Father, Help Your Daughter!

Been listening to Alix Olson's newest CD Independence Meal, and a few lines keep getting stuck in my head, so I'm going to blog about them.

"...I find myself stratospherically frozen between the way things are and the way things should be..."

That describes so perfectly how I feel so much of the time I just had to share it.

"...the rusty squeaking of good hearts on rusty brains..."

There are SO many people out there who really do have good hearts...they are just unable or unwilling open or use their minds to think about new ideas or new ways of looking at things. How does one reason with that type of person?

"...A God that only blesses America is a God I do not want..."

It sounds so harsh at first...but...it's harshly true...so many people that believe in God and believe that God blesses America seem to forget that they simultaneously claim to believe that God created all other humans as well...

I don't know about anyone else, but I know that my girlfriend and I have both had conversations with our families about the innocent loss of civilian lives in Iraq and how "un-Christian" and "non-pro-life" that is which eventually boiling down to them saying...I'd rather them be killed then us or our soldiers. Of course, they are still under Master George's blinding spell that caused so many to believe that Iraq was actually a direct threat to Americans....How many times have you heard extremist conservatives saying "just bomb them all"....

An article I found from the filmmaker that shot a lot of the film used in Fahrenheit 9/11. So sad. Especially at the end where he is talking about the Iraqi women who were raped either by or with the help of American soldiers and then were sent home and killed by their families in "honor killings." Yes yes...we've made things SO much better in Iraq.

And since this post is somewhat eclectic...Here are two quotes I saw by two of America's founding fathers. It is interesting to think of how different they actually thought than the current administration that claims to be so "American" and "patriotic."
It just further proves my point about the patriotism of dissent at this point in our history. We are not the country we were founded to be.

(Thomas Jefferson borrowed largely from philosopher John Locke while crafting the Declaration of Independence)
"Great mistakes in the ruling part, will be borne by the people without mutiny or murmur, but if a long train of abuses. . . all tending the same way, make the design visible to the people. . . it is not to be wondered that they should then rouse themselves, and endeavor to put the rule into such hands which may secure to them the end for which government was at first erected." --John Locke

"Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad."--James Madison(To Thomas Jefferson, 5/13/1798)


Ok....I'm actually finishing this post on 7/1 since I got a bit sidetracked by getting sick the other day, but I'm fine now and have a long weekend off to go camping with Christie and Kim. Fingers crossed that the rain stays away.

Hmmmm...another busy weekend.

Went to see Farenheit 911 on Friday night. There's been so much publicity that I'm not going to blab on with a bunch of repetitive shit, but I thought it was really good. (yes, you're shocked, I know). I guess I could easily be considered the "choir" that Michael Moore has been accused of preaching to, but I don't really care. I actually learned a few things that I didn't know prior to seeing the film. I didn't realize that the African-American US representatives had protested in Congress about the appointing/annointing of George W back in 2000 and that no Senators would second their protest barring them from having an actual debate. I hadn't seen the pictures of the burned bodies of our soldiers being hung from an Iraqi bridge. I wasn't aware of how far back some of the ties between the Bush family and the Saudi royal family go or of how much money the Saudis have invested in our economy. I don't personally know any families that have lost a family member to the war, so seeing his interview with a family that did was incredibly moving. I didn't realize that so many of the troops are just as disillusioned with why they are there as I am. Finally, I thought his exploration of the fact that so many in our military come from the ranks of poor minorities was very telling. I thought his pointing out that only 1 member of congress has a son or daughter in the military was especially poignant--and the absolutely blank looks on some of their faces when he confronted them with asking their own children to sign up for the war needed no words to explain the issue being presented.

That being said, I did have a few criticisms as well. I thought the riding around in an ice cream truck reading the Patriot Act stunt was a little hokey and didn't really make that big of a point. I thought it actually disctracted from the seriousness of the civil liberties that we are losing. I think that sometimes if he would have let the pictures speak for themselves (namely GWB sitting there for forever doing nothing after being told about the 9/11 attacks) it would have been a lot more powerful then him talking over it. And while he doesn't say specifically in the movie WHEN they left (only that it was authorized on 9/13) he implies that Saudi's and the bin Laden family left the US while all of the other planes were still grounded. Further investigation seems to have shown that while they may have flown within the country, they didn't leave the country until airspace was opened. It has also come out that while the FBI didn't open an official investigation and question them at length, they did ask them about the whereabouts of Osama before letting them go. (not that I think that was sufficient...just that the whole truth is always a good thing)

Of course, overall...it was his documentary...created to show his point of view (which I agree with overall)...not to be some objective piece of journalism (as if journalism these days is objective anyway...but for the sake of argument). Of course he's going to put things together in such a way to imply things that support his point of view. I think it was thought provoking and worth seeing and thinking about before casting a vote in November.

