A humbler time in America

“We won this war because our men are brave and because of many things — because of Russia, England and China and the passage of time and the gift of nature’s material. We did not win it because destiny created us better than all other peoples. I hope that in victory we are more grateful than we are proud.”

I used to live in a country called America.

Ugly then, ugly now.

I heard two [white male] tea-baggers interviewed at yesterday’s protest. One was asked if this was his first foray into political activism, he replied “The only other rally I’ve ever been to was the Promise Keepers . . . I’m just an ordinary guy.”

The second, an organizer for a rally in Oklahoma, was asked by CNN’s Don Lemon pointedly (repeatedly) what exactly the protesters wanted.

“We want our country to go back a hundred years,” he answered, donning his “don’t tread on me” yellow t-shirt.

Let’s see, one hundred years ago . . .

Women didn’t have the right to vote. Wives were property. Abortion was unspeakable.

Whites and blacks were segregated. There were no civil rights. Lynchings were common.

There was no Medicare. No cure for polio. No Penicillin. Sickness was a smite from God. One prayed.

Sodomy laws were still on the books as a criminal act (until 2003). Homosexuals were known to kill themselves.

White men, and their white man’s “God,” held dominion over the land (what they still refer to as “Our America.” Obama’s not “their president.” Women? O, you mean “the wife”).

Yep, as far as I can tell, that’s what they want. Keep America White. Christian (the “gun-toting/God-fearing” kind). Straight. Male.

“Free.”

_____

Addendum (17/09/09): “I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man.”

Thank you, again, for your brave unwavering voice, President Carter.

Photo: “So this is what a straight [white] pride march looks like.”

Rally

“We all voted for change we can believe in. If we don’t get it, we’ll get some more change in 2010,” [Former DNC chairman, Howard] Dean roared, the crowd applauding between bites of hamburgers, hot dogs and macaroni salad.

American health-care reform’s real “public option”: The menu.

10 Simple Things You Can Do

Seriously, would you buy a wiener from this mook?, originally uploaded by tread.

“I used to live in a country called America.”

We would rather be ruined than changed;

We would rather die in our dread

Than climb the cross of the moment

And let our illusions die.

W. H. AUDEN, The Age of Anxiety

“I used to live in a country called America.“


“The frantic search for happiness.“

Photo: My hometown.

The cost of the crown.*

US POLL: Should Miss California Have Answered the Gay Marriage Question Differently? 

7:17 AM Kirby Says:

She’s absolutely RIGHT! In her own words, she spoke from HER heart, and for HER beliefs, and HER god. Not EVERYONE’s beliefs. NOT America’s “god”, HERS. As far as being “biblically correct,” again, HER beliefs. Other “righteous” faiths believe their god is right, too, and they, like a number of you, want gays and assorted others put to death. You are are always FREE to believe and FREE to speak as you choose, even sometimes in America. AND YOU ARE EQUALLY FREE NOT TO SHARE THOSE BELIEFS AND TO SPEAK YOUR OWN TRUTH (or not), just as Miss Prejean did. The survey asks the wrong question… it’s not “politically correct” v. “true to yourself”, it’s FREEDOM v. NO FREEDOM. You can BELIEVE whatever you want. And gays, just like you and me, should be FREE to marry. It ain’t up to HER god or YOUR god, it’s about the FREEDOM to be a citizen in this country. I’m SO glad Miss Prejean spoke true to her beliefs. She is the new face of Anita Bryant. We now know what she believes. Good for her.

Now, WHEN DO WE GET TO VOTE ON YOUR MARRIAGE?

*As for Little Miss Runner-Up (aka Anita 2), I guess her very own special pageantry crown awaits for her in heaven (kinda like the seventy+ virgins promised those cheerleading for the other god). Who knows? Maybe she’ll even get to compete for “Miss Blonde Heaven” (more likely, an upcoming Playboy interview/spread). By the way, who did win “Miss USA”? God, you gotta feel sorry for her.

p.s. Perez Hilton is a butt-ugly ass-wipe.

A cross America.

When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. — Sinclair Lewis, originally uploaded by ^Berd.

Where shopping is a pleasure.

Canned yams and marshmallow fluff. Ain’t that America.

[thx Don and Jason]
Photo: Don Pyle

Never blend in.

At my first screening of Milk, I came with a critical eye. There’s a lot of history here to recreate/relive. I had lived voraciously through its time in the States as a very public, fuck’m in the streets, gay activist, relishing my criminality, hating straights, hating myself, dancing my tits off most nights through university backed with my daily pursuit to service any number/variety of hot men over eight inches, 24/7, par excellence. So, I knew the scene, the politics, the Briggs, the Anita Bryants, (the Ted Haggards). The Harvey Milk story is gay America’s Martin Luther King story, already brilliantly chronicled in Rob Epstein’s 1985 Oscar-winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, based on Randy Shilts’ The Mayor of Castro Street (with yet another feature film in the works), and thirty years later, the same religious hegemonic crap is being protested in America today. Only back then, it was hardly about anything so trite as “gay marriage”. “Never Blend In” is the film’s promotional byline. Beyond King, the gay movement was a battle cry for liberation, FREEDOM baby, for ALL! For everyone. The “us” that Milk speaks of is everyone outside the “establishment”, the Man, any “authority” over our bodies. That great, idyllic, promise of American freedom, still only a dream, for those few who can still afford to dream.

And dream we must. But we must also live.

On a recent second viewing, I let this glorious gem of a film tell me its story, and O, what a story. An American story. An only in America story, because, lest we forget, America’s first impulse is to fight, first, foremost, and always. America was built (continues to be) on the conquer and slaughter of entire nations. Americans fight for everything, including their causes. You can’t win without a fight. And Americans can only win. (This, so brilliantly on display in yet another timely American film, Frost/Nixon). Number 1. We never quit. This is America.

The rights of Americans have all been hard fought for. Killed for. While I heartily welcome, invite other, un-American approaches, it’s inherently the American way.

The fight continues. And, we the people, will prevail.

Guns. God. Country. First. (with the little missus on the side.)

Ain’t that rich white Republicangood ‘ol boy America.

Meet the Barracuda

Cindy McCain’s $300,000 Outfit

O Happy 4th!

Citizens from all fifty states can marry in sunny California whether you both sport a penis or a vagina or not.

Barack Obama is running for President of the United States.

Jesse Helms is dead.

Buy a Big Mac.

God Bless America.