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It appears that the Evangelical Church has come out.  The Rev. Ted Haggard was found to be buying drugs and getting "massages" from gay male escorts.  According the accused (Haggard) he bought Meth but never used it.  He was just curios about it.  He also supposedly only received massages from the gay escort who was his Meth hookup.  Apparently after the National Association of Evangelicals publicly voiced supported for gay marriage ban amendments his gay lover was upset at the hypocrisy and decided it was time for Haggard to come out.  You can find the original article here.  Here in Tennessee there is a proposed state level constitutional amendment on the ballot in this mid-term election.  The exact wording of the proposed amendment is as follows:

"The historical institution and legal contract solemnizing the relationship of one man and one woman shall be the only legally recognized marital contract in this state.  Any policy or law or judicial interpretation, purporting to define marriage as anything other than the historical institution and legal contract between one man and one woman, is contrary to the public policy of this state and shall be void and unenforceable in Tennessee.  If another state or foreign jurisdiction issues a license for persons to marry and if such marriage is prohibited in this state by the provisions of this section, then the marriage shall be void and unenforceable in this state."

The Tennessee Equality Project is working with a campaign they call Vote No on 1.  They outline many reason why the law is fruitless.  The primary one being that it is already illegal to grant marriage certificated to same sex married couples here in Tennessee.

The opposition is Family Action Council of Tennessee and their campaign RealMarriage.org or "Vote Yes on 1.  I for one find it funny they the Family Action Council of Tennessee uses FACT as an acronym they should have come up with a name that fit the acronym FAITH instead.  There is very little fact on either of the opposition sites, but more than enough faith to go around.

The photo to the right of an Evangelical Church makes a lot more sense to me now.  (The obviously doctored photo to the right came out much better than my GIMP skills should allow.  I guess when you have some artistic inspiration the sky is the limit. Hehe…)

Theme Music:

For the last two weeks or so i've been completely consumed by 9-11.  If you had asked me 4 years go where we would be today regarding 9-11, I would have told you that most of the questions would be answered.  Some how though, 5 years have slipped by and none of the questions have been answered, and now hundreds more exist.  At most we've been given explanations made up of half truths, psuedo-science and out right lies.  As more and more time passes I become more and more sure that the only way to effect change is through revolution.  So what exactly is a revolution?  Lets take a quick look at the definition as it applies to the current subject:

rev‧o‧lu‧tion  [rev-uh-loo-shuhn]

–noun

1.  an overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system by the people governed.

Here in the United States of America our system of government boils down to a very simple premise.  "…of the people, for the people, and by the people."  These nine ten word above all else sum up the very essence of our system of government.  Lets take a look at these words for a second.  Firstly in "…of the people,", of states that the persons making up the body of the government are the same people that the system governs.  Second we have "for the people," which suggest that the government exist for the benefit of the people it governs.  Finally we have "by the people." which shows derivation, meaning that the people are the source of the government and its direction.

So how exactly does a revolution take place in a country "by the people"?  The short answer is that it doens't.  The long answer is, technically it can, but why would "the people" want to move away from a system that is designed specifically to benefit and empower them?  It is relativly safe to say that so long as the government is of, for, and by the people their won't be a revolution.  When the people begin to loose faith in the system that allows them to elect their peers to positions with in the government then it is no longer a government "of the people".  When the government begins to eliminate the rights of the people, and shift money from programs that serve the people to the eleet "upper crust" of society it is no longer a government "for the people".  When the government is given special privilages over the people the people become disenfranchised and begin to feel that the government is a seperate entity that they have no power over, and it is no longer a government "by the people".

I'll leave you with the following quote from George Orwell's 1984: "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."

With that in mind go start a revolution!

This guy just can't stop laughing.  He tries to gain his composure several times, but as soon as the guy starts talking again he laughs.  At the end of the clip he completely looses it.  Enjoy! 

…Clifton "Woooooo weee…oh lord…this racism is killing me inside…"

In case you didn't already know Clifton is the milkman character from the Dave Chappell "The Niggar Family" skit.  Pretty funny shit…but lets not get distracted here.  Ok, ok…go ahead and get distracted, and then continue reading.

