So now you want me to pray for the president?

 

A few months ago, I wouldn't have wished Covid-19 on a single soul. But if anyone deserves to be stricken by the virus he so callously blew off, it's Donald Trump.

 

 

Note to readers: this essay contains some words that you might think should be capitalized but are not. Let me assure you that I have not lost my ability to write correctly. I have intentionally made some ordinarily capitalized letters lower case so that I don't appear to have more respect for some entities and individuals than I do. I have no excuse for run-on sentences, however.

 

So:

 

DT and the republicans celebrate the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg and openly defile this time of mourning by rushing through the appointment and confirmation of an underqualified religious extremist to the supreme court who clearly does not have the Constitution in mind when she makes rulings.

 

DT and the republicans have not shown the slightest concern over more than 200,000 U.S. citizens dead of a disease they have allowed to fester completely out of control.

 

DT and the republicans don't have even the tiniest bit of compassion for innocent citizens marching in the streets to help right terrible wrongs who are attacked, permanently maimed, and often killed by police and federal troops.

 

DT and the republicans are gleeful that they may finally succeed in totally squashing the Affordable Care Act, leaving millions without health care and vulnerable to a lifetime of bankruptcy if they become sick.

 

I could give you many more examples citing DT's and the republicans' lack of empathy and care, blatant and unhidden.

 

But let me get this straight.

 

YOU WANT ME TO PRAY FOR THE PRESIDENT AND HAVE COMPASSION FOR HIM DESPITE OUR "DIFFERENCES?"

 

DT and the republicans actively and openly persecute all LGBTQ+ communities (which includes me) not to mention people who aren't white, or christian, or rich. In fact, they would prefer it if we would just die.

 

So excuse me if I don't say a prayer for the president. He has basically declared war on me and all I hold dear. Congrats to those who are better Christians than I am. But I've spent my entire life trying to love and educate and be patient with people who would rather I be dead.

 

I'm done.

 

A few months ago, I wouldn't have wished Covid 19 on a single soul. But if anyone deserves to be stricken by the virus he so callously blew off, it's Donald Trump.

 

If the president drops dead, I won't be bothered by the loss. My only worry will be defending myself and my country from republicans, christian extremists, and white nationalists who will remain long after the dictator is rotting in his grave.

 

2020 - Can it Possibly Get Worse?

"I've spent every day since 2016 thinking that things couldn't possibly get worse. But every day, I am proven wrong."

Two days before a sudden and extreme snowstorm, on a 98-degree day, ash is falling from the sky like snow. I can catch it in my hands as it falls outside my house in Capitol Hill. We are living in a climate emergency.

My friend's Facebook post distracts me from the sadness I feel after reading a New York Times article about racism in one of my former hometowns, Omaha. This is against a backdrop of my constant anxiety about the coming presidential and legislative elections. To take my mind off these dispiriting events, I try to focus on something else. 

Oh yes, Covid-19 continues unabated. 

This pandemic, which was unimaginable a year ago, has raged around the world for six months. It is unchecked in the United States, killing more Americans in one week than died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Unlike 9/11, however, there is no united effort to respond to Covid-19, or even to acknowledge its seriousness. Instead of focusing on sound public health policies and procedures, we are treated to a daily barrage of conflicting information, much of it propaganda calibrated to affect the outcome of the election. 

The truth doesn't seem to matter to Americans. The White House certainly has no interest in actual facts. The powers behind the politicians (you don't think Donald Trump is smart enough to pull this off by himself, do you?) would rather exploit the ignorance and stupidity of half the population and stoke fear and paranoia in the other half. This creates an atmosphere of confusion and crisis which distracts us from their dastardly agendas to consolidate wealth among the richest.

Trying to make a positive contribution, I spent the summer co-facilitating a course designed largely for white people to educate other white people about racism. One presumption is that people of color are tired of trying to alert us to the consequences of centuries of slavery and ethnic cleansing which are the basis of our American way of life. Another presumption is that white people are more likely to listen to other white people when challenged to examine their complicity in racism and their resulting privilege. One goal of the course is to replace white fragility (our automatic tendency to avoid the topic of race and to get defensive by saying things like, "I'm not racist - I have black friends," which only serves to shut the conversation down) with the ability to actively participate in anti-racism as valuable allies.

