Random Thoughts – Page 3

Beauty and the Gay…

Okay, so just thinking about the fact that there are people who now will not allow their children to see the new Beauty and the Beast movie because it features a gay character. Nevermind that it’s basically a story about Stockholm Syndrome and bestiality, but having a gay character was just a step too far for them. (Not that I’m judging.) (Okay, maybe a little bit.)

And it occurred to me though, we’ve had gay characters in movies and TV for a very long time, this is nothing new. And I’m not talking about Will & Grace, or Billy Crystal’s Jody on Soap, I’m going way back…

Remember Bewitched, remember Uncle Arthur, brilliantly played by the late Paul Lynde. Totally gay. Uncle Arthur was every family’s old gay uncle. And we loved him. Just back then nobody talked about the fact he was mid-40’s, never married, but had the same “roommate” for 27 years.

Or I Dream of Jeannie. Here you have the lovely Barbara Eden playing an extremely beautiful woman, who totally adores astronaut Tony Nelson. would do anything for him, and who literally knows magic and has a thousand years of experience to draw upon. And does he hit that? No. He does not. He doesn’t even let his presumably hetero buddy Roger hit that. There has never been a more totally gay character on TV than Tony Nelson.

So you say, fine, but those aren’t kids shows. Sure, okay, let’s talk kids shows.

Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie have been documented for years. Two guys, one bedroom, one bed, and half their conversations take place with one of them in the bathtub. They are the arch-typical urban gay couple.

And remember Captain Kangaroo? Did you ever see a Mrs. Kangaroo? Of course not. But Mr. Green Jeans was always around, wasn’t he? And who else would keep a dancing bear as a pet?

Just Stop

Let’s just stop a minute and be honest about what’s going on here…

Facts show very clearly trans-gendered women are not molesting little girls in public restrooms. But some want to believe that, or promote that, because it justifies their hatred of the trans-gendered.

Facts show very clearly that Mexican immigrants do not commit more crimes than citizens. But some want to believe that, or promote that, because it justifies their hatred of Mexican immigrants.

Facts show very clearly that Muslim immigrants and refugees are not running around killing Americans. But some want to believe that, or promote that, because it justifies their hatred of Muslims.

This isn’t about crime, or murder, or molestation, or terrorism. The facts just don’t support it. So when you take that away, what’s left?

Hate.

It’s all about hate. Pure and simple.

And for the first time, in a very long time, we have a government that is willing to use any justification, real or imagined, to act on that hate. We don’t want the “other” here, they’re not like us, they frighten us, they disgust us. So… If they’re not here, we’ll shut them out. If they’re already here, we’ll kick them out. If we can’t kick them out, we’ll make their life hell, so they are forced to act “normal”, and we can pretend they’re not “other”

Like it or not, that is our new national identity. Hate.

This nation was not founded on hate, and one day soon, the rest of us will rise up and take our country back. And all you hateful assholes can continue hating, but we will no longer let your hate define who we are. We will reclaim that shining city on the hill.

Stop the Presses!

A few quotes about the press…

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
— Thomas Jefferson

Our first object should therefore be, to leave open all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.
— Thomas Jefferson

The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state: it ought not, therefore, to be restrained.
— John Adams

Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government: When this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins.
— Benjamin Franklin

A popular Government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or perhaps both.
— James Madison

Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed , and no republic can survive … and that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment.
— John F Kennedy

Societies that repress journalists ultimately oppress people as well.
— Barack Obama

The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
— Donald Trump

Scooby Doo – the lost episode…

S C O O B Y D O O

Episode: Scooby Doo and the Great Orange Trumpmonster

Page 9.
_______________________________________________

DISSOLVE TO…

The gang is gathered triumphantly in the Lincoln Bedroom. The Great Orange Trumpmonster is bound neck to toe in ropes, and leaned up against some wooden barrels.

SHAGGY: Jinkies guys, I can’t believe we caught a REAL Trumpmonster!

VELMA: He’s not a real monster, Shaggy, there’s no such thing.

SHAGGY: Really?

VELMA: Sure, just look…

Velma reaches over and pulls the rubber mask off of the head of the bound Trumpmonster, revealing a familiar face…

THE GANG (in unison): Old Man NIXON!

TRUMPMONSTER/NIXON: And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling hippies.

SCOOBY-DOO: Well, pardon me!

SHAGGY: Good one, Scoob!

The gang laughs uproariously. Scooby and Shaggy give each other a high five.

FREEZE FRAME.

ROLL CREDITS.

Super awesome GIF by Chris Phillips
(click here to see animated version, and check out his other work)

He’s Ba-aack….

