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Just Commenting

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About Just Commenting

Just Commenting showcases thoughts and musings about almost anything that strikes my fancy

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Jason Carson Wilson

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Just Commenting moving to Typepad

June 23rd 2011 02:41

Dear Readers of Just Commenting, I'm leaving Orble.com and moving to Typepad. If you're still interested in my take on things, please visit Just Commenting at its new home

Thanks for reading so far, please consider perusing my new blog. Thanks.

Sincerely,

Jason Carson Wilson

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Black, gay more than taboo

May 20th 2011 20:59

Being gay and Black is more than taboo. That was my biggest takeaway from CNN anchor Don Lemon’s interview with SIRIUS Radio host Michelangelo Signorile.

Lemon publicly came out in his new book, Transparent, and in various interviews with Signorile, HLN personality Joy Behar and The New York Times.

“It’s quite different for an African-American male,” Lemon said in May 15 story. “It’s about the worst thing you can be in black culture. You’re taught you have to be a man; you have to be masculine. In the black community they think you can pray the gay away.”

That quote highlights the hypocrisy of the African-American community. Just so we’re clear, like Lemon, this blogger is a Black gay journalist too.

The Black community labels gay men as less than, while turning a blind eye to many “real Black men” who abandon and neglect their children.

Father’s Day is just another day -- I don’t even know who my father is. According to a 2009 U.S. Centers of Disease Control report, 72 of every 1,000 children were born to unwed Black mothers. Real men help raise their children. But, I digress.

Yes, white men -- Arnold Schwarzenegger and John Edwards -- produce children out of wedlock too.

Gay Black men aren’t anymore inferior than those perpetuating stereotypes of irresponsibility. The Black community should examine is definition of masculinity.

For too long, masculinity has been synonymous with the ability to prolifically procreate. Look, where that’s gotten us.

Furthermore, masculinity has also been synonymous with being tough. Some less astute among us, have translated that to mean violent and helped add more Black men to prison populations.

So, as some Black men prove their masculinity, they’re reinforcing stereotypes as well -- that the rest of us must battle.

When the Black community gets its crib together, then I might listen to objections to gay people. (I said listen, not agree.) Until then, their comments will fall. on deaf ears.

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Erecting DADT Road Blocks

May 13th 2011 18:25

Queer soldiers risking limb and life for our nation deserve freedom. The repeal of the ill-advised “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered now means women and men in the armed forces can serve openly.

However, House Republicans -- otherwise known as the new “moral majority” -- are trying to erect road blocks, according to Instinct Magazine. U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-CA, is slated to introduce Defense Authorization Bill amendments that would require more certification requirements.

“The four military service chiefs are far more closely connected to the day-to-day realities facing
each respective service branch than those who are currently required to sign off on the
repeal—including the President,” Hunter said in a press release.

He’s a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Duncan wants service chiefs to certify that DADT won’t affect combat readiness and effectiveness. Let’s keep it real. Here’s the question Duncan’s really posing: Will straight soldiers be comfortable enough to follow orders?

Draft dodging and avoiding military service isn’t my style. A health condition got me turned away from a Marine recruitment center in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

So, this observation doesn’t come from experience. Last time I checked, military service has never been synonymous with comfort.

Comparing challenges that the GLBTQ and African-Americans face is controversial, since African-Americans can’t hide their Black skin. Even so, there are similarities. Concerns about readiness and effectiveness were used to protect racist soldiers from their Black and Latino counterparts.

"'White soldiers will not shower or sleep in the same barracks as African-Americans. Mixing African-American troops with whites will weaken a unit's cohesion. ' These are arguments that opponents of integration were making 50 years ago," said David M. Smith, spokesman for the Campaign for Military Service, in a 1993 Los Angeles Times article.

"Substitute 'gay' and 'lesbian' and it's the same arguments being heard today,” Smith said. “The common denominator is prejudice."

If that’s not enough, another lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Steven PalazzoYour text goes here, R-MS, wants to codify coddling homophobes. Palazzo, a Persian Gulf War veteran, has also offered an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill.

“The Secretary of Defense shall issue regulations setting forth guidance to insure that the sincerely held religious or moral beliefs of members of the Armed Forces regarding homosexual or bisexual conduct are protected, accommodated…,” the amendment reads.

Here’s a reminder to the “constitutional experts” now in the U.S. House, the Constitution prohibits establishing a national religion. Thus, it follows that requiring behavior that supposedly conforms to a certain religion would be unconstitutional.

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Beck's shameless blathering

May 9th 2011 04:12

Shameless.

That’s how former Fox News personality Glenn Beck described President Barack Obama’s trip to Ground Zero following Osama bin Laden’s more than justified assassination. In a bizarre twist, Beck and fellow Faux Newser Bill O’Reilly actually debated Obama’s visit during an appearance on the O’Reilly Factor, according to HuffPost
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W feels slighted in bin Laden aftermath

May 7th 2011 21:41

Someone’s feeling ignored. Former U.S. President George W. Bush believes current U.S. President Barack Obama is patting himself on the back for the eradication of Osama bin Laden, an anonymous source claims in a New York Daily News story, featured on HuffPost.

"Obama gave no credit whatsoever to the intelligence infrastructure the Bush administration set up that is being hailed from the left and right as setting in motion the operation that got Bin Laden. It rubbed Bush the wrong way," the source said

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I'm just sayin'

May 6th 2011 23:43

Just Commenting features my take on everything from politics to society to entertainment and everything in between. Agree or disagree with me freely. It's the American way. But, at least, read me