Hodge Podge
Today I will end up doing a Hodge Podge of posts under different topics. I have a lot to talk about so I'm gonna get right to it
Addiction as a Disease--Dis/Ease
It is no real news to anyone that talks to me a fair amount of time that I have a boyfriend that is an addict. I love him, he's amazing, but when the issue of addiction comes up, I have to say that I get nervous because I sometimes think that oh no, another rehab. I know I've swore him off many times, but it's easier said than done. I really see him as a man that I will spend the rest of my days with (we have to do something about that smoking of his, but I'm sure we'll figure it out) and I want to raise kids and just live an ordinary civic life like everyone else can.
So when I think of addiction as a disease, I think of Chlamydia, Herpes (which is not as big a deal as people make it to be) something that needs a cure. But when I think of Addiction as a disease, I have to say I scratch my head. However, I have thought of it as a DIS EASE with self, and people take on a different character from that which they are known and loved. So this is a new way of looking at addiction for me and I will definitely learn from this not only because I have a boyfriend that's an addict and will have to deal with this the rest of his life, but also because I am an addict but to something else that is necessary. Food. When I am depressed, like last night I reached for Banquet Chicken and some Sausages. When I was done, I felt bad as most addicts do and just thought: I'll deal with it tomorrow. All I have to show for that addiction is a few extra pounds, the withdrawals of an opiate however, won't be over with tomorrow. I know it takes time to learn new habits and deal with and of course, people places and things are a key in having victory in recovery. I just hope that all people who don't suffer with drug or alcohol addiction can take away some things from this part of the post.
Tag Darryl Tills
Pardons MS Supreme Court Holds Gov Barbour Pardons as Valid
So, I would have to say that while I hate the fact that the Governor had pardoned hardened criminals but I have to say that my sense of justice would lead me to side with the minority that said to strike it down. However, under the Constitution of MS, the Governor as do many Governors of other states have the ability to Pardon. Oftentimes, this is a practice that benefits friends of the Governor and should be reserved for when injustice is being done like in the case of CeCe McDonald, I believe that using a pardon for her would be the prime example of a great use for it.
Let's go to why I feel this is a corrupt Pardon. Mainly becuase the 4 he pardoned worked at his mansion. Now, that's not exactly a crime in and of itself, but from what I gathered they were guilty of their crimes. As the Executive branch, enforcing the law is what they are to do, to do the will of the people and uphold the law as well as fighting for good law and against bad ones. This case went to the state Supreme Court and the pardons were upheld 6-3. I have to say I would have to be one of those 6, and yet dissent in only the WAY the pardons were applied and not undermine the Constitution by saying that the Governor should not have issued those Pardons. I am sure that the Governor can pardon as many times as he wants and who he wants as long as he can do so, but I am sure that many criminals get off for one thing but caught on another, but when they do, I hope that the Governor will think twice. A pardon should be extended mercifully, not extended to those who are guilty. My concurrence is in the ruling, my dissent on the pardons themselves. Yet, since the Governor can pardon, I would rule those valid but dissent in WHO the pardon was issued to. Also, it is noteworthy that the Parole Board rejected the pardons as well as the MS AG fighting tooth and nail against the issuing of the Pardons. The Governor Barbour is pictured below
Trayvonn Martin and George Zimmerman--Pictures in the narrative
So, there has been a lot of furor in the Trayvonn Martin shooting as it should be but there was a lot of speculation on the way that photos were used. Trayvonn Martin's photos and that of Zimmerman's are pretty old. Trayvonn's photos were at least 5-6 years old and don't accurately depict his height, when in fact the one of Zimmerman appears to be a mug shot or taken when he was impaired. No matter what we think about the shooting, pictures tell us about the kind of person someone is, if they never smile, if they explain they never smile because they hate the way their gums are (my sister cites that reason), if they hate pictures and you can hardly see their face becuase they put their hand up, or if they only posed for a family photo. One can tell a lot by looking at a picture, and can infer what happened and or is happening. When Anderson Cooper did a study on race, the kids looked at pictures and they had numerous questions: Are they friends? What happened before that picture? etc. I think that the pics we're seeing are also at the discretion of hte person who's casting them and where their sympathy lies. This picture to the left shows Zimmerman in a way that most Americans haven't seen him since they've seen the other picture (below) . I have to say that I do believe mostly from the audio as well as some other facts that are trickling in that I do believe that Zimmerman is guilty of murder in the first degree, his actions were of a calculated nature and his hope to evade prosecution under the Stand Your Ground Law is ludicrous
