WHAT A COUNTRY

Wow...the 50th anniversary today of Brown v. Board. Obviously a landmark case. And on the very same day, the first legal marriages of homosexuals take place in Massachusetts. No American should have a problem with that, black or white, straight or gay, Christian or atheist. And I say that for two reasons: 1) the Constitution guarantees equal protection to all citizens, and 2) neither the Christian Bible, the Muslim Koran, or the Jewish Torah is the law of our land. In fact, the Bible just lists homosexuality in a laundry list of other sins like stealing, lying, cheating, and so forth. And we all know thieves, liars, and cheats who are married and got married when they were doing those things. No one is trying to deny such people the right to get married and basing their arguments on what the Bible says. Jesus himself never said anything about it.

Here's a couple of relevant verses (online at "The Unbound Bible"--very cool site):

1 Corinthians


1 Corinthians 6:9
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,

1 Corinthians 6:10
nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

So anyway...

Reflecting on the progress of the civil rights movement, I wanted to recount a few things that I've experienced. First, when my family first moved to Mississippi, I was starting junior high. It was the first time I'd ever been to a public school, and it was not easy for me. Mostly because no one would really talk to me except a kid named John Beck. He befriended me and we hung out at recess and lunch and whatnot. Well, one day some kids that rode my bus saw him waiting for the bus with me, and once I got on the bus, I started getting thumped in the ear from behind as usual. But this time, I was also being called a "nigger lover."

Second, the main road that ran through the mostly black part of town (I should point out that this was in Picayune, MS), Rosa St. was not paved. My sister went to school at Southside Elementary, which was on the corner of Rosa and Beech St. Beech St. was paved; Rosa was not. I don't remember when Rosa St. was finally paved, but it was only within the last 10-15 years. I point this out as an anomaly because there were no other high traffic streets in the city that were unpaved.

And it's significant to me because it was in my lifetime. This was a gross violation of decency that was not in black and white photos taken in 1963 and in some textbook--this was after what happened in the black and white photos was supposed to have fixed things...

And then in the 90s I had a friend who managed an apartment complex for his grandfather. This friend told me that the applications of blacks were "lost" or "misfiled" because his grandfather did not want blacks to live there. Apparently, they followed the law as far as accepting applications for apartments from people of color, but then the applications just somehow never made it to the top of the stack...my friend doesn't work there anymore...

And Colin Powell admits the intelligence was "flawed" as opposed to "solid."

And Eric Alterman kicked much ass on "Scarborough Country" tonight. He called bullshit on Scarborough and the entire hawk contingent that allowed us to be lied into war. And hopefully Michael Moore will sue the Republican stooge who called him a traitor in the same segment...read the transcript at msnbc.com.

And check this out--remorse for American atrocities in Iraq.

MUSIC STUFF

Honeychurch is awesome. Great album--beautiful harmonies, lush arrangements.

Also watched Zappa's "Baby Snakes" DVD over the weekend. What a weird flick. The claymation is so bizarre it's beautiful. It's almost equally balanced between Zappa's love of sexual/toilet humor and his brilliant music. The concert footage is inspiring, to say the least. Terry Bozzio is amazing and the keyboard players were out of this world..."Baby Snakes" is indeed "A movie about people who do stuff that is not normal."

And while on the subject of Zappa, Ensemble Modern's new version of "Greggery Peccary" is outstanding...