The other day at the Cingular Store I called a young woman a “bitch”.  I about lost my breath.  I apologized and she wouldn’t accept it.  She told me I was a typical man. 

In the 1970s I was a “male feminist” before those two words were used together.  (You never hear them anymore, but that’s another entry.)  I never used the word “bitch” in those days.  Over the years, “bitch” has become more prevalent.  I admit I sometimes think the word “bitch” but I rarely say it out loud.  That’s why the other day at the Cingular Store came as such a surprise to me.  I can’t get the incident off my mind, so I decided to write about it, here. 

I’ve heard the word “faggot” shouted at people on the street from hostile passersby three times during the last week.  I’ve lived in this neighborhood for 11 years.  Only once did I hear “faggot” lobbed at someone in hate during that time.  Until this week.  We all know “faggot”, the word, has been in the news.  What hasn’t been in the news are the emotions behind the word “faggot”.  If you hear someone you know use the word “faggot”, ask them what they are thinking about when they use the word “faggot”.  Or kick their ass.  

It is obvious to me that baby boomers aren’t doing a very good job of governing.  And I’m a baby boomer.  Boomers are too selfish and vain and they’re great liars.  It’s how they were raised.  Most Boomers had no goals when they were young.  How could they, the 60s were spent fighting a war that couldn’t be won?  Then the 70s came along and who cared about goals?  The 70s were about dreams, wet and otherwise.  I’m cynical but I’m not dead. 

I’m back to blogging again, thanks to Deb.  I lost all of 2006 during the server switch.  This first entry is going to be short, so…  welcome back, this kind of snafu will never happen again on my blog because I have Deb in my corner. 

November, 2005

November 9: **PEN USA 15th Annual Literary Awards Festival in LA at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel**
I’ve been a member of PEN for years (info about PEN is on my Links Page). I attended the Literary Awards Festival with my longtime friend and business partner, Carole Wells Doheny. Gore Vidal was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. It was an honor to meet and talk with him. He’s one of my heroes. Other honorees and their categories were: screenwriter, Charlie Kaufman; poet, Martha Ronk; fiction, Micheline Aharonian Marcom; drama, Sarah Ruhl; journalism, Meredith May; translation, Robert Alter; teleplay, Sally Robinson & Eugenia Bostwick Singer & Raymond Singer; creative nonfiction, Andrew Todhunter; research nonfiction, Evan Wright; and children’s literature, Ursula K. Le Guin. Also honored: Award of Honor, HBO; First Amendment Award, Sam Hamill; Freedom to Write International Award, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury; and Courageous Advocacy Award, Bill Moyers.

The evening was phenomenal. Being surrounded by writers speaking from the heart about the current political situation in this country was nothing short of breathtaking. It was not a Bush bash — it was better than that. It was writers expressing the fact that President Bush made a deadly wrong turn after 9-11 and missed one of the greatest opportunities available to an American President in generations. Instead of pulling the countries of the world together he chose instead to isolate America in a venomous, selfish war that has killed over 2000 of our troops, countless innocent Iraqis, and maimed an unimaginable number, all in the span of two and a half years. He has birthed terrorists where none existed before 9-11 and alienated countries who would have worked with us and for us after 9-11. On top of that, he has created an atmosphere of hate in this country that in my 50 years I’ve never witnessed and from my elders I hear that they have never witnessed. He encourages hate and there is no weapon he won’t use in his “crusade”, all the while calling himself a Christian. And why? I’m not certain, to be honest. I do not understand this man. He represents the worst America has to offer — he followed through on his plan to invade Iraq despite and in disregard of the events of 9-11. It will take generations to recover from his bloodbath, if ever we do.

Bush has instigated a second war, at home, against citizens of our country who dare to disagree with him. It seems he’ll stop at nothing. He spews hate, Cheney spews hate, Rove designs hate. I fear for America. I fear for my friends — writers and artists and philosophers and poets. I fear for me. Sitting here tonight writing this, I admit to a thread of fear running through my fingers. Is this what America has become? When war heroes are called cowards on the House floor? When careers are decimated because the Bush weaponry has you in its sights?

