North Shore Dad

  NSD

   By Brian Dann

     

Mitt, Newt, a Lamp Post...or Colbert, Hmmmm?

By Brian Dann

 

It was the fall of 1993. I was sitting in the audience in the upper tier of the historic Second City main stage theater, waiting my turn to go up on stage with four other hopefuls and audition to be one of the cast members of this historic institution. I had dreams of following in the footsteps of such great actors like John Belushi, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, and Gilda Radner.  Between The Players Workshop, the Second City Training Center, and the ImprovOlympic, I had put in my dues in Chicago learning the art of improvisation.  This was going to be my final and third attempt to become one of the few to be asked to be a part of this great legacy of comedic actors.  But the best improv education I had received was not from a training class, was not from performing onstage with others, but was from sitting in the audience at the Second City, night after night, watching some of the best actors I had ever seen perform their craft.  That was the real education.  That is where I learned how to do it, how it’s not about trying to be funny, and how improv can be as easy as listening and reacting just like you would in life.  Little did I know at the time how famous two of those actors on that stage would become.  Both of them were named Steve.  One was Steven Carell, easily one of the funniest people I had ever seen on the Second City stage.  He could make you laugh so hard you would be crying, and then he would turn around and give a moving performance worthy of an Oscar.  The other Steven was sitting right next to me in the audience, in the upper tier of the historic Second City main stage theater, as I waited my turn to go up on stage for my final audition.  Although he was probably the smartest improviser I had ever seen in my life, no one could have predicted the level of success he would obtain as the host of The Colbert Report.  Watching Stephen Colbert do improvisation was like watching Fred Astaire dance. So knowing that I was about to go on that stage that I had watched him perform on night after night, I took that moment to get whatever words of wisdom I could from him to give me that added boost of confidence to go out there and make them want to hire me.  I introduced myself to Stephen, told him I admired his work, and then asked him what advice he could give me before I went up there.  All he said to me was, “Just be yourself.” Then off I went.
 
Looking back on that day I think to myself the complete irony of that advice Stephen Colbert gave me because today he makes a living being anything but himself. His television persona as the overly pompous, self righteous, ultra right wing conservative, political pundit is as far from whom Stephen Colbert really is.  His Stephen Colbert character has been crafted so perfectly that at times some real ultra-right wing conservatives simply don’t get the joke.  This cannot be more evident than in what a recent poll by the firm Public Policy Polling showed.  Colbert, who is not even running for president, is not on the ballot in South Carolina, and is not even really a Republican, beat John Huntsman by one point. According to the poll Colbert would receive 5% of the vote and Huntsman 4%. Reportedly, after hearing the results of this poll John Huntsman was overheard uttering the Mormon expletive “DAG NAB IT!”  Is there really anywhere to go with your campaign after you are beat in the polls by someone who is not even running? A fake republican, who is NOT running for president, and is NOT on the ballot, is beating someone who is!  Seriously!?  Can we just forget all this election crap and just declare Obama the winner already.  Even if Romney becomes the candidate, there are republicans out there who are so against voting for him that they would rather give the nomination to a television comedian who is not even a republican, let alone running, than to Mitt Romney!  Of course Mr. Colbert has taken this ridiculous set of circumstances and fully capitalized upon it by launching a mock exploratory committee to consider a mock run for the presidency, and has transferred his very legitimate Super PAC to the control of Jon Stewart so he could legally explore a run for office and at the same time expose the loop holes and inherent fraud in the Super PAC system.  He has even gone so far as to rename his Super Pac, oops I mean Stewarts Super Pac, the “The Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC”.   But seriously, what does this really say about the current state of affairs of the Republican Party, about their leadership, and about the voters?
 
Let’s start with the voters.  The clear message that this sends is that there is no one running on the republican ticket that anyone really and truly wants as their candidate. Santorum is to way too religious right wing, Paul wants to end paper money, he wants to remove all foreign aid, and is basically wackadoodle, Newt wants children to work as Janitors, and his name is Newt, (really, president Newt?) and Romney basically has nothing going for him except that he’s not Obama, and looks like a Hollywood TV version of what a president should look like  It’s like if you were a fan of rap music, and you won free tickets to any rap concert coming to town over the next two months but the only rap artists you could choose from were Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, Ice Tea, or Al Gore doing his tribute to NWA, and you choose Stephen Colbert… rapping!  Voters cannot even bring themselves to get excited about the candidate they do vote for.  Overwhelmingly the best reason that voters can give for supporting Romney is that he’s not Obama.  So basically they would vote for a lamp post before they would vote for Obama in November.  The truth about Romeny is that he has the personality of a lamp post, and this has actually worked to his advantage.  He is like the contestant on Survivor who says nothing, stays in the background the entire time, let’s all the other contestants bury themselves, and then comes out on top because he never said anything stupid enough to get anyone to hate him enough to get thrown off the island.  Besides only paying %15 in taxes (not exactly one of the 99%, is he?) destroying numerous companies and ruining thousands of people’s lives through his business dealings, he has led a relatively boring, clean scandal free life. So then why is it that 5% of this poll went to Stephen Colbert?  Out of the entire Republican party why isn’t anyone running of any substance, of any power, or at least of any popularity?  I will tell you why, because no one wants to loose, because any republican who would actually be a candidate that the voters could actually get excited about would rather wait to run against Joe Biden, then Barack Obama, and because currently, in the positions they are in, they have more power to derail everything the president is trying to do and push through their own agenda then if they had to actually be in the president’s position and convince the congress to follow their program. If any Republican of any substance were to actually run for president, who doesn’t come off as either a extreme right ultra-religious wacko, a libertarian in republican clothing, or an imbecile incapable or remembering a list longer then two items, Mitt Romney would be in the same position he was in four years ago, nowhere.
 
For Barack Obama, this election is his to lose.  It doesn’t matter who the candidate is because all the republican talking points are the same regardless of the candidate and once you apply logic and truth to them, they fall apart.  If the President can do that, and constantly expose Mitt Romney (assuming he is the candidate) as nothing but one of the 1% who will do nothing for the middle class, this will be his election.  The truth is the republicans blew it.  There was only one candidate in the whole pack that could have been a real threat to President Obama, but Stephen Colbert beat him in the polls. Mr. 4%, John Huntsman was the only candidate capable of beating the President.  Why?  Voters are divided up in to four groups, those who will vote for literally any one besides Obama, voters who will only vote for Obama, the undecided, and those who will vote for Obama but will switch at the drop of a hat if they are given a credible alternative.  John Huntsman was their credible alternative.  He’s smart, well spoken, respectful to both parties, served under Obama as Ambassador to China, has domestic and foreign policy experience, is moderate enough for those who want to switch but would never vote for a far right ultra conservative like Rick Santorum, and is extremely likeable.  Huntsman was their ace in the hole, their trump card, their best chance, but more of South Carolina voters wanted a comedian, who’s not on the ballot, and is not even a republican, then John Hunstman.  John Huntsman didn’t flip flop, he didn’t cater to latest poll numbers.  John Hunstman was a candidate with substance who could have actually beat President Obama. But Republicans, from the upper leadership, to the corporate donors, to the average voters could not see their golden ticket staring them right in the face and that is because John Hunstman, unlike many politicians, followed the advice that Stephen Colbert gave me while I was sitting in the audience in the upper tier of the historic Second City main stage theater, waiting my turn to go up on stage for my final audition, “Just be yourself.”  And like Huntsman, I took that advice. The next thing I knew I was on stage, with four other nervous improvisers, trying to prove I was the one worthy of a place in the Second City cast.  I tried my best to follow the words of Mr. Colbert.  I have no idea what I said, or what I did.  It all went by so fast that I can’t even remember leaving.  But all I know is this.  I had about the same success with my audition that John Huntsman had running for President.  Thanks for nothing Colbert.

 

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What I Have Learned From Kim Kardashian

By Brian Dann

 

Yesterday morning on the way to work I was listening to the left wing liberal progressive radio talk show host Bill Press, as I tend to do most mornings on the way to work, and he asked the question, jokingly, “what do you think Kim Kardashian thinks about politics?”  My first thought was I wanted to call in and say, I don’t think Kim Kardashian can spell politics. I do have to admit though, I have actually watched the voyeuristic candy shop known as “Keeping Up With The Kardhasians” and “Kourtney and Kim Take New York” but I have sadly missed “Khloe and Lamar”.  Hopefully they will release a collector’s box set soon that I can place under my rear tire and run over.  Now just so that I can get my Man Card back (which I somehow misplaced when I scored that trip down under with Oprah, yes it was me who wrote in, not my wife), I do have to say that I have never actually turned on a Kardashian show but instead have been maniacally sucked in to watching them when my wife has made the unfortunate choice to “Keep Up.”   There is definitely a higher power at work here when it comes to the Kardashian franchise, a higher power that causes you to stop whatever it is you are doing and forces you to “Keep Up” as well, no matter how much you resist.  After about two minutes of hearing Kim whine to Kris Humphries about why she doesn’t want to be a soccer mom living in Minnesota, and Kris telling Kim that she does nothing and in a few years no one will remember here anyway … and what was with Scott watching porn on his laptop and wanting Kourtney to get it on with another girl, and why don’t they just get married already, really, they have a son, I mean I can’t believe that Khloe is always so mean to Kim, OMG! (SCREEEEEEEEEECH!)  SEE WHAT I MEAN!  It’s like you have to watch!  We’re talking video heroin here. But before I go on I just have to say one more thing.  Why the hell is Bruce Jenner mixed up in all this mishegoss (that’s Yiddish for insane rich people who get paid to publicly display their crazy senseless lives on national television)!? He is like the square peg in a round Louis Vuitton hole.  If it wasn’t for some incredibly bad plastic surgery that has made his face look so tight you could bounce an Olympian off of it, I’d blame his involvement on bad casting, except for the fact that this is reality.  You would think that legendary Olympian Bruce Jenner would be doing something great with his life, working with underprivileged athletes who have aspirations to follow in his footsteps, maybe running a youth sports facility training the decathletes of tomorrow, or giving lectures to inspire people to achieve the greatness that he achieved so early in his life.  But no, he is a reality TV star with a bad facelift.   And maybe that is what the problem is here. Maybe that is what there is to learn.  Maybe we are all “Keeping Up” with the wrong things.    