Recent Setback: Dick's
I want to start work so bad that I am willing to take anything, not just anything but something I can see myself at for a while at least 1-3 years. However, I thought that if I were persistent and called every day or every other day I would get a job. Then I call the manager one day and they say that I didn't open my availability on Sunday which I then did and then they said that they would review my application, so when I hit a rejection notice I said, WTF??? Then I got depressed and ate a lot of food and now I'm feeling better after running into some friends, going to a focus group FOCUS stands for Facing Our Conflicts Using Substances and then I ran into my buddy Brian Trzeciak today and we'll set up a time to sit down and talk about a project he is working on and now I'm helping my friend T with a closing he's doing and I have to say that I am feeling so much better now. Also, I'm not going to buy ANYTHING at Dick's...I'll go somewhere else
Silence on Referendums
OH Attorney General Certifies the DOMA Repeal Amendment
I was pissed when I heard that the AG didn't qualify the question to overturn their 2004 mini DOMA and I could see red. Now that a new draft of the law has been certified they now have a short time to collect 385,253 signatures and I am hopeful that the amendment will pass and give the LGBT Ohioans the right to legally marry their spouses. I don't know how long they have to do this, but I hope they pull a Walker Recall with this one, that there is so many that it's nonsensical to say it failed. November 2013 may be the time it's going to be voted on. Off year elections last year really showed a real 'we're sick of these power socket' attitude and WI recall elections definitely showed that by recalling 2 WI Senators and forcing a split. I also think that it brings out the dedicated and a little less of the crazies. This is only my opinion.
Anchorage Prop 5 May Fail. NOM Tweets VOTE NO
Now, Magghie Gallagher has said that NOM doesn't take a position on civil unions or other legislation for gays and lesbians other than the marriage question. However, when I read on Think Progress that one of their staffers tweeted to vote NO on Proposition 5 which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender expression or sexual orientation, the church Anchorage Baptist Church produced a few commercials saying that people would be forced to hire trans individuals and characterizing them as men in dresses. Now, men in dresses are drag queens, not trans--that's out of the way then. However, when NOM says officially they don't take a position and then their staffer makes this suggestion it is no surprise that though Gallagher has said this and did something else is not a surprise. They say a link is not an endorsement but they blast a school for linking to a site that doe have some graphic and crude language that high school students would hear anyway. NOM also said that they didn't plant the idea in Black and Latino communities to oppose marriage, but their whole idea of putting gay v. black is in fact an old and constantly brewing and when the black community bashes the gay community it's about morality but when the gay community bashes the black community on their homophobia it's all of a sudden racism. The Black community last time I checked, didn't have a patent on Civil Rights, which brings me to my final topic
Black v. Gay
I remember being out at PRIDE and other events during the Marriage Equality fight and I have to say that when I found a fellow person of color, I wanted to make sure that they knew that the anti gay crusaders were putting black v. gay and that it offends me most of all becuase I can't exactly put myself on a table and surgically cut the gay away. All the time NOM and other groups race bait so that they can say that the gay community is intolerant of blacks but let's take a look at a conundrum that I see with black gays when they say that the larger gay community is primarily white and that they don't feel welcome so they exclude themselves which is what I see in the T community with LGB folks and I won't lie, some of the Bisexual folks feel erasure as well as the T community. However, I will say one thing: Quit your yakkin and join up with the community, then recruit other black gays to the table, we need our colleagues of other races so that we can go into many communities and talk on the level that they are on. Otherwise, shut it up. Black gays and the larger community need to step it up and denounce the homophobia of NOM and our black leaders need to stop taking the race bait. NOM sees it as it is, the gay community will call you bigots and we can now say that they're racist, but when it's a black gay man calling them out on their homophobia, I wonder what NOM will say to that? My guess is silence
Until The Pen Strikes Again
Terry
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