Frenemies

What happened to the band's official channel?  Wow...this one has links to buy the song on Amazon, so I'll post it. 


You think you're happy
Think you're free
But maybe we're just
Comfortably deceived.
- my favorite misheard lyric.  






Today I am thankful for political frenemies. 

I hung out with Democrat lawmakers today.  It is a different world.  They believe laws will solve all the world's problems.  They just make laws: they don't care if they are Constitutional or not.  Constitutionality is the job of the courts.  They just make laws: they don't care whether or not law enforcement actually enforces them. At least they're trying to do something.

This is in sharp contrast to Republican lawmakers.  They will test Constitutionality.  They will poll law enforcement.  It takes them awhile to pass a law. At least they're trying to see the unintended consequences of legislation. 

My issue?  Well.....I'm going to need people on both sides to see the problem. 

It is a problem with the first amendment. 

It IS a problem of association. 

It is NOT a problem of discrimination.  I don't give a crap what anyone screams at me anymore. 

My daddy did not fight in World War II and Korea so I had to make ineffective recordings to convert gay people. He did not fight in those wars to force artists to take jobs celebrating unions.  Heck, our veterans did not fight to force anyone to take any job.....period.

This isn't the USSR!

I used to argue with my dad.  He'd say that homosexuals are perverts.  I'd disagree and point to the elevated status homosexuals had within many Native American tribes.  They were androgynous.  Many tribes celebrated the fact that they could understand everyone. 

Now....after seeing the death, murder and rape threats over wedding cake and bathroom access.  I am beginning to believe that my dad was right. 

Only a pervert would threaten to rape a woman pointing out why she is afraid of a man in the ladies' room.  We typically tell little girls in danger to run to a woman's bathroom and wait for help.  Men won't follow her there.

That's not true anymore. 

It's a sad, sad world. 

*****

I am a little bit peeved about artists being sued for failing to create works for gay people.

I am seething about artists being sued for refusing to create works that are hateful towards gays.

I brought it up to my representative.  When he first graduated college, we used to debate tax hikes in public forums. I've gained some weight since then.  He barely recognized me.

He promised he'd take care of the issue.

There is a bill in committee to protect bakers.

There is also a bill that passed committee to protect therapists who refuse to conduct gay conversion therapies. I am a psychotherapist.  Should this bill pass, I cannot be sued for refusing to create a hypnotic recording to "cure" homosexuality.

How does one cure something that isn't a disease?

Nonetheless, I'm sickened by the whole ordeal. 

If one group can get pushy with artists, it makes it easier for others to push them around, too. 

We'll see if the politicians follow through.  

I'd hate to think that we need to put together a ballot initiative to protect artists and small business owners.  I think we have to start by explaining to people that laws to protect small business owners are NOT akin to the old Jim Crow laws of the  past. 

I was raised by my grandparents.  They remember those laws. 

Jim Crow laws forbade whites from associating with blacks.  They forbade seamstresses from sewing dresses for little black girls to wear to church.  The forbade white people from giving black people seats at the front of the bus.  They punished white people for feeding black people.

That didn't stop my grandmother and her mother from making dresses for the children who went to church.  My maternal great-grandma was a Pentecostal minister.  Pentecostal people see no color nor no gender.  We are all God's children.   She was also said to be the niece of the 18th President of the United States.  Imagine....I have genes that could scheme to win a war with bigots...even if I were inebriated at the time! 

I think I inherited her obnoxiousness. I also found her picture on Ancestry.com.  We have the same smile and fashion sense.  I swear, I have a suit that looks just like the one she wore at the turn of the century.



The conscious clause laws give everyone the freedom of association.  I'm thinking, at the very least, we need to allow them to apply to businesses with less than 50 employees (like we do other discrimination laws).  I'm sorry....but I do not want to be forced to create gay hate art. I am a one woman show.  I don't have time, energy, or inclination to do anti-gay videos. 

Conscientious objector laws and Jim Crow laws are very different things. 

Private businesses are NOT public businesses.  My art is not something that is mass produced.  It is not something that people can walk in off of the street and simply buy. 

This is why I reserve the right to refuse projects. 

I refuse projects that shame other people.  I will refuse anything shaming gay people. 

If I get sued, there will be hell to pay! 

I'm a redhead. 


Bakers can refuse specialized wedding cakes for any wedding.  I don't care what the PC police say - it is art.  Unless the couple is buying mass produced Twinkies, they do not have the right to barge in a small business and demand satisfaction.  Eventually lawmakers and judges are going to wake up and see what is going on.  I am pretty darn sure the voters do.   

It is tyranny to force an artist to take a job that he or she isn't passionate about. 

I'm going to say the same is true for photographs and videographers.  You want to hire someone who gets you....who gets your story.....who can frame the story of your love....

An ethical photographer will only take jobs where they can frame the story in a positive fashion.

For the law to demand otherwise is wrong. 

If that makes me a bigot, so be it.  It would appear that the definition of bigot has changed to mean assertive.  My daddy fought for your right to harass me if I do not conform.  Okay.....


If you threaten to rape me in person, I'll kick your arse.  I had a lesson in flashlight fighting the other day.  Bring it....

Oh, and the liberals have made it easier for people like me to have idiots like the gay guy who threatened to rape me tracked and arrested.  So.....this will be interesting. 


So.....let's see where this goes. 

I'll be pitching an idea for a ballot initiative if this isn't resolved in 60 days. 

I know a ballot initiative forbidding government tyranny will pass.  You cannot force an artist to work for you. 

You can't. 

It's wrong. 

Love ya,

S.

Edit:  Oh, I have to say that my Senator, my former Senator, and my house Rep knows about the stalking.  In fact, the other two reps for the areas nearby know, too.  The Senate minority leader knows, too. 


Either they've been with me during stalking events -or- they tried to talk me out of getting a gun.  Their fears are well founded.  Shannon looks like my daughter.  One of the senators was involved in a manslaughter case (accidental traffic accident) and it really hurt her.  She wanted to spare me the same fate.


One just introduced a cyber-bullying bill despite my warnings.  The cops won't take complaints.  The DAs won't prosecute.  I know....she's trying to be helpful.  The Senator who tried to help my daughter explained that it may or may not help - but it is a tool that the cops can use to stop stalkers that didn't exist before.  It's not his fault the cops refuse to take reports. 


I should say this....just because it is sweet. 

They still make sure one of them walks me to my car.  My Congressman watched me unlock my beat up car!  It didn't dawn on me why he was insistent that he see me off until I started driving away. 


He is a gentleman.  


I may hate their politics from time to time -but- it never hurts to feel grateful for the human sides of politicians. 


I'll try to remember the kindness they've shown me the next time I'm debating them. 

Love ya,

S.