As I studied the curriculum by reading countless books and articles, and watching many videos, my eyes popped open to the continuing reinforcement of ideas and institutions designed to keep oppressed people (especially blacks) poor and disenfranchised. 

I always knew that many Americans are racist and that there was such a thing as institutional racism. But I never understood the insidiousness of racism or the ways I and other white people (even we good, liberal ones) personally benefit from it. I also learned how there is a direct line from slavery to our current judicial system which intentionally, legally, and systematically oppresses people of African descent. The most visible, but far from only, example of this is the way we police, which is basically designed to to keep order so that the status quo can be maintained. I could go on and on, but there is plenty of material about this already. I recommend starting with the book, Waking Up White by Debby Irving, and the movie, 13th, which is available on Netflix. 

As if worrying about the election and systemic racism while mostly unable to leave home because of pandemic lock-down aren't enough, there has been smoke in the air for several weeks. It smells like a campfire when we open the windows. 

While California garners most of the national attention, many other western states also suffer the effects of devastating wildfire. This year's Pine Gulch fire near Grand Junction, one of many in Colorado, is the biggest in state history, incinerating more than 139,000 acres. Erosion and flash flooding always follow these fires which also threaten human homes, drive wildlife into less friendly habitats such as suburbs and freeways, and generally scar the beautiful mountains for which we are known. 

These enormous fires are not the natural, cleansing fires that have occurred since prehistoric times. They are instead a result of misguided land management which for at least a century, suppressed all fires, resulting in a buildup of ground vegetation and debris which ignite into today's hellscapes. These fires pollute the air we breathe from the Pacific to the Mississippi. And this doesn't include other fires burning around the world from the Siberia to Brazil, contributing as much as 10 percent of annual carbon emissions worldwide. My friend is not exaggerating when she says that ash is falling from the sky in the middle of Denver.

The fires, of course, are only one manifestation of the greatest and most ignored problem our world has ever faced: climate change. No matter how the 2020 election comes out, global warming is happening right in front of us. You can see it not only in the size and intensity of fires, but the increasing frequency and strength of storms, floods, drought, and other record breaking weather phenomenon. While Colorado has always had erratic weather, this week's sudden slide from record heat (101 degrees F a couple of days ago) to winter storm is not normal, especially in early September.

Which brings me back to our national government which is completely indifferent to the climate crisis, preferring instead to, well, just go back to earlier paragraphs.

I've spent every day since 2016 thinking that things couldn't possibly get worse. But every day, I am proven wrong. Is there anything left to think about? Something that might sooth and rest my weary soul? Probably, but that's another subject for another post.

Once Venerated U.S.A. Plummets into Disgrace

If any day stirs patriotism in the American heart, it’s the Fourth of July. But I won’t be celebrating this year. The thought of waving a flag and declaring that we are the greatest country in the world is laughable.

 

Citizens protest racial injustice in record numbers, disrupting complacency in hundreds of cities and towns across all 50 states. And yet, the inept, immoral president (lower case intended) doubles down on the militarized policing that ignited the protests to begin with. Federal troupes menace fellow citizens as they exercise their American rights to free speech and assembly.

 

Our country should be an example of harmonious diversity to which all others aspire. Instead, multitudes from Berlin to Melbourne take to the streets protesting American racism.

 

Covid-19 runs more rampant here than in any other country. Places identified as shit holes by the same racist president manage the pandemic better.

 

Americans are banned from Europe, parts of Asia, and even Canada because we have failed so badly to combat the virus within our borders.

 

In the midst of this global pandemic, the president, desperately trying to focus the blame somewhere else, carelessly pulls our membership from the World Health Organization.

 

The U.S. should lead the world in fighting disease. Our wealth should create vaccines that we generously share with others.

 

Instead, dimwitted throngs march on state capitals to battle for the fabricated right to not wear disease preventing masks. They do so with blatant disregard for scientific facts and no concern for the public good.

 

I once thought that greed and corruption, persistent evils in the best of countries, could be kept at bay by the determination to live out our ideals. The arc of the moral universe, said the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., would bend towards justice. In spite of occasional backsliding, we were ultimately destined to be the great country we imagined.

 

But evil and corruption have escalated to unprecedented levels. Checks and balances to keep them at bay have been defused.

 

The corrupt elite instigate chaos to distract us from their antics. As a result, we ignore serious threats like climate catastrophe.

