual voice over to USA Today and other online publications to help counter the obvious effort by the Super PACs to use the comment sections as their political podium. There you will find hundreds and thousands of anti-Obama negative commentary from folks with fake Facebook accounts who claim they can't stand to read that particular "rag". Their rhetoric is predictable and scripted as if they all attend the same meeting to learn how to turn a story about kittens into an attack on Obama's policies. So, on a few carefully chosen articles I like to put in some reasonable, common sense responses to counter the constant barrage of negativity. This seems to piss them off as I've been called an idiot a lot. I must be doing something right!

Also, I try not to use my own Facebook account for political discussion - but I do comment on other people who post obviously false or misleading items. Most of them have shared a link without ever doing the research to see if it is actually true. I don't know if any of this will make a difference since the country seems so clearly divided. But I must do my part to at least make a voter go "hmmmmm." This election is critically important as I've said before. This time we choose between corporations and people. I will do whatever little part I can to make sure America stays in the hands of people.

I wonder how many of those fake Facebook accounts belong to Andre who seems to have gone missing too? LOL