Target has always been a corporation who has been kinder than many toward their gay and lesbian employees. For you to now be the largest contributor to a disgustingly homophobic organization such as MN Forward, you have shown your true colours at last.

I have been a faithful customer of Target’s for many, many years. No more. You will not suppress the rights and freedoms of other human beings with my dime. My refusal to patronize your business may not mean anything to you, but there are a lot of people out there just like me who will refuse to do business with you as well, and together we will make an impact.

You and your support of such reprehensible, anti-gay, homophobic cretins will lose. Someday, gay people all over this country will have the right to be an equal human being in the eyes of the law of this land, even if people like you may never accept it.

You should be ashamed and disgusted with what you have done today. No amount of backpedaling will excuse you. The damage is done, and you are forever changed in my eyes and the eyes of millions of people all across this country.

I will leave you to do business with the kind of people you clearly prefer to be associated with: The Teabaggers, wingnuts, religious fundamentals and other scum of humanity whose sole purpose is to make the lives of anyone who is not exactly the same as they are as miserable as possible.

You will fail. You and your ilk shall not prevail, and I, for one, cannot wait to stand with my gay brothers and sisters when victory against people like you has been achieved at last. I will stand for humanity and equality and tolerance. To you I will leave the hate and the poison and the bitter gall of discrimination and suppression of rights and liberties. May you rot in the offal of your kind.

http://www.seattlepi.com/business/1310ap_us_corporate_donations_backlash.html

This kind of thing is one of the many reasons I like Barack Obama as a person. I do. I’ve studied up on him and read a couple of his books and a lot of the things he does and the way he thinks of the world and of human beings and many of the things he believes strongly resonate with me.

Many people are claiming that Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize simply for not being George W. Bush. To be fair, it would be completely hypocritical to deny the truth of this, at least to some degree. However, this isn’t something that should reflect poorly on Obama, as many are implying it does because he “ain’t done nothin’ yet” and simply won it, as right-wing wit Erick Erickson from RedState.org expressed it, as an “affirmative action quota.”

As far as I’m concerned, such a lens is badly skewed. When you step back and rationally regard those two presidents, those two human beings, whatever part Obama’s not being George W. Bush played in the final decision by the Nobel committee in awarding the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize is not a denigration of the prize itself or an indictment of Obama but rather a devastating, profound statement on exactly how deep the incredible damage our 43rd president wreaked upon the entirety of humanity ran.

Are there other people who deserve the Nobel Peace Prize far more for what they are actually doing in the world? This is such an obvious truth that why it’s even brought up as an argument is beyond me. Of course there are. It’s probably safe to say that every single one of the candidates deserved the Nobel Peace Prize more than Obama did, if you look at it from the perspective of worthy action and not simply words and ideas.

That being said, I’m very proud of and happy for Barack Obama for his win. As my president and fellow countryman I am proud of the way he comports himself and of the many things he has done so far in his life of service and dedication to his fellow humans. I, for one, believe him when he says he will work to deserve the honour of winning the Nobel Peace Prize. I have no doubts that someday, he will deserve it for his deeds as well as for his words and ideas.

However, the main complaint regarding the Nobel panel’s decision is over the fact that they awarded the Peace Prize to someone who has not, by his own admission, achieved anything of substance yet. Detractors claim with some truth that traditionally it has usually been actions and not words that have merited the award, which comes not just with the honours of being a recipient in and of itself but with a substantial monetary prize that provides often badly-needed funds to recipients, most of whom put it to good use in furthering their specific cause.

So if we’re talking about action then I’d be a hypocrite myself if I didn’t agree that no, Barack Obama does not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. I have to admit that I’ll be far, far prouder and happier that Barack Obama is my president when he starts doing things, such as putting the public option for healthcare not just back on the table but reintroducing it as flatly nonnegotiable, and when he starts doing things like finally moving forward on various gay rights issues, making gay marriage legal, repealing DOMA and DADT and so forth.

