Republicans Have No Sense of Decency

The Republican Party  which clearly has no sense of decency was selling this pin at their California meeting.



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Boy Culture, Greenwald, A Coup & Mona Lisa

Matthew Rettenmund the genius behind one of my favorite blogs Boy Culture  always finds interesting stuff.  This time he finds a clip of a still amazing Raquel Welch  talking about the time she met Mae West.

I have been reading this blog since the beginning of time (or maybe it just seems that way).  He constantly updates the blog so there is always something to find.  Check out the link under Links/Must Reads.



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The partner of Reporter/Activist Glenn Greenwald was detained by British security forces for close to nine hours. Greenwald has been instrumental in assisting Edward Snowden get his story out.  Greenwald's partner a Brazilian national has been unable to live with Greenwald here in the U.S. because of the restrictions and limits placed on gay relationships by the recently overturned DOMA.

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I know this will come as a shock to most of you The CIA admits it's role in the overthrow of the Iranian Government in August of 1953. Haven't we've known this since September of 1953?

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The search for the real  Mona Lisa continues.


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Reading Joan Walsh

Can I tell you how much I enjoy reading Joan Walsh's postings on Salon and watching her on MSNBC?

I enjoy it a lot!

She provides me with important background information and she helps clarify my thinking on issues.  Her thoughts are clear and her opinions are precise and spot on. She has a biting wit that helps her to get to the heart of matter and she is not afraid to take on the big boys and girls and call them on their bullshit.

Below is her most recent column "Revenge of the Abortion Barbies." Where she wonders if Republicans are right to be scared of mobilized women voters.  She makes a convincing case that they should  be.

http://www.salon.com/2013/08/06/revenge_of_the_abortion_barbies/

Now, if I can just remember where I left my copy of "What's the Matter With White People: Finding our way in the next America"

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Spend a Little of Your On-Line Time With These Folks

Update on some of the blogs that I read;

Lehigh Valley Independent has gone away and it's a good thing. The chief creative officer of that blog realized he was doing all the work so he closed it and began JonGeeting.net. Same genius, same clarity and same thought provoking commentary but now Jon will get all the credit he deserves.

Tightly Wound Mom of Twins and Todd Dietrich are participating in the 90 posts in 90 days adventure. I said I would participate as well. I lasted 5 days. What does that say about me?

Life of M. R. Sack This guy is the son I never had but no doubt would have deserved. Mike is a smart young man recovering his life and he has invited us along this difficult but essential journey.

There was a time when many of our conversations would start like this.

Me "What the fuck were you thinking? Oh now wait you weren't thinking were you. You never fucking do"

Mike "umm hi Dad"

Our conversations are much more interesting now and we both talk and we both listen. Thanks Son.

Joan Walsh - From time to time this smart, witty and wonderful journalist engages in a Twitter conversation with me. Joan is a leading opinion maker her appearances on MSNBC are always spot on in their clarity and forthrightness. And, she reads this little blog. Ask my guy about my reaction when Ms. Walsh contacts me. (Hint: 13 year old girl sees Justin Bieber in the mall)

Martin on Main - Quickly becoming the little jewel of the summer festival season. Visit the web site but more importantly attend the event. I will see you there. (some volunteer opportunity are available)

Click through my links on the side and expand your world a little bit.

Jon Geeting Is Smart

Jon Geeting is one of the smartest people I have yet to meet and Hillary Kwiatek is one of the smartest people I have met started this terrific blog awhile ago.

It is one of my daily reads and and I am always better informed because I have read it.

If you are one of my friends on the left and are interested in issues that impact your lives and opinions that are so well thought out it's scary, this blog is for you. For my friends who are not on the left, if you spend enough time reading Jon Geeting you will regret you ever voted for Charlie Dent.

http://www.lehighvalleyindependent.com/

Yes, I Am Voting For John Callahan Because It Is About Me

In his comments to my last post Bernie O’Hare warned me against basing my decision to vote for John Callahan based solely on one issue. I have never been a single issue voter but the issues I addressed in my last post are about to become make or break issues for me.

