Sunday, June 14, 2009
DC Gay Pride Weekend and Related World Events
This weekend Washington, DC had its Gay Pride Parade and Festival. While having dinner at the Italian Kitchen, a group of friends and I were able to have dinner and drinks and watch the festivities go by on Saturday evening.
The parade was quite amusing and one of the longest to date, with several floats, including one from Southwest Airlines. Perhaps the thinking is that those with no children or fewer are more likely to travel these days.
One interesting reaction did seem to arouse a great deal of talk at the dining table. That is, after DC Mayor Fenty, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Arlington County Board Member Jay Fisette, a group of folks with Obama signs went by but some in the crowd booed them. The consensus from the dining table was such that the Gay electorate are a bit turned off (to put it mildly) at the lack of support from President Obama's administration for GLBT rights, starting with the recent confirmation of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy in the military.
Yet Steven Colbert was able to have a debate with himself on the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy as part of this show in Iraq, with the military as his audience. What gives?
How is it that with Congress under control by the Democrats, along with a Democratic president, Congress is not doing more to promote the rights of suppressed individuals in this country? Is that gays are already losing patience with President Obama who has had his hands full before he even entered the White House? Or is that President Obama has not kept his word on a variety of issues? Or is President Obama afraid to touch the GLBT issue?
Does the GLBT community need to rise up and make themselves heard? Or remind elected officials of the impact their support had on the elections across the nation?
Yes, there were also marchers promoting civil rights, which since the ruling in Iowa allowing same-sex marriages, of all places, begs the question of when will the California cases reach the higher courts?
When one adds up all the right-wing abusive rhetoric of late unleashed at Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the recent murder of the doctor in Kansas because he performed abortions, and the attack at the DC Holocaust Memorial Museum, one has to speak up against the vileness that Rush Laumbaugh and gang spew each day on the airwaves and on Fox TV News. This is why the GLBT community and the countless others who voted for President Obama and the numerous Democrats who won in the 2008 November election are asking: Why isn't Congress doing something to show their muscle and commitment to civil rights?
Is it possible that the Democratic Congress is afraid of the Republicans?
Thank God for Rachel Maddow Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Both Olbermann and Maddow are my heroes because they spoke up against the stupidity of the Bush administration and the vileness of the Cheney-mindset.
And by the way, how is that Elizabeth Cheney knows what is in the top-secret memos that one needs a clearance to read? Did former Vice-President Cheney tell his daughter? If so, isn't that a crime?
We wait and see what is going to happen in Iran. Odd how the world is waiting when in 2000 we in the USA also waited until the Supreme Court handed Bush the presidency. No one is perfect, but the hypocrisy in this country and others, is enough to make one ill.
In the meantime, we also wait to see what will transpire in North Korea. God help us because we might be waiting for a very rough time. Could the Maya who predicted the end in 2012 possible be on target? I certainly hope not.
The parade was quite amusing and one of the longest to date, with several floats, including one from Southwest Airlines. Perhaps the thinking is that those with no children or fewer are more likely to travel these days.
One interesting reaction did seem to arouse a great deal of talk at the dining table. That is, after DC Mayor Fenty, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Arlington County Board Member Jay Fisette, a group of folks with Obama signs went by but some in the crowd booed them. The consensus from the dining table was such that the Gay electorate are a bit turned off (to put it mildly) at the lack of support from President Obama's administration for GLBT rights, starting with the recent confirmation of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy in the military.
Yet Steven Colbert was able to have a debate with himself on the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy as part of this show in Iraq, with the military as his audience. What gives?
How is it that with Congress under control by the Democrats, along with a Democratic president, Congress is not doing more to promote the rights of suppressed individuals in this country? Is that gays are already losing patience with President Obama who has had his hands full before he even entered the White House? Or is that President Obama has not kept his word on a variety of issues? Or is President Obama afraid to touch the GLBT issue?
Does the GLBT community need to rise up and make themselves heard? Or remind elected officials of the impact their support had on the elections across the nation?
Yes, there were also marchers promoting civil rights, which since the ruling in Iowa allowing same-sex marriages, of all places, begs the question of when will the California cases reach the higher courts?
When one adds up all the right-wing abusive rhetoric of late unleashed at Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the recent murder of the doctor in Kansas because he performed abortions, and the attack at the DC Holocaust Memorial Museum, one has to speak up against the vileness that Rush Laumbaugh and gang spew each day on the airwaves and on Fox TV News. This is why the GLBT community and the countless others who voted for President Obama and the numerous Democrats who won in the 2008 November election are asking: Why isn't Congress doing something to show their muscle and commitment to civil rights?
Is it possible that the Democratic Congress is afraid of the Republicans?
Thank God for Rachel Maddow Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Both Olbermann and Maddow are my heroes because they spoke up against the stupidity of the Bush administration and the vileness of the Cheney-mindset.
And by the way, how is that Elizabeth Cheney knows what is in the top-secret memos that one needs a clearance to read? Did former Vice-President Cheney tell his daughter? If so, isn't that a crime?
We wait and see what is going to happen in Iran. Odd how the world is waiting when in 2000 we in the USA also waited until the Supreme Court handed Bush the presidency. No one is perfect, but the hypocrisy in this country and others, is enough to make one ill.
In the meantime, we also wait to see what will transpire in North Korea. God help us because we might be waiting for a very rough time. Could the Maya who predicted the end in 2012 possible be on target? I certainly hope not.
