i don't usually post political rants, but my former has written something for his local paper that bears reading:
"President George W. Bush has cemented his place in history by revealing the
true meaning behind his 2000 campaign promise to be a “compassionate
conservative.” First, the president led our country into a pre-emptive,
unprovoked attack on another sovereign nation. In the aftermath of that
misguided decision the White House has fallen back on a barrage of
misinformation to justify destroying one of America’s most enduring good
faith policies. That policy, of course, was our historical unwillingness to
enter into warfare without a documented, direct threat to our borders.
Unlike the imagined peril he used to justify war with Iraq, President Bush
introduced a real threat to American freedom on Tuesday, February 24. On
that day the president chose to undo over two hundred years of good faith
policy between the government of our nation and its own citizens when he
announced his support for an amendment to the Constitution that will forever
ban gay marriage. If such an amendment passes, for the first time since
their creation the Constitution and Bill of Rights will be used not to
enhance, but to restrict the rights of law-abiding Americans.
That the nation as a whole is not protesting this blatantly political,
theocratic, and immoral move is much more shocking to this citizen than
anything that is happening in San Francisco, New Mexico, or Chicago. The
leader of the free world is urging nothing less than this—that the most
sacred documents associated with our governance as a freedom loving nation
be amended to deliberately single out and discriminate against a group of
men and women whose only crime is a desire to form long term, loving
relationships through the institution of civil marriage.
For those who view gay marriage as a moral issue, I urge you to continue
your earnest prayers for the healing of America, a nation that once prided
itself on its inclusive nature. Pray especially for George Bush and his presidency.
May God help the foundational American ideal of freedom if our
commander-in-chief continues his unprovoked, open attack on the Bill of
Rights and other American constitutional values."
write him at tom57mac@hotmail.com
fat tuesday. i've never been to mardi gras. i've never been drunk on sloshy grasshoppers or watched someone strip at a street party or been blessed with a string of silver beads from some adoring stranger. when i was fifteen my parents took me to new orleans and i fell in love with the dusky corners of brennan's restaurant, the taste of jambalaya, the music of jazz vocalists trickling out of an open tavern, the headstones and statues in the old cemetaries, the lure of the french quarter, cafe du monde coffee, the slight drawl of a yarn spinning local. i remember my mother and father had a fight in the holiday inn where we were staying. i wanted to just wander awhile on my own. i wanted to leave the sullen room and just feel my heart against the brazen city's pulse. in my mind i am wandering there now. i am following the woman with the ochre turban and black tunic dress. i am inhaling figtree incense at her makeshift gypsy table. i am following her pointed fingernails as they trace the pattern of an ominous symbol. i am drinking a strong black tea. i am pondering the curve in a sidewalk, the bent railings of a decaying french quarter hotel, the sound of a low sweet saxophone. can you tell me how to go back there--to that in-between place between desire and knowing, to that buzzing adolescent pang, the hunger and naive wish for wandering, hunger for place, for not looking back, for simply spinning and disentangling into pure experience . .virginal, utterly present, waiting for impact, right there, right there.