_____________________________________

Here’s a letter I wrote to my local paper about our upcoming mayoral election. Donna Frye will be the best thing to happen to San Diego, politically, since I moved here in 1995. She is running for Mayor, she is behind in the polls, but a victory can be had if all you San Diegans get out and vote and if everyone sends her money ASAP. http://www.DonnaFryeForMayor.com

Dear Editor,

For all your readers out there who plan to vote for Jerry Sanders next Tuesday, just remember one thing. He’s a Republican. And Republicans do not change their stripes, no matter what they say. Governor Arnold is proving that in California and George “passionate conservative” W. is proving it today, once again, with his nomination of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court. Rest assured, my friends, your vote does matter. It’s very convenient for Sanders to say he doesn’t support gay marriage but will defend our rights otherwise. Give me a break. And when he takes office, San Diego will be yet another pawn in the Republican’s plan. (Ask yourself, who has the most money in this campaign and where did it come from?) Does anyone out there believe that Donna Frye will not solve our financial problems as easily and as quickly as Jerry Sanders?

If Sanders wins, we’ll be left with another Republican mayor from San Diego and the fundraising will begin and the Republicans will have one more edge in their goal to win the Presidential race in 2008 in California, with Arnold’s help, of course. We as a city and we as a nation are going to be ruled by the decisions we make next Tuesday. Generations of Americans will be under the thumb of a Right Wing Supreme Court. Just read Judge Alito’s rulings. And if you decide to vote for Sanders, just keep in mind what I’ve written in this letter. Your vote will come back to haunt you. Sanders will ride the magic carpet to higher office, financed by the Republicans.

Donna Frye is on our side. She supports our issues. She will solve the financial mess in San Diego, which was created by Republicans. And she will never betray the gay community.

Sincerely,

David Harrington Campbell.

October 26
See what I mean? The smear on the Clintons has started even before the indictments are issued. Don’t be fooled by this bullshit.
–
October 25
It’s indictment week for the Republicans which means we’re going to be hearing a lot about President Clinton and the impeachment hearings because the Republicans, who control the Senate, the House, and the White House, will want to change the subject at every turn and rest assured they will lie so I’m exposing a lie I watched on Meet The Press last Sunday… Thanks to Media Matters for watching and listening as carefully as I do.
–
Media failed to correct Sen. Hutchison’s false Clinton impeachment claim
On the October 23 edition of NBC’s Meet the Press, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) downplayed the seriousness of a perjury indictment as a “technicality” and falsely claimed “there were charges against Bill Clinton besides perjury and obstruction of justice” during his 1999 Senate trial on impeachment charges. In fact, just two articles of impeachment against Clinton were approved by the House of Representatives: one for perjury, and the other for obstruction of justice. Hutchison’s falsehood went uncorrected by host Tim Russert and was not mentioned by any of the news outlets that quoted her Meet the Press appearance.
Hutchison’s comment came amid discussion of special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald’s investigation in to the alleged outing of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame. News reports have indicated that Fitzgerald may be pursuing perjury and obstruction of justice indictments against top White House officials. Hutchison attempted to downplay the seriousness of these charges, saying: “I certainly hope that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn’t indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars.” Russert challenged Hutchison’s statement, saying: “But the fact is perjury or obstruction of justice is a very serious crime, and Republicans certainly thought so when charges were placed against Bill Clinton before the United States Senate.” Hutchison responded: “Well, there were charges against Bill Clinton besides perjury and obstruction of justice. And I’m not saying that those are not crimes. They are.”
While the House Judiciary Committee advanced four articles of impeachment against Clinton to the full House of Representatives in December 1998, the House passed just two of them. The first alleged that Clinton “willfully provided perjurious, false and misleading testimony to the grand jury,” while the second alleged he “obstructed and impeded the administration of justice.” Hutchison was one of 45 Republican senators to vote “guilty” on the perjury charge, and one of 50 Republican senators to vote “guilty” on the obstruction of justice charge on February 12, 1999. A February 14, 1999, Dallas Morning News article quoted her as saying: “The principle of the rule of law — equality under the law and a clear standard for perjury and obstruction of justice — was the overriding issue in this impeachment.”
Russert did not correct Hutchison, nor did he note her votes on the charges against Clinton despite having pressed her on the seriousness of the indictments. Additionally, a number of news outlets quoted Hutchison downplaying the possible indictments but failed to note her Clinton impeachment falsehood. An October 23 Associated Press article quoted Hutchison saying, “Let’s tone down the rhetoric, and let’s make sure that if there are indictments, that we don’t prejudge.” An October 24 New York Times article titled “Republicans Testing Ways to Blunt Leak Charges” quoted Hutchison’s Meet the Press appearance as an example of a White House ally suggesting “that they intended to pursue a strategy of attacking any criminal charges as a disagreement over legal technicalities or the product of an overzealous prosecutor.” The Times failed to note, however, that Hutchison’s offensive — to minimize the significance of perjury or obstruction of justice charges — was based on a falsehood and ignored her own voting record on the Clinton impeachment. October 24 articles in the The Washington Post and The New York Sun (subscription required) also quoted Hutchison dismissing perjury as a “technicality” but made no mention of her false Clinton-impeachment allegation.
? S.S.M.
Posted to the web on Monday October 24, 2005 at 1:10 PM EST
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OCTOBER 4
I never imagined I would see the day that I included an article by George Will on my website. But the day has come. Does anyone in the country who is still breathing need further proof that Bush is a madman gone madder with power and he’s taking each of us down with him?

