Tarhearted.

SHIRLEY, YOU JEST.

Something has been bugging me about this whole Shirley Sherrod story and I share this only because I'm afraid I'm crazy or missing something.

When it came to light that Breitbart's footage was probably doctored to make Sherrod look bad all of the media took a collective sigh and started back pedaling. Sherrod went from "reverse racist" to maligned victim of racism in 24 hours. "See, that footage was doctored! Her statements were taken out of context!"

Okay, so onto my question. Am I the only person who didn't think anything she said was inflammatory at all, even in Breitbart's edited video? I mean, all she did was share a personal anecdote about her own struggle with bias and how she got over it. This is a Southern black woman whose father was killed by the KKK and who, against systemic racism and sexism, found her way into a successful career despite the odds against her. I guess my question is essentially this: even if Shirley DID have some wariness toward white people, some sort mistrust or even anger, um... so what? I can't begin to imagine the shit she's been through in her life. She's more than earned a little wariness, a little anger. Have we become so PC that we have to pretend black and white people are on equal footing in this country and that Shirley's (alleged) prejudice is exactly the same as a white person's prejudice? 

As a somewhat effeminate gay man I sometimes feel really uncomfortable around straight dudes. It's not because I'm some sort of hater of heteros. IT'S BECAUSE STRAIGHT DUDES HAVE FUCKED WITH ME MY ENTIRE LIFE.

It's not prejudice, it's survival.

DISPATCHES FROM THE OTHER AMERICA.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly people who don't even consider New York part of the "real America" are to embrace the tragedy of 9/11 as their own. They come here in their ugly clothes and stand at Ground Zero, soft pretzels in hand, and wrap themselves in phony patriotic sadness. Then they go back to Omaha or wherever and complain about how rude New Yorkers are and how filthy our city is.

A Sarah Palin tweet: "Peaceful New Yorkers, pls refudiate the Ground Zero mosque plan if you believe catastrophic pain caused @ Twin Towers site is too raw, too real."

New Yorkers @ Sarah Palin: STFU already.

Read all about it here.

IT RHYMES WITH SCHMAMORTION.

This bitch tried to sell her baby for $25 in a Walmart parking lot. She's so dumb though. She could have gotten $50 at Target. When police showed up to arrest her and her 38 year-old boyfriend they were strung out on meth. Of course they were. Look at her face:

Ugh. Nothing terrifies quite like meth. How any gay man takes that shit is beyond me. Anyway, then I read this story about a stripper mom who punched her kid for trying to hug her as she was abandoning them. Nice!

I read both of these stories after seeing this ad on the subway this morning:

Really? REALLY? You know what else changes you? Having a fucking baby, asshole. I'm so sick of "pro-lifers" who only give a shit about life for the nine months it's inside some poor teenager's womb. It's no surprise that these are usually the same people who don't support welfare and social programs. I mean, just because you force women to have babies it doesn't mean you have to help support them, right? Of course not! Just give them to the military or one of our many McPrisons when they're old enough and let them sort themselves out.

Ugh. America FAIL.

Abortions for everybody! My treat!

REASON #392 TO HATE SARAH PALIN.

Oh no she didn't.

So sayeth Sarah Palin: "Go back to what our founders and our founding documents meant -- they're quite clear -- that we would create law based on the God of the bible and the ten commandments. "

Listen to me and listen to me good, witch. I'm sick to death of the misguided notion that this is or has ever been a Christian nation. (Okay, it kind of is now but only because of retards like you.) Our founding fathers were largely Deists as was the fashion among the intelligentsia at the time of the American Revolution.

What is Deism? From Dictionary.com:

–noun

1.

belief in the existence of a god on the evidence of reason and nature only, with rejection of supernatural revelation (distinguished from theism).

2.

belief in a God who created the world but has since remained indifferent to it.

Sure, the founding fathers may have believed in god, but they sure as hell didn't believe that Adam and Eve lived among the dinosaurs like the fucking Flintstones.

So get off my tit already with this Christian nonsense and stop using your crazy old cult to deny people's civil rights, suppress women, marginalize people of other faiths, ignore climate change etc.

You. Suck.

STATES TO HATE.

 

This write-up on why Arizona is totally the worst state got me thinking; what state do I hate the most? I'm tempted to say Utah (because of Mormons) or West Virginia (just because) but I've never actually been to either of those states, so that would make me a total asshole. I don't really care for the desert states either, but only because I don't really like the desert. I don't have any passion about it- though I might if I had to discuss immigration with one of these fucktards in Arizona.