 

The criminals running this country are only interested in preserving their own power and wealth. Even the most basic American values don’t interest them. They blithely encourage unthinkable evils such as white supremacy to achieve their goals.

 

And yet.

 

We might have a chance to set things right. In November, we could send a message that corruption will no longer be tolerated. It won’t be easy, however. We must overcome Republican instigated systemic voter suppression, the influence of nefarious countries that manipulate our elections, and the apathy of millions who have not voted in the past.

 

Our reward could be a new United States, a country of which we are truly proud. We could become not the world’s savior, but a responsible citizen nation among others.

 

Cooped Up by Covid

Our dumbass in chief, who has always been inept, has outdone himself with daily proclamations of bellowing ignorance.

Except for rare trips to the supermarket and brief walks outside I haven’t left the house for two weeks. We are compelled now by government edict to practice “social distancing” in order to slow the wave of the novel coronavirus. 

The U.S. now tops the number of infected in the world, if you trust the numbers, which I don’t. Thanks to the woefully inadequate response of our federal government, far fewer people in the U.S. have even been tested, so the numbers are probably much higher. 

As always in healthcare, we are less prepared and our poor are worse off than any other developed country in the world – to say nothing of our overworked and under-protected medical professionals who have to beg the public to help them get safety masks and gowns. 

Our dumbass in chief, who has always been inept, has outdone himself with daily proclamations of bellowing ignorance. His stupidity is surpassed only by the 47 percent of Americans who continue to rate his performance positively. 

While Washington DC has provided less than inspiring leadership, we in Colorado are somewhat better off because our state leaders, Governor Polis leading the way, are taking a serious, scientific approach to the crisis. Republicans, typically, are critical of Polis’s strict orders to stay at home, but it’s so much better than some states (North Carolina and others with higher infection rates of destructive Trumpism) where governors refuse to take action. 

Clyde and I are very fortunate, so far, to be disease free (at least Covid-19 free – we still have our regular repertoire of health issues). We have plenty to eat. Charles the cat is just as sweet as ever. As the meme says, we are called to sacrifice by sitting at home and watching TV – we got this. 

We are still working, albeit at home because our offices are restricted to all but “essential” personnel. In fact, I’ve been as busy as ever coming up with creative ways to teach people through the magic of technology. I meet just as often with my colleagues in Montreal and Phoenix. The conference calls with people in the UK and other non-North American locations have slowed because the Diversity and Inclusion initiative which I’ve been honored to help with has been temporarily shelved. 

Of course all of that changes if one of us gets sick. The virus, for us, is still something only in the news. To my knowledge, it hasn’t afflicted anyone we personally know. That’s bound to change as the peak may still be weeks away. 

For now, I have to admit that I am enjoying the quieter, calmer life of staying home. I like not risking my life twice a day fighting traffic on I-25. I like not planning my day around where I have to be hour by hour. I enjoy communicating with people electronically from the comfort of my sofa. 

Clyde’s and my church attendance has actually improved because St. Andrew’s services such as the Thursday night Evensong and Sunday morning prayer (no eucharist until we can be all together in person) are broadcast over the web. Even church committees continue to meet through the miracle of Zoom. 

I don’t want to make light of the suffering which Covid-19 has inflicted, but I love the fact that air pollution levels are down. Dolphins are swimming in the waterways of Venice for the first time in centuries. Mountain lions are exploring the streets of Boulder because there are so few humans outside. 

We’ll see how many more weeks I can stay content. If we’re lucky, the worst that will happen is that we start climbing the walls with boredom before this situation abates and we can return to some version of normal.

Settling in for a Long Pandemic

Don't tell anyone, but we have several rolls of toilet paper in the closet. 

Greetings from the little house on Forest Street where I'm pounding away at my computer, work tasks serving as a rare link to normality. Well, it's also normal that Charles, our cat, is snoozing on the sofa. He just made the big move from the open window to the spot where Clyde usually sits.

In the other room, a small stockpile of groceries is stacked on the floor. Clyde says that's our emergency stash and I'm not allowed to touch it yet. There are hand sanitizer bottles on the dining room table. In spite of our intention to go on a "news diet" to lower stress, the television blares the latest infection figures in the background. It also reminds us that drinking bleach is not a good treatment for what ales you.

Don't tell anyone, but we have several rolls of toilet paper in the closet. Fortunately, we don't have to decide whether to fight little old ladies in the aisle at the supermarket for the last one. That seems to be what people do these days.

