Fifty Years, And Still Dreaming

August 28, 1963 was a turning point in American history.  A speech given by an Alabama preacher turned activist, eloquently articulated the hopes and dreams of millions of Americans. That, 'my little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color or their skin, but by the content of their character'.

Over the years, I have heard a number of different stories of how that iconic speech came about.  Some say that Dr. King's prepared remarks had blown away from the podium in the afternoon wind.  Others claim that a woman in the front of the crowd shouted, "Tell them about the dream", referring to a sermon given in Detroit earlier in the year.  One thing is certain:  The majority of King's sixteen minutes on stage were ad-libbed.




On the surface, it may appear that in 50 years, King's dream has been realized.  But, look closer.

When authorities are faced with the necessity of listing an offense as a "hate crime", we are still dreaming.  When politicians rush through so-called "voter ID laws", in order to make voting more difficult for minority voters, we are still dreaming.  When African-Americans make up only 13% of the general population, but account for 40% of our nation's prison population, we are still dreaming.

So long as the United States has over 1,000 active hate groups, our dream will not come true.  So long as political pundits and commentators are able to make a living, shamelessly race baiting and fear mongering, our dream will never come true.  So long as police are given authority to "stop and frisk" a person, simply for the crime of looking suspicious not being white, we are still dreaming.

It's difficult not to take a "glass half empty" look at civil rights and race relations.  Yes, in 50 years, we have taken many steps forward.  But, at times, it's almost as if we've taken twice as many back.

Rick Santorum Speaks To CPAC (Video)

Yesterday, Rick Santorum made his case for President before attendees at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, held in Washington D.C.  The convention is the annual meeting place for right-wing nutjobs and their hate group supporters to shit on anything that supports women, minorities, or the LGBT community.

In addition to the booths from recognized anti-gay, anti-immigrant, anti-Islamic, and white supremacist organizations, Thursday's conference included a speech from the head of the NAACPC.  Yes.  There's and extra "C" there.  He said, "We have to eliminate the hyphens.  First and foremost, we are all Americans. We're not Indian Americans or African Americans or what have you."  Yeah.  It's because African-Americans are segregating themselves that we have such a problem in this country.  Not because of anti-minority organizations like the NAACPC.  Riiiiight.


So, as you could imagine, the folks in attendance yesterday loved Santorum.


I am going to post the video of his speech, in full.  I have to say, it took all I could muster to get through the 22 minutes of bullshit.  If you would rather skip it, here's an overview:

• Obama is a fascist dictator.
• Democrats are trying to shove birth control pills down our children's throats.
• Scientists made up the idea of climate change.
• Clean energy is a joke.
• Higher energy consumption equals better living.
• The government is not above god.
• "Obamacare" goes against freedom of religion.

AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!!!!


At about 16:25 in the clip, Santorum ironically says that he supports the "Conservative vision of "Bottom up"".  Probably not the best phrase to use when your name is floating around the internet as an alternate definition regarding anal sex.  He used the "bottom up" phrase at least four times by my count.  How embarrassing.


As least he's not pimping his handicapped kid onstage like Sarah Palin used to.  That was beyond desperate.

This Is How NOM Publishes A Baby Announcement

On September 30th, Jared Polis, a gay Congressman from Colorado, and his partner, Marlon Reis, announced the birth of their son, Caspian.  No information was disclosed as to the baby's mother, because, honestly, it's no one's business.  This was a notable birth announcement, in that Polis became the first openly gay parent in Congress.  The announcement from Polis and Reis read as follows:

"Marlon & Jared are proud to announce the arrival of Caspian Julius: 8 pounds 12 ounces, Born September 30th 2011

Baby and parents are doing well, baby has learned to cry already!

No gifts please, just nice thoughts for Caspian, humankind, the planet, and the universe!"

Many news websites and political blogs noted the birth.  All reported the news positively.  Many offered their congratulations and well wishes.  After all, how is the birth of a beautiful, healthy baby boy a negative thing in this world?

If you were to believe the news from the National Organization for Marriage, you would think that Caspian's birth was a harbinger of the end of the world.  This was their headline, announcing the baby's birth:

What a horrible way to spin the birth of a child.  This little boy is going to have two parents, in a secure, stable home, that love him.  And, simply because those parents are both male, NOM automatically considers him "at risk" or "disadvantaged".  This is nothing less than hate speech, and it was specifically targeted at Polis.

Rep. Polis is the co-sponsor of the Every Child Deserves A Family Act.  The act "bans discrimination in adoption or foster care placement based on the sexual orientation, marital status or gender identity of the potential parent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity of the child".

It's a wonder they didn't call little Caspian the Anti-Christ.

NOM Website Goes Gay Friendly...Accidentally

The Mormon backed National Organization for Marriage learned a valuable lesson:  When you are hot linking someone's cartoon onto a hate group's website, make sure they are ideologically in the same ballpark as you.

Yesterday morning, Zach Weiner posted the following cartoon for SMBC (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cartoon):

It was soon posted on NOM's main website.  When Mr. Weiner got wind that his cartoon was being used on a website for a hate group that tirelessly campaigns against gay rights, he replaced the image on his site.  NOM's website was showing the following for most of the day yesterday before it was noticed and changed:

Talk about embarrassing.  Oops.