What's he on about now?

In case the articles, essays and opinions throughtout this site just weren't enough for you, here's my online diary (a.k.a. 'blog'). It's as close as you'll come to the inside of my head, so don't say I didn't warn you
(and remember, you can always e-mail me if you love or loathe anything you're about to read)...


   Friday, July 11, 2008

   ALAS, POOR BLOG

I love a good Letter to the Editor and this week, my friend James Ip wrote:

Scottie - why don't you blog anymore? I checked your site and the last thing was from the fall?...

Sigh. True, so true. What started out as a slight Christmas break became a full-fledged shutdown.

Not that I was lazy. Being the managing editor of fab was always more work than most people assumed a fluffy gay rag would need but, as rumours of a buyout from Xtra became louder and louder, the urge to write about my life or state of mind became quieter and quieter. I endured months of paranoia and aggravation until the hammer came down in February and who wants to read about all that? You, my kind readers, had already endured the entirety of 2005 (aka The Year George W. Bush Made Me Insane)!

In the end though, it kind of worked out. Well, if you can call getting fired along with virtually everyone at the magazine 'working out' but I'm now writing for three gay magazines, including the one that fired me. At the time, it felt a bit like being dumped and then asked for rebound sex but, in the sunshine of a Toronto summer, that water has flowed well past the bridge.

I wrote a massive piece on the first year of the new gay and lesbian radio station and was offered the 'daily roundup' blog on Xtra's website, where I get to put on my Jon Stewart hat and have a bit of fun with the news. That and the ever-addictive Facebook have stolen from this page, my first love, but I think it's time to see just how promiscuous I can be. Now that I'm out of work and freelancing, it's important to just keep writing, writing, writing (preferably for money) and I think this blog could function well as an ongoing 'progress report,' just to let everybody know what I'm up to.

It's a little scary to be living like a journalist without necessarily feeling like one but, in times of self-doubt, I turn to the lovely people who post videos like these on YouTube:


How Not to Start an Interview


Blind, not gay


Disastrous Holly Hunter interview

So yeah, underemployed or not, it looks like the world still needs me! So I'm getting back to work and you'll see more of it here (along with a website revamp, hopefully soon).

Coming up: the 10th annual Friends for Life Bike Rally! Yes, I'm back in the saddle and you'll hear more on that soon...

Labels: fab, George W Bush, homo-a-go-go, introspective, money - lack thereof, repair, working girl, writing

Amazing how Cusack can so charmingly deliver the final ego-deflater.

-- Reply posted by  Whisky Prajer at July 17, 2008

 

Post a Comment

Today was the International Day of Solidarity with the Writers Guild of America, STILL on strike in an attempt to gain an adequate cut of the money that studios are poised to make from Internet downloads and streaming of content the writers create. To put it in perspective, the last time Hollywood writers went on strike was in 1988. The resulting deal had nothing about the yet-to-come DVD format that ended up making billions for the studios. In the current strike, the writers are asking that the 0.3% they now get from DVD sales of their work be increased to 0.6% -- and the studios ARE REFUSING.

So yes, a day of solidarity -- with protests in Canada, England, Ireland, Australia, Germany and France. I decided to go down this morning to add another body. This isn't just about Hollywood. I've seen in recent years how journalists are paid less because of a new belief that any blogger can do what they do; meanwhile, the bloggers are expected to write for free because they're not 'real' journalists. It's a tidy little scheme they've got going but hopefully one with a short shelf life.

Walking in circles in the cold, I thought of Toronto's own Joe Shuster, the co-creator of Superman who was poor and going blind in a nursing home while DC Comics was making billions from his character. Lex Luthor himself couldn't have been as evil as those guys.

But as we marched in formation this morning, chanting slogans coined by the unstoppable Denis McGrath, I turned around to see David Cronenberg walking along with us:



Now THAT'S a surreal morning. He was warm and very friendly, patiently indulging me this fanboy photo. "I'm a writer too," Cronenberg said, "This affects all of us." Exactly.

Labels: politics, repair, Trawna, writing

This will be a hopelessly vague post but, believe it or not, sometimes I am actually concerned about my privacy. So no details but I'm writing to remind myself in the future how and why last night went so horribly wrong:

Trust your own instincts.
That voice in the back of your head knows what it's talking about.

