What's In a Name (Part 2)

After procrastinating and agonizing over what to call this blog endeavor of mine, I have now completely decided that "In Memory of Aborted Journals" totally sucks.

What was in my crack pipe that day?!?!?! Crack?

I think I should change it, but once again, it feels like such a commitment, and of course, I'm deliberating the idea to death. (which is how I came up with this stupid name in the first place).

I've entered long-term relationships with less of a prolonged thought process, and once even had the nearly immediate same sense of dread afterward as I did when I actually saw this insipid blog title on-line for the first time.

"In Memory of Aborted Journals" seemed so clever, so different, so perfectively descriptive.

In hindsight, after re-reading some of my posts I'm leaning toward just changing the name to "Cranky Fag".

[Don't you just love that word: hindsight? Whenever I say "hindsight" an image of an ass wearing a pair of eyeglasses always pops into my head.]

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions...

Donald Trump is a Vigilante Asshole!

True Enough.

He's a vigilante who spent about $85,000 in 1989 to place full page ads in New York newspapers screaming for the death penalty for a group of young African-American and Latino men accused of gang raping and nearly beating to death a wealthy white women (investment banker) who was jogging in Central Park ... turns out, after many years in prison, DNA evidence proved they were innocent.

Here's the link for a piece from the Columbia Journalism review with more information: http://www.cjr.org/issues/2003/1/rapist-hancock.asp

Or, just google "Donald Trump 1989 Central Park Jogger Trial Blood-Thirsty Vigilante Asshole" and see what you get.

Back in 1989 five youths, aged 14 to 16, were caught, charged and had confessions forced from them, which they all later recanted as being given under pressure and coercion. The youth were admitted members of an urban gang who had been caught in Central Park harassing and tormenting the public: referred to as "wilding".

The media feeding-frenzy, and the calls for the death penalty and the sensationalized trials resulted in these young men being sent to jail, without any physical evidence.

Sixteen years later, a serial rapist in jail on other charges admitted he committed the Central Park crime, alone. DNA evidence of his sperm recovered from the victim (who survived, but had no memory of the heinous crime) collaborates his confession.

The youths (who are of course no longer young) were eventually released from prison.

I must have missed the public apology Donald Trump extended to these men and their families. Of course, being the smug, self-centered, asshole that he is, public condemnations calling for public executions are probably easier to print and pay for than a public apology.

Perhaps that's why he's trying to rack up more and more millions of dollars from these cheesy-ass commercials he does for Domino's Pizza, and Visa Check-cards and anything else that will pay him enough to pimp garbage.

Oh. And that ridiculous comb-over fucking sucks too!

Blowing Black and/or White Smoke Up Our Ass

I am not a morning person. In fact, I usually have to finish my first cup of coffee before I can even create coherent sentences or pretend to be a pleasant person at all. So there I was, Tuesday morning, squinty, half-awake, swilling back a cup of Peet's Major Dickason's and trying not to hurl barbed invectives at my partner Mike, who is (of course) a total morning person. Mike wakes up happy, sunshiney, perky... which of course makes my mornings as a non-morning person usually just a bit more painful.

Anyway, back to the point, Mike is watching the Today show and playing with our cat (who's also unpleasant first thing in the morning - but he enjoys torturing both of us). Let me say for the record, watching the Today Show upon first waking up is probably the last thing I should do in the morning. I am constantly mumbling snide comments at Katie, Matt, Al and the gang and grumbling about the incredibly inane state of overly packaged, consumable American media.

Once, Katie Couric interviewed Laura Bush during the last election and I vomited for one straight hour afterward.

And Willard Scott?! What's the point? I don't get it, why is he still alive?

There is a palatable, yet hard to describe reaction I get whenever I watch the Today show. It's too sacchrine, too "soft-hitting", too annoying... anyway, fodder for a future post. Back to subject.

Anyway, so this particular morning the Today Show is live in Vatican City with close up shots of a tiny smokestack atop the Sistine Chapel. Priests and cardinals are being interviewed, the process of new papal electioneering is discussed ad naseum, television cameras pan the gathered thousands of faithful. (And I could swear I saw a group of gay men huddled together, wearing mardi gras beads and waving a rainbow flag.... probably some vacationing queens who think they're in Amsterdam.)

The mood of the crowd is strangely overly-festive. I kept waiting for one of the annoyingly, overly-peppy "morning-news-hosts" to introduce the Radio City Rockettes, who would of course burst on to stage in cardinal-esque gowns and start kicking up their heels and twirling along, while Katie, Matt and Al humorously trying to join in.

But for some reason, NBC exercised some restraint during this particular broadcast. We are awaiting the announcement of a New Pope. I was hoping beyond hope that they would annoint some youngish, hot Latin cardinal from a Central or South American country. His devilish good looks (probably not an appropriate way to describe a potnetially handsome pope) would rivet world attention. His first papal announcement would be delivered with a really hot accent, with just a hint of a lisp. He will announce sweeping reforms within the Church: women can enter the priesthood, priests can marry, queers can marry, queers can be priests, queer priests can marry each other. My mind, suddenly zooming from the needed caffeine fix, is now whirling with all the possibilities.

