HillWilliam
09-30-2006, 01:23 PM
I'm still shaking my head in amazement from day-before-yesterday's passage of a bill that not only authorizes the use of torture, but abrogates over 200 years of settled Constitutional law.
Since this is my first real post here (and I'm finding my way around), I'll give you a little background about myself. I was raised a Democrat (still am!), sprung from nearly 400 years (or a few thousand I'm just now exploring) of NC genealogy. I'm a Progressive gay man with a loving husbear of almost 11 beautiful years. I am also a veteran from original NC families with a tradition of service to our country. My ancestors include NC Regulators, Revolutionary War patriots and generation upon generation of individuals who have given their all for love of this land and the nation built upon it. My roots to this land and the constitution that bind it into a nation run deep. My love for America, Americans and our system of checks, balances and laws runs equally deep. My belief in the Constitution and the need to protect its guarantees for all Americans are part of what make up my personal values. My granddaddy simply put it as "being fair". As people of faith, as GLBT people, and now as Americans, being fair is all we are asking and have a right to expect in return from our government.
This rootedness also gives me a comfortable relationship with G'd, welcoming Him into every aspect of my life as a guide and ultimate friend; a parent who loved me enough before I "was", to invent me and find a place for me in His tapestry. I'm humbled at the sacrifices my ancestors made to try to find a simple peace, and humbled at G'd's unending love for "even just me", one otherwise vanishingly-small bit of color in the fabric of the universe. If I pray or listen in private, deep inside me, He's the One who will always hear. Even just me, no matter where I am.
As a gay man of faith, I feel strongly that it's important for me to speak up for equality for all Americans. If we don't defend the Constitution, we'll have no basis in the future upon which to stake our claim of equality for ourselves as LGBT people.
That lead me to want to unburden a worry where there may be an ear. To make progress for everyone, Progressive people need to be and stay in contact with one another. I'm shouting out in every direction I can find.
My story: When I volunteered for the military some thirtyish years back, I promised with G'd's help to protect, uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Not coincidentally, people elected to serve in the halls of Congress make nearly exactly the same oath. The first item to which one pledges absolute loyalty and defense is to the Constitution.
Now, I'm not here to preach; I'm here to bare my heart and a concern that right now seems a burden. I think (would hope) that a person of any faith could identify with the spirit of what I'm about to say next: Because I gave my promise and asked G'd for His help to keep me true to that promise, I took it (and still do take it) very seriously. That promise was in honor of the men and women who sacrificed much (if not all) to create the United States and the Constitution that makes it the country that it is and could grow up to be even better.
Destroy the Constitution and destroy that which is in and of itself America. It's not a perfect document, nor was it ever posited as such. But it's an exemplary framework upon which to build; heretofore, the only framework we had upon which we had staked our hopes of equality.
These Congressionals, with their undying loyalty to the overthrow of the Constitution are the same "Got more Jesus than yew!" crowd who assaulted us with their Leviticus-ized version of cult-christianity from one end of the air-waves to the other one. My notion of faith and belief demands that I pray and worship quietly, as Jesus instructed (Mt 6 (http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Mat/Mat006.html#top)). That's just me, but I think a lot of folks here would see the Congressionals' great shows of piety, while possibly not inherently sinful, they are no doubt tacky. Just plainole tacky.
Then again, the Commander in Chief, the one who's solumnly-avowed job is first to protect, uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, says that it is "just a g.d. piece of paper". That offends me on several very personal levels, obviously.
If I can serve my Lord and my country in good faith, what's with him? What's with Congress? We made the same promises, supposedly to the same G'd. Did they not fear G'd's saddened disappointment? As a child who knows he's loved, I love my guiding Parent and would be saddened and humbled to let Him down, though I know I already have forgiveness. I'd prefer not to have to ask it.
By condoning torture and directly attacking basic American rights, they are demanding forgiveness up front, then going ahead and doing the wrong thing anyway. That is not the tradition in which I was raised, nor the one I follow now.