Assuming they're still open, we plan to order dinner from our local Chinese takeout. Reports on Next Door indicate that the old couple who owns the place are not busy these days, thanks to the ignorant stupidity of disloyal customers who are avoiding anything Chinese, lest they catch the virus. All of the sit down restaurants in Denver are closing tomorrow for the duration. It's takeout or nothing now.

Even Starbucks is switching to drive through only service. Where are hipsters going to sit and look at their laptops now? Is this the end of civilization as we know it?

Today I watched President Macron of France address his people. He was compassionate, solemn, and factual. Then I watched President Dumbass here at home. He clearly doesn't understand anything. His grasp of facts is so totally lacking that if we relied on him for information, we wouldn't have any. 

President Macron compared this to a time of war and said that we have to pull together while staying apart, the sacrifice necessary for the good of all. I have never been in a war, but it's a sobering thing to contemplate. In case you were wondering, President Dumbass did not offer any words of wisdom. The smartest thing he did was step aside so Anthony Fauci could clarify some misinformation that the Donald hath spewed.

We have technology to keep in touch, thank goodness, so isolation can be somewhat mitigated. We also have unprecedented home entertainment options. I don't know what people did in the last world-wide pandemic without Netflix. I suppose they read the Bible and contemplated what humanity had done to earn such wrath that God had set upon the world.

In our relatively stable country, we aren't used to this kind of uncertainty. But I think compared to bombs going off around us and tanks in the streets, we're still pretty well off. And as far as I know, for the moment, I can still get chicken fried rice from the Chinese take out.

Stay healthy everyone!

The Year-Dometer Is Turning Over

As the year-dometer turns over to a new decade, it seems only appropriate that we reflect on the decade past and ...

Before I go on, I want to address those of you who are upset with me because the new decade doesn't start until 2021 and I obviously don't understand basic numbers. Yes, I'm aware that there was no "year zero" and that we start counting everything with the number one. But I'm not a math fundamentalist. I think that, for example, it's symbolically more meaningful when your car odometer turns over to 100,000 miles than 100,001. So try not to get too riled up and let's get on with it.

Unfortunately, I'm at an age where the last 10 years are indistinguishable from the 10 before that. Wasn't the turn of the century just 10 years ago? Seems like only yesterday, we ate a cake that said, "Welcome 2000" and accidentally shot live fireworks into the woodpile.

Ever since 2000, I've said we are living in the future. The elders among us might remember how in the 1960s and 70s, predictions of the future always started with, "By the year 2000 ..." which seemed impossibly far away. And now? Smart phones. Self-driving cars. They still seem like science fiction to me. On the other hand, I struggle to remember how we got to our friends' homes in the suburbs without GPS. Did we really fumble around with paper maps that we could never fold back to their original state?

Some of the decade's highlights for me personally:

• I got legally married and I'm still amazed about that.
• I became Episcopalian.
• I went from middle age to upper middle age.
• I bought a house riddled with stupid problems.
• I got a Kindle reader.

Our national life has been no less eventful:

• It became legal for same sex couples to marry.
• There is a general trend towards legalizing marijuana.
• "They" as a singular, personal pronoun came into acceptance.
• There are more good programs on TV than ever before and thanks to DVRs and streaming, we can watch them at our own convenience.

On the other hand:

• The U.S. accelerated on its journey to hell with shady Republicans engineering voter suppression and other stunts. These culminated in an illiterate, immoral, psychopath in the white house and a supreme court that will halt progressive changes at every turn for years to come.
• Climate change and global warming continued to worsen while we basically continued to not do much about it.
• Corporations figured out how to gather even more reams of data on us through technology that we bring into our homes on purpose. It's so bad now that experts recommend putting a piece of low tech tape over the camera on your new television because, theoretically and technically, someone out there could be watching you..

You know, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to extend the decade one more year. That would give us a little extra time to end the 10s on a more positive note and brace ourselves for the 20s.

Never Forget What?

With the recent anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, there were news stories and posts with photos, lists honoring victims and first responders, and a particularly beautiful song from Mary Chapin Carpenter (Grand Central Station). The phrase that accompanied many of these was, "Never forget."

What, exactly, are we not to forget?

In this Trumpian age of white nationalism, my hackles get up when I see a vaguely defined message like, "Never forget." If we're not careful, phrases like that can ignite the wrong kind of reaction, especially paranoia and discrimination, or worse, violence, against Muslims and immigrants.

