The Lord's Resistance Army

Late last year the President ordered a small contingent of military advisers to Uganda and other central African countries to help local officials find and destroy a group that calls itself The Lord's Resistance Army.

Many conservative leaders used this to prove that President Obama was declaring war on Christians thus proving their point that he was a closet Muslim and Arab Terrorist. After all The Lord's Resistance Army was fighting Muslims in the Sudan and other counties.

The leader of the Republican Party (Rush Limbaugh) said this about the Presidents decision;

Lord's Resistance Army are Christians. It means God. I was only kidding. Lord's Resistance Army are Christians. They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them. That's what the lingo means, "to help regional forces remove from the battlefield," meaning capture or kill.

So that's a new war, a hundred troops to wipe out Christians in Sudan, Uganda, and -- (interruption) no, I'm not kidding. Jacob Tapper just reported it. Now, are we gonna help the Egyptians wipe out the Christians? Wouldn't you say that we are? I mean the Coptic Christians are being wiped out, but it wasn't just Obama that supported that. The conservative intelligentsia thought it was an outbreak of democracy. Now they've done a 180 on that, but they forgot that they supported it in the first place. Now they're criticizing it.

Lord's Resistance Army objectives. I have them here. "To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people." Now, again Lord's Resistance Army is who Obama sent troops to help nations wipe out. The objectives of the Lord's Resistance Army, what they're trying to accomplish with their military action in these countries is the following: "To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people; to fight for the immediate restoration of the competitive multiparty democracy in Uganda; to see an end to gross violation of human rights and dignity of Ugandans; to ensure the restoration of peace and security in Uganda, to ensure unity, sovereignty, and economic prosperity beneficial to all Ugandans, and to bring to an end the repressive policy of deliberate marginalization of groups of people who may not agree with the LRA ideology." Those are the objectives of the group that we are fighting, or who are being fought and we are joining in the effort to remove them from the battlefield.

The Lord's Resistance Army actually does the following"

• Kidnaps young girls and forces them into sexual slavery
• Kidnaps young boys and turns them into to child soldiers
• They force these young boys to rape the women in their families, torture and murder their own fathers and perform other acts of violence and terror against their own villages and people
• They pillage and burn the villages that offers up any resistance to their efforts. They are thieves, pretty criminals and brutal thugs

They do all this in the name of The Prince of Peace and promise to govern the lands they occupy via their understanding of the Ten Commandments.

These terrorist are not by any stretch of the imagination Christian but the American right wing jumped to their defense in their blind and irrational hatred of anything and everything Barack Obama does. To be fair when they were told by their assistants about the true nature of The Lord's Resistance Army many quickly back tracked. They didn't apologize the just said "never mind"

To learn more about The Lord's Resistance Army click onto the link below

http://bit.ly/AbpdoY

http://youtu.be/Y4MnpzG5Sqc

Keeping My Wallet Closed

Campaign fundraising season has hit its full stride.

In the last three weeks I have received invitations to Democratic Party fundraisers in support of the Easton City Party, the Bethlehem City Party and the Northampton County Party.

I was tempted by the Bethlehem fundraiser but I am sticking by my previous commitment to end my involvement in party politics.

I am willing to give to individual candidates but not the party.

I may be supporting a Congressional Candidate this spring. I know I know but politics is the only thing that has been able to keep my interest for more than a few weeks.

OK, maybe not the ONLY thing but the only thing I am willing to write about on this blog. Perhaps I should contact my pal Penny and write a short story for her readers.

All This Talk of War

Why are Republicans beating the drums of war again and not just one war but two?

Is this a Déjà Vue of the last decade? Have these old men forgotten their decade old march of folly? (Apologies to the great Barbara Tuchman) Do they think starting a war will ensure their victory in the fall? Do they think this talk of bombing Syria and Iran will embarrass the President and make him look weak? Are they trying to foment crisis in the Middle East to raise the price of oil and thus the price of gas here in this country in order to stifle the economy and improve their chances in November?