At a party last night, I made a couple wonky choices, trying to "read" the room, and somehow became a really dreadful person. There's lots of thing I could blame it on but none of them stand up to much scrutiny. No, I got to see aspects of myself that I usually either beat down with a stick or run away from, screaming.

I shudder at my behaviour and hope that the host will forgive me.

I'm going to see Ben Lee in concert tonight -- he's got a lyric I like:
"I had to learn to sin successfully." It reminded me of one of my all-time favourite pieces of advice from Mark Twain:

Now then, I propose to inoculate for Sin. Suppose that every time you commit a transgression, a crime of any kind, you lay up in your heart a memory of the shame you felt when your Sin found you out, and so make it a perpetual reminder and perpetual protection against your ever committing that particular Sin again. That is to say, inoculate yourself forever against that particular Sin. Now what must be the result? Why this -- logically and infallibly: that the more crimes you commit (and forever amen) the richer you become, morally; and when you have committed all the trespasses, all the crimes that are known to the calendar of Sin, there you stand, white as an angel, pure as the driven Snow (protected forever from further Sin), the sky-kissing monument of moral perfection.

It's an argument that really makes me, though secretly, I hope Twain was right.

Labels: friends, introspective, repair

Look out, everybody -- here comes an Old Man Rant!
Years ago, I found this great little lamp in Chinatown. It's a little brown cube with rice paper sides and even a scented oil warmer up top (adorable!). It appears in that first 'day in the life' video I made:


Thursday, September 22, 2006

A few months ago, tragedy struck. The halogen bulb burned out and those are tricky to replace. I went to Canadian Tire, showed them the old bulb and left with a recommended replacement -- one that instantly popped and burned out when I plugged it in. I went back, got no further advice from them and began trying a couple bulb variations but with no luck.

I began to think the lamp itself might be the problem so, earlier this week, I brought it to Dudley's Hardware in my neighbourhood. Frank, I'm told, does small appliance repair. He explained to me that the wiring in the lamp is fine but the voltage of the bulbs I'd been recommended was too low. Since this little store doesn't carry such bulbs, I went back to Canadian Tire. I had questions about some other things too but, for the first time in a while, I found the staff there even less help than usual. Everyone just kept passing me off to someone else who didn't know either -- my favourite being the girl who directed me to an empty counter. "Just wait around here," she said. "He'll come back." When I got home, the new bulbs didn't work either.

In desperation, I decided to schlep out to Gerrard Square, where there's a Home Depot. I loathe Wal-Mart and its big-box ilk but here I found someone who instantly took an interest in my wiring problem, hooking my lamp cord up to an electrical reader and testing the bulbs. Everything worked fine, just not together, and he too was stumped. Another Home Depot employee came over to see if he could figure it out. In the end, nothing was solved but it still felt great just to have people at least try to help. And during my time spent in the store, I could see a much more interesting and varied collection of things for the home than at CT. I hate having to lose a perfectly good prejudice but Home Depot won me over.

Monday, I'm going to Paul Wolf industrial lighting supply. They're my last hope. In the meantime, however, I'll remember that Frank at Dudley's looked at my lamp the same day, gave me solid advice and didn't even charge me a nickel. I certainly know where I'll go next time.

Labels: money - lack thereof, repair, technology, Trawna, tributes

Oh, I completely felt for u for the C.T. comments. I shop there all the time due to their weekly sales and wide variety of choices. However, their staff are just so little trained. They always point me into a totally wrong direction when I asked to find something. Furthermore, sometimes they're just too exhausted or too rude to even talk to me. They told me to wait there and just left to finish their work, leaving me standing there waiting like a fool.

Since then, whenever I shop at C.T., I depend on my own senses and observation and it worked better than their staff most of the time. ;-P I could be more familiar with the shelves and location of products at the downtown and Queensway store than some staff there... lol

Good luck, Scott!

Wingo

-- Reply posted by  Anonymous at November 19, 2007

 

I generally prefer Home Hardware to Ca-knucklehead Tire, partly out of convenience (got one in the village) but also because they're usually smaller stores with a staff that's geared to help in any way they can. After all, they're competing against the big Home Cheap-os and all their ilk.

-- Reply posted by  Whisky Prajer at November 19, 2007

 

Post a Comment

Figures.

Right when I seem to be hitting some weird low point of neurosis, my inner and outer romantic life dried up to a brittle husk, I find myself talking today to someone I've had a crush on for quite some time. He always flirts with me but then he's the sort who flirts with everyone so I don't take it too seriously.