I get the obsession with the whole Kardashian thing.  We enjoy watching the Rich and Famous, and even more, we enjoy watching the rich and famous crash and burn.   Kim’s fairytale wedding turning into a nightmare, Lindsey Lohan appearing in court again, and again, and again, Charlie Sheen “winning” when that was the furthest thing from the truth, it is all very entertaining, and as a form of escapism it has a place in our society, but so should paying attention to real issues that can change our lives for the better, and it seems that unless politics starts to approach the circus level that the Kardashians reach on a daily basis, no one pays any attention.  Herman Cain, and his countless sexual affairs, Donald Trump, well, being Donald Trump, this is what gets our attention.  This is what the press pays attention to.  We spend more time reading about Kim and Kris’s ridiculous wedding, but spend hardly any time finding out why it is so important that the tax cuts to the middle class don’t expire, and calling our congressmen and women to voice our support.  We spend more time debating whether the wedding was staged or real, and no time reading about where Ron Paul or Mitt Romney stand on Iraq, or gay rights, or any other issues that are important to us.  And I am certain that more people can tell you who Herman Cain had an “alleged” affair with then what his stance was on gun control.  We are living in a country that is being destroyed by greed, we have become content with resigning ourselves to the notion that nothing will ever change, that the middle class will never get their fair share, that politicians are all crooks and the American dream is a dream that only a few will ever see.  So to escape what we have excepted as a reality, that we are convinced we cannot change, we “Keep Up with the Kardashians” and we live for the moments when their lives fall apart because it shows us that rich people are often as messed up as the rest of us. We forget about the fact that “Keeping Up” with things that can actually make a difference in this world will actually make a difference.  We forget about the changes that happened in the Middle East because people refused to accept the status quo.  We forget about the Occupy movement that has swept the United States, Canada, and countries in Europe, and that politicians are taking notice, we forget all the change that has happened in this country because people “Kept Up” with our leaders, with issues that mattered to them,  and made their voices heard.   And sure the Occupy movement is still going strong, but it never received nearly as much press coverage as the wedding of Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries, which by most accounts was fabricated to get ratings for the E! Channel.   

The true reality that we need to “Keep Up” with, is that the richest people in this country pay less in taxes than they ever have, and that we had to watch our President practically beg congress to give a tax break to the middle class.  The true reality is that even with the Presidents Health Insurance reforms we still will have millions of people with no health insurance or insufficient insurance, and unless we can provide single payer insurance to all Americans we will continue to have millions uninsured, millions going bankrupt, millions who cannot start small businesses because they can only qualify for health coverage if they receive insurance through an employee group plan.  The true reality is that half of all Americans will live at the poverty level at sometime in their lives.  The true reality is that corporations are not people and until the courts change this, corporations will have far too much influence on the outcome of our elections.  The true reality is that we need to bring manufacturing back to this country if we want to see jobs come back.  The true reality is that two wars, which we did not pay for, have economically drained our nation.  The true reality is that we actually can make a difference if we just “Keep Up” with the world and events going on around us and “Speak Up” about them instead of just accepting the status quo.  This is exactly why the middle class tax cut was passed, because people spoke up and put pressure on the congress to do the right thing.  We need to remember that our elected officials work for us, not for the banks, or the corporations, and we can take them out just as easily as we put them in there.   

Hey, there is nothing wrong with living vicariously through Kim Kardashian and her equally shallow and annoying sisters as long as this is not all we “Keep Up” with.  We have the power to make real change in this country.  We do not have to accept things the way they are.  Revolutions often start off quiet, and one voice can make a difference.  Don’t accept the sound bites we hear on the news and in commercials but instead research the claims that are made before accepting them as reality.   Call your congress members and tell them your opinions, sign petitions.  “Keeping Up” with the truth behind what you hear is the last thing our politicians want us to do because then we control the information and not them. Information is power and power can influence change.  Recently I actually had the opportunity to ask Kim Kardashian what she thinks about politics.  I actually have no idea what her answer was because I was too busy staring at her ass!  (YESSSSSSSSS!...I got my Man Card back!)  

 

 

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The Great Republican Lie To The 100%

By Brian Dann

 

The most effective way to seize power and ruin other people’s lives, is to convince the people whose lives you are going to ruin, that your enemy is also theirs, that their downfall is the fault of others, and that their passion comes from within and not the rhetoric that you feed them, systematically, on a daily basis. Then they will hand you the power, with no fight, and defend your right to have it before they ever realize the mistake they have made. In 1932 Adolf Hitler’s Socialist party took power in Germany. But it wasn’t until 1939, seven years later, that the Nazi’s invaded Poland.  It was during those seven years that Hitler, slowly and systematically, put in place his “Final Solution” and convinced that German people that all the social and economic ills of their time, that were a part of everyday German life at that point, were the fault of the Jews, with the help of the blacks, the gays, and the Gypsies.  And even though all of this was categorically false and the real truth was that Germany was a country that had never recovered from the economic, and structural ravages of World War 1, the people of Germany trusted in Hitler’s rhetoric and through constant false and misleading rhetoric over seven years came to believe that the solution to Germany’s problems was Hitler’s Final Solution which he drafted while in prison long before he ever came into power.  Hitler convinced the German people to buy into his own selfish and sociopathic beliefs by convincing them that clearly insane policies would fix their country. Clearly they were wrong, but they listened to Hitler’s rhetoric, handed him the power, and defended his right to have it, before they ever realized the mistake they had made.  Sound familiar?  

Today we live in a country, a world, that is experiencing economic collapse, inequalities in income, and social injustices that we have not seen or experienced since the time of the great depression and pre-WW2 Germany. Our middle class is experiencing record foreclosures, millions of people can’t afford health insurance or can’t afford to pay for the out of pocket expenses not covered by their insurance, and regardless of the rhetoric, our Congress has not even began to take seriously the commitment to getting our middle and lower class Americans back to work.  According to the IWRP/Rockefeller survey, a year and a half after the Great Recession “ended” in 2009, the middle class in America is having trouble paying for things like:  

Food (26 million women and 15 million men)

Health Care (46 million women and 24 million men)

Rent or Mortgage (32 million women and 25 million men)

Transportation (37 million women and 28 million men)

Utility Bills (41 million women and 27 million men)

And saving for the future, which used to be a staple of American life can no longer be done by at least 56 million women and 45 million men.  

Middle class incomes are stagnant or dropping and the unemployed are unemployed for longer than ever, and are often forced to take deep cuts in pay in order to simply get a job which will provide them with health benefits that they could not otherwise afford on their own.  

We sacrifice programs that effect our children education, our ability to place police on our streets, to provide effective health care to those who can’t afford it.  We no longer pay a fair wage for a fair days work but instead ask our workers to take pay cuts, and reduced benefits.  Our government borrows to invest in wars overseas, rebuilding other countries, but we no longer invest in rebuilding our own country.  Then we give tax breaks to the people who don’t need them, and who can afford the most to pay them, then expect a middle class family who is facing foreclosure because of medical bills that they cannot afford, who barely make enough to put food on the table and are facing cutbacks in the workplace, to pay higher taxes then those who are wealthy enough to not even realize the money is gone.  

And why are we in this position?  Because slowly and systematically we believed the rhetoric.  Sound familiar? Because like the Nazis hammering home the false message over and over again that if they just got rid of the Jews, all their problems would be solved, the Republicans have been hammering  us with the false message that if we simply lower the taxes of the richest Americans in this nation to utterly ridiculous levels, if we give massive bailouts to the largest banks that helped put us in this mess in the first place, if we remove all the regulations on all of the corporations and let them do whatever the hell they please, somehow all this good will, all these tax saving to the rich and corporations, all this unregulated corporate wall street freedom, will “trickle down” to the most needy among us. We have been asked to believe that these wealthy Americans and corporations are not going to keep the money they save in taxes,  and are not going to use these billions in tax saving on things like multi-million dollar executive bonuses, company meetings in Aruba, private jet airplanes, and so on, but will instead use this money to invest in company infrastructure, open new plants, create new jobs, distribute the savings among the workers to increase their wages, lower the cost of the good and services they provide, contribute more to retirement accounts, and that the complete selflessness of these warm hearted companionate executives and corporations will  make our country a better place to live for everyone, and not just a better place for the executives and corporations.  But the reality is that over many years, starting in the Regan era and culminating with the irresponsible economic policies of George W Bush, we have been fed a multitude of lies designed only to benefit the wealthy and no one else.  Corporations are greedy, executives like to keep their money, and ultra wealthy people do not become ultra wealthy by being charitable to others. This is not opinion, this is not politics, this is plain simple common sense.  

The truth is this, and this is not a Democratic talking point, this is not propaganda or false rhetoric, this is not a liberal or progressive “point of view”, this is the truth, any institution, whether it is a private company, a not-for -profit, or our government, needs a source of cash flow coming in, in order to be able to provide goods or services.  If there is not cash flow coming in, we end up with record deficits, services that have to be cut, programs that have to be cut, and the only way for our government to obtain cash flow, and therefore be able to provide to us the so much needed programs and services that we require as a nation, is either to borrow trillions from other countries, putting us further in debt, or raise taxes. This is not rocket science, this is Economics 101.  In order to have money to spend, there must be a source of revenue. Yet for some reason, 238 of the 242 House Republicans, and 41 of the 47 Senate Republicans have signed a pledge, not to the American people, but to a lobbyist named Grover Norquist that promises they will never ever raise taxes or eliminate any tax deductions.  Only 3 Democrats from the House and Senate have signed this pledge. So that I cannot be accused of paraphrasing, here is the exact text of the pledge in its entirety:  

“ONE, oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses; and TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.”  

Basically, to put it in a nutshell, anyone who signs this pledge promises never to raise taxes under any circumstances, for any reason…ANY REASON!?  So I guess my question is, WHY?! How does this benefit anyone? Oh wait…it does.  It benefits really, really rich people, because they get to keep more of their money and get even richer.  It benefits corporations because they get to give huge bonuses, trips to Aruba, and contribute as much as they want to politicians who are going to keep their taxes low because they signed this ridiculous pledge.   And it benefits Republicans because they are given huge amounts of money for their re-election campaigns.  And the craziest thing about all of this is that slowly over time, the Republicans have led many of us to believe that this is somehow the best thing for our country.  They have led many of us to believe that eliminating billions of dollars in tax revenue, will somehow allow us to bring down our debt and create new jobs, that somehow we will become a more profitable nation with less revenue, and many of us, who are not the ultra wealthy, have become so brainwashed, slowly and systematically over time, that we have gone ahead and handed them the power, we have elected individuals to the House and Senate who support policies that will never benefit us in any way.  

Because of these economically disastrous policies, we now are facing trillions of dollars in spending cuts to essential programs because we simply do not have enough revenue coming in to pay for these essential programs.  According to the Washington Post, some of these cuts include: 

$942 Million from a fund that helps rehabilitate housing in low income neighborhoods.

$456 Million from the Public Housing Fund that authorities use to maintain and repair public housing.

$504 Million from the Women, Infants and Childrens Program that provides food and infant formula to low income families.

$870 Million from the Dept of Labor for job training and creation programs, community college curriculums for dislocated workers and a fund that prepares workers for new green jobs.

$183 Million from the Workforce Investment Program that uses federal money to create state and local services in literacy, vocational education and welfare-to-work strategies for adults, young people and laid off workers.

$0 from programs that affect those making over $1 Million per year.  

