Sunday, January 08, 2006

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-

Saturday, January 07, 2006

1.7.06 Tidbits

Religious Extremists, Y'all Deserved To Die! Few days ago, I mentioned about Rev. Pat Robertson and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad talking about Ariel Sharon's massive stroke as an act of God's punishment. Then I got amused after reading an entry by that pea-brained blogger who wondered if God (Allah) willed the building in Mecca to collapse and killed 76 people? Actually, it was sort of a tradition that someone has to die in Mecca annually but I digress. I'd have to say that God willed this building to burn down as well!

Good Riddance, Tom DeLay! Republican Conservative pig Tom DeLay resigned from his position as the House Majority Leader in the wake of Jack Abramoff's scandal. It appears that with the guilty plea by Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay is doomed, for sure.

How Nice Is He? This Republican conservative pig Jack Abramoff got the funds from Louisiana tribe for the purpose to lobbying and help the tribe to protect its casino. But Jack Abramoff pretty much robbed them and distributed the monies to many Republicans and Conservative-related SIGs. Abramoff did not really help the tribe when it comes to lobbying. Is that all? No, it was revealed that the emails from so-called compassion conservative pig Jack Abramoff has portrayed the Louisiana tribe as "monkeys", "morons" and "troglodytes". I rather to be Liberal where I can be honest with my feelings and say it out for the world to read, hear and see rather than to be a conservative where they manipulated and lied their way around to get what they wanted.

The Harveys: This is big news these days in Richmond other than the debacle of Marcus Vick's career. The Harvey family with two daughters were killed in their homes on New Year's Day. What startled the Richmond folks is that the Harveys were supposed to have a cookout at 2 PM with friends. Someone dropped the daughter off and met the mother in the morning. The mother was nervous, very pale and seemed to be jittery and gestured a sign to indicate that it's crazy here. The family friend assumed that the mother was talking about the illness she had few days prior to that. But apparently, the mother was trying to say that someone is holding them in the basement. Then few hours later, they were slaughtered in a brutal fashion that shocked the police officers. I'm curious about this -- My feeling is that it was someone else they knew who. Probably a friend or a relative. Only time will tell.

Who killed George Allen Smith IV? My bet is on this three men. And Royal Carribean Cruise Line should be indicted for negligence. I saw on ABC's PrimeTime which one PR director said it was "common" that each year, 10 people disappeared from the cruise lines without a reason. My first reaction was, "WTF?"

Connecticut versus Tennessee: Today, I watched the women's basketball game between Connecticut and Tennessee. Tennessee Lady Vols won 89-80. After that, I was bit bored and surfed on www.utladyvols.com -- I stumbled upon this interesting piece of information.

It appeared that Tennessee Lady Volunteers once played Tennessee School for the Deaf Lady Vikings on January 16, 1909 in Knoxville. Of course, that means what? 96 years ago. Unless if you want to be technical about it, it will be 96 years ago in two weeks. It baffled me to know that a college basketball team played a high school team, let alone a deaf team. But TSD managed to tie the game at 12 at UT. Yeah, TSD can claim that its lifetime versus Tennessee Lady Vols is 0-0-1. Don't believe me? Check this and look for Tennessee School for the Deaf.

Cool, is it?

Cheers,

R-

Bitch Session XVI

Disclaimer: The comments were written by many readers. I simply copied and pasted the comments on the entry. You may defend your turf by firing back. As always, names and email addresses will be removed. Only comments will be posted. Enjoy! You can compliment or offend anything or anyone else. Confidentiality is assured 100%.

I'm a frequent visitor to your blogsite- I have attached a picture of Alex- he think he's all that just because he looks good. My ass, wait until you see this picture!!!

Alexander Naro Abenchucan is KG wannabe. ;)

The Radfords are well-known for talking cheap. Thank God they aren't part of Gallaudet's Administration!

Where is the fucking etiquette manual for fucking leeches who throw themselves at someone else s boyfriend, especially when they know full well they just broke up less than a month ago? Where is the goddamn RESPECT???

Duva Boy. We all know that you beat Matt. We may be deaf but we aren't blind.

I hope your holidays went very well. Mine did not.

Awww, Marby. You always hurt and make fun of other people, but that's okay if you need to boost your own ego and self-esteem. After all, you're Poz!

Wait! You English not understand?

Fine, fine! Me explain simple:

Pity Marby. You insult hurt put-down people. You make self feel good.
Permitted, allowed. Why? You Poz! Now, you fucking understand?

Jason Gervase is the hottest man alive. One of those days I'm going to get into your pants.

What happened to the picture on the DeafDC.com website where Tamara Suiter showed off her fake boobs at December’s DPHH event? It was there but now it is gone!

