NO MITT FOR ME

My Achilles heel has always involved animals. When the local news features a story about animal abuse I either cover my ears and close my eyes or turn the television off and wonder again why I don't always watch Jon Stewart at 11:000. The story about Mitt Romney traveling for twelve hours with the family dog on the roof of the car twenty years ago has re-surfaced again, and once again I'd wouldn't want anything to do with someone who would do that. The story is obviously true since the latest description of the container that the dog was in is being described by Romney himself as a "kennel". Give me a break. Last year my family drove from Pittsburgh to Jacksonville and I worried about Woof more than I worried about my Mother on the trip. We stopped overnight twice (MOSTLY for my Mom), and ever few hours for Woof as well. Now Woof had most of the back seat, with a lap to rest her head, and was only four years old.

The account of the Romney's with their dog on the roof also includes the stress on their Dog, which caused the dog to have diarrhea which the kids saw running down the back window. Mr Romney stopped at a gas station and hosed off the car and the dog...then continued on the trip to Ontario. I don't care if the dog had a state of the art "wind shield", or was in some kind of a kennel or a typical crate. I have no respect for someone who would do that. I don't care how long ago it was either. Tell me about Romney's "BAIN" problems....or his silver spoon..or his views on anything at all. I don't like him and would never support him for just this one reason. Michael Vick is a great athlete, but I can't stand to hear his name. Same goes for you Mr. Romney.

CHURCHES DON'T WELCOME MENTAL HEALTH

I had a conversation with a friend the other day about a woman she met and ended up discussing gay issues...and the woman's Fundamentalist church. My friend has been socializing with my partner and me for at least twenty years, and she loves us both...always hopes we'll finally have a wedding. The woman told her that her church believes that homosexuality is "an inclination that has to be fought". That got me to thinking about the whole issue again, especially in regard to my own Catholic church. I think being gay isn't an inclination that I have, it's who I am. I love women, I love being with them and having them in my closest circle of people...I love how they think, how they view the world etc etc etc...but I'm not sexually attracted to women. I have an inclination to write..or to work in my garden...or travel...or read...or hang around with Woof, but I'm not simply "inclined" to be gay. Why would I want to fight who I am? That's a twisted concept.

I know that the Vatican call's homosexuality an "intrinsic disorder". I of course don't see it as any sort of a disorder....that implies an unhealthy personality. ( The AMA and DSM disagree with the Church as well.)

Now we've all heard "love the sinner...but hate the sin"...and my church says that being homosexual is alright...but any homosexual acts are sinful. So a celibate homosexual is acceptable. No Thanks...not me. Now of course there is more than one Mr Michelle Bachman out there trying to make homosexuals into heterosexuals, and the damage that causes is just astounding. Ain't gonna happen. If you are reading this blog, you are either heterosexual or homosexual (or bi sexual), can YOU imagine a big switcheroo?

While the archbishop of LA just resigned because he has two kids, a local priest is enroute to jail for child pornography , priestly pedophiles have damaged the church, Fundamentalist preachers get caught paying hustlers, jeeeeeze.

There are many many very good, very healthy, well adjusted people who are not welcome in many churches...because they're not either fighting themselves or because they have fallen in love and want to spend their life with another person. The Bishop in Minnesota who has added a prayer to the liturgy that begs God to prevent same sex marriages might well consider something a little healthier to sweep across those cold cities.

A Gardener in January

January and February are rough months for me....although Woof and I are often able to cuddle up together on the back porch even if there's just a brief burst of sunshine. My Aunt Katie used to swear that the"January sun" was the first sign of an approaching Spring. This winter has been really different...more like an extended and kinda nice long Autumn. While I'm usually in bed early with the latest seed catalog by now, instead I've been out without a jacket quite a few times cleaning up my potting bench and even propping open the door to my little backyard greenhouse.

Yesterday I was amazed to see a blue and a yellow primrose blooming in the garden. All the supermarkets and box stores always replace the poinsettias in January with those beautiful vivid little primroses, and I finally figured out how to keep them for more than a week or two. They like the cold, not freezing cold, but very chilly. So while the logical place for such brilliant little flowers would seem to be a sunny windowsill, they'd much prefer a colder but bright spot. Mine seem to bloom forever on the floor of my greenhouse where it's really only about 40 degrees for most of the winter. The ones I planted in the garden after enjoying them all winter really brightened my spirits this week.

Now if Phipps would just move the opening date of the Spring Flower show to about February 1, I might actually be able to keep my spirits up in spite of what happens in the next few weeks. Usually by the time the show opens around Easter, my own daffodils and tulips are also blooming. I could use a dose of Spring much sooner than the beginning of April. For now Woof and I will just focus on those two little determined primroses, and soak up every available ounce of that January sun.