The answer to all of those is yes. Each war monger has his own motive and some of them have multiple motives but trust me none of them are pure and none of them have the best interest of this country truly at heart.

There are some Republican war mongers who claim that we should attack Iran to protect Israel and accuse the President of abandoning Israel. Think about how many of these war mongers are also conservative Christians who believe that only the anointed ones will get into heaven during the end times. Israel plays a key part in the end time story as the savior of the world will lead his battle to install the kingdom of heaven on earth via Israel. They neglect to tell the rest of the story; the Jews will all go to hell when the Prince of Peace comes back to do battle with Satan but until then Israel (the Jewish homeland) is very useful to them.

There is a theory that wars are started by old men who are in the twilight of their lives and resentful of the youthful vitality of the younger generation. These old men start wars so they can send the young off to die and they get to keep their power a little longer and remove the obstacle to younger women. John McCain & Joe Lieberman come quickly to mind here.

Three of the four remaining GOP candidates for President fall into this category:

Chicken Hawk – As defined by Wikipedia

Chickenhawk (also chicken hawk and chicken-hawk) is a political epithet used in the United States to criticize a politician, bureaucrat, or commentator who strongly supports a war or other military action (i.e., a War Hawk), yet who actively avoided military service when of age.

Newt Gingrich – Never served in the military and requested more than 1 deferment

Rick Santorum – Never did anything other than politics

Ron Paul – Served

Mitt Romney – Received a couple of deferments so he could fulfill in Mormon missionary requirement in Paris France not Texas. In 2008 when reminded of his pro-Vietnam war activities as a young man and pro-Iraq and Afghanistan war as a current candidate he was asked if any of his sons have served their country in the military. He responded that his sons were serving their country by working to elect him President.

Barack Obama - never served and neither did Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton but they understand that this nation does not go to war or use its mighty military force unless it is attacked, or in our role as the indispensable nation without the support of the community of nations.

We Are Not Bridge And Tunnel

We’ll be heading into the city the last weekend in February. We always stay at the Ramada East Side. It’s in Murray Hill.

If we win the lottery this week we will be moving to the city, we have decided that of all the wonderful neighborhoods in Manhattan we like Murray Hill the best.

As I mentioned a few days ago I/ we really need a New York trip. It takes about 2 hours by bus, the tickets are reasonable and the buses have wifi so we don’t have to talk to each other on the way in. I hate talking while I am moving. You should see how rude I am on an airplane.

Thus far our agenda is:

Eating at Ambre

Eating at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station

Eating at Mesa Grille

Some way overpriced cocktails at the King Cole Bar @ the St. Regis

Drinks at the Roger Williams

Food and drinks with our favorite Irish bartender Gareth at Maloney & Porcelli’s – A great steak house

The Morgan Library has an exhibit of Dickens’s manuscripts

The Frick has a Renoir exhibit

We have to run through FAO Schwartz and then bitch about how awful it is anymore and long for the days when it was across the street in what is now Bergdorf’s men’s store.

One of us will have to go to the Disney Store and the other one may cross 5^th avenue and leer at the Abercrombie sales team

And that’s just Friday. We have to fill up Saturday and Sunday brunch and then home for The Oscar’s with our special guest star Hillary Kwiatek.

It's My Life - And The Skinny Kid Never Left

It was February, 1984 and once again he was in one of those lost stages in his life, he has had so many of them and he was only 24 years old. But, here he was walking through the Palmer Mall on his dinner hour with a co-worker who just happened to be his best friend as well former boyfriend; gay guys have these kinds of convoluted relationships. One of the things he learned from the former BF and other more recent short term relationships was that guys his own age sucked and not in the way he had hoped they would. He decided what he needed was an older more stable and settled man; someone with a little money who could take care of him and protect him from a world he often found difficult to deal with.

After the former boyfriend broke his heart he decided to go back to college in the fall maybe there he could find a path to happiness. He'd get his degree and flee this town, start over, become someone new and find that rich older guy he knew was out there waiting for him. You know the one who would take him on glamorous vacations, buy him polo shirts in every color of the pastel rainbow, teach him about opera, fine dining and some interesting sexual positions that only an experienced guy could teach him.

