A letter to the tea party youth

Simply protesting President Obama for the stimulus bill or health care, and not understanding or refusing to understand the facts of how we got here is unconscionable and dangerous. Political and historical ignorance are not guiding lights for a political movement. This quote speaks to this point “taking many people who were not politically active — it is not uncommon to meet Tea Party advocates who say they have never voted — and turning them into a force that is rattling both parties as they look toward the midterm elections in the fall.”(ny times)

Proclaiming activism to protect her (95 % of the tea party is white) position of white privilege to fuel the divisions of economic injustice and racism in this country with no factual information in the name of patriotism needs to be addressed by her and the tea party movement! I challenge all new tea party youth to consider this point:

Who just crashed the economy and sent the middle class down the drain regardless of race? The white boy conservatives of the past ten years. The same people you front for under a new name with your ignorance or refusal to consider or understand the facts!

See chart below.

To perceive President Obama as the problem needs to be called for what it is - old school, racist, white protectionist politics. And if Ms. Carender can’t rap her mind around the history of this country in regards to the founding of it, with its racism and economic disparity, alive and well especially now, when the last 8 years have completely destroyed the middle class with its conservative agenda, lack of accountability, corporate greed and robbery.

She needs to stop stoking hate and making light of what you consider someone’s “supposed need”. Carender’s statement, “If you believe that it is absolutely moral to take my money and give it to someone else based on their supposed needs...” fuels a divisive us and them mentality, exposing the insulated bubble of privilege she resides within. I challenge her and all tea party youth to take a little time to educate themselves with some facts about where most tax dollars go, and about economic injustice in this country. A good place to start would be to consider that 63% of the budget goes to the industrial war complex. They may also want to ask themselves who is serving in the military and what

economic class they belong to. Who is dying in the two wars we are waging and who is profiting. It is difficult to discern if we are engaged in a war on terror or a war of greed.

for corporate interests.

Jenny Beth Martin, a national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, “She’s not your typical conservative,” she said. “She’s an actress. She’s got a nose ring. I think it’s the thing that’s so amazing about our movement.” Now that’s deep, and definitely will change things? NOT! If the tea party youth really want to make a difference in evolving this country beyond the patriarchal corporate paradigm that is destroying the constitution and people of this country here and around the world, it would serve them to at least acknowledge how we got here, and speak truth to the power within their group instead of being stooges or fronting for greedy white corporate protectionist politics. Do they really know who and what they are supporting and what they stand for? Or, is it just the same old fear and hate, different day?

goddessboi

www.butchculture.com

Quotes taken from NY Times article -Unlikely Activist Who Got to the Tea Party Early

By KATE ZERNIKE Published: February 27, 2010

Action Plan: 15 Things Every American Can Do Right Now to take back the United States !

"Michael Moore's Action Plan: 15 Things Every American Can Do Right Now"

You've Seen the Movie -- Now It's Time to ACT!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Friends,

It's the #1 question I'm constantly asked after people see my movie: "OK -- so \
NOW what can I DO?!"

You want something to do? Well, you've come to the right place! 'Cause I got 15 \
things you and I can do right now to fight back and try to fix this very broken \
system.

Here they are:

FIVE THINGS WE DEMAND THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS DO IMMEDIATELY:

1. Declare a moratorium on all home evictions. Not one more family should be \
thrown out of their home. The banks must adjust their monthly mortgage payments \
to be in line with what people's homes are now truly worth -- and what they can \
afford. Also, it must be stated by law: If you lose your job, you cannot be \
tossed out of your home.

2. Congress must join the civilized world and expand Medicare For All \
Americans. A single, nonprofit source must run a universal health care system \
that covers everyone. Medical bills are now the #1 cause of bankruptcies and \
evictions in this country. Medicare For All will end this misery. The bill to \
make this happen is called H.R. 3200. You must call AND write your members of \
Congress and demand its passage, no compromises allowed ( http://www.pnhp.org/am \
endment/ ).

