Combat Queer Online

America Hates Her (Queer) Soldiers

Sorry I don't have more time for this Dear Reader, but a good friend sent me this article, and I had to pass it along. 

http://www.outandaboutnewspaper.com/article/3699

Basically, some of fellow Southerners couldn't deal with the fact of a gay serviceman. You see this in the Army too. I've heart some right-wing crackpots in my very own unit talking about how they don't understand why the Army would need DADT because, of course, no queer would ever want to do anything to help America. So I'm standing there and, yeah, I might get beaten to death if I respond the way I want to, so I just stay quiet. And I fucking hate that. When this shit is over. When I get the Army's chain off from around my neck, oh friends, people are going to know what a god damned queer was willing to do for them.

That Marine (who's name was left out of the article, I notice) was fighting for truth. The truth is, we queers are just as good and as bad an anyone else. And our work, our toil, does just as much good for this world as yours or anybody else'.

Change

This article caught my eye in the Times today: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/opinion/06opclassic.html

It was written back in 1991, 18 years ago if you can believe (I certainly am a little incredulous). In 18 years, almost nothing has changed in America. Through three presidents, we're almost in exactly the same mess. Now certainly, the world is always changing slightly, but essentially we're in the very same mess now that we were 18 years ago. We're in a recession, we've got folks stuck in Iraq, and America is more or less lost in the sauce.

Right there in the last few months of the presidential campaign last year, there seemed to be the kind of activism, the desire for a better world, the understanding that a common effort could result in common good coming from both side of the political spectrum. People started playing those old songs form the 60's again, started playing them un-ironically. For a moment there were people marching the in the street, the fortunate sons were out in mass, and the times, they were a'changing. Then, a year later, we're really in pretty much the same place we were a year ago. We're still struggling with that same basic moral questions, not even about what's right, but rather, "Is it ok to say something's wrong, or is it un-American to hope for a better world? Is it un-American to be afraid of moving? Can right be done under the sun?"

Obama's acting 99% exactly like Bush. The election didn't mean anything, really (except maybe it kept things from getting worse, maybe. And maybe it changed what could be done in the future). So, the kind of frustration the writer of that article feels, I get that.

But I love this country, as screwy as it can be. It's full of people, and Christ is working on them day by day, and maybe that means something too.

But you know what hope looks like? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/us/07activist.html

Whatever else you can say about that guy, he's not giving up, and he doesn't care he's doing it alone. There's a guy I'd like to talk to.

Same Old Song

From the Washington Post's article about Iran's presidential election:

In Shahr-e Rey, south of Tehran, voter Ali Badiri said that young women without head scarves had been dancing in the streets over Mousavi's candidacy. "I'll vote for Ahmadinejad, because if Mousavi wins, they will be dancing naked next week," he said.

Apparently terrified fundamentalists use the same idiot logic to legitimize their theft of women's freedom world over. It's always, "Well if we start start treating women like, gods-of-worldly-power, like people, well, they might start doing anything! In fact, they might even be tempted to treat us as poorly as we've treated them."

Also, "If we don't control them, who will?"

The idea that all of us hairless monkeys share in some common humanity, some equality of worth and dignity, it just terrifies us. I don't know what should be done about it, but there must be something, mustn't there?

Go Specter

So Arlen Specter turned coat on the Republicans. 

And so long as justice is serve, Al Franken is also going to be seated.

SIXTY SEATS BABY! Back when I was working on the campaign, people told me it would never be done. 

But we did it! And even though I'm far from family and friends, in a place of danger and unpleasantness, friends, I could not be more thrilled.

The world is not so evil. Not all the time. Now, the Dems aren't perfect. Not by a very long way. They can be just as stupid, hateful, and short sighted as the 'Pubs. 

But you know what?

They're a little better. They're more likely to pass pro-trans legislation. They're a little bit more likely to make it so that my veterans benefits cover the cost of my transition.

GO SPECTER!

Shattering America

So, the governor of Texas reached out to the Right Wing extremists last week, talking about how what Texas really, really needed was to maybe secede.  And oh, oh, dear reader, just let me let you know how much I appreciate hearing good fine patriots back home talk about how they want to destroy the country that I'm on my way to the sand box to fight for.  I can't tell you how awesome it is to hear a bunch of damned civilians acting like they know what's best because their doddering, cancer ridden old man didn't win the race for the white house.

