The following nations . . .

by Dick Mac

. . . have at least one thing in common.

No, they are not all second- or third-world nations. Russia is in the list and Russia is a first-world country.

They are not all wealthy or poor, or hot or cold, or North or South. Some are English-speaking countries, some are not.

They are inhabited by people of every race.

Some are allies of the United States, some are not.

Some are big and some are small.

Look at the list closely:

Afghanistan
Algeria
Angola
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belize
Benin
Botswana
Brunei Dar-Sala
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
China
Comoros
Congo
Cote d’Ivoire
Cuba
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Democratic Republic of Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Ghana
Grenada
Guyana
Haiti
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jamaica
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Oman
Pakistan
Qatar
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and Grenadines
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Syrian Arab Republic
Tajikistan
Tunisia
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
United Republic of Tanzania
Uzbekistan
Viet Nam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

They are all members of the United Nations; and they all voted for an amendment to the UN's position on the death penalty.

The UN has a generally positive position on the death penalty, condemning it as a tool that is used unfairly. In countries that use it, it is most often used to eliminate people of a particular class, race, or political persuasion.

The UN's total inability to protect the weakest and prevent mass murder is a different conversation; to its credit, the UN has convinced many nations to abolish the most barbaric form of state-sanctioned murder: the death penalty.

So the UN was putting forward a resolution condemning the death penalty and reaffirming the list of groups they believe are targeted more often than others for death under questionable laws.

For the past ten years, that list included sexual minorities, including homosexuals.

Well, the shitty little nation of bigots in Africa called Benin (yes, I know, you've never heard of it either) put forth an amendment to remove homosexuals from the list. Meaning, that it's OK to sentence homosexuals to death simply for being homosexual.

A collection of notorious human rights violators voted for the amendment including Afghanistan, Algeria, China, Congo, Cuba, Eritrea, North Korea, Iran (didn't Ahmadinejad tell the world there were no gays in Iran?), Egypt, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Sudan, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.

Add to this Bahamas, Belize (where you get 10 years for being gay), Jamaica (10 years of hard labor), Grenada (10 years), Guyana (life sentence), Saint Kitts and Nevis (10 years), Saint Lucia (10 years), Saint Vincent (10 years), South Africa (Apartheid? What apartheid?), and Morocco (ruled by a gay monarch!). They are all on the list of nations that do not think execution of gays and lesbians is worthy of condemnation or investigation. (The full vote tally is published beneath this column.)

To its shame, Colombia was among the 16 nations who abstained.

United Nations: It’s Okay To Kill The Gay

Seventy-nine nations voted for the amendment, 70 against it, and 17 abstained. Twenty-six nations were absent from the voting. So, the amendment passed and the UN no longer condemns the execution of homosexuals based solely on their sexuality.

Nice.

So, here again is the list of nations again so we can all consider a boycott of their tourism, products and economy:

Afghanistan
Algeria
Angola
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belize
Benin
Botswana
Brunei Dar-Sala
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
China
Comoros
Congo
Cote d’Ivoire
Cuba
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Democratic Republic of Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Ghana
Grenada
Guyana
Haiti
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jamaica
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Oman
Pakistan
Qatar
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and Grenadines
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Syrian Arab Republic
Tajikistan
Tunisia
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
United Republic of Tanzania
Uzbekistan
Viet Nam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

See more,

UN General Assembly Votes To Allow Gays To Be Executed Without Cause

Oslo Freedom Forum

Dear Bishop . . .

by Dick Mac

A Catholic mother and grandmother recently witnessed her Archbishop deny Communion to a group of young people who were wearing rainbow pins.

The Archbishop's position is that these people were gay activists, and in his reckoning, gay activists are not allowed at Christ's table.

So the woman who witnessed this terrible incident wrote a letter to the Archbishop, printed postcards for others to send to him, and recorded the video below.

The video is

Sponsored by Equally Blessed, a coalition of faithful Catholics who support full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people both in the church and civil society.

Some links:

www.newwaysministry.org
www.fortunatefamilies.com
www.DignityUSA.org
www.cta-usa.org

And They Lived To Tell Their Tale

by Dick Mac

I just read about three of the luckiest young men in the world.

They left their homes on a Pacific atoll in a small boat for a trip to a neighboring island. They brought some coconuts for snacking and drinking.

They lost sight of their home island as they sailed into the ocean. After losing sight of land, they became disoriented and instead of heading for their destination, rode further and further out to sea until they were deep in the open ocean.

They never arrived at their destination, nor did they arrive home; and after two days, their families reported to the authorities that they were missing.

Some searching was done, but into the eighth week of their disappearance, the authorities determined that they could not survive that long in the open ocean in such a small craft with no provisions, were lost forever, and were declared dead.

The small community mourned the lost in funeral services and started the process of moving along in life without the three young men.

A few days later, a fishing boat in the open sea saw the small craft floating along. When they investigated, they found the three young men alive in the boat, unable to move, weakened by the ordeal. They had lost so much weight that bones were protruding under their skin, and they were severely sunburned.

The fishermen took them aboard, informed the Coast Guard, and set about stabilizing the three. Their sunburns were treated, and within a few hours they were able to drink small amounts of fluid. Later in the day they ate small pieces of white bread, and eventually slices of apples and oranges.

There was much celebrating in their home community when word reached there, and a huge party is being organized for the coming weeks. Their families are hoping that the captain and crew of the fishing boat will be able to attend.