My favorite state? That's easy. It's Washington. I like how it's neatly tucked into the corner. It's stunningly beautiful there and the people are fairly progressive without being as obnoxious about it as Californians (for the most part.) I like the fog at night and the mist that keeps your skin feeling so fresh. I like the way it smells in the morning after its rained. Speaking of rain, did you know Washington has the only rain forest in the United States? It's true, and it's mind boggling how beautiful it is there. AND Washington has a desert. Or if not a desert a desert/plain. It has everything, plus it has Seattle, the Emerald City I miss so much.

I love New York City like mad, but I don't really know much about the state as a whole. I rarely leave the city, having no car. I'm getting married in Connecticut next year, despite never having been there. Vermont seems nice and I'm kind of obsessed with Maine. Chicago was really cool, but no beach? I don't know. I'm not sold.

I was born in Kentucky. It's very pretty, but there's something I find incredibly depressing about it. Plus, it's not the greatest place for gay dudes to live. I'll admit a distaste for Florida, but that's unfair because I've only been to Northern Florida, which is really just Alabama, and Central Florida, which is really just The Olive Garden. I'm excited to go to Ft. Lauderdale in June, because I think I might actually like the real Florida.

I loathe Texas on principle for its conservatism and idiocy, but in my heart of hearts I love big hair and shiny garments. I was also wild about Dallas (the series) for a while and wanted to move there and just wear gold all the time and work on my alcoholism. Plus they have Austin in Texas, so it's not all bad.

Anyway, I can't decide. How about you? What state do you hate?

HOORAY FOR HEALTH CARE.

I can't believe it. Health care reform passed.

After a year of frustration, obstructionist Republicans, tea parties, seemingly ineffectual Democrats, and a growing cynicism that Americans would ever get the government they deserved, health care reform actually passed. 

This blog is called Tarhearted as a sort of joke. It's blog that chronicles my battle between being an overly sensitive introvert and a tar hearted grumpy old man and recluse. This battle is constantly being waged within me, and that pendulum swings far and wide in both directions constantly. Each time somebody wears so-called "designer" sweat pants outside, I am tested. But as The Fiance and I watched the votes come in on CNN I actually surprised myself... I cried tears of joy. 

I didn't get to do that when Barack Obama was elected, happy as I was, because of Proposition 8. I watched straight people celebrate in the streets, and I empathized with them from a distance, but my heart was broken. Once again my community had been swindled. But last night I finally got to celebrate.

I have amazing health insurance. I'm lucky. But I spent many, many years without it. I spent lots of time in free clinics and emergency rooms. I have a lot of family members and friends that don't have coverage, and so I celebrate for them. Not to mention the 40,000 plus people who die every year for lack of coverage.

Speaking of those people. If 40,000 people died in a terrorist attack or a natural disaster we would send aid to them in a split second. I don't know why the Democrats didn't position it this way until the end, but passing health care reform is the moral thing to do. Don't get me started on the supposed "Christians" who are against health care reform, as if there is some passage in the Bible that tells Christians, "Oh, those poor people there? They're fine. Just ignore them." 

Don't get me started on those fucking tea partiers either, who yelled "nigger" and "faggot" at Congressmen as they walked into the house. This just shows their true colors. We should be grateful, really. I prefer my hateful bigots where I can see them, not pretending to be against taxes (or whatever these tea party folks tell themselves they're against.) 

Don't get me started on fucking Newt Gingrich either, who called health care reform "the most radical social experiment . . . in modern times," adding, "They will have destroyed their party much as Lyndon Johnson shattered the Democratic Party for 40 years with the enactment of civil rights legislation in the 1960s." FUCK YOU, Gingrich! Civil rights ruined the Democratic party? Maybe for racist old "dixiecrats" who we don't want on our team anyway. And radical? Pssh. This ain't radical. Guess Gingrich has never heard of THE WHOLE REST OF THE CIVILIZED WORLD. He's going to plotz when we get single payer. (So god help me, we will have single payer.)

Which reminds me... we have got to get these so-called "Blue Dogs" out of our party and replace them with progressives. Stupak et al can eat a dick. Somebody draft a letter. "Dear Stupak & company. Please stop TOTALLY RUINING EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME."

See? Now I'm getting tar hearted again! Simmer down, man. Simmer down. Okay, I'm fine now. Today is really a great day for America. Is this bill watered down and kind of boring? Sure. But it's a start. And I'm so happy that I don't have to end this entry with, "Suck it, poor people!" Instead, say it with me:

Suck it, corporatists! 

