"We pray for those who are sick in both body and spirit..." --Padre Pio

Occasionally I venture out into a world that is so terribly sick and twisted that it makes me fear for the human race. That world is Hannity.com. In the forum section you will find the most hateful, ignorant and arrogant people who, in my opinion, consume too many of the Earth's valuable resources. I was flirting with the Devil this morning when I hit paydirt on my first try with this post below by "Young_Republican":

Young_Republican3618
Man On The Street

Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 2

To all of you anti-war freaks

First of all isnt war what brought our country together. And think about it. As Albert Einstein said, "As long as there is man, there shall be war." The Iraq war was needed.You have to remember that terrorists attacked NY. Now i dont want to here all this theroys that th war was for oil or anything like that. Back in 1941 The Jappenese attacked the US and we went to war. If these terrorists were in lets say india. We would be fighting in india. But they came from Iraq so were in Iraq (now out, or in military bases) People dieing in any war is bad. But look at this. Only 7000 deaths of US troops. In what a.... 8 years. 7 years... In 1 day in our countrys past war. Over 10,000 americans died. D-Day, Iwo Jima, Gettysburgh, Market Garden. Our troops fight for us, to keep us safe. And Some people call all there hard work pointless. Wow just wow.

Yes, you just read that and no, I didn't make it up. I wouldn't know where to begin when trying to address this. This post, however illogical, nonsensical and completely devoid of rational thought, is a fairly common representation of the majority of current right-wing thought in America. The person who vomited this organic ignorance is an authentic and original product of Fox News. I've blogged about this before. By all appearances it would seem that I am obsessed with this type of individual. It's like visiting a haunted hotel where I continually go there to catch a glimpse of the legendary ghost.

This person was born out of the Fox News Crusade to demonize educated people. Educated people tend to be truth-seekers. Fox News wants truth-seekers like Sean Hannity wants to march in the San Francisco Gay Parade. But there may be more to this than Fox News simply trying to turn education into a disease.

Questioning the war in Iraq has always been prohibited on Hannity.com. Should you question ANYTHING about the war in Iraq it will almost certainly get you banned by one of Hannity's disciples (moderators). This is a place where the surreal is real and the real is surreal, where facts are "biased" and where members gather around a bonfire of absolutely fantastic lies, warming their hands, singing songs and drinking the same hot cocoa kool-aid while chanting, "Freedom ain't free".

I was a member on the Hannity.com forums until I was banned in 2007. During that brief sojourn of living on the darkside I discovered this demographic which I had completely underestimated in size and in depth of ignorance. I would have thought by now, given that nearly all Republican officials agree that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and that Iraq DID NOT have weapons of mass destruction, that this movement would have lost some of its momentum. Sadly, I was wrong.

As I've written before, these individuals are so full of fear and shame that if they were to be enlightened it would be an emotionally crippling experience. Fox News has given their ego what it needs to stay alive and healthy: an identity. If this type of individual were to detach from their ego and that relative identity that it holds in its tight grasp, their ego would suffer a horrible death.

I can only conclude that this type of individual lives entirely on ego which is fueled by this identity that it must hate everything that Fox News propagandizes as evil. This individual has relinquished all logic and deferred all decision-making properties to its ego. And by doing so in such a collective manner in such a large community, their ego has a much higher probability of survival because it is constantly validated by others who are just as spiritually sick. In short, should one of these sheep stray from the flock it risks losing not only the identity for the ego but those fellow sheep who keep the identity strong. If such a person were to lose this community and the identity that feeds the ego, the ego then becomes vulnerable. The ego then becomes susceptible to actual reality in the present moment.

A moment in which we know that Iraq was and is not our enemy, a moment in which homosexuals are above all human beings and a moment in which a Puerto Rican woman CAN use the expression "wise latina" AND be taken seriously.