An amazing story.

Doctor examining teen boys rescued after 50 days at sea

Gratitude

by Dick Mac

In the extended version of Laurie Anderson's song "Sharkey's Night," William S. Burroughs growls: "Let's teach these robots a little gratitude."

I forget at times when I am on an emotional jag or a political rant that I have things pretty damn good. And so do most of the people I know.

Poverty today is much less dangerous than poverty was sixty years ago. We do have certain safety nets still built-in to our society. Teabaggers will remove them, of course, but today they are there. And in the distant past, when I needed those safety nets, they were there.

It's easy to forget that there is so much for which I should be thankful.

Please enjoy the song "I'm So Thankful," by Barbara Lewis. The video is pretty lame, so you don't need to watch it, but listen.

. . . as free as the wind blows, as free as the grass grows . . .

by Dick Mac

M.I.A.'s latest video release "Born Free" is a mind-rattling tale of racism, police-state tactics, and terror.

Who are the enemies of civilization, and what do they look like?

What is the common-denominator of people who are considered a menace, a danger, and worthy of capture? Is it their politics, their religion, skin color, clothes, or hair style?

This video challenges our perception about who looks like what and notions of what constitutes people who all look alike, and how we treat people who look like that.

It's nine minutes long and much of the song "Born Free" has been transformed into a soundtrack.

It's graphic and disturbing; and it certainly challenges my innermost notions of race, sex, and terror.

Note: This isn't Andy Williams' "Born Free."

A Musical Interlude

by Dick Mac

Listening to 45 RPM records was the saving activity of my youth. I would listen to anything, even if it was music I didn't really care for very much. Somehow, bands like The Lettermen, The Four Seasons, and other 1960s singing groups had their records everywhere. I would listen to an insipid falsetto love song followed by a grinding and funky soul song.

I liked The Monkees more than I liked The Beatles; but like everyone else in my neck of the woods, I preferred Motwon and soul. If my 45s were spread across the floor, there would be more Motown (including Tamla and Gordy) and Atlantic labels than any other.

Everyone listened to Supremes songs. Everyone. The Supremes were on television and the radio all the time, even after The Beatles came to town.

Ed Sullivan loved them, Dick Clark loved them, they were on Shindig and Hullabaloo and even Where The Action Is.

Everyone listened to Supremes songs! Here is a remarkably high-quality clip of "Where Did Our Love Go."

Forty-Seven Millionaires Want To Save America

by Dick Mac

Coast to coast, patriotic millionaires are stating the obvious: the government needs more money and they should tax the millionaires.

Our government is not too big. Our government simply does not collect enough taxes to maintain civilization. Why? Because for the past thirty years the wealthiest Americans have been absolved of their responsibility to our nation. They have abandoned the United States, specifically, and civilization in general. They pay less and less taxes while the cost of maintaining civilization gets higher and higher.

We can all be reasonable about this. No, we shouldn't tax them at ridiculous percentages, but we have to start by letting the Bush tax cuts expire for people earning over a million dollars. Then we need to get the wealthiest to help save civilization.

I know the argument that allowing the rich to keep more of their money creates jobs.

That simply is not true. We have been letting them keep more and more of their money every year for the past thirty years and they have created no jobs. In fact many of them have off-shored more jobs in the last thirty years than the previous thirty years, and our nation is crumbling.

I am happy to pay my share, and I do so. There's a point at which I should pay more than others, and when I start earning a million bucks a year, I expect that I will have to pay even more in taxes.

It's called math. This is not rocket science!

Here is the first group of millionaires to announce that they are ready to pay more in taxes to save America. I have added links to the people for whom I could find some biographical, philanthropic, or civic information.

Dirk Aguilar, San Francisco, CA
Cynda Collins Arsenault, Superior, CO
Daniel Berger, Philadelphia, PA
Robert S. Bowditch Jr., Brookline, MA
Doug Carlston, San Rafael, CA
Ben Cohen, San Francisco, CA
David Desjardins, Burlingame, CA
Doug Edwards, Los Altos, CA
Bob Epstein, Berkeley, CA
Ronald Feldman, New York, NY
Christopher Findlater, Cheyenne, WY
Eric Fredricksen, Los Gatos, CA
Gail Furman, New York, NY
Ron Garret, Emerald Hills, CA
Garrett Gruener, Oakland, CA
Paul Haggis, Los Angeles, CA
Nick and Leslie Hanauer, Seattle, WA
John S. Johnson, New York, NY
William Jurika, Piedmont, CA
Joel Kanter, Vienna, VA
Joshua Kanter, Sandy, UT
Rochelle Kaplan, Salt Lake City, UT
John Katzman, New York, NY
Rob and Diane Lipp, Los Angeles, CA
Art Lipson, Salt Lake City, UT
Mario Morino, Rocky River, OH
Win McCormack, Portland, OR
Dennis Mehiel, New York, NY
Herbert Miller, Washington, DC
Vibhu Mittal, Palo Alto, CA
Moby, New York, NY
Peter Norvig, Palo Alto, CA
Morris Pearl, New York, NY
Gregory Rae, New York, NY
Bernard Rapoport, Waco, TX
Jonathan Rose, New York, NY
Guy and Jeanine Saperstein, Piedmont, CA
Heike Schmitz, Palo Alto, CA
Sybil Shainwald, New York, NY
Craig Silverstein, Mountain View, CA
Michael Steinhardt, New York, NY
Philippe and Katherine S. Villers, Concord, MA
Scott Wallace, Washington, DC
David and Vinitha Watson, Oakland, CA
George Zimmer, Piedmont, CA