I remember as vividly as anyone where I was when those planes hit the towers and the Pentagon. It was a cool, clear morning, not a cloud in the sky. I was working from home, fighting with my laptop, the Today Show running in the background. When the first plane hit, before I knew it was a large commercial airliner, I thought, "Wow, some idiot pilot can't navigate around tall buildings." But when the second plane hit, I, like everyone else, had no doubt that this was an intentional terrorist attack. I was shocked and dumbfounded the rest of the day and for several days after, glued to the TV and hanging onto every observation, theory, and fear that it might keep happening. I wept over the story of how passengers on one plane stopped the hijackers before it crashed in Pennsylvania. I remember a friend who was stuck in New York City with no way to get home. I remember thinking that Republicans would surely use this as an excuse to do their usual warmongering - and I was right about that. I remember going to an event that night where people were wearing red, white, and blue and expressing obnoxious patriotism as if it were the God-damned fourth of July. I remember looking at the sky for several days, empty of contrails because no planes were flying. For usually not noticing planes in the sky one way or the other, it was spooky not to see or hear any.

In other words, I remember a lot. I'm not in danger of forgetting anything.

I just want to be sure that we remember the right things: the heroes on the planes, the first responders risking and losing their lives, the families who suddenly lost loved ones.

We should also remember the bad, shameful things: the immediate outlash against Muslims, even those life long, patriotic citizens who just because of religion and/or ethnicity, were somehow blamed for the attacks. Many lost basic freedoms and continue to suffer an unjust stigma. If you don't believe me, ask anyone with a middle-eastern surname who flies on a regular basis.

We should not forget how we overreacted and used the attacks as an excuse to invade Iraq, who had nothing to do with it. We shouldn't forget how millions of Americans were forced to sacrifice freedoms because of overreaching laws like the PATRIOT Act.

It's ok to never forget. Let's just think about what we're not forgetting and make sure we're remembering for the right reasons.

Grandpa Rambles On About the Moon Landing

"Pay attention to this," my first grade teacher, Mrs. Hedgecock scolded. "You can tell your grandchildren that you remember when man first walked on the moon."

Grandchildren? As a seven year old, I was more struck by the idea of having grandchildren than I was about the moon landing. The most I aspired to being in those days was a clown or maybe a teenager. Mrs. H was, however, mostly right. Ok, I don't have grandchildren, but I'm old enough to corner my nieces' and nephew's kids and tell them that a thing or two happened before they were born.

50 years ago, almost beyond comprehension, an insurmountable barrier was broken and actual earthbound beings traveled to that other world in the sky and came back to tell the tale.

Not only did "man" go to the moon, but the unexpected byproducts added much to our lives. For one thing, we got expressions such as, "They can send a man to the moon, but they can't (make a toaster that works right, build a toilet that doesn't run, synchronize the traffic light at Eighth and Colorado, or just fill in the blank with your own technological frustration)."

We also got Tang. Until I was in high school, I thought the breakfast drink made from dark yellow powder was the same as orange juice. It was advertised, actually, to have more vitamin C than orange juice. For sure it had more sugar. Or has. Is Tang still a thing? I recently read that we probably would have had Tang even if astronauts hadn't consumed it in space. I wonder if they really did drink Tang. Has 60 Minutes done an investigation about this?

So what have we done since 50 years ago? I'm sure everyone thought we would have colonized Mars by now, or at least have settlements on that same now accessible moon.

I'd hate to disappoint the people of 1969, but no one has made it to Mars. We did send machines to Mars to dig holes and get stuck in craters. We had a Shuttle program come and go, and we participate in the International Space Station. Our robots photograph the rings of Saturn up close and fly by places as distant as Pluto, the dwarf formerly known as a planet. Voyager I, launched in the 70s, now hurdles beyond our solar system towards a  star called AC +79 3888 which it will reach in about 40,000 years. We've actually recorded the image of a real black hole.

But we should have accomplished more since 1969. The American obsession with cutting taxes has left us with a shell of the space program we once had. Taxpayers fail to support education resulting in our nation ranking below half the others in STEM education.

In case you don't know, STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math.

We take technology for granted with no idea where it came from. Our smart phones have more technology than Apollo 11 and what do we do with them? We send each other emojis and settle trivial arguments by googling things.

