Is AIDS a Deliberately Created Biological Agent?

We've been led to believe that AIDS came from African Green Monkeys, but  many very intelligent people, including doctors, lawyers and Nobel Peace Prize winners seem to think that this fatal leap from ape to man theory is pure rubbish, backed up by politically motivated, psuedoscience. Moreover, they can prove Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was created in a lab with documentation. And some, such as Dr. Body 'Ed' Graves, J.D., have experienced, first hand, the ramifications of not only exposing that evidence, but through his personal experience with HIV/AIDS.

In 2004, ecologist Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, claimed that the AIDS virus was a deliberately created biological agent, a genocidal plot against the third world. She won the prize for her work in human rights and reversing deforestation across Africa.

How is this possible when genetic manipulation is, from what we've been told, fairly recent technology? Well, according to Dr. Romesh Senewiratne, if you read the work of Macfarlane Burnet (biological warfare expert) and publications of the Walter and Eliza Hall institute in the 1950s and 60s you will find that techniques for genetic manipulation of viruses through a range of means was underway long before the appearance of HIV. In fact, you can trace the genetic engineering/manipulation back to the early 1900s, beginning with the Rockefeller-funded research of Peyton Rous, who transplanted cancer between species in the early 1900s.

“When "kuru" (a New Guinean term [to represent] infective spongiform encephalitis [now referred to as prion]) ) was first described by Carlton Gadjusek and MacFarlane Burnet as an infective agent "spread by cannibalism" in the 1950s, it was described as a "slow virus". These were later termed "retroviruses". In fact, the infection they called "kuru" is pathologically indistinguishable from a sheep virus known as "scrapie". It so happens that the epidemic broke out very close to an ANZAC Second World War base, and that Macfarlane Burnet (from Melbourne University) and Gadjusek (from NIH) were both biological warfare experts.
[...]
HIV was developed as a retrovirus (previously called a 'slow virus') by scientists in Australia, USA, Japan and France. It was seeded into targeted populations through a number of means - infected batches of vaccines, blood transfusions and other blood products, and possibly specially bred mosquitoes (entomological warfare, at which Australia's CSIRO are world leaders)...
[...]
My research suggests that HIV was manufactured from selective splicing of pathogenic genes into the sheep retrovirus known as "scrapie" using bacteriophage technology (in which the Australian scientist Sir Frank MacFarlane Burnet was a pioneer in the 1940s, 50s and 60s). Infected batches of vaccines (notably hepatitis B vaccines, injected polio and smallpox vaccines) are implicated in the initial epidemics in Africa and the USA and subsequent epidemics in New Guinea and the Pacific Islands.-- Dr. Romesh Senewiratne

One more thing. HIV/AIDS is not a gay disease, which becomes evident once you begin looking at the epidemiological facts. Since this biological agent began ravaging sub-Saharan Africa--which is home to just over 12% of the world’s population but two-thirds of all people infected with HIV, 13 women for every 10 men--in the early 1980s it has NOT been associated with either homosexuality or injecting drug use there.












"Eugenics and Genocide in the Modern World - the Cause of the AIDS Epidemic"

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The Toughest Guy in Sicily is Gay.

Governor Rosario Crocetta--or Presidente della Regione Siciliana--elected in October 2012, is the unlikeliest man  to govern the testosterone-fueled Mafiosi Sicily as he is not only anti-mafia, but  openly gay.. Yet, despite the two strikes against him, he won the  support of the people with his accomplishments during his anti-mafia crusade as Gela’s mayor for seven years (2003-2009).  During that time, Crocetta purged the city government of  this dangerous entity, and persuaded many shopkeepers to quit paying extortion fees.  In addition, as Gela's mayor, he put the brakes on the single-bidding contract system that left the city’s garbage collection under Stidda control. He also served on the EU’s Anti-Mafia Commission. Needless to say, he's made a very dangerous enemy, and has fortunately survived three assassination attempts.  Still, Crocetta said his election victory as Sicily's governor means "the Mafia can pack its bags."

“Back when he was mayor of a coastal town plagued by mob violence, Crocetta took on the dons, combating the ingrained practice of pizzo, or forced protection payments, while helping put hundreds of gangsters behind bars. His anti-mafia revolution led crime boss Daniele Emmanuello to call for his assassination, with police subsequently arresting a series of mobsters for plots against his life.

A devoted Catholic, Crocetta claims that southern Italy is "less homophobic than the north." His sexuality rarely became a dominant issue during his governor’s campaign, but it was there, just beneath the surface, and on occasion, even made the headlines. Nevertheless, as a matter of contention, homophobia paled in comparison to the act of declaring "war" on La Cosa Nostra. Not too long ago, anti-Mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino attempted to serve a far-reaching blow to the Mafia with the introduction of 'mafia association' as a charge before they were murdered in 1992.

“Freedom is about the moment you stand up and rebel. Sicily has stood up and is on its feet. What is happening here? A cultural revolution. I don’t know if we’ll succeed, but it’s about time we tried.” -- Rosario Crocetta

Links:

Inside The Sicilian Mafia's Drug Empire

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The Fascist Prison Island of Freedom.

Unlike Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy had no law criminalizing homosexual activity. Why not?  Well, it was thought that such a provision would publicize homosexuality. Like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Benito Mussolini declared Italy too masculine for homosexuality to exist. Nevertheless, despite its non-existence, a group of 45 thought to be homosexual men were labelled "degenerate", expelled from their homes and interned on the  island of San Domino, in the Tremitis.

"Unwittingly, the Fascists had created a corner of Italy where you were expected to be openly gay." -- Alan Johnson, BBC News

Needless to say, despite the lack of sanctions, the shame connected to homosexuality at the time--that has not been totally eradicated--made life for homosexuals in Italy extraordinarily unpleasant.  So, in spite of the prison island and their shackled exile status, for the first time in their lives, these men could be themselves

"But some of the few accounts given by former exiles make clear that life was not all bad on San Domino.

It seems that the day-to-day prison regime was comparatively relaxed.
Continue reading the main story

We did theatre, and we could dress as women there and no-one would say anything”

Giuseppe B San Domino inmate

Unwittingly, the Fascists had created a corner of Italy where you were expected to be openly gay.

For the first time in their lives, the men were in a place where they could be themselves - free of the stigma that normally surrounded them in devoutly Catholic 1930s Italy.

What this meant to the exiles was explained in a rare interview with a San Domino veteran, named only as Giuseppe B - published many years ago in the gay magazine, Babilonia - who said that in a way the men were better off on the island.

"In those days if you were a femminella [a slang Italian word for a gay man] you couldn't even leave your home, or make yourself noticed - the police would arrest you," he said of his home town near Naples.

"On the island, on the other hand, we would celebrate our Saint's days or the arrival of someone new... We did theatre, and we could dress as women there and no-one would say anything."

And he said that of course, there was romance, and even fights over lovers.

Some prisoners wept, Giuseppe said, when the outbreak of World War II in 1939 led to the end of the internal exile regime on San Domino, and the men were returned to a kind of house arrest in the places where they came from.