Some fine Christians these Congressionals are. I just can't imagine how they can claim to be such people of faith, yet do such appalling things. The shame they bring on themselves is the only thing I see trickling down to each and every one of us.
First they lied to the American people, promising that they will protect, uphold and defend the Constitution. Quite rightly, since each and every one of them took office, they have done nothing except attack and degrade the Constitution. That clearly and textbook-thoroughly defines them as traitors to the United States and the sworn enemy of anyone who did (and still does) promise to uphold the Constitution.
Why is it that they take the Lord's name in vain, wipe their bums with the Constitution, steal from the poor, make GLBT people the targets witch-hunts and hate-crimes, strive to remove or nullify hate crime laws, leave thousands of New Orleaneans to drown or starve, start an illegal war for Halliburton and other BushCo cronies to profit wildly, take medicine away from seniors, send civil rights back 900 years and they still remain in office??? How that can be, along with their cries of "more kreeshchyin than yew!!!" while spitting in G'd's face and the face of His children?
I honestly can't get my head around it all. The mix of emotions in me defies a name or a single way to deal with it.
My grief at this astounding turn of events has me numbed all over. How could they do this? How could they do this to their own neighbors, their constituents, the people who trusted them with the stewardship of our most important document? Then to trumpet their piety (Schiavo, anti-choice demonstrations) while invoking the name of the Deity they so profess to love? They indignify each and every one of us by torturing and denying basic rights to non-Americans and Americans alike.
Have Americans plain lost their minds? Do we not care about our country? Do we not care what happens in the life hereafter? How in the world could we possibly face our Creator after countenancing this abomination on earth? How do the rest of us fight back against a deluge of mis- and disinformation? How do those of us who prefer to live in peace and equal dignity expect to be able to do so again, hetero or LGBT?
"Shame" doesn't even begin to cover the depths of this depravity.
Or is it that we who differ with this culture of indignity are many and haven't quite yet found our voice? I feel several sorts of honest fears; fear of retribution, by someone on the street or equally from the government; fear of not doing something, because I as a gay man am now also a fair-game target -- if I don't speak out, who behind me will also fall, who will I let down? How would I disappoint G'd by my inaction?
Each and every American owes their freedom and rights to the Constitution, not to a political party gone amok, for certain. Yet, these self-proclaimed Christians happily roll all over the ones who the Jesus they so loudly claim to love, charged us to protect and care for. The vileness and duplicity are appalling. It started with the first lie, compounding it with breaking a promise they called upon G'd to help them uphold.
Military service is an offering of thanks to the Founders and Framers. I offered my service voluntarily, as a thank-you to my ancestors and the civil rights activists who actively participated in the building of this nation. I've read some of the stories about what one particular grandpa went through and those of his son-in-law went through. Mostly they just wanted to be left the heck alone, scratch out a little living and be at peace with their neighbors.
I think LGBT folks can certainly identify with the latter. Seems to me that the Red Letters are about how to do exactly that. Apparently, Congress missed the month of Sunday schools when the Gospels were covered. There's nothing about torturing people being an acceptable Christian behavior anywhere in them.
Equally, accepting an elected office should be a service to the Constitution (they swear to uphold it, do they not?) and to the people of this nation. Instead, the GOP Congress have used the national treasury as their personal piggybank, slurping up the bounty of K street, and worse, have actively attacked the very document that makes America "America".
Then, they lied to G'd, thinking no more of placing their hand on the Bible and asking G'd's help to keep a promise to their country than wiping their backsides with the Bible and the Constitution alike. For using G'd's name to lie in that fashion and to attack the Constitution, I'm pretty sure G'd will be rightly upset. No matter which G'd you believe in, that's pretty much an accepted standard, that intentional defiance is usually followed up with some pretty hefty wrath. Just sayin'.
