Third World Police Tactics come to NY and across the U.S.A – showing the face of an unjust vengeful America to the world

Operation Zucotti = A Bloomberg / Kelly Kristallnacht for operation Occupy Wall Street

Using many of the same methods of intimidation as the Gestapo SS did in Germany in 1938, NYCPD officers in riot gear used loud blaring sound, bright lights and thug like tactics to clear Zucotti Park at 1AM on Tuesday 11/15.  Clearly their timing of the ‘very early morning’ action was meant to descend upon a sleepy and naturally disoriented group at a clearly vulnerable moment.  Using strong arm tactics against an unarmed group of protestors, the NYPD cordoned off blocks of the city assaulting and arresting protestors, reporters, photographers and even a member of the NYC Council.  Is this the way that we treat New Yorkers?  Is this what America in 2011 stands for? 

Obviously Mayor Bloomberg values the interests of corporations over those of the individual.  This is the same man who flaunted the will of the electorate (who voted twice to enact term limits) so that he could have a third term in office.  New York ‘needed Bloomberg’ he said at the time.  He spent nearly $200 for every man, woman and child in an election to barely squeak into his third term.  Yes, New York needs Mayor Bloomberg…we now need him to resign. 

Not learning the lessons born of the intimidation of a minority as the Germans carried out on a far greater scale on Kristallnacht is not a shame, it’s a moral disgrace.  For this type of overzealous thuggery, I am truly ashamed of Mayor Bloomberg, NYPD Commissioner Kelly, my city and ultimately my country.  This is definitely not the America that our founding fathers had in mind as they envisioned a ‘more perfect union’ with God given rights for a future based upon the rights of liberty and justice for all.

Marriage Equality – A 32 Year Wait & Counting

June 2011 – My 3rd letter to my State Senator: 

Although I wrote to you recently about civil marriage equality in New York State, at this important moment in our legislative session I feel compelled to write to you once again.  A number of State Senators (including a Republican) have recently changed their position and have now pledged their support for the passage of the Marriage Equality Act.   These individual legislators have courageously chosen to put aside politics in favor of fairness.   The fundamental rights and responsibilities that a ‘civil’ marriage confers upon a couple are denied to me and my life partner of 32 years.  This creation of a separate class for same sex couples in any respect is both troubling and frankly too shameful for words.   I have waited a very long time for my partner and me to obtain equality under the law, which is my birthright as an American and as a lifelong New Yorker. 

You now have an important choice before you.  You can either seize this moment to be on the right side of history in support of civil marriage equality or you can choose to perpetuate a significant and pervasive inequality.  If you choose the latter, your vote will become another footnote of narrow mindedness and inequality in the annals of time.  Therefore, I urge you to carefully consider the merits of the legislation that is now before you.  Upon sincere reflection, if you truly believe in fairness and equality, the support of this legislation is your only ethical course of action. 

May 2011 – My 2nd letter to my State Senator: 

As a constituent in your legislative district, I have written to you in the past about marriage equality in New York State.  While your previous response was appreciated, I must emphasize that your logic and indeed your moral arguments are both flawed and misguided.  The word ‘marriage’ evokes such passion on both sides, while the real issue is not what you call it but rather a question of giving EVERY family in our state the same rights and benefits.

I have been paying social security benefits for my entire working life.  I am assessed a rate that would allow a spouse to receive benefits upon their retirement and also upon my death.  I have been paying this penalty for 33 years and yet my spouse of 32 years (simply because he is a man) is unable to receive any benefit from my decades of contributions….this is neither right nor morally defensible.  While social security is a federal program, it still relies upon an unjust definition of a spouse and family for the determination of benefits (as does New York State)…..yet I continue to be obligated to pay the same rate as other citizens who are allowed access to benefits from which I am excluded. 

As a lifelong resident of New York State, I have paid school taxes for decades.  My partner and I do not have any children and in fact for many, many, years we would not have even been permitted that option.  Yet, I am required to pay for still another benefit that I do not receive.  I pay these significant taxes (which rose 40% in the past year) because there is a moral argument that my support of our schools is of direct benefit to our community, state and country by the education of our youth.

