Al's Project 365 (progress)

I'm not a photographer. So these will be quite simple. I am hardly a storyteller. So please be patient. I've seen these before and got a kick out of them. Read this update, then click the photo to see mine. Hope you get a kick:

12/28/2008

Getting a head start on 2009. Pun much? For those who know me, you'll notice I look differently than I did just last week. For those who don't know me, last week I had a full pate of luxurious, jet black hair. Now gone. Clippers met my scalp on Christmas eve. Ten cousins, uncles and I did so in support of Noe. Noe, my uncle, was diagnosed with bone cancer a month ago. He has a better-than-nothing chance of remission, but he has one hell of a fight this coming year. We, his family, are with him. I wasn't sure how shaving my head was going to help him. I hoped, at the very least, he would find it funny. He did. Mission accomplished.

I didn't think I would do it. I had every reason not to do it. Apparently the plan had been made the week before, but I wasn't there, so my abstention was counted as an aye. The 'ayes,' it seemed, had it in spades. But once the first head went down, I understood. Noe wouldn't have the option of using my excuses and a cold head was the very least of his concerns. So I took to the chair, second in line, and learned something about myself I'd suspected, but never really knew for sure. In the end, it was staring right at me. Everyone else knew about it, but I had ignored it, denied it... turned a blind eye to it. I watched the revelry around me. My family, proud of themselves and each other, loud and exuberant. Even my drunken sister's ghetto howls were annoyingly festive. We had united this holiday. Something we hadn't really done in years. Over the last few I'd felt a splintering, a division growing larger every year. Understandably. We all had our priorities and we all are very focused on our homes and the needs of our immediate family. But here we all were, one purpose, one focus and yet I was still distracted. Don't get me wrong. I had a great time and I love my family very, very much. But my self-discovery dampened the joyful evening. What did I find? I'm almost embarrassed to say, but I made a promise to be completely honest on Al Can Blog, so I really have no choice. I only hope some readers can empathize, perhaps help me through this thing....

I have an uneven hairline.

At the Rally

A very busy day. Memorial service for a dear, dear friend, Fresno State football game, the grand reopening of Fresno's haven of art, history and science. They have an awesome exhibit on the natural history of birds. I encourage everyone to see it. Plus, in the middle of it all there was a nationwide Marriage Equality Rally, part of which took place right here in Fresno. My good friends, the Petersens, were very understanding when I left a little early the memorial service and arrived a little late at the reception for their father Chris. I had some protesting to do.

Hundreds from around the Valley gathered at the steps of City Hall, the fountain acting as stage, puppies and children chasing each other in the basin orchestra. We arrived a little late while a hoarse voiced lesbian made her case into a megaphone. Fresno's answer to Joe the Plumber, Matt the American, was still running around to set up the PA system. In all there were six speakers, including a seventh grader (awesome speech, Micah!) and two Unitarian ministers. We chanted, we cheered, we sang. Signs people carried ranged from clever to angry. Passions were high. During the "HO HO HO! Inequality has got to go!" chant I saw a woman that, to me, brought the full reality of this cause, what is really at stake.

She was in her late forties, maybe. A rail thin lesbian with stringy, black hair streaked with gray. Though she didn't look like much of a tussle, she was formidable. Her fists shook as she chanted. Her face was beet red, the tendons in her neck strained to hold together. She punched every "GO!" as though cold-cocking every individual voter, supporter of Proposition 8. Between her passion, her anger, her concern... in conjunction with the heartbreaking story of the PTC president who was kicked out of the club because her public stance on Prop. 8 was a "conflict of interest..." and the lady who kindly blocked me from the sun with her "Don't discrimin-8 against me" sign... the very reality, the personal assault and pain of these people finally hit home with me.