For now, He's going to have to wait. We're right here, right now and have a moral duty to begin actively recalling, impeaching and removing these traitors from office. It is the duty of each and every American to ensure that elected officials do not besmirch our trust and the stewardship of the Constitution. Me, I don't know much about fighting, but I do know how to be a rock in their road.
If you don't think it's important, just keep in the back of your mind that not only can a shadow government spy on you at will (and already have -- YES, they've spied on YOU), now they can detain you indefinitely without charge or reason, simply because the President (or anyone at all -- no burden of proof required) may arbitrarily decide that you're an enemy of the state. Because of that set of laws passed Thursday, all the rules that we played by for 200+ years just went out the window.
Yes, it can happen to you. It has already happened to innocent Americans. I was writing several years ago that first they would come for LGBT people, then non-whites, then immigrants, then all of us would lose our rights. It's not that it "could" happen. It is that it "finally did" happen.
Now, just because a few sick, demented traitors have decided that even though we know that torture doesn't produce reliable results, it's still just so much fun and entertainment to inflict pain and humiliation on fellow human beings. They're willing to bring back Torquemada and Hitler as worshipped icons. Understand well that this means that at any second, YOU can be deemed a terrorist, with no proof and no burden of proof, you can be thrown into a black-site prison and tortured. Doesn't matter who you are, now. We already know that GLBT activists (http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories06/july/0714062.htm), Quakers (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.progressivesociety.com%2Fblog %2F%3Fpostid%3D398&ei=H6UeRZLeA5ywaJrL3PYJ&sig=__l3QZVn23b31pw1D7Pxxv7s5k84w=&sig2=bGsZ3ftWf0ANP1vL6nR-Xw) and grandmas' sewing circles have already been deemed "potential terrorists".
Congress didn't stop there -- rather, they have expanded the enemies list to include all Americans except the ones GW's signing statements are made to immunize.
You will have no right to recourse, to right to redress, no right to counsel because the Republican Congress, who hold themselves above American law and tradition have arbitrarily removed those rights.
I have worked beside some interrogators. They are amazing adept at the psychology of asking the right questions to piece together the real story. They're not stupid people and don't need to employ stupid tactics. I've known guys who could have a minute's conversation with you and know you whole story. All of it. It's exceedingly difficult for someone to lie to them. Torture induces people to say anything to make the pain and humiliation stop, thereby producing unreliable intelligence. It's common sense to want the most reliable information one could possibly get, instead of coerced or heresay testimony for kangaroo-court show-trials while ignoring, oh, I don't know, say, "bin Ladin Determined to Attack the US".
Moreover, the Constitution holds that treaties with foreign nations (the Geneva Convention being just one) are the highest law of the land. That means, in all cases, those treaties should be the first consideration in lawcraft, not the abrogation of such treaties. Congress has once again traiterously turned its back on the Constitution for political expediency. To add torture to the mix of sins they're only too gleeful to commit in our name only weighs down their immortal souls further into the fires of hell. Or something nasty; pick your religion, pick the retribution. The end result, I believe, will be the same for them.
How anyone can believe that this is okay, that this is an acceptably American stance is no American at all. Any self-proclaimed Christian who believes that Jesus would condone the actions of this Congress are in any way justifiable, a Congress which has done everything in its power to steal from the poor and ply the most extremely wealthy, a Congress which has voted to codify and implement torture, is no Christian of any kind at all. I can't find a way to reconcile it either in the Gospels or in myself.
They've turned their backs on all the world's poor and disenfranchised. Now they've demonstrated that they have turned their backs on all of us together.
To the more-Christian-than-thou GOP Congress, I would like to point out that
Jesus was very, very clear about the proper treatment of the poor, the different and the disadvantaged. The Gospel of Matthew has many teachings and admonishments on this very issue.
Thanks, if you've made it this far. I hope we keep the our nation alive. Writing and posting helps catharsize the fear, get my nerve back and to go on being "the help that's on the way". To defend the rights of GLBT people, we must defend the rights of all.