The wonderful thing is that finally people, Democrats and Republicans, are starting to realize that this is just wrong, that something needs to change.  The Occupy movement is much more than just a bunch of hippy young people camping out in parks and carrying signs.  It is average people, the middle class, those who can’t find work, those whose houses have been foreclosed on, those who have seen their pensions and 401k decimated, those who teach our kids, build our roads, and work in our factories.  The Occupy movement is all of us and it is even the ones who won’t realize they are part of it until they benefit from the change that will happen. And the Occupy movement, contrary to popular belief, is even more than the 99%, because it is also the 1%.  The 1% became the 1%, not because they are stupid, but because they are smart.  The 1% knows what it takes to be successful, they know what it takes to run a business, what it takes to make money, and they know that in order to recover from the hole that we are in, we need to raise taxes.  The 1% knows that the added revenue they would pay yearly in taxes would be such a small percentage of their yearly income, that they would not even miss it, and that the benefits that this country would gain from lowering our national debt, being able to keep essential social programs going, being able to put Americans back to work and give them the income to purchase the good and services that the 1% create for the other 99%, would benefit 100% of each and every person in the United States of America.  And if you don’t believe me, ask them.  

Many of these Millionaires and Billionaires who are part of the 1% have joined together to form PatroticMillionaires.com. On their web site, to Our President, to Harry Reid, and to John Boehner they have written:  

“We are writing to urge you to put our country ahead of politics. For the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens, we ask that you increase taxes on incomes over $1,000,000.  

We make this request as loyal citizens who now or in the past earned an income of $1,000,000 per year or more.  

Our country faces a choice – we can pay our debts and build for the future, or we can shirk our financial responsibilities and cripple our nation’s potential.  

Our country has been good to us. It provided a foundation through which we could succeed. Now, we want to do our part to keep that foundation strong so that others can succeed as we have.  

Please do the right thing for our country. Raise our taxes.”  

The 1% is part of the 99%, and if I’m not mistaken, that makes 100%. They have written a nine page letter that was sent to every Republican in the House and Senate detailing the exact reasons why the current policies must be changed, why the Bush Tax cuts must not be renewed, and why they must pay more in taxes.  Read this letter.  It will open your eyes and make anyone who reads it understand how the lies that we have been told by the Republicans, slowly and systematically, have economically destroyed our country, while making the ultra rich, ultra richer .  

The truth is, if we simply forget about this ridiculous pledge, made to a lobbyist, if we simply do what other Republican Presidents such as Ronald Regan, and George Bush Sr. did many times during their presidency, if our elected officials simply would do what is best for this country and stop making their priority blocking every single thing that our President wants to accomplish so that they can win an election, if they would simply raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans who can most afford it, who contrary to their beliefs are alright with having their taxes raised, and start giving the breaks to those who those who need them, then slowly and systematically we will start to see some real economic change in this country.   Like many people in many countries recently, we are facing our own form of oppression from those who have the power.  But just like those other countries, the power eventually comes back to the people.  The Occupy movement is all of us, not the 99%, not the 1%, but the 100%. And while we all may not be able to leave our daily lives and Occupy a park, or a building, on November 6th 2012, all of us can Occupy a voting booth.

 

Read the Letter PatroiticMillionaires.org sent to Congress.

 

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Steve Jobs - You May Say He's a Dreamer

By Brian Dann

 

I remember the day John Lennon died. December 8th 1980, I was watching Johnny Carson and in the middle of his monologue NBC news broke in with a special report. It was at a time when Lennon was experiencing a resurgence in his career. Double Fantasy was just about to be released literally the next day, and the music contained on that vinyl disk was some of the best he had ever produced. Double Fantasy became an instant classic and the sense of loss that the world felt collectively was palpable everywhere you looked.  The loss of a creative genius who had so much more to give to the world and the knowing that there was so much more we would never see or hear from this icon was almost impossible to believe.  We were grateful for what he had given us, for how he changed the face of music and the impact he had on our lives. And here we are again.
 
Like Lennon, the loss of Steve Jobs is almost impossible to comprehend. But unlike Lennon, the scale in which the creative mind of Steve Jobs has impacted all of our lives in so many different ways, is almost inconceivable. To imagine what the world would be like today without the creative genius of Jobs is to imagine a world in which you could not read this in the way that you are right now, a world in which music, like Lennon's Imagine, could not be listened to in the way that it is, a world in which computers are not personal, windows are only things we look through, and a phone is something that you only make phone calls on.  Jobs legacy was not the material things that he gave this world, it is the fact that not only could he imagine these things, but he could then inspire those around him to join in his vision, to care about the people that he was creating for, to show us that dreams can become reality, that one person can make a difference, that we all have the ability to change the world.  Jobs showed us that if you follow your heart, trust in yourself, then it doesn’t matter what Wall Street, investors, marketing analyst, or anyone else thinks, like a Field of Dreams, if you build it, they will come.
 
Steve Jobs was part of a club that only few belonged.  Jobs was to technology, what Gutenberg was to the printing press, what Einstein was to science, what Ford was to the manufacturing, what Bell was to communication, what the Wright Brothers were to aviation, what Disney was to animation. He had the vision of Edison, the creativity of Da Vinci, and the spirit of Lennon. He showed us all what it was like to imagine, he showed us that it’s easy if you try, and you may say he’s a dreamer, but he showed us that he’s not the only one. To steal a quote I saw on Nightline, “If heaven doesn’t exist, Steve Jobs will invent it.” We are grateful for what he has given us, for how he changed the face of the world, and the impact he had and will continue to have on our lives. 
  

 

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Don't Imagine President Obama In His Underwear

By Brian Dann

 

I think most people get it.  I really do.  It comes down to this. Be nice to each other.  It’s that simple.  We all just need to be nicer to each other.  We can disagree.  We can be angry.  We can be passionate about this issue or that issue. We can be grateful as I am that President Obama is now our President, or we can even be disgusted by the thought for whatever reasons we have, whether it is the fact that he is a democrat and you are a republican, or even if it is because you are a racist and the President is black, but in the process, in our discourse, we can be respectful to each other, but what we can’t do is be so mean spirited that it fuels a culture of hate so venomous that it is both scary and appalling all at the same time.  But before I go on, I want to try something.  First, clear your head of any thoughts you may be having at this very moment, I’ll wait… Now that you have done that, I want you to think of President Barack Obama, bowling, wearing nothing but his under wear. Take a minute if you need to, to really picture that in your head. Get a really good image of President Obama bowling in his boxers or briefs, whatever you choose.  Good, now that you have that mental image floating around in your brain, forget it.  Erase it completely from your head. Do not think of President Obama, bowling, in his underwear.  You can’t do it, can you?  No matter how hard you try you are now imagining President Obama bowling, wearing nothing but his underwear.  It’s out there, I said it, and now you can’t forget it.  You see, the reason why you can’t get that image out of your head, even though I told you to erase it from your mind, is because, quite simply, words have consequences.  This consequence may be very small.  I used words and the consequence is an image you can’t get out of your head.  But words can also lead to consequences that aren’t small, that are big, very, very big.
 
Now don’t get me wrong here.  I am in no way insinuating that the hateful tone of our discourse or any individual’s rhetoric was in any way shape or form directly responsible for the shooting that happened in Arizona like some have tried to do.  In fact I will go so far as to say that I do not believe for a second that Jared Loughner, the gunman who shot Gabrielle Giffords, was influenced by anyone other than his own deranged mental illness, not even Sarah Palin as many have also attempted to link to this. Jared Loughner is a mad man who was determined that day to reek as much death and destruction as he could and only a miracle and maybe stricter gun control laws could have stopped him.  But regardless of Jared Loughner’s actions and the tragedy that occurred in Arizona the fact remains that since Barack Obama was nominated as the Democratic candidate for President, the tone of our discourse has been nothing short of appalling, disgraceful, disrespectful, hateful, and at times plain racist.  I knew that when Barack Obama became the Democratic Candidate that this would be a major test for our nation. It would be a test to show who we really are as people.  It would be a test to find out just how far we have come in this country or how far we have not.   It would be a test to show our true colors.  I fully expected we would see the ugly head of racism show itself in ways we expected and did not expect.  But for some reason I never thought the hateful rhetoric and racism would last for so long and at times be so blatant.  For some reason with this President, the critical rhetoric has much more venom, much more of a tone of deny and destroy everything that this President stands for, and do it at any cost. 
   
The truth is, this is not an article I wanted to write because I didn’t want to finger point and say that it is their fault.  I’m certain that there is hateful rhetoric coming from both sides, the problem is that I can only find evidence of this rhetoric from one side. Two separate incidences occurred that made ignoring this rhetoric impossible. The first was a statement this past Thursday by former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum while being interviewed by the CNS News.  While speaking about President Obama’s stance on abortion, Santorum said,” is that human life a person under the constitution?... And Barack Obama says no. Well if that human life is not a person then I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say 'now we are going to decide who are people and who are not people.”  Just in case you missed it, what exactly does Barack Obama, being a black man, have anything to do with his ability to form a stance on abortion or on any issue for that matter? Exactly what issues is a black man qualified to form an opinion on Mr. Santorum?  Oh, I don’t know maybe basketball, or the right water melon to eat, or maybe the best place to learn tap dancing.  Rick Santorum may have well said “you people.” This is a clearly racist remark, directed directly at our President, from a former U.S. Senator. And this is exactly the type of hateful rhetoric that we have been hearing from all over this country from both government officials and private citizens alike when speaking about our President. The truth is the dirty little secret about this country, that thousands of people will never admit to, is that thousands did not vote for Barack Obama for no other reason than he is a black man.  There are thousands who may have rationalized not voting for President Obama one way or another, and did not want to even admit it to themselves that the bottom line was they did not vote for our President because he is black, but deep down inside at the core of their reasoning, the reason was racism.  There is a reason why at tea party rallies, and even at mainstream republican rallies, the participants are always overwhelmingly Caucasian.  And it is at these rallies that we see the most hateful signs and t-shirts that I can ever remember at a political function short of a KKK rally. Signs depicting our president as Hitler, or the Joker, signs spewing lies about death panels, or messages that the President hates America, that he wants to turn us into a socialist nation, these are just a sample of what has to stop, if for no other reason than it is just not true, it is lies and it is tearing this country apart.  We all need to take a step back.  We need our leaders on both sides to send a clear message to their constituents that we need to be truthful about our discourse and respectful to each other.  The Republican have the house and they have an opportunity to now set the example, but instead the first thing they do is put thru a piece of legislation called the bill to repeal the “Job-Killing Health Care Law Act”.  My god, set the tone from the beginning.  This was wrong on at least two levels.  First there is no concrete evidence that the Health Care Reform act kills any jobs and to use such language in the name of the bill itself is simply petty and childish.  Be respectful and truthful.  Call it what it is, a bill to repeal the health care reform act, and nothing more. The second level is that coming from a group that spent the last two years complaining that the Democrats were not doing enough to create jobs and spent too much time reforming health care, why was anytime at all spent on a bill that had no hope of ever being signed into law, to repeal health care? What about jobs? What about getting down to business on something that was not a total waste a time, just to make a point.  This wasted time, money and showed a complete lack of respect to the political process.
 