I *hate* it when someone flirts with you and you think everything is coming along smoothly and BAM! They stop all communication and won t even tell you what went wrong. I actually feel kind of used like that. Ugh! Be fucking sincere, people! I am just so glad nothing happened...

Rob Voreck, you still alive these days? Amazing.

Angela Trahan is a cunt!

May 2006 brings the best out of y'all!

Steven Gagnon! You have lost a lot of weight and you look so SEXY. I want to fuck you so bad!! where are you, Steve???!!!

Of course! What did we all learn and expect after Katrina?! Land development IS hazardous to our livelihoods, health and homes!

Laurie Miskovosky: You should know that Jane Jonas has been telling the world that you guys are an item. If that is true, congratulations. If not ... oops!

It s so pathetic when deaf weirdos IM me and try to squeeze information about Rickums without identifying themselves. Get. A. Fucking. Life.

No, Paul Glaser, pranks are reserved for April 1st! Make sure you try
to do it the right time, not 3 months early!

It amused me that Tim Rarus would not mind if his kid is being implanted with CI. Whatever happened to his so-called Deaf identity that he boasted during his college years?

I wish people would acknowledge everything that is genuine within our community, instead of flabbergasting over the scandalous. By the way, buy your 'Know Thy Enemy' shirt today!

Whatever happened to CMRA? You guys should listen to Ridor in the first place.

Do NOT tell me shit like, "Let's get together for coffee!" if you re not gonna bother to show up or follow through on plans. Hate flakes like that.

Larry bitchin' about his feet hurting after walking all over NYC. If he lose those weight, he wouldn't be bitchin' about it. Get a grip!

R
ebecca: SHAME ON YOU for fucking Joey. Jasmine was only your best friend?

W
hy is it that we always find out who our true friends are when we hit rock bottom? At least they pull us up back on our feet...

Buck, Buck, your attitude is what got you out in the first place. Now, next time, try to be nicer than normal. After all, you are not pretty one as you used to be.

The foreign language dept. at gallaudet has a huge loss of letting go Buck Rogers! One big mistake. Almost all foreign professors are hearing! What's up with that? What happened to 50/50 percent of hearing and Deaf fac and staff? Unspeakable language going on!!!

I dislike drunk guys who do not have any manners towards women! Valeriy from California, you are disgusting!

Sarah Pack, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. You'll be missed by many.

Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You, My Mona
Happy Birthday to You!
Now you're 27 years old!!!!!!!!
For ever your marsboer!:)

Katie Roberts: You really suck. Don't think what you say about one person and then act like there's nothing wrong when you talk to that person. Word gets around. You can't do this with new and old friends. And don't practice what you preach. None of it is true.

Also, since we all know how you're supposedly smarter than the entire lot of us. Fine, with your witty intelligence and how no one can be really better than you. We get it. You're smart, you've got brains. You exceed most of the people in the entire deaf community. No one can do a better job than you. Then, how come your blog is at the 7th grade level?

It bothers me to learn that Gallaudet's Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures only has 1 Deaf out of 11 members after the dismissal of Buck Rogers. Wake up, Gallaudet students! Hearing people still dominated Gallaudet faculty -- do something about it!

Congratulations, Jade on recognition of your Amos Kendall Award! You deserved it!
Well, that is it for the day. Seems to me that the Holidays brought the worst out of each other. Hope the dull month of January will bring more positive comments for the next Bitch Session on February 3, 2006.

Cheers,

R-

Friday, January 06, 2006

Marcus Vick, You're Pathetic!

I am not a fan of Virginia Tech Hokies. I am a fan of Virginia Cavaliers. Naturally, the Cavaliers were quick to define Hokie as an emasculated Hokie. Which means what? A castrated turkey, really.

Virginia Tech Hokies' football team seemed to hit the chord with its fans, media and school this week after its 35-24 triumph of Louisville Cardinals. In fact, the Virginia Governor-elect Tom Kaine said, "It made my heart sank," after seeing Virginia Tech's Quarterback Marcus Vick stomped his right feet on the left knee of Louisville's All-American Elvis Dumervil. The VT fans overwhelmed the local media in Roanoke, Richmond, Norfolk and its Hokies websites, demanding that Marcus Vick be reprimanded. (See the video of Marcus Vick stomping on Louisville Cardinal's Elvis Dumervil via the link!)

It was not the first time that Marcus Vick did something like that. In fact, I was surprised to learn that the VT fans seemed to be fed up with its players' behaviors, especially with Marcus Vick. The repeated calls to reprimand the players that deemed to behave like "thugs". In fact, the referee for 2005 Gator Bowl said that the behavior of VT players were pretty "out of control".

