Animal Farm

It's tough to be a liberal today.  The liberal movement has been hijacked by zealots who require that you abandon not just your principles, but also your brains and your hearts, replacing them all with hatred so vile and putrid you rot from within.


Of course the first and most important principle the new left demands you relinquish is independent thought.  Sharing and embracing new ideas, exploring options, self exploration, critical review, all are forbidden by today's left.  Only uniformity of thought is allowed.


Freedom of choice is also forbidden.  Our leaders know exactly what is best for us and to think outside those boundaries is strictly forbidden.


Our elected leaders our the enforcers of these rigid and unyielding rules.  Not only will they control the physical environment in which we live, but they act as thought police as well, demanding ridgid adherence to the freedoms they believe are important while demanding that any other freedom be relinquished.


Thought police require massive armies to enforce the required beliefs.  It behooves our fellow citizens to insure we are thinking clearly and not allowing forbidden thoughts to enter our minds.  Society can only move forward once we are all walking on the same path and thinking the same thoughts.


Today that path of glorious uniformity begins on The Freedom Trail.  You can be certain there will be no Chick-fil-A's to tempt your body or your soul off the path to liberal righteousness.

No News IS NOT Good News

Just because you didn't see or hear this headline this morning doesn't mean it didn't happen. The big networks simply chose to ignore it.


3 People Murdered and another 18 injured in Gun Violence on Saturday in Chicago

If you watch network news, ABC, CBS or NBC or if you watch cable news, FOX, CNN or MSNBC or if you listen to NPR you didn't know that.  They were all too busy rehashing the 12 murdered and 58 injured in Aurora, Colorado on Thursday morning to bother to mention that murders continue unabated across the country.


As I write this President Obama is flying over Chicago to visited the families of the victims in Aurora to give them comfort, according to the White House Press Secretary.


He will never mention the nearly 300 murdered in Chicago so far this year.  He will not be stopping to give comfort to the grieving families of Gerry Woods, Akil Partee or Pablo Hernandez, all murdered Friday night and Saturday morning.


How I wish George W. Bush were still President.  Not because I want him back in office, but because if he pulled the stunt of flying over the families of 300 black and Latino victims to give aid and comfort to 12 white victims, my fellow Democrats would condemn him for racism, insensitivity and incompetence.  Instead we have President Obama and the silence of the Democratic lambs.


I don't blame President Obama.  It's not racism, it's politics.  Colorado is a swing state.  He needs their votes.  Chicago will vote for Obama regardless of how much he ignores or even abuses its citizens.


And, lets be honest, the Chicago problem is one of unemployment, poverty and failed social engineering.  It's going to be tough to fix.  And President Obama is not up to the task.  He is way to small, way to weak to take on a mission this large.


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On a related note, my friend Steve is launching a series on the need for Gun Control and ways to successfully implement it over on his blog The Peripatetic Blogger Steve and I might not always agree on this issue, but I urge you to read his blog and consider his opinions and solutions carefully.  We need everyone's ideas.  We need all hands on deck.

Crying Out For Those Alone....

The horror of 12 senseless murders hit the television, radio, newspapers, blogs and social media yesterday in an inescapable fashion.  The live, non-stop coverage of the frightening assault on a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado was relentless.  Everyone knows of the events and the name of the obviously deranged murdered, and many of the individual heartbreaking stories recounted on Facebook and the national news networks.


It's estimated over one thousand law enforcement officers from local, state and national agencies are involved in the investigation and in the search of the assailant's booby trapped apartment.


Certainly there are many thousands of journalists, bloggers, investigative reporters, pundits, experts, politicians, religious and civic leaders analyzing every tiny detail.  Like similar events in the past, it will be dissected for months and tens of thouands of pages will be written.  Books and even movies are likely to follow that.


I am raising no objection to any of this.  It is as it should be.  I pray for comfort and healing for the suffering and know, in many cases, there will be no relief from the relentless grief.


But, even as Aurora captured the news, there were dozens more murder victims this past week nationwide that gathered no attention.  There will be few, if any, law enforcement officers investigating.  There will be no national task force, no F.B.I., no forensics, no new laws, no  great discoveries. Many of the murderers will never be identified and many will murder again.


For all these murders there will be no national press coverage.  Probably no local press coverage either.  The victims family will never be interviewed by Piers Morgan or Rachel Maddow or Sean Hannity.  We won't know their story, experience their horror or feel their pain.


Facebook entries might be made, but you and I will never see them.


Neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney will make a speech, say a prayer or suspend campaigning in respect for their tragedy.


And the worst part? Next week it will all repeat.  Roughly eighty to one hundred bright young people will be senselessly murdered.  You'll never notice.  You'll never know.  And, as a society, we won't do a damned thing to stop it or even slow it down.


Maybe that's the scariest part of the genocide happening in our country right now.  Because every story is a small piece, we can ignore it.


Because of Aurora our movie going experience will change.  There will be ample extra security, cameras, alarms on doors, maybe even metal detectors.  There will be security guards, probably armed security guards. 


Even though there have been virtually no murders in movie theaters over the last 100 years, we will have massive protection going forward.


But the national genocide will continue unabated, at the rate of 6 to 7 Aurora's every week, 80 to 100 people murdered every week, most in senseless acts of violence every bit as horrific as Aurora.  But nothing will be done.  Nothing.


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As you remember the twelve people killed in the Aurora movie theater this week, please also remember these twelve people killed in Chicago this past week, too. They'll get no press coverage and you'll likely never see their names anywhere but on this blog.


Nathaniel Gonzalez, age 16


Marshall Knights, age 21 


 Ricky Hankins, age 49 


 Daniel Green, age 21 


 Mark Carney, age 26 


Andrew Jackson, age 27 


 James Bell, age 26 


 Martin Tejeda, age 16 


 Elle Mills, age 53 


 Maurice Wilson, age 22 


 Phillip Finley 


Anthony Collazo, age 21

Dear Mr. Romney....

Of course it's unlikely Mitt Romney will ever read this blog or my rather blunt "letter" to him, but here goes......

Dear Mr. Romney,

I read news reports daily about the "Sarah Palin Controversy."  It seems you or someone on your staff believes it would be unwise for Mrs. Palin to have a speaking role at the August Republican Convention in Tampa.  At this point the news is a dull roar, but it's not going away and it's getting louder daily.

I could easily make a case that snubbing Sarah Palin is a serious mistake because her supporters are so loyal and their support is so critical to your success. But I'm guessing your large and well paid staff have analyzed this factor and believe the benefits of her presence are outweighed by the liabilities, whatever those liabilities might be.

So my point today concerns another big factor in your potential success.  I'll summarize it in two parts.  Number ONE, the mainstream media really prefers President Barack Obama and their reports will be slanted against you throughout the convention.  There is nothing you can do about this, it's a fact of life in American Politics.

But, Number TWO, the media really, really loves controversy.  And snubbing Palin is just the raw meat the media craves.  I believe that, by leaving Palin on the sidelines, the convention will actually become ALL PALIN, ALL THE TIME.  She'll get massive amounts of media coverage, interviews and more.  Your messages will be drowned out by an error you can easily avoid right now.  

Invite her and give her a prominent speaking role and she'll electrify the base.  Omit her and she'll be the ghost that haunts your convention every night.

I know there are ill feelings between you and the former Governor.  She has been critical of you on more than one occasion.  But it is actually that criticism that gives her so much credibility among the base.  Embrace her and that all that credibility will flow over to you.

Sincerely,

Bob Keller,

Wizard Extraordinaire 

Religious Zealotry

These are modern times.  Religious Zealotry is no longer confined to the worship of a god or goddess.  It can be an equally blind dedication to any idol, a dedication that moves beyond admiration or even belief and into worship at the expense of all other goals, ideas, morals and principles.

While we are all familiar with the traditional religious zealotry of the far right conservative Christians and the Islamic Fundamentalists, there is equal and even more destructive zealotry on what we call the "left" or Progressive end of the political spectrum.

Because such zealotry is blind, the zealots often don't realize they are violating their very own stated principles and ideals.  Lately I've seen way too many examples of the leftist zealotry and it makes me terribly uncomfortable.

As a Liberal I strongly believe in diversity, tolerance and acceptance of all races, religions, sexual orientations, and even diverse value sets and lifestyles.  This view or principle is stated often by ALL who claim to be liberals and progressives.  You can see it and read it and discuss it on every liberal blog and progressive forum.  Tolerance and acceptance are the holy grail of Liberal beliefs.

Except........ it seems the VAST and VOCAL majority of self proclaimed liberals and progressives don't believe a damned word of it.  It seems their beliefs on any issue is actually a RELIGIOUS DOGMA that cannot and must not ever be violated.  These so-called Liberals are nothing more than the Taliban of the Left.

