IT'S JUST THE MUSIC, JUST THE MUSIC

O bonny Portmore, you shine where you stand
And the more I think on you the more I think long
If I had you now as I had once before
All the Lords of Old England would not purchase Portmore.

HALLOWEEN IS CANCELLED

Yesterday’s emails from two old friends revealed two different angles about two well known events..

The first was from Jeff Prang, off and on mayor of the City of West Hollywood. It almost screams at you from the monitor,” Santa Monica Boulevard will once again be “pulsing” with excitement on Halloween night.” Conversely, the current mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom released a statement saying: "Halloween is canceled.” No more “pulsing” on Castro Street; he wants folks to “kick the Castro habit.”

Mr. Prang babbles on about, “the largest adult outdoor Halloween event in the world,” and is relaxing WoHo’s notoriously, restrictive parking zones for the evening. Mr. Newsom glumly watches as $40,000 is allocated to urge revelers to stay “Home For Halloween."

Both cities have web sites. San Francisco’s web site lists dozens of suggested Halloween alternatives while Weho’s extols the event and gives helpful “how to” hints and even “green” parking alternatives.

After wishing us “a fun and safe Halloween” Mr. Prang does have one word of caution.he pleads in large red letters, “Please Do Not Bring Your Dogs.” Apparently what some might find “pulsing” for the eyes or even morally horrifying, is even harder on dogs!

But to be kinder to friend Newsom, he is tired of revelry turning into riots, bashing and offensive gang activities. He has discovered what most mothers already know: while ever kid and a lot of adults like to dress up, Halloween can be dangerous.

Now, that is sad; sad for those of us who have been to the San Francisco event; sad for every kid who has held his parents hand on a chilly night, knocked at a door and found a “treat” … Perhaps the “trick” is not to give into the newer harsh realties of life. Perhaps.

However something tells me that in another fifty years someone will bemoan that lose of decorated houses, malls filled with kids at night and maybe, just maybe, rediscover that old fashion idea of taking a childs hand and walking around a local neighborhood. I hope so.

QUESTION

MSNBC's Dan Abrams reported on Monday that Michael Mukasey's nomination to be attorney general may be in trouble, due to his reluctance to say whether he believes waterboarding is torture...

Why are we even discussing this issue? Why are we at a point where we even talk about individual torture techniques? Why can't a nominee of attorney general say this country does not, will never, torture people? Damn it! Damn it!

OH LORD, ONLY IN YOU CAN WE FIND SAFETY ...

When I was in college I had a tough Journalism teacher but I don't know anyone who did not learn a lot from her. I need to tell her stories some day. When she retired she moved to a place called Fallbrook in San Diego County, CA. Here are the pictures she email to me … of what life was like … still is…for her right now.

"The pendulum in the Christian world has swung back to the moderate point of view"

David D. Kirkpatrick reports for The New York Times: "Just three years ago, the leaders of the conservative Christian political movement could almost see the Promised Land. White evangelical Protestants looked like perhaps the most potent voting bloc in America.... Today the movement shows signs of coming apart beneath its leaders. It is not merely that none of the 2008 Republican front-runners come close to measuring up to President Bush in the eyes of the evangelical faithful.... The 2008 election is just the latest stress on a system of fault lines that go much deeper."

I have lived through this pendulum winging ... and it does swing ... both ways. The link connected to the title above takes you to the New York Times article. Swing, swing ... but it does not tell you about the bigots and jerks who are not old or dead or retired ...

FOR EPISCOPALIANS IN THE KNOW ....

No one knows what the Executive Council is so: The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church (TEC) is an elected body representing the whole Church. In the course of the three years between convention, the Executive Council meets. Their duty is to carry out the programs and policies adopted by General Convention of the church – the major governing body of TEC.

They just meet in Dearborn, Michigan and passed a resolution concerning BO33

The most interesting part of the be it “resolveds” was: ”… it may inappropriately suggest that an additional qualification for the episcopacy has been imposed beyond those contained in the constitutions and canons of the church…”

This is such an obscure point for someone who knows nothing about this particular story but important for people seeking the full rights for all baptized persons within our church. And so, the story continues.