All of the recent blatanly racisist comments by republican party members has really got me steamed.  But lets not turn this in to a Racisist Republican bashing post.  There are plenty of racist fuck faces in all walks of life.  Of course most of them are red neck republicans.  Lets take a quick look at some of the things over the last couple of weeks.  I'm really not sure if I should laugh or cry.  These are politician that are controlling the world we live in…  You may be asking yourself why i'm picking on the Republican party when there is so much rasicm in the world to address.  Well, it's because they are race-baiting the elections.  They have been know to do this time and time again.  They are hurting in the polls right now and stand to lose the control the now have over our government.  So they go back to the tried and true tactics of race-baiting the South East and Mid West to snatch white voters away from the Democrats.  It really fucking sad…not that they are racist, but that it actually works.  It shows you just how fucked up this world we live in is.

Macaca:

Black people can't swim:

There's more where that came from but I just can't take too much of this at once, so lets end this on a light, but still very racism remark Daily Show style.

Feel free to scream now…just let it all out…when your done we will all still be living in a very racist world…but while your screaming you will probably not be thinking about how fucked up it all is for that one tiny moment…

I think of all of the things about NYC that I miss (other than Mike and Larry of course) I miss Complacent Nation's flash-mob open-source style events the most.  Watching all of these people dance to randomly generated live music while constantly moving around the streets of NYC makes me want to cry.  Mostly because I know nothing this beautiful, fresh, and spontaneous will ever happen here in Middle Tennessee. 

So after some thought, and looking back to how well I did a couple of months ago when I quit smoking I was thinking that it was rather nice period of time and couldn't really figure out where I went wrong or when i started smoking a pack a day again.  In any case i'm geared up for the first three days again.  I've done this before, and it's not really difficult or painful or anything, the craving are more of an annoyance than anything.  It's after three days when your body has metabolized the remaining nicotene that the cravings become strong.  After about 10 days the tough part is over and your biggest challenge is avoiding those spot where you smoke habitually.  I've discovered a great site with tons of information called WhyQuit.com .  Education can be your best weapon in the battle to quit smoking.  I was a little wishy-washy about quiting before and used language that allowed me to regress with out feeling too guilty.  Not this time!  I've quit forever!  (After all thats the only way you can quit…)

 To the right your will see what at first seems like an incredibly brutal picture.  Well it is brutal, but don't look away.  Let it slap you in the face like a snow shovel sized hand of reality.  Focus on it until you think you understand what this family is going through at this moment.  Look closely at Bonnie Curtis's anguish and and the vacant stare of a child who will never truely know his father.  Now look at Bryan Lee Curtis and try for a second to imagine a physical pain that no amount of pain killers or nerve blocks will help.  Then imagine knowing that this pain will be with you until the end.  I can't imagine that knowing the end is close could make you feel any better.  Once you start to cry you have just begun to feel a small sample (in a much lighter dose) of what it might be like.

Right about now or maybe in the first paragraph your probably wondering "What sick bastard put poor Bryan's photos online for the world to see!?"  The answer…Bryan did, or at least had it done on his behalf and at his request.  Even though he continued to smoke up until he was simply too incapacitated to do so, he spent the last few weeks of his life trying to get his story out in the hopes that at least one kid might be scared straight by his ghostly visage.  Sadly he died two day before he was scheduled to go on TV.

My cat after rolling around in some sidewalk chalk drawings my kids made.

First things first I'm still doing well on the being a quitter front. I'm creeping up on 2 1/2 weeks now…but it feels like an eternity. I held a cigarette in my hand yesterday and considered lighting it up just because I felt like I had forgotten what I was missing. When I held it in my hand it felt so weird like it was in the wrong place. It was like one of those awkward moments on a blind date when you both realize it was a mistake. Anyway, enough obsessing about smoking. Surely there are other happenings in my life worth of being blogged….surely…..ummm….let see….blogable happening…hmmmm…. I got a new dog. While quite technically my mother might be taking him in a few weeks, more than likely he will be staying with us. He is a Brownish/Red and White Border Collie. Border Collies are touted as the smartest breed of dog in the world, and have an incredible hearding instinct. They will heard anything from sheep, horses, and cattle to chicken, kids and cats. Of course the cats don't really like being hearded, and will make themselves heard when they are…ya heard!? (lol…i dunno man?) He has really cool electric yellow eyes. On the left eye 1/2 of the iris is this silverish/bluey color, and on the right eye about 1/4 of the iris is that silver color. I'm not really much of a dog person myself…they are just too needy and smell most of the time. He's a great dog though, and I like him, but part of me is kind of hoping that my mom will end up taking him in a few weeks. I think i'll save the other crap for another post….