Frankly, it’s astounding that he hasn’t done these things yet. I was and am willing to give him time and I recognize the immensity of the mess he voluntarily inherited, but it shouldn’t have taken this much time now for real action on such agendas as gay rights, and there are still no signs of his moving on it, either.

I’ll be a lot more satisfied when the bailout moves beyond Wall Street shrubs and hedges to Main Street roots and soil, when he starts helping people he knows for a fact are the ones in real life-and-death need of assistance. I want to see him start holding the leaders of big corporate accountable for the escalating abuses they perpetrate. I want to see an end to “too big to fail.”

I want to see him start reforming our government, rooting out corruption, holding elected officials who act like schoolyard thugs accountable for their reprehensible behaviour, and this includes forcing Bush 43 and Dick Cheney and their criminal cohorts to face justice. I don’t care what side of the aisle they’re on, I want to see corrupt politicians punished in meaningful ways. I’d like to see some real forward movement on the environmental front, ecological and conservation initiatives put into place to save our atmosphere, our water, our wild places. I could go on and on.

Barack Obama has already put some important legislation into play and made some important decisions, but not enough and he’s taking far too long to see the forest for the trees. People are hurting. Every aspect of life is hurting in this country for 99 percent of the living things who inhabit it.

So from the street level I have to say that big business can go bugger itself off a cliff for all I care and so can the Nobel Peace Prize – I want to see my president do what he promised he would do. I want to see him making the change I voted for. I want to see him start actually helping the country as a whole, not just big corporate.

I want the everyday, ordinary people to get some assistance, some help. The majority of his promises, some of which he could absolutely have kept by now, are one by one falling to the wayside. For most of the really big issues, yes, he needs a LOT more time. But for many of the smaller things, too much time has gone by for him to have not made changes by now. He has shown that in the face of strong opposition within his own government, he instantly, shockingly capitulates.

I still have great hopes in Barack Obama. I believe in him. Right now, though, he has displayed a marked lack of action and I’m starting to get worried about what the next round of elections will hold in store because of it, and all the ideals in the world will not change that without action being taken that will prevent it.

There’s still time for him to stand up and at long last accept the fact that this insanely marginalized and extremist GOP will never, ever, ever willingly work with him in any way. There is still time to move swiftly past them and actually get some things done with or without them, but he has to act now. He has to act. He has to do. He has to move.

However, I would argue that while yes, actions do speak much louder than words and words without eventual action mean little, it’s vitally important that we remember that it is frequently words and ideas that ultimately motivate people to action in the first place. Often, no action can occur without the right words being spoken at the right times.

The Nobel committee, in explaining their decision, said, “Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.”

Let’s ask the glaring question: Why has this man been so ineffective in so many areas when he has in all the other aspects of his life achieved such impossible goals? Why now, when it is most important, does he seem to be falling down on the job? I don’t believe it’s because he doesn’t have the capacity and I don’t believe that he lied to achieve his goals. These are nonsensical notions. The man has literally spent his life in service to others. For him to make that radical an about-face flies in the face of every single fact about the guy. It’s the last thing I’d believe about him.

The reality is that really, the only significant character flaw Barack Obama possesses is that he’s so focused on equality and bipartisanship, that reasonableness and cooperation are so ingrained in him, he can’t seem to comprehend he will never achieve it or that some people really are completely immune to being decent human beings.

I will never forget what the world felt like between 4 November 2008 and 20 January 2009. The change in the air was profound. The change on the planet was profound. It was very, very similar to the way the world felt to me in the three or four days after the events of September 11, 2001 unfolded, but where that was the most somber and wretched of times, the period between the 2008 U.S. presidential election and the 2009 presidential inauguration was utterly joyous.

The way Barack Obama changed the world just by standing up, just by communicating with others, just by expressing his visions of the future of not just his own country but the world at large, is something I had never before experienced in my lifetime. I drank it in like I’d never drunk anything before. It’s a time and a living, pulsing passion whose end I never wanted to see; it was wrenchingly poignant because I knew it was inevitable that it would end far too soon.