Peace.
Since this is my first real post here (and I'm finding my way around), I'll give you a little background about myself. I was raised a Democrat (still am!), sprung from nearly 400 years (or a few thousand I'm just now exploring) of NC genealogy. I'm a Progressive gay man with a loving husbear of almost 11 beautiful years. I am also a veteran from original NC families with a tradition of service to our country. My ancestors include NC Regulators, Revolutionary War patriots and generation upon generation of individuals who have given their all for love of this land and the nation built upon it. My roots to this land and the constitution that bind it into a nation run deep. My love for America, Americans and our system of checks, balances and laws runs equally deep. My belief in the Constitution and the need to protect its guarantees for all Americans are part of what make up my personal values. My granddaddy simply put it as "being fair". As people of faith, as GLBT people, and now as Americans, being fair is all we are asking and have a right to expect in return from our government.
This rootedness also gives me a comfortable relationship with G'd, welcoming Him into every aspect of my life as a guide and ultimate friend; a parent who loved me enough before I "was", to invent me and find a place for me in His tapestry. I'm humbled at the sacrifices my ancestors made to try to find a simple peace, and humbled at G'd's unending love for "even just me", one otherwise vanishingly-small bit of color in the fabric of the universe. If I pray or listen in private, deep inside me, He's the One who will always hear. Even just me, no matter where I am.
As a gay man of faith, I feel strongly that it's important for me to speak up for equality for all Americans. If we don't defend the Constitution, we'll have no basis in the future upon which to stake our claim of equality for ourselves as LGBT people.
That lead me to want to unburden a worry where there may be an ear. To make progress for everyone, Progressive people need to be and stay in contact with one another. I'm shouting out in every direction I can find.
My story: When I volunteered for the military some thirtyish years back, I promised with G'd's help to protect, uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Not coincidentally, people elected to serve in the halls of Congress make nearly exactly the same oath. The first item to which one pledges absolute loyalty and defense is to the Constitution.
Now, I'm not here to preach; I'm here to bare my heart and a concern that right now seems a burden. I think (would hope) that a person of any faith could identify with the spirit of what I'm about to say next: Because I gave my promise and asked G'd for His help to keep me true to that promise, I took it (and still do take it) very seriously. That promise was in honor of the men and women who sacrificed much (if not all) to create the United States and the Constitution that makes it the country that it is and could grow up to be even better.
Destroy the Constitution and destroy that which is in and of itself America. It's not a perfect document, nor was it ever posited as such. But it's an exemplary framework upon which to build; heretofore, the only framework we had upon which we had staked our hopes of equality.
These Congressionals, with their undying loyalty to the overthrow of the Constitution are the same "Got more Jesus than yew!" crowd who assaulted us with their Leviticus-ized version of cult-christianity from one end of the air-waves to the other one. My notion of faith and belief demands that I pray and worship quietly, as Jesus instructed (Mt 6 (http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Mat/Mat006.html#top)). That's just me, but I think a lot of folks here would see the Congressionals' great shows of piety, while possibly not inherently sinful, they are no doubt tacky. Just plainole tacky.
Then again, the Commander in Chief, the one who's solumnly-avowed job is first to protect, uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, says that it is "just a g.d. piece of paper". That offends me on several very personal levels, obviously.
If I can serve my Lord and my country in good faith, what's with him? What's with Congress? We made the same promises, supposedly to the same G'd. Did they not fear G'd's saddened disappointment? As a child who knows he's loved, I love my guiding Parent and would be saddened and humbled to let Him down, though I know I already have forgiveness. I'd prefer not to have to ask it.
By condoning torture and directly attacking basic American rights, they are demanding forgiveness up front, then going ahead and doing the wrong thing anyway. That is not the tradition in which I was raised, nor the one I follow now.