3. Demand publicly-funded elections and a prohibition on elected officials \
leaving office and becoming lobbyists. Yes, those very members of Congress who \
solicit and receive millions of dollars from wealthy interests must vote to \
remove ALL money from our electoral and legislative process. Tell your members \
of Congress they must support campaign finance bill H.R.1826 ( \
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1826/show ).

4. Each of the 50 states must create a state-owned public bank like they have \
in North Dakota. Then congress MUST reinstate all the strict pre-Reagan \
regulations on all commercial banks, investment firms, insurance companies -- \
and all the other industries that have been savaged by deregulation: Airlines, \
the food industry, pharmaceutical companies -- you name it. If a company's \
primary motive to exist is to make a profit, then it needs a set of stringent \
rules to live by -- and the first rule is "Do no harm." The second rule: The \
question must always be asked -- "Is this for the common good?" (Click here for \
some info about the state-owned Bank of North Dakota: http://www.motherjones.com \
/mojo/2009/03/how-nation%E2%80%99s-only-state-owned-bank-became-envy-wall-street \
)

5. Save this fragile planet and declare that all the energy resources above and \
beneath the ground are owned collectively by all of us. Just like they do it in \
Sarah Palin's socialist Alaska. We only have a few decades of oil left. The \
public must be the owners and landlords of the natural resources and energy \
that exists within our borders or we will descend further into corporate \
anarchy. And when it comes to burning fossil fuels to transport ourselves, we \
must cease using the internal combustion engine and instruct our \
auto/transportation companies to rehire our skilled workforce and build mass \
transit (clean buses, light rail, subways, bullet trains, etc.) and new cars \
that don't contribute to climate change. (For more on this, here's a proposal I \
wrote in December: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikes-letter/saving-the-big \
-3-for-you-and-me-a-message-from-michael-moore ) Demand that General Motors' de \
facto chairman, Barack Obama, issue a JFK man-on-the-moon-style challenge to tur \
n our country into a nation of trains and buses and subways. For Pete's sake, pe \
ople, we were the ones who invented (or perfected) these damn things in the firs \
t place!!

FIVE THINGS WE CAN DO TO MAKE CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT LISTEN TO US:

1. Each of us must get into the daily habit of taking 5 minutes to make four \
brief calls: One to the President (202-456-1414 - http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONT \
ACT/ ), one to your Congressperson (202-224-3121 - https://writerep.house.gov/wr \
iterep/welcome.shtml ) and one to each of your two Senators (202-224-3121 - http \
://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm ). To find out wh \
o represents you, click here: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ . Take just one \
minute on each of these calls to let them know how you expect them to vote on a \
particular issue. Let them know you will have no hesitation voting for a primar \
y opponent -- or even a candidate from another party -- if they don't do our bid \
ding. Trust me, they will listen. If you have another five minutes, click here t \
o send them each an email ( http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ ). And if you rea \
lly want to drop an anvil on them, send them a snail mail letter ( http://www.vi \
si.com/juan/congress/ )!

2. Take over your local Democratic Party. Remember how much fun you had with \
all those friends and neighbors working together to get Barack Obama elected? \
YOU DID THE IMPOSSIBLE. It's time to re-up! Get everyone back together and go \
to the monthly meeting of your town or county Democratic Party -- and become \
the majority that runs it! There will not be many in attendance and they will \
either be happy or in shock that you and the Obama Revolution have entered the \
room looking like you mean business. President Obama's agenda will never happen \
without mass grass roots action -- and he won't feel encouraged to do the right \
thing if no one has his back, whether it's to stand with him, or push him in \
the right direction. When you all become the local Democratic Party, send me a \
photo ( photos@michaelmoore.com ) of the group and I'll post it on my website.