Links:

The Island and the City: Homosexuals in Exile in Italy in Fascist , by Gianfranco Goretti and Tommaso Giartosi

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Rick Santorum and Gay Porn.

Couldn't resist posting this masterpiece: Rick Santorum composed entirely from gay porn.

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Nurture allows what nature endows.

Check out the Born This Way Blog.

A photo/essay project for gay adults (of all genders) to submit childhood pictures and stories (roughly ages 2 to 12), reflecting memories and early beginnings of their innate LGBTQ selves. Nurture allows what nature endows. And it's their nature, their truth!

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Wake Up! Ron "Let 'em Die" Paul is no Messiah.

Or, rather, Ron 'let him die, unless a church or someone wants to help out' Paul -- in other words, it seems Paul wants to devise a metric that would measure a citizen's worth to society before pulling the plug. Despite this, Ron Paul supporters, abound.  Not only that, these supporters make him out to be a messiah.


Haven't we learned from former President Ronald "transfer the wealth"  Reagan (false messiah #1)?  Not to mention - most recently - President "extend the Bush programs" Obama (false messiah #2)?

Obviously not, because fast forward to 2011 and the promise-to-pay-hero-worshiping public is creating false messiah #3: Ron "let 'em die" Paul.  Hello? Didn't we just go down this path with false messiah #2, less than three years ago?

What is it about pro austerity for the masses,  #3 - who, not only believes poor sick people should die, but flashes freemasonic hand signs, as he makes racist and homophobic remarks that he later denies authorship (keep in mind, Ron Paul wants us to believe that these "Ron Paul" newsletters went out to hundreds of thousands of people for at least seventeen years without his notice), and associates himself with white supremacists - that makes people believe this man has any interest in saving anyone but his kind, wealthy white people? 

This racism issue has followed Ron Paul from the beginning.  While "where there's smoke, there's fire" doesn't always ring true, in the age of the Internet, it's very simple to find out for yourself whether that idiom applies, and in Ron Paul's case, it very well might.

The Commander of the American National Socialist Workers Party, Bill White, while, certainly not  a pillar of virtue himself, he does give a little credence to this claim, especially when there are records to back it up. (record of disbursements for Tara Thai restaurant), and he has the habit of associating with extremist groups).

Comrades:

I have kept quiet about the Ron Paul campaign for a while, because I didn’t see any need to say anything that would cause any trouble. However, reading the latest release from his campaign spokesman, I am compelled to tell the truth about Ron Paul’s extensive involvement in white nationalism.

Both Congressman Paul and his aides regularly meet with members of the Stormfront set, American Renaissance, the Institute for Historic Review, and others at the Tara Thai restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, usually on Wednesdays. This is part of a dinner that was originally organized by Pat Buchanan, Sam Francis and Joe Sobran, and has since been mostly taken over by the Council of Conservative Citizens.

I have attended these dinners, seen Paul and his aides there, and been invited to his offices in Washington to discuss policy.

For his spokesman to call white racialism a “small ideology” and claim white activists are “wasting their money” trying to influence Paul is ridiculous. Paul is a white nationalist of the Stormfront type who has always kept his racial views and his views about world Judaism quiet because of his political position.

I don’t know that it is necessarily good for Paul to “expose” this. However, he really is someone with extensive ties to white nationalism and for him to deny that in the belief he will be more respectable by denying it is outrageous — and I hate seeing people in the press who denounce racialism merely because they think it is not fashionable.

Bill White, Commander
American National Socialist Workers Party

Then there his association with Ronald "transfer the wealth"  Reagan.  At one time, he was  a big-time supporter, not to mention his long time association with the John Birch Society, which is essentially, the precursor of Council for National Policy (CNP), a very secret conservative organization with a hell of a lot of power. 

Ron Paul and false messiah #1 Ronald Reagan in 1976

Ron Paul and false messiah #1 Ronald Reagan

Ron Paul and false messiah #1 Ronald Reagan

Ron Paul and false messiah #1 Ronald Reagan

Granted, Paul supposedly changed his view on Reagan, calling his budget,"a failure"; however, he had no problem embracing the Reagan legacy and releasing an ad comparing himself to Reagan, in 2007, and using a 40 year old endorsement from Reagan.

Ron Paul masonic handshake

Furthermore, Ron "I miss the closet" Paul hasn't/doesn't (Title V, Section V: “Prohibits the expenditure of Federal funds to any organization which presents male or female homosexuality as an acceptable alternative life style or which suggest that it can be an acceptable life style”) exactly support gay rights.

This is an issue that Paul sort of dances around. He has been praised for stating that the federal government should not regulate who a person marries. This has been construed by some to mean that he is somewhat open to the idea of same sex marriage, he is not. Paul was an original co sponsor of the Marriage Protection Act in the House in 2004. Among other things this discriminatory piece of legislation placed a prohibition on the recognition of a same sex marriage across state borders. He said in 2004 that if he was in the Texas legislature he would not allow judges to come up with “new definitions” of marriage. Paul is a very religious conservative and though he is careful with his words his record shows that he is not a supporter of same sex marriage. In 1980 he introduced a particularly bigoted bill entitled “A bill to strengthen the American family and promote the virtues of family life.” or H.R.7955 A direct quote from the legislation “Prohibits the expenditure of Federal funds to any organization which presents male or female homosexuality as an acceptable alternative life style or which suggest that it can be an acceptable life style.” shows that he is unequivocally opposed to lifestyles other than heterosexual.

He was also a co-sponsor of  the “Marriage Protection Act” which ensures DOMA can't be challenged in federal court...basically a covert way to convey his support for DOMA, even when he publicly states that he's against it. He wants to give one state the right to supersede another state's final authority on a matter that was never carried out in the superseding State to begin with. In other words, he's done a lot to try to empower states to be able to infringe on gay rights.

In 1990, he was quoted as saying in one newsletter that mentioned a reporter from a gay magazine, “who certainly had an axe to grind, and that’s not easy with a limp wrist.”

From the Survival Report, January 1994

“...gays in San Francisco do not obey the dictates of good sense...These men don’t really see a reason to live past their fifties. They are not married, they have no children, and their lives are centered on new sexual partners...they enjoy the attention and pity that comes with being sick.” - Ron Paul

I agree with Ron Paul's "stand" on a few issues, and I'm sure that most Americans can say the same; but you see, that's what makes him so dangerous: his apparent bucking a system that's taking full advantage of the masses.

Unfortunately, the following quote from M. Scott Peck's book, People of the Lie applies to everyone from Rick "let 'em die" Perry to Ron "let 'em die" Paul, and everyone in between. Whether the innocent die as a result of our system of "justice", or lack of health insurance, what's important is that the innocent, die.

Theirs is a brand of narcissism so total that they seem to lack, in whole or in part, the capacity for empathy...Their narcissism makes the evil dangerous not only because it motivates them to scapegoat others but also because it deprives them of the restraint that results from empathy and respect for others.

In addition to the fact that the evil need victims to sacrifice to their narcissism, their narcissism permits them to ignore the humanity of their victims as well...The blindness of the narcissist to others can extend even beyond a lack of empathy; narcissists may not "see" others at all.

