Dana Dangerous's Open Salon Blog

I Run To Be...

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:10:59 -0400

Ifthere is a consistent thread in my life, it is running. I do not run well, or fast. But my life moves to the rhythm of a four count beat, breathing-in two steps and out two steps, as I move through the miles and the years.

Today I am out for an early morning workout along the horse trails in Coto de Caza. As I move in the dark, all of existence fades into the half moon, the stars and the sounds of my footfalls and breath. And for a time, I am anything and everything. I rise up above the earth, flying, a picture of rhythmic perfection. I am a wild mustang galloping in the early morning mist of a high Montana plain. I am a lioness chasing sustenance for my pride. I am a winged Pegasus, soaring over a mythical landscape.

But the moment cannot last, and all too soon, my feet return to the earth and I am huffing up a hill in the canyon, my heart pounding, my breath coming in deep gasps. And now, a pink light reveals the trees and bushes, and day is not far behind. Dawn is beginning to peel away the blanket of stars, and soon my run will give way to another tedious and stressful day – one in a seemingly infinite series – and I will have to grapple with whatever comes.

But for now, in the half-light of the morning, my life moves to the rhythm of a four count beat, and I am one with all things.

(With apologies to N. MacLean)

It's Time for Hillary Clinton to Run for President

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:09:32 -0400

By election day in November 2012, there isn't likely to be significant improvement in the economy or appreciably reduced unemployment. Even President Obama predicts that unemployment will still be at 9%. And his weak, Republicanesque "American Jobs Act," even if passed -- which is increasingly unlikely -- will do little to create new jobs or improve the economy.

It's time to face facts. President Obama will likely lose to the Republican candidate. And it might be a Tea Party Republican like Rick Perry, who will set America back decades in economic and social policies. America as we know it will be gone, and the advancements of Social Security, Medicare, workers' rights, science, environmental protection and civil rights will be reversed. Far-right Christian zealotry will rule the agenda.

We Democrats, liberals and progressives simply cannot afford to lose next year's election. But the hard truth is that Obama is likely to lose. And because the economy moves in cycles, it is almost certain that 2016 will see a growing and robust economy, with whoever is in the White House reaping the electoral benefits of a second term to 2020. We must find a way to keep the White House out of Tea Party hands. Waiting until 2016 to find a new candidate will be too late.

We've seen Obama's poll numbers and know the state of the economy. Zero job growth in August. And Obama's supporters are deeply disappointed, dispirited and disillusioned. Obama doesn't know who he is, doesn't know what he stands for, doesn't know how to fight. And so he constantly caves to the right in a misguided effort of elusive bipartisanship, with a party that will do anything, even sacrificing the American economy, to get him out of office.

We need and want a president who knows how to fight. A president who knows what she stands for, has a vision to achieve her goals, and has the passion and gravitas to battle the ruthless GOP machine to push through her agenda. A president who would rather wage war with Republicans than succumb to them.

That president is Hillary Clinton.

There are tens of millions of voters ready to dump Obama and support her. I count myself among them. Obama can't win; Hillary can. And when we hearken back to the questions about who is ready to govern on "Day 1," and who we can count on when that phone rings at 3:00 a.m., we now know that it isn't Obama. And I think we all know that Hillary Clinton would be such a president.

There is an army out here in America waiting for leadership. For almost three years we have been begging Obama to be our leader. He has proven that he does not know how to be that president. Hillary Clinton was born a leader. Unlike Obama, Hillary can save us from eight years of a Tea Party president. Unlike Obama, she knows how to withstand the withering onslaught from the right, and continue to lead, to know what she stands for, and to hold firm in the face of fierce opposition. People will follow Hillary. They will donate, man phone banks, knock on doors, blog, and get out and go to the polls for her.

It is time to begin a call to Hillary Clinton. Run, Hillary, run. Your country needs you. You were so close in 2008, you can make it in 2012.

Democrats will jump to support her, like passengers on the Titanic grasping for something to hold onto in the cold, dark water we are now drowning in. If Hillary runs in the Democratic primaries, this time Obama never even makes it to the convention.

These are extraordinarily desperate times, and the same need that lifted an unknown black man to the presidency, can lift a primary challenger to the nomination. We can make Hillary Clinton the Democratic nominee for president of the United States, if only she will run. We can create an unstoppable tide of desperate enthusiasm the likes of which have never been seen in America. And we can make her the strong and capable president that this country so desperately needs right now.

Yes we can.

It's time to start the call. Let her know what you want. Blog about it. Let America know that what we need. Let them all know that we want her to run, Hillary, run.

Dear Salon: Shut Up, Shut Up, Shut the F*ck Up!!