Now I could go on and on about inappropriate statements from various legislators regarding taking up arms, taking them out, and I could write an entire book on Sarah Palin and her endless string of inappropriate comments, but quite honestly, she is too stupid to know right from wrong so what’s the point.  And let me say, that comment directed directly at Sarah Palin is neither hateful, nor inappropriate because it is true and accurate.  She had an opportunity to say to the world that even if she did not intend for those “surveyor marks” or “cross hairs” to us simple folk, to come across the way they did, she understands that in retrospect it offended many, may have been inappropriate, and may have sent the wrong message to the country.  But instead she presented herself as the victim and blamed the press, and the left.  Sure, Sarah Palin and all the others out there who said hateful things are not responsible for the shootings in Arizona, but never the less the negative tone, and the heights that it has reached has done nothing to calm those that need just one spark, one reason to do something crazy.  We need to stop the lies about the state of our healthcare system, the lies about Wall Street, and we need to face the realities that maybe there are actually radical changes that need to be made in this country, and that maybe we are not perfect and that while we consider ourselves to be the greatest nation on this earth, maybe we are not as great as we used to be.  We are no longer number one in education.  We are no longer number one economically. We are no longer number one in manufacturing and for a long time, the only thing that we have been number one in is waging war.  In that we are the best, and that is the one thing around the world that we are known for.  We need to become the nation we once were, the nation that invented things, that produced things, that truly was the greatest at everything we set our mind to, and until we can stop the climate of hate and division that this country has become accustomed to, we will never be that great superpower ever again.  We all want the same thing and the only way to get there is to do one thing, be nice to each other. It’s that simple. Get it?

 

 

Arizona, "What Is The Government Going To Do?"

 

From 1999 through 2007, in Great Britain, 473 individuals were killed by firearms. During that same time period in the United States, 106,125 individuals were killed by firearms.  What is the difference?  In 1997 it was made illegal for a civilian to own an assault weapon in Great Britain.  No one owns guns, except for firearms that fall into the category used for hunting, and so far the government has not taken over.  There has been no need for their citizens to rise up against a government trying to oppress them, and the argument that now only the criminals will be the ones with guns, simply has not come true. In 2008, gun related deaths in Britain dropped 18% to 42, from 51 the year before, and no, that’s not 42 per 100 people, or 42 per 100,000 people. That’s 42 people total! In 1997 Britain disarmed.  They disarmed because of a massacre that occurred in their country.  Their politicians took charge, passed legislation and did whatever had to be done to make sure that no one else would die because of a firearm.  Imagine that, they actually did something.  What a novel idea! People with guns, killed lots of people without guns, so to stop people getting killed by guns, they got rid of guns! That’s fucking genius! So I suppose that is what will happen here now.  Monday morning the House and the Senate will all get together, forget about their party lines, and with a collective outrage at the events that have unfolded in Arizona, will passing sweeping legislation that will make all assault weapons illegal for civilians to own, finally putting an end to the extraordinary bloodshed that we have witnessed at Columbine, Virginia Tech, in countless schools and workplaces across our country, from inner-city gang violence,  and most recently outside a supermarket in Arizona during a peaceful gathering of Senator Gabrielle Giffords and her constituents.  I’m certain that in the name of the victims that fell that day and the others that were wounded, including the death of a nine year old girl, our politicians will finally ignore the gun lobby and the NRA and pass the necessary laws that will ensure that violence of this magnitude will never happen again.  And then monkeys will fly out of my ass!  Seriously, because that is about as likely as our politicians doing something about this.
 
Just once I would like to see our politicians forget about getting re-elected, forget about the millions given to them by the gun lobby, and instead do whatever has to be done to save lives.  There is no reason for anyone in this country to own an assault weapon of any kind.  It’s pure and simple.  Make all guns illegal except for ones used for hunting, disarm all civilians, including the criminals and no one will need a gun to protect themselves because there will be no guns for a person to be protected from.  This is not rocket science people!  It is illegal for a civilian to own a grenade launcher.  I don’t need to own my own grenade launcher to protect myself from crazy people with grenade launchers. No one has grenade launchers so that threat does not exist.  The fact is gun control laws as they exist today do not work. The criteria required to declare a person insane is too strict. The fact that the laws are different from state to state make it that much easier for any person no matter what their background to obtain an assault weapon.  The fact that gun shows do not require a seller to perform any kind of background check, and any person, no matter their criminal record or how insane they may be, can walk into these gun shows and walk out with enough fire power to arm a small country, is simply beyond insanity.  The fact that you can buy bullets for these weapons at the same place you can get toys for your kids or your tires rotated is beyond my comprehension.  I have a hard time understanding how the executives at Walmart can sleep at night knowing that the bullets used to kill and wound these innocent people in Arizona, were purchased at one of their stores.  After the tragedy at Columbine, Kmart, where the bullets used in that massacre came from, had enough sense to discontinue the sales of ammunition from all of their stores.  I only hope that the officials at Walmart follow their lead.  The fact is that during the shooting that happened in Arizona the individuals who stopped the man with the gun were all people who were unarmed, and the one person who had a gun for his own “protection” almost shot an innocent bystander, had he not been stopped from doing so.
 
Tonight on Nightline they interviewed five children who had all left letters as part of the makeshift memorial for those that were killed and wounded outside the supermarket with Senator Giffords.  This nine year old boy read his letter.  He hoped that Gabrielle Giffords would get well soon because, as he put it, “what will we do without her”.  Then the reporter asked him if he has been thinking about this since it happened, and the boy asked, in a way that only a little nine year old boy could, “What is the government going to do, what are they going to do?”  This time it can’t be nothing.  This time it has to be something, because somewhere in Arizona there is a little boy who is scared that a man with a gun, using bullets that came from the same store where his mom and dad buy his toys, is going to shoot him, and all he wants to know is “what is the government going to do?  Well…what?
 
 
On this, you can do something.  Call your Senator and your Representatives and leave them a message stating that in the wake of the tragedy that happened in Arizona you would like them to support stricter gun control laws. Believe it or not, they do listen.  To find the direct phone numbers for your representatives in Congress go to http://www.contactingthecongress.org/.

 

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Arizona, A Senseless Shooting, Again, and Again, and Again, and...

 

I don’t often feature other writers on NorthShoreDad.com, but once in a great while I come across an article written so well and so powerful that I realize that there is no way I could have said it better myself.  The shootings in Arizona of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords her staff members, a nine year old girl, and others, defies understanding and deserves only outrage.  I applaud the members of the house from both parties for coming together in the most bi-partisan way to support this senator, her aids and the others that were mortally wounded.  I only hope that this same spirit, that we are more than just party members, we are humans, and that we can accomplish more as friends then we can as enemies,  will be remembered in the days and weeks to come when these legislators debate the issues at hand.  Speaker of the House, John Boehner said of Rep. Giffords, “Gabby was attacked while doing the most important role of a member - listening.”  And in an e-mail I received from former Senator Alan Grayson, he said about Rep.  Giffords, “Gabby is one of the most cheerful, charming and engaging people I have ever known. She's always looking on the bright side. She has something good to say about pretty much everyone. Bad news never lays a glove on her. She loves life, and all the people in it.  No matter what is going on in your life, after fifteen minutes with Gabby, you'll feel that you can touch the stars.”  But what struck me as soon as I heard this news was what a gun, in the hands of someone who should never have had it, did to another human being.  Enough is enough. I ask you to read this article by Dennis Hennigan of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, regarding the shooting in Arizona.  Frankly, I could not have said this better myself.

____________________ 

 
By Dennis Henigan on January 9th, 2011, (Originally posted  from The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence)
 
As the nation recoils from the horror of the mass shooting in Arizona, I am struck by a strong sense of terrible inevitability. The cauldron of political violence had been allowed to boil for too long. As it did in 1995 with Timothy McVeigh, at some point violent action was destined to follow the violent talk and the brandishing of guns.
 
It started two summers ago during the red hot public debate over health care, when angry protesters with guns started showing up at Presidential events and town hall meetings. A dozen people openly carried guns outside the Phoenix convention center where the President was giving a speech, including one with an AR-15 assault rifle strapped to his back. A New Hampshire man stood outside another Presidential appearance on health care reform with a pistol strapped to his thigh. And like a bizarre premonition of yesterday’s shooting, in August of 2009 an armed protester actually dropped his handgun at an earlier “Congress on the Corner” event with Rep. Giffords, then as now outside a Safeway.
 
And then there was Nevada Tea Party Republican Sharron Angle, with her call for “Second Amendment remedies” to be used “when our government becomes tyrannical.” Indeed, openly displayed pistols became commonplace at Tea Party events. Threats of violence were made against supporters of the President, and the windows of Democratic offices were shattered across the nation, including the district offices of Rep. Giffords (apparently by gunshot), all in apparent response to an appeal from a right wing website. A political extremist, inspired by the ravings of Glenn Beck, was intercepted on his way to attack San Francisco’s Tides Foundation. During her reelection campaign, Rep. Giffords’ Republican opponent exemplified the toxic mix of guns and politics when he held campaign events where he invited his supporters to rally against her by joining him in shooting machine guns.
 
In the wake of the Tucson bloodshed, there has been much commentary already about the incendiary rhetoric and violent imagery that has invaded our political discourse. The Becks and the Palins who have so poisoned our politics deserve our derision. But it is not only an issue of rhetoric and imagery. The fact is that the rhetoric springs from an ideology of political violence – a set of convictions about the relation between citizens and their government — that has found a home among radical “gun rights” zealots.
 
When Sharron Angle spoke of “Second Amendment remedies,” she was echoing a core belief of the “gun rights” movement, including the leaders of the National Rifle Association, that guns are legitimate tools of political dissent. The NRA often talks of the Second Amendment as the “First Freedom,” because it is the potential of an armed populace to take up arms against their political leaders that deters tyranny. In the aftermath of Tucson, it is chilling to recall the words of an NRA official, who told the New York Times some years ago, that “the Second Amendment . . . is literally a loaded gun in the hands of the people held to the heads of government.” Or, as NRA Executive Director Wayne LaPierre, told a cheering crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2009, “Freedom is nothing but dust in the wind till it’s guarded by the blue steel and dry powder of a free and armed people . . . Our founding fathers understood that the guys with the guns make the rules.”
 
Much is yet to be known about the beliefs and motivations of the Tucson killer. But we know for certain what he has done. He targeted a U.S. Congresswoman, who now lies critically wounded, and his attack killed six innocent people, including a federal judge and a nine-year-old child, as well as wounding 13 others. At some level, he felt justified to take up arms against a government official. He sought to “make his own rules” with a semi-automatic pistol. The result was mass slaughter.
 
In our republic, the rules are made, not through violence, but through the vigorous discussion of issues between the people and their elected representatives. Ironically, that is what was occurring outside that Tucson Safeway when the gunman struck. He was attacking not just Rep. Giffords and her constituents. He was attacking our cherished tradition of peaceful dissent and democratic decision-making. In hindsight, it seems especially appropriate that, during the recent reading of the Constitution on the House Floor, Rep. Giffords read the First Amendment.
 
The time has come for political leaders of both parties, whether liberal or conservative, to renounce the ideology of political violence. Ideas have consequences. The idea that “the guys with the guns make the rules” has inevitable consequences that can no longer be tolerated.
 
