Defying Gravity

It has become clear to me that the Governor of NC, Pat McCrory, is not a leader. I've determined this not only by looking at which policies he supports and which ones he doesn't, but also by looking at his actions and how he treats people, myself included. I've compared his actions not only to those on the other side, but to other Republicans. Regardless of anyone's view on the issues and ideas about solutions to the problems we face, most reasonable people can agree that we need leadership who recognizes problems instead of trying to deny and ignore them and can conduct themselves with dignity and grace in the face of criticism. Governor McCrory seems incapable of neither and is a disgrace to our state and a danger to our future.

The sad fact is that NC is not alone in it's lack of leadership. All over the country, there are leaders and people seeking positions in leadership, both Democrat and Republican, who are holding our country back. Yes, that's right. Democrats are guilty of this too. A Democratic candidate for district attorney in Texas recently told a local newspaper that he thinks domestic violence is, "so, so overrated." Even though reasonable people, both Democrat and Republican, consider domestic violence a serious issue, this candidate, Lloyd Oliver, thinks that domestic violence is simply the way some couples enjoy sex and said that domestic violence victims, "maybe learn to box a little better."

Greg Abbot, a Republican in Texas who will be running for Governor of that state, thinks that Ted Nugent is a good person to help represent his campaign. Ted Nugent loves unregulated guns and apparently sex with underage girls and thinks calling women "dirty whores" is a good way to engage in political discussions.

Is this the kind of future we want for this country? Do we want our choices in the voting booth to be limited to picking between reasonable and ridiculous or do we want to have candidates who conduct themselves as leaders and give us choices between a variety of policy positions and solutions? This is what most of the American people want. They want real choices. The majority of the American people aren't hardcore Democrats or hardcore Republicans who vote for someone just because they're on their team. This isn't sports. This is democracy and the decisions we make in choosing the people who represent us have consequences in our lives and in the lives of our fellow citizens.

So what do we do? How to we create a better future? We start with the next generation, that's how. We have to start training a new generation of leaders and we train them properly. It's going to require people who belong to all political parties to do this. The Commission on Youth Voting and Civic Knowledge issued a report in which they looked at the increasing polarization in politics. The Commission concluded that when kids are exposed to issues in politics, we learn to discuss controversial topics with civility, make better use of facts, and share a deeper desire to work together to address public problems. If you want a change you can believe in and hope for a government that can come together to solve the challenges we face, believe in us. Put your hope in us. Invest in us.

We can't just sit around and complain. We have to actually do things to help this country move forward. We have to take action. This is going to require work on the part of Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and people from all political parties. Let's all speak out together and promote civic engagement and activism among our young people. Let's let our representatives know that investing in helping our young people participate will help build a better America for all of us. We have to stop tolerating the things that pull us down and promote the things that will lift us up.

A Moment of Silence

I shouldn't even know their names. They should be hanging out with their friends or having dinner with their families. They should be alive and I never should have heard of them. Other things I never should have heard of include the words nigger and thug. But I do know these words. I know that two young men are dead because of the reasons these words exist.

Stand your ground. Who needs a gun to help them stand? Standing with a gun means standing in blood surrounded by injury and lifelessness. Standing requires strength and there's no strength that comes from killing another person. These killers were not strong in anything but prejudice and violence.

Everyone wants justice. Does justice even exist if these young men died for nothing regardless of the sentence their killers serve? I'm angry and I'm sad. But that won't change the fact I know the names of these young men because they were taken away by hate. True justice for them will be to help stop that hate.

Two visions of the future
Rays of light
Always in my heart
Young and full of promise
Valued and loved
Only for a short time here with us
Never will I forget

Justice is love
Overcoming intolerance
Rising above prejudice
Dreaming of a better world together
A world full of color
Never will I stop standing in peace for you

What Is Love? Baby Don't Hurt Me No More

In Kansas, Idaho, and Tennessee, extremists are trying to pass laws allowing businesses to discriminate against LBGT people. Of course, they are using religion as their excuse.

What religion is this? What religion teaches a hate so strong that it's followers have to have a law making it possible to discriminate against fellow human beings? Do they get extra cool points from whatever god rules over this religion for every LBGT person they discriminate against? How do they know who to discriminate against? Do they base it on the way they look? Do they base it on the names listed on an application or other form?

Just like Veruca Salt, these people want it all and they want it now. They are a bunch of spoiled brats who have been given privilege upon privilege but it still isn't enough. Just like any other bully, they have to make someone else hurt in order to feel righteous themselves.

We have to continue to stand up to the bigots and bullies and let them know these actions and attitudes are not acceptable. But we also have to understand what drives these actions and attitudes. These people, from the time they are little kids, are taught that love is conditional. They are accepted as long as they believe what they are told, follow the rules, look a certain way, or act a certain way.

Many of the bigots who like to justify their bigotry with religion say they love the person but not their lifestyle or love the sinner but hate their sin.That's cute. It's like me telling you I love your new dress but the color is all wrong and it makes you look fat. If I loved you unconditionally, I would care about how your dress makes YOU feel and I would want you to feel beautiful in your new dress, regardless of if I personally would wear it myself.

Just because you feel being gay is wrong for you doesn't make you a bigot. Believing the god you worship thinks being gay is wrong for you doesn't make you a bigot. What makes you a bigot is wanting to deny someone else equal rights, a job, or goods and services because of who they are or because they don't believe what they are "supposed to" believe according to you.

We will overcome this new form of bigotry the same way we overcame the bigotry that forced people to sit at the back of the bus or use a separate drinking fountain. We'll overcome it because at the core of unconditional love is equality and given the choice, most people will choose love over hate.

