I find it interesting, if I may interject my own words here for a moment, that it was Bill Clinton....of all presidents... who signed into law the so called "Defense Of Marriage Act". Bill Clinton, who was a philanderer, a liar, had no concept of the word "is", and who's marriage for unknown years has been little more than a convenience. But, that put aside, some may ask why this issue concerns me at all. After all, it's not like I have any prospects, any expectations of any sort of marriage any time soon. So why is it any of my business?
Well, one: it hurts a very good friend of mine.
Two: I still have hope.
Three: Any time we as Americans feel justified in taking the very basic rights of one group of people, we risk that very same thing happening to other groups of people. It is why Martin Luther King Jr. stated so clearly that "an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere". The fact that some would support the prejudice and discrimination involved in this issue is cause to wonder about that person's ethics in a greater scope. As an example: as a "white" male, I didn't support everything the Black Panthers, or N.O.I, or Malcolm X stood for. But, I do stand and say that a so called "black" man is a man just as any other of the so called designations and descriptions we use (ie: white, brown, red, yellow, etc.) - and women, too. I do stand and say that he has every right afforded any man, or woman, and vice verse.
You see, there are some in power who would fall all over themselves in denying by any method the taking away of the "black" man's rights - at least publicly - yet have no problem standing on their little morals and declare that a gay man's - or woman's - rights OUGHT to be denied them. Who is next? What is next? Americans stand up and outcry the 1%, not understanding how it is that such inequality has come about - as a current issue example. And, it wasn't all that long ago that this nation imprisoned Americans with Japanese ancestry for little other reason than suspecting collaboration. Who is next? It wasn't all that long ago that women were not allowed a vote, and in fact were considered property of the husband.
This is a repeating issue in this nation's history. We, as a country, must have our noses bloodied on occasion to come awake to the understanding of freedom, liberty, and justice. In the following clip, a number of politicians are mentioned by name..... some for equality, some against. This is how we can know clearly who to support, and who to oust.
ok, off my soap box now...
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Sorry sir, but it's illegal to be that poor.
Posted by ACLU of Michigan on Aug 17, 2011
http://www.aclumich.org/blog/2011-08-17/les-miserables
Blog PostPovertyCriminal Justice
Guest blogger Desiree Cooper is a Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist and a legend in Detroit media. She blogs on race and politics in our fair city over at her Detroit Diary.
I’ve started noticing a troubling trend in the news lately:
June 9, 2011 – Police are looking for a white male who has taken liquor and baby formula from Kroger stores in Birmingham and Troy.
June 22, 2011 – An employee of a grocery store in West Bloomfield reportedly watched a 67-year-old woman place items in her carry basket into her purse. When confronted at the exit, police said her purse contained body lotion, flaxseed oil and Omega-3 fish oil worth $90.
July 6, 2011 – A man allegedly tried to shoplift 10 cans of baby formula worth a total of $137.40 at a supermarket in West Bloomfield. When approached by security, he dropped the formula and ran out of the store. Police tracked down the suspect’s Ford Taurus, and he reportedly admitted to attempting to take the formula.
As we continue to slog through this Next Great Depression, this is what new crime looks like. I’m trying to imagine myself as a security guard arresting a 67-year-old woman for stealing vitamins, or a couple skirting away with diapers and baby formula. Would I just turn a blind eye? Would I pay for the stolen items myself? Or, would I turn them in?
It all conjures up nightmares of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, where Jean Valjean spending the bulk of his life in debtors’ prison over a loaf of bread.
Debtors’ prison. Now there’s a word I never expected to hear outside of fiction. Unfortunately, it’s all too real for some metro area residents who are landing in jail not for their desperate crimes, but for their inability to pay their fines. According to the ACLU of Michigan, people across the state are being jailed for crime of being poor.
Case in point: 19-year-old Kyle Dewitt went fishing for rock bass in May. He’d lost his job last year and hasn’t been able to find anything steady since. (I even have to wonder if his fishing trip wasn’t just an attempt to find some R & R, but a real mission to put food on the table.) When he hooked a small-mouth bass out of season, he got slapped with a ticket from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
OK, that’s fair. The rules are the rules. But when Dewitt couldn’t pay the ticket, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. He turned himself in on July 25, 20ll, and an Ionia, Michigan district court judge ordered him to pay $215 by the end of the day or spend three days in jail. Dewitt offered to pay $100 the next day and the remainder the next month.
No go. The judge threw him in jail, even though Dewitt had never even pled guilty to the offense of catching the wrong fish in the wrong season. Seriously?? Lucky for Dewitt, the ACLU got him sprung pending a trial on the underlying offense.