Throughout my long political involvement I always allowed LBGT issues to get pushed aside, I was always willing to compromise and then support candidates who support for my civil rights and my right to be a full citizen in this country is at best tepid.

I supported the greater good for the rest of society while I accepted my rights to considered an afterthought or something that would be gotten around too when the timing is right. I have concluded that the timing will never be right.

I want the leaders that I vote for, the men and women I give my money, my time and my efforts to lead on my behalf.

I support a woman’s right to choose, I support strong public schools, I support the right of unions to organize. I support affirmative action; I believe the government needs to do more for the poor, the young and the elderly. I believe in climate change and support candidates who want to do something about it. I support investing in our cities and preserving our farmlands and green spaces. I believe in comprehensive immigration reform.

I support your right to burn the flag and I support your right to own and use a gun. I support your right to hate me because of who I love. I support your right to worship who, what, where and when you want. I support human rights, I support the peace movement and I support our troops. I give to the boy scouts; I give to food banks and animal shelters. I have tried to imagine what it like to have walked in the shoes of everyone out there, to understand where you are coming from so I can support your right to exist and your right to your opinion.

And yet, every election I am asked to support people who are not truly willing to support me. I want to get married; I want to not have to read about 13 year old boys killing themselves because some asshole called them gay. I want the word gay to no longer be a bad word, I want gay to no longer be a joke or punch line anymore.

I am tired of coming out of the closet over and over it again. You straight folks have no idea how demeaning it is to have to explain and or justify yourself to people who are not really worthy of it. How do you think I feel every time someone asks me about my wife because I wear a band on my ring finger? Really people; a tall, thin, well spoken, well read, well dressed 51 year old man is not married for a reason.

So, my friend Bernie when I find a candidate who has embraced me and this issue the way John Callahan has I am going to support him. Yes, Bernie for the first time in my very long involvement in politics this election is going to be about me and I am voting for John Callahan.

Do you really think by carrying the water for John Boehner, Charlie Dent really has your interest at heart?

You can visit Bernie's blog by clicking on the link for Lehigh Valley Ramblings

Voices You Should Know

In my last post I wrote that the only voice speaking truth to power on this whole sordid Shirley Sherrod affair was Anderson Cooper. I was watching Anderson at the time I wrote the post and watching Anderson in that tight black tee shirt of his forced all other thoughts out of my brain. Don't judge me, even the straight guys out there are envious of the way Mr. Cooper can wear a tee shirt. I would like to apologize to all of the people out there on TV, Radio and on-line who added their wise voices to the chorus of truth tellers. Those who know me are well aware that Rachel Maddow, Keith Olberman and Chris Matthews are an essential part of my information gathering process. The people I want to give props to are not as well know but they should be.

These are folks who I have come to depend on to clarify my thinking and provoke me to expand my view of the world around me. I have mentioned some of these big thinkers in the past but I want to give them their due. I have added some new links on this side where you can find them after you are done with me.

Joan Walsh can be found over at Salon. She is not on TV nearly enough and whenever she is on she speaks with such clarity that most of her opponents wither in her presence. Recently she gave a colleague a history lesson. The topic turned to the battle for the soul of the Republican Party and the other commentator said that parties tend to swing to extremes from time to time but then usually find their way back into the center, no argument there. Then, he went on to give the nomination in 1984 of Walter Mondale as an example of the Democrats nominating someone from their radical side. Joan's response was fast and furious and she gave a history lesson that brought me to my feet in my living room. Ms. Walsh's writing over the last few days has been nothing short of brilliant. Her Tweets are all over the map which makes her even more interesting and I always feel so honored when she takes the time to respond or comment on my Tweets.

Over at the Washington Post and on MSNBC you can find editorial writer Jonathan Capehart and Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Eugene Robinson. As with Joan Walsh these two men are always calm voices during the shout fests that MSNBC can sometimes become.

Mr. Capehart is young, stylish, witty & urbane. He wears the best ties on TV and they are always perfectly knotted. He is quickly becoming the voice of his generation on matters of race, sexual politics and any other issue he decides to speak/write about. He is the voice of the Washington Post but I suspect he will soon rise above that lofty position to become one of the go to and essential voice of our times. Another great Tweeter and he often responds back to my Tweets.