Until now, this controversy has been largely academic for me. It was logic vs. emotion. It was legislative process, rights preservation and tradition vs. due process, rights infringement and progress. In the abstract, this is a very cut and dry issue. In the abstract, those who don't support marriage equality are very silly, clinging desperately to their religion as if Adam and Steve were an assault on the very fabric of their souls. Don't get me wrong. I am fairly passionate about marriage equality and about the rights of everyone, really. Though the religious right and my new friend Ben may think that marriage is not a fundamental right, the facts, the stacks of legal precedent say it is; at least in this country. And in this country we do NOT take away fundamental rights from our citizens by a simple majority. And while Religion and Mayor Autry may claim proprietorship of marriage as foundational to civilization and answerable only to their definitions, I am compelled to declare bullshit. Every culture, in every part of the world can claim some form of marriage. Some of them, believe it or not, can even describe same-sex marriages. And all cultures with whatever concept of marriage have a commonality that has nothing to do with God and Jesus and sin. It is property. Marriage in every culture is about ownership, landrights, and in many cases the subjugation of women. It is only recent in our history that we have progressed beyond ownership to 'love, honor and cherish'. We have yet to have a clear separation, especially in the Christian church where marriage is defined by a male dominated hierarchy of a man as the head of his household, king of his castle and hero of his family. Just ask Kirk Cameron and the makers of Fireproof. Marriage will never be the ideal of a lifetime partnership until that hierarchy is forgotten and a great way to rid ourselves of the hierarchy is to be inclusive of marriage partners who are not a man and a woman.

Abstract. Rhetoric. Idealism. Powerless to move me into any real action. Reasons and justifications, no more. But watching this woman punch the air, watching the speakers overcome intense emotion to tell their stories had a profound effect. It is not enough to sit behind a computer and construct arguments, building Constitutional interpretations. It is not enough sit comfortably in a living room and discuss litigation and procedure and postulate when and if the Supreme Court will do the right thing and get involved.

It was hot yesterday and it didn't help much wearing a black shirt with the sun beating down on me. I was riveted and it took a moment to notice that the woman next to me was constantly adjusting her sign to give me shade. I smiled. She smiled. And there we were, two people trying to overcome the same heat from the same Sun. "Here is a person who wants nothing more than for the world to look at her the same way it looks at me," I thought. My marriage, sanctioned by the state and consecrated before God and Man is wholly uncontroversial, though sixty years ago it would not have been allowed. For the first time ever I was ashamed of my marriage. I was now a part of an exclusive club that, contrary to my wishes, won't let certain people in because their tennis partners don't have the right parts.

I too was angry. Under the auspices of not allowing marriage to be "redefined" the good people of California have done exactly that. We have redefined marriage, giving exclusive access to those who follow a particular set of rules and anyone outside our standard of moral rectitude is categorically and officially shit out of luck. I won't stand for it. Can't. I am very angry at the Fresno leaders who promoted this Jim Crow legislation. I want them to be held accountable for their lies and their fearmongering. I challenge them, Pastor Jim Franklin, Mayor Alan Autry, Rep. George Radanovich, et al to a public debate or series of one-on-one debates on this matter. Show me your list of arguments and I'll prove it's a list of untruths. Give me your reasons for protecting the status quo and I'll squash them all with Reason. I guarantee that when our impasse is reached, it is your superstition that blocks the way. Or ignorance. In any public place on any night I would really like to hear their answers to the tough questions this community has on this topic. I guarantee that each of these upstanding gentlemen have slapped the faces of those closest to them with their forked tongues spewing false righteousness. And no, Pastor Franklin, you do not have "recovered homosexuals" attending your church. At best you have people you've brainwashed into living a life that is untrue to who they really are. Congratulations.

I am sincere in my wish to engage these distinguished gentlemen in public discourse. Until they agree, I will continue writing and talking to anyone who is unwise enough to sit still for any length of time. Further protests? You bet. I'll be contacting the local leaders of the Marriage Equality movement to see what I can do. I hope to catch some of you out there as well. Dr. King wrote that, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." This injustice needs undoing and it will take all of us working together. You don't have to agree with same-sex marriage to support it. Questions?

The Top 3 Reasons Why John McCain Has Lost His Friggin' Mind

"You WILL turn in your homework, fatbody!"