Updated Fox News Enemy List: education, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barack Obama, Barack Obama's birth certificate, Iran, North Korea, Mexico, polar bears, moose, proper English, Europe (Vatican City not included), Karl Marx, Cesar Chavez, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans (thanks Sonia!), humanities, art, children under the age of 18, minority children over the age of 6, health insurance for people who make less money than they do, Canadian health care system, Australian health care system, Islam, Muslim, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Turkey (kind of), Yemen, Somalia, anything French, Earth, truth, facts, investigations, resigning from a job after a scandal, practicing Christian values, China, Russia, Putin, Stalin, Trotsky, Borat, Bruno, Jane Fonda, Phil Donahue, Patrick Duffy (not sure about this one, I'll double-check) Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Brittney Spears, Jamie Lynn Spears, equal rights, empowered minorities, "wise" minority people, the word "minority", journalism, secret documents that reveal secret programs no one knew about, the Constitution, the law, the word "tax" and any derivative of, Jimmy Carter, Chelsea Clinton, Obama's children, Michelle Obama, whatever clothing Michelle Obama has on right this very second, anything "organic"...

Please feel free to add to this list.

"4 yes votes and 1 'hell yeah' "...The Story of a Governor's Cabinet

Sarah Palin's press conference. Seriously? Was that not the most awkward 30 minutes of television you've ever watched? Forget O.J. and the white bronco. Forget Mark Sanford. This was the moment when even Larry the Cable Guy was scratching his head with hot barbeque tongs saying, "What in THEE hell did that woman jis say?"

There are times as a parent when you must teach your children a lesson. Friday July 3rd around noon Sarah Palin did your work for you. She taught all children that education is very important.

The most disturbing piece was this nugget:

"In fact, this decision comes after much consideration, and finally polling the most important people in my life - my children (where the count was unanimous... well, in response to asking:)

'Want me to make a positive difference and fight for ALL our children's future from OUTSIDE the Governor's office?' It was four "yes's" and one "hell yeah!" The "hell yeah" sealed it - and someday I'll talk about the details of that..."

So, just so I understand it, Palin "the average hockey mom" made the decision to resign as governor by polling the following think tank:

Todd Palin --- husband, commercial fisherman and snowmobile afficionado

Track Palin -- 20 yr old son, amateur hockey player

Bristol Palin ---18 yr old daughter, mother of infant born out of abstinence

Willow Palin --- 14 yr old daughter, unknown as no one has heard her speak

Piper Palin -- 8 yr old daughter, primary babysitter of Trig

Trig Palin --18 month old son who has Down's Syndrome

I'm not making this up. So...time for hypothetical scenario: Sarah Palin is President of the United States (I know but just play along anyway...) North Korea is set to test fire yet another missile and this time intelligence indicates that it could reach Hawaii. North Korea states if the missile is intercepted it will view it as a declaration of war. President Palin gets the 3am phone call. She's briefed on the situation and calmly hangs up the phone.

She then proceeds to wake up her advisors, cabinet members in whom she has unshakeable trust.

"TODD !!! TRACK !!!! BRISTOL !!!! WILLOW !!! PIPER!!! TRIG !!!! GET YER ARSES DOWN HERE WILL YA? WE GOT ONE OF THEM THERE SITUATIONS GOIN' ON !!!

AND IT AIN'T NO FULL COURT PRESS, YOU BETCHA!!!

Remember when Alaska was cool, abstract and rugged... before Sarah Palin painted it qwerky?

Alaska. I've never been there and I'll bet you haven't been there either. Still wanna go?

I don't. Send me a postcard if you go. Wait a second..., no, send me a photo of the Wasilla Town Hall so that I can make it into an epitaph for my vision of what I thought Alaska was.

It died the day the world discovered Sarah Palin.