Eugene Robinson is a no nonsense yet poetic columnist. I always think I am smarter and better informed after reading him. His thoughts on race, politics, war and any other topic should be a must stop along the way to enlightenment. He writes with great clarity, humor and a forthrightness that we can all benefit from.

From The Nation you can find 3 writers and pundits who are quickly becoming favorites of mine. Christopher Hayes, Melissa Harris Lacewell and Katrina vanden Huevel. All three spend quality time in academia so they come at issues in a very thoughtful manner, Ms. Harris Lacewell is a Professor at Princeton. I am new to these three but I have found them to be very clear voices in the debates of the day and their honest defense of the left will prove them to become the leaders of the of progressive thought for years/decades to come. Mr. Hayes is great on Twitter but Ms. vanden Huevel Tweets on everything; we watch football games; reality shows and the Tony Awards together via Twitter.

Give these folks a chance to inform, enlighten and entertain you. If you have some suggestions for me please leave a comment and I will check him or her out and let you know what I think.

Historic Preservation / One

Last Thursday I made my first baby steps back into the arena. I read that the Bethlehem Historic Preservation Task Force was going to be giving a presentation about the status of historic preservation here in my fair city. Since I live in ground zero of Bethlehem's historic preservation efforts, I thought I would attend.

I was glad I did. First off three of my Twitter pals attended, it is always nice to be in the company of such brilliance, grace and charm and secondly I learned a great deal. I was actually expecting a presentation and instead I participated in small group discussions about about what direction the city's historic preservation efforts should be going.

Our table was nice mix of people, one person was second generation Hispanic whose family are small business and property owners, one person rides a bike to work as often as he can and has a background in architecture, two are or will be affiliated with Lehigh (not that they are / were defined by that), one person grandparents were part of the initial wave of Eastern Europeans who made Bethlehem Steel work and then there was me, lucky to have lived in the city's finest neighborhood for more than half his life and someone who fancies himself an historian.

In the end most of the attendees were in basic agreement as to what path the city should follow.
Details of our discussions can be found on the website http://www.preservebethlehem.com/.

While you are on the site take the time to answer the survey. This process cannot / will not be successful without the communities feedback and support.

Hillary Kwiatek has some great perspective on the evening and more over at Lehigh Valley Independent, click the link below.
http://www.lehighvalleyindependent.com/2010/04/oh-irony.html

Check Out These Folks 2

Greetings

Hope everyone enjoyed the Grammys last night. My fingers are sore from all the live tweeting. I have added a few new links to some wicked good websites / blogs. Please check them out. You may just learn something I know I do every time I read them.

Check Out These Folks

Check out the must reads I have links to on the right. You will laugh, cry, shake you head in disgust and maybe open some new horizons.

Must You Really Be Rude

I love blogs and I read hundreds every week. Some every day and some occasionally. I read news blogs, art blogs, gossip blogs, porn blogs, photo blogs, opinion blogs, music blogs, gay/straight and mixed blogs. But I rarely read the comments, except for Lehigh Valley Ramblings and I only read them because I post my thoughts on Bernie's really informative and entertaining site of all things Lehigh Valley.

It's not that I don't care what people are thinking, I do, otherwise why would I spend so much time reading blogs? I don't read comments because so many commenter's are rude, coarse, crude, insulting, petty, foul, nasty and often uninformed. This may come off sounding a tad snobbish or elitist but most commenter's do not know what the hell they are talking about. If they did they would not resort to the petty insults and name calling. The ones that peeve me the most are the anonymous ones. If you are going to attempt to insult me or put me down at least have the guts to sign your name or at least your first name.

I am not writing this because of something written on our comments here. Most of our commenter's have been thoughtful, funny and have added to the conversations I have been trying to start. Thank you. Also, this site hardly gets the traffic of Bernie's so we'll see what happens if I get a lot more traffic. Though if the commenter's begin to resemble an Arlen Specter town hall meeting I will begin to edit.