Alas...

On this, the second day of world-wide media smoke watching the end approaches: "Here comes the smoke! Is it white? Is it black? Wait it's more of a charcoal gray actually? It looked white when it started, but now it's turning kind of blackish. We have reports that the smoke should be white, but, it's actually kind of... grey"

"We are getting confirmation from Vatican Radio [Vatican Radio, what the fuck kind of music do they play???] that the smoke is indeed white, but there aren't any accompanying bells which should be ringing, if indeed the new pope has been selected.... oh wait... We have bells! We have a new pope"

So, eventually the name is announced and they trudge out this really, really old white guy who looks kind of harmless and friendly enough, despite the fact that his is from Germany. My vision of a hot Latin pope is dashed from my imagination.

But here's the blowing-smoke-up-our-ass thing: this guy is the absolute worst choice they could possibly have made. The vanguard of hard-line church doctrine. This is the guy who has consistently squashed all attempts of liberalizing any church policies or doctrines. His nickname at the Vatican is actually "Cardinal Panzer" because he is so tuff and unrelenting. He was in the Hitler Youth during World War II! He's referred to gays and lesbians as intrisically evil! He directed American archdioceses to withhold communion from pro-choice American politicians, especially John Kerry. Withholding communion, because of someone's political beliefs, not actions, but beliefs! He really, really went after John Kerry. Priests were directed to tell their congregants to not vote for Kerry or any pro-choice candidates. This guy, very much wanted Bush to get re-elected. How papal is that?

On second glance, this guy actually looks like the evil scary Emperor from the Star Wars movies, especially whenever he smiles? Not old, affable,l likeable, paternal at all, but like malignant evilness. What's wrong with people, this guy used to be a Nazi and now he's pope!

We should name him Darth Benedict XVI!

There's no way you're going to see women in the priesthold during his reign. No cooperation and honesty from the Church in any priestly pedophile investigations. Gays and Lesbian will continue to be villified. The destructive and un-Christian policies of Bush and friends will be embraced and supported.

Unbelievable! Were most of these cardinals from Florida or something? Were flawed butterfly ballots involved? Did the Swift Boat Papists for Truth circulate any untrue revelations about any of his cardinal opposition? Was Karl Rove running his campaign?

Oh, but he's full of love and compassion... and lots of ideas of how to blow more smoke up our ass I'm sure!

I Love Sarah Vowell

After several ranting or whiney posts, I thought it would be good for my mental health to create a positive and uplifting post.

So I wanted to let everyone (well the 2 or 3 people in the universe who may actually read this posting) that I am in love with Sarah Vowell.

What an amazing writer she is. I loved "Partly Cloudy Patriot" and I am thouroughly loving her new book, "Assassination Vacation".

The book is witty, pithy, political, poignant, historical, thought-provoking and reveals much about the writer's own soul.

In her book she writes of the assassinations of three former presidents (Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley) and their assassins. I can hear you out their yawning, but truly, the book is amazing and riveting and you can't help but just revel in her delivery of the material.

Here's one short passage where the author is making a comparison between the types of people who want to become president and the types of people who want to assassinate them:

"I am only slightly less asstonished by the egotism of the assassins, the
inflated self-esteem it requires to kill a president, than I am astonished by the men who run for president. These are people who have the gall to believe they can fix us -- us and our deficit, our fossil fuels, our racism, poverty, our potholes and public schools. The egomania required to be president or a presidential assassin makes the two types brothers of sorts. Presidents and presidential assassins are like Las Vegas and Salt Lake City that way. Even though one city is all about sin and the other is about salvation, they are identical, one-dimensional company towns built up out of the desert by the sheer will of true believers. The assassins and the presidents invite the same basic question: Just who do you think you are?"

Just one entry to entice you. I'd be breaking copyright laws if I were to type in all of my favorite passages.

Don't be fooled by Sarah's (we're one a first name basis now that I've professed my love for her) seemingly cynical view of presidents and their motivations, she seems to have a deep love and respect for many or our presidents. Especially Lincoln. She actually had me moved to tears in a couple of passages about Lincoln, particularly the way in which she relates one particular speech that Frederick Douglas gave after Lincoln's death.

But she also doesnt' deify Lincoln. She portrays his flaws and foibles at times as well.

She's also not at a loss for words for those presidents whom she despises. I love that in a person too. [Note to George W. Bush: avoid running into Sarah Vowell in public unless you enjoy witty eviscerations in public by very short women.]

Check it out.

And hopefully, in some twisted way, blogging about how much I love Sarah Vowell and her book of presidential assassinations (which frequently tangents into the absurdity of our current president, his administration and their depression-inducing policies of destruction and greed) somehow equates toward my quota of one positive and up-lifting blog entry.

And finally, like the author herself was clever enought to point out (just in case their is an FBI agent lacking any sense of humor lurking about at blogger.com) I would like to say for the record that I am a non-violent person and do not advocate for, plan or hope for any type of presidential assassination at any time. Making a martyr out of an evil moron who will one day be appropriately villified by history, seems to me to be pointless.