Alright, I’m back. That “break” lasted for all of three days.

What I found was, by laying off of social media (except a very well cultivated apolitical twitter list), I had far more time to spend on “real” media. And while this greatly cut down my exposure to fake news and other nonsense, it dramatically increased my exposure to real news. And while fake news is damned annoying, it is not nearly as terrifying as the real thing. There’s some real dystopian shit going on out there.

I wanted to ignore it, I really did. But if I’m going to go down with the founding principles of our republic, I’m going to bitch and scream and and moan and cry about it all the way down. You guys are just going to have to deal with that.

So, let me answer this question, which I’m sure some of you are thinking: Why have you become so political, you didn’t used to be that way?

In the “old days”, I would make a political comment every once in a rare while. I only did this when something was so egregious or outrageous or important that I felt everybody needed to be aware of it.

Well, guess what. That has NOT changed. I still post a political comment only when something is so egregious or outrageous or important that everybody needs to be aware of it.

It is not my fault those moments now come several times a day, rather than once every two or three months. Believe me, I wish things could get back to the way they were too. This is exhausting. But it is important. We all need to be aware of it. Like I said, there is some serious dystopian shit going on out there.

Taking a Short Break…

It seems like every day I see at least five new things coming from Trump or his administration that are so completely unprecedented both in their utter stupidity and in their capacity for damage to the American way of life, that I can no longer watch. I can’t watch while this petulant toddler continues to dismantle, piece by piece, what was once the greatest nation on this planet. And even worse and can’t watch all of the apologists and enablers who have signed on to blindly follow this idiot. I no longer recognize my own country, and I find that deeply disturbing. So…

I think it’s time for a media break, for the benefit of my own mental health. If you’re going to destroy the country I love, I’d rather not watch. And if you idiots are going to blow up the planet, I’d probably rather not see it coming anyway. So, I’m going to try a media blackout for the rest of February. We’ll see how I feel after that. I may tweet something from time to time, but that’s about it. I will not be reading or responding to much of anything. If you need to reach me, I’ll still respond to PM’s. And there’s always ancient tech like phone, text, and email.

One last thing, if anyone hears a date announced for the Science March on Washington, let me know. I like science, and I like Washington, so a march might be just the thing.

Take care. Thank you all for your support. See ya in the funny papers…

That’s Trillion, with a “T”…

The GOP’s latest budget resolution proposes to increase the national debt by nearly $1 trillion per year, every year, over the next 10 nears. So I was curious. What could one buy with ONE TRILLION DOLLARS? Here are some of the more interesting answers I found…

– Every sports team. All of them. NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and NASCAR, and still have plenty left over for beer and nachos.

– A new home, new car? How about five million new homes. Or forty million new cars.

– Need a new phone or laptop? Fuck it, buy Apple. Yes, the entire company, and put the remaining $200 billion on an iTunes gift card.

– You could fund an entire war. Think of the naming rights… Curtis Wiggins presents: The War in Iraq. A Curtis Wiggins Production.

– One copy of the Office, complete series, on DVD, for every single person on the planet. No one would ever have an excuse to not get your references ever again.

– Want to take a cruise? Hell take all of them. You could buy a thousand cruise ships.

– Prefer to drive? You could pave the entire US Interstate Highway System in 24K gold leaf. I mean really, why subject your forty million cars to mere concrete and asphalt.

– Remember that song “I’d like to buy the world a Coke…” You could literally do that. With refills.

– Hungry? You could buy every McDonald’s on the planet. And every Burger King. Have it your way, indeed.

– And here’s the weirdest one I found. You could buy a free funeral and lifetime supply of eggs for everyone living in poverty in America. I’m not sure what this guy’s plan was exactly, but I think he wants to kill off all the poor people by way of high cholesterol…

Solstice

You may have noticed over the past six months that the sun is dying.

Every day it climbs a little less high into the sky than it climbed the day before. It hangs low in the sky, visiting us with its warmth a little less each day. Every morning it wakes later, and every evening it retires earlier. If it were to continue its malaise, it would eventually be unable to climb even above the horizon, leaving us in a perpetual night. Alone. To die.

Fear not, today the sun is reborn. It is renewed. Beginning today it will climb higher in the sky every day, it will visit us with it’s life sustaining warmth for longer and longer each day. In a short time snows will melt, rains will come, plants will spring forth again, and a new generation of baby animals will be born into a new land.

The circle of life on our tiny little rock will continue on, for at least another year. The sun and the earth care not whether we live or die, yet today, because of their movements, our tiny little lives are saved, to continue on, for at least another year.

It is a time to celebrate, and reflect, and take joy in the knowledge that we live, we are alive and well and living on planet Earth, for at least another year.