For myself, I do think that actions are almost always more significant than words, but I also deeply believe that the right words, spoken at the right moments – the way Obama’s were – can literally shake the world. He did exactly that. The planet glowed with hope and people everywhere – everywhere - were united in the spirit of hope and peace and community.

His impact was vast and his words, those glorious words, resounded from the highest skyscrapers to the lowliest villages. That is a rare and wondrous and shining achievement, and other factors, whatever they may be, should not detract from our recognition of that, most especially since this is a genuinely good man. There are no atrocities to have to somehow look beyond, there is no guilt involved in having to temporarily turn a blind eye to monstrosities he has perpetrated, because these things do not exist. Barack Obama, whatever else he may be, is a good man, and he has dedicated his life to making the entire world a better place for everyone who lives in it.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since the prize was awarded and absorbing the world’s various reactions to it. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that it may actually be more important than anything else to make sure that we do, in fact, stop in our tracks and focus sharply and with great reverence on the moments like these which occur in human history precisely because they are so rare, because they do move the world so, because they do inspire people to strive to achieve those ideals, and because the promise and desire such moments hold are truly our only hope for survival as a species.

What makes Obama’s words so remarkable is that they enflamed the hearts of so many people from every conceivable walk of life, all of whom were revealed to hold deeply in themselves the same passions, the same desires, the same dreams: equality, peace, and freedom. This is what Barack Obama’s words achieved – a global, simultaneous insight that laid bare the fact that fundamentally, we’re really not so different after all. That we have to join together to defeat those who would keep and worsen the status quo.

We need to learn how to get along. We really, really do. This man? He’s all about that. That’s who he is. That’s the essence of his humanity. The fact that his tolerance, his willingness to cooperate and compromise, his inability to believe that people can be that inhumane and selfish and uncaring about the entire rest of the world are attributes widely considered to be his greatest failings as an effective politician doesn’t speak badly of him, but of everybody else.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee saw this, recognized this, and chose to celebrate him. After slowly grinding my own cerebral wheels for a while, I have to say that I agree with them. I am grateful for their acumen, especially since it’s apparent that much of the rest of the world lacks it, thereby proving that we have a long, long road ahead of us as a species.

For his words and his ideals and for generating a mighty resonance so palpable that you could taste it on your tongue, something so extraordinarily rarely felt on such a scale, Barack Obama is really the only choice for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize that makes sense. I can think of nobody else who has had the kind of impact he’s had during the same time period. Whether or not he can deliver these heartfelt, soul-fed passions to fruition is another thing entirely, but the principles, the ethics, the values, the integrity, the credo, the chorus – they must be recognized. Not to do so would be a monstrous disservice to the spirit of humanity as a whole.

Chuck DeVore, you creepy son of a bitch, not only do you look like a freak who got his head forceped beyond all human recognition at the moment of your birth, but you’re a fucking idiot to boot.

Republicans never cease to amaze me. And when I say “amaze” I mean “disgust to my very core.”

Also? In reading various sources about this situation, which has been ongoing between the Henley/Campbell and DeVore camps, I see a hell of a lot of comments left on articles by people who wouldn’t know a fact if it bit them on the ass and called them Sally.

People, you need to shut the fuck up about musicians who have political messages and who aren’t afraid to share their opinions about them. You dont have to agree with them, but just because they are musicians and entertainers doesnt mean that their livelihoods erase their right to speak their minds. Their professions do not suspend their status as American citizens. And most of them are a lot fucking smarter than YOU. The only reason you dont want to hear their messages is because you dont know what the fuck theyre talking about and you dont have the brains of a peahen to begin with, so anything you can’t understand pisses you off.

If the fact that they actually use their brains to think with annoys you, stay home and listen to the radio. Dont expect them to keep their opinions to themselves just because you’re too much of a fucking idiot to live in the real world. And I know this is true for one reason: most of the people who complain about it are right-wingers. You dont hear the left screaming about it whenever an artist expresses themselves. That’s because we know all about how to agree to disagree. That’s a concept that’s well beyond you guys.