Ready for the Rapture to Come

I have a very, very low opinion of everything Evangelical and Fundamentalist. Frankly, I think that the fundamentalists of various religions are directly responsible for about 99% of the planet's misery and pain.

Quick: in 5 seconds think of an oppression or injustice against groups of persons that is based on religous dogma.

All of these Evangelical nutjobs are feverishly anticipating the Rapture, the calling to heaven of the righteous, when they will all be lifted from their pitiful earthly existences and brought home to their Lord.

I wonder if there is any way that the rest of us could all band together and encourage God to move this up on her "to do" list.

Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing to wake up to one morning. Bright sunshine, singing birds and the realization that suddenly, overnight, all of the fundamentalist Christians, Muslims and Jews were gone.

They won't be voting in any more elections. Wars raging across the planet would suddenly be over. (Mostly) rational leaders would be in charge of most countries. Which brings up an interesting question, who would be leading the U.S.? In the line of succession, after the Rapture and we are suddenly without Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, DeLay, Frist, etc who would hold the reins of power? Nancy Pelosi? Sounds great to me!

Here's the latest ridiculous jihad: trying to impeach judges that they don't agree with. They feel so put upon when judicial decisions are based upon the whimsy of the U.S. Constitution and don't take into account the strict interpretation of bilbical scripture.

Here's a link to a Post article about the ultra-scary convention that the movers and shakers in the Evangelical alternative universe held just this past weekend.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38308-2005Apr8.html

One of the speakers at this esteemed gathering, lawyer-author Edwin Vieira, in his attack against Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy (whom this weekend-long convention targetted for impeachment at every turn) hinted by quoting Stalin that perhaps the only solution would be if Kennedy were no more... he actually advocated, even incited, the murder of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, while speaking at a convention attended by a plethora of Republican Congressmen.

Does this feel like Nazi Germany to anyone else? Is inciting violence (especially murder, assassination) against anyone, particularly a U.S. Supreme Court Justice a crime. Isn't this the definition of treason? Why aren't we prosecuting him and everyone like him?

Because the nut-jobs are in charge, that's why!

One of Life's Embarrassing Moments

There I was, getting my hair cut after a stressful day at work. In the chair, relaxing, eyes closed, zoning out to the current trendy lounge music being offered up by the hair salon. I don't know why, but there's something sothing about the mechanical vibration of the clippers against your skull and close to your ears. [and no.... I don't own nor have ever used a vibrator on myself!]

Anyway, the haircut's winding down. The clippers are going and Michael, my stylist, says "Oh! Here let me get those." And I feel the clippers travelling across the top edge of my ear as errant wild hairs are clipped down to an size no longer visible by orbiting satellites. That's bad enough... but then he says, "I might as well get these too..." as he then combs upward on my eyebows and trims a few overtly longish hairs there too.

Oh my god! I must be approaching troll-dom!

I was truly mortified. I am mostly an aware and grooming-conscious gay man, and normally I am on top of these very personal grooming tasks and take care of them in the privacy of my own bathroom.

I told my partner about this and his response was: it's all hair and what's the difference.

Note to self: More time with tweezers in front of mirror on a weekly basis.

Pontiff-icating

Last night I heard the TV news from the other room..."thousands have flown from around the world and traveled from very far, to come and wait in line, anxiously, for many hours. Police help with crowd control and the media are swarming everywhere..."

They were of course talking about the dead pope. But for a split second, I thought: Gee, it sounds like the gay weddings in San Francisco last year.

What a surreal comparison. But an appropriate one. Because one of those things is worth traveling very far and celebrating and the death of an oppressor isn't one of those.

For the last week or so as the pope was dying you couldn't help but note that the media was breathlessly covering every macabre update. "Traecheotomies, heart stoppage and organ failure, oh my!"

It made me think of that old Saturday Night Live skit on Weekend Update. "This just in, President Francisco Franco of Spain is still dead". [I think I just outed myself for being over 40.]

Seriously, it's hard to be flippant when so many millions, or billions, of people are so affected by the death of one person, but sometimes you just want to shake people and scream at them.

HE WAS HOMOPHOBIC, HE WAS MISOGYNIST, HE WAS BACK-ASSWARD. IS THIS REALLY THAT BAD OF A THING!

God! It's like when Reagan died. What's with the sudden case of massive selective memory.

Think about it.

How many millions of people across the globe may not have contracted HIV or AIDS had JP2 had a more enlightened position on the overtly controversial issue of condom usage? Seriously, think about it! And let's not bring up the issue of overpopulation, the extinciton of so many animal species and the slow death of the planet under the weight of all of this human consumption and expansionism. Really, why is birth control such a bad thing? Is every sperm truly that sacred? Why can't women be priests? I think that as a whole, women are generally more spiritual than men, and are usually better people, and more rational as leaders. What's up with that strict rule? We as human beings are supposed to keep evolving, and our societies, our religions, our laws should keep up with us.

And what is with that really long and voluminous dress and the silly hat? Will the coffin have to be made extra long so they can put that on him?

Whatever.