There are boundaries to the individual soul. And in our dealings with each other we generally respect these boundaries. It is characteristic of--and prerequisite for--mental health both that our own ego boundaries should be clear and that we should clearly recognize the boundaries of others. We must know where we end and others begin.

-M. Scott Peck, The People of the Lie, p. 136-137

Links:

Ten Reasons Not to Vote for Ron Paul

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Demonizing Homosexuality in the Name of Jesus Christ is Paradoxically Oxymoronic

Updated again: This poor woman can't even go to the park.

When there were two men relaxing at the side of the pool unnaturally close to each other, effeminately rubbing elbows and exchanging doe-eyes, I was again anxiously watching my children hoping they wouldn't ask questions. They don't see Daddy do that with anyone but Mommy. We haven't been back to the pool for a couple of weeks, except once but it rained. The truth is, now I don't really want to go back.

I have no words...Oh wait, yes I do. Thank goodness she won't be bumping into Jesus anytime soon. What the hell would she tell her children when they saw Jesus unnaturally close to his male disciples as he effeminately rubs their feet, exchaning, what can only be called, doe eyes?  

Not to mention, no one really knows the sexuality of Jesus, if He even had one.  The Secret Gospel According to Mark implies Jesus might even be gay, Himself.

According to Morton Smith, of Columbia University, a manuscript that he found at the Mar Saba monastery near Jerusalem in 1958, showed that the full text of St. Mark chapter 10 (between verses 34 and 35 in the standard version of the Bible) includes the passage:

"And the youth, looking upon him (Jesus), loved him and beseeched that he might remain with him. And going out of the tomb, they went into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days, Jesus instructed him and, at evening, the youth came to him wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God".

Updated again: Should Gay People Be Allowed to Marry? - After a Maine state law permitting same-sex marriage was repealed at the polls Tuesday, the New York Times asked the question to students 13 years and older: Tell us what you think about same-sex marriage. Do you think gay marriage should be permitted or not? Why? Do you think it will be allowed nationwide in your lifetime?

Updated: James Lawson, an architect of the civil rights movement, sees a similarity today in attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, he said while addressing a gathering and panel discussion hosted by Soulforce.

“There is a great need for us to link the ‘isms’: anti-Semitism, racism, sexism and now heterosexism. They come from the same kind of place.”

Imagine being told you are not allowed to love who you love, not allowed to marry who you love, and are not allowed to express the way you feel about who you love. That there is something wrong with you for falling in love with who you fall in love with.

Jesus, an unmarried man, who spent the majority of his adult life surrounded by twelve men, who made no secret of his love for those men, preached about love, first and foremost. Homosexuality is about love, first and foremost.

Yet, many people, in the name of Jesus Christ, preach hate in order to abolish this type of love...the type of love involving two people of the same gender. These men and women experience the same deep and/or intense affection for each other as people of opposite gender. They just don't fit into society's idea of what romantic love should look like. So, we bash it...outlaw it...make sure it remains not only forbidden and inferior to heterosexual love, but claim it is somehow damaging to heterosexual love.

Hate is encouraged among those who want to curtail the rights of others who fall in love with their own gender, and what's even worse is that the hating or judging of homosexuals -- "Judge not and you shall not be judged" -- is often the central focus of attention of Christianity, at the expense of almost everything else Jesus Christ clearly stood for.

Promiscuity is often given as a reason for condemning homosexuality...that it's not so much about love, as it is sex. Really? If that's the case, then why does a Denmark study on divorce, where the vast majority of gay marriages are male-male, show a much lower divorce rate amongst homosexuals? The rate of divorce for gay men is the lowest at 14%, compared to 23% of all lesbian marriages, and 46% of all heterosexual marriages.

Homosexuality does not promote promiscuity...if anything, the prohibitive stance society takes against homosexual love is responsible for elevating the rate of indiscriminate sex practiced amongst gay men, in particular. However, keep in mind that that rate is more than likely, exaggerated a great deal.

What's truly remarkable is despite all the hate preached about homosexuality in the name of Jesus, more often than not, gay men and women build loving relationships with who they fall in love with anyway, proving that love can conquer all.

So, for those of us who insist on strictly adhering to Biblical teachings, we should seriously consider the following:

MARK 12:18-27
If a man dies childless, his widow is ordered by biblical law to have intercourse with each of his brothers in turn until she bears her deceased husband a male heir... Oh my, this may pit brother against brother...guaranteeing certain death for the brother who marries an attractive female.

DEUTERONOMY 22:13-21
If it is discovered that a bride is not a virgin, the Bible demands that she be executed by stoning immediately...Well, there goes 85% of the female population.

DEUTERONOMY 22:22
If a married person has sex with someone else's husband or wife, the Bible commands that both adulterers be stoned to death...And the rest of the female population and 60% of the male population.

MARK 10:1-12
Divorce is strictly forbidden in both Testaments, as is remarriage of anyone who has been divorced...Well without the female population divorce shouldn't be an issue.

LEVITICUS 18:19
The Bible forbids a married couple from having sexual intercourse during a woman's period. If they disobey, both shall be executed...Well, considering the female population has already ceased to exist, this should not be a problem.Jesus never mentioned homosexuality, and the Bible had very little to say about it, so why is Jesus so often used to promote an agenda of hatred toward those who are only trying to live what Jesus preached and lived?

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Evil People Have Plans! Good People Have Donuts and Word Jumbles.

Clear thinking comedian Lee Camp tells it like it is.

Evil people have plans.



Message to homophobes.



We Can't Control The Monsters We Create



What do Glen Beck and Hugh Hefner have in common?



Stamp out happiness!

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Church Prunes Gay Trees in Sin.

Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church, in Charlotte, NC, has been hit with a $4,000 fine for excessive pruning. That's right...$100 per branch, for trimming its own trees...incorrectly!

The Charlotte Observer reports, that city officials slapped Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church with a fine of $100 per branch for “excessively pruning” its crape myrtles.

Now,  it just so happens that is the same church at which the debate to end the "ban on gays and lesbians becoming clergy and lay leaders in the Presbyterian Church took place, which culminated in a vote of 162-154 to change the denomination's constitution by removing a 1997 amendment that said the ordained must either be single and chaste or in a heterosexual marriage".

The Presbytery of Charlotte added its support Tuesday to ending the ban on gays and lesbians becoming clergy and lay leaders in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Presbyterian church leaders from the seven-county Charlotte region voted 162-154 to change the denomination's constitution by removing a 1997 amendment that said the ordained must either be single and chaste or in a heterosexual marriage.

Going into Tuesday's local vote, that change already had won the backing of a majority of presbyteries in the country. It was scheduled to become effective in July, whatever the Charlotte vote.

Still, Tuesday's debate at Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church drew about 40 speakers - in addition to the two Charlotte pastors chosen to present the two sides.

Could it be, perhaps, that some of the church's more homophobic members,  who just so happened to be in the employment of the city, blamed, what they assumed were "gay" trees, for influencing the end of the ban on gay clergy? Because, you see, the fine will be dropped if the trees are REPLACED...with homophobic trees, no doubt.

"Tom Johnson, senior urban forester for the Charlotte Land Development Division, said, the fine would be dropped if the church replaced each of the improperly pruned trees".