In good times, fines may seem like an efficient way to slap the wrists of law-breakers. But in bad times, fines start to draw a bright line between the haves and the have nots. Should you really lose your freedom over not being able to pay traffic tickets or other misdemeanor fines?
“Long thought to be a relic of the 19th Century, debtors’ prisons are still alive and well in Michigan,” my good friend, Kary Moss, ACLU of Michigan’s executive director, said in a press release. “Jailing our clients because they are poor is not only unconstitutional, it’s unconscionable and a shameful waste of resources. Our justice system should be a place where freedom has no price and equality prevails regardless of a defendant’s economic status.”
But a multi-state study by the ACLU entitled, "In for a Penny," showed that Michigan is one of the biggest offenders when it comes to jailing people who are too poor to pay fines.
"Michigan, a state hit harder than most by the recession, is trying to find operating funds in the most unlikely of places: the pockets of poor people who have been convicted of crimes," concluded the report. "Though the Michigan Constitution forbids debtors’ prisons and state laws explicitly prohibit the jailing of individuals who cannot pay court fines and fees because they are too poor, judges routinely threaten to jail and frequently do jail poor people who cannot pay."
This year, the ACLU has challenged five cases where an indigent citizen was told to "pay or stay," without any inquiry into the defendant's ability to pay immediately or over time. Thank goodness the ACLU is here to stand for people who cannot fend for themselves. I fear that Victor Hugo had it right when he wrote in Les Miserables, “There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher.”
randy says..... I am struck by this. I am sure that there are people in my area that are desperate and poor...I just don't know them. Lucky, I guess. But, isn't that the way? We only find out that someone is so badly hurting when it's gone all but too far. Are they too prideful? Do they figure that no one would care? It's so sad that Americans are living in this place of bounty and some of us go without.
http://www.aclumich.org/blog/2011-08-17/les-miserables
Blog PostPovertyCriminal Justice
Guest blogger Desiree Cooper is a Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist and a legend in Detroit media. She blogs on race and politics in our fair city over at her Detroit Diary.
I’ve started noticing a troubling trend in the news lately:
June 9, 2011 – Police are looking for a white male who has taken liquor and baby formula from Kroger stores in Birmingham and Troy.
June 22, 2011 – An employee of a grocery store in West Bloomfield reportedly watched a 67-year-old woman place items in her carry basket into her purse. When confronted at the exit, police said her purse contained body lotion, flaxseed oil and Omega-3 fish oil worth $90.
July 6, 2011 – A man allegedly tried to shoplift 10 cans of baby formula worth a total of $137.40 at a supermarket in West Bloomfield. When approached by security, he dropped the formula and ran out of the store. Police tracked down the suspect’s Ford Taurus, and he reportedly admitted to attempting to take the formula.
As we continue to slog through this Next Great Depression, this is what new crime looks like. I’m trying to imagine myself as a security guard arresting a 67-year-old woman for stealing vitamins, or a couple skirting away with diapers and baby formula. Would I just turn a blind eye? Would I pay for the stolen items myself? Or, would I turn them in?
It all conjures up nightmares of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, where Jean Valjean spending the bulk of his life in debtors’ prison over a loaf of bread.
Debtors’ prison. Now there’s a word I never expected to hear outside of fiction. Unfortunately, it’s all too real for some metro area residents who are landing in jail not for their desperate crimes, but for their inability to pay their fines. According to the ACLU of Michigan, people across the state are being jailed for crime of being poor.
Case in point: 19-year-old Kyle Dewitt went fishing for rock bass in May. He’d lost his job last year and hasn’t been able to find anything steady since. (I even have to wonder if his fishing trip wasn’t just an attempt to find some R & R, but a real mission to put food on the table.) When he hooked a small-mouth bass out of season, he got slapped with a ticket from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
OK, that’s fair. The rules are the rules. But when Dewitt couldn’t pay the ticket, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. He turned himself in on July 25, 20ll, and an Ionia, Michigan district court judge ordered him to pay $215 by the end of the day or spend three days in jail. Dewitt offered to pay $100 the next day and the remainder the next month.
No go. The judge threw him in jail, even though Dewitt had never even pled guilty to the offense of catching the wrong fish in the wrong season. Seriously?? Lucky for Dewitt, the ACLU got him sprung pending a trial on the underlying offense.