Ok...enough of that. Saturday I had a long discussion with my dad (the Baptist pastor) about the morality of supporting a President that lies and who is ultimately responsible for the deaths of so many innocent Iraqis. The evangelical Christian right would probably still like to literally crucify Clinton for lying about oral sex, yet almost to a man they unquestioningly support Bush who has lied about things of so much greater consequence then a blow job. It's such a double standard. They claim to be pro-life yet don't seem to care about the already-born Iraqis that are dying in a war based on lies. I don't know how they can logically do both of those at the same time. I actually don't think that Kerry is the best possible candidate ever, but he is certainly the lesser of two evils at this point. It was actually a decent conversation. But my dad copped out at the end by quoting Romans 13:1 and saying that God "sets up rulers and takes them down" in his argument that I shouldn't be so concerned about politics but rather the state of peoples' souls. I pointed out that because of the result of the President's POLITICS Iraqi "souls" wouldn't be open to any kind of "witnessing" about God for quite awhile since, right or not, they equate America with Christianity. I pointed out that you can't stand by and let moral atrocities happen to human beings and then expect to step in and tell them the "good news" that God loves them and expect them to be happy to hear your message--especially when your country is the one committing those atrocities. Whatever! I find it especially interesting since my dad's parents...my grandparents (obviously)...who are Jewish were liberated from Nazi concentration camps by the American forces back in World War II (yes, my dad has obviously converted from Judaism to Christianity). There's been a disconnect somewhere that doesn't allow him to see the similarities.

On a lighter note, my girl and I and some of our friends went to the Steel City Softball League Variety Show benefit at Pegasus Saturday night and had a blast. Ms. Eda Bagel, Pittsburgh's BEST drag queen in my humble opinion, was the hostess and in addition to being fabulous and looking WAY better in a dress then I ever could, she is fucking hilarious. Good times were had by all. (-:

Went to some softball games and watched my girl play on Sunday and that's about it. And it's already Monday again. )-:

Funny quote from an article at Landover Baptist:

"Most Christians acknowledge that Atheists are so unpatriotic, that they believe the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center happened because there is no God to play favorites with humanity. The truth is that our Lord loves only the United States and keeps a scorecard of folks who rub us the wrong way or don't give us their natural resources at a reasonable price. "The hills of Hades are going to be crawling with the Coalition of the Unwilling, my friends," says Pastor Deacon Fred."

Well, it's been way too damn long since I posted, and my last post was really stupid anyway. Now I only have a few minutes but oh well...quick update.

Weeks have been moving SO fast lately in my life. My girl and I set a date, so we'll be getting married May 21, 2005 at the First Unitarian Church in Pittsburgh. We've been scoping out reception locations since we're going to do it up right and have a big old bash, and our location of choice is the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel. Plans aren't finalized there, but hopefully soon...We went down there and met with the catering manager and the place was SO beautiful and he was SO nice...had no problem at all with two girls getting hitched. It was very cool.

I was highly impressed with Pittsburgh Pridefest this year. The parade was the last 3 years times two combined I think. Much longer, more people participated, AND it marched through downtown versus suburban side streets where they hid us for the last 3 years. The festival itself was great too. Right on the North Shore by the river...very cool. I hope they keep expanding it every year. There were definitely more people that showed up with it being downtown and all.

Still haven't come out to the parents, but I'm working myself up to it. Came out to an old friend that I've known since I was 8 last week in response to an e-mail she sent out about getting people to sign this petition supporting the evil Federal Marriage Ammendment...In so many words, I said "I'm not signing that and here's why....and here's an alternative petition". Yeah yeah...I used a little more tact than that but still...I linked her to the million for marriage petition. Still haven't heard a peep
back. Oh well.

A random funny observations:

Seen on T-shirts at Pridefest "A reminder Mr. Bush: 'G' stand for George, not God" can be purchased at www.osaycnuc.com

And a quote from my page-a-day calendar:
"Some scholars have argued that the Constitution clearly states only Congress can declare war, and they are not allowed to simply delegate that authority to the president. However, you can get around that with the legal technique of taking the word 'constitution' and adding the word 'shmonstitution' to the end of it." --Jon Stewart

Tee hee hee

That's all....gotta go home now.

Stolen from Kim. (-:


You are a true nature girl!


Which Ultimate Beautiful Woman are You?
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Just read this ARTICLE today at nerve.com thanks to a link from Margaret Cho's blog.

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This part was funny:

JONATHAN AMES (Q4: #3 of 11)
I do think gay marriage should be legalized. If I were gay and got married, then got a ticket for gay marriage, I'd be really annoyed. How many points do you get on your license for gay marriage? Probably a lot. Maybe even four. Then your insurance goes up.

I think gays will pull it off and get marriage legalized. I think the conservatives who are against it, should be for it. After all, there are so many closeted conservatives giving blowjobs at truck stops and rest stops across America. If they could get married in churches, I think these closeted gay conservatives would be a lot happier. It must be very demoralizing to give blowjobs in truck stops. If they could get on their knees in their own home, maybe even on carpeting, then they wouldn't have to hate themselves so much and feel so demoralized and swear every time that they'll never do that again. If the liberal gays can just pitch to the closeted gay conservatives that this will be good for them, then before you know it, this will be an old issue.