Why is it then that I must support heterosexual marriage?  By restricting it to straight couples you directly imply that my long term, stable ‘family’ provides no benefit to our society.  Following this same logic, there is no inherent benefit that society receives from childless couples, couples with grown children or widowed individuals of a couple.  If I am to be denied marriage based upon the assumption that my stable union would not be of benefit to society, then any childless couple (as I noted above) should also be denied these same rights.   Not voting in favor of equal marriage rights would by logic compel you to deny those same rights to any childless married couple within New York State.  To pick and choose who receives a particular right or benefit based upon sexual orientation and family unit is both unethical and immoral.  I urge you to re-examine the reasoning behind your previous decision to not support equal marriage rights in New York State.

Rutgers University – Where Incivility Thrives

The recently announced 2 year effort to promote civility and respect among their student body is too little and too late for Tyler Clementi.  Tyler was driven to take a plunge off the George Washington Bridge after his depraved roommate Dharun Ravi and fellow student Molly Wei conspired to stream online a private consensual encounter between Tyler and another male student in his dorm room at the college.

If the admittance requirements of Rutgers are clearly so poor that they accept students of such low moral character as evidenced by Ravi and Wei, then Rutgers must share the blame and ultimately the responsibility for Tyler’s suicide.  Rutgers students Dharun and Wei should be: immediately expelled from the university; stripped of any awards or honors that they may have received; be subject to criminal prosecution; and lastly be sued (both individually and their respective families) for Tyler’s wrongful death.

In life whomever Tyler chose to love should never be an issue.  He should never be the unwitting subject of an online spectacle without his knowledge or consent.  He should never be denied fair, decent and humane treatment by others in our society.  As so many others must feel, I regret that he didn’t receive the respect, consideration and support that he deserved as a fellow human being, a Rutgers student, and as a gay man.  Shame on everyone connected with his untimely passing.  They have robbed the world of another good soul while two depraved individuals yet live.  It saddens me greatly that as a result of the actions of two individuals, I am now prevented from telling him that there are people who really do care.  Although there isn’t anything that I can do to rewrite this awful story, I fervently hope that Tyler is now at peace.

The Thirteen Commandments of the RNC

Republicans only:

• accept criticism as valid when you are finding fault in others
• agree that the media is fair and balanced when they yell and berate the viewer
• appear to change direction if it will win an election
• believe that a true patriot invests in Halliburton or Blackwater (Xe Services LLC)
• concede that you must be intelligent if you read magazines, even if you can’t recall which one
• consider you to be a ‘core values’ American if you are angry at everyone else
• exhibit high moral character if you only visit your mistress while in another country
• feel you can create jobs when you are encouraged to handsomely reward yourself first
• listen to you if you repeat their well scripted mantra
• need to be just ‘brought up to speed’ no matter a lack of ability when seeking to govern
• prioritize the plight of others if last place is still available
• require a bouncer at the entrance to their ‘big tent’
• respect you when you agree with them

Scott Brown’s Election Victory

The special election of Scott Brown to the Senate despite whatever you may hear was not the ‘national’ referendum that Republican pundits and politicians will now endlessly exclaim.  Further, how could this result be about universal health care as Massachusetts residents already enjoy the coverage that the proposed Federal legislation would merely secure for the other 49 states?

So why did that extra 7% slice of the voting public choose Brown?  The answer lies in the uncanny ability of Republicans and religious Conservatives (nearly equivalent these days) to stay on point and on message.  Brown touted the party line and the voters bought the bogus merchandise, not by a landslide but by a margin large enough to make you to just wonder why.  Are voters really thinking here or are they unknowingly being co-opted by divisive partisan Conservative propaganda, near manic talk radio personalities and woefully dysfunctional news organizations?

The Conservative game plan dredges up many of the same familiar villains as the Nazi propaganda machine did so effectively during WWII.  With a simple emotion charged message crafted nearly as deftly as Goebbels would have done, Republicans using politicians and pundits like Sarah Palin and now Scott Brown know this unfortunate reality: the more you say an un-truth, the more average folks start believing it to be true.  Lie enough and you begin to sound credible.  Apparently credible enough for voters to elect a man like Scott Brown.