Just a thought.

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Has C-Street Targeted Africa to Test Out its Murderous Anti-homosexuality Legislation?

Jeff Sharlet, author of  "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power" and the follow up, "C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy" surely thinks so.  For now, the “Kill the Gays” bill has been shelved, due to world-wide outrage; however, you can be sure it will  reemerge, repackaged, and ready to go at some later date.  This concerted effort to institutionalize homophobia, not only in Uganda, but throughout Africa is, the work of the insidious group,  C-Street,  a.k.a. as the Family or the Fellowship, who have "poured millions of dollars working through a very convoluted chain of linkages passing the money over to Uganda" to get this legislation up and running. Moreover, according to Michelle Goldberg of The Daily Beast, Pastor Rick Warren, who delivered the Invocation at President Obama’s Inauguration, and other "American demagogues"  were also influential.

In the documentary (below), The World’s Worst Place to Be Gay? DJ Scott Mills, who is himself gay travels to Uganda here homophobia "is so severe that Parliament is considering a bill to execute gay people". Mills found plenty of depressing evidence of institutionalized homophobia, and this was before the murder last month of the Ugandan gay-rights activist David Kato.

“David’s death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S. evangelicals in 2009,” Val Kalende, the chairwoman of one of Uganda’s gay rights groups, said in a statement. “The Ugandan government and the so-called U.S. evangelicals must take responsibility for David’s blood.”

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"As if Some Evil Beast Controls Government, the Economy, and Our Lives Now"

Mark, a member of the 99'ers (those whose extended unemployment benefits expire after 99 weeks) wrote a suicide note chronicling his plight and the plight of an ever increasing number of unemployed Americans, due to no fault of their own.

To the unemployed, sick, disabled and poor:

Hello,

I'm unemployed over two years now, a 99er without any benefits for three months. I followed Unemployed Friends almost from its start, never posted until now, but am grateful for my time with you all. I did as asked with calls and e-mails, etc. I've a confession to make to you all. I'm a criminal.

I've obeyed the 10 commandments and all laws except: I'm unemployed and that's now a crime, I'm poor and that's a crime, I'm worthless surplus population and that's a crime, I'm a main street American Citizen born and raised in the USA and that's now a crime, and I'm euthanizing myself as I write this note -- so arrest my corpse. This isn't a call for help, the deed is done, it's not what I wanted. Death is my best available option. It's not just that my bank account is $4, that I've not eaten in a week, not because hunger pangs are agonizing (I'm a wimp), not because I live in physical and mental anguish, not because the landlady is banging on the door non-stop and I face eviction, not that Congress and President have sent a strong message they no longer help the unemployed. It's because I'm a law abiding though worthless, long-term unemployed older man who is surplus population. Had I used my college education to rip people off and steal from the elderly, poor, disabled and main street Americans I would be wearing different shoes now -- a petty king. Hard work, honesty, loving kindness, charity and mercy, and becoming unemployed and destitute unable to pay your bills are all considered foolishness and high crimes in America now. Whereas stealing and lying and cheating and being greedy to excess and destroying the fabric of America is rewarded and protected -- even making such people petty king and petty queens among us.

Since the end of 2008, when corporate America began enjoying the resumption of growth, profits have swelled from an annualized pace of $995 billion to the current $1.66 trillion as of the end of September 2010. Over the same period, the number of non-farm jobs counted by the Labor Department has slipped from 13.4 million to 13 million -- there is no recovery for the unemployed and main street. We taxpayers have handed trillions of dollars to the same bank and insurance industry that started our economic disaster with its reckless gambling. We bailed out General Motors. We distributed tax cuts to businesses that were supposed to use this lubrication to expand and hire. For our dollars, we have been rewarded with starvation, homelessness and a plague of fear -- a testament to post-national capitalism.

Twelve years ago, I lost the last of my family. Ten years ago, I lost the love of my life, couldn't even visit him in the hospital because gays have no rights. I fought through and grieved and went on as best I could. Seven years ago, I was diagnosed with Diabetes and Stage 2 high blood pressure with various complications including kidney problems, mild heart failure, Diabetic Retinopathy. These conditions are debilitating and painful. I am on over eight prescribed medications, which is very difficult without insurance and income. But I struggled on and my primary caregiver was very pleased with my effort overtime with my A1C at seven. Still these physical disabilities have progressively worsened, and I have had a harder and harder time functioning in basic ways. All the while, I give thanks to God because I know there are many more worse off than me -- and I tried to help by giving money to charities and smiling at people who looked down and sharing what little I had.

I am college educated and worked 35 years in management, receiving written references and praise from every boss for whom I worked. Yet, after thousands of resumes, applications, e-mails, phone calls, and drop ins, I've failed to get a job even at McDonalds. I've discovered there are three strikes against me -- most 99ers will understand. Strike one -- businesses are not hiring long-term unemployed -- in fact many job ads now underline "the unemployed need not apply." Strike two -- I am almost 60 years old. Employers prefer hiring younger workers who demand less and are better pack mules. Strike three -- for every job opening I've applied, there are over 300 applicants according to each business who allow a follow up call. With the U3 unemployment holding steady at 9.6percent and U6 at 17 percent for the past 18 months, the chances of me or any 99er landing a job is less than winning the Mega Million Jackpot. On top of that, even the most conservative economists admit unemployment will not start to fall before 2012 and most predict up to seven years of this crap.

I believe the Congress and President have no intention of really aiding the unemployed -- due to various political reasons and their total removal from the suffering of most Americans, their cold-hearted, self-serving natures. Had they really wanted to help us, they could have used unspent stimulus monies or cut foolish costs like the failed wars or foreign aid, and farm subsidies. The unspent stimulus money alone cold have taken care of ALL unemployed persons for five years or until the unemployment rate reached 7 percent if Congress and the President really wanted to help us -- and not string us all along with a meager safety net that fails every few months. In any case, if I were to survive homelessness (would be like winning the mega-millions) and with those three strikes against me, in seven more years, I'll be near 70 with the new retirement age at 70 -- now who will hire an old homeless guy out of work for nine years with just a few years until retirement?

So, here I am. Long term unemployed, older man, with chronic health problems, now totally broke, hungry, facing eviction. My landlady should really be an advocate for the unemployed -- she bangs on my door demanding I take action. A phone call and a "please" are not enough for her -- she is angry. She is right to be angry with me, I am unemployed -- as apparently everyone is now angry with us unemployed.

Two hundred and eleven and social services cannot help single men. Food banks and other charities are unable to help any more folks -- they are overwhelmed with the poor in this nation. So I have the "freedom" to be homeless and destitute and "pursue happiness" in garbage cans and then die -- yay for America huh? It's the end of November and cold. A diabetic homeless older person will experience amputations in the winter months. So I will be raiding garbage cans for food, as my body literally falls apart, a foot here, a finger there. I have experienced and even worked with pain from my diseases -- hardship I can face. I just cannot muster the courage to slowly die in agony and humiliation in the gutter.