The image of VT football team is at stake, really. Consider this:
Sept. 2, 2003: Suspended for one game by coach Frank Beamer for undisclosed reason.
Feb. 17, 2004: Arrested without incident and charged with four misdemeanors -- three for allegedly allowing underage girls to have alcohol and one for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old at a January party. Released on $2,500 bond.
May 14, 2004: Convicted of three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $2,250. Found not guilty of having sex with the 15-year-old.
July 3, 2004: Charged with reckless driving and possession of marijuana after a traffic stop about 25 miles east of Richmond, Va. at 2:30 a.m. Police said he was clocked at 86 mph, 21 mph above the speed limit, and that the vehicle smelled of marijuana.
July 6, 2004: Indefinitely suspended from football team for off-field problems.
Aug. 3, 2004: Suspended from the university for the 2004 season on same day he pleads guilty to reckless driving and no contest to marijuana possession in New Kent, Va. Is fined $300, has driver's license suspended for 60 days and is placed in a first offender program on the marijuana charge, requiring that he perform 24 hours of community service, undergo drug counseling and random drug tests, and give up his driver's license for six months.
Sept. 13, 2004: In plea deal, pleads no contest to one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Receives 30-day suspended jail sentence, is fined $100, ordered to perform 24 hours of community service and stay away from the teenage girls.
Jan. 17, 2005: Cleared to rejoin football team and re-enroll at Virginia Tech.
Oct. 1, 2005: Leads No. 3 Hokies to 34-20 victory at West Virginia, and makes obscene gesture to fans who have been calling him names related to past problems throughout the game. He apologized a day later.
Dec. 17, 2005: Pulled over by police in Hampton, Va. for driving 38 mph in a 25 mph zone and driving with a suspended license.
Jan. 2, 2006: Leads Virginia Tech to a 35-24 win over Louisville in Gator Bowl. In the game, he stomped on the left calf of Cardinals All-American defensive end Elvis Dumervil, the NCAA sacks leader. Claims the incident was accidental and that he apologized to Dumervil, who denies ever receiving apology.
Source: The Associated Press
One VT fan snapped, "I rather for the football team to go 4-8 and have some dignity than this!"

Boom! Virginia Tech President Charles Steger has announced that the football team dismissed Marcus Vick today after the series of inappropriate behaviors. Marcus Vick shrugged and said, that it is no big deal. He's turning professional, anyway.

Either way, I compliment the school to kick Marcus Vick off the team ... permanently. People needs to know that people like Marcus Vick has no place in collegiate football to play as a thug. If you wanted to be a thug, go to The Bronx or East Los Angeles!

Cheers,

R-

Book of Daniel


The new comedy-drama series on NBC-TV called The Book of Daniel ignited a silly controversy by the American Family Association which piqued my curiosity to check the series out. Matt Drudge picked up the article about two NBC affilitates boycotting the series in Little Rock, Arkansas and Fort Wayne, Indiana. The American Family Association claimed that the TV series were making fun of Christianity.

Thanks to the brutal cold weather outside, I came home from the gymnasium and was in time for its brand-new series at 9 PM for its two-hour special show. I thought I'd watch the first 20 minutes to see what it is all about. The first 20 minutes hooked me up. In fact, the debut of that series probably made the AFA look like fools.

I came off being very impressed with The Book of Daniel. Once again, this show was created by a gay man, Jack Kenny. The popular show, Desperate Housewives, also was created by a gay man, Marc Cherry.

The series started off with a great cast of characters that has their worst tendencies: The Episcopalian Priest, Rev. Daniel Webster has an imaginary friend, and it is none other than Jesus Christ himself! Not only that, he has an addiction to vicodine, he kept on popping it all day long. The dialogues between Jesus Christ and Rev. Daniel Webster was great. I grinned when Rev. Daniel Webster joked with Jesus Christ, "I'm OK, but you're divine!" Jesus chuckled and slapped on Daniel's back and said, "Oh, I liked that!"

Reverend Daniel Webster's wife, Judith, is addicted to Martinis when problems arose, she always ran to get her fix of Martinis. Together, they have three children -- all are teenagers: Adam, Peter and Grace.

Again, this is interesting. Adam is Chinese who was adopted by the family -- that boy loves to chase after women and is now infatuated with a 15-years old girl. Peter is gay conservative (a future Log Cabin Republican, really!) whom the family seemed to enjoy teasing him about it. Grace inhaled weed and sells it as well. She was recently arrested for possession of marijuana.

Confusing? Actually, there is more to this, Judith's sister is lesbian. Daniel's mother has Alzheimers disease, Daniel's father, out of frustration that his wife do not recognize who he is, is having an affair with Daniel's boss at the Episcopalian Church! Daniel, as of now, is not aware that his father is humping his boss.

Oh, yeah, their housekeeper smokes weed outside of the house.

Actually, this show already spinned more subplots in less than 2 hours that can be addressed for a long time. Suddenly, two hours of shows are done. I wanted one more hour of that show.