You see, we commie pinko liberal Antichrist socialist Marxist Jewboy Muslim Negro gay lesbian baby-killing whale-hugging America-haters know that if we dont agree with someone, we can simply ignore them. We dont feel the need to blast you right wing folk off the face of the Earth whenever you say something stupid (which is pretty much any time you say anything at all), no matter how tempting that thought may be. That’s because we aren’t so small-minded and so terrified of anyone who isnt exactly like us that the only reaction we have when faced with it is total annihilation. Just one of the many differences between the right and the left.

Finally, because this detail is clearly something you have failed to notice, allow me to point something out to you: Music has always been about things like protest and political commentary. Just because you are incapable of comprehending any lyric or meaning deeper than the average Britney Spears or Boyz II Men crap doesnt mean that everyone else is as ignorant, uninformed, or stupid as you are.

Go crawl back under your rocks and continue to lay your plans for the secession of Texas (and good riddance to bad rubbish, I might add – good luck with that and may the drug commandos show you no mercy). We’re done with you for now, and we’ve got a lot of work to do to try to repair the damage you people have done before you concoct a new way to steal a few more elections so you can get back in here and fuck everything up all over again.

I wonder how long that terrible, fierce, angry joy at seeing a black First Family in the White House will continue to sneak up on me?

Snap out of it. Fast. This country can’t afford and will not survive another Republican majority in charge in four years.

Op-Ed Columnist – Has a ‘Katrina Moment’ Arrived? – NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist – Are We Home Alone? – NYTimes.com

I’m TIRED of this shit. It’s a new fucking day. These people need to shut the fuck up, get on board, or get out of the way. No more.

My response begins below:

Commentary: Bush will be vindicated – CNN.com

Clearly, your definitions of “safe” are wildly different from the accepted definitions of the word. As a nation, we are many things because of George W. Bush – almost none of them good – but “safe” is not one of them and never has been.

To even try to compare Clinton’s “moral failings” to the egregious offenses Bush and his administration have committed against this country and the American people is simply more of the same partisan blind rhetoric that the GOP perpetuates, and you are yourself seemingly still blind to the fact that it got your party shellacked in this past election.

Clinton was nearly a decade ago, and yet the Evil Clinton Monster is the only thing you still have to throw in the faces of anyone who tells the truth about George W. Bush. You can’t come up with anything different because there is simply nothing tangible, no reasonable, factual argument you can make in Bush’s defense, and so you fall back on old reliable – only nobody believed it then, and nobody’s believing it now, either.

Aren’t you aware of how this kind of thing makes you look when you do it? Dont you understand that the only way we will ever be functional and whole again is for us to come together and that youve GOT TO drop this nonsense and grow up and act like rational human beings so that we can repair the damage that George W. Bush and his cronies have done to this country? How can you be so selfish, so self-centered, so determinedly pigheaded, so flatly unwilling to accept the truth and work to better this country instead of perpetuating the downward spiral?

The failings of George W. Bush are multitudinous and while you may deny them, the facts are still there and unchanged in spite of you. Commentaries like this one make their authors sound like they’re both on drugs and functionally insane. This commentary is factually and ideologically wrong so often and on so many levels that I’d have to refute it on a line-by-line basis to counter them all with the actual facts that are in reality vastly different from the statements you have manufactured here.

George W. Bush did not keep America safe. He has made America more unsafe and gained us more enemies, perpetuated more terrorism and given birth to more terrorists the world over in the past eight years than we have ever had to deal with in our entire history as a nation. That is only one of his many, many failures, and they are all failures on an extraordinarily deep and profound level.

There are very few victories that Bush can claim that actually benefited the country as a whole. To state otherwise and pretend that you have an actual case to make with regards to a positive legacy for this man’s presidency, to try to claim that he was anything even approaching a good leader, a decent man, a “decider,” someone with compassion and who cared about this country, is merely sticking to typical party-line garbage.

The facts are staring us all in the face, and not just us – the world. Nobody believes you anymore, unless they are in the extreme minority of utter fools in this country who think that Bush did a good job. These same people also strongly support Sarah Palin. If that doesnt flat-out terrify you, then you do not have the mental capacity to either hold public office or to vote, to be honest.