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:04:00 -0400

On the day President Obama released his birth certificate and pleaded with the press to stop talking about it and to focus on the very important problems facing our country, Salon had no fewer than six stories about the fake issue on its headlines page. Included were:

"The Birther's Guide to Staying Relevant";
"LIVEBLOG: Obama's long form birth certificate released";
"Will Birther Pay Up on $15,000 Bet?";
"The dumbest birther conspiracy of them all";
"What Birthers are Saying Now"; and
"Should politicians appease conspiracy theorists?"

In holding the press conference where he released his long form birth certificate, Obama specifically said that he was speaking to the media in asking that they turn their focus to other issues, particularly the contentious budget talks in the weeks to come.

Apparently, Salon can't follow instructions.

Pop Quiz: So how, then, is Salon any better than Fox News or a birther website? Answer: It's not. As of this writing, a quick check reveals that even foxnews.com has only four stories on the subject. Wouldn't you expect better from Salon than from Fox News? I know I would. No longer, though.

Joan Walsh, I want to offer to you the words of Jon Stewart as spoken on the old CNN show, "Crossfire":

Stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America. Come work for us -- we, the people. See, the thing is, we need your help. Right now, you're helping the politicians and the corporations. And we're left out there to mow our lawns. You are part of their strategies. You are partisan -- what do they call it? -- hacks. We need help from the media, and they're hurting us. But the thing is this -- you're doing theater when you should be doing debate. It's not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery. You know, because we really need what you can do. This is such an opportunity you have here to actually get politicians off their marketing and strategy, and you're missing it.

Those words, from October 15, 2004, are as true and as desperately needed as they were when Stewart effectively ended "Crossfire." So please, Salon, do better. You have a wonderful opportunity to serve the people. Stop squandering it on partisan bullshit.

Thank you.

It's time to take some pride in gay pride!

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:04:17 -0400

As gay pride season approaches around the country, I have a message for my lgbt bretheren: It's time to grow up. This kind of thing...

...is not good for us. And by "us" I mean both the lgbt community and the country as a whole.

The above photos are what people all over the country see when they are given images of gay "pride" parades and festivals. These images are seared upon their brains, and when you say "gay" to someone from Kansas, these are the images they call to mind.

There is nothing proud about those images. The word pride means a high sense of one's own dignity, whether as cherished in the mind or displayed in bearing; a becoming or dignified sense of what is due oneself or one's position or character; self-respect; self-esteem; satisfaction taken in something done or belonging to oneself or believed to reflect credit upon one's self. These aren't images of pride, but of folly. The only thing these images do is reinforce preconceived notions of gays and lesbians as depraved nutjobs in the minds of the very folks we have to convince to change their minds and support our right to marry, adopt, teach or serve our country. So let's grow the fuck up and start acting like responsible adults who deserve equal consideration and rights.

Gay pride isn't about Cirque du Homo anymore. It's serious now. Give up the kiddy pool, folks, it's time to swim in the deep end. When we march in a pride parade, we're not getting out there lobbying for the right to let our freak flag fly, we're out there for the right to marry, to adopt and raise children, to serve our country, to be free from violence and to have a job.

We shouldn't be known for this kind of image...

...but for this kind.

Let's face it, people don't take homoerotic circus clowns seriously. Like all clowns, they're a little funny and a lot scary and sad. Most Americans don't want bizarre sex clowns teaching their children, sitting next to them in the office, or getting married and moving in down the block. And, like it or not, we've got to show them that granting full rights to lgbt folk won't change their precious little society in any scary way. So let's do away with the tired old drag queen image, and substitute images of the crisp soldier, the caring doctor, the heroic fireman or police officer, the professional dentist and the dedicated teacher.

Enough with the homo clown show, okay? Grow the fuck up. Let's show them that we are what we claim to be: their sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, upstanding Americans deserving of equal treatment and equal rights.

Then go let your freak flag fly in the bars and parties. But in front of the TV cameras, please try not to look like an idiot anymore, 'kay?

Time to put away childish things. Right?

Obama Continues to Dissappoint

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 01:09:38 -0400

This president still can't get it out of the infield. I would have liked to hear him announce something bold along with the end of the war. Something like:

"Now that combat operations in Iraq have come to an end, it is vital that we turn to the problems we face on our own shores. That is why, today, I am announcing a major new jobs initiative, where every penny that we have been spending in Iraq will now go directly to putting Americans back to work. We have already been spending the money abroad -- more than $10 billion per month for seven years. If it's good enough to spend that money abroad on a war of opportunity, it is far better to spend it on putting Americans back to work and rebuilding our infrastructure. Make no mistake, this is not a new expenditure that will add more to the deficit. Instead, we are taking the same ongoing money that President Bush and Congress sent overseas, and we are bringing it back home, where it will go directly to employing two million Americans, beginning next month."

Something like that is what I would have like to have heard. Instead, all I heard was the same bullshit rhetoric. Oh, and btw, that whole "we have to honor those who served in Iraq" bit apparently doesn't extend to the LGBT Americans who served, and who lost their lives and limbs in that war. He continues to exclude that group of Americans.