1.8.06 Tidbits

Xian Extremists Censors Bareback Mountain: Of course it has to be in Salt Lake City.

The Harvey Murders: The drama continues today as the police department announced the arrest of two men in Philadelphia who murdered the Harvey family along with another family (WTF?) -- reason? They said it appears to be robbery. But I am skeptical about that. I found out that Kathryn Harvey, the deceased mother of 2, who made a gesture to the family friend that something is wrong earlier before getting killed. Kathryn is the half-sister of actor Steve Culp, you may know him as Dr. Rex Van De Kamp on Desperate Housewives who died last year. You probably knew his wife, Bree Van De Kamp.

Brokeback Mountain Captioned? Last Friday, I learned that the film debuts in Richmond's Regal Westhampton Theater -- this is bad news. Only Regal Short Pump Theater provides open captions -- the Regal Short Pump Theater sits in the western part of Henrico County, roughly about 17 miles outside of Downtown Richmond. Thus, about 37 miles northwest of where I am. So far, I complained that it was too far away from many Deaf Richmonders who lived scattered around in and around Richmond to the Regal Offices, they claimed that it was InSightCinema.org that chose the place! I emailed the InSightCinema.org about it. So far, no response.

Either way, I called the Regal Westhampton Theater and pressured them to get the captioned film. They kept on saying to call the corporation office, I insisted that they do it! I plan to do it, too. I bet you that the corporation will say that it was InSightCinema's decision to put where the open captioned films in whichever the theaters are.

Amusing Observation: Last night, I went to Richmond's gay bar, Barcode, with a friend of mine. Perhaps it was because of its small population, the guys' preferences were clear and set. I met many caucasians who made it clear that they wanted African American males. I met many African Americans men who wanted caucasians. I'm flexible, I have my own preferences but I try to keep open mind with anyone else. I mean, it may turn out very good than I expected -- you just never knew. But not in this town, gay men are set. They either wanted one race or nothing. One caucasian guy told me he refused to date caucasians, I chortled, "So limited."

He said, "What did you say?"

I said nothing. I miss New York where everyone is treated as an individual, pretty much.

See Why the Bush Administration Is Bad for Americans: Read this. To Bush supporters, entertain us with your so-called beliefs that the Bush Administration is not coddling with the corporations, is not ignoring the safety needs of others, is doing positive to improve the lives of others. Just fucking PROVE it.

Interesting Information about Cats: Where did the cats come from? Of course it is not Antarctica.

Muslims & Gays: As much as I loathed GW Bush's flawed policies in Middle East, I keep in mind that Muslims would love to see gays killed, period. Do not tell me that they do not discriminate. They certainly do. I want to elaborate three different things.

1. Arabs are not always Muslims. Many Arabs belonged to different faiths other than Islam.

2. Islam, like Christianity and Judaism, can be misinterpreted by many and used for wrong reasons. And they did so many times that I cannot count the exact numbers on all three religions.

3. Muslims seemed to embrace the poor, uneducated and frustrated masses of the Middle East. Naturally, they submitted their wisdom to the Imams who spewed such hatred rhetorics on many issues.

These three has to be understood in order to combat the Islamic Extremists and break the cycles of poverty by providing health care, education and better jobs. This will break the Imams' stronghold on the masses as they will eventually separate the government from Islam, like we did in our country.

Right now, name one country in the Middle East that has gay protection, gay rights, gay and lesbian community center, gay bars, hosted gay parades et al. Name one. It is Israel. None of Islamic countries has that. In fact, many gay Muslims sneaked to Israel or other countries so that they can be themselves for a weekend. Yes, there are gay Muslims out there but they are afraid of their governments and its own people.

I agreed with one blogger that it is irritating when I heard of a gay Muslim complaining about the United States. It did happen to me in New York when I met this gay Muslim who kept on criticizing us, I quickly penned on the notepad daring him to open his own gay bar in his country. He grimaced and left. He knew the answer because he would be decapitated so fast.

In these countries, being gay is good reason to get yourself hanged up, toppled by a falling wall, or decapitated. I do not think freeing Iraq from the Saddam's regime will provide a path for GLBT rights in that country at all. In fact, the powers-to-be vaccuumed into Baghdad are many, but there are many Muslim extremists in that country, primarily from many families in poverty due to the UN & US Embargos for many years. These group of poor but Muslim extremists outnumbers the educated Moderates. They eventually will create laws that continue to attack gays and lesbians. If the extremists won the majority, expect the Shari'a laws to pop up in different parts of Iraq whether you like it or not. After all, it is democracy being instituted in that country. People will decide to vote for these discriminatory laws based on their misguided information.

Meanwhile, what can we do about it in our country and Europe where these Muslims extremists wanted to enact the Shari'a laws in our backyards? We gotta stand up for ourselves and tell them to fuck off. No, it is not racist to blast the Muslims off on their beliefs. I'm sure many Muslims, in their private homes, are fuming about the "denigration of cultures" and wanted the Shari'a laws to enact, just like the Xians wanted the pro-Xian laws to enact. But unfortunately, in today's society, the spotlight is on Muslims' treatment of others who do not agree with their beliefs. It is OK for them to resort to violence against us, but it is racist for us to blast them on their beliefs? I think not.

That is the boundary line I stop -- nobody, not even you, will stop me from criticizing a Muslim fellow when they complained about our way of life. Especially in our homes or gay bars.

Of course, my comments are not meant to advocate what GW Bush did -- Hell, GW Bush's policies were largely flawed that will continue to jumble the goals of many -- I only speak of morals when it comes between me and Muslim Extremists. I reserve the right to disparage Muslims when they made a derogatory comment about my country. Hell, my country is not perfect -- that's why we are trying to fix it ourselves. At least, we are better than many.

Cheers,

R-