For more information, see Dennis Henigan’s Lethal Logic: Exploding the Myths that Paralyze American Gun Policy (Potomac Books 2009)

 

 

 

 

The Most Important News Story of 2010 - NOT!

 

“We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization” - Franklin D Roosevelt
 
Looking back at 2010, ask yourself what do you think was the single most important news story of this year?  That is exactly what the Associated Press asked 180 of the top U.S. editors and news directors in their annual poll.  Without telling you what I think the single most important news story was of 2010, I will tell you that I believe that all 180 of these editors and news directors got it wrong.  The reason I believe this is because from looking at their answers, what I really believe they answered was, what do you think the most “popular” news story was of 2010, and there is a vast difference between what was the most popular news story and what was the most important news story.  Now don’t get me wrong, all of the stories that were chosen were news worthy stories and deserved the attention that they received.  All of these stories had a vast impact on the world, the environment, and politics.  They kept us interested, engaged us, angered us, and often shocked and sometimes awed us. But I still don’t believe that any of them were the most important.  The winning story of this poll was also the story that lasted the longest, was probably the most disturbing, and coincidently generated the most news readership, the BP Gulf Oil Spill.  I know what you are thinking, what could be more important than the Gulf Oil Spill.  The sheer impact that this disaster has had and will continue to have on the environment, on the people and communities of the gulf coast and on generations to come is immeasurable.  And the way that it was handled by both the government and by BP is inexcusable.  This is clearly a disaster that since it happened once will certainly happen again.  It is important, but never the less it is far from the most important story.  It sold the most news papers, generated the most ad revenue, but it was not the most important. Some of the other stories that made the cut were:
 

• The Health Care Insurance overhaul - with legislation that paved the way for millions more Americans to have insurance coverage, the end to pre-existing conditions, extension of coverage for minors, extended drug  benefits, but without the inclusion of a public option, in my opinion, did not go far enough.
• The Elections in November - Where the Republicans took the house and gained seats in the Senate.
• The Economy - with unemployment staying above 9%, foreclosures on the rise, home prices down, even though consumers were spending more.
• The Earthquake in Haiti - Human devastation and a corrupt government.
• The Tea Party movement – Oh PLEASE, don’t get me started.
• The Mine Rescue in Chile – It was incredible, emotional and great TV.
• Iraq - The ending of formal combat operations, but when isn’t Iraq a top news story?
• WikiLeaks – Hero or demon?  I guess that’s a matter of perspective.
• Afghanistan – Again, when isn’t this a top news story.  Each day it’s something different.

Each one of these stories that made the cut were all important, incredible, headline making news stories and deserve to be on this list, but the one story that is missing, and that while it might not have made the most headlines and sold the most newspapers, is far more significant than any of the stories mentioned. And that is because this story isn’t just about a disaster or an election, a rescue or the economy.  This story is about the rights of people.  This story is about a monumental leap in human decency.  This is a story about correcting a wrong that regardless of politics or religion, was finally made right and brings our nation one step closer to ending legalized discrimination everywhere in this country. The story that is missing and should have been number one on that list is the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell from our U.S. Military. 
 
If you’re not homosexual or not in the military don’t be so quick to think that this story doesn’t apply to you because it does.  While this particular chapter of the history of civil rights in this county is focused on homosexuals, this is only the most recent chapter of the battle for equality for all people living in this country.  Discrimination in America has affected African-Americans, Jews, Mexicans, Japanese , women, the handicapped, as well as homosexuals.  This battle while currently focused on the wrongs being perpetrated against homosexuals is part of a long process of eradicating legalized discrimination against Americans from all walks of life.  At one time African-Americans were legally separated from “white” Americans in our schools, at our drinking fountains, on the bus, and even in the voting booth.  At one time women were restricted from voting because the law said that to vote you must own land, and most women did not.   It was just two years ago that President Obama signed in to law the Lilly-Ledbetter Act that guaranteed woman equal pay in the work place.  At one time it was legal for the handicapped to be denied entry in to buildings and even employment due to the barriers of curbs and stairs.  At one time it was legal for Jews to be denied employment or membership in certain clubs for no other reason than they were Jews.  At one time Japanese Americans were placed in internment camps for no other reason than they were of Japanese descent.  And at one time openly gay individuals were denied entry into our armed forces simply because of their sexual orientation and were forced to pretend they were straight or face a military court marshal and dishonorable discharge, not unlike my wife’s grandmother who in world war two was forced to pretend she was Christian or face death at the hands of the Nazis.  All of these injustices were once legal.  While this story made the news for a day or two, it was not seen as meaningful of a story because today homosexuality is much more accepted then it was in the past.  We see gays and lesbians on television all the time. It is no longer shocking to see people of the same sex kiss each other in sitcoms, dramas or movies.  We have openly gay talk show hosts, politicians, and news commentators. And I believe that most of us expected DADT to eventually be overturned, but expecting it to be and it actually happening are two different things.
 
To help place things in perspective we need to realize exactly where we have come from on the issues related to the discrimination against homosexuals in America.  As recent as 2003, nine states had laws on the books that made sodomy illegal, not only for homosexuals, but for anyone.  That’s right, if a two people of the same or opposite sex wanted to have anal intercourse, in the privacy of their own home, it was against the law. Four additional states specifically directed those laws towards homosexuals. Exactly how they planned on enforcing those laws I am not really sure.  Currently there are fifteen states that do not have any hate crime laws that include crimes involving sexual orientation or gender identity and there are five states that have no hate crime laws at all. As early as 2003 President Bush stated in a press conference that he was for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. In 2004 a Kansas court ruled that homosexuals having sex with a minor could receive harsher sentences than heterosexuals committing the same crime.  These laws exist. These attitudes exist, and they are wrong.  No one is ever going to be able to stop individuals from discriminating, or stop religious groups from thinking that homosexuality is a sickness that they can cure, because the real disease is ignorance.  Ignorance, unlike homosexuality is learned and the cure comes from education, from exposure and from our government and its leaders sending the message that legally these discriminatory practices will not be tolerated.  It was Martin Luther King Jr. who once said, “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.”
 
The late Senator Edward Kennedy said during his speech at the funeral for his brother Robert:

 
“There is discrimination in this world and slavery and slaughter and starvation. Governments repress their people; millions are trapped in poverty while the nation grows rich and wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere. These are differing evils, but they are the common works of man. They reflect the imperfection of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, our lack of sensibility towards the suffering of our fellows. But we can perhaps remember -- even if only for a time -- that those who live with us are our brothers; that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek -- as we do -- nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.”
 
And to that I say, Amen.

 

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Seasons Of My Father

 

One year ago today my father lost his battle with cancer.  He was seventy-five years old.  This video is for him.

 

For more about my father you can read "Earl Dann, Rest In Peace - A Eulogy".

 

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Red Carpets, Champagne, and No Worries!

 

There are few times in this life when we can share a singular commonality, a shared experience, an extraordinary moment, that in ways that you never expect, fills you with awe, joins you together and humbles you and all around you.  Only a small number of events have occurred in my life that have given me this feeling. Watching an African-American being sworn in as president, something that I thought I would never see in my lifetime, seeing the U.S hockey team defeat the Russians in the 1980 Olympics, watching our country come together as one after the tragedy of 9/11, all of these things collectively filled us with a feeling that extraordinary things are possible.  An experience that goes way beyond the generous gift I was given, way beyond the sights and sound that we all were fortunate enough to share, way beyond anything I could ever imagine, has taught me lessons that will stay with me for the rest of my life.  I was with 301 individuals who were handpicked by the queen of daytime talk herself, Oprah Winfrey, to receive the trip of a life time to Australia.  My wife and I were lucky enough to be In the studio audience for her 25th season premier and while that experience of being in that audience and seeing the collective explosion of emotions, people hugging, and women crying, was amazing in its own right, it is nothing compared to the collective experiences and emotions that we all came to experience while actually being in the country of Australia not just as guests of Harpo, but as guests of this amazing country.  The one word that I have heard over and over by the people on this trip in regards to the way we have been treated and the things we have done, is Humbling, humbling because we are all just ordinary people.  We are all mothers and fathers, teachers and students, business owners and workers.  But somehow we all were given this gift, and when you talk to people in this group you start to realize why each person was chosen for this adventure.  Each person has a different story that makes them stand out, that makes them one of one hundred and fifty one who were picked to come and each bring someone special.  Then when you hear why that person they brought is their someone special you start to understand that good things really do happen to good people.  We all knew that this trip was going to be something special.  We all knew that even if we could afford to come to Australia ourselves we would never be able to experience it on the level that we would on this trip.  But what we never expected was how we would be treated as true guests of not just Oprah, but of the land down under.  These ordinary people whose only dream was to get tickets to just one Oprah show before her show ends this season, became instant celebrities.  They had been greeted by press and paparazzi, had the literal Red Carpet rolled out upon arrival to the hotel, only to be greeted with more press and paparazzi, appeared on the front page of papers, featured on news channels all over he world, had dinners hosted on the scale that would rival international celebrities and heads of state, and that was just in the first day. Collectively we experienced a country that was so grateful to have us and so thrilled to share with us there culture, and we are the ones who should be grateful, and we are.  We are grateful for this experience, grateful to have been picked, and that is why we are humbled, because we should be grateful to them.  We are all just ordinary people being treated extraordinary.  We are humbled, collectively humbled.  

We were given a gift but the gift we were given goes way beyond the obvious of the things we received and the places we went.  The gift was the message that Oprah herself expressed to us numerous time while on this odyssey, that great things can happen to all of us, that miracles can happen, that we did not make it to Australia by accident, that we were all picked for a reason, that there is a divine power that brought this together, that if a little girl who could never find her name on a pen or a plate could one day see an entire regatta of twenty one sail boats with her name as big as life flying from each of the sails, sailing under Sydney Harbor Bridge with a giant O lighted up for the world to see, then it is possible for each one of us to achieve whatever it is that we can dream.   

It’s not every day that these ordinary people are greeted on white sand beaches, only accessible by boat, by celebrity chef Curtis Stone, fed unbelievable food and given free drinks while being serenaded by Australian singing groups, as Oprah herself flies in on Helicopter to join us all for the party.  It’s not every day that we are taken to the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world to snorkel with Gayle King.  It’s not every day the these ordinary people are interviewed by press and appear in papers or walk red carpets usually reserved for celebrities, get stopped on the street and have people excited to see us just because it’s us, dine with celebrities and treated with such kindness and hospitality that you start to wonder why.   If I take back with me anything from this adventure it is that we don’t need red carpets and champagne to make us feel that we are extraordinary because it is not about what we receive it is about what we give.  It is not about where we work or how much we make, it is about how we live, not living to work, but working to live.  It is about our family, our friends and knowing that, in the words of Paul McCartney,” the love you take is equal to the love you make.”   And in the words of Miss O, “everything is better when you share it with others.”  This trip, this experience, this moment, is one that I will never forget and not because of where I went or what I did, but because of who it was shared with, the collective experience, the extraordinary moments that filled us with awe and changed us forever.  Thank you to my 300 new friends. Thank you Oprah. Thank you Australia. Thank you.