Today, however, in the middle of our usual banter, I suddenly blurt out, "Hey, do you want to go out for dinner sometime next week?" I'm horrified. Where the hell did that come from? Worse yet, he says yes and sounds thrilled, immediately setting up a time.

So here I am, feeling rather empty with nothing to give, and I've got a dinner date in eight days with someone really delightful.

No pressure!

Labels: homo-a-go-go, introspective, oh l'amour, repair

That deadpan line from a Thrill Kill Kult song always made me laugh but "Sexplosion" is not what you'd call my weekend. It's a Saturday night and I'm staying in. I can't seem to muster up any desire to leave the house. This is not good.

It's strange because I did have a lot of fun last night. I went to Shane Percy's "Grapefruit" anniversary party at fly (80s pop, mixed crowd, zany drag shows -- what is not to love?) with Robert and Darcy. The latter was blue because he'd just broken up with his boyfriend and couldn't figure out why.
"Well, we broke up because you always got possessive and weird," I not-so-helpfully said.
"But I wasn't this time!" he whined, "I was trying a whole different tack!"
All this time and I still wonder: is he ridiculously adorable or adorably ridiculous?

So we danced together all night; me being guarded around him, fearing that we might end up sleeping together if not careful. Sex is the only thing that worked in our relationship (boy howdy) but I like to keep looking forward. Trouble is, I kept looking around the packed room at this wonderful crush of people -- tall, short, young, not-so-young, gorgeous, peculiar, you name it -- and feeling no pull toward any particular person whatsoever. Even the hot boys were just bland eye candy to me. I don't know what's going on.

I was waved over by Andrew, who I had a fling with once. He's brilliant and has that geeky-cute thing I love but way too young for me. Still, we were glad to see each other and I was chatting with Andrew until another young guy wearing similar chunky black glasses came over and stood beside him. I was introduced and said, "How do you know Andrew?" He gave me a bored look and said, "Uh....we're dating." His tone was enough to add the unspoken-but-obvious capper, "...idiot." It's moments like these when I really hate gay men. Does that make me homophobic? And if so, would I then get laid a lot more often? The answer to both questions is yes.

Later on, a really cute guy in jeans and a black T-shirt approached me and we danced for a bit. He said he liked my tattoo and he smelled really good. But I felt nothing. I couldn't think of anything to say that would intrigue him and didn't really want to anyway. A few years (hell, a few months) ago, I would have run off with him right then but last night? Nothing. Darcy walked me home, said he didn't want to come up and I was relieved.

I'm confused because my sex drive has vanished. It's not like I was ever a Love Machine exactly but I was happy with my Goldilocks status -- more slutty than a schoolmarm, more chaste than a porn star. Now, however, even the few times I have had sex in the last few months have been rather lacking on my part. Celibacy is fine, sometimes even restful, but having sex and being bad at it is an awful feeling. Not that I should ever admit that here on a blog. It's like the worst personal ad ever:

Clean-cut Irish guy seeks similar for feelings of apathy and occasional impotence. Likes thai food and long walks on the beach.

But so it goes. Was it the Baconator? At my nadir of paranoia, I start to fear I'm already turning into one of those fusty blank-faced old men you see walking their dogs at night. I've got the dog and yeah, I'm fusty but c'mon, I'm not even forty!

In rolling all this around in my head, I wrote a piece for the magazine about a couple of my dating travails this year (I'll post it later this week). I wrote it in hopes that people might look at their own search for love and think about what it is they want from it. Learn from my mistakes and all that. This here, however, is just me feeling confessional. It happens from time to time. I'm Catholic.

I'm a somewhat rare Catholic, however, in that I somehow grew up without much shame around sex. Whatever's going on with me right now is, at least, not rooted in that. At least I hope not. I've witnessed many an act of depravity (and occasionally joined in) without any judgments but I do admit I was rattled by a recent piece by Warren Ellis called "America Broke Sex" (rather horrifying and obviously NSFW so click if you dare):

This is how you know you're living in the future: when the pornography bears no earthly resemblance to sex as even the filthiest of us know it. You may as well be renting DVDs of aliens fucking. And America, as Martin Amis once said, is where they road-test the future.