Alaska used to be too cool for me to even talk about. If someone asked if I'd been there, I would have answered, "no...haven't had the chance to head up there...YET ! But as soon as I can, boy, I might even stay a couple years." What a lie! I was so terrified of Alaska I couldn't even watch Northern Exposure for more than 15 minutes at a time. I felt as though Alaska knew who was watching HER...as if it were the most rugged, exotic, land where only tough, artsy, nature guys could survive (like Emile Hirsch in "Into the Wild"). How in the hell was I going to make it in Alaska if I could not bring my Aveda shampoo and conditioner and my American Crew Pomade? Do grocery stores in Alaska even have Pellegrino?

Sarah Palin has turned Alaska into the equivalent of a Japanese game show: no one understands it, the host winks and laughs and everyone is embarrassed for the people in it. She took a land that was so mysterious and powerful that even the most intellectually elite were frozen in awe of its natural beauty upon arrival, to now a land where all intellectuals are terrified at its governor's ignorance, lack of intelligence and purposeful avoidance of reality. Alaska the Land has been overshadowed by a nasal voice that simply answers every question with a "you betcha" and a very obscure fishing metaphor. Palin took Alaska and melted it into a Flint, Michigan, a Decatur, Illinois, places where we EXPECT to find close-minded people who still have the Steve Perry/Bob Seger hairdo and think that Spain is a region in Mexico.

There's a reason why no one can name any other governor of Alaska prior to Palin: because they never talked! They didn't have to. Hello !!!??? Being governor of Alaska is all that needs to be said. Alaska the Land always spoke louder than its governor. That's how it's supposed to be.

My only solace now is "Ice Road Truckers". But even that is getting close to the cheesy press appearances Sarah Palin delivers every week free of charge. There's a girl trucker on that show (the only girl trucker) and she used to play basketball in high school in Alaska. Sound familiar?

How fitting was it today, the day that Sarah the Baracuda QUITS as governor, that the ducks on the pond and the owl in the tree behind her were louder than her voice, that the grass she was stepping on was a bit greener and the mountains looked taller... as if to say, "Behold...Alaska the Land has awoken again". To use a Palin metaphor, she "forfeited the game". A quitter in every sense of the word.

No more shooting polar bears from helicopters, no more footage of turkeys getting their throats slit and thrown into a defeathering machine, no more trendy square-rimmed spectacles and certainly no more "Alaska is just a microcosm of America". Because it's not. We in the lower 48 know it's not. That's why we thought Alaska was cool. That's why we wanted to visit Alaska the Land.

The Party of Family Values keeps on "thinking"...and keeps on sinking !

Oh, yeah. Promise Keepers. The Fellowship. Good ole Christian Right family values. The party of judgment and contempt, of exclusion and prejudice, the party that believes poverty, hunger, being black and homosexuality are all choices, shows once again why claiming to be morally superior is not only anti-Christian but is unrealistic and utterly prophetic. Every single time.

First of all, let's be clear. The Republican party must have been on their feet cheering like Notre Dame cheered for Rudy when John Ensign and Mark Sanford came out with their admissions of sexual, carnal, adulterous, naked, flesh-touching affairs.

At least these two cheaters had partners of the opposite sex (unlike Larry Craig, Mark Foley and Ted Haggard). So in a way the party offered their "conservative compassion" for at least not going all "log cabin-ish". Although I must say that Sanford's situation is a bit riskier as he chose an Argentine woman.

Fox News watchers have difficulty finding Argentina on the globe much less determining if it is on the Axis of Evil or if Argentina is "with us or against us." Too much culture and/or geographic distance can automatically get a country placed on Fox News' Enemy List and Argentina has both, i.e. tango, soccer, Vespas, chimichurri and empenadas.

Ensign and Sanford were both very prominent Republicans arguably in the top 5 of leaders of their leaderless party (if you don't count Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich---another extramarital conservative). Both Ensign and Sanford belonged to a religious cult...errr...group known as "The Fellowship". Now this does not include Frodo or Gandolf but it does include a lot of white male Republicans. Here is the mission statement of The Fellowship:

To develop and maintain an informal association of people banded together, to go out as "ambassadors of reconciliation," modeling the principles of Jesus, based on loving God and loving others. To work with the leaders of other nations, and as their hearts are touched, the poor, the oppressed, the widows and the youth of their country will be impacted in a positive manner. It is said that youth groups will be developed under the thoughts of Jesus, including loving others as you want to be loved.