Only 375,000 Americans have incomes of over $1,000,000

Between 1979 and 2007, incomes for the wealthiest 1% of Americans rose by 281%

During the Great Depression, millionaires had a top marginal [tax] rate of 68%

In 1963, millionaires had a top marginal tax rate of 91%

In 1976, millionaires had a top marginal tax rate of 70%

Today, millionaires have a top marginal tax rate of 35%

Reducing the income tax on top earners is one of the most inefficient ways to grow the economy according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office

44% of Congress people are millionaires

The tax cuts were never meant to be permanent

Letting tax cuts for the top 2% expire as scheduled would pay down the debt by $700 billion over the next 10 years

Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength

I didn’t really expect her to touch my vagina through my pants

by Dick Mac

At the beginning of this century I was travelling a lot. More than I ever dreamed I would travel. My passport filled up with visas, my frequent flyer account swelled with more and more points, and I got to know some of the trans-Atlantic flight attendants on the airline I used.

Travelling was wonderful. I learned the joys of business class and first class and upper class, the use of airport clubhouses and lounges. I owned a watch with two faces: one for Eastern Time and one for Greenwich Time. I began to suffer the amusing delusions of frequent crossing of time zones and continents; needing upon waking to ask the flight attendant where we were going to land. I learned the ins-and-outs of duty-free shopping and lamented that the manufacturer of my cigarette brand was not a participant in that program.

Life was slightly complicated which was balanced by it being slightly amusing.

And travelling was pretty easy. Most of my flights took place before 9/11, and the flights after 9/11 were booked into first-class; so, I have been spared the indignation that is today's screening process at the airport.

I am continually amazed at two dynamics:

(1) that the Transportation Safety Authority really thinks that grandma's knitting needles and a cooler of mother's milk are the dangers we must be protected from and cannot hire staff able to sensibly discern danger from safety; and

(2) that passengers and visitors to airports seem to think that anybody cares about their inconvenience while going through absurdly ineffective and intrusive security checks.

Yes, I agree that the security checks have become ridiculous and I believe they are totally ineffective; but, I would never say anything about it in the airport and certainly not while in line to be manhandled and humiliated. If I want to travel by air, I have to be willing to pretend these security checks are not demeaning, and be silent and complaint when my moment arrives.

It seems, however, that this failed system of airport "security" has become even more intrusive over the past few years. There are machines that can see beneath our clothes, and there has been an increase in closed-door searches of people who are randomly selected or meet some random criteria. These searches require a person to leave the line, enter a room where the door is closed and be subjected to the whims of the "security" person who can touch their body and force them to strip.

Pat-downs, the process by which a "security" person feels your body through your clothes to determine if you have anything hidden underneath, have also become more aggressive.

It's gotten to the point where people are now complaining to the authorities about the screening process.

"I didn't really expect her to touch my vagina through my pants," said Kaya McLaren, an elementary schoolteacher from Cle Elum, Wash., who was patted down at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport last Saturday because the body scanner detected a tissue and a hair band in her pocket.
Pat-Downs at Airports Prompt Complaints

What we forget as Americans is that over the past thirty years we have redefined freedom as the freedom to make money and retain it without paying taxes. Actual freedom, personal freedom, is continually sacrificed to save commerce.

Who's Appropriate For The Appropriations Committee?

by Dick Mac

The House Appropriations Committee is the place where the money is divided up for the different government programs that require funding. Historically, it has been considered a plum position, and appointment was reserved for those who played ball.

In the just-concluded midterm elections, newly-elected Republicans ran their campaign on the promise to cut spending. Nothing is sacred to these determined teabaggers. Their going to take a bite out of the balls of the budget, no matter how much it hurts the bull.

The House leaders of this aggressive movement to get the budget under control, and some of their so-called "conservative" counterparts are people like Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Steve King (R-Iowa), Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). These are people who have promised to "reign in spending"! We'll call them a gang of four.

I have never seen a Republican reign in spending. In fact, Republicans tend to eliminate taxes and increase spending, creating the largest possible deficits. It's really simple math, it's not rocket-science; but then, the education system has failed white America and they don't know how to count, talk, read, think, vote, or behave.

So, this teabagging Gang of Four seems like the best group of people to put on the Appropriations Committee. They have the most to say about spending, so let's get them in a position of power where they can do something about it. You know, a sort of "put your money where your mouth is" scenario.

Surprisingly, although this Gang of Four wants desperately, and has promised vociferously to cut spending, they have all refused the invitation to become a member of the Appropriations Committee!

Do you wonder why?

Well, because they don't want to be the ones to cut anything, because if they cut your state appropriations, and not their own state appropriations, they will be seen as the self-serving bastards they really are. You see, elected teabaggers don't plan to make any cuts that might make them look bad, or might affect the teabaggers who elected them. They want plenty of bridges to nowhere in their state, they just don't want them in your state.

[More after this musical interlude.]



So, instead of having "tax and spend liberals" running Appropriations, we will likely have "don't tax, but still spend" Republicans in those seats, which will lead to even bigger deficits. But since that's what Republicans do best, I think teabaggers are getting exactly what they voted for!