Brown certainly wasn’t above distorting the facts: presenting water boarding as necessary, effective and morally acceptable, deportation as a viable path to citizenship and health care as a right that nobody wants or even needs.  Has he even bothered to turn around and look at the reality of his home state in all of this?  Brown succeeded in perpetrating this hoax and it paid off well, delivering a solid election victory to him on Tuesday night.

By heaping insincere praise upon Ted Kennedy’s legacy of service as Scott Brown did during his acceptance speech, it rings as true as Lucifer wishing you a pleasant day and a safe journey home.  I am deeply concerned that Brown’s election will prove to be a giant leap backward for Massachusetts and expand an already slippery slope for all who sincerely value truth and liberty as our founding fathers had over two centuries ago.

NYS Senate Marriage Equality Vote Promotes Bigotry

Below are excerpts from two emails (before and after the vote) that I sent to my State Senator today regarding the brief debate and vote on the Marriage Equality Act. Every Republican as well as 7 Democrats voted ‘no’ for equality today. This cowardly act should be a call to arms to everyone experiencing the injustice of our government. Today in New York State, rights are again denied to gays. Ask yourself: will your individual rights be next on the agenda to be trampled?

Dear Senator,
As the Marriage Equality Act comes up for debate today, it is important to note the difference between civil marriage and a religious rite. All citizens should have equal civil rights and that is what this act is really about. It does not infringe upon religion in any way. Churches, etc are not forced to perform marriages. This would remain within the purview of the State – it is only a civil union. I have lived with my partner as a family sharing, home, finances and a life together for over 31 years. All I ask is that we be treated fairly and be given the same civil rights that straight (man/woman) committed couples already have. Thank you for taking my situation as a resident in your district into consideration during this debate.

Dear Senator,
It is with profound disappointment that I have learned that the Marriage Equality Act received such a brief debate prior to a vote in the Senate today. The issue has been held back from a full vote and kept within committee for 20 years. Where is the justice in that? After such a very long wait, this vote is just another example of the daily injustice that hundreds of thousands of gay New Yorkers continue to face.

I do not take your ‘no’ vote lightly. Clearly I and my family are not valued by the Republican Party. You have a responsibility to speak up for and to support all of the residents within your district. Your ‘no’ vote today clearly shows that you blindly march in lock-step with the party at the expense of the constituents that you pledged to serve. Your vote is a blemish on the State of New York, an injustice to thousands of citizens and a blatant act of bigotry.

Sadly, your vote today ensures that I will never vote for you for any office again. I am now compelled to do everything within my ability to aid your opponents to achieve your ultimate defeat when you are again up re-election.

Is This Anyway to Treat Our President?

The outburst yesterday by Joe Wilson (R) SC is clearly just a manifestation of ‘an ever so slightly masked’ racism. He expressed what I fear many members in the South really feel. I lived through 8 destructive years of the Bush administration and its’ policies, but when George Bush was our president he (as those who served before him) was deserving of a basic level of civility and respect for his office.
The depths that the Republican Party has reached, in an effort to derail any reform and thwart any effort makes me ashamed to be an American. ‘Jesus told me so’ combined with an ‘everyone else who would disagree with me is wrong’ attitude seems to be an acceptable Republican mantra. Right before my eyes, the Republican Party has morphed into the ‘R’ for racist party from the ‘C’ for conservative party here in the US.
Is this what America is about? Is this the face that we want to show to the world? Any apparent reconstruction (however imperfect) following the Civil War now appears to be a sham for many of the current crop of Republican representatives. Whatever happened to the fiscal conservative, socially liberal Rockefeller Republican? Former Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller must be spinning in his grave.

A Lopsided Election – Bigotry Still Grips Too Much of America

The election of Barack Obama while long overdue is a very hopeful moment in our history and it affirms a founding principle of our nation – namely equality for all.   It is troubling that at the very same moment in history that America is able to elect Obama, that so many misguided voters in California have chosen to embrace another form of discrimination at the same time.  Amending their state constitution to restrict civil marriage is quite simply a shameful act.

