Teh Gay

First of all, there will be opinions expressed here that may cause controversy. Sorry 'bout that chief, but that's the way it is.

To begin with, let's correct some of the rhetoric surrounding the “gay” issue. I'm tired of having to point out to people, being gay is NOT “normal”; it is “natural” without being “normal”. According to Merriam-Webster, “Definition of NORMAL 2a : according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle”; whereas “natural” “Definition of NATURAL 2a : being in accordance with or determined by nature b: having or constituting a classification based on features existing in nature.” In short, in other words, though being gay is NOT the “norm”, it is fully natural, i.e., there is nothing condemnable about being or not being “gay”.

Let's stipulate that peoples' sexual orientation is none of my business; the only time it becomes my business is when it comes to my being propositioned. I tend to agree with Heinlein on this one; it is always nice to be asked, I don't have to agree to it but it is nonetheless nice to be asked. However, someone's sexual practices have absolutely nothing to do with me. Unless I ask someone about the topic, it is not something that generally comes up in conversation. I don't bang on about my personal sexual orientation and don't really care to explore others' orientation.

As to the question of “choosing” to be gay or heterosexual, one needs to ask of those “heterosexuals” when did they “choose” to be heterosexual? All of us, every man jack out here, have both homosexual and heterosexual aspects. It's very similar to the old Carlin routine where, as George said, “You're in the dark, rubbing up against someone, kissing and fondling, having a good time and, when someone turns on the light and you find out the person you were fondling turns out to be the same sex, we're all trained to shriek “ABNORMAL” and run into the night screaming. But, it felt good.” In other words, what Carlin was saying is that the actions themselves were pleasing but our cultural training says it is something evil. Nonsense!

Do people “choose” to be gay? I don't know, do people “choose” to be heterosexual? If quizzed, I wouldn't be able to tell anyone when I “became” heterosexual, I just noticed early on that I liked girls, even before anything of a sexual nature had developed. Do people “choose” to become a despised minority? I doubt it. I'm certain some people “choose” to express their “gay” side (bad experiences with the opposite sex are quite possible to cause one to “choose” not to repeat those).

What I have long contended, unless one is having sex in public, either heterosexual or homosexual, one's orientation is absolutely immaterial. After all, there are laws on the books regarding PDA (public displays of affection) and, though I believe such laws may go a bit far, I feel they should be applicable no matter what kind of “affection” is being displayed.

In conclusion, whether one “chooses” their orientation or they come by it “naturally”, that should hardly be any kind of a criteria of evaluating a person. Of course, it goes without saying that I have friends, close friends, who are gay. So? I did NOT choose them because they were gay, I chose them because of who they are as people. Period.

Kill the Democratic and Republican Parties? Why Not?

I have (mainly) held my tongue in regard to the present “liberal” Democratic (mal)administration. It has been almost a full year since the Obama administration has taken the reins and, on the basis of that track record, contrary to Obama's self appraisal of his governance as a B+, I would be forced to grade his administration to date as a D- if not an F!

Obama and his henchmen rode into Washington as “change we can believe in” and promptly changed....nothing! Certainly, Obama said he was going to close down Guantanamo, but he backed down on that promise. The first order of business for the Obama administration in dealing with the financial crisis brought upon us by the Wall Street banksters was...to flood Wall Street with TRILLIONS of dollars in outright gifts and “quantitative easing” (cash) so as to enable the banksters to reopen the frozen lines of credit to small businesses and individuals. The result? The TBTF (To Big To Fail) Wall Street banks still remain close fisted in regard to reestablishing normal credit flows while, simultaneously, showering themselves with multi-million dollar bonuses for a “job well done”! However, anyone who bothered to notice would note that the very economic advisors Obama surrounded himself with were, primarily, Clinton era retreads, many of whom were directly involved in demolishing the very FDR era regulations that were put in place specifically to keep the Wall Street banksters somewhat reined in.

Unfortunately, this is the same tune that the Obama administration has played on a variety of issues. Instead of breaking, openly and flagrantly, with the horrendous practices of the GW Bush (mal)administration, time and time again the Obama (mal)administration has happily embraced virtually ALL of the GW Bush era violations of the Constitution and the citizens' Constitutional rights. Rather than “do the right thing” and bring Bush era goons (including Bush and Cheney) before the bar of justice, the Obama (mal)administration has focused on “looking forward and not backward” and allowed that group of monstrous miscreants to run scot-free! I suppose that means that, should I ever be accused of a crime but am not caught red handed in the act, when I come before the judge I could say, “Your Honor, let's look forward and not backward” and be acquitted? Not bloody likely!

Regrettably, I could go on and on and on citing similar insane arguments made by this (mal)administration to excuse or even continue discredited policies from the previous (mal)administration, but to what end? Suffice it to say that this is hardly what one would call “change”.

Unfortunately, the Republicans are, if it can be imagined, even worse. I say this because, as has been demonstrated during the GW Bush (mal)administration, even at their nadir of public support there was a good 25-30% of the voting public that STILL supported all the manifold heinous policies of that (mal)administration! What that translates to, in raw numbers, is that some 75,000,000 (out of some 300,000,000) Americans are raving lunatics or, at least, closet fascists who will always side with “the powers that be”. Is it now so difficult to understand how Nazi Germany became Nazi?

The Democratic Party has become nothing more no less that Republican light inasmuch as they are funded by essentially the same forces (F.I.R.E. sector, Big Pharma, “health” care sector, et sim) as their Republican legislators. Furthermore, the Republicans simply refuse to even try to constructively address the manifold problems destroying this nation. The ONLY solution the Republicans have to any and all problems is “tax cuts” (for the wealthiest 1%) and less regulation, even though it has been more than adequately demonstrated that these “solutions” simply DO NOT WORK! The Democrats, on the other hand, to attempt to achieve some semblance of “bipartisanship”, have continually accepted Republican tropes, undercut their own principles and STILL weren't able to enlist any real Republican support!

If nothing else, the GW Bush (mal)administration finally proved that the Republican tropes of “cut taxes, cut regulations” are simply useless. However, the Rahm Emanuels (like Bubba Clinton before him) are politicking using the “triangulation” strategy. YOU CANNOT TRIANGULATE between totally unworkable (the Republican trope) and marginally workable (the Democratic alternative) and come out with a practicable policy. For all their myriad failures, the Republicans at least do one thing; they stick to their guns, maniacally, and refuse to budge. The Democrats, on the other hand, either know nothing about bargaining (you start by going for your most maximal demands and then bargain down; you don't start with a compromised position and bargain down from there)!

Horrid as it is to say, I have to agree with Lenin's maxim that to make radical change one needs to make matters WORSE to bring matters to a head. As it is, the American public is constantly faced with a choice of picking the lesser of two evils. Eventually, following this logic, the entire system becomes more and more evil (for, if you always must choose between evils, your choice will always be, of necessity, evil). As mentioned above, the Republicans are past masters at sticking to their maximalist positions while the Democrats are constantly yielding their positions and trending more and more toward the Republican position. We have now come to a pass where the differences between Democratic and Republican positions are negligible, at best.

The Republican Party has shown (at least since Reagan) that they ONLY rule for the top 1% of the population. If for no other reason, this in and of itself is a sufficient indictment for the termination of the Republican Party. By the same token, since the Democrats have insisted on becoming nothing more nor less than Republican light, they too have signed their own death warrant. It is well past time to draw down the curtain on both these diseased and discredited political parties and start anew. Perhaps, this time, we can end up with AT LEAST one party whose constituency will be the vast majority of the American people. Slim hope but at least it is a possibility.