A Tale of Two Mayors

The Mayor of Lincoln, NE is a Democrat.

His name is Chris Beutler.

He makes $35.00 per hour at his job.

In Lincoln, all municipal employees are screened and their employment is maintained by an idependently operating Personnel Department.

Lincoln, Nebraska has the LOWEST unemployment rate for a metropolitan area in the USA with only 3.6% unemployment.

Recent Quotes:

"Lincoln, Nebraska used federal stimulus funds for an energy-saving lighting project. In just three years, we will recoup the original $227,000 it cost to replace old lighting with energy-efficient lighting. We're doing the right thing and saving money."

"The city expects to save about $2,500 a year in energy costs because of new lights in Gere branch library and $25,000 a year on the Center Park Garage."

The Mayor of Yuma, AZ is a Republican.

His name is Alan L. Kreiger.

He makes $85.00 per hour at his job.

In Yuma, the Mayor is allowed to terminate or suspend any city Employee on the Spot.

Yuma, Arizona has the HIGHEST unemployment rate for a metropolitan area in the USA at a whopping 30% or more Unemployed and receiving benefits as of August 2011.

Recent Quotes:

"I can't believe that a bunch of lacey-drawered, limp-wristed people could do what these men have done in the past. We are currently having problems with homosexuals serving on the front lines in the military. We need solid, strong men... not pacifists to fight those battles."

"Yuma is a safe environment. Hundreds of thousands of families live here and go back and forth across the border. Every day thousands and thousands go back and forth and you know, they have jobs. It's not a wild frontier."

Mark Pryor - A Spoiler Turncoat

Enough cannot be said about Mark Pryor, a so-called Democrat from Arkansas who manages to defeat his own party on every single issue, every single time.

Consider that he is one of just 3 Democrats who held up the battle to repeal DADT for over a year. One of his partners in crime, Blanche Lincoln, already paid the ultimate political price for that... She was not re-elected and a Republican is now keeping her seat warm.

It's easy to understand that he's homophobic when his buddies like Georgia's Saxby Chambliss are busy sending death threats to gay bloggers, but his party is just not down with that... We wanna class it up a bit. In a recent budget discussion, Mark Pryor recently referred to Saxby Chambliss as being "like one of the brave men who flew those airplanes over Great Britain to stop Nazi Germany from invading and defeating the English people."

Also consider that he loves pollution/profit more than he loves mother nature.

Mr. Pryor was one of only 8 Democrats to vote against allowing Healthcare reform to include the option of abortion.

But perhaps worst of all... Pryor is a total tool for the corporations of America. He voted to block a bill that would tax corporations in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Now, Pryor will say that he always does what's best for Arkansas... That he always "puts Arkansas first"... But let's explain what he really means by that... He puts INFLUENTIAL Arkansans first... like Hillary Clinton. When Hillary Clinton drafted a bill to give federal funds to border states to offer healthcare to illegal immigrants, Pryor sure signed onto that one right away! Sure, that would help New York, California, Florida and Arizona, but what does that do for taxpayers in Arkansas?

Lady GaGa will Not Save You from the Religious Right

In October of 2009, Stephanie Germanotta (better known by her stage name - Lady GaGa) stood at a podium in front of our nation’s capitol and vowed that she would "refuse to accept any homophobic or misogynistic actions in the music industry". For this largely vague and unenforceable promise, she recieved standing ovation and cheering from more than 200,000 people at a rally that was supposed to be focused on repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act. To make matters worse, she broke that little promise a few months later by standing idly by as Adam Lambert was castigated and censored for his performance on the American Music Awards. She went on to do business as usual with Dick Clark Productions and ABC as they cancelled Adam's appearances and edited a "gay kiss" out of his performance, all the while keeping his simulated oral sex and other raunchy bits intact.

This solemn oath on her part was given at the National Equality March. There were, as I figure it (from my perch to the left of the capitol steps), 3 types of people who came together for that event. The first type of people were a small collection of rag-tag activists (such as myself) who were frustrated that gay rights were being put on the back burner once again, despite our efforts to get Obama into office and our constant campaigning for socially liberal candidates and causes. The next, slightly larger, group of people who were in attendance were the garden variety "MoveOn" Democrats who are motivated by their support of astroturf human rights campaigns and other sorts of organizational shuffleboarding. But the largest group of people who attended the National Equality March was Lady GaGa's "little monsters" as she likes to call them.

Who are these "little monsters" and what do they mean to a political movement?

Statistically speaking, they are gay boys between the ages of 16 and 25 who have a lot of expendable income in the form of allowance money from their parents. Their hobbies include Lady GaGa, Lady GaGa and Lady GaGa. They range from slightly materialistic to downright vapid and their political prowess is best expressed in their capacity to choose Fox's next American Idol via their iPhones.