The mission statement seems harmless enough. Where did these two go wrong?

It shows once again how the body does not follow the mind, how one cannot think himself into right action. It is only by right action that right thinking can become automatic. A few years before Jesus pimped those sweet leather sandals in Palestine, Aristotle had several ideas that he expressed openly.

Here's one that underscores my point, taken from the Nicomachean Ethics:

II. The Good Character.

A. People have a natural capacity for good character, but it is developed through practice. The capacity does not come first--it's developed only through practice.

1. The vicious circle of which is preeminent--acts or dispositions--is broken by Aristotle's distinction between acts which create good dispositions and acts which flow from the good disposition once it has been created.
2. Arete is a disposition developed out of a capacity by the proper exercise of that capacity.
3. Habits are developed through acting; a person's character is the structure of habits and is formed by what we do.

Aha! This could explain why so many look to be saved without rowing the boat. God can calm the waters but He can't move the oars.

So, I wonder if Ensign and Sanford, as they lay atop their respective lovers in the moonlight like the scene in Top Gun with Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis, even quite possibly listening to "Take my breath away" by pop legend Berlin, if both men were still trying to think themselves into right action.

The Quiet After The Storm...

What a gift from God it was to experience the evening of November 4, 2008 in America. My mind is still trying to wrap itself around the magnitude of what just happened. I will be able to tell this story a thousand times over and I am certain that it will never get old.

Ineffability is defined as: To say that something is "ineffable" means that it cannot or should not, for overwhelming reasons, be expressed in spoken words (as with the concept of true love). It is generally used to describe a feeling, concept or aspect of existence that is too great to be adequately described in words, or that inherently (due to its nature) cannot be conveyed in dualistic symbolic human language, but can only be known internally by individuals.
In Zen it is often said that (by analogy) the finger can point to the moon but is not the moon; likewise words and actions can point towards what is ineffable but cannot make another know it.


When I think of what happened yesterday, all I can do is cry. I thank God for giving me life and for allowing me to experience this moment in its fullness.

To anyone who has been made to feel an outsider, made to feel less than a full citizen, has been disrespected or accused of being guilty until proven innocent, who was told they could never succeed...today is YOUR day! Own it like it's always been yours. This is what the "other side of the mountain top" feels like. The possibilities are endless and every dream is a question of "when", and never "if".

But lest we forget those who've gone before us....

Gabriel Posser
Nat Turner
Harriet Tubman
Frederick Douglas
Marcus Garvey
The Scottsboro Nine
Medgar Evers
Emmitt Till
Ronald Madison (mentally handicapped man killed by N.O Police during Hurricane Katrina)
Bernie Mac
Jackie Robinson
Rosa Parks
Charles Steele
Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins
The Great Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.


And countless, and I do mean countless others...

With gratitude and humility...keep your torch lit

"Hey, I'm not racist...I'll have you know I have one black friend and he's very articulate..."

I published this post on July 4, 2009. I had started to write this post back in October of 2008. The hateful racist backlash had already begun as the writing was on the wall that Obama would win the presidency. I shelved this post mainly because the topic of racism is so broad and so far-reaching that I truly did not know how to begin to write about it much less find a conclusion. As far as we've come since the Civil Rights Movement is as far as we still need to go to truly say that, "All men are created equal." Perhaps having a black man as the most powerful man in the free world will unearth the last remaining seeds of racism and thereby begin a new field in which true love and tolerance will flourish.

The excitement that has been swirling since Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court has been nothing short of a compelling anthropological study of white conservative America. Both Limbaugh and Gingrich, cross-cultural icons and open-minded drug and sex addicts respectively, labeled Sotomayor as a racist. Reverse racist to be exact. For those of you who are not racist and/or are not familiar with the term "reverse racist", allow me to enlighten you.