One need look no further than famous (and incredibly talented) actor Brad Pitt's mother to see the Taliban of the Left in action.

Jane Pitt wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper in response to another letter.  In what ought to be a liberal example of TOLERANCE she actually admonished a conservative Christian for his prejudice against the Mormon religion.  Jane Pitt urged fellow Christians to vote for the man who shared their ideals of being "pro-life" and opposing "gay marriage," even if Mr. Romney didn't share their exact Christian faith.

Now, to be certain Jane was vocal and aggressive in her opposition to President Obama attacked his positions on these same issues.

Of course I personally disagree with Jane Pitt's position on both gay marriage and abortion.  But, tragically, many of my fellow (not really) liberals and progressives took it much further.

Hollywood rose up and attacked Mrs. Pitt with vile and horrific glee.  And the Twitterverse was even worse:

“BRAD PITT’S MOM WROTE AN ANTI-GAY PRO-ROMNEY EDITORIAL. KILL THE B***H.”
“Brad Pitt’s mom, die”

“F*** you, Brad Pitt’s mom. The gay community made your kid a star, you whacko.”

“Brad Pitt’s mother…what a brainless old b***h…”

“Brad Pitt’s Mom Slams Obama, Gays. That stand makes her a deluded, dumba** Fascist Repuke”

“I hope Brad Pitt has been supporting his mother and decides to cut her off. What a b***h.”

“Brad Pitt’s mom can choke on a (redacted).”

Jane Pitt has also received numerous death threats and the attacks are unrelenting.  The Hollywood attacks have been played out all over television. 

What disgusts me most is that (so far) Brad Pitt himself has been silent.  He can't bring himself to step up to the plate and defend his mother. In fact the only prominent Hollywood voice to defend Mrs. Pitt is Jon Voight, Brad Pitt's Father-in-Law (Angelina Jolie's father).

As usual, conservative firebrand Michelle Malkin has said it best: "Hollywood and the American left love diversity, except when it offends their “progressive” value system."

An excellent article on Jane Pitt's letter and the Hollywood backlash can be found in The Huffington Post

UPDATE 7/12/2012: Brilliant blogger B. Daniel Blatt also defends Jane Pitt over on The Gay Patriot.  This short essay is a must read confirmation of the misplaced hatred of the left in attacking Mrs. Pitt unfairly.

Genocide

The violence has become so horrific that it DEMANDS the President make a speech from the Oval Office during prime time.  Our civic leaders need to rise as one and demand the powerful United States take a stand for the sake of humanity.  A generation is being murdered.  And, worst of all, we're not talking about Darfur or Cambodia or any far off land, we're talking about the President's home town, Chicago.


Chicago is experiencing between 40 and 50 shootings every weekend.  About 9 end in fatalities.  Almost all the dead are minorities.  Almost all the shooters are minorities, too.

This year there have been 228 gun deaths in Chicago, so far. Actually, that number is a week old, so it's higher now.  While also a tragedy, there have been 144 American deaths in Afghanistan.  Unlike the 228 Chicago number, the Afghanistan number includes deaths for all reasons, accidents, and roadside bombs.   The Chicago number is gun murders only.


This isn't a new phenomena.  Sine the war in Afghanistan started, all the way back in 2001, we've lost 2,000 troops.  


But that number is dwarfed by the gun deaths in Chicago.  Since we first invaded Afghanistan, Chicagoans have murdered 5,000 other Chicagoans, nearly two and a half times more than American lives lost in Afghanistan.


Yet we hear about the war in Afghanistan nightly.  ABC, CBS and NBC have reporters stationed in Afghanistan.  We marvel at their bravery.


Congress has held literally HUNDREDS of hearings on Afghanistan.  Presidents Bush and Obama have held numerous press briefings on Afghanistan.  There have been dozens of plans, strategies, troop build-ups and plans for victory in Afghanistan.


In waging the war in Afghanistan the United States has spent between $2.3 and $2.7 TRILLION DOLLARS!!  In Chicago we've spent virtually nothing.  There are no troops. Hell, there are damned few police.  And few murders are solved, most are just chalked up to gang violence.

Why do allow this tragedy to continue?  Even worse, Chicago is just one city plagued with murders and gun violence. In all of America over 4,000 are murdered yearly.


When will President Obama give the long overdue speech from the oval office?