3. Recruit someone to run for office who can win in your local elections next \
year -- or, better yet, consider running for office yourself! You don't have to \
settle for the incumbent who always expects to win. You can be our next \
representative! Don't believe it can happen? Check out these examples of \
regular citizens who got elected: State Senator Deb Simpson ( \
http://www.rbf.org/annualreviews/annualreviews_show.htm?root_doc_id=907315&d \
isplay_doc_id=940605&fullnav=2 ), California State Assemblyman Isadore Hall \
( http://photos.essence.com/galleries/icdrm2008images4isadorehall ), Tempe, Ariz \
ona City Councilman Corey Woods ( http://www.tempe.gov/elected/woods.htm ), Wisc \
onsin State Assemblyman Chris Danou ( http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=67 \
068 ), and Washington State Representative Larry Seaquist ( http://housedemocrat \
s.wa.gov/members/Seaquist/ ). The list goes on and on -- and you should be on i \
t!

4. Show up. Picket the local branch of a big bank that took the bailout money ( \
http://projects.nytimes.com/creditcrisis/recipients/table ). Hold vigils and \
marches. Consider civil disobedience. Those town hall meetings are open to you, \
too (and there's more of us than there are of them!). Make some noise, have \
some fun, get on the local news. Place "Capitalism Did This" signs on empty \
foreclosed homes, closed down businesses, crumbling schools and infrastructure. \
(You can download them from my website - http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/must- \
read/spread-the-word-capitalism-did-this )

5. Start your own media. You. Just you (or you and a couple friends). The \
mainstream media is owned by corporate America and, with few exceptions, it \
will never tell the whole truth -- so you have to do it! Start a blog ( \
https://www.blogger.com/start )! Start a website of real local news (here's an \
example: http://michiganmessenger.com/ ). Tweet your friends ( \
https://twitter.com/ ) and use Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/ ) to let \
them know what they need to do politically. The daily papers are dying. If you \
don't fill that void, who will?

FIVE THINGS WE SHOULD DO TO PROTECT OURSELVES AND OUR LOVED ONES UNTIL WE GET \
THROUGH THIS MESS:

1. Take your money out of your bank if it took bailout money ( \
http://projects.nytimes.com/creditcrisis/recipients/table ) and place it in a \
locally-owned bank or, preferably, a credit union ( http://www.creditunion.coop/ \
cu_locator/quickfind.php ).

2. Get rid of all your credit cards ( http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/04/ \
09/michael-moore-endorses-chase-boycott/ ) but one -- the kind where you have to \
pay up at the end of the month or you lose your card.

3. Do not invest in the stock market. If you have any extra cash, put it away \
in a savings account or, if you can, pay down on your mortgage so you can own \
your home as soon as possible. You can also buy very safe government savings \
bonds or T-bills. Or just buy your mother some flowers.

4. Unionize your workplace so that you and your coworkers have a say in how \
your business is run. Here's how to do it: http://www.ueunion.org/org_steps.html \
(more info here: http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/how/howto.cfm ). Nothing is m \
ore American than democracy, and democracy shouldn't be checked at the door when \
you enter your workplace. Another way to Americanize your workplace is to turn \
your business into a worker-owned cooperative ( http://www.ncba.coop/abcoop_howt \
o.cfm ). You are not a wage slave. You are a free person, and you giving up eigh \
t hours of your life every day to someone else is to be properly compensated and \
respected.

5. Take care of yourself and your family. Sorry to go all Oprah on you, but \
she's right: Find a place of peace in your life and make the choice to be \
around people who are not full of negativity and cynicism. Look for those who \
nurture and love. Turn off the TV and the Blackberry and go for a 30-minute \
walk every day. Eat fruits and vegetables and cut down on anything that has \
sugar, high fructose corn syrup, white flour or too much sodium (salt) in it \
(and, as Michael Pollan says, "Eat (real) food, not too much, mostly plants"). \
Get seven hours of sleep each night and take the time to read a book a month. I \
know this sounds like I've turned into your grandma, but, dammit, take a good \
hard look at Granny -- she's fit, she's rested and she knows the names of both \
of her U.S. Senators without having to Google them. We might do well to listen \
to her. If we don't put our own "oxygen mask" on first (as they say on the \
airplane), we will be of no use to the rest of the nation in enacting any of \
this action plan!