I have no family, I have no friends. For the past two years, I've had nobody to talk with as people who knew me react to the "unemployed" label as if it were leprosy and contagious. I am not a bad person, in fact people really like me. But everyone seems to be on a tight budget these days and living in incredible fear. It is hopeless since we all are hearing more and more that we unemployed are to blame for unemployment, that we are just lazy, that we are no good, that we are sinners, that we are druggies, yet we are the victims who suffer and are punished while the robber baron banksters and tycoons become senators, congress, presidents and petty kings. So the only option left for me is merciful self euthanasia.

It is with a heavy heart that I have set my death in motion, but what I am facing is not living. So off I go, I have made peace with God and placed my burden on Jesus and He forgives me. This nation has become evil to the core, with cold-hearted politicians and tycoons squeezing what little Main Street Americans have left. It is not the America into which I was born -- the land of the free and the home of the brave with kind folks who help neighbors -- it is now land of the Tycoon-haves and the rest of us have-nots who march into hopelessness and despair.

Every unemployed person I have met over these past two years have been saintly. Sharing what little they have, and being charitable -- being kind and patient and supportive. Isn't it amazing that we Americans who suffer so much, have not taken to the streets in violence, riots or gotten out the guillotines and marched on tycoons and Washington in revolt as would happen in most other nations? But rather we plead with deaf politicians to please help us. We don't demand huge sums -- just 300 bucks a week, barely enough to cover housing for most. Most of all we say, please help us get a job, please allow us dignity.

I can't help but juxtapose our plight to the tycoons and politicians. They are never satisfied with their enormous wealth, and always want more millions no matter whom it hurts. They STEAL from pension funds, banks, the people and government, and little Wall Street investors. Then rather than face punishment, they become petty kings in this world. They are disloyal to America, unpatriotic, and serve their own foreign UN-American greedy causes and demand more and more and more. I feel that this is not the nation into which I was born. I was born in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. America, where people give as much as they receive. America, where all people work for the common good, and try to leave a better and more prosperous nation for the next generation. America, where people help their neighbors and show charity and mercy. This new America is alien to me -- it is an America of greed and corruption and avarice and mean spirited selfishness and hatred of the common good -- it is an America of savage beasts roaring and tearing at the weak, and bullying the humble and peacemakers and poor and those without means to defend themselves. I am not welcome here anymore. I don't belong here anymore. It's as if some evil beast controls government, the economy, and our lives now.

I must go now, my home is someplace else. Goodbye and God bless you all. God bless the unemployed and poor and elderly and disabled. God bless America and the American people except the tycoons and politicians -- may God retain the sins of tycoons and politicians and phony preachers and send them to the Devil.

Mark

Links:

Nine Pictures of the Extreme Income/Wealth Gap

Many people don’t understand our country’s problem of concentration of income and wealth because they don’t see it. People just don't understand how much wealth there is at the top now. The wealth at the top is so extreme that it is beyond most people’s ability to comprehend.

If people understood just how concentrated wealth has become in our country and the effect is has on our politics, our democracy and our people, they would demand our politicians do something about it.

How Much Is A Billion?

Some Wall Street types (and others) make over a billion dollars a year – each year. How much is a billion dollars? How can you visualize an amount of money so high? Here is one way to think about it: The median income in the US is around $50,000, meaning half of us make less and half of us make more. If you make $50,000 a year, and don’t spend a single penny of it, it will take you 20,000 years to save a billion dollars. . . . (Please come back and read the rest of this after you have recovered.)

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Hypocrisy of the "Heterossexuality as Institution" Gestapo

Zach Wahls, a son anyone would give their right arm, gives the best definition of family I've heard:

"...the sense of family comes from the commitment we make to each other...to work through the hard times, so that we can enjoy the good ones.  It comes from the love that binds us.  That's what makes us a family." - Zach Wahls



Jesse Ventura on gay marriage: (interrupting Pat Buchannan, Thank God!) "You can't take a civil right's issue and put it up to a vote...if you did that, we might still have slavery if it was allowed to be voted on...You can't take civil rights and let people vote on it! [If you care what Pat had to say...listen for yourself..below] Well, not by the populace itself, Pat. You can't put a civil rights issue on a general ballot a state and let people vote on it because if you did that in the Southern states, you can bet they would've voted to continue slavery."




As Jesse said, the government has no right to legislate love, and in modern times, that's what marriage is based on: love between two consenting adults, pure and simple.

If the heterosexual marriage gestapo cares so much about the "institution" of marriage, let them start with their own marriages, and then heterosexual marriage in general. You know...take a look at the planks in their own eye. The problem is that there are so many, they're blinded.

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Glen Beck University of Unintelligible "Professors".

Where "weak minds are servilely crouched".

David Barton, a Texas Evangelical who appeared as an "expert" witness in the Texas Board of Education textbook hearings, a frequent guest on Glenn Beck's program, a "professor" at Beck University and who served as the chair of the Texas GOP, launched an effort with Newt Gingrich on behalf of Sharron Angle in Nevada, and stumped for John McCain in 2008 says homosexuality should be regulated.

"So if I got to the Centers for Disease Control and I'm concerned about health, I find some interesting stats there and this should tell me something about health.

Homosexual/bi-sexual individuals are seven times more likely to contemplate or commit suicide. Oooh, that doesn't sound very healthy.

Homosexuals die decades earlier than heterosexuals. That doesn't sound healthy.

Nearly one-half of practicing homosexuals admit to 500 or more sex partners and nearly one-third admit to a thousand or more sex partners in a lifetime.

I mean, you go through all this stuff, sounds to me like that's not very healthy. Why don't we regulate homosexuality?" -- David Barton,

I do believe Thomas Jefferson saw Beck and Barton in his crystal ball when he said the following:

“Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck.”
— Thomas Jefferson

“Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus.”— Thomas Jefferson

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God, Gold, and Guns, But Hold the Gay.

Amidst Glen Beck's tearful patriotic schtick, and his dehumanizing talk of cockroaches, rats, viruses and disease, in one of his "lessons", he told his audience about the "three G system" he cooked up for survival should the United States face collapse, and that consists: "God, Gold, and Guns".

The third one is Collapse. That's 'Get out of debt and save,' plus, 'Have a fruit cellar,' plus -- I like to call the "three G system" here for this -- it's, uh, God, Gold, and Guns.

Now personally, you might take God and put him as an umbrella over the whole thing. And then you got your gun and your gold down here too. But that's your choice. -- Glen Beck

However, as much as Glen's devoted to words that start with the letter 'G', it appears he's not to keen on one 'G' word: gay.  He "has surrounded himself with religious and secular figures who share a fervent opposition to the "homosexual agenda."Glenn Beck's anti-gay army of God

Alexander Zaitchik on his book "Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance"

"Right. Well, his more recent controversies are pretty well known. But even going back to the '80s and ’90s, he was known for a racist, sexist shtick. He famously, or infamously, called up the wife of a competing DJ in Phoenix in the mid-'80s and mocked her for having a miscarriage live on the air. He made fun of a guy named Malik Jones in New Haven, who was an unarmed black man shot by a white police officer, and it was quite a big police brutality case at the time. He went on air that week making fun of Jones, talking about how he used to smoke crack with his grandmother. Stuff like this. So, you know, this Glenn Beck that is so divisive today has been there the whole time. And the idea that he had this, you know, transformative experience when he became a Mormon and became a good guy and is this sort of moral beacon is just ludicrous."-- Alexander Zaitchik

Beck said "People don't recognize Obama's version of Christianity", nevertheless, gauging by the numbers that follow Glen Beck, too many people recognize his twisted version, a version that takes everything Jesus stood for, and transforms it to promote the only person who matters to Glen Beck, that is, Glen Beck.

