Well, I’m off to the east coast and their weather of doom, so I’m packing extra warm clothes. Makes one really appreciate sunny San Diego!
Many are trying to rewrite the history of Ronald Reagan
This past weekend there was a huge celebration of what would have been President Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday, and talk about re-writing history and his eight years of being in the White House. All the media hype was as if we were remembering Mother Teresa or Winston Churchill! Now there is a “Ronald Reagan Legacy Project” made up of conservatives whose goal it is to see a statue, park, bridge or road named after Reagan in all 3,140 counties in the United States!
The facts are that, under President Reagan, the federal debt doubled and Reagan sold weapons to Iran and made the decision to arm Osama Bin Laden! And, how about the Iran-Contra scandal? During the Reagan administration, many “sweetheart” deals were discovered with Reagan insiders giving away taxpayers money to political friends and allies in secret.
Yes, Reagan is responsible in some ways for the fall of communism in Europe, but he got us in league with Islamist radicals in Afghanistan and look where we are today!
But for me and so many others, it was President Reagan’s silence and total lack of leadership and commitment when it came to the issue of AIDS that we cannot and will never forget. Reagan’s ignoring and refusing to get involved in those early dark years of AIDS cost thousands of lives. When it came to the United States and AIDS under Reagan, we waited too long and lost so many all because of an uncaring and unconcerned Reagan administration, who felt it was just a “homosexual disease.”
History must judge our Presidents by their entire record, good and bad. We who lived through Ronald Reagan’s eight years must not ever let them rewrite his history and never let them forget the AIDS crisis, which was 99 percent of the time never mentioned in this past weekend’s glowing coverage of Reagan’s birthday celebration and his years in office.
Change.org: Coronado Bridge
An editorial in this past weekend’s Union-Tribune came out against the on-going campaign to re-name the Coronado Bridge to the Ronald Reagan Bridge. All then Governor Reagan did in 1969 was dedicate the Coronado Bridge as it was his predecessor Governor Pat Brown who got the bridge built. So why not name it the Pat Brown Bridge?
Please join the campaign to stop the re-naming of the Coronado Bridge. Sign the petition, Change.org then search Coronado Bridge and add your name to the growing list. Thank you.
Lambda Archives Gala this Friday night!
Just follow the crowds to the fourth annual Heroes, Pioneers and Trailblazers community recognition this Friday night, Feb. 11 at The Center. It’s going to be a wonderful and prideful event honoring true heroes and yes, pioneers of San Diego’s LGBT community. More info: 619-260-1522.
End the death penalty
One thing I totally disagree with our District Attorney is the issue of the death penalty. Once again, I’ve read about more men on death row found totally innocent of their crime through new DNA evidence.
The facts are that we have killed innocent people and just one innocent man killed is one too many. Usually these men are poor and African American. DNA is even proving the innocence of many men released after spending almost all their lives in prison.
Recently an inmate in a California prison was presented a death warrant, the first such document delivered in more than five years. And word is that state officials will seek to schedule the executions of six other Californians. A new death chamber has been constructed at San Quentin.
So, the battle is on whether to resume executions in California, which have been on hold since 2006. I say “No” to the death penalty and support life in prison with no possibility of parole.
Houston’s mayor Annise Parker in San Diego
The openly gay mayor of one of the largest cities in the United States, Houston, Texas is in San Diego this weekend. Yes, that’s Mayor Annise Parker, who was elected in 2009 but must run for re-election this year.
Dinners and brunches are being planned in San Diego for Mayor Parker by the Victory Fund and national officers City Commissioner Robert Gleason and Susan Atkins.
Be careful with those pictures you send over the Internet
A certain local young gay man was up for a big promotion in a very well known major corporation and guess what happened? An ex boyfriend sent some private wild nude pictures of his ex to the corporation’s board of directors. And, what was going to be a “sure thing” became “We decided to go with another person.” This very erotic photo seems to have made it all over the company’s big brass and he ended up quitting.
I hear about situations like this many times with photos sent through the internet coming back to haunt someone. People, both gay and straight, are sending nude and sexual photos through the internet, even sometimes to total strangers, and sometimes, yes, years later they show up.
I know a bright young man who was thinking of running for public office and didn’t because there were photos out in the internet that he had forgotten about.
So, be smart out there and don’t be stupid and so trusting in this day and age.