RICK SANTORUM.....JUST A REGULAR GUY

There is quite a bit being written lately about Rick Santorum. I have certainly been writing my fair share for a good while...because as a gay man in a 30 year relationship. people who say things that are hurtful to me or to others like me are going to get a response. As Mr Santorum has suddenly forced Newt out of the spotlight, he has also been much more scrutinized by the media than he was when he was at the bottom of the heap...where Michelle Bachmann eventually landed. I hate his views on gay people, contraception, his "jobs" plans etc etc etc, but his experience and actions after the still birth of a child just...seem first of all sad and tragic, and then just strange and unhealthy. He recently spoke about his deceased grandfather and in addition to how long and hard he worked, he spoke of seeing him in his casket. Mr Santorum was a young child....says he was only tall enough to see his grandfathers large hands, but it certainly seems to be a vivid memory for him.

My German-Irish family traditions almost always include a "viewing" of the deceased, and I also have a vivid memory of seeing my grandmother in her casket when I was about eight years old. Since then I've probably been to hundreds of funeral homes and seen an equal number of both young and old corpses lying in repose, but you know I still remember that very first time....seeing my grandmother. I can "feel" some of what that experience was for me...people crying whom I'd never seen cry before, the hushed voices, the smell of all those flowers, and the odd beautiful woman whom I'd loved very much...looking at peace finally after an awful and painfully long death from gangrene.

Bringing the body of a dead baby home might certainly be an "acceptable" expression of grief for the mother and father...albeit unusual, but what about the kids? There is very little doubt in my mind that everyone of them has a vivid memory of that experience. I of course have no idea of what went on in that household that tragic night, but it is certainly beyond my experience, and the experience of anyone I know...including relatives who also suffered from a still born birth of a child.

Rick Santorum is UNUSUAL. While he rails against those who are different from him (ie ME! ) and almost screeches about abortion....(wasn't his awful experience with all of the above actually a procedure to save his wife's life? )...He's so extreme in his views...saying today that " Jesus" should be a part of the presidency...(sorry atheists and jews)...or that comment about black people that he's trying to retract...oh well.

This is not a normal guy.

BUTCHING IT UP

I like football games...mostly when we're on a winning streak, and although I'd rather have upholstery tacks pressed into my gums than actually GO to a game, I can yell and jump around the living room during the Superbowl. I used to like to hear a baseball game on the radio as well, but I think that was mostly because I associated it with warm summer evenings. Hockey..not so much, but I like Sidney, though watching a game hurts my eyes...like following a tennis ball back and forth hurts my neck. About all I know about basketball is that it's fun to watch the Globetrotters. Of course as a gay guy, I love the diving and swimming at the Olympics ( that's just a given ).

Now there was a great line from Karen on WILL AND GRACE when someone tossed some keys to Jack, and he missed them and Karen said to Grace " They don't catch." That about sums up my abilities or lack there of when it comes to any object thrown in my direction. I never liked tennis or even badmitten because inevitably someone tosses you a ball, or I think it's called a "birdie" or something like that. When I was growing up my Dad traveled to New York a lot on business, and over the years would bring back two baseball mitts...really good ones he said, and would regularly invite me out to the backyard to catch. I still remember those dreaded words, and the feeling that I'd just been invited to feel like I might either faint or suffer a 10 year old's massive heart attack with every ball that eluded me...and most of them did. My Dad never lost patience however, and also never suggested that I try out for Little League. ( watching me on the diamond might have required CPR for both of us.

In our Catholic grade school, we never had a gym....just "recess" where we'd run around when we were little, then stand around when we were older. Entering High School, I thought my new gym outfit was pretty cool, but soon felt my spirits collapse and my heart begin to race when we were expected to play sports.

When I was order to play "right field" I didn't know if that meant my right or the coach's right (since we were facing each other). Football season came quickly and I was a nervous wreck as I stood in the Autumn wind with absolutely no idea of what I was supposed to be doing. Monday was gym day....first period, and after trying to be sick for about nine Mondays in a row, I finally escaped my terror by begging pleading and looking doe-eyed until I landed an early morning job "helping out" in the office. WHEW.

Now the funny thing is that I was also the co-editor of the Yearbook...writing all the sports pages. Honest.