I doubt if old Mrs. Hedgecock is still around, but if she were, what would she think about my not having grandchildren?

I Refuse to Forward Chain Posts

I suppose that if I don't forward it, I'm in favor of cancer and I don't support our troops.

"Please, in honor of someone who died, or is fighting cancer, or even had cancer, copy, and paste."

This is taken from an actual Facebook post on my timeline. I want to know how copying and pasting it will help the fight against cancer.

I’m annoyed by Facebook posts that contain statements like, "I'll bet no one will share this," or "If 5 of my friends post this I'll be surprised." It's often about cancer or supporting our troops, and other topics that pretty much everyone agrees on. The message is that if you care, you'll share the post.

It may or may not be a good post. No, actually it won't be a good post. It may or may not apply to me. I suppose that if I don't forward it, I'm in favor of cancer and I don't support our troops. I resent the implication. For the record, I'm against cancer and I strongly believe that our troops and veterans deserve first class benefits.

These kinds of posts replace chain letters of old. If you're young and don't know what I'm talking about, chain letters used to come in the old fashioned, paper-based, mail. They would tell you that unless you make a certain number of copies and send them to all your friends, dire things will happen. Intelligent people like my mother always said, "Never forward a chain letter." Well I'd like to say the same thing about these "chain" posts.

In summary, let me just say to these chain post forwarders, I'll post whatever the hell I want whenever the hell I want to. I won't repost your post because I won't be manipulated. I won't repost the post because you didn't even write it yourself. You just copied and pasted it. I would rather spend my time reading actual news about my family and friends.






That ends today's rant.

Republican Glee will be Short Lived

The Mueller report did not say he isn't  corrupt, dishonest, stupid, and the worst thing to happen to the country since 9/11. 

This week Robert Mueller released his report on whether the president (left small case on purpose) was guilty of collusion with the Russians. Apparently, according to a summary of the report, he is not.

How very disappointing for those of us who are convinced he is a crook and needs to be held accountable.

Did Russia or someone get to Mueller and persuade him to come to the "right" conclusion? Did they threaten his family? I want to think that's the only way this could have possibly happened. The evidence seemed pretty clear.

However, the Mueller report did not say Donald Trump was innocent of all crimes. It did not say he isn't  corrupt, dishonest, stupid, and the worst thing to happen to the country since 9/11. There are several more investigations pending.

The report also did not say that Russia didn't interfere with the 2016 election, possibly throwing the electoral victory to Trump. There is every indication they plan to interfere with our elections again. This is still a very serious situation.

I want to deny the report - I was counting on it to justify my dislike for the president. But there's still plenty to justify.

Just because he didn't collude with Russia doesn't mean he's a good guy after all. He still:

• Calls Nazis good people
• Calls other countries shit holes
• Allows for the separation of families and losing of children at the border
• Lies multiple times daily
• Treats his staff terribly
• Comes up with the most absurd conspiracy theories, such as claiming that President Obama didn't have an American birth certificate
• Has sex with prostitutes and used campaign funds to pay them off
• Talks about grabbing the pussies of non-consenting women
• Blatantly spouts racism against Mexicans and Muslims
• Supports tax reform that only benefits the wealthy
• Threw paper towels at the people of Puerto Rico after a devastating hurricane

The results of this report say nothing about:

• The need for national, single payer health care
• The climate change emergency
• The student loan crisis and general decline of education in this country
• The widening of the separation of rich and poor

Those are some of the serious problems that the president either opposes or will not acknowledge.

Republicans should enjoy their victory now. Their gloating days are numbered. History, if nothing else, will expose once and for all the moral corruption of the current administration.

But I think Trump and the Republicans will be held accountable sooner than that. The election of 2020 is coming and we have a chance to decisively and legally remove them from the highest seats of power, making it clear that corruption and dishonesty are not acceptable.

Methodists Vote to Dehumanize Members

If you're straight, you can vote on the issue and go home to your legally sanctioned family and forget about it. For me, it has profound, life-altering consequences. 

Excuse me if I seem strident or overly emotional about this subject. It's just that ...

It is humiliating and degrading when other people get to vote on your value as a person.  Whether in the form of civil rights,  or in the case of this week's vote in the United Methodist Church to double down on the ban against LGBTQ clergy and marriage, it is insulting to reduce human beings to an issue that can just be dismissed by the majority.