Do you think I'm being harsh? Talk to them.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't hate this diva or her fans. But at the end of the day, she's a distraction from what's really important. Therefore, I would suggest that gay men leave her to be a distraction for the right-wingers as opposed to themselves. Take that $50 you would spend on her show and instead, spend it on condoms and a nice wallet to hold your new voters registration card. Instead of downloading her latest MP3, download a podcast of NPR's Teri Gross interviewing Jeff Sharlet about the Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. Educate yourself. Motivate yourself... and as Madonna once said, "Express yourself".

As a product of Reagan/Clinton era politics, I saw Madonna Rock The Vote but then subsequently, I saw her become a parody of herself. This always happens to pop stars who venture into politics and GaGa will be no exception. This we know because she has already done everything she can to mimic Madonna's shtick.

There is an important distinction to be made also between Madonna and GaGa... Madonna's loyal and dedicated gay following was largely an accidental byproduct of what she aimed for. It was Madonna's honesty and fierce advocacy of her personal beliefs that inspired gay men to draw to her like moths to the flame. But with GaGa, it's manufactured. There are marketing techniques in place to re-create the Madonna effect but she has not walked through the fire or done anything that landed her in jail or caused international controversy.

GaGa has got Madonna's bag down to a science but we already have a Madonna (and a Sean Penn) and these celebrities, as much as they care, have yet to pass any legislation in our favor. We just have too many cheerleaders and not enough linebackers in the gay community.

If we are going to achieve long-lasting and meaningful equality in American society, we're going to need more than a good poker face. We need to know, for starters, the three branches of American government and the differences between them. We need to know how to stage a successful protest and how to determine what we should get all up in arms about and what we shouldn't. Furthermore, we need to know who our enemies are before we go to battle. A serious overhaul in our psychology is in order. For instance, in Florida, why do we stand around clapping for silly little half-measures like anti-bullying legislation when we are the only state in the USA that outlaws gay adoptions and civil unions?

Our Gay Agenda as per YouTube:
The Proposition 8 trial - 1,986 views
Lady GaGa's Bad Romance Video - 134,209,139 views
(Is she really Sixty Eight Thousand Times more important than our civil rights?)

I'm aware that these gay kids get their feelings hurt so easily when you attack their idols, but that's exactly the point. Your feelings should be hurt by what the religious right is doing to our country and to you personally. Lady GaGa can defend herself... but she doesn't even know who you are. She'll never really have your back because she's too busy doing commercials for Wal-Mart and re-making "Truth or Dare".

Now, before you start flaming me in the comments section, I want you to consider this question:

Who would you rather idolize? Someone who wears Halloween costumes and sings about not being able to find her keys when she's drunk? Or a gay black socialist who organized 500,000 people in one of the most important civil rights movements in American history and stayed devoted to his life partner until the day he died?

Bittersweet Veterans Day - Dolphin Dems Back On Target

While this Veterans Day was emotionally turbulent for most of America due to the recent attack at Fort Hood, there was a glimmer of hope offered to gay supporters of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
At the Dolphin Democrats meeting in Wilton Manors, Vice Mayor Justin Flippin announced that Wilton Manors was the first city in Florida to unanimously pass a resolution to support the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (HR 1283) which would effectively repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Since then, 4 other cities and one county commission in Florida have followed suit.

When asked why city councils should pass such resolutions, Flippen said that this gives politicians in Florida the ammunition they need to support the legislation in the House, knowing that their communities are behind them. He expects other cities and counties to fall in line with this sort of resolution and he's not the only one.

According to Waymon Hudson on his blog; St Louis, Portland, San Francisco, Atlanta, Tuscon, Los Angeles and New York have also passed this resolution.

Also in attendance at the Veteran's Day meeting were police Chief Rick Perez, Michael Albetta(who gave an on-target speech about the upcoming Senate Healthcare debate), Julie Carson (who warmly presented Perez with recognition in light of his contributions), Colonel Robert Guida (who gave a fun retrospective on being in the Services prior to DADT) Stephen Gaskill (of the Stonewall Democrats), Mark LaFontaine and Scott Hall (the founder/coordinator of Gay American Heroes who was recently featured in Instinct Magazine along with Lieutenant Dan Choi in their Leading Men of 2009 article).

The meeting went without a hitch and there was a lot of buzz about how we can get a repeal of the gay adoption ban in Florida too... but more on that later.

I want to take this space to thank and congratulate the veterans in my life (my Dad, cousins, friends and the VFW Post 2857 in my hometown of Kankakee, IL) for their dedicated service to our country.

*Salute*

Note: This post was updated on December 08, 2009 to reflect a name change. I apologize to Mr. Albetta for previously attributing his speech to another Dolphin Dems member.