Jim Seaman – web log

Terrorism is working, indeed it is winning. We have become afraid to exercise our rights as Americans.

We should be feel free to publically say what we wish about any subject and not fear reprisals of physical violence as a result of voicing our opinions.

I just finished writing another blog post that I am hesitant to post here due to a fear of reprisals. I will post it, but I’m going to do it anonymously somewhere that it is not publicly traceable to me and my home. And at the same time it will get MUCH more exposure than it would have if posted on this seldom read blog.

Terrorism must not be tolerated.

The only possible reason that this issue isn’t yet resolved has to be that people just don’t understand … or perhaps they do but are simply bigots.

In most states …

a gay person can be fired for just being who they are.
a gay person can be denied housing just because of who they are.
a gay person can’t serve in our military because of who they are.
a gay person can’t marry the love of their life.

OK … there’s more but that should be enought to establish that discrimination exists. Next up, should gays have equal rights to end the discrimination?

Well according to the constitution of the United States:

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The key words being “equal protection of the laws”. That defines EQUALITY.

Now wasn’t that easy?
Anything that you didn’t understand?

I just ran across this one and it surprised even me!

Arizona’s governor, Jan Brewer, and the legislation’s principal architect, Russell Pearce, both have extensive financial ties to the private prison company Corrections Corporation of America, which stands to profit in the sum of millions if Arizona’s “papers please” legislation is enacted.

Link to article in the University of Arizona paper, Arizona Daily Wildcat. Phoenix CBS affiliate KPHO was among the first to report on this glaring conflict of interest. In retaliation, the Brewer campaign pulled all advertisements from the network.

Last week I had an appointment with my ENT doctor. After looking around and trying his best to make me gag he didn’t find anything suspicious. That’s great news! It’s been over a year now since my issues with squamous cell carcinoma (throat cancer) and it’s wonderful that things have remained quiet.

The doctor said it was time to drop the regular checkups and that I should just call him and setup an appointment if I noticed any changes that seemed suspicious.

It surprises me how few people get involved with helping to shape the world around them. Many people simply are not aware of what is going on in the world … those I can almost forgive. They are simply ignorant. As for the others, and you know who you are, just what is your excuse?

There are any number of causes that need you. From fighting against the introduction of genetically altered Salmon into the wild to picking up trash on the roadsides where you live. There is some cause that needs YOU! No matter what your skills or abilities you can help somewhere.

Volunteer your services with a local hospital – with an animal shelter – with a homeless shelter – support a political candidate for a local office – become a docent at a museum – help out at your local library – take part in a local school’s PTA – try helping out at your local Red-Cross – Habitat for Humanity – you could even help out that elderly neighbor across the street from you!

Most of your life you have simply taken what was offered by others, it’s time for YOU to give back something. In doing so, you will be helping to shape what the world will become … and NO EXCUSES accepted

I understand states’ rights and, being a Southerner, I do have a certain amount of sympathy for them. (After all, we did fight a war over states’ rights a while back) But … when it comes to the civil rights of a particular group being trampled upon, that is just wrong. The US constitution and our judicial system are there to protect the rights of the people.

We went through this same bull with women’s suffrage 100 years ago – and again with Black civil rights (separate but equal) 50 years ago. Well it’s that time again and the country is arguing over the right of Gays to marry each other. Does anyone really think that Alabama would have approved integration if it was left up to the voters of Alabama. The courts MUST decide these things.

The flag shown above shows stars for the five states that have approved of marriage equality for gays, lesbians and heterosexuals. That’s equal marriage – not separate civil unions – something that has also been approved in our nation’s capital – the District of Columbia as well as in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Sweden.

BTW … the flag and many other signs and slogans supporting marriage equality are from the website Gay Marriage Signs.

OK. There are two categories of people that might believe that the most powerful man in the world, the President of the United States, is secretly a Muslim – morons and those that just want to blame their lot in life on someone else.

I’m leaning more to them all being morons.

I saw the above graphic and just had to share it. The Tea Party is truly a nexus for right wing nut-jobs regardless of their particular gripe with the world. I wonder how close the correlation would be if we could compare the Tea Party’s mailing lists with a client list for mental health clinics.

I bet the US would be a lot safer if we could direct everyone on their mailing lists to become a client of a mental health clinic.