Good job, teabaggers! It's all making sense now, right?!?!? These people you think share your values, only share your values as long as they are getting your tax dollars (and plenty of them) to spend on their pet projects, to benefit people other than YOU! They aren't going to do anything to change Washington, because Washington isn't broken: it's just not collecting enough taxes to run our once-great nation!

Appropriations panel loses its luster

Surfer Joe, And The Surf Culture of Whales

by Dick Mac

Although it was impossible to avoid in the 1960s, I have never been a big fan of surf music; and what little I know of surf culture is uninteresting to me.

That said, some songs stick with me. Certainly the catchier of the Beach Boys tunes live rent-free in my brain, much to my chagrin. I would rather those synapses be used to recall opera arias, of which I am almost completely ignorant; but easily recalled I suffer "She had fun, fun, fun, until daddy took the T-bird away" and I cannot erase it no matter how hard I try.

Imagine how sad this is: I can remember "Help Me Rhonda" but couldn't discuss a single aria from La Boheme; and the latter is much more interesting to me than the former.

Maybe that's why we call those intrepid days of youth the formative years. Information that reaches our brain at seven-years-old cannot be erased, while more vibrant information that is collected later in life seems to come and go like the passing of seasons.

Well, I digress.

The Safaris and The Ventures were two bands I liked in the 60s. I owned 45s of Surfer Joe and Wipeout, and had a Ventures LP. They made it into rotation with the Motown and "soul" records I liked to hear, and the show tunes I would spirit away from my mother's collection.

I've never surfed. I don't like being on the beach dressed in swimwear, with all that sand and that blazing sunshine. There is little I find more unpleasant. I'm not a fan of surf movies, although I love the ski-lodge movie with James Brown that is really just a surf movie moved to the mountains.

Still, I haven't gotten to my point! Why do I ramble so?

I saw the above picture this morning and read the article about orcas (killer whales) riding the surf in New Zealand!

I know that marine mammals are much smarter and social that we ever believed in the past; and there is now evidence that dolphins (and possibly whales) are self-aware. Self-awareness is something that we generally think is reserved for human beings and implies a social sophistication that makes hunting marine mammals tantamount to murder. They are not dumb animals!

Now we find that the social structure of whales around New Zealand includes surfing for fun!

And I wonder, are there some killer whales who watch others surfing, and talk disdainfully about the surf culture in their society. Or is impishness exclusively a human trait?

And I wonder if orcas would like to listen to Surfer Joe?



Whatever the answer, I am fascinated by the story of whales surfing just like their human counterparts.

New Zealand orcas join surfers in search for the perfect wave

The Power Of Money

by Dick Mac

I earn a twice-monthly paycheck and with the money from that paycheck I support my family. When things at the office get gruesome, which they often do, I remember the money. I remember that I am employed when so many aren't, and that I am doing the kind of work I am good at. I am very lucky, and I work hard.

When I get a bonus, or even a little bit of praise, from my employer, I tend to work even harder. Rewards go both ways: give me a little extra of something good and you'll likely get a lot of something good in return.

I don't think I am alone. As Elvis once sang: "Money talks, and it's persuasive."

This phenomenon of working harder when getting more, is generally a private matter. It's rare to discuss it with colleagues, or friends, or even family. I can't imagine a group of us sitting around the table discussing the details of our employment, bonus structure, productivity, and professional relations. It's just not a very interesting topic, when there is so little time to socialize anyhow. That isn't to say we never discuss it, just that it is not high on the list of social banter for most people. We would rather talk about . . . Oh, I don't know . . . Football?

And speaking of football, a quarterback received a new contract contract yesterday. For five years of work (some or most of it he will likely never play), he will receive a minimum of forty million dollars ($40,000,000), with the potential to earn up to seventy-eight million dollars ($78,000,000).

Wow! With fifty years of work and some smart investments, I would never earn anywhere near that money.

If I got that kind of money from my employer, my next project would go even better than my current project (which is going very well, thank you very much); and I would be much less cranky about the extra hours required to get things done in a ridiculously aggressive schedule.

This quarterback's next project coincidentally began a few hours after his contract extension, and generous pay and bonus structure were implemented. His first project required performing for sixty minutes in a game against conference rivals. The outcome? He was beaten 59-28.

That's actually not a beating, that is a shellacking.

Perhaps he worked really hard during his first project under the new contract; but, his project was a failure. Too bad you don't get points in your fantasy league for mid-season contract extensions!

I sure wish I worked for the Washington Redskins!

There's no need to be evasive . . .

Dear Employer:

If you will give me a cash bonus that is 1% of Donovan McNabb's new contract, I promise to perform better than him during my next project.

Kind regards,
Dick Mac

Vick & Eagles embarrass McNabb & Redskins 59-28

After McNabb Signs an Extension, His Old Team Piles Up the Points

Donovan McNabb News and Notes

Jack McCaffery: Donovan doing a familar dance in D.C.

Johnny Was In The Hallway Sipping A Glass Of Tea

by Dick Mac

British television has always been less dictatorial in the presentation of art and information. There seems to be less censorship in the UK than the USA.

Sometimes I think this is just my own prejudice against the dull, corporate television presented in the United States.

Then I see a thirty-four year old clip from "Old Grey Whistle Test" and I fail to remember anytime that American television broadcast a musician who sang songs with this content.

Here's Patti Smith singing "Horses" and "Hey Joe" in 1976:



Thanks to Tony V. for reminding me of this!

