Columnists :: David Toussaint
The Superior Disgrace by David Toussaint
EDGE ContributorMonday Oct 19, 2009Who knew a Nobel Peace Prize could start a war. No sooner had the President of the United States received the honor than the GOP went on the attack. "The real question Americans are asking is, ’What has President Obama actually accomplished?’" said RNC Chairman Michael Steele before most people had time to read the news, let alone form an opinion. So much for giving America its place in the sun after eight years of darkness. Decorum, like 10 percent of the country, hit the unemployment line.
Although handing Obama the prize was a bit like giving an Oscar to a starlet before her first film, that’s not the point. There was a time not so long ago (1997, to be exact) when respect for the highest office of the land was of imminent importance on Capitol Hill, no matter your political convictions. Who knew the Party of Ronald Reagan would crash every party they’re not allowed to host.
On October 9th, in Queens, New York, 49-year-old Jack Price was gay-bashed by two men in their twenties, resulting in a fractured jaw, ribs, and a lacerated spleen. He was leaving a corner deli when the assault began. The attack was captured on video for everyone to see, the day after the House voted to expand the definition of federal hate crimes to cover those committed "because of a victim’s gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability."
Representative Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, said passage of the bill, named after Matthew Shepard, would lead to a legalization of necrophilia, pedophilia, and bestiality, creating a situation similar to that of Germany in the 1930s when "a little guy with a mustache" took over. Lest you think Gohmert ill-informed, he recited several anti-homosexual Bible passages as proof that democracy was on the decline.
Sorry it’s been so long in between columns, but I’ve been too busy fucking a 3-month-old dead dog to care about anything else.
Who knew the Party of Lincoln would turn into the Party of Enslavement. The Republicans don’t hate Bush; they hate that he got caught with his Old Navy camouflage fatigues down. They hate Bill Clinton for the opposite reason; he got caught with his pants down and survived. The GOP would sell your mother (or your children) to get the world back to the way it was for eight beautiful, almost autocratic years. Quick show of hands for those of you who think the Right favors a government "ruled by the people."
In the early morning hours of March 13, 1964, also in Queens, 28-year-old Kitty Genovese was stabbed twice in the back within 100 feet of her apartment building. The black man who attacked her, Winston Moseley, sped off in his car after someone yelled "Let that girl alone!" then returned a few minutes later, found Genovese lying in an alley, and stabbed her repeatedly before raping her. The knife wounds on her hands indicate that she fought back before dying.
When asked for his motive, Moseley, who was married with two children, and who stole $49 from his victim, said "to kill a woman." He also admitted to murdering and sexually assaulting two other women. Psychological examinations suggested that he was a necrophile. It was revealed on the 40th anniversary of Genovese’s death that she was a lesbian.
Poor Kitty, were she only around after the passage of the Matthew Shepard Bill, her murder would have been inconceivable. We now know that straight people aren’t necrophiliacs and dykes are the real genocidal maniacs.
Who knew Republicans would exhibit Fascist tendencies to advance their patriotic agenda. The people who work for the government, receive health care through the government, and who represent the government, tell us now that all things government-related are evil. Should you question their government, or choose not to wear the required flag-lapel uniform (even Obama caved-in to the McCarthy retro Party), you’re a traitor. Father-land knows best.
The Republicans don’t
hate Bush; they hate that he got caught with his Old Navy camouflage pants down. Forty-five years later, Genovese’s death does not qualify as a federal hate crime, nor does Shepard’s. If someone murdered Moseley "to kill a black man," he’d qualify. So would the rabbis in the largely Jewish section of Kew Gardens, Queens, where Genovese lived, as would ministers of all faiths in the rest of the United States. Hate crimes, ironically enough, discriminate.
House Republican Leader John Boehner objected to passage of the Hate Crimes Bill, saying "The Democrats ’thought’ crimes’ legislation places a higher value on some lives than others. Republicans believe that all lives are created equal, and should be defended with equal vigilance." It’s a sweet statement and another lie. Boehner doesn’t believe there should be a repeal of existing hate crimes protections based on race, color, religion, or national origin. All lives are created equal, provided the people living in them have pre-approved skin.
Nobody in the Grand Old Party objected to Presidential Legislation to keep a Florida woman in a Persistent Vegistative State alive, yet Shepard’s death becomes more mysterious by the passing-of-bills hour.
Republican Representative Virginia Foxx came up with the most fair and balanced story; that Shepard’s death was an "unfortunate" robbing incident, had nothing to do with his being gay, and was a "hoax" to help pass evil hate crimes bills. Remind me next time I’m out to steal some petty cash to head for my nearest straight bar, pretend I’m heterosexaul so I can find a woman willing to go home with me, and then drive her out to a field, tie her to a fence, torture her so severely the only part of her face not covered with blood would be where tears washed it off, and leave her in a coma. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to get 49 bucks from my victim too.
And who knew it would be the little things that show us what pigs we’ve become. Next time you’re mad at your child for texting, I hope he or she reminds you that, if Republican Representative Eric Cantor can text continually during the President’s Joint Congressional Speech, aired live all over this great nation of ours except Fox News, and not get so much as a slap on the wrist, no one has any business telling a child it’s wrong to text when the teacher’s speaking.
The GOP doesn’t hate Barack Obama just because he’s black; they hate him because he’s interested in bettering the lives of people who don’t just stuff the stomachs of Congress. That’s the anti-American paranoia seen in Death Panels and Birthers and Rush and Glenn playground tantrums and (Republican sponsored) gun-waving rallies, and Republican Representative Michele Bachmann’s assertion that Democrats created Swine Flu frenzy to make citizens susceptible to Obamacare (that’s the pig calling the pork a shit-lover).
Anyone with a third-grade education (pardon my French) knows that every Republican Senator or Congressman would demand health-care reform should they, or their family, find themselves unemployed, just as every Right Wing pundit would demand federal intervention should one of their own, even by proxy, be harmed, collateral damage be damned (Terri Schiavo can rest in peace; best of luck to living husband Michael).
The Kitty Genovese murder remains in the public consciousness 45 years later, not only because of the hate crime factor; what’s kept her story alive is the parable behind it. According to initial reports, at least 38 neighbors (all in the same apartment complex) heard or saw the young woman being stabbed, yet no one helped. In a subsequent "New York Times" article, one witness was quoted as saying he saw part of the attack, then convinced another neighbor to call the police, as "I didn’t want to get involved." Another neighbor reportedly turned the radio up to drown out her screams.
The accuracy of the story is debatable. Later investigations claimed that it would have been impossible for that many people to witness the attack, and made note that, after the first stabbing punctured her lungs, she wouldn’t have been able to scream. Conspiracy theorists also chimed in, one claiming it was a mob hit. But the story came to represent public apathy, another example of our declining humanity.
What we don’t know about Kitty Genovese, and what we are not certain about Matthew Shepard, is what we do know about Jack Price. Price is out of his medically induced coma, and speaking from his Queens hospital bed. He recognized the men who attacked him, even understood their Spanish slurs. Unlike the other two hate crimes, there’s a video of this one, in black and white. Most important, he’s still alive to benefit from our humanity. Try as they might, this one’s no "hoax" worthy of less-attention than a hot-air balloon covered live all over this great nation of ours especially Fox News. If we ignore Price, don’t report his screams, we can’t blame it on ambiguity or conjecture or a robbery gone afoul. We can only blame the hatred that breeds within.
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