The term is usually heard on Fox News or on Hannity /Limbaugh radio shows. It is a pathetic attempt at self-pity by white men when any minority person exhibits any form of empowerment or shows pride in their ethnic background; or when a minority person accomplishes greatness or earns a position of power and refuses to honor the "white privilege", such person is viewed as ungrateful and is accused of being a "reverse racist". How blatant the double-standard is in America: when a white male achieves the office of Senator, President or Supreme Court Justice, he has done so through hard work, dedication and intellect. When a minority person accomplishes the exact same positions, that person has "obviously benefited from living in America and should be thankful he/she even had the opportunity." Note to minority person: this is why you're held to a different standard. Mark Sanford and John Ensign will still have careers after their respective scandals. Minorities don't.

The central issue that seems to generate the most discussion is Sotomayor's comment from 2001 during a speech at Berkeley (terrorist factory) where she said, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

So, is she saying that someone who has lived in a wider, broader and deeper spectrum of America, a latina woman who has been in the depths of poverty (usually reserved for minorities and typically where you find the most crime) and had not only been on welfare but eventually got to rub shoulders with white men at Princeton, would not have a better background to base decisions on than an affluent, white male who has never been within 10 miles of a (insert state) Department of Economic Security Office, who grew up in an all-white country club, who had never been in a car that wasn't made that same year (unless it was a vintage Mercedes) or who always thought the house in the Hamptons was "roughing it"?

Where could Sotomayor have gotten the juevos to say this? As Lindsey Graham so naively and racially put it, "And if I had said something like that--or someone with my background and profile--we wouldn't be talking about this nomination going forward." Ummm...yeah we would. Because white men have done that for centuries. They just never had to say it out loud. Our country was founded by white men, the laws were written by white men, white men were the only persons allowed to vote for the first 140 years of our country's existence, white men are 97% more likely to hail a cab in New York City.

So, yes, a Latina woman with an experience similar to Sotomayor's does come to a better decision than a white male who lacks that broad background of America's cultural landscape. We white males live in a fairly confined, narrow scope in America. When is the last time any of you took a stroll down the worst neighborhood in your city at night? Didn't keep the collar popped on the Polo, did ya? How about that liquor store on the corner in the ghetto...? Ever stop and ask for directions? No? Why not?

How many Fox News broadcasters are black? (Juan Williams doesn't count...Sheppard Smith is blacker than he is.) How many are Latino? Okay, Geraldo, but he's part-time.

But the right will respond that Michael Steele is the head of the Republican National Committee and I think I did see 3 or 4 persons of color at the Republican National Convention and they weren't just security guards...they were actually delegates. It appears as though they are making progress.

Sounds like they need a community organizer.

UPDATE: 7/14/09

The chairman of the Republican Party, house negro Michael Steele, just dropped this gem of a quote, watch the video in the link below:

Michael Steele decides he can "woo blacks to the GOP with fried chicken and potato salad"

Just when you think it couldn't get worse...the Republicans come through with a grand slam!

The NeoConned assault on Lady Justice: The frightening trend of proving false negatives

America. Land of the free, home of the brave. America. Home to the world's best example of equal justice. For centuries we have operated under the warm blanket of "innocent until proven guilty". Prosecutors are required to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury of 12 fellow citizens who have been selected at random.

Have there been times when the guilty have gone free? Yes. Have there been times when the innocent were found guilty? Yes. The system is not perfect. It does walk in some faithful harmony with our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Our Founding Fathers believed in humanity for all citizens of the world. This is why you will not find an indirect or direct reference to "U.S. citizens" in the Bill of Rights. For it is a document which outlines what the government can and cannot do against any people of any nation on earth (yes, even members of al-Qaeda!)