CRAZY BROKEDOWN BITCHES: JANET PORTER EDITION.

Maybe I'll make this a regular, weekly column. Really it could fill a whole blog. Anyway, this week in crazy brokedown bitches, Janet Porter asked God to give Christians control of the media.

Bitch, no. Just... no.

It's nice that she asks God to help her understand what He wants and then promptly gives him a laundry list of things that she wants.

Typical.

Also, nice pantsuit.

WHITE DUDES.

All the talk about race lately, yesterday's post on riot grrl, and a recent work argument in which my coworkers ganged up on me for not thinking America is totes number 1, (and a number of other things)... has me thinking.

I am not popular.

Seriously, If America is a high school, I am sitting at the freaks' table. I'm gay, a socialist, a feminist (dude's can be feminists too!), and an outspoken atheist. I'm also a starving artist (in a dying art, no less!)

That said, I am really, really lucky to be a white dude. God only knows how much harder this shit would be if I weren't.

Just wanted to say that.

LOUIE VARRECCHIO IS AN ASSHOLE.

I read this on Joe.My.God an sprained my eyes from rolling them so hard. This guy is a columnist for Catholic Exchange and clearly has some outdated thoughts on gender roles. Enjoy:

"As for that natural male aggressiveness; no longer is it guided toward its good and useful application, it’s just treated with Ritalin and deprogrammed away. And what do we have to show for it now? A metro-sexual class of soft-bellied fellas who are inept at taking charge and making decisions, yet are strangely proficient at plucking their own eyebrows in traffic as they head to their 4 o’clock pedi.

"My daughters are now young ladies and — please God — neither one of them seems very likely to become one of those overwhelmed moms who lie awake at night staring at the ceiling after coming to the horrible realization that they married their best girlfriend. Even so, I worry for all of those little boys out there whose parents have bought into the lie and just don’t get it. If I had had a young son sitting next to me watching the Olympics you can bet he wouldn’t be left to witness the charade of men’s figure skating without some much needed observations from his dear ol’ Neanderthal Dad." - Catholic Exchange columnist Louie Varrecchio, complaining about this year's Olympic male figure skaters.

Okay, never mind the irony of hearing about the merits of traditional masculinity from a dude who looks like Corky St. Clair from Waiting for Guffman. I have real issues with this kind of idealogy, even from his first statement. I can only imagine what Mr. Varrecchio thinks about gay or transgender people (I have a guess), but let's set even that aside for a moment.

I don't believe in "natural male aggressiveness," or at least not to the extent that folks like Varrecchio do. People have all sorts of relationships to their gender, not just the two sizes the Catholic Church tries to sell you. Of course being a straight male, Varrecchio has never had to think about gender representation much. If he were queer or trans or maybe even a straight woman- people who have had to think about such issues their entire lives- he would know better.

I think that boys are trained in aggression, not born with it. It's part of the whole "boys don't cry" dogma that people like Varrecchio perpetuate. It's problematic for men, who grow up unable to process emotion and subsequently channel everything into anger and aggression. Couple this with all the women out there who've been trained to be submissive and weak willed and you've got a real problem. It's a bummer for the rest of us, because these deficient people get to vote and make policy just like we do.

I also hope that Varrecchio's girls don't become overwhelmed moms who lie awake at night. That is, I hope they don't swallow the bullshit they've been handed by their father and their church and use birth control until they're ready to have children (if they want them.)

As for his dig at Johnny Weir, he is an Olympic athlete. What did you ever do besides writing poorly thought out opinion peices based on a prehistoric understanding of the world for a junk "newspaper." JERK!

And just to prove a point:

Louis

Corky

By the way, this is the exact moment in Waiting for Guffman when Corky is telling the camera crew that he imagined he would become a construction work "with the chaps" and perhaps "one of those sweeping kind of hats." Amazingness.

KILL THE GAYS.

Holy shit, this pro Ugandan "kill the gays bill"  messaging is insane.

1. Fuck this dude. He's a crazy, hateful bigot.

2. Uganda is the WORST.

3. The American right wing (who inspired this bill to begin with and who have ties to all of these nutso Ugandan "ministers") need to speak out against these actions immediately. Seriously, why have they been so silent on this? Could it be because they don't actually care if gay people are murdered by angry mobs in Africa? Can it be that they actually think this is a good thing?