I ran across this bit in a news article today …

Meghan McCain, daughter of Sen. John McCain, posted on her Twitter account in January, “I think more Republicans need to start taking a stand for… civil rights in this country and set the example that this is not a partisan issue.”

McCain said this after she and her mother, Cindy, participated in the “NoH8 Campaign,” a silent protest via the Internet to oppose Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in California.

I’m surprised … more Republicans seeing the light.

There is more and more evidence that my thinking on this one isn’t far from the truth … The most vocal homo-phobes (mostly republican) have a lot of skeletons in their very dark closets.

These closet-cases are hypocrites. A few examples:

Just in the last few days this one has come out … State Sen. Roy Ashburn, a California Republican and former State Assemblyman, is a father of four. He is a proud anti-gay lawmaker, voting against things like knocking down Prop 8, recognizing out-of-state gay marriages, and even creating Harvey Milk Day. Mr Ashburn is also a patron of Faces, a gay bar in Sacramento, where he was arrested on DUI charges after leaving the venue, with another man in his car.

(more…)

OK, I admit it … I’m an illegal citizen. I’ve committed crimes in my past.

For years I had 2 cats – and not once did I register them with the city of Raleigh and pay the city’s pussy tax. Later I had a dog – and I never paid tax on him. I frankly don’t know if my neighbors pay the tax on their pets but I’ve never seen city tags on those animals (only their rabies tags).

What the hell is the point in all of this? Is it just one more tax for the city? To be honest, I don’t think the city can be making any money off of this tax. They don’t collect the money or do the actual registration, they pay others to do it – veterinarians. Of course the city does have to have the tags made and do all of the record keeping. So after all of the costs what is left out of a $7.00 fee? Not much I’m sure! I wonder if there is a city dog/cat tax supervisor that they pay $60K a year?

Now the city claims that registration “helps the City monitor compliance with State of North Carolina rabies vaccination laws” … That is a joke – what percentage of pets are registered – a very low percentage – which makes any data from the registrations useless. The city also claims that registration helps to “identify family pets should they become lost” … haven’t they ever heard of ID chips?

After another CAT scan and a checkup by my ENT surgeon all remains clear as far as the throat cancer goes. It’s been over 8 months since the cancer was first found and almost 6 months since I discontinued the chemo and radiation treatments.

Playing the odds seems to be working!

The Washington Post and ABC News conducted another of their nationwide polls over the last week and they have released the results along with the results of polls conducted in the past that had the same question included. It’s really interesting (and surprising) how opinions have changed over the years.

The two questions that I pulled out the synopsis are related to gays serving in the military. It appears that those who are against it are much more in the minority than I thought. They just seem to be rather vocal or to be getting much more news coverage than they deserve.

Note: the numbers below are percentages of the total number of interviews

Do you think homosexuals who do NOT publicly disclose their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the military or not?

         Yes    No   No opinion
2/8/10    83    15        1
7/13/08   78    18        5
1/15/01   75    22        3
5/23/93   63    35        2

Do you think homosexuals who DO publicly disclose their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the military or not?

         Yes    No   No opinion
2/8/10    75    24        1
7/13/08   75    22        3
1/15/01   62    35        3
5/23/93   44    55        2

There’s no good reason why gays and lesbians shouldn’t serve openly in the military.

Yesterday, Adm. Mike Mullen chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates went before the Senate Armed Forces Committee to testify that don’t ask, don’t tell should end. A couple of worthwhile quotes from Adm. Mullen:

“No matter how I look at the issue I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”

“For me it comes down to integrity — theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.”

Also at the hearing, Sen. Mark Udall cited conservative Barry Goldwater’s famous dictum —that it mattered not whether you were straight, but whether you could shoot straight.

Britain, Canada, Israel and Australia are among countries allowing gays to serve openly without issue. The primary argument against repealing the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” order is that it will undermine cohesion of the units. But there’s nothing new in that argument. Harry Truman faced the cohesion argument when he integrated the forces in 1948 — the same time Omar Bradley, the five-star general, said the Army was the wrong place for “social experiments.” These same arguments were also used against enhancing women’s roles in the military.

Polls show most Americans favor gays and lesbians serving openly (they are already there anyway). The only real argument against it, in fact, is the outdated workplace argument: that being around gay people makes some straight people uncomfortable.