Watch the debate? Of course you did. Everybody did. And if you're anything like me, you watched for the express purpose of discovering what new disconnected-from-reality proposal Sen. John McCain, Arizona (R) would make. I can almost hear the collective sigh from his campaign staffers. "Aw, dammit! Now we have to fudge up some stats and examples of how this stupidity will work," they say. A sigh, a theme, which has permeated each of the presidential debates and is deserving of an official Al Can Blog examination. Voici! Three reasons why John McCain has lost his friggin' head:

First it was a spending freeze, basically treating the government of the United State like a Korean dry cleaners trying to stretch every last drop of chemicals until the short term loan comes through and they can fill the coffers. Spending freeze? That's what an IT department does to mask the fact that it has operated with a deficit for the last quarter. (To all potential future employers: I have never participated in nor do I endorse budgetary shenanigans. I have a proven record of budgetary prudence and always hit my line items right on the mark.) Agreed, government spending is out of control, but the hatchet/scalpel analogy is very apt here. There are some programs that the federal government has wholly ignored funding or are really underfunded. To freeze spending would be detrimental to the economy as a whole.

Next McCain said he would direct the Secretary of the Treasury to use $300 billion to buy up bad loans and renegotiate mortgages at a reduced value. Admittedly this sounded interesting to me at first, but then that cold, blue reason stepped in and brought me to my senses. Suppose I bought my house for $250,000. I can't pay for it. The bank is sitting on a loan it can't sell right now because of the market pressures and sheer stink of my loan. So in comes the government to buy that loan of $250,000 using tax payer money. Now the market shows that my house is only worth $150,000 so the government will sell it to me at that price and I can pay off a reduced mortgage using my own money. Who got bailed out here AND at what cost? I just paid for my own house both as a taxpayer contributing to the $300 billion and the reduced mortgage and further, my investment is worthless (granted values are supposed to go up over time, but I want equity NOW). Advantage bank. Disadvantage? Taxpayers.

So then there's tonight's debate. John McCain, in talking about education, said the following:

We need to encourage programs such as Teach for America and Troops to Teachers where people, after having served in the military, can go right to teaching and not have to take these examinations which -- or have the certification that some are required in some states.

To which I respond...

What the F@&$?!?

Seriously, John? Seriously? I mean, not only are you showing me a gross lack of understanding that the "Troops to Teachers" program is designed to HELP TROOPS GET CERTIFICATIONS, but also a gross lack of understanding of what qualifies a person to be a teacher.

Mr. Lawrence, Third Grade teacher

Now just in case some readers see this as an attack on the honor and capabilities of our service men and women, let me squash that crap right now. I am very grateful to those in uniform who make sacrifices I couldn't imagine, let alone be capable of making for our country. It is not their fault that they are currently fighting in unjust and pointless wars. Wars based on lies and false pretense. I don't blame them or hold anything against them and hope that when Barack Obama brings them all home they all return fully limbed and employed. There is no better way to "support the troops" than to ensure they are cared for once their service is completed and to remove them from harm's way.

Having said that, John McCain is an idiot if he thinks this chick should go into a classroom without obtaining the proper certifications.

P.E. teacher Lyndie Englund "pals around" with students

So there you have it. As I see them the top three reasons why John McCain is an unhinged, unfit old codger. There are many reasons, but these three are enough to get any other old person declared mentally unfit to live alone. Honorable mention goes to:

1. Believing Obama supporters are calling him a terrorist at rallies.
2. "Bomb, bomb bomb. Bomb bomb Iran"
3. Taking credit for suspending his campaign to bring party leaders together and pass a bailout package which contained oodles and oodles of pork.
4. Sarah Palin, V.P. candidate
   

To me John McCain seems to be making it up as he goes along. The description of him as being "erratic" is appropriate and sadly, his actions, speeches and stances in the last several weeks have really sullied the career of someone I had considered to be a great statesman. I hope the rest of the country realizes that while his service to this nation has been great, his leadership at the highest level is not what is being demanded at this point in history.

An Important Issue This Election Year

I was recently asked by a Fox 26 reporter whether I felt this election was the most important of my lifetime. Her question was obviously about the presidential prospects: the economy, the world standing of the U.S. and all the lovely things that bring people to the polls every four years. My answer was, of course, yes, but not for the reasons she thought. Beyond the classless campaign of Senator McCain and the skin color of Barack Obama, hiding under the radar like a stealth bomber ready to wreak havoc on California and the nation is a Civil Rights issue that makes this November truly the most important voting opportunity of my life.