You can bet that The Book of Daniel is going to be on my list each week along with Desperate Housewives and The Family Guy.

The Book of Daniel being on Friday night is not good idea -- but heck, you never know. It may surprise many. Or not.

Cheers,

R-

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Sago Mine

For the last few days, I was not comfortable in talking about the Sago Mine Disaster which killed 12 coal miners and maimed 1 miner in Tallmansville, West Virginia. There was an explosion that ended up trapped 13 miners in the Appalachian mountains, the prospects of them surviving was slim because the levels of carbon monoxide was three times high, good enough to put people to sleep and die.

Then two days ago, my father told me that all miners were alive. I was surprised. Then the next morning, I woke up to learn that no, all miners except for one is dead. Why? Don't be so surprised, my friends.

This is the way of life for coal miners. In fact, the corporations that employs these miners enjoyed one huge advantage: good pay and subjugation. I know because I am part of that culture, whether you like it or not.

You see, my great grandfather was crushed to death in a coal mine not far from Norton, Virginia -- then few weeks later, my great grandmother killed herself because the property that my great-grandfather worked hard to provide a shelter for his family was merely owned by the company. The heartless company evicted my great-grandmother since the house is owned by the company. She had nowhere to go. It was pretty hard life. Totally unnecessary but that is what the corporations enjoyed the most: subjugate the lower class in the Appalachian mountains in the last 100 years.

Not only that, my father's father was also a coal miner and became the victim of Black Lung. He succumbed to that man-made disease at 67. One guy spoke on ABC's PrimeTime that it is sort of a culture for coal miners to stick together when bad things happen. He is right. Even I do not work in coal mines, a part of me cringed and groaned when I heard of people being trapped under the tons of Appalachian mountains. It is not right but that is part of coal miners' lifestyle, really.

It was disgusting to learn that the owner of Sage Mine has homes in Manhattan, Palm Beach and the Hamptons. And that he just issued his company to provide only $2 million to the victims and is hoping that people will donate money to help the families. Never mind that the owner of International Coal Group, billionaire Wilbur Ross, has not donated a cent to the families devastated by the disaster in West Virginia. But I was not surprised at all. That is what capitalism is all about. Subjugate others to enrich yourelf.

Not only that, the Bush Administration is responsible for what happened to coal miners in West Virginia, since the Bush Administration forbade the inspectors to be assertive and close the mines if needed. The Bush Administration has been cozy with the mine industry to relax the rules. And the result is what? We have this disaster that can be prevented in the first place.

Jack Spadaro, a retired employee of the Mining Health and Safety Administration, complained about the Bush Administration's negligence, "The inspectors have been forbidden from being as aggressive as they need to be, they can't go ahead and close the mine and use the authority that they have to do the job that they've been charged to do."

Was I ever surprised? No, not at all. When I heard that GW Bush expressed his sorrow about the deaths of 12 miners, I chuckled. That man is lying through his teeth. I'm curious to know whether if GW Bush is going to donate $ to the Sago Mine Disaster. Or will Wilbur Ross?

Or just ignore the coal miners in the next few weeks, like they always do for the last 100 years?

These men worked hard than Wilbur Ross or GW Bush did in their lifetime -- GW Bush spent 2 hours of his lunch breaks running up and down the park in Maryland. These men in coal mines are not allowed to work out for two hours during their lunch breaks.

Goes on to say how much wonderful this country can be.

Of course, it disgusted me to my core. And you should be.

R-

See Why I Hate Extremists?

In Virginia Beach, Virginia: The Xian nut Rev. Pat Robertson claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent massive stroke may be the sign of God's punishment for giving up the lands to Palestinians. Check this link for further information.

In Qom, Iran: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the radical Islamic extremist, hoped that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dies as well.

See any difference between two nutty religions? Not so much, to me.

Which is why I do not like religions at all. Their job is to defame each other as much as can be in order to prove which one is the best of all. Pathetic, is it?

On another hand, Jose Padilla finally made his first court appearance in three years (1,095 days) regarding his alleged participation with Al-Qaeda. Whatever happened to the Amendment VI for Jose Padilla?

According to the Amendment VI, it stands for:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
It is nice to know that the Bush Administration attempts to circumvent our very own constitution to subjugate the accused ones without providing them the right to have a speedy trial by any means.

Don't tell me that they are evil and they would not do that to us if given an opportunity -- but let's face the reality, we (our government) are supposed to be better than them. Therefore the government needs to put up with them and do the right thing. So far, we are no better than them. In fact, the Al-Qaeda got what they wanted us all along -- to be stuck in quagmire where they can say, "See! They are doing it to us!"

In order to be better than anyone else, we have to rise above the rest with dignity and pride. To deny Jose Padilla of his speedy trial, we simply shamed ourselves as Americans.

R-