In this mini-depression lots of folks are out-of-work, others are enduring hour and wage cuts. Many of these people are facing the time limit on receiving unemployment payments. But there is money out there just waiting to be claimed by anyone.

Individuals, companies and government agencies are all offering incentives/rewards for all sorts of things. Check out this list that I put together:

NASA is always offering up challenges for new ideas:
Nasa.gov
There is a $50,000 reward for locating a woodpecker:
ibwo.org
Microsoft is offering up $250,000 (that’s right, a quarter million) for info on the a-holes that unleashed a virus on the world:
Microsoft.com
Or you could report your ex-employer for software piracy – the reward is up to $1,000,000 (one million):
bsa.org

And if you hang out with the wrong crowd there are always lots of rewards offered up to help solve crimes. Some are offered by the police others by those that were wronged.

Nelly offers up $10,000 reward to catch burglers
US Fish and Wildlife offers $10,000 for info on shooting of Whooping Crane

I know I use the Internet a lot more than the average person but the figures below show that I’m not all that out of line!

American adults are now spending an average of 13 hours a week surfing the Internet, according to new data from Harris Interactive, up from only seven hours in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. This isn’t the highest ever year, though: in 2008, the average peaked at 14 hours per week—which Harris attributes to the presidential election and the beginning of the current financial crisis—before settling back down to 13 hours in 2009.

The number of adults using the Internet at home has increased dramatically over that same time period, too. Harris says that a mere 22 percent accessed the Internet at home as of January 1998 (as well as 22 percent at work); that number has gone up to 76 percent accessing it at home this year and 40 percent at work. There has been an increase in Internet use while at “other” locations as well (school, coffee shops, etc.), reflecting our growing use of laptops and other portable devices.

He’s been out of office (and the public eye) for a while now but I just had to share this joke:

President Bush was sitting at his desk in the oval office when the Secretary of War walked in…

How goes the war in Iraq”, asked Pres. Bush

“Terrible”, said the Secretary of War, “Six Brazilian Soldiers were killed today”

“My, that is terrible news”, replied President Bush

As the Secretary of War was leaving President Bush picked up the phone and called Condalezza Rice…

“Connie”, he said, “How many is a Brazillion”?

Here are some seldom seen numbers … comparisons of immigrant crime rates vs native born American crime rates – and guess who’s better behaved!

The graph above and the article that is linked to below are actually from two different studies but cover the same subject. I’ve pulled out a few facts from the article but please read it for yourself: PDF from the website www.policefoundation.org.

Here’s the opening lines from the article: “The perception that the foreign-born, especially “illegal aliens,” are responsible for higher crime rates is deeply rooted in American public opinion and is sustained by media anecdote and popular myth.” … “Such stereotypes, reinforced through popular movies and television programs and fueled by media coverage of singular events, project an enduring image of immigrant communities permeated by criminal elements.”

The following facts and numbers are from the year 2000 census and other sources. Remember, the high point of illegal immigration was in 2000, before 9/11 occurred.

For all males 18-39:
Overall percent in jail = 3.04%
For immigrants only = 0.68%
For native born only = 3.51%
Immigrants are 4 1/2 times less likely to end up in jail than are native born Americans. And that isn’t anyone’s opinion – it’s a fact.

The National Organization for Marriage is challenging a Maine campaign finance law requiring it to disclose its donors. They have donated about $1.5 million to Maine’s Yes on One campaign, and are asking a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order against Maine’s State Ethics Commission.

The group must believe that their fund raising efforts will be hurt if they cannot allow their donors to be anonymous and remain in the shadows. I think the group is right, their donors should be ashamed of their anti-gay sentiment. Most causes such as theirs can’t stand examination in the light of day.

The Church of Sweden has formally agreed to recognise same-sex marriages and conduct gay weddings and blessings. The Lutheran denomination said that it would begin marrying same-sex couples on 1 November 2009.

The change comes after the Swedish parliament legalised same-sex weddings earlier this year, changing a law permitting legal unions but not formal marriage. The church board voted 176-62 in favour of the change. Sweden’s Lutheran Church split from the state in 2000 but remains the country’s largest religious community.

“It is a question of being human. One of the Bible quotations central to the Lutheran tradition is, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’,” Archbishop Anders Wejryd said in September 2009 on Swedish public television. “This means that as Christians, we have a responsibility to think independently on the basis of what we believe is good for love, fidelity and equality, at all times.”