REMEMBER THE VALDEZ?

While a good case can be made to keep every "Tom, Dick and Harry” from getting a million dollars for a fly found in a hamburger, no reasonable person could deny about 33,000 commercial fishermen, cannery workers, landowners, Native Alaskans, local governments and businesses from getting punitive damages from Exxon Mobil Corp. Remember the Exxon Valdez oil spill that fouled more than 1,200 miles of Alaskan coastline in 1989?

The amount that they are seeking represents “barely more than three weeks of Exxon's net profits,” say lawyers for that group.

Yet this case is now before the Roberts Supreme Court. The last time that court was presented with a similar case on punitive damages they set aside a judgment against Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA. The money was awarded to the widow of a smoker in Oregon.

Let’s not forget that Justice Samuel Alito, who owns between $100,000 and $250,000 in Exxon stock. I don’t know. What is going on in this country of ours anyway?

REFLECTIONS

"Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone-we find it with another. We do not discover the secret of our lives merely by study and calculation in our own isolated meditations. The meaning of our life is a secret that has to be revealed to us in love, by the one we love. -- a weekly reflection The Merton Institute for Contemplative Living sends.

Morning 31:7-8
7 I will rejoice and be glad because of your mercy; *
for you have seen my affliction;
you know my distress.
8 You have not shut me up in the power of the enemy; *
you have set my feet in an open place.

Recognize the open places in your life. -- a daily reflection sent each day by a local faith community.

I need this kind of focus each day and using a computer is becoming more helpful than the books by my bedside.

ROLLING STONE, ROVE & ME

Over the years I have had news articles published and have won a national news writing award. But nothing prepared me for the reaction that my story on my old friend Louie Rove created.

Over thirty different blogs picked it up. Most of them were fringe types but a few are considered "legitimate" ... none of them picked the story up from here -- all of them picked it up from BME ... even Rolling Stone read BME and included it their latest issue -- the so-called "hot" issue.

What is confusing to some are the two versions of that story -- simply put, there is the "gay" version and the "piercing" version. My more astute friends have asked me why I was surprised that the "gay" angle of the story was NOT picked up while the "read" was on the piercing angle ... "Hell," one of them said, "gay is old, piercing is new."

One aspect of publishing the story was the level of intolerance that folks on the conservative political spectrum expressed. While I never explicatively identified my own sexual orientation, some of them called me a "fag" and a "fruit cake" because I had a gay friend!

So what did I learn? I learned that the web is a massive communication tool. I've learned how to track people using something as simple as Google and I've learned that nothing is private anymore.

If you Google your email address people can not only find out what you bought on eBay but what you said at a city council meeting or that your old friend, Louie Rove, had a gold ring now on display at Anomaly Studios in Pasadena.

I am not sure if that is awesome or scary.

Religion doesn't confer right to discriminate

There are two bills -- HR 3685 and 3686, before the House of Representatives which seek to give gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered protection from discrimination in the workplace. Naturally, President Bush indicated that he'll veto the bills.

A statement from the administration (on 3685) indicates that his main issue with the bill is that it "is inconsistent with the right to the free exercise of religion as codified by Congress in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act."

So, being a Christian means you get to deny people jobs based on what goes on in their pants when they're not at work?

1 and 2 and 3 on Craig.

1) I have no idea why this whole business issue of Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) seems so funny to me ... because it really is sad ... but that said: today it is reported that Craig is now claiming that his foot-tapping and hand gestures under a stall divider in a public restroom are protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution which guarantees free speech!

2) And now there is someone has finally come forward and said he had “sex” with the senator.

3) And finally the BBC reports that the restroom where this all happened has become a tourist spot! Ain't that special!

for the the BIBLE tells me so ...

And that says it all!

WEAK SS AND EVEN WEAKER GOVERNMENT

Thanks to the Bush Administration and a weak congress for passing and signing the misguided Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. Medicare premium increases are now at the highest dollar amount in the program's history and are claiming a growing share of the annual Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) — on top of rising fuel, food, and housing costs your COLA is supposed to cover!