Goodness, this stuff pisses me off a whole good bunch.  Chuck Norris, yeah you know all the jokes, he also came out this week talking about how he couldn't wait to run for President of Texas.

He seems to think that because the government is working to end the economic cluster-fuck that Bush & Friends got us into, that means the government has become “oppressive.”  “Oppressive?”  These secessionists don't really know what the word means, but they have a vague idea that it has something to do with their not getting their way 100% of the time.

Watching those idiotic “tea-bagging(their word, not mine) rallies,” I noticed a lot of chanting of the old standard “taxation without representation.”  That threw me for a loop for a second.  What did these people mean, “without representation?”  Didn't we just have an election?  Didn't the vast majority of non-felons have the right to vote?  Isn't the idea of a Democracy that when you have a vote, the fellow who gets the larger number of votes win, and then does the best he can to act for the interest of all of his constituents (And yes, I'm just male pronouns, but this is America.  Sadly, the majority of politicians still tend to be male)?

And then it hit me.  The Gov'ner of Texas, Chuck Norris, the tea-baggers, it's not Democracy they're interested in.  It's not the old mob rule that so often got Athens in trouble that they want.  The only time they can even pretend to stand Democracy is when they happen to win.  What they want is a dictatorship where someone who looks and acts and thinks like of them is in absolute control forever and ever.

They aren't rallying against “taxation without representation,” they are rallying for “taxation without representation.”  They just want to make sure that it's queers and liberals like me who are forced to go unrepresented.

So see Dear Reader, that's why these folks are trying to break away from America. For all their jingoist bullshit about patriotism, that hate America.  They want to see lady liberty pull down out of New York Harbor, beaten, raped, put in her place.  They want to replace Lady Liberty with the cruel, smirking face of some self-righteous Patriarch, some bastard who thinks that freedom is his freedom to be privileged, to be honored above all the women, darkies, and weirdos.

That's what's going on in the Right right now.  That's what we've all got to look out for.

Oh, and my very own special comment:

So yeah, fuck you Chuck Norris.  If you're so big and bad, why don't you come down and enlist in Army like I did.  Are you afraid that without a stunt double it might be a little hard to take on the bad guys over in Kandahar?  Are you scare of those big bad fire crackers that keep falling on Anaconda?  Are you scared of taking a little ol' convoy around?

'Cause it sounds like it.  It sounds me, a simple queer, is willing to do more for this country than you ever could, you big bad movie actor.

Not Stopping

I was really touched by the comments and emails from folks who thought I was ending the blog. I found it a little ironic that people began to praise my writing but of a poorly worded sentence of nebulous meaning.

See, when I said, "So, I'm down in Washington DC for a day or two before I head out on the deployment," what I meant was "Before I head out on the deployment, I'm down in Washington DC for a day or two." My deployment doesn't start for, well, two weeks or so. Not much difference, but a little.

But here's the thing. I'm not going to stop writing just because they send me to the sandbox. Sure, posting will be more difficult(I'll never do it on a gov'ment computer), but I am going to keep writing, and keep post to the best if my ability.

The Army, well, it can be a pretty lonely place. It can also be an amazing place. You really get to see the best and worst of people. Being a part of this soup of morality and immorality, of accomplishment, of sloth, of ambition, and of keeping-your-head-down-ism, there's so much there to talk about. Like that mythical predatory elephant the Brits in Nigeria would talk about in 1950's, I can never catch the world of the Army, but I can describe it a little. 

The very act of communicating changes us. Maybe this blog is like one of the Tibetan prayer weeks, except that instead of a fixed mantra I'm adding a little every day, and instead of spinning it in the wind, I'm tossing it out on the flows and currents of the interwebs.  

Helicopter Prison Escape

Oh. My. God.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/22/greece.prison.break/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Now, Dear Reader, you may be thinking, "Oh man, some thugs kidnapped a helicopter pilot and forced him to help two prisoners escape. And that's awesome." And it is, it. 

But you know what the most awesome part of this story is? 