I loved to write, and knew how that stuff was worded, and to this day it makes me chuckle. Two years ago I was asked to blog along with 7 other people for the Post Gazette...PG plus...on line. I've written almost two hundred blogs for them now, and as fate would have it, I'm on the sports page. I have no idea why, but my blog there has more than a six figure hit statistic. Only one other guy writes there who doesn't write about sports....but there he is...and there  I am. When I taught school I'd ask my sports-crazy sister in law for one insightful and clever comment to make about some current sport, then I'd sort of shout it out to all the other men in the teacher's lounge, and then eat my sandwich quietly while they marveled at my sports knowledge. Hey...a guy does what he has to do. GO STEELERS !

PREPARE FOR PRESIDENT SANTORUM !

Well I guess it's time that we all start to prepare for our next president...Rick Santorum. After his near win in Iowa yesterday, I've decided to re-think my own life, and prepare for a whole new world. My partner and I will of course end out thirty year relationship, which President Santorum will of course condemn. We all know that he compares homosexuality to pedophilia and beastiality, and we're both too old to be dragged through a Sandusky-like trial procedure. Mr Future president also said recently that he'd be prepared to invalidate all same sex marriages that have already been legalized. I know one lesbian couple who might present a problem for the next president's secret service...because they're both pretty tough cookies, and they spent a lot of money on the D.J. for their wedding reception last summer. All gay pride events will of course be canceled, rainbows forbidden, and no-one but Mr. Michelle Bachman would be allowed to flaunt any gay characteristics on TV. No more WILL AND GRACE reruns, no ELLEN show, but Mother Angelica and all TV evangelists who are not in prison would be given prime time slots.

Now dear straight readers, you will have your own adjustments to make. President Santorum does not accept ANY form of birth control. The president himself has 10 or 15 children ( not sure about this), and therefore has had sex (heterosexual) about once a year. With the central focus of traditional marriage being procreation...forget those sexy CIALIS ads, and if the moment is right....it better be right for a pregnancy too...get those outdoor bathtub scenes right out of your head.

Our new president will also be planning to make all abortions illegal. Women will of course continue to have them, and all the back alley doctors who will discreetly crank up their practices might actually help the economy. Mr President will undoubtedly see life as beginning with a fertilized egg...so any couples interested in In vitro procedures will be flirting with prison sentences for murder. It seems logical also that anyone who has an abortion, has had one in the past, or has been an "accomplice" to one will be guilty of homicide...and presumably sentenced to death or a lengthy prison term.

Recently, Ricky (oops...Mr Santorum) made some weird comments about welfare....that he doesn't think white people ought to be paying for black people via Welfare...but that was probably just a musing by Rick since there are far more white folks on Welfare than black folks...but maybe he even has a few new amazing theories about that. Better wait until he's sworn in.

Lastly, as we prepare for some major lifestyle changes with a brand spanking new President, we'd best prepare ourselves for the next invasion of a country that hasn't done anything to us...but might. Back to that "preemptive" war stuff that we learned all to well about with Iraq. Mr Santorum has made it clear that he's ready to bomb Iran's nuclear sights. ( sometimes "pro-life" ) is misunderstood...eggs are people...and "collateral damage" is ...is...not people. Huh?

All in all...I'm planning to leave my partner, encourage our 14 year old neighbor who was raped on New Years Eve to have her baby, marry a woman and have 20 or 30 kids, get a couple of guns, smile when they take away my long time disabled black friend's food stamps, and prepare to send by 18 year old nephew to a new war in Iran. HAIL TO THE CHIEF !!!!!!!

BUSH, CHENEY,AND RUMSFIELD OUGHT TO BE TRIED!

Maybe 2012 will be the year when justice is served to several people who have never been brought to trial. There are at least three people who are absolutely guilty of very serious crimes against humanity. Together they have destroyed families, killed innocent people, ruined the dreams of thousands of children, and lied about what they were actually doing.

These three were able to start this murderous adventure by bypassing congress and convincing many Americans that our own country might suffer a deadly nuclear attack unless we attacked a sovereign country that was linked to the attacks on 9-11.

These three were able to convince far too many young Americans that their country needed them to avenge the destruction caused by Osama Bin Laden by fighting an insurgency in Iraq. Many of those young people came back home in coffins, while thousands of others have horrendous injuries both physical and mental.

Nearly seventy percent of Americans say this war wasn't worth the cost in lives or in money....but it happened...and it could happen again. While Bush, Cheney and Rumsfield travel the country speaking and promoting their books, countless families either struggle every day to "recover" from what these three orchestrated, or they visit a grave. I think they need to answer more than a few questions, and perhaps their answers would bring a sense of justice for 67 percent of us....and maybe land the three of them where they belong.