You have seen them. Driving around town they sit, decorating roadsides, house fronts and the like. They look very innocent, to me at least. Yellow signs with calm blue imagery and text. They show a family, Mom, Dad, Jr. and Little Sis. They hold up a banner that says “Yes on 8, Protect Marriage.” Ahhh… What can be more positive? A family. Ahhh… With the economy in the dumps, and two wars having taken the lives of more than four-thousand of my fellow Americans (let’s not even start on foreign losses), if there is one easy little thing we can protect, dammit if it isn’t marriage.

But then there is the small print. You see, in “protecting marriage,” we are only protecting a certain kind of marriage. We are only protecting some marriages. The language of the amendment reads as follows: Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. Fourteen sinister words to define our state’s collective conscience.

And so we have it. This positive affirmation of “marriage” is specifically a restriction. It is an explicit denial of marriage to anyone who wishes to marry someone of the same sex. A red rubber DENIED stamp to anyone who wants to enjoy the rights and privileges of marriage with someone who has the same body parts. Proposition 8, is a state Constitutional amendment (or revision) that tells an entire group of Californians that they are less important, less worthy, less deserving of the rights and responsibilities of marriage than anyone else simply because of their sexual orientation.

I was not here in 2000, when California made its first attempt a Jim Crow legislation. I was shocked to find out that 61% of voters said that they will only tolerate marriage between a man and a woman, but the gays can have their “civil unions.” They can have all the rights of married couples, well most of them anyway. They are different (separate) but equal. And then I was proud to see the machinery of our government in action, the checks and balances in place, when earlier this year the State Supreme Court ruled this law in violation of the State Constitution. These are not “activist judges” as the rhetoric would have you believe, but men and women who are doing their jobs to ensure that no law is enacted that violates the very charter that makes us a state in the Union.

Want to read more rhetoric? Okay:

1. That gay marriage is okay will be forced on our children in schools. WRONG. In California we have the woefully irresponsible choice to “opt out” of any given lesson. So if your school were foolish enough to teach an opinion of marriage (vs. say that marriage is a contract/institution/whatever between PEOPLE) then you can be equally as foolish and say, “Send my kid to the ligh-berry during all that gay talk.”
2. Churches will lose tax exempt status.WRONG. “Finally, affording same-sex couples the opportunity to obtain the designation of marriage will not impinge upon the religious freedom of any religious organization, official, or any other person; no religion will be required to change its religious policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 4.)” That’s the court ruling, Son. Deal.

I could argue rhetoric all day. That’s not boasting, mind you, I’m just saying it would get exhausting. In fact, I would love to hear a single argument that doesn’t root itself in religious dogma. Then we could have a reasoned discussion.

To me it comes down to a simple question of equal rights. The drafters of this revision/amendment want us to call it “Marriage Protection Act.” Protection from what? Terrorists? Communist ideology? Zee Germans? Shenanigans. It’s about civil rights. Civil rights and their unwillingness to have uncomfortable conversations with their own kids. If you are undecided about Prop. 8, ask yourself one question. Am I willing to amend the state Constitution for the express purpose of RESTRICTING CIVIL RIGHTS to a section of my community? If you don’t think this affects you, you’re wrong. If you don’t think you have a say in this matter, you’re wrong. Prop. 8 is a direct attack on Reason and Enlightenment. It is a way for a dogmatic section of society to impose their will on another section of society.

Please, recognize that Marriage is a sacred rite as much as a legal right. While the two concepts have much in common they are fundamentally different. One is an act ordained by God to be performed under certain conditions which are arguable, definable and certainly interpretable based on the faith/church to which one subscribes. The other is a legal status defined and protected by the State such that, “the right to marry is not properly viewed as simply a benefit or privilege that a government may establish or abolish as it sees fit, but rather that the right constitutes a basic civil or human right of all people.” Proposition 8 seeks to impose the intention of the former onto the latter, a direct violation of the separation of Church and State. Please, PLEASE vote NO, on Proposition 8.