 

The civil marriage issue has been high-jacked by a jealous faction that fails to understand the difference between a religious ceremony (that is a private matter) and a civil contract (a marriage license) that confers benefits, rights and responsibilities that straight citizens have long taken for granted.   You can hold property jointly without civil marriage, but if one partner dies and leaves the property to the survivor, it must go through his or her estate.  Aside from any tax issues, it leaves open the possibility of relatives of the deceased contesting that bequest.  If they had been legally married, the property would automatically be transferred to the surviving spouse.  There are a host of other rights and protections that a civil marriage conveys to those who can wed.  Despite whatever opponents say, this piece of paper will not ensure a successful union nor does it change the relationship of anyone else that enters into the same civil contract.

 

Speaking with some firsthand experience, my partner of 30 years and I have been waiting for most of our lives just to be treated fairly.  We never needed a piece of paper to keep us together, but as we age we know all too well that the lack of it will be a significant liability.  Whether in our wills or if we need to assure visitation in times of sickness, we are both unprotected and thus treated as 2^nd class citizens.  That some in our society would continue to reserve fairness only for themselves and not for others is not only unfortunate, it is a significant tarnish on the historic achievement represented by this election.  Hopefully in the near future, our better angels will once again prove to the world that America really does stand for equality, freedom and justice for all.

Will 2008 be a repeat of 1931?

The similarities between 1931 in Germany and the rise of Fascism there and the rhetoric being used by the GOP in this election cycle gives 2008 a distinctly uncanny feel.  Despite periods of domestic sympathy for nationalistic (not just patriotic) leaders and movements, never has America been so near to the brink of full-fledged Fascism.  The Bush administration has come very close over these past 8 years, but the words and actions of vice presidential candidate Palin puts a very sinister spin on an already morally corrupt and unethical Republican party.  A party that is willing to do absolutely anything to hold onto the presidency.  McCain may try his best to appear to move the party toward the center, but Palin (and the base that she energizes) is the one at the wheel and there’s a sharp bend in the road ahead.  I for one wouldn’t count on the car (the GOP) or the driver (Palin) avoiding the grave national peril looming ahead.

The 14 defining characteristics of Fascism were determined by Dr. Lawrence Britt after a close examination of each of the Fascist regimes of the 20th century from Hitler’s Germany to Suharto’s Indonesia.  Take a moment to read through these 14 points and I believe that you may find that the GOP earns a near perfect score as a Fascist political movement.  America be afraid, be very afraid. 

Note:  The following is a PDF of a digital photo that I took of the 14 points that were on display in the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh when I visited there in the Spring of 2005.  If it is not readable here you may yet find it on display if you would like to view it in person.  If I have time, I will try to key in the complete text in another post.

14-defining-characteristics-of-fascisim1

Just How Does This President Manage To Do It?

By all accounts, I’d say not very well indeed.  No administration gets everything right as we all know that would be impossible.  You will never get everyone to agree on any single issue; however a consensus can develop around the relative success or failure of government actions.  Our current administration is most notable for getting it in the most lopsided way possible.  I feel I am being quite charitable by saying that our present government has achieved a record of performance that is 5% positive and 95% negative.

Miserable poll ratings, scandal, resignation, abject military failure (not to mention the recent huge forest fire in New Jersey started…oops by the military) and the most profligate spending I have seen in nearly 50 years, should be cause for serious action.  Impeachment should have been the logical response by now to such inept and corrupt governance.  A wall of red has protected this administration for far too long.  They speak of spreading democracy around the world, when we here at home have less and less of it every day.

The unholy cabal of right-wing religious fanatics, complicit government and self-serving industry is uncomfortably close to the tactics used by the fascist regimes during WWII.  So why is there no real substantive action to counter this insidious blight on American democracy?  How can an administration that is so inept not be held accountable and remain in power.  The President has been very lucky up to this point.  One can only hope that his good fortune at avoiding responsibility for his actions is finally running out.