 

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At Least WikiLeaks Didn't Find Any Bestiality

 

In 2001, a network administrator who I worked with at one of the largest, most prestigious law firms in the United States, and whose headquarters was located in Chicago decided to do a search of all of the employee folders on one of the main servers where each employee saved their “personal” files, for any file that ended in JPG, MOV, or AVI, or in other words, any photo or video files.  He was not looking for anything in particular, but instead just to see what types of things the partners and associates at this firm were looking at.  Like almost every employee in that I.T. department he had full access to every file, every piece of information, no matter how mundane or sensitive that information was to the person or the firm.  Major case files, major pieces of discovery, major evidence that could easily be copied on to a DVD and passed along to the opposing council, were all available to every person in that I.T. Department, completely unrestricted in any way.  The only thing stopping anyone in that department from stealing any data they wanted to and passing it along to anyone they wanted to was the confidentiality agreement each employee signed, and a certain level of blind trust, not any real network security or restrictions to data, just trust.  What was most interesting about what that network administrator found that day, when he searched for every photo or video file that was in the home folders of some of the highest paid partners and associates at this firm, was not the amount of sensitive legal evidence that could have been stolen and passed to council or the press, yes that was there, but instead the amount of pornography, racist or offensive “humor”, or even illegal materials that could ruin the careers of any one of those lawyers.  And it wasn’t just a handful of photos and videos that were found, it was thousands.  One attorney’s folder actually contained a video of a woman having intercourse with a horse.  This law firm was lucky.  Nothing was ever done with what was found, no one was turned in for having inappropriate materials, although they could have and probably should have, and the I.T. Department had a good laugh at the attorney’s expense, which I’m sure is some kind of HR violation right there.  The files that were found were all copied for safe keeping and deleted from the attorney’s folders with certain confidence that no one would be coming to us to complain, “Where is my video of a woman screwing a horse?!”  And even if that video was evidence in a case, it was not the proper place for evidence to be stored.
 
If you think I am trying to make some point here about what is appropriate or not appropriate to save  on your work computer, or any type of commentary on the morality of attorneys, then you are wrong.  Personally, having worked in Information Technology, I always find it amazing the types of things I find on the computers that people use for work. A work computer is the property of the company you work for and so is everything on it, so keep that in mind next time you are thinking about checking out barelylegal.com on your company laptop.  The point I am making here is simple.  What just happened to the U.S. Government with the release of tens of thousands of documents, that supposedly were considered secure but instead were easily obtainable by anyone of the 600,000 persons with security clearance to those electronic network based files, was a WikiLeaks accident just waiting to happen, and if you think the data at your own company is secure for even just one heartbeat, you are wrong.  The data at your own company not only can be stolen but I will go so far to say, to some degree, it has been.  Keep in mind, the U.S. government was not hacked into by international foreign spies, or by operatives working for Al Qeada.  The information obtained, stolen, and given to WikiLeaks was done so by a U.S. soldier working internally inside the I.T. structure of the supposedly secure computer network of the U.S. military and government.  The files leaked to the world were simply copied off a server and on to one or more DVD disks, and no one knew about it until it became international news, and a nightmare not just for the Obama administration but also governments and individuals around the world.   The biggest threat to any organization whether private or public is not external threats but internal ones.  Employees today have far too much access to the information stored on company networks and any person who has worked in any I.T. department for any decent amount of time will tell you that the WikiLeaks indecent doesn’t surprise them at all, in fact they will tell you that they are surprised it didn’t happen sooner. With USB flash drives available up to 64 gigabytes a person could easily walk out of a company with millions of confidential and damaging documents without ever being noticed.  And to complicate things further, the trend towards outsourcing the administration of company servers and data farms to third party firms that have no vested interest in the data they are administering is like handing the keys to your house to a group of strangers and hoping they don’t steal your jewelry.  According to Perimeter E-Security, a security firm based in Milford, CT,  who each year publishes their list of the Top 10 Threats to Information Security, “Malicious Insiders” are the number two threat for 2010, only to be beaten by “Malware”, and falling from the number one spot last year.  According to this report:
  

“Malicious insiders were listed as the #1 threat for 2009 and were listed as a rising threat. According to a survey released in October of 2009 by Actimize and reported by DarkReading, nearly 80% of financial institutions worldwide say the insider threat problem has increased in the wake of the economic downturn. 70% of financial institutions reported incidents of insider fraud in the last 10 months. Nearly half of the banks in the Actimize survey say they are losing 1 to 4 percent of their total revenues to insider fraud.”
 
This report also cites a number of specific incidents including:
 

• The University Medical Center in Las Vegas learned that an employee allegedly leaked confidential patient data including Social Security numbers, billing data, and full descriptions of injuries and it has been reported that the information was sold.
• A T-Mobile employee stole customer records and sold them to a data broker who in turn sold the data to T-Mobile competitors. It included millions of records that contained valuable information such as account expiration date so competitors could target those customers at the time they may look for a new provider.
• Former Bank of New York Mellon employee Adeniyi Adeyemi was indicted on identity theft charges. He was charged with grand larceny, identity theft, and money laundering after stealing and using New York Mellon employee information. He opened phony bank and brokerage accounts where he deposited stolen money.

 
It would be very easy for all of us to focus on the person or persons who reportedly stole this information, or the founder of WikiLeaks who made the choice to publish this information for the world to see but the reality is, it is the government who opened up their networks to far too many individuals and made it far too easy for this information to get out.  Should we be surprised that there were secret deals made behind closed doors, or that the CIA is involved in things that could be considered illegal or even immoral, or that foreign leaders presented their views to the public in one way but communicated entirely different messages in “private”?  There is an old saying that goes, “ignorance is bliss.” Quite frankly I depend on the fact that we don’t know everything that goes on behind the scenes nor should we.  International politics is a dirty, stinky world and it is these behind closed doors where private deals and conversations make politics function.  The problem is that to get us to the places that we need to be, whether it is a peace in the middle east or nuclear disarmament, trade agreements or the search for terrorists, it is counterproductive for us to know the details of every e-mail and covert operations that is happening around the world.  All that we really need to know is that peace was made, deals were formed, hostages were released, and our troops came home.  How it all happens is something that we are better off not knowing because if we did, much of what is now history may not have happened. The individuals who are responsible for leaking this information should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law if for no other reason than they broke the law, but they are merely a symptom of a larger problem that effects governments and private organizations around the world and that is the security of our internal networks and who is given keys to the kingdom.  Without serious action taken in both the private and public sectors “Malicious Insiders” will continue to be one of the top two threats to network security and this will not be the last we will hear from WikiLeaks.

 

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A Republican Guide to Handing the President His Ass

 

So, how do I put this tactfully? Awe forget it, there is no way to put this tactfully.  Obama got his ass handed to him on a silver platter Tuesday.  At his news conference the next day he looked like a wet puppy dog standing in the rain that just got struck by lightning.  The correspondent from Fox News looked happier then Glenn Beck does after he pleasures himself to a photo of Sarah Palin.  The Republicans, the Tea Party, Fox News, they did it, so go ahead guys gloat, no really it’s ok, I understand.  After all you did get your asses handed to you two years ago and we did plenty of gloating at that time, so go ahead, I’ll wait………Are you done? Good, now shut the fuck up because here’s the deal.  You didn’t win.  I know what you are saying to yourself.  “What, are you on crack Brian?  We won the house.  Nancy Pelosi is out, we run things now.  The people spoke and the people told Obama NO!  This was a direct repudiation of Obama’s reckless policies!  We are taking this country back!  How’s that hopey changy thing working for you now!? Palin for President, Palin for President! WE WON!”  Let me say this again, You…didn’t…win.  Oh sure, you took the house, but you didn’t win.
 
One of my favorite shows is The Apprentice.  Inevitably on each season there are one or two people who do nothing but complain.  They are no help to the team, and think they know everything and week after week they skate by while someone else takes the fall.  Then comes the week when it’s their turn to step up to the plate and be project manager, and prove that they know better than everyone else, and prove that they are not all talk, and nine out of ten times, when the task is over, when the talking is finished, when they get to the board room, they lose, and The Donald says to them those two words that no one in that board room ever wants to hear, “You’re Fired.”  You see, while it may seem like the Republicans won, what happened on Tuesday was actually the best of scenarios for President Obama and the Democrats because now the Republicans have power.  And the Republican and Tea Party candidates who got elected, who vowed to take back this country can no longer simply blame President Obama and the Democrats for the issues that face this country.  The Republicans can no longer just sit back and say “no” to every initiative that the President tries to push through.  It’s easy to let the President take the fall for all of the issues facing our nation when you have no power to do anything about it, but now the Republicans have the power and with power comes responsibility, and with responsibility comes accountability. 
 
The reality is that the Republicans took the elections that they did, in the numbers that they did, not because “the people rejected the failed policies of Obama”, but instead for a number of reason, the first being that President Obama overestimated the American public’s  ability to wait for change.  Obama, like every presidential candidate has done, promised change on a scale that was epic in proportion.  The people expected Obama to swoop in like super hero, create jobs out of thin air, and magically turn around the economy.  But what the President neglected to tell everyone was that it just does not happen in less than two years.  To turn around an economy and restore the amount of jobs that were lost during the Bush era takes time.  After Obama got done fighting to become president he thought all he had to do now was govern and the people would wait for the results.  He was wrong.  What he did not expect was the amount of continued fight and venomous opposition he would receive from those on the other side. He did not expect a Republican party that would do anything it could to stop every initiative that the Democrats put through.  He did not expect a Republican party that would refuse to find any middle ground with the Democrats on any issue.  He did not expect A Tea Party movement funded by billionaires and corporations that spread lies about health care reform.  He did not expect town hall meetings that were drowned out by republican protesters who were instructed on exactly what to say to make those meetings as unproductive as possible.   He did not expect a major “News” organization to actively participate in and broadcast in their entirety “Tea Party” rallies.  He did not expect ongoing campaigns designed to discredit everything from his religion to his citizenship, but this is what he got and more.  The mistake the President made was not beating them at their own game. It became clear early on that the Republicans, the Tea Partiers and Fox News were not going to do what has traditionally happened in the past and accept who ever won the election as their leader and give that person their full support. 
 