Ain't that special!

Priests Jailed for Protesting

Writer Bill Quigley says in Truthout : "Louis Vitale, 75, a Franciscan priest, and Steve Kelly, 58, a Jesuit priest, were sentenced to five months each in federal prison for attempting to deliver a letter opposing the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Both priests were taken directly to jail from the courtroom after sentencing." - Truth hurts I guess -

NOTHING on poverty

A small group of my brothers (probably not sisters) in Christ met in Washington last weekend at something they called a "Values Summit." The only thing on there minds were gays and abortions and which Republican presidential candidate would be toughest on "them gays" (and their "gay agenda") and the "abortionists" even though surveys of that same group say that the economy and Iraq are their number one & two concerns.

David Kuo, President Bush's former special assistant in the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives seem aghast and stopped commenting on the "summit" saying in his blog, Beliefnet. "I must end the post now or else I will write things that I will have to repent for."

So it seems that the religious extremists are still in charge of the Republican primaries.

At the conclusion of the values "event" it seems that former Baptist minister Mike Huckabee won the day for those attending until call-in voters were added and then "the great switch-a-rue from 'livable' republican to right wing appeaser", former governor, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts was first. Now ain't that special.

HALF A MILLION PEOPLE

V. Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;

R. For only in you can we live in safety.

People around here have said for years, "Why do people live in those places?"

Others build homes where mud slides just happen or waves wash things away. If you look at a map of fires in Los Angeles over the last 100 years, THE most burned place is Malibu!

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has called it the "perfect fire" or megafires caused by the convergence of the driest year since 1898 and the worst winds in 20 years both caused by what the Christian Science Monitor says is climatic change . It is 10 times the size of the average forest fire of 20 years ago. The sky is orange, white ash is even here ... the sun and moon have other worldly looks to them...

The people most affected are home owners, upper middle class ... It is the worst disaster in San Diego County history, maybe the state -- a half a million displaced persons and 1500 lost homes. AND it is burning right near where it burned in '03. I can't imagine the lose those people must feel.

After the '03 fire, a statewide blue ribbon committee made a series of recommendations -- MOST of which has not been implemented. Fires are not the only problem that California faces, but doing any major infrastructure work, such as those in that report, means taxes and no one is willing to raise taxes.

And then there is our California National Guard. Half of them and their equipment are in Iraq! Now ain't that special!

That's my simplistic way of looking at it.

Are they all nuts?

Mike Huckabee’s (R Arkansas) campaign for president's web site says that he is out to show people that the American dream is still alive.

Well, not everyone. He said this weekend: “Some 10,000 baby boomers a day are going to be signing up for Social Security, and if you think that’s bad economic news, just wait till all the old, aging hippies find out they can get free drugs from the federal government!” I guess he's not including us "aging hippies" in his dream?

The First of Many “Comings” Out

I have not put these kinds of things here before ... my friend Bruce asked me to participate in The National Coming Out Day Service ... it was an emotional moment for me:

The First of Many “Comings” Out.
St. Wilfrids Church, Huntington Beach, CA
October 12, 2008
On Christmas day of 1962 the movie of Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird was released. Atticus Finch is a lawyer in the Depression-era south who defends a black man against an un-deserved rape charge, and, his kids against prejudice. Some of you may remember the movie; fewer will hear the movie’s music theme. The following summer I made love to a man for the first time in my life; we listened to that music all night long.