Gone and Pretty Well Damned Near Forgotten

As of June 10th there have been no arrests and there are no suspects in the Los Angeles gangland murder of 14 month old baby boy, Angel Mauro Cortez-Nava.  You might accidentally remember Angel since I just wrote about his murder a few days ago in the obviously forgettable post, The Black Teenage Boy in the Hoodie.


There are no suspects and no arrests in spite of the fact that the murderer rode by on a bicycle and shot into a crowd gathered on little Angel's front lawn.


There are no suspects and no arrests in spite of a $100,000.00 REWARD offered by the Los Angeles City Council and the LA Kings Hockey Team.


There are no arrests and no suspects in spite of the well known gang activity in the neighborhood, multiple previous murders and the attention of the LA Police Gang Crime Unit.


A quick review of Google News Feeds show there have been no news updates on this story for three days.


The Silence of the Lambs.


Angel will be forgotten, except by his family. Even I will undoubtedly stop blogging about this story eventually.  Based on the overwhelming outpouring of comments so far, no one actually cares.

Oh, and for those who care about that "other" murder, you know the one where the black teenage boy wearing a hoodie was killed in a scuffle in a "gated community" by a neighborhood watch patrol member.  That suspect, George Zimmerman, is still in jail, awaiting trail for the murder.  That trial will receive maximum 24 hour news coverage.

UPDATE: (6/29/2012) A fifteen year old boy, Donald Ray Dokins, has been arrested for the murder of Angel Cortez. The Los Angeles District Attorney has said he will be charged as an adult and faces life in prison.  Donald is suspected in other murders.

The Black Teenage Boy in the Hoodie

Back on April 2nd I wrote that the Trayvon Martin murder got so much press because it was so exceedingly rare.  Indeed, people are almost never murdered in gated communities by Neighborhood Watch patrols.  And blacks are rarely killed by whites in any communities. I don't mean to minimize Trayvon Martin's murder. Trayvon Martin deserves justice.


But, as I mentioned in that earlier article, similar murders in poor, urban communities are tragically common, so common almost no one outside of the affected families ever bothers to notice.  Not the media, most certainly. But not even the black leaders like Jessie Jackson or Al Sharpton, who dominated the media during the Trayvon Martin investigation.


There are thousands of such murders every year, ignored and quickly forgotten.  And one more occured two days ago.  Like the Travon Martin murder this also involved and black teen in a hoodie and a 24 year old Latino male.  But this one happened in the Watts area of Los Angeles.

But this time the victim was a tiny one year old baby boy, Angel Mauro Cortez-Nava, and the murderer was the black teenage boy in the hoodie.  Today police are still searching for the murderer, who shot and killed the baby and wounded the father in their own front year.  The teen shot the two as he rode by on his bicycle.


The murder was probably part of a wave of gang killings between the rival black gang, Fudgetown and the Latino gang, the Hispanic Barrio Grape Street Gang. Little Angels father was wearing a purple sweatshirt at the time of the shooting, but his friends and family claim he had no gang affiliation.


The police say this is just one of a half dozen killings in the neighborhood in the last year.


Maria Trujillo, a family friend and neighbor spoke for the entire community when she was interviewed by the media, "With these shootings going on, you don't feel safe in your own front yard,"


"I have seen plenty of people pass away here. For a child to go, this has to stop immediately," neighbor Marcus Williams said. "When a child, a child, a baby, this kid didn't have a chance at life. It really hurt. I'm afraid to let my kids play in the yard now. This is right across the street." 


If only we could generate national press and outrage over this killing.  If only community leaders and national leaders like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton would get involved in these acts of violence, perhaps we could begin to put this epidemic of violence to an end.


What if President Obama stood at a press conference and said little Angel Cortez looked like one of  his children?

Federal Stimulus Doesn't Help the Economy

Friday's economic reports were nothing short of disastrous.  Unemployment is back up to 8.2%, new jobs created last month were 50% below forecasts, auto sales dipped to low levels (after earlier improvements), and the stock market dropped to the lowest levels in 2012.


And many think it's going to get much worse.  Could we be looking at a double dip recession? A genuine world wide depression? I certainly hope not.


My point this morning is not to spread doom and gloom, but instead to point out that President Obama's policies of massive government spending and expanded welfare programs just haven't worked.  Washington policies and political party posturing have only made things much, much worse than they needed to be.

I've enlarged the chart beyond the normal size of my blog to insure it is readable.

The chart above, prepared by the non-partisan Comeback America Initiative shows President Obama has stimulated us more that any president in modern history.  Sadly it's mostly through out of control Federal Spending.