Some fine Christians these Congressionals are. I just can't imagine how they can claim to be such people of faith, yet do such appalling things. The shame they bring on themselves is the only thing I see trickling down to each and every one of us.
First they lied to the American people, promising that they will protect, uphold and defend the Constitution. Quite rightly, since each and every one of them took office, they have done nothing except attack and degrade the Constitution. That clearly and textbook-thoroughly defines them as traitors to the United States and the sworn enemy of anyone who did (and still does) promise to uphold the Constitution.
Why is it that they take the Lord's name in vain, wipe their bums with the Constitution, steal from the poor, make GLBT people the targets witch-hunts and hate-crimes, strive to remove or nullify hate crime laws, leave thousands of New Orleaneans to drown or starve, start an illegal war for Halliburton and other BushCo cronies to profit wildly, take medicine away from seniors, send civil rights back 900 years and they still remain in office??? How that can be, along with their cries of "more kreeshchyin than yew!!!" while spitting in G'd's face and the face of His children?
I honestly can't get my head around it all. The mix of emotions in me defies a name or a single way to deal with it.
My grief at this astounding turn of events has me numbed all over. How could they do this? How could they do this to their own neighbors, their constituents, the people who trusted them with the stewardship of our most important document? Then to trumpet their piety (Schiavo, anti-choice demonstrations) while invoking the name of the Deity they so profess to love? They indignify each and every one of us by torturing and denying basic rights to non-Americans and Americans alike.
Have Americans plain lost their minds? Do we not care about our country? Do we not care what happens in the life hereafter? How in the world could we possibly face our Creator after countenancing this abomination on earth? How do the rest of us fight back against a deluge of mis- and disinformation? How do those of us who prefer to live in peace and equal dignity expect to be able to do so again, hetero or LGBT?
"Shame" doesn't even begin to cover the depths of this depravity.
Or is it that we who differ with this culture of indignity are many and haven't quite yet found our voice? I feel several sorts of honest fears; fear of retribution, by someone on the street or equally from the government; fear of not doing something, because I as a gay man am now also a fair-game target -- if I don't speak out, who behind me will also fall, who will I let down? How would I disappoint G'd by my inaction?
Each and every American owes their freedom and rights to the Constitution, not to a political party gone amok, for certain. Yet, these self-proclaimed Christians happily roll all over the ones who the Jesus they so loudly claim to love, charged us to protect and care for. The vileness and duplicity are appalling. It started with the first lie, compounding it with breaking a promise they called upon G'd to help them uphold.
Military service is an offering of thanks to the Founders and Framers. I offered my service voluntarily, as a thank-you to my ancestors and the civil rights activists who actively participated in the building of this nation. I've read some of the stories about what one particular grandpa went through and those of his son-in-law went through. Mostly they just wanted to be left the heck alone, scratch out a little living and be at peace with their neighbors.
I think LGBT folks can certainly identify with the latter. Seems to me that the Red Letters are about how to do exactly that. Apparently, Congress missed the month of Sunday schools when the Gospels were covered. There's nothing about torturing people being an acceptable Christian behavior anywhere in them.
Equally, accepting an elected office should be a service to the Constitution (they swear to uphold it, do they not?) and to the people of this nation. Instead, the GOP Congress have used the national treasury as their personal piggybank, slurping up the bounty of K street, and worse, have actively attacked the very document that makes America "America".
Then, they lied to G'd, thinking no more of placing their hand on the Bible and asking G'd's help to keep a promise to their country than wiping their backsides with the Bible and the Constitution alike. For using G'd's name to lie in that fashion and to attack the Constitution, I'm pretty sure G'd will be rightly upset. No matter which G'd you believe in, that's pretty much an accepted standard, that intentional defiance is usually followed up with some pretty hefty wrath. Just sayin'.