The next day I did two things -- I bought that LP and drove to the top of a local mountain … I sat up there and cried and cried and asked God to take away "those" feelings. I never tired so hard to talk to God … God never say anything back to me … but last night when I played that music again, I figured that was the moment that I “came out” to God ... the first of many “comings out”.
·
Five years later I drove down here to Huntington Beach to "tell" my brother. Working up the courage, I finally said it, “Richard I’m gay.” After an eternity he said with a smile, “You know, I always figured you got "it" in the end somewhere along the line!” “Richard,” I yelled, “That’s disgusting.” I grabbed a couch pillow, so did he, and two men had a pillow fight … We did not know about hugging them.
·
A couple of years later I meet “Peaches” at the 8727, a coffee shop on Melrose for the under 21 crowd … We talked about gay liberation. Peaches’ idea was to have a tea party; with his grandmother’s porcelain china tea service - linen table cloth and all … So one Sunday morning 30 of us sat on the ground at a turn on most crusey road in Griffith Park had tea - tea as an expression of liberation…
·
The Little Cave was a Sunset Blvd. neighborhood bar down the street from my house in Silver Lake. On its ... so I found myself with Harry Hay, John Burnside (founders of the Mattachine Society) and Morris Knight. And there I made what seems like such an arcane statement to three very non-religious people: “I heard this Negro preacher in a church in San Francisco and he said it was all about freedom.” … the preacher, Martin Luther King Jr.; the church, Grace Cathedral.
·
“He is NOT here.” I said, sticking my head around my front door and staring at two FBI agents … “Well, can we come in? We think a draft dodger is here.” “NO, I am in my underwear” “Just let us in,” “NO, I am in my underwear, you can’t come in,” “We’ll come back later” “Okay, but not now, I am in my underwear.”
·
“Frank, you don’t remember me … I’m one of the gay guys you helped with draft counseling and I didn’t have to go to Vietnam … you allowed me to realize that I really was, a conscientious objector …”
·
There have been other moments … I was at Stonewall … And now, none of you can now run for president – you’ve listen to a member of the FBI's most subversive underground groups called “Radical Fairies” … code name: “Glenda May;” and, on the front steps of All Saints Church when I told Doug Vest that I had baptized + the love of my life as he lay on his death bed. “How does it feel,” Doug said, “to be a priest in God’s church?” ... or telling my str8 friend Randy about my own coming out and his realizing that he had his own as well.

I have come to know it was God’s hand that took me here. But when Bruce asked me to be here tonight, I had one realization: I am glad God never said anything to me when I cried on top of that mountain.
·
But for all these years, particularly during my “preaching years,” a secret part of me wanted to do something I’ve never done until tonight … stand in the pulpit and say, “Hi, my name is Frank Clark and I’m gay.” The journey continues; the dream will never die … No on Prop 8!

INTO THE DUST BIN OF HISTORY AWARD

THE AWARD:
This now famous award was first conceived and awarded in 2007 by the editors of Yard[D]og on Simple Truths. It allows us to properly recognize the famous, the little known, the ones that don't wanna-be-known and/or the just plain stupid for behavior that is, in our collective minds, "beyond the pale."

TO NOMINATE:
Readers wishing to nominate person(s) and/or event(s) for the INTO THE DUST BIN OF HISTORY AWARD are encouraged to contact "The Editors" HERE.

THE CRITERIA:
The only criteria is that the person(s) and/or event(s) be, as "The Editors" have described, "beyond the pale."

PAST RECIPIENTS:
A list of past recipients maybe found HERE.

"Workers and oppressed of the world unite,
you have nothing to lose but your chains." Vladimir Lenin 

Free Music While You're Here

Free online listening ... kinda cool, and you get a free hamburger every-one-in-a-while, too!
LISTEN TO PANDORA...

"A living nightmare"...

This sad story is everywhere. "A Japanese proverb says, 'Action without vision is a nightmare. There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight." Retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez
READ MORE on MILITARY REPORTERS AND EDITORS...

READ MORE on CBS...

Rudy, John, Mitt, Fred, what country are you boys living in

A couple of weeks ago, on September 27th, Tavis Smiley hosted the second All-American Presidential Forum at Morgan State University in Baltimore. Some of the boys did not show up. Wonder why?

READ MORE...

A Bit of Advice ...

"I actually think that in a way, the fact that I've been through so much incoming fire all these years is an advantage," she said, adding: "It's been my observation that when you're attacked continually in American politics, you either give up or get disoriented or you either lose or leave -- or you persevere and show your resilience." H. R. Clinton (October 2007)

I am not going to vote for her but this is something I like ... I understand it.