The American justice system is currently broken. It used to be that one was presumed innocent until proven guilty. In eight short years the Neoconned have abducted and assaulted our Lady of Justice. The result: if you are not a registered Republican, neoconservative and/or Fox News watcher, you are now presumed guilty until you are proven innocent. Yes, this has happened. Let's take a look back starting on September 12, 2001.

It is considered common knowledge at this point that the Iraq War was essentially planned prior to Bush's inauguration. 9/11 was simply a catalyst to be able to invade Iraq on ridiculously thin intelligence and the brilliant strategy of fear-mongering. When the U.S. were forced to comply to some set of rules laid out by the UN, they requested that Iraq provide intelligence and documentation on its weapons of mass destruction program. When Iraq complied and submitted a 19,000 page document, we conveniently erased the parts that stated that they did not have a WMD program and then asked Iraq again to come clean...or cleaner? Iraq clearly did not have WMD. However, when you send 150,000 troops to the Gulf to "negotiate diplomatically" it becomes increasingly difficult to continue to search (and be patient) for the truth.

Iraq continued to deny that they possessed WMD (most likely due to the fact that they did not have any). We still refused to accept that claim. This is perhaps the first instance of forcing someone, in this case an entire country, to prove a false negative; that is to say, that Iraq was clearly presumed guilty and ultimately was unable to prove its innocence.

As we are discovering on almost a daily basis, the U.S. knew that Iraq did not have WMD. In fact, as early as February of 2001 both Colin Powell and Condi Rice stood before the American public and claimed beyond doubt that Iraq had ceased to produce WMD and that they currently DID NOT possess any operational WMD.

There have been thousands of cases, obviously on a smaller scale, where this fascist system of justice has been present. Wiretapping, torture, denying prisoners habeas corpus are all elements of this upended American ideal. Persons who have spoken out against the war are on the government No Fly List. Protesters have been arrested for no reason other than exercising their constitutional rights. This perversion of real justice is a small but significant step in the direction of transforming a democratic state into a fascist state.

But recently this evil ideology has permeated the presidential race. Because the Republican party is unable to run on any type of solution-based platform, they are now forced to run on personal attacks, rumors and fear-mongering. The Republicans have hugged tightly to the various associations that Barack Obama has had prior to his candidacy. William Ayers, Sal Olinsky, Reverend Wright, the Chicago Cubs and ACORN (okay, not the Cubs but hey, Fox News spares no one in their attempt to start rumors) are the top four words you will hear on Fox News. Forget Osama bin Laden...no, seriously, I mean, I know we're not looking for him and we've already forgotten about him but forget about him again.

You would think these individuals have been responsible for events such as but not limited to: 9/11, the economy, the No Billionaire Left Behind Education Program, the housing crisis, Jamie Lynn Spears getting pregnant, blocking off-shore drilling, gas prices, Larry Craig's bathroom sex sting operation and for giving reporters tricky questions to ask Sarah Palin; questions like, "What newspapers do you read on a daily basis?"

Because Obama has met these individuals on few occasions or has had some type of brief relationship with them, he is presumed guilty and now must prove his innocence.

Here's the predicament. He has explained the connections on numerous occasions. The facts show that he is telling the truth. But since he is being forced to prove a false negative, he is unable exonerate himself.

It is similar to someone accusing you of being in a certain place on a certain day. They didn't see you there but they report the incident as if it were factual. You are then forced to prove something that is false. You are forced to prove you were not there but perhaps you can't because you were home alone during the evening in question. Amazing, isn't it? Our whole system of justice turned upside down. Imagine how court cases would play out. Would anyone be innocent ever again??

What exacerbates this particular situation is when this is played out in the public court of opinion and when the situation involves the future of our country. We are faced with going backwards or moving forward out of the most miserable eight years of our country's existence. We are forced with moving closer to a fascist state of government where the Constitution will continue to be sodomized and civil liberties be stripped away or returning to our fundamental principles that are clearly outlined in the Constitution.

Democracy is an interactive exercise. Let's put the blindfold back on Lady Justice.

"Constitution first, Country second"