Warren's piece makes me nervous because he's describing a world where the need for sensation (the type I'm desperately feeling right now) has escalated to the point of monstrousness. Clive Barker saw that coming -- it's what drives Hellraiser -- and, as a fellow Catholic, he always joked that he saw sex as horrific as well as sacred.

Excitement lies in the tension between both states. But what if you feel neither? Where's the enthusiasm gone? I don't know what I want anymore, except at least that I know I don't want any donkey punching.

Labels: homo-a-go-go, introspective, repair, writing

His heart, crushed again.
He dips his fingers in pulp.
And paints, like a child.

Labels: oh l'amour, repair, writing

Now any longtime reader knows that I'm quite hard on the Christian churches
--
can't
imagine
why
--
but I'm always strive to be fair, which is why I was so thrilled by two stories today.

First, I chatted on the phone today with Rev. Shawn Sanford Beck, an Anglican priest in Saskatoon who will have his ministry license revoked at the end of this month. Rev. Beck believed that denying gay couples the rite of marriage was "theologically problematic and fundamentally unjust." The bishop ordered him to recant and Beck has refused.

This afternoon, Beck explained to me how this stance was completely consistent with the work that he's done in Saskatoon's poor and Aboriginal communities. He still has a teaching job and his wife works with the food bank so, he says, they'll continue to "live simply" and get by. He was low-key and laid-back throughout the conversation. I told him how honoured I was by his support. I'm not sure I could be that brave in supporting a minority I have no connection with -- what a fantastic person.

But bravery can come from numbers and the second story today comes from the 30-million members of National Association of Evangelicals. Having recently weathered the loss of their hypocrite leader, the NAE have apparently reexamined their stance on a number of issues. Today, they publicly condemned the US government's use of torture while recently reaffirming a commitment to addressing the global warming issue, or what they sweetly call "creation care" -- this is a trend that began last fall but the NAE's involvement marks a big step forward.

Amusingly, the right-wing leaders of the other Christian groups are now freaking out over such disobedience, with a letter to the NAE warning that the global warming debate will "shift the emphasis away from...sexual abstinence and morality," leading (oh, of course) to mass abortions and infanticide. Jerry Falwell even calls the climate discussion "a tool of Satan" used by his usual laundry list of "liberal politicians, radical environmentalists, liberal clergy, Hollywood and pseudo-scientists."

No mention of gay men and lesbians, which is odd since we were (oh, of course) responsible for 9/11. I guess even sodomites can't be responsible for every disaster but what do I know? I'm working for the Jews.

Labels: fab, homo-a-go-go, politics, religion, repair

Good news out of New Orleans:
"Mardi Gras seems more normal this year. Well, as normal as Mardi Gras can be."

In the face of the sickeningly-slow pace of reconstruction, it's great to see Nola slowly getting her mojo back. I'm looking forward to the moment when this sentimental number from the great Billie Holliday (in the 1947 film New Orleans) returns to being lovely, instead of poignant:

Labels: America, music, repair

A strange thing happened on 60 Minutes last night: the President sat down for an interview with someone other than a Fox News puppet and was asked (what?) serious questions...

SCOTT PELLEY: "You know better than I do that many Americans feel that your administration has not been straight with the country, has not been honest. To those people you say what?"

PRESIDENT BUSH: "On what issue? Like the weapons of mass destruction?"

PELLEY: "No weapons of mass destruction."

BUSH: "Yeah."

PELLEY: "No credible connection between 9/11 and Iraq."

BUSH: “Yeah.”

PELLEY: “The Office of Management and Budget said this war would cost somewhere between $50 billion and $60 billion and now we're over 400.”

BUSH: “I gotcha. I gotcha. I gotcha.”

PELLEY: “The perception, Sir, more than any one of those points, is that the administration has not been straight with...”

BUSH: “Well, I strongly disagree with that, of course. I strongly reject that this administration hasn’t been straight with the American people. The minute we found out they didn’t have weapons of mass destruction, I was the first to say so.”

Oh, for pity's sake -- STOP LYING. Dubya consistently makes Bill Clinton sound like George Washington, and Richard Nixon like Mother Theresa. How low does this bar have to drop?

Okay then, George, I do this for you and that sad, strange 25% of Americans who still cling to these imperial fantasies that kill. For the last bloody time...

Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.
-- George W. Bush, March 18, 2003

There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them.
-- Gen. Tommy Franks, Mar 22 2003

We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad.
-- Donald Rumsfeld March 30, 2003

"Before people crow about the absence of weapons of mass destruction, I suggest they wait a bit."
-- Tony Blair, April 28 2003

"In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."
-- George W. Bush, May 1 2003

"U.S. officials never expected that we were going to open garages and find weapons of mass destruction."
-- Condoleeza Rice, May 12 2003

"Given time, given the number of prisoners now that we're interrogating, I'm confident that we're going to find weapons of mass destruction."
-- Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, May 26 2003

"For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction [as justification for invading Iraq] because it was the one reason everyone could agree on."
-- Paul Wolfowitz, May 28 2003

"I don't think they existed."
-- David Kay, head of the Iraq Survey Group, Jan 23 2004

"I didn't think it through...It was a damned discoverable thing that other people brighter than I should have known. The lesson of life is that the 'obvious' isn't."
-- Jay Davis, former head of the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Mar 17 2004

"I would say that Saddam Hussein clearly had the intention of having such weapons."
-- Colin Powell, Sept 17 2004

"We didn't find the stockpiles we thought would be there...Knowing what I know today, I would have made the same decision."
-- George W. Bush, Sept 18 2004

Of course he would. When Pelley quite reasonably asked if Bush feels at all "crushed" by the Iraq fiasco, Bush said, "Quite the contrary. My spirits are strong, and I’m blessed to be the president." Blessed! I'm sure that'll warm the hearts of military parents as the next round of fallen soldiers are announced.

C'mon America, there's a solution for all this: it's called impeachment. It's not that hard. You did it to Clinton without blinking. Since Bush's May 1 2003 "we have prevailed" speech, you've spent more time in Iraq than you did in World War II. Put a fork in it! The fat lady has sung! And with 3000 dead soldiers and counting, the song's getting old.

Labels: America, George W Bush, media, Middle East, repair, war - what is it good for?

I would be very curious to know how many Americans believe that there are still WMD in Iraq, but that they got hidden during the invasion...

Also, the problem with impeachment is that Cheney would then take over, and he's even more evil than The Moron--uh, I mean Dubya.

-- Reply posted by  The Guy in DKNY at January 16, 2007

 

Post a Comment

Obviously, I've been turning cartwheels over this week's revelation that Ted Haggard, leader of the 30-million-member National Association of Evangelicals, bought crystal meth from the gay prostitute he's been visiting for three years. With the US midterm elections tomorrow, it's a political jackpot and the metaphorical culmination of everything I've been ranting about for years!

So why does it make me feel so sad?

Well, first off, I feel sorry for his wife and kids.
Mrs. Haggard must obviously be devastated and, as for the kids, it's hard enough on children when they learn that Dad lied to them about Santa Claus; what if Dad lied about everything he believed in and everything he taught you?

But I actually feel sorry for Ted Haggard.
Watching clips of the infamous interview (with his wife and kids in the car!!!), the troubling face-off with hectoring atheist Richard Dawkins or the truly-terrifying excerpt from Jesus Camp is all creepy enough, but reading transcripts of the prostitute detailing their time together in karmic 'Bill-Clinton-Starr-Report' fashion is totally gruesome.

Last year, Harpers did a lengthy profile on Haggard called Soldiers of Christ that I found profoundly unsettling; now it's also profoundly sad. The man is clearly a seething mass of frustrated contradictions:

The fact is, I am guilty of sexual immorality, and I take responsibility for the entire problem. I am a deceiver and a liar. There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I’ve been warring against it all of my adult life.

For extended periods of time, I would enjoy victory and rejoice in freedom. Then, from time to time, the dirt that I thought was gone would resurface, and I would find myself thinking thoughts and experiencing desires that were contrary to everything I believe and teach. Through the years, I’ve sought assistance in a variety of ways, with none of them proving to be effective in me. Then, because of pride, I began deceiving those I love the most because I didn’t want to hurt or disappoint them.

I don't hear the words of a 48-year-old right-wing Christian leader in this statement Haggard made on Sunday, I hear the unhappy rationalizations of a gay teenager. Maybe I'm projecting here but this statement sounds an awful lot like what I was writing in my diary at 17. I wish someone could've taken Ted aside and said, "You're not repulsive and dark -- you're a homo!"