I'm sure there are many other ideas you can come up with on how we can build \
this movement. Get creative. Think outside the politics-as-usual box. BE \
SUBVERSIVE! Think of that local action no one else has tried. Behave as if your \
life depended on it. Be bold! Try doing something with reckless abandon. It may \
just liberate you and your community and your nation.

And when you act, send me your stories, your photos and your video ( \
photos@michaelmoore.com ) -- and be sure to post your ideas in the comments \
beneath this letter on my site ( http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikes-letter/ \
michael-moores-action-plan-15-things-every-american-can-do-right-now ) so they c \
an be shared with millions.

C'mon people -- we can do this! I expect nothing less of all of you, my true \
and trusted fellow travelers!

Yours,
Michael Moore

HRC Building Vandalized

Communique from the Forgotten:

Human Rights Campaign HQ Glamdalized By Queers Against Assimilation

HRC headquarters was rocked by an act of glamdalism last night by a crew of radical queer and allied folks armed with pink and black paint and glitter grenades. Beside the front entrance and the inscribed mission statement now reads a tag, “Quit leaving queers behind.

The HRC is not a democratic or inclusive institution, especially for the people who they claim to represent. Just like society today, the HRC is run by a few wealthy elites who are in bed with corporate sponsors who proliferate militarism, heteronormativity, and capitalist exploitation. The sweatshops (Nike), war crimes (Lockheed Martin), assaults on working class people (Bank of America, Deloitte, Chase Bank, Citi Group, Wachovia Bank) and patriarchy (American Apparel) caused by their sponsors is a hypocrisy for an organization with “human rights” in their name.

The queer liberation movement has been misrepresented and co-opted by the HRC. The HRC marginalizes us into a limited struggle for aspiring homosexual elites to regain the privilege that they’ve lost and climb the social ladder towards becoming bourgeoisie.

Last night, Obama spoke at the HRC fundraising gala and currently the HRC website declares, “President Obama underlines his unwavering support for LGBT Americans.” The vast amount of organizing resources the HRC wastes on their false alliance with the Democratic party leaves radical queers on the margins to fend for themselves. Our struggle has always had to resist the repression of conservative tendencies in government and society to gain liberation in our lives.

The gourmet affair was sponsored by 48 corporations including giants Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, and Wachovia Bank. At $250 dollars a plate the HRC served our movement a rich, white, heternormative atmosphere that purposefully excludes working class queer folks.

REMEMBER THE STONEWALL RIOTS! On the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, pigs raided a queer bar in Texas, arrested and beat our friends, and we looked towards politicians and lawyers to protect us. This mentality is what keeps the money flowing to the HRC and their pet Democrats, and keeps our fists in our pockets.

Most of all we disagree that collective liberation will be granted by the state or its institutions like prisons, marriage, and the military. We need to escalate our struggle, or it will collapse.

~~Love and Solidarity~~

Butchculture.com response

The lgbt community as an institution acts as though it is unaware and not at all interested in really addressing social justice and is as infested with the ill's that come with suffering from a bad case of white privilege such as Class, Racism, greed, war, misogyny, gender privilege just to name a few, other wise they would not take money that represents theses forms of oppression. As most institutions in America suffer from white privilege,take the great Wall Street robbery/ bail out still going on right now!
As long as we are willing to be bought and sold in what ever community we represent divisions between the peoples will continue! The stratification of privilege and power in this country is not going to give up it's privilege we must address these issues in our communities with each other be aware of how we spend are money, Who’s money were taking and if in fact it is promoting a world of greater good for all and the planet Contributing to the rape and exploit ion of the planet and it's people?
It is no longer complicated or complex to know this information!That is why it is inexcusable! You can choose to contribute to the stratification of privilege and power or create a new way? It is time to rise people! I commend the concerns of the action! But lets do it face to face, state to state, coast to coast Lets take back the Human Rights Campaign www.hrc.org/about the government and dismantle the stratification of privilege and power in the United states of America through peaceful demanding of accountability in our communities government and so called organizations that claim to represent Us!!!!!
with great respect and love
www.butchculture.com

