The New York Times is
reporting that the FDA (Food And Drug Administration) is continuing the ban on gay men donating blood. This is in spite of calls as long as a year ago from the American Red Cross and two other agencies for the ban to be lifted. The FDA claims they are not being discriminatory against gay men, but then what is it? All blood is tested and anyone can lie. This policy, instituted in 1983, is a remnant of Reagan era anti-gay policies and should be jettisoned immediately. Click on the title of this blog entry, go to the FDA web site and tell them to stop discriminating against gay men!
Big oil is now saying that gas prices will go higher as a result of the push for bio-fuels. "Why should they invest in more refining capacity if we're moving to alternative fuels," they ask. Why indeed! Let's keep their profits high at all costs to the American public. As I said yesterday, we will all have to pay much more for non-renewable energy. However, the profits should not go to the oil companies, rather, the money should be used to improve our overall energy independence picture.
Oh yes, and it's now becoming clear that as many as 200,000 U.S. troops may be sent to Iraq by the end of the year in what some (
Condi Rice) are calling an "augmentation" of the "Surge." Junior Bush knows that he can do whatever he wants in Iraq and that the Congress and indeed, the American people, cannot stop him. I wonder if future generations will look back upon this time and wonder why the American people went along with Bush, just as we wonder why the German people allowed Hitler's atrocities. Will we be thought of as "Good Americans?"
In the news: Mary Cheney had her baby. The official White House photo is released showing VP Cheney and wife holding the baby. No where to be found: a picture of Mary and her partner of 15 years with the baby. I find this disgusting. I wish the baby all the best in life, but Mary Cheney ought to be ashamed of herself.
Photo: Bradley romps by a tidal pool
Jim
Queer Sighted blogger Richard Rothstein asks if as gays have an obligation to fight for our rights or if we should just be left alone to lead "normal" lives. But that's precisely the point: we can't lead normal lives given the oppression directed against us. VP Cheney is a MAJOR oppressor. Why shouldn't I expect Mary Cheney to reject him and his complicity in our oppression just like I had to reject my own family's refusal to accept me as a gay man? To me Mary is a collaborator, and represents the lowest gay life form out there. As long as we have courageous gay men and lesbians fighting openly, I have zero tolerance for the Mary Cheneys, Ellens, or whomever else goes along with the program of hate, discrimination, and second class citizenship directed at us.