George W. Bush has never done a good job of anything except making his corporate buddies more money. He has done this to the detriment of the entire rest of the world. The current economic situation in this country is a DIRECT RESULT of his policies and administration. The astronomical growth of terrorism worldwide is a direct result of his dramatically failed foreign policies. New Orleans is still a ruined shell of a city because of this man, years after the devastation. I could go on and on and on.

Your defense of his record is pathetic and borderline psychotic. You should be ashamed of yourself for vomiting forth such a commentary, and so should everyone who believes as you do or who refuses to see the truth about this man and his administration.

Civility? Dont make me laugh. This is a man who has said time and time again that he doesnt care about what people say or think; that the Constitution is just a goddamned piece of paper. His vice president, Dick Cheney, told Senator Patrick Leahy to go f*** himself while they were conversing on the Senate floor regarding the highly questionable and at the very least very unethical sole-source Halliburton contracts in Iraq. This, on the SAME DAY that th Senate passed the Defense of Decency Act.

Cheney shot a man in the face while under the influence of alcohol at a hunting outing and totally got away with it. The Bush administration has repeatedly stated that it is above and beyond the laws of this country.

Civility? Are you kidding me? Methinks you obtained the definition for that word from the same place you got your definition of the word safe.

What is the matter with you? What is the matter with the people who agree with you, who think the same way you do? What is WRONG with you? What is it going to take, how far do we have to fall, what level of devastation do we have to reach before you open your eyes and finally admit the truth?

I speak for many people when I state that the end of the Bush adminstration is one of the best things ever to happen to this country. Barack Obama is not made of gold. He is human and fallible like the rest of us. He has a tremendous burden that is about to be laid upon him, and I hope with all my heart that he has enough time and enough cooperation to at least stop our freefall and set this country back on its feet again.

I have no and never have had any illusions that President Obama will be able to keep every promise he made. Neither does he. Nobody should. But at least Barack Obama cares about what happens to this country and every person in it, and that is more than could have EVER been said about George W. Bush.

George W. Bush couldn’t care less about America or the American people. Never did, never will. Anyone who believes differently is either a fool or an oil company executive. It is because of his administration and his policies that we find ourselves today barely a half-step above a third-world country, and when you visit some areas of the United States, even if it’s not New Orleans, the first thought that comes to your mind is that some so-called third-world countries have it pretty sweet in comparison.

George W. Bush has not made this country safer and has not kept us safe. The best thing about the Obama presidency at this point in time is the fact that it’s finally, at long last, the end of the Bush presidency.

Good riddance to bad rubbish. And you, Ms. Wall, need to either wake up, open your eyes, and screw your head on straight or follow him and leave the rest of us alone as we try to repair the damage and hope that it’s not too late to do so.

Enough is enough.

************************************************

Tara Wall’s original commentary begins:

Editor’s note: Tara Wall is deputy editor for The Washington Times. Before joining the newspaper, she was a senior adviser for the Republican National Committee and was named a public affairs director in the Department of Health and Human Services by President Bush. Read her columns here.
Tara Wall says President Bush will be remembered for keeping America safe.

Tara Wall says President Bush will be remembered for keeping America safe.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — In his final radio address as president-elect on the Sunday ahead of his inauguration, Barack Obama said President Bush “extended the hand of cooperation” to him throughout this period of transition. It was a final act of civility, on Mr. Bush’s part.

It is a trait that is not surprising to those who know Bush (or those paying some attention at least half of the time). At least one Democrat has given him credit for it. Unfortunately, that tone of civility has been lost on the Democratic leadership over the past eight years.

Civility aside, how others — more importantly, history — will judge the 43rd president of the United States, is the question that has followed Bush out the door. Lucky for him, it won’t just be up to Democrats to determine.

“I believe President Bush will be vindicated,” said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in an interview a couple of weeks ago. She may be an ardent defender of Bush, but I believe she’s right. She, like I, have a different vantage point than what has been routinely portrayed.