It's not just the political or current events blogs that get mean comments. Towleroad.com, which covers all things gay is a really wonderful and informative site. Andy Towle is pretty much a godfather of not only gay bloggers but blogging in general. His site has won every major award and deserves all the praise it gets. Last week he posted a youtube video that was fun and really delightful. Five twentysomething gay guys posted a video where they danced, lip synced and interpreted the Miley Cyrus song Party in the USA. This video was really clever and very very cute. They guys were clearly enjoying their summer vacation on Fire Island and their youth. It was campy and clever. Will it be nominated for an Oscar of best short subject? No, but it was fun. I foolishly decided to read the comments. They were just awful. Many, if not most of the comments were so hateful, mean and down right vulgar that I was actually shaken. These people took something that was so fun and light and tried to turn it into something so awful, I could not even find the words to comment myself.

Why? Why do people have to be so negative, so hateful, so coarse and crude and why do they feel compelled to share their bleak and dreary view of the world with the rest of us? Expressing strong opinions is one thing, being mean, rude or even just down right stupid is something else. Unless you are really bringing something to the conversation I really don't want to hear/read what you have to say. Calling people names, belittling them and their views does not make you smarter than them. In fact it makes you small and unworthy of my time and efforts.

I don't want a world without dissent, lord knows I loves me a good debate and I am willing to take on all comers but I will just walk away if you are confrontational or disrespectful or rude. I will not allow myself to be brought to the gutter. No one should.

Yes I Am

The other day the Dean of Lehigh Valley bloggers; Lehigh Valley Rambling (see link), referred to me as an unabashed liberal. Thank You Bernie, I will take that as a compliment.

I am unabashed in that I really don't worry about what people think about me. The only time I do is when they sign my paycheck, and then only what they think of me as an employee. Other wise only Guy, my family and friends matter and even then my interest depends on the issue at hand.

Yes, I am a liberal. I am a classic liberal in the tradition of Reinhold Niebuhr or in the political traditions of FDR, Truman, JFK, Henry Jackson and Hubert Humphrey and some others.

I don't want to insult anyone but Rev. Niebuhr may not be a household name. He was the most influential reformed Protestant theologian of the 20th century, he taught at Union and Columbia, he was a proponent of A Just War and and activist Social Justice Christianity and brought both into the mainstream. In college I was required to review his writings and was floored. This man was the single biggest influence on my view of the world and I did not even know it. I was raised in the United Church of Christ and Niebuhr teachings were at the core of our church's positions, we spoke his prayers and our preachers quoted him liberally. Others may know him as the author of the Serenity Prayer that is used by AA & NA. This beautiful prayer was written decades before Dr. Bill realized his problems and if one were to read the entire thing one will find it so much more inspiring than the portion used by the 12 steppers.

Traditional liberals are strong on national defense, pro military, for hard work, are not anti business. Despite what the far right accuses we are not socialists but believe that government plays a role in lifting peoples lives. We believe that government can be a tool for improving the human condition and that there must be a social safety net to catch those who fall through the cracks of mainstream life. Yes, the system can and has been abused and we need to reign in programs that have gotten to far from their original intent.

It is the liberals who have moved this nation forward, it is liberals that have democratized this democracy, it is liberals who have broken the color and gender barriers, it is the liberals who work to include all aspects of American society into the American dream. The next time you hear the extreme right wing try to demonize us ask them why they were on the wrong side of the civil rights movement, the wrong side of the women's rights movement, the wrong side of the marriage movement, the wrong side of the clean water movement, the wrong side of the clean air movement, why they opposed America's involvement in WWII, why they are on the wrong sides of Aids funding and awareness and the wrong side of health care reform.

My recently departed friend Teddy Kennedy was often slammed for being an Extremist Liberal. This could not be further from the truth, if he really was a flame thrower he would not have been able to accomplish as much as he did. The political leaders listed above would be considered center left not far left in today's political climate.

So yes, I am a Liberal and I am proud of it and will never back down from it. Though as time moves on some readers may be surprised at the stands I take or maybe not.

Joe, John & Meghan

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