**Historic Update: regarding, Love In His Veins , my original screenplay**

(transcribed as follows from: ABC News Online, via ©2004, Australian Broadcasting Corporation):

The 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate, Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan Ecologist, reiterated her claim today that the AIDS virus was a deliberately created biological agent.

“Some say that AIDS came from the monkeys, and I doubt that because we have been living with monkeys (since) time immemorial, others say it was a curse from God, but I say it cannot be that. Us black people are dying more than any other people on this planet,” Ms. Maathai told a press conference in Nairobi a day after winning the prize for her work in human rights and reversing deforestation across Africa.

“It’s true that there are some people who create agents to wipe out other people. If there were no such people, we could have not have invaded Iraq,” she said.

“We invaded Iraq because we believed that Saddam Hussein had made, or was in the process of creating agents of biological warfare,” said Ms. Maathai.

“In fact it (the HIV virus) is created by a scientist for biological warfare,” she added.

“Why has there been so much secrecy about AIDS? When you ask where did the virus come from, it raises a lot of flags. That makes me suspicious,” Ms. Maathai said.

The United States on Friday congratulated Ms. Maathai on winning the Nobel Peace Prize, but tempered its praise over her claims about AIDS.

“She said (HIV/AIDS) was invented as a bio-weapon in some laboratory in the West,” a senior State Department official said. ”We don’t agree with that.”

So far, the best news this month is IQ , my new novel – is well on its way to being completed by Summer, 2005 and, (Air America rode into town — Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes, and Al Franken quite simply rock with their Talk — Left Talk, Liberal Talk, Makes Sense Talk, Talk for the Talk Starved…).

I’m also writing short stories during breaks from IQ and, Dancing on the Cellar Door is still selling like hotcakes.

Finally, keep your eyes peeled for a fresh website look in upcoming months — thanks to John Paul and Jamie…

I am into the noisy phase of writing IQ, my new book, formerly titled, Too Many Pieces. It’s very crowded in my head — lots of demanding characters vying for my attention. They are too interesting to ignore.

Congratulations to Michael Moore on the well-deserved box office success of Fahrenheit 911…

And, in related stories – let’s see, Janet Jackson’s exposed bosom at the Super Bowl vs. VP Cheney telling Sen. Leahy to “go fuck yourself” on the Senate floor: which is more offensive and which got the most news coverage?

Too Many Pieces, my new novel, is keeping me up at night and that is a good thing — voices are being heard, characters are being born, and journeys are being mapped. My goal is to complete it before the end of this year, with a little help from Mary Maxine Kidd, my alter ego.

Also in the news: Ed Begley, Jr., who attended the book launch party for my novel, Dancing on the Cellar Door, at the LA home of my Manager, Carole Wells Doheny, has come on board the …Cellar Door movie train and is helping Carole and me bring Alan Ball, of American Beauty and Six Feet Under fame, into the project. Thank you, Ed.

Congratulations Michael Moore, on winning the Palme d’Or for your documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11 , at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s an historical event not only for you and your film but for the Festival as well. May you find a new distributor ASAP and may the U.S. elect a new President ASAP, as in November, 2004.