I even began to feel sorry for his followers. I can't imagine how confusing this must be for them. When Bill Clinton admitted to having sex with "that woman," I felt disappointed in him and frustrated by his lack of control. But when you get right down to it, Clinton wasn't part of a massive political movement blaming all the evils of society on young Jewish interns, was he? That kind of disconnect between Haggard's private actions and public rabble-rousing is the sticking point here and, unfortunately, where my sympathies end.

You see, I'd like to think to something good could come from this, that perhaps the evangelical movement will understand that splitting the world into 'us' versus 'them' never works because there's no distinction. 'They' are 'us' and 'us' are 'they.' I'd like to think that this incident may help evangelicals understand that homosexual is less important than the way people channel them. I want them to see that allowing a self-hating gay man to hide by marrying a woman and having five children will ultimately ruin all of their lives. I'd like them to accept that allowing such a person to be honest, to find and live peacefully with another man, would be far more beneficial to society than the sad freakshow we've had to witness this week. I would like to think that but the odds are unlikely when the conclusions are already drawn. Mollie at GetReligion quotes from an e-mail she received, comparing openly-gay Anglican bishop Gene Robinson to Ted Haggard:

A pastor is married for years, has children, runs a successful church, advances in his denomination/sector of Christianity, and then “finds himself” and abandons wife and children for a live-in situation with another man. His reward? Consecration as a bishop in the Protestant Episcopal Church of America and wide-ranging media praise
...
Another pastor apparently is married for years, has children, builds and runs a a successful church, advances in his denomination/sector of Christianity, fights temptation and loses, stays with his family, and when the dam breaks, is crucified in the press as his reward.

This to me is an insane comparison. Gene Robinson divorced his wife three years before he got involved with his current partner. He and his wife are still friends because he was honest with his family and his community through the whole 'coming out' process. However one might feel about Robinson's status as a bishop, anyone who can't see a difference between the way he's dealt with his sexuality and the way Haggard has is either intellectually or spiritually bankrupt. On that note, Canada's own poster boy for nepotism David Frum (creator of the hit catchphrase "Axis of Evil") then chimed on along similar lines:

Consider the hypothetical case of two men. Both are inclined toward homosexuality. Both from time to time hire the services of male prostitutes. Both have occasionally succumbed to drug abuse.

One of them marries, raises a family, preaches Christian principles, and tries generally to encourage people to lead stable lives.

The other publicly reveals his homosexuality, vilifies traditional moral principles, and urges the legalization of drugs and prostitution.
...
If a religious leader has a personal inclination toward homosexuality - and nonetheless can look past his own inclination to defend the institution of marriage and to affirm its benefits for the raising of children - why should he likewise not be honored for his intellectual firmness and moral integrity?

Where's the "intellectual firmness" in Haggard hiring a prostitute and buying crystal meth? Where's the "moral integrity" in doing so while denying people the right to marry? And lying to your own wife and children? And I love the way the argument is framed as either 'stay in the closet for the children' or 'wallow in drugs and prostitutes' -- because no middle ground is possible, right? I can't believe that Frum would try to peddle this kind of crap, but then I read this take from The Christian Post:

While Haggard has only partially admitted guilt, the situation in its entirety is a stark reminder of man’s sinfulness and a dark exposure of how deeply the sin of homosexuality has taken root in the American society. If the accusations are indeed true, now would be the time for the Evangelical community look within its own walls and battle against the culture of sin that looms before the Church of Christ.

Yes, I'd like to think something good could come from the sad story of Ted Haggard but it seems a lot of other lessons have been learned, all of them wrong and none of them helpful.

Labels: America, family, homo-a-go-go, politics, religion, repair

Since conservative Christians were first credited with sweeping Bush into power (twice!) I've obviously carried quite the chip on my shoulder, but how could I not? Their blind, pointless hatred of gay people allowed America to be taken over by thieves, liars, warmongers, racists and child molesters.

Nice job, folks.

And in a Fox News culture, no one listens to the other Christians quietly doing good work -- let alone the Godless Liberals or the Evil Homosexuals -- but now (finally!) liberal Christians are speaking up -- like with this billboard in Connecticut:



"Reclaiming the Prophetic Voice" -- sweeter words have rarely been spoken! And only in this warped era could a condemnation of torturing other human beings be considered a daring political statement.

