If you look up the words “integrity” and “honesty” in the political dictionary, you would probably find a picture of Toni Atkins right next to these two words. Atkins has never forgotten where she came from – the Appalachian mountains of Virginia, a coal miner’s daughter. She grew up in a home with no running water and her mother cooked on a wood stove, which also attempted to heat Toni and her three siblings during the winter. She had an outhouse in the back.
Toni Atkins has always loved being a public servant and before people talked her into running for office she ran three women’s health clinics. That’s how I met her when she asked me and the Imperial Court to please help raise funds for women who could not afford even a $75 breast exam for cancer. Before that, in Virginia, she cleaned hotel rooms, worked at a dry cleaning store, frame factory and, yes, even pumped gas at a local gas station.
It’s no surprise that many in California (especially homeless advocates) call Toni Atkins “the people’s speaker.” What both Republicans and Democrats say about Toni Atkins in our state capitol is that this Assembly speaker is a woman of her word and is honest.
Marty Block is from Chicago … need I say more? It is well known in political circles that it was Marty Block who approached Toni Atkins and pleaded with her not to run for the vacant senate seat and he gave his word that he planned to retire in 2016 and would only serve one term and would then support Atkins for Senate in 2016.
Well, like I said, Marty Block is from Chicago and we all know how far honesty and integrity and “your word” holds up in their kind of politics.
Marty Block is a nice enough man. He’s never been a leader, more of a follower. The cold hard fact is that Marty Block lied to Toni Atkins and did not keep his word. So I join Chis Kehoe, Todd Gloria, David Alvarez, Shirley Weber and San Diegans from all walks of life to support: “Toni Atkins for Senate 2016!” Honesty and integrity always beats out lies and broken promises.
Stonewall movie: The worst acting ever
While in San Francisco this past weekend for a history panel at the San Francisco Community Center which included Cleve Jones, soon to be a Marine Judge Advocate, Joseph Rocha took me to see the movie Stonewall. It’s not that this movie has become controversial and not told this historic story well (at least the producer has stated that his movie is fictional), this movie is a hot mess with some of the worst acting I have ever seen on a movie screen.
An actor who has just gotten beat up by a “trick” is so over the top that instead of feeling sorry for him, you find yourself laughing at such poor acting skills. And guess what, according to this movie the person who threw the first brick at the Stonewall Riots in 1969, was an Abercrombie & Fitch perfect blond built model from Indiana. Oh please, when pigs fly did it happen that way.
The budget for this movie must have been “food stamps” and the entire cast’s acting was so horrible that I am nominating this movie for the annual Razzie Awards: (worst movie and acting Oscars-like event). Director Roland Emmerich and writer Jon Robin Baitz hijacked this historic event (the Stonewall riots) and worst of all they picked the least talented actors they could find and made a really bad “B” movie of it all.
A San Francisco weekend
Little did I know when I arrived in San Francisco for a speaking engagement and charity event that it was the same weekend of the very gay annual event Folsom Street Fair, which attracts over 200,000 people (71 percent non-San Franciscans), with a $180 million boost to the local economy. Although I didn’t go to the Fair, I did bump into a lot of San Diegans at my hotel and on the streets.
During my five-day visit of events, meetings, etc., I had the honor of presenting awards to The Bay Area Reporter, The San Francisco Bay Times, the Alexander Hamilton American Legion Post 448, San Francisco Night Ministry, 88-year-old gay veteran Robert Potter, historian photographer “Rink,” Bay Times publishers Dr. Betty L. Sullivan and Jennifer L. Viegas, Bay Area Reporter Assistant News Editor Mathew Bajko and the Founder of the Screen Actor’s Guild’s LGBT committee, Jason Stuart.
Again Nicole, how you flip-flop and forget your past. You endorsed Marty Block and once again, you’re spinning your head around faster than Linda Blair did in the Exorcist. So that makes how many politicians that you’ve endorsed and then backtracked and badmouthed? The majority, my little dabbler in politics. In case you forgot, here’s just one link to your endorsement: http://www.smartvoter.org/2012/11/06/ca/state/vote/block_m/endorse.html
Now wasn’t it just a few weeks ago in June that you were again singing the praises of Dave Roberts, another disgraced politician? You seriously need to just throw in the towel. You endorse them, I vote against them. Your record has been proven so far to be worthless and harmful.
You do not represent the gay community. You never have, you never will. It’s apparent that you’re a politician’s kiss of death.
What Gino said.
Since when is it acceptable to insult an entire population based on their geographic origin?
Nicole can’t think of anything more damaging to say about Marty Block than that he is from Chicago: “We all know how far honesty and integrity and “your word” holds up in their kind of politics.”
Simply swap the words “Mexico” for “Chicago” and you’ll see exactly how much Nicole behaves like Donald Trump in feeling entitled to call his enemies ‘one of those people’ and have his bigotry accepted as logic.
When will the editor remove Nicole? She is a mess, a hypocrite, and probably the most miserably mean old hag that thinks she’s important. I can hardly wait until she retires. Her columns are mostly loaded with misinformation, lies, or figments of her imagination. I guess that’s called senility.