Tucker Carlson, You Can't Sit With Us

In a segment about laws that could potentially curtail your personal freedoms, Tucker Carlson of Fox News says “I have a 17-year-old, whom I love more than my own life of course, but are 17-year-old really capable of choosing an entrée at a restaurant, much less voting?” the Fox News host wondered. “I mean, for real. Do we want them voting?”

Would you like to cut my meat for me too, Mr. Carlson?

What's up with Republicans saying their own teenagers are not smart enough to VOTE?

If these remarks were made based on race or gender, Mr. Carlson would have to apologize. He should do the same thing here, if only to the many 17 year olds who've been capable enough to earn wages and pay taxes by preparing and serving food. He's talking about the very people our country's future depends on and telling us we shouldn't participate because we're not capable.

If Mr. Carlson really thinks youth civic education needs improvement, maybe he could try to reach out more to young viewers. He had the perfect opportunity to do this by having Katherine Timpf of Campus Reform on his show. Not only can Ms. Timpf order her own food, she knows things like there are young people out there who are Conservatives and even more of them in the middle who could potentially vote for Republicans. Young voters in Virginia chose Ken Cuccinelli 45 to 39 percent over Terry McAulliffe and helped Chris Christie in New Jersey.

I mean, for real.

Not only are young voters capable of choosing an entree, we can influence the choices offered. Any candidate who doesn't respect our intelligence isn't worthy of our vote. Any news person who rejects an opportunity to appeal to young viewers and instead chooses to insult us is worthy of our scorn. The people who care about the future of this country and want to see it continue to move forward will not stand for these insults to a legacy they have helped build.

You don't get to discuss who is going to pay the check if you tell us we're too dumb to order off the menu. If this is what you're serving, young voters and future voters will chew you up and spit you out.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

The Salvation Army says it opposes "demeaning or mistreating anyone for reason of his or her sexual orientation."

But then it says if you work for the Salvation Army and perform or participate in a same-sex marriage or union:

YOU'RE FIRED!

If you're gay, the Salvation Army doesn't blame you. They don't deny that you exist and feel that marginalizing you is not helpful. They have no clue why you're gay. That's complex. Even though "some Christian believers witness a reorientation to heterosexuality," they understand "this has not been the experience of all." 

Since there's no scriptural support for marginalizing, demeaning, or mistreating you, if you're an officer in the Salvation Army your job is safe as long as you "uphold the New Testament standard of marriage as articulated by the Salvation Army." This means:

IF YOU HAVE SEX YOU'RE FIRED!

If you're a Salvation Army employee who hasn't witnessed a "reorientation to heterosexuality" yet and can't "embrace celibacy as a way of life," you are subject to disciplinary action but you aren't being marginalized, demeaned, or mistreated by an organization whose mission statement says they meet human needs without discrimination. No way.

If you think that love and being treated equally are human needs and denying your employees access to these things when you exist on funding from people who probably don't know exactly what you are hiding behind all those fake inclusive sounding words is wrong:

SIGN THIS PETITION AND SHARE IT!

The Salvation Army can't exist unless it gets donations. It came up with all these fake inclusive words because it knows that if word gets out they will discipline gay people for not being celibate, a whole lot less people are going to donate to them. The sooner they get the message that the majority of people in this country are not going to stand for these attitudes from somewhere they donate to the better. Evolve or become extinct. 

What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate

Governor McCrory gave a news conference today. You can watch the whole thing here. At 31:20 the Governor is asked a question about people who disagree with him and here is how he answered it:

"I'd like them to be part of the solution. And I welcome people who disagree with our policy stances to come up with ideas. And don't just tell us. I surround myself with problem solvers and that includes critics and allies alike. And what I want to encourage them to do is...I'm glad to meet with them if they have viable solutions to some very complex problems in NC and then we can agree or disagree on the solution. But I don't think anyone disagrees with the ultimate outcome. I've had some wonderful meetings in the Governor's office with some activists and some other people throughout the state and just private meetings away from the cameras discussing some of the serious issues we're dealing with and some of the potential solutions. But I think one area we all need to improve on is dialogue and conversation and not political soundbites against each other. And I would say that not only to ourselves and to my critics, but to members of the media. We all at times encourage that. I'm a big advocate of dialogue with people I disagree with but I'm more of an advocate of solutions."

This is after last month, when the Governor responded to my request to meet with him in an interview with WFMY by telling the lies that I am part of a publicity stunt, that I was outside his mansion gates hungry, and that my mom is "very strong activist" with MoveOn.

Solutions? How about we don't call young North Carolinians who are seeking the solutions and dialogue the Governor is such a big advocate of props. There's a solution.

I would love to hear the Governor's solutions on encouraging young people to take part in our government, since pre-registering to vote is a "bureaucratic burden." In case the Governor needs any ideas, the non-partisan Commission on Youth Voting and Civic Knowledge issued a report with a lot of great ideas.

The Only Thing We Have to Fear

Francis De Luca likes to call pre-registration, "the pedophilia enabling act."

From Moyers and Company, this is "State of Conflict: North Carolina"
Start watching at 32:48



"Where in the world can I go, on a government website, and find a list of 16 year olds and their home addresses?"

That's kind of creepy.

But if you call up the Board of Elections and ask them if the applications of teenagers who pre-registered, the pending applications, are included when you request a list of registered voters...

The answer is no.

You don't have to be afraid of democracy.

You should be afraid that someone would use this argument to discourage you from participating in it.

Meddling kids.