Scumbags Of The Week

Please note that in the Comments section of this article below, the son of the coach explains part of the story that had not been originally reported.

by Dick Mac

Mendenhall High School football coach Chris Peterson and Simpson County School District attorney Daniel C. Jones are two happy men, now that the lawsuit against them has been dropped and an agreement has been reached with high school senior Coy Sheppard. Sheppard was ridiculed by his high school football coaches for wearing pink cleats during breast cancer awareness month, and when they dismissed him from the team over the pink cleats, the school district's attorney came to the coaches' defense.

They are insisting that Sheppard's dismissal from the team had nothing to do with pink cleats, only with his failure to follow orders.

It is not clear that the coaches ever issued an order that he could not wear pink cleats or face consequences of dismissal, but it is clear that they ridiculed him for the color of his cleats.

Of course, this scumbag coach and his defenders are back-pedaling as fast as they can in an effort to avoid further bad publicity and potential damages. What isn't clear is that these scumbags have learned anything about (1) how to treat other human beings, (2) the value of honesty when abusing a minor in front of his peers, or (3) that the color pink has nothing to do with a young man's gender identification, masculinity or sporting acumen.

High school football players often supply their own shoes (cleats), and it is not unusual to see a high school squad on the field wearing a rainbow of different shoe colors. It is rare, however, to see pink shoes on a football field. This is rooted in our long-established and completely fabricated notion that pink is a color for girls. And this is what makes the use of the color pink so perfect to promote breast cancer awareness among athletes.

Sheppard's octogenarian grandmother, who is a breast cancer survivor gave him the cleats as a gift, so he could help promoted breast cancer awareness. it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened when his coaches saw pink cleats on their football field. Let's see . . . they could have (1) shaken his hand, patted him on the back and congratulated him for supporting breast cancer awareness; (2) giggled nervously and exclaimed that they 'ain't never seen no pink cleats on a football player afore'; or (3) pointed at him and laughed, ridiculed him and questioned his masculinity.

I think it's safe to say that the first option did not happen among a group of good ole boys in Mississippi. I think a sophisticated man in Mississippi (if such a thing exists in Mississippi sports) might have chosen the second option of giggling nervously and remarking on the color of the cleats and let it go at that, but that didn't happen. It's pretty easy to conclude that a bunch of Mississippi leather heads would have ridiculed anyone wearing a girl-y color like pink. So, it's easy to conclude that the third option is the most accurate description of what likely occurred on that practice field.

So, in conclusion, it looks like this: a young man honored his elderly grandmother by wearing a color that raises awareness about breast cancer, a group of adults in authority over this young man hung tightly to their bigoted notion of who wears pink and who wears blue, the young man was ridiculed by the men who are supposed to protect and teach him, these same men decided this was just to much of an attack on their sensibility and fired the young man.

Wow! That's pretty scummy, and for that reason: coach Peterson and attorney Jones, you are the biggest scumbags in the world.

Oh, and Coy Sheppard: thank you for promoting breast cancer awareness, being a great grandson, and admirable athlete.

Veterans Day, 2010

by Dick Mac

Shortly after my fourteenth birthday, my mother and I were sitting in the living room watching the evening news. It's a rather vivid memory, because it was rare for my mother and I to be at home together at that hour. She was usually still at work and I was usually still outside.

I followed the news pretty rabidly in the 1970s. I always bought the morning Globe on my way to high school, I watched the news when I was near a television at news hour, and I talked about current events with anyone who was interested.

The national news during the early-1970s spent a lot of minutes covering the war in Vietnam. There would be amazing footage of reporters on the battlefields, and soldiers in action. Real-life stuff happening to real, live people. This was a war taking place on television, in America's living rooms.

Near the end of the war coverage, news broadcasts were showing a tally board, a scoreboard, if you will, of the number of Americans, allies and enemies killed. The numbers were staggering.

Everyone knew somebody or somebody's son, bother, nephew who was in the military. Some were in Vietnam, the Philippines, even in Europe (if they were lucky). Some had been drafted and some had volunteered. Irrespective of the method of enlistment, every young working-class man had to be prepared to be sent off to war.

As the news program this evening wound-down its war coverage and broke to commercial, my mother was visibly upset, emotional. She wasn't angry, she was very quiet, almost weepy. Then she said: "If this war is still going on when you're eighteen, we're leaving the country. I've already given my share when my brother, Richie, died in the war."

In the days, weeks, and months ahead, she would tell me about her research into emigrating to Australia or Iceland. ICELAND? Both of these countries were importing social service workers, and being a social worker from the inner city made my mother an attractive candidate. She explained that if she took one of these jobs, that the foreign government would pay for us to move. There were other countries interested in American talent, too; but Iceland and Australia were the only countries that would allow a foreign worker to bring children with them.

Eventually the conversations dwindled; but she always reminded me that she was keeping the option open. I didn't necessarily want to move to another country, and I didn't necessarily want to avoid the military; although I had no interest in going to Vietnam. My father had had a desk job in the Army, and I figured I would probably get the same kind of position, if I ended-up there.

In the big picture, though, it was my mother's concerns about the war that were important, not mine; because she was the parent and I would do whatever was decided.

In reality, the war in Vietnam ended before my 18th birthday, and the draft had ended long before that; so, I wasn't going to Vietnam. Chances were I wasn't going to enlist in the military, either. The entire discussion was off-the-table and out of my mind.

In the late 1970s, I began to meet men who had served in the military during Vietnam. Most of them had no choice as they had been drafted, and a lot of them had gone to Vietnam.