While they're at it, I do think it would be great if gays would get behind marijuana legalization as well. They're doing a bang-up job on marriage and could really help the stoners who are too disorganized to make any headway. Gays are much better at headway. We need Queer Eye for stoners. Every gay couple that gets married should light a celebratory joint. Let's kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

This part was thought provoking:

JIM DE SEVE (Q4: #2 of 11)
So why are some people getting their knickers in a twist? Why do a very few religious folk scream and shout and condemn society to a fiery end because two men or women want to marry? I think it has very little to do with the lesbian and gay people and it has a lot to do with the people screaming. I don't mean in a "methinks ye protest too much" manner that is common in internalized homophobia (though there is bound to be some of that), but in a way that traditional roles are challenged and people freak out. If two women can marry, what does that say to the Promise Keeper husband? If the lord and master of a Southern Baptist family is no better than some other woman's wife, what does that say about him? It says that the sexes are equal. It undermines the power of gender inequality. Who's the boss?

Say what??? Those crazy fundies...took me a few tries just to figure out what she was trying to say then it still made no sense:

MAGGIE GALLAGHER (Q4: #5 of 11)
The future is undiscovered territory. Nothing is inevitable but death, and possibly taxes. I am only forty-three years old, but I have lived to see the myth of inevitable destiny exploded on any number of issues.

In the absence of a constitutional amendment that defines marriage, I do think many states will end up with same-sex marriage, and the Supreme Court will create its own national definition of marriage to replace the one the American people support.

How does same-sex marriage hurt marriage? When courts declare that withholding same-sex marriage is "discriminatory," they are saying that the idea that there is something special about husbands and wives who can become mothers and fathers is just bigotry.

Either marriage never was or should not now be about getting mothers and fathers for children. Don't expect to raise a generation of boys to be good family men in a society that treats the idea that children need fathers, as well as mothers, as a species of bigotry.

Laws against interracial marriage were about racism, not marriage. They were about keeping two races separate so that one race could oppress the other. Marriage is about bringing opposite sexes together, so children can have moms and dads, and women don't get stuck with the burden of mothering alone.

In one sense I agree with Andrew Sullivan: there's not going to be "gay marriage" and "straight marriage." There's going to be one thing called marriage. All of us need to acknowledge that this is not a small change. That thing is going to be different in ways that will likely affect all children, not just the tiny fraction of children living in alternative family forms headed by gay and lesbian adults.

(whatever! crazy lady)
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Overall, it was just a really good piece, though.

Hmmm....nothing else new today. It's a sloooooooooooow day at work and I'm bored. Have a busy busy rest of the week and weekend coming up, though, so I should enjoy it while I can. Tonight is laundry, tomorrow night is Kennywood, Saturday at 6am )-: garage sale to raise money for the next medical/dental trip overseas (I'm thinking Guatemala but hoping Thailand again), Saturday night is OUTrageous Bingo and a dance/block party for us homos in the Burgh, and then Sunday my girl and I want to check out the Unitarian Universalist church where we want to get married. Should be fun. I haven't been to church in forever. I think this will be quite a different experience, though. Phew...it won't be relaxing, but hopefully fun.

Finally, just got this from whitehouse.org. Hung it on the outside of my cubicle at work--we'll see how that flies. lol

"ACHTUNG!

rachelsp21 may actually be a spider-human hybrid

Username:

From Go-Quiz.com

Well yesterday I participated in my first Big Gay Memorial Day picnic in Pittsburgh. Much fun was had....and much alcohol was consumed. The walk in the woods was fun too--those of you who were there know what I mean. (-; After that the day is kinda blurry til I sobered up around 5 in time to drive home...I'm afraid to see the video. Oy vey! Hmmm...it was a very busy weekend otherwise. Saw Margaret Cho Friday night at the Improv. She SO rocks! My stomach hurt from laughing. (-: Then, in no particular order, went to my girl's cousin's b-day party...stopped by my parent's a few times, and went to a Pirates game. Best baseball game I've ever been to, by the way--lots of really cool plays, a bench clearing fight on the field, fireworks, AND the sprinklers came on in the infield in the middle of the game. Much humor. (-:

Not too much is new. I'm bored as hell but busy as hell at the same time if that makes sense. Busy with work stuff and on the phone, but I usually deal with that by e-mailing with my friends while I'm at work too. Kim and Ethan are goin' on vacation and my girl, Smouse, can't e-mail OR use the internet. *major pouting* I have Kim until Thursday, but then it's loooooooonely...with only my blog and random internet surfing to entertain myself. Boohoo.

I was, however, briefly entertained by the fax cover sheet on an order sent in to me here at work. Below the contact info was this handy-dandy quote:

"We can't be a part of the Trinity, but we can be ChristLIKE!"

(Just a reminder, in case ya were wondering.) lmao