I listened to a few of Del Rey’s songs and to be honest, I’m not feeling her. I mean it seems that she’s got the hipster cred, but her song stylings aren’t very original. Sure she’s got the husky, sultry voice a la Fiona Apple, and the retro music as backing for her vocals, but it all feels…calculated. Maybe I’m being a little cynical, but I can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed. I wish artists/singers such as Rumer and Anna Calvi would receive some much-deserved hype here so they can get more exposure here in the states.

Maybe in 2012, someone will take the step to come out. I can only hope…seeing some ripped guy in shorts and all sweaty…ummmm… I need to take a breather.

I can see it now, going into a restaurant and your server has the flu and they can’t afford to take off. Just imagine all the yummy germs you’ll be ingesting during your meal. Of course the bill is sponsored by some very heavy hitters…one of them is Pizza Hut. I knew there was a reason why their pizza sucked…

In 1963, Frank along with the Mattachine Society crafted a bill to overturn the sodomy laws in DC. He also worked to have homosexuality removed from from the APA manual of mental disorders. Inspired by the slogan “Black is Beautiful”, Frank coined the slogan “Gay is Good.” It may sound sappy in comparison to today’s slick gay slogans, but the phrase at it’s core describes who we are. We are good, we are decent, we are human beings. We are Americans. We deserve the same rights as all Americans. He summed it up in rather eloquently:

“We seek not “special rights and privileges” as you term them, but precise equality of rights and privileges in what is our America, for us explicitly as gay Americans (not merely “American Americans” so to speak) fully – fully – as much as it is your America as non-gay Americans. To repeat: For us, as gay Americans, this is our America, fully as much as it is yours, and you are not going to be allowed to steal it from us, try as you may–and you are certainly trying very hard. And they are our White House and our president, fully as much as they are yours.”

He believed in the goodness [humanity] in gays and was a fierce advocate for our rights until the day he died. Our culture has benefited from his efforts tremendously and we have a lot to be thankful for this remarkable visionary. Gay is Good indeed.

Let’s look at this gentleman’s statement.

1. He joined the Marines. Good for him, but he got paid from my tax dollars. I don’t particularly like that my taxes go to the armed forces, but the government takes my money to pay for his salary anyway. Or as he states: “Legislates it out of me.” I’m sure that if there was an option to not pay for certain federal necessities such as the military, a lot of people would opt to not have their taxes go to the armed forces. So, he should be thanking me and a lot of other people who pay for his salary…event when we don’t want to.

2. His house is worth forty percent less when he purchased it. Is that really his fault? No, not really; it’s worth less because of an unstable economy and greedy bankers.

3. He won’t blame Wall Street. Well buddy I’m glad that you have their back, because while you were in the armed services protecting the country, those ass hats where bilking our counrty for billions. And if you were to ask any of those fuckers for a loan…they won’t even consider your services to your country when they tell you, “No.”

4. You work 3 jobs to pay your bills. Great. But here’s the thing–you have a family! Wouldn’t it be nice if you worked a 40 hour work week, earned a decent [meaning: livable] salary and had time to enjoy your family, or go on a vacation–like your parents? They did fine working 40 hours and still made ends meet. Yes, I understand sacrifice, but there’s a point where one has to ask will working an 80 hour work weeks lead you to become a millionaire?. There are some people who do that–and succeed–but they are the exception, not the rule. [BTW...the whole "I worked 4-8 jobs" is a theme for most of the posters.] This is the new American Dream: Work several jobs and not make any real progress in your life.

5. You pay for your health insurance. Kudos, but you better hope you or one of your kids don’t get a serious illness. Even if you worked 8 jobs, I can’t imagine that would help you if you have a hospital bill over 500k or if you need an experimental surgery to save your life.

I think the people who are posting on this blog are not using their critical thinking skills. The protesters on Wall Street are the same folks who have worked 4 shitty jobs with no benefits, and still got kicked to the curb.[AKA the 53%] They aren’t whining–they are saying WAKE the FUCK UP! Unless you are a millionaire or billionaire, your existence is very precarious in this country–one major catastrophe, and you could be homeless or worse. You do not “succeed or fail through your own.”  To quote Elizabeth Warren:

“There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there–good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that maurauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory… Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea–God Bless! Keep a Big Hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”

Remember, this is a social contract we are all obligated to adhere by–if anything it is the core of patriotism. We succeed and/or fail though our collective actions [or in-actions], be it on the federal, state or local levels.

Lastly, one of the common things written on many of the poster’s paper is “God Bless America.” I just want to say, Jesus would be there at Wall Street protesting with the ninety-nine percent-ers . After all in Matthew 6:24 it states, ”You cannot serve God and Wealth.” I wonder if any I’ll see that quote on their blog? Somehow, I don’t think so.

“Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself!” Cain said. “It is not a person’s fault because they succeeded, it is a person’s fault if they failed. And so this is why I don’t understand these demonstrations and what is it that they’re looking for.”

So Mr. Cain, those people who are protesting at Wall Street and other cities are to blame for the lost of their jobs? It’s no fault but their own that they don’t have jobs because American companies shipped their jobs overseas so they won’t have to pay workers a decent, living wage? Or when companies won’t hire people if they don’t have a job–it’s the unemployed person’s fault? Not only is that last one disgusting, I think it’s very un-American. It has been proven that corporations are sitting on lots of cash, but refuse to hire people. Why? Greed. Pure and simple.

I believe that yes, we must be able to provide for ourselves. But when there are so many people out of work and in need, something needs to be done. What  Mr. Cain is mouthing is pure republican BS…meaning everyone can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps without and assistance from the government. Really?

I’m a liberal, but I don’t think government can be the answer to all our problems.  However in this case, government can be the answer for what is ailing this country. During the Great Depression, FDR [my hero] got people back to work with the WPA. This is what we need again–if corporations aren’t going to invest in our citizens–then the government must take action and invest in its citizens. I want Barack Obama to take this step and get our country moving forward. The infrastructure in our country has deteriorated so much that our roads, bridges, and dams are literally falling apart around us. It’s a win-win situation; get people to work and in turn they spend money on goods and services, pay bills, etc, thus stimulating the economy.

I don’t think Obama will be making that bold move, but I can hope he will be inspired by FDR or to a lesser extent, LBJ to take the necessary action to get America up on its feet again. On a closing note, for those who are voting republican, I hope they are taking a deep, hard look at those values that republicans are espousing and see if they really fit into their world-view of if they are better off now than they were ten years ago. I think if they took an honest look, the answer would be ‘no’ and they’d be pissed off about living in the new normal.

I think this year I wanted to go because of all the stuff that has been happening to my community both good and bad. I wanted to be around people who were like me and not worry about if I was holding my friend’s hand or giving out bear hugs. One of the funniest and best  moments yesterday was when my friends and I [all five of us] crossed the street [meaning: jay-walked] holding hand and laughing! Great times indeed.

As for the tacos, the filling was rather simple. I used Quorn beef-style grounds, 1/2 onion diced, diced green pepper, one can of diced tomatoes, one can of black beans, tomato paste. I threw in garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper to taste. I cooked it on high for 15 minutes, then turned the filling down to low for 45 minutes.

I served the filling with white taco shells, home made salsa, diced avocado and shredded cheese. YUMMO!

Vegetarian tacos with yellow rice and peas.

My intent is to provide an outlet about things that happen to me on any given day. The content may range from politcal to entertainment, to my job and friends…so those of you who know me–watch out!

Hopefully I will be able to import my old posts from Blogger in to this site. I’m a newbie to WordPress, so that may take some time.

So sit back, relax and listen to the 8-track.