While sitting in the Oval Office with the 43rd president, for what was his last official week in office last Thursday, I got the sense that he feels he will be vindicated, too.

He won’t say as much, directly, but indirectly points to what matters most in his eyes — protecting the homeland. “History will eventually see … that not only was it necessary to take the steps I took, but [they] led to a better world,” the president told me.
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On a personal level (and for the sake of full disclosure), I must say that I have had the pleasure of working for and knowing Bush from his first campaign for president and throughout his presidency.

I started as a volunteer in 1999, then worked as a spokeswoman during his second campaign and then as an appointee in his administration.

Not only have I counted it an honor and a privilege to serve the 43rd president, but I have always had a deep respect for him as a person of faith, his strident conviction in doing what was right for the country and his commitment to closing the disparities that exist between black and white Americans — no matter the mistakes made and lessons learned. Above all, it is his dignity and civility that stand out to me most.

Yet, for many conservatives (not just liberals), Bush has failed on many fronts. From the miscalculation of the insurgency in Iraq, to failed intelligence gathering and the issues of maintaining fiscal conservatism and delivering real immigration reform — I can’t tell you how many Republicans and conservatives I’ve spoken to over this past year who have told me how “disappointed” they’ve been with Bush. A few among them voted for “change” as a result.

The legacy Bush leaves behind won’t be everything he wanted (particularly as it relates to popularity), but on many fronts, it will be better than that of his predecessor. Bill Clinton may have been popular, but his moral failings brought shame on the office of the presidency and tainted the people’s house.

That will forever be a stain on Clinton’s legacy. Not to mention, there was no such “civility” or “cooperation” when Clinton turned the keys over to Bush. I prefer principle over popularity any day.

On the moral front, President Bush delivered. On the social front, he delivered. On the fiscal front he failed considerably. Yet, on the national security front and on many domestic policies, he succeeded.

Depending on your vantage point, success may mean something wholly different. The details will be debated for decades to come. Among the many uncertainties, one thing is certain — you can’t judge history in the midst of it. Declaring one “the worst” president while he’s still in office is an effort in rhetorical futility. Historians know this all too well.

The best prediction one can make was summed up by presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin on “Meet the Press” last year: “If Iraq became the model democracy or even just a democracy, and in doing so changed the whole complexion of the Middle East, then obviously that would be the legacy that would justify what Bush did and what our troops did.” And that’s exactly what Mr. Bush is banking on.

During my Oval Office interview with the president, I asked him to complete the sentence “President Bush was… [fill in the blank].”

He responded (uncharacteristically in third person): “President Bush was the president at a time when our nation was attacked, he clearly saw the dangers, he pursued the enemy, he put tools in place so the professionals could better protect the people, and the homeland was not attacked.”

That is the legacy he wants. Popular or not, he kept America safe. And if nothing else, for that, he will be vindicated.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Tara Wall.

Commentary: Bush will be vindicated – CNN.com

If you intend to vote Republican, do us all a favour and keep your ignorant, backwards, selfish ass at home. Dont vote. We dont need you, and youve done enough damage already to last this country a fucking lifetime. Stay home and examine your priorities. I dont know how you can stand to live with yourself.

If, however, you are a Democrat, or you’re an Independent, or youre a Republican who is disgusted and dismayed by what your party has become, then get out there and vote for Barack Obama.

Democrats especially, who are traditionally the voters who historically have the weakest turnout – get off your lazy, apathetic butts and get to the polls on Tuesday and vote for Obama. This is when you get a chance to make up for all the times you were too lazy, too stoned, or just too unconcerned to vote in the past.

This is the most important election youve ever lived through, and I mean that no matter how old you are. Make your vote count by actually casting it for the right guy this time. Now is the chance to start to make things right. It won’t happen with John McCain, and it sure as shit won’t happen with Sarah Palin.

And dont sit there and whine about how your vote doesnt matter. It does. Even if you dont believe that, vote anyway, and vote for Obama. Your vote counts.

Dont fuck this up, people. Vote.