The stories of three men in particular remain as clear as the day I heard them. All three of them were gay men who had come-out after returning home. They had returned to a different country, a place where they no longer had to hide their homosexuality. Two of the men did not like to talk about details of their experience in Vietnam, but talked about military life in general, the living conditions in Vietnam, the ease with which he could find drugs, sex and venereal disease, all of the cultural aspects of their experiences in Vietnam. Never, though, did they want to talk about battles or death or life-long friends they'd made and no longer knew how to find. Except for Ken.

Somehow, Ken had come to terms with the horrors he had experienced and although he did not brag about, nor initiate conversations about his time in Vietnam, he was candid about his experiences. The dynamic that always intrigued him the most was that the locals who worked all day with him, who were paid by the military, and who enjoyed the privileges that came with their jobs, were the exact same people who were trying to kill him when the sun went down.

He talked about seeing death and losing friends. He talked about the relief of coming home and leaving it all behind him. He talked about being uncomfortable at VFW events because the culture there was nothing like the culture of war where everyone stuck together and you relied on each other to stay alive. He felt shunned by the VFW and unwelcome at their events. He talked about how there were no black vets in the white posts and no white vets in the black posts. The homophobic remarks were a constant at VFW posts; but nowhere in Vietnam did he hear people denigrate each other because of their race, or heritage, or sexual orientation.

Ken never thought his sexuality played any role in his relationships in the military. Some of his buddies knew he was queer and some didn't. It wasn't an issue. These were Americans fighting a war as fellow soldiers, and the only other American who was feared and suspect, Ken explained, was a coward, a person on whom you could not rely, no matter his race, heritage, or sexuality.

Back home, though, Ken found himself unwelcome not by the general citizenry (which is the story I heard most from Vietnam vets); he found himself unwelcome by other vets. He made peace with it, he didn't make a big issue of it; but, it meant something to him that he had served his country in a horrific war and the only people who didn't really welcome him back home were his fellow veterans.

This is a dirty secret of homosexuality and the military that I never hear discussed: the treatment of gay veterans by other veterans. We talk about the inequity of Don't Ask Don't Tell as we should; but we never hear about how gay vets have been treated when they got home.

Ken died of AIDS in the early-nineties. He was one of the scores of men I knew in the seventies who were wiped-out in the plague during the 80s and 90s.

Ken was smart, and funny, and adventurous, and social, and he appreciated life. He was proud of his service to America even though it wasn't a hot topic of conversation in social circles.

And every year on Veteran's Day, I think of Ken: a queer who went to war at the behest of his government, served proudly, and lived to tell about it.

It's time to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, a law passed by people who never went to war. A law that disparages and discriminates against tax-paying, law-abiding Americans who only want to serve their country.

Remember to thank a veteran today.

Empty Rhetoric

by Dick Mac

The Republicans pretend they are going to reduce the budget, when in reality they have never done anything but bloat the budget.

The only time there was anything like a balanced budget and potential surplus was under Bill Clinton, and the Republicans spent and over-spent that the next 8 years and left us with the largest deficit in the history of humanity (for which they are blaming President Obama).

I can't believe that working people keep falling for this shit.

In reality, I know they just voted against the black guy; teabaggers and other working-class Republicans have no idea how the government works, what the Constitution says, or the meaning of decency in a crowded world.

But, in they come! The Republicans will take over the House of Representatives in January, and they've got some great plans for reducing the deficit! Nothing to do with cutting billion-dollar mercenaries from the military budget, of course, they will cut anything that will help those in need, well cut the stuff for the brown people in need. You can be sure that Michelle Bachman, Tom Price, Jim DeMint, and the other heroes of America's downfall will continue to bring plenty of pork home to Minnesota, South Carolina and Georgia! They're not going to cut from their constituents!

One of their first suggestions is to eliminate the $2.5 billion Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. This will save the country twenty-five billion dollars over the next ten years. Fantastic!

Only one problem: that program already expired!

Republicans claim to be serious about reducing the deficit but yet they roll out a proposal to eliminate a program that no longer exists. What's next -- claiming savings for cutting New Deal work programs that were terminated over 70 years ago?
- Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash).

I think Jim McDermott has the right idea! The GOP will use smoke and mirrors to convince the stupid (that is, any working person who pretends to be conservative by voting Republican) that they are doing good things for the nation when in reality they will do things to benefit a very small number of people at the top of the food chain. As the past thirty years have shown, none of that will trickle-down.

Republican Study Committee Recommends Cutting Welfare Program That Already Expired

Looks Like This Video Hit The Nail On The Head In The Prediction Department

by Dick Mac

Teabaggers won some seats in the House of Representatives last Tuesday, and I still for the life of me cannot figure our what people see in this movement.

We have working people voting for politicians and a party that always vote against THEM, and yet these teabaggers go to work espousing the greatness of their leaders.

Then I looked back at this humorous video that was published back when we thought these whack-jobs would go nowhere.

Do YOU think you might have what it takes to become a Tea Bagger? Are you the sort of brainless, stupid, greedy, money hungry, anti-tax, anti-government, Ron Paul loving, conservative or libertarian who hates President Obama and the Democratic Party and who will do whatever it takes to oppose them in Washington, D.C., the House of Representative, the Senate and the White House? And do you like to dress up in funny hats and costumes and pretend that you are Tea Party Patriots fighting for our Constitution and Sarah Palin?

http://www.britethorn.com

Sigh! It's going to be a long painful future with racists and homophobes and fascists in charge.