Meanwhile, David Kuo, former head of Bush's "faith-based initiatives" program, was on Bill Maher's show this weekend to discuss the White House's betrayal. As usual, Maher's a bit of a jerk but Kuo comes off as a champ:

Labels: America, George W Bush, media, politics, religion, repair

So Republican congressman Mark Foley got caught trying to sexually exploit the teenaged pages who worked in Congress, but wait -- it wasn't his fault! Foley's lawyer held a press conference to say that his client had entered alcohol rehab and that Foley had been sexually abused by a priest as a teen.

This week, Foley named that priest -- Rev. Anthony Mercieca, 69 -- who immediately faced up to his sin:

"I had a nervous breakdown and was taking some pills and alcohol and maybe I did something that he didn't like."

Maybe. He just doesn't remember, people! It's like poor Mel Gibson -- a little too much to drink and suddenly you're an anti-Semite! Fortunately, Foley's boss and Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert didn't drink when he covered up the whole scandal for nearly a decade. But wait -- it wasn't his fault! As President Bush explains,

"[Hastert's] done a fine job as speaker, and when he stands up and says 'I want to know the truth'...and I believe yesterday he said that if somebody on his staff, you know, didn't tell him the truth, they're gone. I respect that and appreciate that and believe him."

Blaming underlings is odd, coming from the party of personal responsibility. After all, when Bush was nominated their leader in 2000, he said,

After all of the shouting and all of the scandal, after all the bitterness and broken faith, we can begin again...An era of tarnished ideals is giving way to a responsibility era, and it won't be long now.

Maybe that'll be November 7th, when Americans have the chance to finally kick some of these weasels out of office. Maybe they'll take responsibility then.

Labels: America, George W Bush, insanity, religion, repair

Joe Scarborough, right-wing TV host and former Republican congressman, recently posed the question, "Is Bush an Idiot?" and now criticizes his fellow Republicans for not speaking up against this failed presidency:

That silence -- proof that it is better to be feared than loved in politics -- has had devastating results. The United States is more divided than ever, our leaders are despised around the world, our fiscal situation is catastrophic and congressional approval ratings are the lowest ever. Since nothing sharpens the mind like a political hanging, Republican leaders in the Senate and House are finally considering doing what effete newspaper editorialists have suggested for years: throwing Bush overboard.

I'd like to speak on behalf of effete editorialists everywhere when I say hello, Joe, and welcome aboard the Good Ship Reality! Let's set sail for a new horizon...

Labels: America, George W Bush, media, politics, repair

Newsweek interviewed Robert Greenwald, director of the Halliburton documentary Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers:

Would you say your films are balanced?
No. But they're truthful. Do I have to show a side that isn't truthful — that doesn't have the facts behind it — in order to create balance? I argue no.

Labels: media, repair

The radio this morning practically shrieked with hysteria over today's anniversary. "WHERE WERE YOU ON THAT DAY?" the announcer demanded. It's obscene.

I know where I was. You know where you were. Those of you who lost someone in the attacks remember all too well. I don't live in New York or Washington. I was safe, my friends and loved ones were safe, and for that I'm grateful. I don't need to say any more.

I'd even planned to leave the topic alone altogether (!), until hearing about this "Path to 9/11" TV-movie that aired last night and tonight, this disgraceful piece of propaganda from ABC/Disney. The movie invents scenes out of thin air designed to blame the WTC attacks on Bill Clinton's laziness in the years previous, while whitewashing George W. Bush's ineptitude before, during and after the attacks.

While I'm sure every member of the Clinton administration regrets what more they could've done, these accusations against them are being made by the same people who blocked Clinton's anti-terrorist legislation and condemned his attempts to kill Osama bin Laden as a cheap ploy to distract attention from the earthshattering importance of Monica Lewinsky. It was a disturbingly cynical attack on him then, and even more so now, as no amount of spin or revisionist history can excuse the colossal and horrific failures of the Bush White House.

I am not interested in continually reliving 9/11 but I would like to relive 9/12 -- that tiny flicker of hope and unity that so briefly flourished in the worldwide response to the attacks. The squandering of that moment, that opportunity, is the second tragedy, says the New York Times' Frank Rich this week.

His opinion is shared by Keith Olbermann of MSNBC. He's been on fire this week -- I'd posted a previous commentary below -- but last night's commentary is even more heartfelt, angry and powerful. I still hope that people will listen because there's nothing wrong with the world that we can't fix, so long as we stop listening to the static of fear and lies, and start listening to people like these:

Labels: America, George W Bush, media, politics, repair