Earlier this afternoon on the Jerry Doyle radio show, a conservative radio program that deals primarily with conservative political topics aimed against the President, the Democratic Party, and Liberal Ideologies, Conservative columnist Ben Shapiro had very tasteless words to say about President Obama's recent appointment to the Commerce Department. Shapiro was on air when he called Amanda Simpson, the first ever Presidential appointment within the Transgender community, a "MoMan", assumingly making a play of the words Man and Woman. Very creative indeed. Mr. Shapiro also went on to insinuate that Ms. Simpson was given this appointment for being a Transgender person instead of her qualitifcations, calling Transgender people mentally unstable and unqualified for such an appointment.

What Mr. Shapiro failed to mention however is that Ms. Simpson has quite a respectable resume under her fashionable belt;

1) A Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Arizona in 2001
2) A Masters degree in Engineering from the California State University Northridge in 1988
3) A Bachelor degree in Physics from Harvey Mudd College in 1983
4) 30 years experience in the Aerospace and Defense Industry
(most recently working as Deputy Director of Advanced Tech Development for Raytheon)

Mr. Shapiro is only partially siting findings from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) when he says that Transgender people are "mentally unstable". Though in his defense, Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is classified under the same section as pedophilia in the DSM. What he doesn't realize is that European doctors and medical professionals have removed GID from the books years ago (Yet again, Europe surpasses The U.S. regarding social policy).

It's quite a dis-service to the listener when Mr. Shapiro jumps on the conservative bandwagon and decides that fact-checking has suddenly been removed from a journalist's list of criteria... even if you wish to make an opinion Mr. Shapiro, at least have some facts behind your words, that's all I ask.

God bless America.

The month of August started off rocky for the LGBT community as 3 young people were murdered in Tel Aviv after an attack on an LGBT community center.

Lets get to the have beens...

-We were all entrenched to our eyeballs in healthcare reform, everywhere you turned people are talking about reform pro's and con's. We're not going to get away from this one for quite a while so I'm also including this one in the should be's and will be's... fyi.
-The great debate over Sonia Sotomayor came to a close with her being confirmed to the Supreme Court... the conservatives had little to say once they knew they lost this one. Great day for women and minorities everywhere.
-Bill Clinton was making headlines again after his rescure of two journalists from North Korea's grips.
-The Evangelical Lutheran Churches of America (ELCA) voted to allow gays in commited relationships to serve as ministers!

On to the should be's...

-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's senate race is ratcheting up against him, Nevadans should take a close look at how or why they should support Harry Reid's bid in 2010.
-Talk about the equality march with all of your friends, because it's a big deal and it should be treated as such!
-On the lighter side, you should check out the episode of Family Guy that's being talked about with Rush Limbaugh... what a jokester that rush. :(
-Keep an eye on Iran, because the people rose up this summer so there's bound to be more trouble ahead.
-Like I said earlier, talk about healthcare because everyone else will be!

Finally to the will be's...

-I've looked into my crystal ball and I see more talks about healthcare reform, should we overhaul the entire system or just make the proper adjustments?
-Look for possible ways that the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy will affect that debate on either side of the aisle
-We're all going to be talking about gay rights! Support your brothers and sisters by attending the Equality March this October!

Those are my thoughts this time around, let me know if you disagree or if you think I missed something.

Citizenzero

P.S.
I get the feeling that we're all going to start thinking locally again when it comes to entertainment, dining, and politics so get informed on what's cool, what's good, and what's going on.

This morning, the wonderful Rush Limbaugh was taking a call from one of his listeners regarding the recent antics that some of the right wing healthcare protestors had tried at several town hall meetings. The caller was on record for denouncing the portrayals of President Obama as Hitler as well as denouncing people bringing their weapons to protests... the listener went on to say that by these people going out there like this, the Liberals are gaining ammunition! 

Limbaugh went on to completely disagree with the caller, claiming that those exact type of antics were what was working in this healthcare "debate". He went on further to argue that the caller sounded like he was working for the other side... suggesting that the intelligent people in this country that see him for the ignorant tyrant that he is would take the time out of their day to call into his radio program. Unbelievable! Painting President Obama as a Nazi and bringing rifles to protests near where the President of the United States was going to be present... this never would have been accepted if a left wing nutjob had brought a rifle to a Bush event, we never would've heard the end of it.

Later on however, Glenn Beck was on his radio program talking about the same issue! He was talking about how the protestor at Barney Frank's townhall was making things worse for the conservative movement against healthcare reform... wait, I thought that Rush was the most popular figure in the Republican party? I thought that the polls showed him even more credible than Sarah Palin!!! Yet here is Glenn Beck... going against what the Rush-juggernaut was saying. Very interesting to me, interesting enough for me to take notice.

I hardly ever find anything relevant on Glenn Beck's radio program, but I actually agreed with him on this exact issue today... it's simple, because if you start showing your crazy card, the rest of the country is going to see it and switch teams! In my personal opinion... LET THE CRAZY CARD SHOW FRINGERS!!! LET IT SHINE IN THE LIGHT FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY TO SEE! They'll win the debate for us, and we would finally be able to move onto the next task (hopefully gay rights, even though I doubt it).

The truth on this entire debate is that there SHOULD be a debate on the issues, representatives shouldn't be calling people crazy or insulting their intelligence by suggesting they're stupid or senile... PERIOD! You chose to serve the public, and that's like a heterosexual marriage, til death do you part (since gays aren't nationally allowed to marry, I politely leave that elusion to the straight majority), or until we vote you out!

The Liberal representatives in Congress need to stay strong during this month of August and allow the right wing to sink their own ship with these far out fringe agents that are showing up all across the country. These fringers are influencing the debate by not allowing the REAL constituents the time to voice their concerns, because there most certainly are a lot of questions that are still to be answered by the Democrats in office. This is a battle against time for the Democrats, and quite frankly they're wasting it if they're pandering to the outrageous comments from these fringers.

Take your constituents seriously; just because they have a question about healthcare, doesn't mean that they're crazy! I HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT HEALTHCARE!!! Harry Reid better not dream about shouting at me as if I were a crazy though, any senator would have another thing coming if they ever took the tone that Barney Frank took with that fringer.

Breathe in... Breathe out... Breathe in... Breathe out... Namaste.

God bless America