Feel free to celebrate this miracle with the religious ritual of your choice.

The Bob Dole Connection

Okay, so it’s come to light recently that Bob Dole was behind the Trump-Taiwan call. Yes, the same Bob Dole that ran for president and lost to Bill Clinton. That same Bob Dole just guided Trump into torpedoing nearly 40 years of US-Chinese relations. We must ask, why?

Now granted, Bob Dole is working for a law firm, which was reportedly paid $140,000 to make that call happen, and we all know the only difference between lawyers and prostitutes is, well, there are some things a prostitute will not do for money. But…

I wonder if there’s more to it than that. Is Donald Trump actually Bob Dole’s ultimate payback to the Clinton’s and/or the American people for refusing him the presidency? Is Bob Dole an evil mastermind, slowly and quietly plotting his revenge since 1996?

Let’s look at the evidence. Fortunately we now live in a post-rational fact-free world, so manufacturing evidence is much easier than it used to be.

First, if you remember, Bob Dole had this weird tendency to always refer to him self in the third person, as in “You’re always going ‘Bob Dole does this’ and ‘Bob Dole does that.’ That’s simply not something Bob Dole does!” (actual real quote) And we all know from movies and television that people who refer to themselves in the third person are mentally unstable, right?

And we all know that the whole Trump running for president thing started at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner, where Trump was publicly humiliated by Barack Obama. Did Bob Dole invite Trump to that dinner? I can’t prove that he did, but more importantly, I can’t prove that he didn’t either.

We also know that, unlike many Republicans, Bob Dole supported Trump early and often, stating that he was supporting Trump because he couldn’t vote for George Washington (another actual real quote). Has Bob Dole been working quietly behind the scenes to help Trump win the nomination, and then the election itself. I certainly can’t prove that he hasn’t, can you?

Also, is it just a mistake that the Dole/Kemp campaign website is still live? No really, it’s still there, check it out: http://www.dolekemp96.org/main.htm Why would he leave that up? Clearly he’s still bitter about losing.

Lastly, we all know the connection Bob Dole has to fruit, what with his stickers on bananas and pineapples all over the country. Wouldn’t it be his ultimate revenge to defeat Hillary by getting an actual orange elected president?

The People Have Spoken

And while I’m not happy with their decision, it is theirs to make, and I will respect that. I know that for many, their reasons were upright and true. I honestly, truly, deeply hope they are right about their champion. I would very much like to be wrong about the damage that might be done. And I will be the first to admit it if that’s the case.

For right now, I’ve decided that I will remain calm, try very hard not to overreact, and wait and see what actually happens. Attempting to respond to what our new President has said is simply overwhelming, and ultimately of no consequence. I will wait and see what he does, what he is allowed to do, that is what matters, and then I will respond as events unfold. And I will hope for the best.

It may be wishful thinking, but I am hoping there are still enough good people of principle in the Republican party to keep his worst ideas at bay, and that there are still enough good people of principle in the Democratic party to help push forward his best ideas forward. It will be a time for leaders, on both sides, to stand up, be counted, and do what is right for the country. I hope they are up to it. To that end, this is what I am expecting…

Republicans…

Let me speak to you for a moment. You now have the Presidency, control of the House, control of the Senate, and are soon to have a majority of Supreme Court justices. In short, you have literally EVERYTHING YOU NEED to accomplish your goals. Everything! You have NO EXCUSES.

You say you can make America great? Do it! Make America great. Make America better than it is right now. Healthcare, jobs, unemployment, national debt, infrastructure, immigration, crime, guns, ISIS… Take your pick. Pick at least one of those, and make it better. Pick two if you can. You have full control. Keep your leader focused on the right things, and accomplish something meaningful for the American people. There is no excuse for failure. And we will be watching. And we will be keeping score. And we will hold you accountable. You have two years. If it goes well, we may even consider giving you full control for two more. Now GO!

Democrats…

Listen up Democrats. You have ONE job. Just one. Find someone who is less reprehensible than Hillary Clinton. That’s it. And that’s a really, really low bar, so it shouldn’t be all that hard. Find someone responsible, respectable, breathing, and if possible, who doesn’t use email. Someone who can step in should the Trump administration devolve into the shitstorm we all know it is capable of if left unsupervised. Seriously, have someone ready, no more screwing around. That is your ONLY job. You have four years to make it happen. Ready? GO!

Independents, Third Partiers, and Non-Voters…

Pay attention. Seriously, just look up once in a while. Nobody is real sure what’s going to happen next, but whatever it is, we are going to need your voice. So just, you know, be aware of your surroundings a bit.