Who is the United Methodist Church to take a vote, a popularity poll, about whether fellow human beings, made in God's image, are worthy of full participation in the community of faith?

I've experienced this many times and I'm sick of it. Even though I'm not Methodist, I have history with that denomination. I learned a lot about social justice and ecumenism working in campus ministry at Nebraska Wesleyan University back in the 80s. Under the sponsorship of the UMC chaplain, I started, along with a lesbian friend,  the very first gay and lesbian group on campus (we weren't yet fully enlightened about bi and trans sisters and brothers at the time). The excitement was dampened when the chaplain was fired, in part, because of it.

In 1991, I left the Presbyterian Church USA because a majority voted for the umpteenth time to deny full membership to LGBTQ people.  No matter how big my theological school scholarship was, no matter how many positions I held, or how much ministry I was involved in, I couldn't be ordained simply because of my sexual orientation. You bet I took it personally.

I took it personally when in 1992, a majority of Coloradoans voted to suspend all civil rights protections for LGBTQ people.

I take it personally when I see protesters outside a public event holding signs that say, "God hates fags."

I take it personally when bakery owners refuse to serve gay customers. It's not some far away legal question when because my personal civil rights interfere with the comfort and self-righteousness of some religious fundamentalist, the matter has to go to the Supreme Court.

I take it personally because it is personal for me. LGBTQ equality in church and society are not some abstract issue. My humanity cannot be reduced to an academic debate over carefully selected scripture passages taken out of the context in which they originated thousands of years ago. I cannot respectfully listen to the opinion of the "other side" because they are wrong and they are trying oppress me.

If you're straight, you can vote on the issue and go home to your legally sanctioned family and forget about it. When the vote is about you, it has profound, life-altering consequences.

So excuse me if I seem defensive. Pardon me if my anger seems a little out of proportion. Forgive me if my existence makes you uncomfortable. It's because once again, I have to stand up and defend my value as a person.

Footnote: I'm happy to say that the Presbyterian Church USA has since reversed its position and now ordains and marries LGBT people. Amendment 2, the antigay law Colorado voted for, was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

What I Learned About Myself Online

I'm not so sure the government doesn't also keep tabs, but since the IRS and the Veterans Administration are still using computers from the 80s and 90s, I'm not too worried about Uncle Sam knowing how many times I look at "Hairy Chests Dot Com."

I recently read in the Huffington Post about how you can look at the data that Facebook and Google have collected on you. This data allows them to help their advertisers sell stuff directly to you instead of disseminating commercials widely and hoping they hit the relevant market by chance.

In case you weren't aware, Facebook and Google and all the other online companies keep every bit of information you ever put on their sites. They also sell it to other online companies. If you've ever looked at porn, booked a table at a restaurant, watched a movie, looked at a white supremacy website, posted a recipe online, or read subversive media such as the Huffington Post, that information is out there. Forever.

This is a chilling prospect to many people - that Big Brother is watching us every time we're connected to the online world. It turns out that Big Brother is not the government in our country like we once feared, but massive corporations trying to sell us stuff. I'm not so sure the government doesn't also keep tabs, but since the IRS and the Veterans Administration are still using computers from the 80s and 90s, I'm not too worried about Uncle Sam knowing how many times I look at "Hairy Chests Dot Com."

If we're truly worried about the data "they" are amassing about us, it would be best to learn what we can about it. I decided to see for myself what Big Data, at least Facebook and Google, has on me.

First, Facebook. HuffPost's David Howley directed me to Settings, then to Ads and Ad Preferences. Here's a little of what I found out about myself:

• They know that I'm married. 
• They know I have a TiVo.
• Their version of my job title is an old one I had listed in LinkedIn a couple of years ago, and is not one I've ever used in Facebook. Someone's been sharing data.
• My education is listed as "Scottsbluff Senior High School and 2 others." Technically yes. 
• I live away from my hometown. Check. How does that influence advertising?
• I am close friends of women with a birthday in 7-30 days. Probably.
• I have a role in management. Well, that depends on your point of view I guess.
• I'm into community and social services. Yes.
• I access Facebook via Chrome. Yes I do.
• They have my birthday correct.
• My profession is related to education and libraries. Well, more or less I guess, if you take the long, long view.
• Frequent international traveler. Check
• Owns 2 iPads.Wow! How do they know that? I hardly ever use them. They're Clyde's hand me downs. One I only use as an e-reader. The other I don't use at all.
• Here's the big surprise. I am African American. Whoa! While it's kind of cool that my data indicates that, there is no universe in which I could pass for African American. I'm about the whitest person I know.

