The Beginning

So I'm starting this blog for many reasons. I feel like I have a lot to say, and I also would like to chronicle my experiences and raise awareness for issues that I feel are facing society today.
And I'm going to get right into it.
Yesterday, November 8th, 2008 there was a gathering of people for a protest on the passing of Prop 8. For any of you that have been hiding in a cave, Prop 8 passed with 52.something% of the California vote and removed the rights for gays to get married.
Let me tell you now, this blog is not about fighting specifically for gay rights. I feel the need to fight for ALL rights, as I see them in dire circumstances given the current state of things in our country (the Patriot Act, Military Commission Act of 2006, etc)
Marriage is a civil right because the only other options are a "separate but equal" institution, and to remove marriage from being an issue of the state. Which I am whole heartedly for, personally. Remove marriage from being something the state deals with, and if people want the rights that come with marriage, there will be another institution to serve that purpose, one for ALL people. That way, marriage can return to being a religious ceremony of the joining of two families, and if a church chooses to not marry gays, that is their own deal. Go to another church.
But neither are really all that viable of options. Separate but equal is never equal, and it demeans people, making them feel like another class of citizens. As so much for removing marriage as an issue of the state, well you need some sort of institution for all the legal aspects of marriage. Why not just keep what we currently have, and make it a right for all people?
I digress.
Originally the rally was to be from Balboa Park in San Diego, down to City Hall. Then it changed, since obviously you can't be allowed to protest out in the open where people aren't EXPECTING you to be there in the first place. No, the police must be notified of protesting, you need to organize legitimately or be cited for violations. And you must go where they tell you.
It changed to marching down University Avenue, closely monitored by police and security patrols, and was to be peaceful, orderly and tame.
Oh it was.
Granted, roughly 10,000 people ended up marching down University for nearly 30 blocks, but it was right through the heart of the gay neighborhoods in San Diego. You aren't going to be running into all that many people against your cause walking in an area of town, notifying people that are already on your side where you stand on the issue.
But it was quiet. Everyone was very docile, no one seemed like that angry lesbian in West Hollywood screaming about wanting her rights back, and telling the head of the mormon church that every donation over $5 made to the legal fight will have a postcard sent to him honoring him for donating. That's definitely clever, bitchy and AWESOME. Albeit there was one lesbian in front of us with a megaphone.
Everyone was very subdued, no one was yelling for their rights, you couldn't get the crowd going into a chant. While 10,000 people marched down the street, you'd only really hear car horns honking and people going "Wooo"
No chanting for rights, no yelling. No one was ANGRY that they had had their rights stolen from them. That they were told they were second class citizens.
Yes, we have to remain calm, level headed and think things through. But we have a right to be pissed off, and to scream at the top of our lungs that we are.
Instead people musta been too stoned and just said "Yeah... It kinda sux... And I'll walk for it. Maybe someone will notice."
I'm all for peaceful protesting, but god damn it I wanted people that were pissed off.
I wanted people awake and up, ready to fight for their rights. Ready to stand up to the police if they told them "You can't be here."
Ready for civil disobedience.
And we're not.
The rally ended before you even made it to any real major cross streets outside of the gay area.
It ended in a cage.
I kid you not, it ended in a cage.
The rally marched into a school playground, fenced in area.
They herded us into something that could easily be contained if it got out of hand by simply closing the gates on us.
Does no one realize the significance of this? It's absurd!
That's the way you want to end a protest?! By waking into a fenced in area?
The foreshadowing is immense.
All across the country we have camps set up by FEMA that are ready to hold millions of people. All for our "protection."
Obama wants to make it mandatory that people 18-25 do community service, and some of that training will include military training.
It's in the news, this is his plan.
And then he elects Rahm Emanuel to Chief of Staff, a man who was on the board for Freddie Mac in 2000 for a year. That was the year before they started lying about their profits.
On the board of a company like that, he OBVIOUSLY knew they were tanking and operating at a loss. He had to have seen the numbers. And he said nothing about it? And in turn, supports the bailout and is also now Chief of Staff?
We're facing the economic crisis of a lifetime, and a politician who partially orchestrated the financial crash we currently are experiencing is going to be Chief of Staff.
All you have to do is Google Rahm Emanuel and read.
All of this is public information.
And no one has a clue. They're declaring Obama the "change" candidate, when he's NOT change. He's the same old thing. He still supports the banking industry that has bankrupted America, and they support him. Most of his financial donations came from them.
Wake up America, and realize that your civil liberties are being slaughtered.
You're being herded like cattle into believing change is coming, when it's not.
Yes, the foreshadowing of ending a rally in a caged area is very profound. Get used to it.
Because if we don't stand up now and defend our rights, we're going to lose them.
So they marched everyone into the cage, and my friends and I decided to go have a beer instead of being in a fenced in area, surrounded by police. A beer seemed the better of the options.
While driving home, I still held the "Mormons Stole my Rights" sign one of my friends gave me. And I educated 4 different people on exactly how they stole our rights. They donated the primary amount of the money to the campaign, at the call of the head of the Mormon church. People didn't even know this.
Thank God I knew what I was talking about, it would have been kind of awkward trying to explain a sign I was holding to people that simply didn't know the truth, when I myself didn't know it.