He never had a type he would often joke that as long as the most important parts work that’s all that mattered. Some of his friends only liked blonds, some only liked hairy guys or redheads or black guys or twinks. Before and after the ex BF he had dated (had sex with) a pretty diverse selection of young men none looked like the other, the only thing they had in common was they were all his age or younger and none were “white picket fence” material.

While walking through the mall he spotted this incredibly handsome and very buff black guy in leather pants working at a gift shop. He went into the shop and looked around mostly at the guys butt, c’mon a really hunky black guy’s butt in leather, what else would a skinny white boy with the libido of 12 men look at? He asked the guy for if they carried a very specific line of greeting cards. The store clerk knew of the line and said they did not carry it and he knew our boy was flirting with him and he did not seem to mind.

He had to get back to work so he thanked the clerk and left the store. His ex BF said “What the hell was that all about?” He just smiled and thought to himself “I’ll be going back to that store again.”

A few nights later he had made his usual mid week trip to the local gay bar hoping to dance a little, flirt a little and maybe get someone to hook up with.

After striking out with a few of the guys he looked across the dance floor and there he was, not in leather pants this time but chinos and a polo shirt but still just as fine. He was hanging out with a short, scrawny, rat faced guy who he was clearly fond of but the guy was busy flirting with every black guy in the place.

Our hero grabbed his gin and tonic took a big gulp walked over and said “So you come here often?” The black guy shook his head and laughed a little.

“Are you with that guy?”

“No, we are just friends.”

“Good cuz I want to dance and then you’re taking me home with you.”

They danced and talked and danced some more. They didn’t go home together that night but made a date for Saturday; dinner and a movie.

They had their date on February 11^th, the movie was Vertigo, they went out dancing afterwards, they held hands, and the big hunk took the skinny kid home and the skinny kid never left.

And, So It Goes

My lack of posts is not because I am no longer interested in sharing my wisdom with the world - Lord knows I have a lot share but....

I "Turned on, Tuned in & Dropped out" so to speak.

The end of the year / holiday season is often difficult for me and for as long as I can remember it always has been. Someday I may share a story or two or three or four.

Anyway, this year threw me even more off kilter than most years.

One of the topics I wanted to discuss was Joe Paterno but surprisingly I was afraid. During the initial uproar I had people say some of the most heinous things about me that I have ever read on Twitter. I now know what it feels like to be Bernie O'Hare.

• Now that JoePa has moved on I suddenly have the courage to remember and honor him
• The GOP Presidential primary has been fun so I'll sum that train wreck up soon
• The PA Redistricting plan deserves some of my wisdom and perhaps if I stop being lazy I can influence the State Supreme Court decision
• I am reading a memoir by Justice John Paul Stevens and it is really good
• I think I need to write some erotica/porn again...I have tried my hand at it on another site and I received decent responses and it was pretty fun
• I am not going to get involved in the congressional race
• I do have some funny Easter related stories
• Have I told you how much I love living here? I will
• I meant to take on the "Nattering Nabobs of Negativism" on the Lehigh Valley social media scene - I will
• I really really need a long visit to NYC
• Did the election of Barack Obama prove racism is dead in America
• I suspect I will volunteer in some way to re-elect the President - unless I can get paid to do so
• I am thinking about running a contest "Who wants to write my resume?" Maybe I can get Bravo to create a show around it
• What it's like to be adopted by people young enough to be my children
• I want to move to Hawaii but my guy wants to become a goat farmer - perhaps we can do both

And, so it goes.

Homophobia Means

I found this on-line - not sure of the author

Homophobia means:

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.

I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.

I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.

I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.

I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.

I am one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able to walk again.

I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.

We are the couple who had the Realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.

I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.

I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.

I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.

I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

I am the man who died when the paramedics stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.

I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I did not have to always deal with society hating me.

I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don’t believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.

I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.

I am the person who is afraid of telling his loving Christian parents he loves another male.

I am the boy kicked out of his home because I am gay.