TWEET OF THE WEEK

Dear World, From America

Dear World:

We felt we needed to say something while saying something is still allowed.

We know many of you have lived under malevolent, unhinged Dictators before, but this is new for us. For its history our nation has been led by men who, despite their varying flaws and deficiencies, some of which were quite disturbing—were, by and large, normal human beings. Whatever darkness in them, they had at the very least, a baseline of humanity and decency that more often than not insured rational behavior.

This man is not normal.

He is unstable, malignant, devoid of integrity—and he does not speak for us.

Please understand that nearly three million more people voted for his opponent Hillary Clinton than for him. (Yes, we realize this is completely screwed-up). Millions more voted for other candidates, and sadly nearly 90 million of our people did not vote at all. The point is, the vast majority of Americans are not with him. He does not speak for us. His America is not our America.

Over the past week, we’ve watched long erected pillars of our Republic bulldozed in the stroke of a madman’s pen. We’ve seen the very hallmarks of who we are as a nation tossed in the garbage; the celebration of diverse coexistence, the open welcome to the oppressed, the guarantee of inalienable rights for every person, the same access to health and opportunity and safety afforded to everyone, the freedom to speak without censor or restraint. At this moment these are all in great jeopardy.

Things we took for granted in our leadership: things like goodness, wisdom, and basic truthfulness are no longer in play, and as things are eroding quickly we wanted to let you know that we’re sorry.

We’re sorry that our apathy and laziness have yielded such a reckless, impulsive, small man to steward this nation.

We’re sorry for the jagged, bitter ugliness that is characterizing us in these moments.

We’re sorry to those suffering greatly, who have braved such peril to seek refuge here and who’ve now been turned away based on the faith they profess.

We’re sorry to our Mexican neighbors who’ve been fashioned into convenient villains for erecting a grandiose, wasteful display of false protection that we do not want.

We’re sorry to Muslims everywhere who’ve been used as pawns to generate irrational fear among those already susceptible to bigotry and discrimination.
We’re sorry to the leaders of the world, who instead of being met by level-headed, measured, intelligent dialogue, are now greeted with the social media rantings of a furious child.

We’re sorry to those who now experience the Christian faith as a racist, Nationalistic bully pulpit wielded with malice toward the very diverse Humanity Jesus lived and died for.

We’re sorry to people everywhere whose lives are made more tenuous, more violent, less safe, less secure than it has been before.

We want you to know that this is not who we are. It may be who this man is. It may be who those sharing power with him are. It may even be the tens of millions who originally voted for him (though that support is vanishing quickly among those who not among the religious zealots and extremists).

But this is not America. It is not the steady, strong beacon of freedom that it was intended to be. It is not the America our people have fought and died for. It is not the one first formed in the crucible of oppression and cast into the words of our ever-disregarded Constitution.

This is not our America. Our America affirms the inherent, priceless beauty of every human being. Our America declares that no person is ascribed less value because of their skin color, religion, gender, financial means, sexual orientation, nation of origin, or any other variable. Our America is home for those seeking hope and joy and rest.

And we are going to fight for this America. Through political channels and through grassroots activism, through the use of our Press and of our personal voices, we’re going to expose this man’s incompetence, call out his heart sickness, and condemn every violent, reckless, vicious act when it does not reflect our hearts and our will. Please do your best to disregard anything that comes from his mouth or those loudly and continually parroting his propaganda. They have proven themselves mortally allergic to the truth.

And we hope that in whatever way you can, that you will stand with us. We know that we have made this mess ourselves. We understand that you have your own problems to contend with, some far more urgent and pressing than this, but we believe that we are a single community; that we are tethered together in our Humanity, that we are in real-time crafting the life our children and their children will inherit.

Dear World, we’re sorry and we hope you’ll endure these days with us.

With Despair and Hope in equal measure, in Peace and Unity with you,

The American Majority 

(via)

Tunesmith Tuesday - "Science Fiction/Double Feature" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Science Fiction/Double Feature

Michael Rennie was ill

The Day the Earth Stood Still

But he told us where we stand

And Flash Gordon was there

In silver underwear

Claude Rains was The Invisible Man

Then something went wrong

For Fay Wray and King Kong

They got caught in a celluloid jam

Then at a deadly pace

It Came From Outer Space

And this is how the message ran...

Science fiction (ooh ooh ooh) double feature

Doctor X (ooh ooh ooh) will build a creature

See androids fighting (ooh ooh ooh) Brad and Janet

Anne Francis stars in (ooh ooh ooh) Forbidden Planet

Wo oh oh oh oh oh

At the late night, double feature, picture show

I knew Leo G. Carroll

Was over a barrel

When Tarantula took to the hills

And I really got hot

When I saw Janette Scott

Fight a Triffid that spits poison and kills

Dana Andrews said prunes

Gave him the runes

And passing them used lots of skills

But When Worlds Collide

Said George Pal to his bride

I'm gonna give you some terrible thrills

Like a...

Science fiction (ooh ooh ooh) double feature

Doctor X (ooh ooh ooh) will build a creature

See androids fighting (ooh ooh ooh) Brad and Janet

Anne Francis stars in (ooh ooh ooh) Forbidden Planet

Wo oh oh oh oh oh

At the late night, double feature, picture show

I wanna go - Oh oh oh oh

To the late night, double feature, picture show

By R.K.O. - Wo oh oh oh

To the late night, double feature, picture show

In the back row - Oh oh oh oh

To the late night, double feature, picture show

X-Men need bathrooms, too

Hold my beer

Okay, this one seems reasonable

Monday Mind Game

How do you make the number one disappear?

Give up?

Drag your cursor between the asterisks for the answer

*

Put a g in front of it and it’s gone.

*