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Interfering with a Citizen’s Fundamental Rights Under the Constitution Without Explanation.

Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the Northern District of California declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional Aug. 4, and he suggested that only the state could defend the law. In his ruling overturning Prop. 8 and in a subsequent order denying a stay, he said the "measure's sponsors had failed to show any prospect of harm in allowing same-sex weddings."

Just last week, the federal appeals court decided that same-sex marriages remain barred while the case is on appeal, despite the fact that the state is not defending the measure.  Moreover,  the 3-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit did not even state its reasons for issuing a stay that put the marriages on hold until the court decides whether Prop. 8 violated the constitutional right to marry.  The appeals court will decide whether the initiative's sponsors have legal standing to represent the state's interests during a hearing the week of Dec. 6 in San Francisco.

So, this order, without any kind of explanation leaves thousands of gay and lesbian couples wondering why they can't marry, and millions more people wondering why Prop. 8 remains in effect after a federal judge found it unconstitutional.

Links

Support for Same-Sex Marriage - Support for gay marriage has risen to 45 percent or more, according to national polls, and a CNN poll this month found that a narrow majority of Americans supported same-sex marriage.

Courage Campaign 

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Homo High? Is Segregation the Answer?

It should come as no surprise that LGBT students are much more susceptible to harassment, bullying and discrimination than just about any other group, with the exception of possibly obese students [which unfortunately may become the norm in the near future, considering one in three children/teens in the US are overweight or obese].

The GLSEN National School Climate Survey study found that 86.2 percent of  LGBT students reported varying degrees of bullicide during school hours due to their sexual orientation. And 61%  who identified as LGBT indicated they felt unsafe at school.  The hostile environment leads to a high dropout rate for these kids.

No federal laws currently exist that specifically protects young LGBTs.  But Minnesota Democratic senator Al Franken has introduced a bill,  the Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA),  that would make anti-gay bullying in schools a federal offense. (Click here and here and here to support)

"Our nation’s civil rights laws protect our children from bullying due to race, sex, religion, disability and national origin. My proposal corrects a glaring injustice and extends these protections to our gay and lesbian students who need them just as badly." - Al Franken

So, are exclusive  LGBT schools the answer?

Well, the issue at hand is whether the creation of separate schools will become an excuse for those in public administration to avoid implementing reforms that will protect LGBT students from discrimination and bullying regarding their sexual orientation. Moreover, there is the issue that segregation might prolong the existence of homophobia by bolstering the average homophobe's belief that gay people are unlike "regular" people.

“If we create ‘Homo High,’ we don’t have to prohibit this behavior in other schools.  The reality is, we have to live as neighbors. We have to learn to tolerate one another, if not accept one another. All our kids should be safe in all our schools; segregation is not the answer.” - Rick Garcia, political director for the LGBT advocacy group Equality Illinois

Kevin Jennings, the founder of the GLSEN network, and now the "Safe Schools Czar" , or Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools that President Obama appointed in 2009,  who has been the target of right-winged witch hunts ever since, disagrees. He said, "We can continue to do nothing, and we know the results, or we can save young people’s lives and offer them an education and a future.”

There is no question that there should be alternatives to mainstream education for some LGBT students.  However, as more than ever before, young Americans are choosing to live openly as LGBT, which challenges the deep-seated societal bias toward homosexuality, segregating gay students at this time may halt any progression that has already occurred.  And then there are the students who will never enroll in these schools, either who may need the most protection due to hostile family situations, or who are not yet ready to confront the possible consequences that identifying as gay may present.

Links:

Antibullying Bill Passes N.Y. State Senate According to the Empire State Pride Agenda, the statewide LGBT advocacy group, “The bill creates tools for school administrators, teachers, parents. and students to address bullying and bias-related behavior of all kinds that interfere with student safety and learning. Key provisions include developing rules to prevent and respond to discriminatory harassment and hate violence; establishing teacher, staff, and administrative training guidelines; incorporating discrimination awareness into civility and character education curricula; and required reporting of incidents of bias harassment to the state education department.”

Gay and Lesbian Rights/Sexual Orientation Discrimination

Your Rights Against Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation

Strategies to Prevent Homelessness, Strengthen Services and Build Support for LGBTQ Youth - Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's final report of recommendations from the City’s Commission for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) Runaway and Homeless Youth. The Commission began its work in October 2009 and was charged with developing strategies to address the unique needs of LGBTQ youth.

Massachusetts Rights of LGBT Public School Students

If you or someone you know is a victim of a hate crime, or if you have direct knowledge of such a crime, please contact your local FBI office . The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 protects all persons equally regardless of immigration status. Reporting the incident to the FBI is a necessary step to ensuring justice for all victims of violent hate crimes.

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What do Texas and Uganda Have in Common?

While the Obama Administration plans to expand family and medical leave to same-sex parents, and other non-'traditional' families, the Texas GOP wants to take a page from Uganda's "kill the gays" bill linked to C-Street's The Family,  and criminalize gay marriage and reinstate the sodomy ban.  In effect, Texas wants to punish those who support gay rights.

The 2010 State Republican Party Platform in Texas supports laws that criminalize sodomy and suggests that straight people who support same-sex marriage should be penalized with jail time.The GOP platform was quoted as openly stating:

“We oppose the legalization of sodomy. We demand that Congress exercise its authority granted by the U.S. constitution to withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from cases involving sodomy,” the GOP platform reads. Meaning that even though the U.S. Supreme Court overturned sodomy laws last decade (ironically in a case that stemmed from Texas), Texas Republicans would like the state to have the power to criminalize LGBT folks for having sex.

“We support legislation that would make it a felony to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple and for any civil official to perform a marriage ceremony for such,” reads the GOP platform.

If a straight person were to aid and abet a gay couple with marriage in Texas, th GOP would like to see that person serve mandatory jail time.

“We believe that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases,” the platform reads.

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Judge Walker Shows Skepticism Towards Both Sides in Gay Marriage Case

President Obama announced June as National LGBT Pride Month  and will hold a White House gay pride reception on June 22 to recognize the estimated  nine million people who represent the LGBT population in the United States.  He said that “our Nation draws its strength from our diversity,” and then called upon Americans to “observe this month by fighting prejudice and discrimination in their own lives and everywhere it exits.”

And it appears the majority of our nation is ready to do just that.  The "closet" is gradually disappearing  and acceptance of homosexual relations, especially amongst those under 30, is increasing by leaps and bounds. However, despite this fact, gay equality has a way to go. 

On Wednesday June 16, closing arguments in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage will be  heard.  Lawyers will have to answer questions posed by Judge Walker on issues presented in the testimony in January of this year.