For now, He's going to have to wait. We're right here, right now and have a moral duty to begin actively recalling, impeaching and removing these traitors from office. It is the duty of each and every American to ensure that elected officials do not besmirch our trust and the stewardship of the Constitution. Me, I don't know much about fighting, but I do know how to be a rock in their road.
If you don't think it's important, just keep in the back of your mind that not only can a shadow government spy on you at will (and already have -- YES, they've spied on YOU), now they can detain you indefinitely without charge or reason, simply because the President (or anyone at all -- no burden of proof required) may arbitrarily decide that you're an enemy of the state. Because of that set of laws passed Thursday, all the rules that we played by for 200+ years just went out the window.
Yes, it can happen to you. It has already happened to innocent Americans. I was writing several years ago that first they would come for LGBT people, then non-whites, then immigrants, then all of us would lose our rights. It's not that it "could" happen. It is that it "finally did" happen.
Now, just because a few sick, demented traitors have decided that even though we know that torture doesn't produce reliable results, it's still just so much fun and entertainment to inflict pain and humiliation on fellow human beings. They're willing to bring back Torquemada and Hitler as worshipped icons. Understand well that this means that at any second, YOU can be deemed a terrorist, with no proof and no burden of proof, you can be thrown into a black-site prison and tortured. Doesn't matter who you are, now. We already know that GLBT activists (http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories06/july/0714062.htm), Quakers (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.progressivesociety.com%2Fblog %2F%3Fpostid%3D398&ei=H6UeRZLeA5ywaJrL3PYJ&sig=__l3QZVn23b31pw1D7Pxxv7s5k84w=&sig2=bGsZ3ftWf0ANP1vL6nR-Xw) and grandmas' sewing circles have already been deemed "potential terrorists".
Congress didn't stop there -- rather, they have expanded the enemies list to include all Americans except the ones GW's signing statements are made to immunize.
You will have no right to recourse, to right to redress, no right to counsel because the Republican Congress, who hold themselves above American law and tradition have arbitrarily removed those rights.
I have worked beside some interrogators. They are amazing adept at the psychology of asking the right questions to piece together the real story. They're not stupid people and don't need to employ stupid tactics. I've known guys who could have a minute's conversation with you and know you whole story. All of it. It's exceedingly difficult for someone to lie to them. Torture induces people to say anything to make the pain and humiliation stop, thereby producing unreliable intelligence. It's common sense to want the most reliable information one could possibly get, instead of coerced or heresay testimony for kangaroo-court show-trials while ignoring, oh, I don't know, say, "bin Ladin Determined to Attack the US".
Moreover, the Constitution holds that treaties with foreign nations (the Geneva Convention being just one) are the highest law of the land. That means, in all cases, those treaties should be the first consideration in lawcraft, not the abrogation of such treaties. Congress has once again traiterously turned its back on the Constitution for political expediency. To add torture to the mix of sins they're only too gleeful to commit in our name only weighs down their immortal souls further into the fires of hell. Or something nasty; pick your religion, pick the retribution. The end result, I believe, will be the same for them.
How anyone can believe that this is okay, that this is an acceptably American stance is no American at all. Any self-proclaimed Christian who believes that Jesus would condone the actions of this Congress are in any way justifiable, a Congress which has done everything in its power to steal from the poor and ply the most extremely wealthy, a Congress which has voted to codify and implement torture, is no Christian of any kind at all. I can't find a way to reconcile it either in the Gospels or in myself.
They've turned their backs on all the world's poor and disenfranchised. Now they've demonstrated that they have turned their backs on all of us together.
To the more-Christian-than-thou GOP Congress, I would like to point out that
Jesus was very, very clear about the proper treatment of the poor, the different and the disadvantaged. The Gospel of Matthew has many teachings and admonishments on this very issue.
Thanks, if you've made it this far. I hope we keep the our nation alive. Writing and posting helps catharsize the fear, get my nerve back and to go on being "the help that's on the way". To defend the rights of GLBT people, we must defend the rights of all.
Peace.