The president neglected to realize that the campaign was not over, the fight was just beginning and he needed to be just as vocal if not more vocal then his opposition was.  To put it simply, the Republicans yelled louder, while the President didn’t yell at all, and by the time he started, it was already too late.  It didn’t seem to matter that the middle class received the largest tax break in decades. It didn’t seem to matter that the Stimulus Package prevented our country from slipping further into a depression.  It didn’t seem to matter that 30 million more people who could not get health insurance in the past now could, or that no one could be denied health insurance for pre-existing conditions. It did not seem to matter that preventive medicine is now free, or that there is no longer a co-pay on birth control. It did not seem to matter that women are now guaranteed equal pay in the workplace, or that the balance on student loans will be erased after twenty years of on time payments.  It did not seem to matter that millions of jobs were saved by keeping GM and Chrysler in business, or that the ban on stem cell research was over turned.  It didn’t seem to matter that the President Provided the Department of Veterans Affairs with more than $1.4 billion to improve services to America's Veterans, or that he Signed the Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act, which provides health care 4 million children who were previously uninsured, or that he banned the Bush Administration’s approved use of torture as a method of interrogation by our armed forces, or that he established the Credit Card Bill of Rights, preventing  credit card companies from imposing arbitrary rate increases on customers, or that he increased funding for the Violence Against Women Act, or that he expanded hate crime law in the US to include sexual orientation through the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, or that he signed a financial reform law establishing a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to look out for the interests of everyday Americans, or that he cut prescription drug cost for medicare recipients by 50%, or that he appointed more openly gay officials than any other president in US history!  I just did not seem to matter!  But why?  Because President Obama did all of these great things and more in less than two years, but didn’t tell anyone.
 
You didn’t win.  You didn’t win because blaming the President is now over, the Republicans are now responsible and unless jobs are created and our economy improves they will be accountable as well. You didn’t win because by lying about everything from the President’s religion to his proposed “Death Panels” you disrespected the American people and did them a disservice.  You didn’t win because if President Obama is prevented from passing even one piece of ground breaking legislation even remotely similar to the type of legislation he was able to get passed in less than two years, then all of us will have lost.  I’m sorry, but you didn’t win.

 

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This Is Who You Should Vote For.

 

This is who you should vote for.  Oh, I already know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking that I’m going to tell you to vote Democrat.  You’re thinking, why am I even bothering, after all Brian Dann is about as far left as Glenn Beck is right.  You may even be thinking, who the hell is Brian Dann to be telling me who I should vote for. Some of you may even be thinking, who the hell is Brian Dann. And if that is what you’re thinking, you’re right. So, this is who you should vote for.  But before I get to that let me just ask you this.  Is there really anything that I can write at this moment that could make you change who you are going to vote for?  Haven’t you by this point really made up your mind, and isn’t it true that over the next two days, no matter how many negative political ads that you see on the TV, or hear on the radio, you are not going to change what you are going to do when you step into that voting booth on November 2nd?  Isn’t it true that by this time you have mostly tuned out those political ads narrated by that guy with the deep gravelly voice that paints their opponent as the worst thing that could possibly happen to this country since 9/11?  And isn’t it true that it would be completely presumptuous of me to think that for me to tell you who you should vote for would make one god damn bit of difference in this election on Tuesday?
   
The gods honest truth is this.  I don’t care what party any politician associates themselves with.  I don’t care what the opposition is saying about them or what half truths the supposedly fair and balanced media has twisted about them.  The truth is that for anyone to decide to devote their life to serving the public  by running for political office takes a certain type of individual.  The truth is that for all of the bad things that people say about politicians, at least in the beginning, before all of the lobbyists and special interest groups get to them, or before they become overly consumed with their own perceived political power and forget that they are supposed to be representing the people in their districts, they are all essentially good people.  The truth is that they align themselves with a certain political party, be it republican or democrat because they intend to support the agenda of that party.  And the truth is that all of the negative rhetoric that we hear in every political ad, year after year, does not mean a single thing because for one, anyone can say whatever they want about their opponent in a political ad, and it does not make it true, and for two, most politicians are essentially good people at least in the beginning assuming they are not tied to the mob, or their name does not rhyme with Shmod Zgloyavich.  The real problem with our system of electing politicians is that we rely too much on political ads and political pundits who put way too much time and energy into spreading lies about whoever it is that they want to bring down.  The sad truth is that if Glenn Beck keeps saying over and over, day after day that Obama is a racist, socialist, Muslim who hates America and was born in Kenya people will start to believe it, and they have.  If enough people started claiming that the earth was flat and kept hammering that message over and over again, day after day, you would end up with a segment of the population who no matter what scientific proof is presented to them, would believe that the earth is indeed flat.  And this is exactly what politicians count on.  They count on the fact that no matter how false and misleading their ads are, people will believe it long enough to cast their vote.  FOX news depends on the fact that human beings are gullible and that regardless of the facts, as long as they present their message in a format that somewhat resembles news, it will influence enough of the population to push through their agenda for them.  Gone are the days of Walter Cronkite when news people presented the day’s news, unbiased as simply facts. In today’s twenty-four hour news channels there is a constant need to fill time and space and today the pundits and fear mongers outnumber the actual unbiased news.  Today we base our votes on what news channel we watch because each station presents the “news” with its own built in bias instead of simply the facts, and the line between news and opinion is gone, because unlike in the old days when on my local CBS news at 10 they would announce “and now perspective with Walter Jacobson,” at which time we knew we were about to get Walters opinion on things, we no longer can tell when it is news and when it is perspective. 
 
And this brings us to Jon Stewart. If you ask Jon Stewart what he is he will tell you that he is a comedian.  But if you ask the American people that question, which Time Magazine actually did in July of 2009, they will tell you that he is the most trusted News Anchor in America. (Time Mag Poll)Yes that is right, not Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson, or Katie Couric… Jon Stewart.  Now I like Jon Stewart.  If you are a loyal reader of NorthShoreDad you know that I regularly feature videos from the Daily Show, and I do so because I believe that Stewart, is more than just a funny man.  He has a way of exposing the media and the politicians for who they really are, with a rare honesty that is frequently non existent in today’s journalism, and uses humor to stress the hypocrisy that often exists in today’s world.  But Americans most trusted News Anchor?  I believe that the fact that this poll by Time Magazine yielded the results that it did is much more of a reflection on today’s state of journalism then it is on Jon Stewart’s prowess as a news man.  And to this I believe that Stewart himself would agree.  Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson, or Katie Couric should have been one of the winners of that poll and the fact that not a single FOX news anchor was even mentioned in this poll says a tremendous amount about the “Fair and balanced” claim of Fox news.    The reality is that we can no longer depend on what the news reports to us, whether that news is from FOX, CNN, ABC, NBC or CBS.  The reality is that any story that has any trace of politics in it is rarely reported without some sort of spin or angle to it.  The reality is that if we really want to know what is going on with any political figure or issue we must do our own research and forget what is reported by anyone.  We can’t blame the politicians because we expect them to run negative ads and anyone who solely bases their vote on what is said in a political ad is a fool and deserves whatever they get.
 
So this is who you should vote for… no one.  Now don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that you do not vote.  That would be stupid and if you choose not to vote then don’t complain when the person who wins isn’t the one you wanted. What I am suggesting is that instead of voting for a person, vote for a party.  Why, because no matter what crazy negative thing you hear about any of the candidates, the bottom line is that when that person gets into office, they are going to support whatever the agenda is of whatever party they are a part of.  And if you feel that your values are more in line with the Democrats then you should vote for the Democratic candidates.  And if you feel that your values are more in line with the Republicans, then you should vote Democrat. (Oops I meant Republican)  
 
But to those who voted Democrat in the last election and are considering switching their vote tomorrow I say this.  You are dissatisfied, I get it.  You didn’t get everything that was promised and everything that you wanted, I get it.  Unemployment is still high, foreclosures are still happening, healthcare reform was passed but didn’t go far enough, and Wall Street is still robbing us blind, I get it.  George W. Bush and the Republicans financially destroyed this country decimated our reputation around the world and you wanted President Obama to fix it all in less than two years, I get it. But before you pout all the way to the polls and stomp your feet because you didn’t get your way,  before you start to cry because you wanted three scoops of ice cream and Papa Obama only gave you two, realize that the Democrats want to do something about it, and given the time they will.  The Republicans won’t and only want to return us to the George W. Bush policies that brought this country to its political knees.  Believe all of the rhetoric that FOX News, The Tea Party, and Sarah Palin keep spewing about how we need to take back our country, then remember that two years ago we already did. Then step into that voting booth, cast your vote for the party you believe in.  That is who you should you vote for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bullying To Death

 

Recently somebody asked me why I keep writing articles about issues related to the rights of homosexuals.  After all, I’m not gay and no one in my family that I know of at least is gay.  I do have friends who are gay and have known many people over the years who are gay, but so have a lot of other people. So why is it that this one issue I have written four separate articles about?  I have written articles supporting the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, about if being gay is a choice or a trait that a person is born with, and about supporting same-sex marriage.  I write about many issues but this issue for some reason really gets to me. The reasons that I keep writing about these issues is twofold.  The first reason is simple.  No person for any reason what so ever in this country should ever be discriminated against and whether that reason is because of their sex, or their skin color, their religion, or their age, a disability or their sexual preference, the fact remains, it is wrong.  This issue goes way beyond what group is being discriminated against, this is an issue of common decency.  It is the same issue that faced African Americans during the civil rights movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the issue of Equality.  If African Americans still had to sit in the back of the bus and drink from separate drinking fountains then I would be writing about that.  If women were still denied the right to vote then I would be writing about that. If Jews were still restricted from living in certain Chicago suburbs or joining certain social clubs I would be writing about that. And while all of these groups still and always will have to endure discrimination on some level, that discrimination, unlike the discrimination that homosexuals face is currently against the law.  Homosexuals on the other hand not only still have to endure discrimination but they have to endure legalized discrimination and until all discrimination of any kind is outlawed, we all should be outraged that any legal support for discrimination still exist in modern America. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is legalized discrimination against homosexuals in the military.  Laws forbidding same-sex couples to get married is legalized discrimination.  Laws forbidding same-sex couples to adopt is legalized discrimination.  Homosexuality is not a disease, it is not a condition that needs to be rectified, it is not a lesser lifestyle or a way of being that others need to pity someone for. It is a human being, being a human being with every right that every other human being on this earth has.  And if the actual act of two people of the same sex having sex with each other bothers you, well get over it.  No one is asking you to watch.  I would not want to watch most heterosexual couples having sex.  Being gay is not all about sex just like being heterosexual is not all about sex.  Being homosexual is simply about who you love, who you care for, who you choose to date, who you build your life with. Sound familiar, it’s just like being heterosexual.  To deny a homosexual any right afforded to a heterosexual is wrong and it is discrimination
 
The second reason these issues are so important to me is much more personal. Tyler Clementi, Billy Lucas, Asher Brown, and Seth Walsh.  If you don’t know these names, these are four of the teenagers who recently made headlines because they were bullied so much for being gay that they felt the only way to escape it was to commit suicide.  Asher Brown and Seth Walsh were only thirteen years old.  These four teens killed themselves simply because they could not endure the abuse they were receiving from other kids.  This is tragic.  This issue of equality for homosexuals has gone way beyond equal rights, and has become about life and death.  These four boys just wanted to be who they are, to live their lives but they were bullied so much that all they wanted was for it to stop.  Being a kid, without having to deal with the stigma surrounding being gay is hard enough.  To be a teenager, where popularity and acceptance is everything, and also be gay is something I can’t imagine having to deal with at that age.  If you got through your first eighteen years of life without being bullied for something, you are fortunate.  I was bullied because I was always the smallest, I had a huge head of curly hair, was better at art then I was at sports, and was a bit of a geek.  I was teased, beat up and there were many times that I just wanted it to stop. Fortunately my positive attitude and close friends kept me going and I never let the bullies destroy what I knew was great about me.  The fact that I went on to marry a girl who was the head cheerleader at her school still amazes me.  The fact is bulling is something that is all too common among young kids but not something that is new.  The difference is that today we have Facebook, My Space, and YouTube and with that bullying has reached a whole new level.  With some teenagers having hundreds and even thousands of Facebook friends, harassment can now happen instantly on a global level.  Bullying can happen on a scale today that was unimaginable when I was a kid.  A video of a private sexual same-sex encounter once posted to Facebook can go viral in a matter of hours.  Verbal harassment can happen even when you are alone in your own bedroom through social networking and where in the past a teen could escape the abuse simply by the sanctuary of his or her own home, today via text messaging, My Space, Twitter, and Facebook the harassment is nonstop.
 