Remember to tell your local teabaggers that Republicans are Commies. Just look to Asia where the Democratic People's REPUBLIC of Korea is a dangerous communist state and they have the word Republic in their name, so all Republicans must be communists! Spread the word, using the logic that teabaggers use themselves!

God help us!

RBNY 2 - 3 SJE: Farewell to the MLS Cup

by Dick Mac

Enough days and soccer matches have passed since last Thursday night, that I can now try to type something about the debacle that was Red Bull New York's first round exit from the MLS playoffs at the hands of the San Jose Earthquakes.

Thursday night arrived with the Red Bulls enjoying a one-goal advantage over the Quakes, having won the away match the previous weekend at San Jose. The match-up was a home and away event with the winner decided on total goals scored. Returning home to Red Bull Arena made our one-goal lead appear insurmountable for any opponent. After all, our performance at home has been amazing.

When we acquired both Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez, midway through the season, we became nearly undefeatable. We easily climbed up the Eastern Division table and ended the season as the number one team in the East.

Our line-up featured Henry and team captain Juan Pablo Angel at the top, with Marquez leading the charge from the middle. Joining the Mexican captain in the midfield were Estonian stud Joel Lindpere, speedster Dane Richards whose form had improved so much as to make him arguably the best goal-scorer we'd seen in some time, and newest arrival Mehdi Ballouchy, the Moroccan player who had very little time to get acclimated to his new team. Our patchwork defense turned-out to be rather rock-solid with veteran Chris Albright joining the team from New England, longtime Bull Carlos Mendes at center-back with rookie of the year hopeful Tim Ream, and new Bull Ray Miller on the other wing. Bouna Condoul in goal rounded-out what might have been the best line-up ever to grace our field.

With Henry and Angel, both prolific goal scoring strikers, playing at the front, we scored with ease. The only matches we didn't win seemed to be the matches in which the two wily veterans did not start the game together; and most of those were draws.

During the first leg in San Jose, Henry remained in New York to nurse an ailing knee. Still, Angel and the rest of the squad brought home a hard-earned victory. It seemed obvious that Henry would make an appearance in the return match. Sure, he wouldn't start, but like other matches he would come in for the second-half.

Coach Hans Backe, perhaps the best manager in all of MLS this season, eventually learned that playing Angel alone up top was futile, because the opponents would simply double- and triple-team him, rendering him impotent as a goal-scoring threat. Brilliantly, Backe started seventeen-year-old Juan Agudelo up top with Angel and the young player ran circles around the visiting quakes. Sadly, he could not find the net.

Things got bad early-on with San Jose scoring a sixth-minute goal and taking that score into the locker room at half-time.

The Red Bulls looked scattered and confused throughout the first half, and it became clear that Henry would have to join Angel up top for the second half. Shortly after the interval, he began warming-up on the sidelines and now it was just a matter of time before he would join Angel and make some magic.

The clock seemed to race by with Henry warming-up.

In the 76th minute, Bobby Convey scored his second goal of the match to put San Jose ahead 2-1 in the aggregate. We would now have to score at least one goal to bring the score even, and hope to win in overtime.

Henry was still warming-up when, in the 78th minute, Angel scored a beauty to get us on the board, but more importantly drew us even at 2 in the aggregate. Only twelve more minutes to score a winner and we were on our way to the Eastern Division championship match. This will be no problem once Henry gets on the field.

But where is Henry? 79 minuets. 80 minutes. No Henry.

81 minutes and we look like we are falling apart. 82 minutes, 83 minutes and we are losing. Where is Henry?

In the EIGHTY-FOURTH minute, Backe subs-out Aguedelo for Henry, but the mission is already lost. Six minutes is not enough time for even a king to change the tide of a match; and the French King could not save this lost cause.

I sat in stunned silence.

Everyone (except San Jose, it seems) talked convincingly of a NY v LA final with Beckham, Donovan, Henry and Angel putting MLS on the television map and potentially into the hearts and minds of more Americans than ever before.

It was not to be.

It is now four days later.

Colorado and San Jose will play each to determine the Eastern champion -- a true testament to the absurdity of the MLS playoff structure: no team from the East is playing in the Eastern conference final. Stupidity.

In the West, a much more exciting match-up is in store for us with the surging FC Dallas playing at Los Angeles in an attempt to beat Supporters Shield winners the Galaxy.

So Beckham and Donovan are still playing; but, Henry and Angel are out.

It appears that Angel is not only out, but he appears to be over and done with New York. The Red Bulls seem to be treating him quite shabbily after his remarkable years of service.

No new contract is forthcoming, and Angel has played this season with both Henry and Marquez being paid much more than him. I assumed, and perhaps Angel assumed, that management would come forward with a generous contract extension that would keep the prolific goal scorer here in New York.

I know nothing about the negotiations. I have no idea if RBNY has made an offer, or if Angel has refused an offer. I only know that since he arrived in MLS, nobody has scored more goals than Juan Pablo Angel. I am certain that Thierry Henry will never score as many goals, nor will Rafa Marquez. They are not goal scorers, they are soccer geniuses who make everyone around them better than they ever thought they could be.

Passing-up the opportunity to have Angel and Henry up top for an entire season would be a huge mistake. Red Bulls management should do whatever it takes, pay whatever they must, to keep Henry and Angel together. Together, they could potentially become the greatest goal-scoring threat ever seen in the league.