On to Google. Go to Account Settings, Data & Personalization, Ad Personalization, and Ad Settings. Here's a sampling of how Google sees me:

• Male
• TiVo user.
• They estimate that because of my YouTube activity, I like American football and basketball. Cue buzzer. Nope. Not even close. I watch mostly Ted Talks and BBC documentaries on YouTube. How do they get basketball out of that?
• I'm interested in boating. Hmm.
• And Bollywood and South Asian film. Of all the millions of movies I watch, that is a very small percentage. Very small.
• I'm interested in Chicago. I have nothing against Chicago, but if you were to ask me what city I was interested in, a few other cities would come up first.
• Family relationships are important to me. I'll give you that.
• Motorcycles, gardening, and parenting. Nope. Nada.
• Restaurants, online video, TV. Yes, absolutely.

Clearly Facebook knows me better than Google. Based on what Google claims to know about me, I must conclude that advertisers are no better off with this data than without. 

So is Big Data less scary than I thought? It would seem so. On the other hand, I'm sure it's getting more sophisticated all the time. In a year or two, I'll bet my info on Google is a lot more accurate. Still, I choose not to worry too much. After all, there is no mention in either place of "Hairy Chests Dot Com."

Annual Holiday Hang-Ups Have Begun

What is it about Christians that makes them want to suck the fun out of everything?

The Thanksgiving leftovers are barely in the fridge and more than one of my theologically educated friends have already self-righteously declared that one mustn't celebrate Christmas until December 25. Or is it December 24? In case you are about to let me know which of these it is, let me assure you with utmost emphasis, that I don't care.

This is arguably the most celebrated time of year. Families gather, houses are festively decorated, we bring out our favorite traditional recipes, and we give each other gifts to express our love. 

We should be attending parties and enjoying concerts and watching TV specials. So why are so many determined to stamp the fun out of the holidays by shoving their particular hang-ups down everyone else's throat?

The one that is particularly bothering me this year is the idea from religiously correct, Christian purists that we shouldn't enjoy Christmas until it is officially, liturgically Christmas - that is, until tradition says Baby Jesus is actually born. Up until then, it's only Advent, a time of expectation and waiting. God forbid we should enjoy a little Christmas caroling or set up our manger set too early.

Don't worry, the hangups of past years continue to bother me. There are many other ways people are determined to take the joy out of the holidays this year as well:

- The war on Christmas. Whether you say an innocent "Merry Christmas" to a coworker or wish your neighbor a casual, "Happy Holidays," it's the same as declaring whether you vote Republican or Democrat. I'd prefer not to be attacked for they way I sincerely wish a fellow human being a happy season. Can we just express friendly tidings to each other without getting into a "war" about it?

- Don't take the Christ out of Christmas. The people who make this plea are particularly galling. Whether you like it or not, there is a lot more to the holiday season than the traditional story of the birth of Christ.  Winter Solstice celebrations long predate Christmas. It's the darkest time of the year and we need something to lighten things up. If someone wants to go to the holiday parade and decorate a tree, drink eggnog, or take their kid to see Santa at the mall, why isn't that ok? If you want to go to Christmas mass and worship Baby Jesus and all that stuff, by all means go ahead and do so. But leave everyone else alone. I believe the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has moral relevance even though it isn't from the Bible. What is it about Christians that makes them want to suck the fun out of everything?

- Christmas is too commercial. Yes, yes, yes, this complaint is as old as Christmas itself. Can I make a suggestion? Get over it. That is something which is simply not going to change. If the commercialism bothers you, don't participate in it. If gift giving is too much of a greed-fest for you, give non-commercialized gifts such as donations to a charity, or give time to a cause that's important to you. Your loved ones will appreciate the effort to help others, and they don't have to lug a bunch of junk home that they may not really want.

I realize my rantings are very Christmas/Christian centered. That's because I'm a Christian (who happens to enjoy secular Christmas as well). I'm perfectly ok with it if you disagree with me or have a different point of view, or would rather talk about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years, or another holiday. Celebrate this season however you want. I plan to do the same. I'll leave you alone if you will do me the same courtesy. Just don't suck all the fun out of my December because of your hang ups.