"The 29 questions Judge Walker issued this week suggest skepticism towards both arguments. He asked the defense to prove that gay marriage harms society, and to show how prohibiting gay marriage furthers a state interest in having children raised by their married biological mothers and fathers.


Judge Walker also challenged plaintiffs to provide "empirical" evidence that not being allowed to marry harms gays and lesbians. He also asked how the court could find Prop 8 to be unconstitutional without also taking up the federal Defense of Marriage Act."

Any decision either by the District Court or the Ninth Circuit in the plaintiffs' favor will almost certainly face the Supreme Court in appeal.  Unfortunately, given the far-right leaning of  SCOTUS, chances are that step in the right direction, if it is to occur, will be reversed to the wrong direction.  

In other news,  Iceland passed gay marriage law in a unanimous vote on Friday.

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What Kind of Message is the Debate on DADT Sending?

Historic votes don't assure end to 'don't ask, don't tell'?

Really? Even when, overwhelmingly, public opinion is pro-DADT repeal, but the Joint Chiefs chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen, is urging caution and delay.  He says that he is concerned about the potential impact of the repeal of the discriminatory policy  that is DADT, because he's afraid the repeal will interfere with  "military's readiness, unit cohesion, recruiting and retention". Mullen is sorry that the vote went through before the Pentagon completed its policy review, the Pentagon's survey of troops and their families, which will supposedly demonstrate how to gradually pace the implementation of the repeal. What does that even mean?  

“So since they know DADT is almost certainly on the way out, the real question for senior military leaders is to negotiate the best terms for its repeal. And what they want to protect more than anything else, as ADM Mullen’s comments indicate, is their ability to retain control over military personnel policies generally. If they fight a repeal that happens anyway, the loss of control would reverberate over the long term. But if they hold off implementing a repeal that is coming no matter what until they can say that they completed a study that endorses repeal, they can put themselves on the “winning” side. It’s a neat political sleight-of-hand that is a well-worn tool among Washington insiders — those who control policy implementation in a given area can position themselves to be the champions of a policy change that they know is coming rather than fighting it and being seen as defeated.”

“DADT will probably be repealed, but implementation will probably be delayed until the military makes a climactic endorsement of the policy change that’s coming anyway. The modern military is politically savvy enough to make itself the winner of the turf war in the process.” -- Jason Arvak

Why, all of a sudden, is there is an abundance of concern for the opinion and/or feelings of the military's rank and file?  Were surveys completed on how the rank and file feel about compensation policy, consecutive tours of duty without any additional support, soldiers on food stamps, Blackwater, etc?   

Anyway, the  "don't ask don't tell" compromise seems to think that the military's rank and file  are so fragile that the admission of the true sexuality of a colleague, who is equally willing to put his or her  life on the line for this country, will send them spiraling over the edge. If that's true, how can they expect these"fragile" men and women to risk  life and limb, as they endeavor to endure live combat?  Nevertheless, the president, the defense secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff must certify that the repeal will not affect the military’s ability to fight.



The focus of this debate in the media has accentuated all the "negative" aspects or repealing DADT, when in fact, very few, if any negative aspects exist.  Tune in and you will hear about the poor timing, "implementation problems" (gradual pace), and undermining "military cohesion" just to name a few.  And even though the repeal is non-controversial at this point, with recent polls showing as much as 75% of the public in favor, the corporate media has turned the repeal of DADT into a political football, making the repeal far from a done deal as "two hurdles remain before the demise of "don't ask, don't tell" can be assured".  McCain being one, and

Since it became law in 1993 under Bill Clinton, DADT has forced lesbian, gay and bisexual service members to stay in the closet or face discharge.  To date, 13,500 members of the armed forces were discharged under this law, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, SLDN, an advocacy organization, while tens of thousands of current service members are forced to hide in the closet.

At  a time when the military and U.S. intelligence agencies did not have enough Arabic linguists - their skills indispensable - the military  fired at least fifty-eight Arabic translators placing the anti-gay position over national security, exponentially adding to the hidden cost of this onerous law.    How many terrorist messages went untranslated because an arabic or farsi or urdu translator was not OMG! heterosexual?

Recently, Dan Choi, the most visible gay spokesperson in favor of the repeal, and a West Point graduate and officer in the Army National Guard who is fluent in Arabic with a degree in environmental engineering, and who returned recently from Iraq, received notice that the military is about to fire him. Why? Because he came out of the closet as a gay man on national television.

Other nations that have lifted similar bans involving gays — including such close allies as Australia, Britain, Canada and Israel — report no harm to military effectiveness. As many as 66,000 gay men and women may be serving in the U.S. military, about 2.2 percent of all personnel, including 13,000 on active duty, according to a study by the Williams Institute of the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law.

But the homophobic GOP prepared to refuse an up or down vote in the Senate on a bill that funds the troops during two wars because Americans will eventually be able to serve in the Armed Forces, without hiding their sexual orientation. Unsurprisingly, in Fox’s nine segments that mentioned Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell following Obama’s announcement, not a single gay source was featured.

What kind of justice forces homosexuals, who serve our country, in the military, hide who they are, as they make the ultimate sacrifice?

Links:
Repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Would Honor Gay Veterans

"Except that it wasn't. At a ceremony to recognize our completion of basic training, the base commander gave a speech in which he said, "If you're homosexual, you have no business being here." As much as anything, it was the tone in which it was said, as if to say, "If you're hiding, we will find you."

I was shaken by the commander's statement. It was as if he had said it directly to me. Though I went on to complete my technical school training and was subsequently assigned to an Air Force base in West Texas, the damage had been done. I became overwhelmed by doubt and depression, fearing that if my secret were found out, only the worst of fates -- court-martial, for example -- awaited me.

My military service ended some three months later after I approached my supervisor about a discharge. I didn't tell him I was gay, just that I thought I was incompatible with military service. A compassionate man, he was sorry to me go, but worked with me to get me discharged. Less than eight months after I had enlisted, I was heading back to Denver as a civilian once more."

Palm Center - "Blueprints for sound public policy." The Palm Center is a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Since 1998, the Center has been a leader in commissioning and disseminating research in the areas of gender, sexuality, and the military. For more information visit

Myths and Falsehoods of Don't Ask Don't Tell

Media reports are legitimizing the fear tactics of anti-gay obstructionists with uncritical reporting about gay troop disruptions.

But Aaron Belkin, Director of the Palm Center, says this is a “false debate” taken up too readily by even mainstream journalists. “There is zero evidence that the transition will be difficult,” he said. “In fact, research across the board shows that implementation of openly gay service is a non-event and that the only thing that could make it bumpy is the suggestion by leaders that there’s cause for alarm.” Belkin pointed to research by the Government Accountability Office, the RAND Corporation, and the Palm Center showing that just two variables are relevant in ensuring a smooth transition: signals of confidence by leadership and a clear, single standard of behavior that applies to everyone. He also said that, unlike ending racial segregation, lifting "don't ask, don't tell" does not require massive change, such as the movement of personnel or newly integrating units, since gays are already integrated into units throughout the force, and polls show that many of them already serve openly.