"The prison break by helicopter is the second for Paleokostas, who was convicted for abducting a businessman and escaped the prison the first time in June 2006. He was recaptured several months later."

This happened before. This is the second time dude escaped prison by helicopter. Friends, if you're a prison guard, and you have a guy who once escaped prison by use of helicopter, well, doesn't it seem like you may want to try to keep the fellow off the roof?

Wouldn't it be... stupid to let him hang out on the roof?

Anyway, I am shocked by the awesomeness.

Cotton Patch Humanity

So, Millard Fuller's dead. He founded Habitat For Humanity, and was a big part of Koinonia Farm down in Americus, Georgia. 

Now, I've never been to Americus, but I've always wanted to go. Back when I was seriously considering leaving Christianity, back when al I knew was that I loved Christ but could rarely stomach Christians, The Cotton Patch Gospel was something that meant a lot to me. For those of you who don't know, the CPG is a version of the New Testament set in the American South. It is every bit as ridiculous as it sounds. Instead of Paul's letter to the Romans, we get a Letter to Washington. It's amazing. The whole think is written in a think Southern accent. Jesus get lynched. It fits strangely together, but beautifully.

Now, I know Clarence Jordan wrote than, not Millard Fuller, but the two are really and truly connected. The CPG tried to imagine our world as the world of the Gospel. It was a silly version of the Bible, and Jordan freely admitted that it was silly and imperfect.

But here's the thing: A lot of what Christ talked about, the world Christ imagined, the Kingdom of Heaven, was a pretty silly place. I mean, can you imagine Obama or Bush going around washing the feet of the homeless? Can you imagine the poor and the weak and the beaten down being the most blessed? Can you imagine people living for their neighbors instead of themselves, forgiving all who wrong them? It's ridiculous. You may as well imagine building a bridge to the moon or a square circle or good devil. Ridiculous. Silly.

But down there at Koinonia Farm, they dared to be ridiculous. They attempted to live freely in community, to love one another, to accept folks, and to not respond to violence with violence. Even under the threat of the KKK, Koinonia held fast.

When Millard Fuller arrived, he brought with him another ridiculous idea. A non-profit that could house the poor, not just give them a bed for a night or two, but give them a home, set families up for success. Ridiculous. 

Now, I am perfectly aware that neither Habitat For Humanity nor Koinonia Farms nor any of the people involved there are perfect. They all have flaws, they, like all of us, me especially, have missed the mark for time to time, but you know what? They tried. They tried to imagine the world that Christ imagined, tried to live into the Prophet Micah's instruction*.

Anyway, we'll miss you Fuller. See you on Resurrection Day

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He has showed you, O man, what is good. 
       And what does the LORD require of you? 
       To act justly and to love mercy 
       and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

 

Bullshit

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,486108,00.html

So thanks to the fact that no charges were filed against the cop who shot an unarmed man for no reason for several days, it looks like the boys in blue have gotten their story together.

See, apparently, dude mean to *taser* the dead man, not shoot him at point blank range. What a silly mix up! 

Haggard the Pedophile?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/26/colorado.church/index.html

So, you know what I find really horrible about this article? No, it's not just the fact that is confuses the "gay" category with the "molester" category.

It's that it's somehow OK for a large church's *official* response to a charge of molestation be to pay the victim to stay quiet. 

It's actually a couple things. First, Haggard left his position in shame in 2006. If the young man is 20 now, was he over the age of 18 when he and Haggard had a sexual relationship. 'Cause if not, there needs to be a statutory rape investigation right now. Also, it can't be legal for church members to try to cover up a crime by paying off the victim 

What really, really frightens me about this article is this one line:

"We've added 1,500 people in the last 18 months," he(Boyd) said. "We're trying to adopt 100 orphans into families in the church.  

Yep, that church, the one that deals with molestation victims by paying them off, is trying to adopt one hundred orphans. I'm sorry, but that sounds like an awful situation? Are the other molesters in Haggard's flock trying to set up a kiddie harem?  

'Cause it sounds like some creepy shit is going on there. If the police could raid that Mormon compound last year, they can sure as hell raid New Life Church. Until the authorities understand the extent to which members of the congregation helped Haggard rape children, there should be some extreme measures taken.