fiction and musings from a gay black dude with delusions above his station
I have a jingle going through my head that may or may not be from an old Boy Scouts ad. It went something like, “Join the Boy Scouts of America Today, and together we can form a better USA!” A manly male chorus sang it a cappella, with an echo, giving it an almost hymn-like…
We are all friends here. Or should be; for the laughter of Mordor will be our only reward, if we quarrel. -Gandalf, from “The Two Towers” by JRR Tolkien Chortles undoubtedly rose high in Fairfax, Virginia, along with slapping hands and champaign glasses, after a Republican-led filibuster blocked the much negotiated gun reform bill from…
A pressure cooker loaded with nails and ball bearings. That’s what the FBI now says constituted one of the two bombs that went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. A pressure cooker. Seems sadly appropriate. Our world today is jam packed with imaginary demons and boogeymen. All of them can be described…
So we all know the story now. The Onion made a series of irreverent, snark-filled tweets during the Oscars. And then they demeaned a nine year old. The joke, so say knowledgable comics, was to take someone innocent who is doted on and then turn that very innocence on its head, to say, in effect,…
A month and a half ago, I wrote about the need to reform the filibuster so that the minority Republican caucus in the Senate would not use it as a bludgeon to stop any and all legislation it did not like. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decried the abuse of the filibuster during much of…
Something happened to me the other day on Facebook which has never happened before. I put up what I thought was an innocuous post about 82 year old Jim Nabors marrying his partner of 38 years in the Great State of Washington. Mr. Nabors and his now-husband Stan Cadwallader live in Honolulu, but hopped across…
In the last election Blue Michigan voted to repeal the controversial law which allowed an unelected, state appointed despot, I mean manager, to take over cities and towns in financial trouble. No matter. The Republican controlled state legislature — the same one that gerrymandered the hell out of the congressional districts in that state —…
Oakland, California, a city of about 396,000 residents, saw 131 homicides in 2012. This is the highest homicide rate for Oakland since 2006, when 145 people lost their lives. I actually have a deep distrust and loathing for firearms and could never see myself owning one. OK, I do have a friend who once…
The Senate will soon discuss potential ways of modifying the filibuster so that, basically, the Republican minority will no longer be able to capriciously and maliciously block legislation and presidential appointments. As has been noted in many stories, the filibuster hath run amok. According to official Senate records, since 2007, when the Democrats took control…
The day began in Sandy Hook, Connecticut with the tolling of bells. While the nation paused for a moment of silence in observance of the one week anniversary of the mass shooting, National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre prepared to take the stage. The NRA had been conspicuously silent about the mass shooting, which left 28…