In good times, fines may seem like an efficient way to slap the wrists of law-breakers. But in bad times, fines start to draw a bright line between the haves and the have nots. Should you really lose your freedom over not being able to pay traffic tickets or other misdemeanor fines?
“Long thought to be a relic of the 19th Century, debtors’ prisons are still alive and well in Michigan,” my good friend, Kary Moss, ACLU of Michigan’s executive director, said in a press release. “Jailing our clients because they are poor is not only unconstitutional, it’s unconscionable and a shameful waste of resources. Our justice system should be a place where freedom has no price and equality prevails regardless of a defendant’s economic status.”
But a multi-state study by the ACLU entitled, "In for a Penny," showed that Michigan is one of the biggest offenders when it comes to jailing people who are too poor to pay fines.
"Michigan, a state hit harder than most by the recession, is trying to find operating funds in the most unlikely of places: the pockets of poor people who have been convicted of crimes," concluded the report. "Though the Michigan Constitution forbids debtors’ prisons and state laws explicitly prohibit the jailing of individuals who cannot pay court fines and fees because they are too poor, judges routinely threaten to jail and frequently do jail poor people who cannot pay."
This year, the ACLU has challenged five cases where an indigent citizen was told to "pay or stay," without any inquiry into the defendant's ability to pay immediately or over time. Thank goodness the ACLU is here to stand for people who cannot fend for themselves. I fear that Victor Hugo had it right when he wrote in Les Miserables, “There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher.”
randy says..... I am struck by this. I am sure that there are people in my area that are desperate and poor...I just don't know them. Lucky, I guess. But, isn't that the way? We only find out that someone is so badly hurting when it's gone all but too far. Are they too prideful? Do they figure that no one would care? It's so sad that Americans are living in this place of bounty and some of us go without.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
thoughts...
Hi Friends;To save you some time, in paraphrase, I commented to Miles that we create a great multitude of unnatural consequences from forcing what we would consider "natural" choices on people -- ok, actually I said that anytime a natural attraction is stifled, unnatural things are apt to develop. And, there is where I get into trouble. You see, this isn't a very well thought out post, it's an idea that is bugging me to no end.
On the one hand, we, the "we as a people" we, have a duty and a right to train our young, etc, into an image that fits our outlook of what is right for humanity. And yet, it is the very oddballs among us that seem to make such incredible leaps of creativity and thought. Einstein was a very poor student due to his learning disabilities, and Elvis's choir teacher said he couldn't sing...the history of man is filled with such examples. And yet, we try and try to put our youth and such into these forms that are fit in our eyes.
Do any of you remember when the powers that be would try to retrain left handed kids to write right handed, because that was the right thing? And yet, there is a certain segment of the population, a natural and undeniable portion of us as people, who are left handed. What other traits are natural but the 'powers' seek to "retrain"?
Now, as is often the focus of this blog, the comment engendering this thought was about sexuality... specifically the church's role in deciding that certain behaviors of the priests were ok under wraps of secrecy while the outward orientation of homosexuality was decried a sin. And, as is often the case with comments involving the church and sex, it was with kids that happened.....which made me wonder if the very control seeking behavior of the church decrying homosexuality did encourage pederasty as an unnatural outlet of the proverbial square peg being forced into the round hole?
And, now we come to my confusion. You see, I am wondering if this is part of the repeated problems we have now or if the problems we have are just the "anomie" of the times. Are we fighting natural progressions and creating more and more problems because of that, or are we - again this is all 'we as a people' - failing to guide and develop our young as we should?
So, help me out...what do you think?
Saturday, November 5, 2011
What does it mean to you?
Homophobia means:
I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.
I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.
I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.
We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.
I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.
I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.
I am one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able to walk again.
I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.
We are the couple who had the Realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.
I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.
I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.
I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.
I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.
I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.
I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.
I am the man who died when the paramedics stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.
I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I did not have to always deal with society hating me.
I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don’t believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.
I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.
I am the person who is afraid of telling his loving Christian parents he loves another male.
I am the boy kicked out of his home because I am gay.
and who are you?
http://quasil0t.tumblr.com/post/11946430599
I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.
I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.
I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.
We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.
I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.
I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.
I am one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able to walk again.
I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.
We are the couple who had the Realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.
I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.
I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.
I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.
I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.
I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.
I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.
I am the man who died when the paramedics stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.
I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I did not have to always deal with society hating me.
I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don’t believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.
I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.
I am the person who is afraid of telling his loving Christian parents he loves another male.
I am the boy kicked out of his home because I am gay.
and who are you?
http://quasil0t.tumblr.com/post/11946430599
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