The Party of Hypocrisy

How many times will we have to see a holier-than-thou Republican get caught with his pants down (or heading in that direction)? If they are not frequenting call girls, then they are writing lewd emails to pages, or hiring male prostitutes for a massage (and some drugs).

I have used public restrooms all my life, but I have never tapped my foot in the next stall, or even responded to a toe tapper. How anyone can cruise restrooms for sex, while someone in the next stall is taking a dump, is beyond me. I guess it is one of only a few outlets left for the closeted, usually married, gay man.

Of course, it all depends on how you define gay. Senator Craig may not really be gay, as I might define it. He may only want sex with men, but can't imagine any kind of romantic or emotional relationship with another man. What I like to call, half a gay man.

I hope it is a generational thing, happening to men who came of age before the gay liberation movement took hold. Or maybe it happens to someone who grew up in a backward state (for example Idaho) and never really felt the freedom that gay liberation can bring. I guess it just makes me sad to think that in 2007, there are so many men who can't live free and open lives. What damaged psyches and souls they must all have.

I don't think you can live this kind of life for long without it taking a toll on your mind and body. Living a dual life must result in raised stress levels, perhaps resulting in depression or at least some form of neurosis. Fighting something that basic to your very being may even lead to suicide.

How long will we have to wait before all gay teenagers will feel totally safe in every part of the country? I hear more and more stories about kids coming out at 12 and 15, but that usually only happens in larger metropolitan areas. Oh for the day when we are all treated as equals in this country. The rest of the world in another matter.

I know I am talking pie-in-the-sky, but I truly hoped this would all happen in my lifetime. I know we have made great progress in the last 40 years, but we still have so far to go. Sometimes I get discouraged, but then I try to lean toward the glass being half full. That seems to happen on most days.

Senator Craig grew up in a different era and in a less than progressive state. He bought all that was sold to him, and did not follow his own path. He followed the path that was expected of him. The path of least resistance. Could we have expected anything more from a man from his time and place?

So, let us all hope for a better day, and a better time, where we are not judged by something so intractable as our sexuality, but by what we do while we are here on this earth.

China, The Red Menace

So here we all are, shocked that China would be sending us intentionally poisoned or defective products. This from a country that pays their workers an average of 17 cents an hour. Talk about cutting corners. I don't have time to repeat all the shortcuts that I have heard Chinese companies make to get their product to market at the lowest price.

Who might be China's number one customer (and I don't mean what country - we all know it is the US of A)? That might be WalMart. This company has done more to run small and medium sized manufacturing jobs out of this country than anyone else. This is after they single–handedly destroyed small town America.

Here's another news flash. WalMart's profits were not as high as expected in the last month. Why, you may ask? Because their customers don't have enough money, until payday, to buy their products.

So WalMart destroys good paying American jobs, then wonders why their new, lower-paid, customers can't afford to buy their products. If they had only looked at history, maybe Henry Ford and the $5 work day, they would see that if you don't pay people enough to buy your products, your sales may go down.

It is not just WalMart that is to blame. It seems that in the Bush era, what is good for the corporations is good for America. And low paying overseas jobs are great for corporate America's bottom line. At what point in our history did the well-being of one's employees become of so little consequence? When did America's companies become only international companies, with no thought to what may happen to the home market, which is the engine of the world economy.

I live in Michigan where this dilemma has hit the hardest. If you cut everyone's pay, sometimes by half (see Delphi Corporation), who is going to buy your products? Will we go back to the 19th century where the chasm between rich and poor was horrifyingly large? It wasn't until Henry Ford and his concept of paying workers a livable wage, so they could afford his product, that the large middle class in this country was created. Look at the rates of poverty in the late 19th century, across all age groups. Compare that to today's. The change is remarkable.

It is ironic that in the first decade of the 20th century Teddy Roosevelt went after large corporations and monopolies and in the first decade of the 21st century, George Bush is doing his best to reverse all that. And those corporations are crying that it is unfair to business to not let them hire illegal aliens at half the wages of the locals. It hurts their bottom line, they say. They can't compete.

It is hard to feel sorry for the people who are destroying the middle class of America (OMG - I'm Lou Dobbs). Now even our houses, which most Americans counted as their single most valuable asset, are losing value. And Wall Street just noticed this last week. Oh my... when will they pick up on the China connection???