Tonight is the international "Lights Out" from 8 - 9 pm

Spring Cleaning

It was long overdue getting to all of the changes on my links, but I'm caught up (for now).

There are some new sites to check out (as if anybody has the time) added as well: the news site 365gay, and the very funny author Kevin Sessums.

While I'm at it, Larry Portzline, of Bookstore Tourism has announced he's going to take a break to concentrate on writing his novel (Go Larry!); if you haven't already, you really ought to give him a well deserved thank you for all that he's done on behalf of independent bookstores at lportzline@comcast.net.

I tried to give Sally Kern the benefit of a doubt, but in the end,she proved to be not just wrong, but SCARY wrong

The link above will take you to Daily Oklahoman website coverage, which includes the entire unedited text as part of the ongoing series on the Sally Kern controversy. You might want to save it for Halloween, or to scare your kids by showing them how they'll turn out if they don't stay in school.

When I did send my letter to Rep. Kern, it was polite, and with the belief that she was a reasonable person. Now I'm beginning to think she may have grown up downwind from a meth lab. The things she says are so crazy, they stopped even being scary... except for the fact that this is an elected official in the state of Oklahoma, and there are other people who think like her! She even cites enough sources in the podcast to suggest that she's been indoctrinated or taught or brainwashed (no, scratch that; her brain needs a good washing). Somebody out there has a serious case of bad kharma coming to them.

I guess that it was just too beautiful of a day outside for me to not have to pay the price.

Rhymes with "witch," and I don't mean ditch, fitch, hitch, itch, niche, pitch, rich, stitch, switch or twitch

My initial response upon reading the remarks by Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern was to write her a letter. I wasted he better part of a tree before even beginning to rework it on the computer. I still opted to refrain from actually sending the final version until I calmed down a bit more.

Then something happened today. A friend of mine was quite out of sorts over impending word on whether he passed his citizenship exam. While reassuring him, I pointed out that most of the hundred or so Americans present couldn't begin to pass the same exam he'd aced. Through sheer luck of birthright, a lot of Americans have citizenship in this country which they neither appreciate nor make any effort to deserve.

Despite my wavering resolve to hold off adding my two cents worth to the controversy, continued coverage of reaction to Sally Kern's remarks have only served to inflame my inclination to butt in. You can click on the header above to read her remarks. If you don't want to read my ranting, this would be the time to click on any of the nice g-rated links located on the left of this blog.

As an American citizen, not only do I get to spout off my opinion if I so desire, I have seen first hand the terrified looks on faces of people who are trapped in countries where to do so would have dire consequences.

Quite frankly, I don't know that Rep. Kern deserves to be an American. I don't know for certain that she doesn't, but to deliberately and irresponsibly defame and insult members of Congress, gays, Muslims, and anyone who ever took the oath to uphold the constitution of the United States and holds the rights therein sacred...*

Maybe we might all have a case to sue Rep. Kern for real and punitive damages--not to mention pain and suffering. Actually I think her remarks probably deserve her fate to be decided by the likes of Johnny Knoxville or the producers of "Survivor," along with a dressing-down by Simon Cowell on live national television. I'm tempted to add "Celebrity Rehab" to the list, but let's face it, even with her new found notoriety on You tube, Rep. Kern doesn't even cut it as a B-list celebrity.

Of course, that's just my little ol' personal opinion. It might put me on the no-fly list and add a notation to my FBI file, but I'm still allowed to say it. It isn't as if I yelled "fire" in a theater, which is tantamount to what Rep. Kern did.

Well, now that I got that off my chest, I might as well get back to sending her that letter.


* and Americans. Let's not forget Americans! George Bush is still in office for about ten months, so there's still time for him to bomb the @%#! out of whoever disses America!

Pick up a pen. Now. Help save a life

Letters of support are urgently needed to help persuade the Home Office of the United Kingdom to grant permanent asylum to Mehdi Kazemi, who is being threatened with deportation back to Iran. Mehdi has learned that his lover, when tortured, revealed Mehdi's name to authorites, before he was executed. To date, more than 4,000 people have been executed by the Iranian regime.

Click on the header at top to find out how you may assist. In addition, you may send letters to:

Lord Right Honourable Waheed Alli
The SW1 Delivery Office
53 Nine Elms Lane
London, UK
SW8 5BB

or

The Lord Alli
House of Lords
London, UK
SW
1A OPW

You may also send e-mails to Lord Alli, the gay member of the House of Lords who is championing Mehdi's cause, at:

alliw@parliament.uk

The first Spring book releases of the season

Absolution by Susan Fleet, set in New Orleans; and Blind Fall, by New Orleans native Christopher Rice have just been released!

Click on the header at top for a link to Susan's website; Christopher's site may be found under the literary links at left.

If you don't like California, why would you be here, anyway?

Marianne Kearney-Brown Photo: Robert Durrell / LA Times

Cal State East Bay instructor Marianne Kearney-Brown has been reinstated after a statewide row over her being fired for refusing to sign a loyalty oath ...to the state of California. I had no idea we were at war with any of the other states (but we know what the folks in Oregon think of Californians).

The loyalty oath, which all public employees are required to sign, states that they are willing to uphold and bear arms to defend the constitution of the state of California and the US Constitution; it has apparently been around since the Red scare of the early 1950s but I don't remember having signed one, as is the case with many public employees, according to the LA Times article.

Kearney-Brown, a Quaker pacifist, pointed out that the wording of the oath would actually let non-citizen terrorists work as public employees, but penalize loyal citizens who don't want necessarily to take a bullet for the Golden State. Fortunately, a compromise oath was worked out... only some 55 years since it was first instated. And we wonder why the state is running a deficit...

Somebody's cwazy idea... but not mine

It has been through sheer luck and perhaps divine intervention (and the Earthquake and Fire of 1906) that most of the peaks in San Francisco are in (close to) their natural state. I hope this gets consigned to the collection of dumb ideas that were never realized ...like filling in San Francisco Bay.

Resistance is futile

Not only is she running our banking system and rigging the election primaries, but she's also setting the prices for crude oil --and just to really mess with us, she's taken control of the minds of the Metro boardmembers and our governator.