Henry alone will be very entertaining, and since he is my all-time favorite athlete of all time, I am thrilled to be able to watch him live. But Henry and Angel is a dream come true in MLS and I see no good reason why it shouldn't happen.

If RBNY management or Angel himself can shed some light on this, I might be able to accept it; but everything is achingly secretive with neither side admitting to anything.

So, I can live with the unhappiness of my team crashing-out of the playoffs; but I am ill-at-ease, at best, with the notion that the team is allowing Angel to slip away when we seem to be on the verge of a potential dynasty.

Well . . . wait 'til next year!

I Sure Could Use Some Stress Right About Now

by Dick Mac

A quaint and charming elderly couple in Nova Scotia discovered that their eleven million dollar lottery jackpot was more stress than it was worth.

The stress of dealing with the money, the fear of swindlers, and the disruption of their life together was just too much for them to bear.

After some deliberation, they drew-up a list of charities to receive their largess, and after they took care of their family they began distributing the money.

What you've never had, you never miss.
- 78-year-old Violet Large explained to a local reporter.

and this:

That money that we won was nothing. We have each other.
- Allen Large told Patricia Brooks Arenburg of the Nova Scotia Chronicle Herald.

The couple gave all but 2% of the $11,000,000 to family and charity.

It's refreshing to read a story of generosity and selflessness in this world of conservative self-centeredness.

What would you do with $11,255,272?

Nicest Canadian couple in world dole out lottery winnings

Which Democrats Lost?

by Dick Mac

I watched the Rachel Maddow show last night, during its second or third repeat, when I couldn't sleep. So, perhaps I really watched TRMS earlier this morning.

I heard a fascinating report about Democratic caucuses. Before Tuesday's election the Progressive Caucus was made-up of 80 Democrats, and the Blue Dog Caucus had 37 members.

I think it's safe to assume that the Progressive Caucus was blown out of the water in the wave of so-called "conservatism" that swept the nation. The Blue Dogs, after all, sided with the Republicans often enough that they had a caucus of their own. They were not liberals, they were not progressives, yet they weren't Republicans, either.

With over 200 Democratic seats lost, I expected the Progressive Caucus to be decimated. I didn't think anything about the Blue Dogs because, well, I ignore them and vote against them when given the chance. And I DO believe: "Once a Blue Dog, always a Blue Dog" (and yes, I'm talking about you, Kirsten Gillibrand). I expected that the Blue Dogs, who harken from isolated, backwards locales throughout America, would continue to garner the conservative vote of their very "conservative" constituents.

To my surprise: of the 37 Blue Dogs up for re-election, 22 (TWENTY-TWO) were turned out of office; and of the 80 Progressives up for re-election, only 4 (FOUR) lost their seats!

The lesson here is that if you make your bed with the Republicans, you will die by their hand. Blue Dog Democrats? The GOP has no use for them in the House, because the GOP now has a majority, And that majority is riding the crest of this wave thanks, in part, to the defection and whining of Blue Dogs playing up to so-called "conservatives" who play into the lie of modern American "conservatism."

Let this be a lesson to all Democrats (politicians and citizens) that glomming-on to a fake "conservative" movement, or being seen as a moderate, gets you nowhere! You will be turned aways by people who think they are the real "conservatives" and moderates.

So, which Democrats lost this election cycle? The so-called "conservatives"! The progressive caucus is still very much intact!

For liberal Democrats who can't take a stand outside their Party's line, remember, there is only one position to take in these times: progressive. Not moderate, progressive. Moderation got us Ronald Reagan, Bush II, and now this heinous House of Representatives.

Grow some ovaries. Take a stand. Be a progressive! (At least at the Federal level.)

A Silver Lining? Celebrating Some GOP Losses!

by Dick Mac

Yesterday's election is being called a referendum on President Obama's performance so far.

According to that notion, the American people do not share Obama's vision of the future (whatever that vision be), or his methodology for getting there (which seems to include completely ignoring his base).

There have been two Democratic presidents who faced a similar mid-term critique: Harry Truman lost his congressional Democratic majority in 1946 when Americans elected Republican majorities in both houses, in the middle of his first term. The mid-term election during Bill Clinton's first term (1994) also saw the Republicans take control of both houses. In both cases, the sitting Democratic president won re-election to a second term.

Having lost only the House and not the Senate may prove a disadvantage for Obama in 2012!

In better news: many teabaggers were defeated, including Christine O'Donnell in Delaware, Sharron Angle in Nevada, and Carl Paladino in New York. All three ran on such extreme platforms that they simply could not find a majority during a very pro-Republican election cycle.

The biggest teabagger race is for Senator from Alaska, where Republican Lisa Murkowski lost renomination for her own seat to teabagger Joe Miller. Murkowski ran a write-in campaign and at last count was leading Miller! It will be days before one side or the other can fix that election, but a Republican running a write-in campaign against another Republican and leading at any point in vote-counting, especially after the election finishes, is a remarkable story in and of itself. Good luck to Murkowski, because one less teabagger in Washington is one more ray of hope for he United States of America.

My favorite Republican loss is the race for Senator from Connecticut. Linda McMahon spent fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) to get 500,000 votes. That's about a hundred bucks a vote. Wow! A hundred bucks a vote to lose!

[Correction. The original post mistakenly referred to the Connecticut election as a race for Governor. It was a race for Senator.]