But who is to blame?  It is easy to blame the bullies, but that is too easy and not the true source of the problem.  The truth is, the bullies are also kids, kids who are also looking to be popular, wanting to be accepted, and many times are even more insecure and lacking in confidence then the others in their peer group. Many times their bullying is simply to compensate for this lack of confidence and their insecurity, and without thinking of the consequences of their actions, they lash out at the easiest target, the one that will get them the most noticed, the one that will raise their own level of popularity and acceptance among their peers.  Their actions, regardless, are inexcusable but the solution must come from somewhere else.  Prejudice is not inherent.  Hate is not a gene.  And barring some mental disorder, intolerance is something that is learned.  The solution must come from the home and the reinforcement to the solution must come from the schools.  The blame for intolerance, hate and prejudice lies in the home and in the home is where it must change.  A child must learn that bulling is not ok, that intolerance of anyone is wrong, that we are no better than anyone else because they are different from us.  It is the parents that must set the example and realize that when you call something “gay” and mean it derogatory, a child learns from that.  When you use the “N” word when speaking about an African American, a child learns from that.  When a child uses hitting, punching and yelling to get their way, and you say nothing, or worse, do it yourself, a child learns from that.  And when you are intolerant of others because they are different then you, a child learns from that.  The blood of Tyler Clementi, Billy Lucas, Asher Brown, and Seth Walsh is not only on the hands of those that bullied them but also on the hands of their parents, their parents who with or without knowing it taught their kids to be intolerant.  The blood is on the hands of the school system that didn’t provide a safe haven where a teen could turn to for help, and until parents and the schools start taking responsibility for the intolerance that our children are having to face on a daily basis, more teens, who just want to be who they are, will end up ending their lives simply to escape the bulling that the parents of those doing the bulling continue to condone.
 
Discrimination of any kind is wrong.  Bullying anyone for any reason is wrong, and no person should ever be made to feel lesser of a person, whether it is by a peer group who teases to compensate for their own insecurities, or by a State who forbids same-sex couples to marry.  No one should ever have to hide who they are from a military who says Don’t Ask and Don’t Tell, or from a school system who fires their teachers because of their sexual preference.  We are all human beings and not any one of us is lesser of a person because of who we choose to spend our life with. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, “Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.”

 

Please take some time to watch this video created by the young stars of Broadway, and please watch the other videos posted under the Daily Videos to the left.

 

 

 

If you've been bullied please share your story by clicking on the "Comments" link below.
 
If you know a teen who needs help here are some very useful resources:

WeGiveADamn.org

The Trevor Project

It Gets Better Project

GLAAD.ORG

Stop Bullying Now

Kids Against Bullying

 

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Now That's Huge!...That's What She Said,..or He Said, Your Choice.

 

If you were given a choice to be straight or to be gay, what would you choose? For arguments sake, let’s forget about the debate for a minute of whether homosexuality is a choice or not. Just think about the question.  Assume for a moment that you actually could choose.  I’m not talking about choosing whether you would have sex with a person of the same sex as you. You could do that regardless if you are gay or not.  I’m talking about making a choice to love, have feelings, a relationship with a same sex partner just as you would with an opposite sex partner. Think about all the implications surrounding that decision, if it was truly possible to choose one lifestyle over the other, and the implications it would have not only on your life but on the friends and family around you as well.  Forget for a moment about your own personal feelings and prejudices or lack thereof about homosexuality and just focus on society and how your life would be depending on which choice you would make…Seriously think about that.
 
Now, let me ask all of the straight people a question.  When was it that you chose to be straight?  You see, you cannot answer that, can you?  For me I just knew that my seventh grade English teacher was “I’m hot for teacher” hot and I would have gladly given up my new Atari Pong console to get into her skirt!  I never thought about it, never made a choice between her and my gym teacher, never questioned which sex I preferred, I just always knew.  And that’s the answer to the debate.  You just know.  Sure maybe some people are confused, they question what they feel, maybe they even experiment just to confirm one way or another what their feelings tell them, but the bottom line is at some point we all just know.  If you still doubt me, think about for a moment what homosexuals in this country have to endure just to be who they are.  Their lifestyle is continuously ridiculed, questioned and spat upon by members of society that claim the religious higher ground.  They are demonized by homophobes too intolerant of others and too insecure with their own masculinity or femininity to accept those different than they are.  They are made victims of hate crimes, beatings, and social network bullying to the point that they commit suicide.  They are shunned by parents who can’t love their children unconditionally, by politicians who say they can’t marry, and they are forced to hide who they truly are from a military who won’t ask, and who says don’t tell, because if they do they will be treated like a criminal, and discharged dishonorably.  So, if you could choose, if your choice was not predetermined for you, which choice would you make?  The bottom line is you can’t choose. And even if parents dress their boys up like girls, have them play with dolls, and force them to watch Liza Minnelli videos, they will never turn a straight kid gay or turn a gay kid straight.  The bottom line is there is no debate, there is no choice. We are who we are and nothing can change that, and anyone who believes different is just plain wrong. Our sexual preference is something that is ingrained in all of us from birth, just as is our eye color, our skin color, and our desire to watch Glee.
 
On Thursday, President Obama, during a town hall style meeting with college students said, when asked by one student whether he thought homosexuality was a choice or not, “I don't think it's a choice. I think people are born with a certain make-up.  We're all children of G-d… We don't make determinations about who we love. That's why I think discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is wrong."  WAIT! (Screeching tires…Record player scratch!)  Did I hear that right? What was that he just said?  Did the President of the United States just come out and publicly state that he thinks homosexuality is not a choice?  Holy S#!t!  I hope you can grasp how huge this is.  This is “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!” huge.  This is Regan saying the word AIDS for the first time, huge! This is Oprah taking me to Australia huge! (Yea I’m going, jealous? I’ll you send pictures.)  You see, maybe you didn’t know it at the time, but this is what we asked for.  This is what we voted for.  This is the Change we counted on when we put Barack Obama in office.  Oh you thought he was going to walk on water and instantly we’d be manufacturing TV’s again?  Sorry but that is not the way it works.  To change the problems of a nation that are as monumental and diverse as what was handed to us by our last administration takes time and much more than twenty two months.  Why is it that what President Obama said is so huge?  Because it is indicative of the change in attitude that we need in our leaders.  We have a President who for the first time, regardless of politics, regardless of his religion, which by the way is Christian if you were still trying to figure it out, has publicly stated his view on whether homosexuality is a choice or not, and he has said, quite clearly, “I don't think it's a choice.”  And he is right, and if you don’t call that “Change”, then I don’t know what is.
 
We have an election coming up and what all of us who voted for President Obama need to remember is that we voted for Change.  We voted for Change because where we were at, at the time, was so unbelievably messed up, and the party in power had eight years to fix it but instead only made things worse.  When Bill Clinton left office, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that we would run an annual budget surplus of $800 Billion from 2001 thru 2012.  Then George Bush took office and as of today the deficit is expected to run a 1.2 trillion.  Sure you can argue that President Obama’s economic policies and huge amounts of spending are causing this deficit to go even higher but the facts, according to the New York Times, are that only 7 percent of this deficit is from President Obama’s stimulus bill, and only 3 percent is from Obama initiatives such as health care, education, and energy.  The largest percentage of the remainder is a combination of the Bush Tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans, the loss of manufacturing jobs in this country under Bush, the Medicare prescription drug benefit, the tremendous spending on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars during the Bush administration and the recession that followed 9/11.  We forget that Bushes economic policies and his blind ambition to invade Iraq at all costs put us in the economic mess that we are still in today and if anything President Obama and the democrats in congress, with the passing of the stimulus bill saved our economy from nose diving into a much deeper depression then what we were currently facing at the time.  Under President Bush 600,000 private sector jobs were lost, the average income dropped $2000, mortgage and bank deregulation flooded the market with home loans that were not worth the paper they were printed on and today we are seeing the result of this reckless behavior.  Manufacturing jobs went overseas due to the increased deregulation on the free market and the elimination of tariffs, and health care insurance premiums outpaced the average income by light years, except of course the income of the health insurance executives.   Under Bush we became a nation that makes nothing, and rewards executives regardless of the negative impact their decisions have on our economy.  And for some reason, we expected the Democrats and President Obama to turn all of this around in less than two years. 
 
Hey I get it.  They say the recession is over but we just don’t feel it.  We are still seeing massive unemployment and foreclosures.  We see a ton of spending with no guarantees of the outcome.  Were we guaranteed an outcome when Bush spent billions each year on Iraq and Afghanistan?  Were we guaranteed that we would capture every Taliban and get those elusive weapons of mass destruction?  No but somehow we went along with that.  I get it.  Things still suck so we do what seems natural and blame whoever is currently in power and that is the Democrats, even though they’ve only had twenty-two months to fix eight years of mistakes.  I get it, we have no patience, and like a five year old who keeps whining from the back seat, “Are we there yet!” we want our change NOW! Well you’ll get your change soon young man so stop your complaining or the GOP is going to give you a time out, and then you’ll be sorry! But before you stomp out of here on November 2nd, pouting and vote for a Republican or whatever ding-dong the Tea party is endorsing ask yourself if things were better for us under George W. Bush.  Ask yourself if you want insurance companies to be able to deny you coverage for pre-existing conditions due to a repeal of health care insurance reforms.  Ask yourself if you want a ban on stem-cell research that could cure countless medical conditions.  Ask yourself if you want “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” to be eliminated or if discrimination should continue in our military.  Ask yourself if corporate executives should be rewarded while jobs continue to be shipped overseas, while banks are denying small businesses loans that could help grow our economy, while insurance premiums double, coverage goes down and health care cost go up, because that is all the Republicans have proposed, the same old policies that the Bush administration used to bring this country to its knees.  Ask yourself if you remember why you voted for Barack Obama and keep in mind that Change has come, maybe not as fast or as sweeping as we would have liked it too, but it has come and given the opportunity it will continue to come.  Maybe not overnight, but it will, and it will come with a President who has the courage to say, “I think people are born with a certain make-up.  We're all children of G-d… We don't make determinations about who we love.” I get it.

 

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