Federal spending was close to 20 percent of GDP during the Carter administration, dropped to 18 percent under Clinton, and is currently at an incredible 24 percent of GDP according to the Congressional Budget Office.  And now the economy is slip-sliding backwards.

If government spending worked, it would already be working.  It's difficult to spend more than the 24% of GDP Obama is spending today.  Especially since a great deal of it is borrowed money.


Candidate Romney's prescription for the government is significantly better than President Obama's.  Most importantly, Romney will cut back the amount of Federal interference in the economy.  I fear President's Obama's solution of ever increasing spending will destroy the nation and bring on a world wide depression.


In a future blog entry I'll explain why the "hot button" social issues like abortion or gun control should NOT affect your decision on a President.

Political Parties are NOT Your Friends

The primary GOAL and perhaps the only goal of both the Republicans and the Democrats is to increase their power.  That means getting more members into positions of power and responsibility.  It might be by getting members elected to office or it might be by getting members appointed or even hired into key positions of power.  


The GOAL of parties IS NOT to improve your life, improve the economy, increase our security or help you out.  Those are occasionally means to an end! And the END GAME is to increase their power and control.

If the Republicans REALLY WANTED to accomplish any of their stated objectives they would stop their relentless pattern of obstructionism and seek common ground with the Democrats.  Likewise, if President Obama REALLY wanted to reach his goals he would cease his relentless campaigning and compromise with Republicans.


Why doesn't this happen? Because the GOAL is to get more members elected.  President Obama is considerably more interested in getting reelected than in helping Americans.  So he very falsely claims Republicans stand in the way of issue "A" or proposition "B" because he wants the issues to aid his reelection.


Occasionally politicians actually speak the truth.  Republican Senator Mitch McConnell made that mistake when he honestly said his main goal was to "defeat President Obama,"  His Number One Priority wasn't reviving the economy or putting people back to work, it was to defeat the President four years in the future!!

My advice to my fellow Liberals (and to Conservatives, too), is to relentlessly work to achieve your goals.  Look for pathways to success.  That will OFTEN lead you to support, work with and even elect a member of the opposite party.  More often it will lead you to look for solutions outside of government.

Think outside the box.  Be driven by your principles and not guided by the false promises of one candidate or another.

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue: Gay Marriage Ban is “Bad for Business”

It seems to me that North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue is framing the Gay Marriage issue in terms that most Republicans and most conservatives will understand. Such a ban is "Bad for Business."  It will hurt North Carolina's image and hurt tourism.  It "hurts our brand."

As I noted in my previous blog entry, "Call Me Maybe," the public, especially the younger generation, is accepting of gays, lesbians and the alternative lifestyles involved. But our political elders still want to exploit the issue for political gain. In this case the foolish North Carolina Legislature is using an unnecessary Constitutional Amendment as a wedge issue. I;m hoing the voters in North Carolina are wise enough to reject this amendment. 


Please read the entire POLITICO Story here: N.C. Gov: Gay marriage ban ’hurts our brand’


As I pass out "Kudos" I would be remiss not to congratulate Vice President Joe Biden for being unusually candid and remarkably brave in facing the gay marriage issue head on.  It's a path both President Barack Obama and Republican Candidate Mitt Romney are afraid to take.  Both are constantly waffling on the issues of gay rights.


If you read the POLITICO story above you'll note even Governor Perdue is waffling a bit.  I think she would find her approval rating would actually go up f she were clear on the issue.


Also read B. Daniel Blatt's excellent essay on the North Carolina Amendment from a GAY CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN'S perspective: The conservative case against North Carolina’s Amendment One 

Call Me Maybe

National Public Radio's Morning Edition made an interesting observation this morning, an observation that I think is quite correct.  If you read (or listen to) the entire, rather lengthy, essay the bottom line is that most of the younger generation is really OK with the fact that Gay and Lesbian peers inhabit their world.  Far from fear and loathing, there is acceptance, humor and genuine affection.

While Ann Powers, the author of the essay Dudes Act Like A Lady: 'Call Me Maybe' Takes Over YouTube doesn't take the observation a step further, but I will.  The biggest obsticle standing in the way of acceptance of gay marriage or at least full recognized rights for gays, lesbians and transgender people is grandstanding politcians in search of polarizing issues and emotional votes.

I urge you to follow the link above and read the entire essay.  And for starters in your education into the younger generation, just watch the wonderful video below.  At over 50 million views, it's one of the most popular videos out there today.