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Potential of Gay Men...Hence Society's Fear

Why is society terrified of male homosexuals, in particular? Why is 90% of the population terrified of a group of males who make up at the very most (according to Kinsey) 10% of the population?

After all, society in general, makes it clear that gay men are weak, lack strength, can't even hold down a pair of loafers etc.

Okay...if gay men are so fragile, feeble, and collapse under the strain, what's the big deal? Why must most boys who, from the moment their less than "masculine" traits manifest, experience habitual intimidation, cruelty, and persecution from every corner of their world, even their own families?

Racial and religious minorities still have the support of family and friends growing up; however, young "effeminate" boys must withstand and bear the weight of society's hatred all alone. In general, "tomboys" are accepted for the most part, even preferred in some cases, whereas everyone, including their own family members, often ostracizes boys who do not conform to society’s standards of masculine. I've heard some adults go as far as to say they would rather hear their son had cancer than find out he is a homosexual. What is it about male homosexuality that can turn, what appears to be a normal person, into a fearful, sadistic, raging lunatic? What is it about male homosexuality that can make parents turn on their own child?

Years ago, this conversation -- as much as I can recall -- transpired between my Aunt and Uncle, the same ones who unmercifully punished their kid for cursing, and later that day told the boy, "Be careful next time" after he shot the dog’s eye out just for something to do. Keep in mind, my mother told me this and considering how she feels about my father’s side of the family, this may contain some embellishment.

Aunt: "Bill, I’m afraid I have bad news.it..it's Jimmy. You better sit down..."

Uncle: "OK, what did he do this time? Should I get the strap?"

Aunt: "Now Bill, please...I want you to remain as calm as you poss....getting.."

Uncle: "Oh my God! My son's a homo, isn't he"?!?!?

Aunt: "Oh Heaven forbid! Of course not...I said, bad news not devastating..."

Uncle: "Goddammit! What the hell is it?"

Aunt: "Honey, your language...our Lord...He's listening..and..."

Uncle: "Fuck! What the hell is it?"

Aunt: "Our Jimmy is a murderer."

Uncle: "...don’t ever scare me like that again! Murder...we can deal with. Call my attorney...I'm sure he has the names of some good defense attorneys...By the way. Who did he kill?

Aunt: "Bria.."

Uncle: "You mean that kid who ruined Jimmy’s chances at a baseball scholarship..the same kid who threw a ball like my Great Aunt Ethel, and the one who lost that all important final game that would have given Jimmy the exposure....

Aunt: "That’s the one."

Uncle: " Well as usual, Jimmy took things a little too far, but...."

Aunt: "...but we always knew Jimmy was “all boy” didn’t we Bill? He was always.."

Uncle: "That poor kid was so disappointed when that homo Brian didn't get the ball... "

From this strange conversation, I would say my aunt and uncle value "masculinity" more than anything else, more than their Lord, and even more than life itself.

Why all the hatred toward people who society makes very clear, are "frail"? Why does society insist upon convincing this group, who they perceive as "less than masculine", that they are powerless? Why does this cruel form of "brainwashing" begin, in many cases, before some of these boys even start school?

More than biology, gender is mostly a social construct. Gender specifically dictates what is socially and culturally "normal" for men and women in our patriarchal system. Gender inequality makes certain the established few will maintain authoritative and/or dominating influence over the many. The United Nations sums it up this way.

"Women, who comprise half the world's population, do two thirds of the world's work, earn one tenth of the world's income and own one hundredth of the world's property."

Men rule, that's for sure, but it only takes a small minority of men...the rest of the population, including the men excluded from this small minority - 99% of all men - must be kept in line so that the structure of the patriarchal system can continue to exist. Society achieves this by clearly defining what is masculine and what is considered "less than" masculine, labeling it "feminine" or "weak".

Conditioned from birth on how to act and respond, most males conform by repressing any side of themselves that defies qualities traditionally ascribed to men. The irony is their quest to be men is rooted in fear, fear of not living up to society's agenda for them. In other words, sheep, scared to death of anything that might interfere with their "virility"...hardly what I'd call manly.

Boys who read more books than are physically active or express emotions more than is appropriate are labeled less than masculine. There is a very good reason this is so...passionate men, who think for themselves pose a great danger to what took thousands of years to build; therefore, it's best if masculinity is defined in such a way that pretty much eliminates both passion and intellect.

For example, American men, it seems, are only allowed to express excessive emotion when it comes to sports, dogs, and patriotism. Intellectual men are classified as commie, pinko, weak and not as manly despite the fact that most of the founding fathers could be described as intellectuals. Too many thinking men in touch with their emotions in combination with their physical strength could wreak havoc on a system where authority is vested in "maleness"?

The one emotion men are allowed to express, and still be men is anger. It's important not to eliminate anger from a man's repertoire of emotion because anger is mobilizing, and channeled correctly can make for a better warrior. However, in order for anger to remain "manly" it must be directed toward non-conformity, men's bluster takes on a "pinkish" hue, because of all the emotions, anger is the most dangerous if ever it's directed toward "thee man".

By their very presence, gay men dare to challenge all of the protocols derived from a society organized around male privilege and the oppressive relationship between "masculine" and "feminine." Acceptance of gay male characteristics could very possibly undermine not only the definition of what it is to be a man, but make acceptable, feminine qualities.

So, what's the deal? Why so much effort to keep gay men down?

First of all, openly gay men are anything but weak, the reason the process of indoctrination begins so early. Enduring a lifetime of animosity, hate, rejection and threats to body, mind and soul, openly gay men have shown the kind of courage the majority of the population does not have and never will possess in their lifetime. This is especially true of gay men whose effeminacy outs them at a very young age. Even if these men never officially "come out" the courage it must take to face and overcome the abuse inflicted upon them, sometimes on a daily basis from early childhood on is remarkable. In contrast, dig beneath the surface of male bravado and you will find insecurities and fear so deeply ingrained it would take years of psychological therapy to penetrate. Someone once said, those "who worship power are the most terrified creatures on earth".

Secondly, due to the stigma of male homosexuality, there is no telling how many gay men really exist. If homosexuals suddenly became as worthy as heterosexuals, therefore providing the generative force necessary to push all men attracted to other men out of the closet ; gay men might band together and discover how powerful they really are.

Thirdly, all openly gay men, to one degree or another, defy society's definition of what it is to be a "man", blurring the boundaries relating to gender, and many pay the price that other men are not willing to take. What if we remove the price and tolerate gay men the same way we accept straight men? "Masculine" would be redefined over time to include the complete spectrum of emotion, creativity, intellect, and all the characteristics currently defined as "less than" masculine. These same qualities kept in check by the powers that be, once released, might allow men, in turn, to release their fears and embrace who they really are instead of letting family, friends, social institutions and tradition dictate who they should be.

Most gay men have learned to depend on themselves, having no one to turn too when growing up, therefore making it difficult to trust others and less likely to unite. Unfortunately, this greatly advantages those who want to keep gay men "in their place". However, if openly gay men, already courageous, unite and harness that courage, greatly increasing their power, and encourage those more inhibited to shear the wool coat, a true revolution of values could result and put an end to the lies that keep us all in line.

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