The problem with white privilege and power combined is not only that white assumes right but can also justify overbearing might

The problem with white privilege and power combined is not only that white assumes right but can also justify overbearing might, as can be seen in the cop Crowley arrest of professor Gates. Mr. Crowley, a diversity instructor for the Cambridge police force, needs to seriously consider whether he understands the material he is teaching. Because had he drawn upon the material of his course he would have considered that a black man in the U.S. is going to question if it is his race that brings the police to confront him, especially if there is no crime going on at the time. Mr. Crowley could have anticipated a possible race response from Mr. Gates and applied some skills to de-escalate the situation, especially since it was possible that it was Mr. Gates own home as the caller indicated? The bottom line is since it was Mr. Gates home he should not have been arrested! I think there are all kinds of subtext going on here, Class, race, male privilege, white privilege, and obviously EGO! For Officer Crowley to not be willing, or perhaps not knowing how to deescalate the situation is a problem in a profession where confrontation and adrenalin are the starting point of the interaction between officers, suspects or victims! Because police officers are privileged with power arresting people just because they can is an abuse of that privilege and power and not in the best interest of the community in which they were chosen to protect and serve! What would have happened if Officer Crowley just said, “We’re just looking out for you and your home, Mr. Gates”, “Welcome back” and left? We would not get to speak to the problems of race, power, and privilege! But just talking isn’t enough, and in this case being a teacher of Diversity Sensitivity obviously isn’t either. Change needs to come to our white communities, the social, economic, and political institutions that create, enforce and set the tone for social justice for all and not just the privileged few!
As the LGBTQ community celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Stone Wall Riots, it is still hard to believe that the police will help you and not challenge you even when you call them!
goddessboi
www.butchculture.com

jewelz said...

WHY I LOVE BUTCHES
I love the existence of silences I find, and their mystery.

I love the ways the butch lovers I have had are emotionally and psychologically different from me.

I love their aggression. I want to channel it. It feeds me, and gives me energy.

There is nothing in the world like taking their aggression into me.

I love that it comes in strong, and that my body can transform it into something soft and full of relief.


I like resistance.

I like being overpowered. It relieves me.

I love difference and pushing up against something different, something with a harder stance.

I live for the very moments drive breaks into tenderness.

My drive meets my lovers drive in just the right way. We fit.

I love having my body and my heart be the vehicle that changes my lover’s mood.

I cherish the tenderness butches show me.. . a kind of tenderness that they can’t/or won’t necessarily bring to most of the rest of the world.

I like being a necessity.

I like that my playfulness, and sexuality, can bring them out, turn them on and turn them around.

I adore them for working-- to turn me on.

I like fitting our pieces together-- physically, emotionally, intellectually and psychologically-- to make sense of the world.

I like that they [my aggressive lovers] understand dynamics of power that are different from mine, and that mine are different from theirs.

I respect their armor, and their shells.

I like feeling safe and protected by them.

I like that I will let their comfort in and that I can fall back on it and land.

I like the trust we build.

I like that the roles we have complement each other and deepen our definitions of ourselves.

I like bringing out and discovering the ways we each more deeply inhabit our roles.

I like shaking off our roles and surprising ourselves and each other.

I like that it is safe to do that with someone who understands and respects me.

I like that the ways that we do that are our own secret.

I love they way bois, and butch women, work to polish traits (a gaze, a way they nod), manners, objects of use and things, tangible things (a pocketknife, a set of keys, a wallet), that define them. Talismans of their gender.

I like that they will allow, and privilege me, with a certain kind of vulnerability that they won’t let the rest of the world see.

I like that they have made a study of the ways to please my body, and they are masters at that. The best in the world.

I like feeling small and malleable.

I like that they make me feel powerful.

I love them for their generosity to me, sexually.

And I love them for their needs...

July 14, 2009 9:09 AM

Posted by jewelz